December 12, 2024 • 35 mins
In this episode, John breaks down how important relationship capital is. Relationships and reputation can get you much further than you may know!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome The Money in Wealth with John Hobryant, a production
of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Hey, Hey, hey,
this is John Hope Bryant and this is the Money
in Wealth podcast series. This one will be hard for
(00:24):
people to accept. Relationship capital is probably the most important capital.
People are like, no, no, no, no, no, John. We
need investment capital. We need you know, equity in our
businesses or our lives. We need a line of credit,
we need credit cards, we need inheritance. All this stuff
is important. I'm not discounting it. But after you know,
(00:50):
sustenance poverty, which is a roof over your head, food
on the table, reasonable healthcare. All other forms of poverty
are mindset related. Think about that for a minute. I
covered in detailing my book Up from Nothing, and I
talked about the five pillars of success, and none of
them are about purely money, or actually none of them
(01:13):
around money.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Actually the money will come.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
The money is important, but the money is about communicating
a means of value. Right, it's transactional, it's trading. Let
me not talk about what it's not about. Let me
talk about what it is about. Relationship capital. It's literally
everything and changed my life I grew up in the hood,
all right, the hood d a hyphen hod and I
(01:41):
didn't have inheritance, I didn't have a trust fund.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I didn't have anybody hooking me up.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So my first relationship capital, I didn't realize it was
with my teachers in school. Who did I mean, what
did I do in school? I went to school. I
was an okay student, but I sold mail order everything
to anybody who buy it. Teachers, you know, administrators, the principal.
(02:07):
But these weren't random people. These were people I knew.
These are people who I had built hello a relationship with.
There was some connective tissue, there was some energy. They
even maybe believed in me, and yeah, maybe it was
a little bit of guilt while they've made the first purchase.
But after a while they're like, you know, this kid's
got onto something, and these are good products. And I
(02:28):
sold Avon, I sow yes, Avon I sew omni jury
later on in my life out of business, these are
multi level marketing companies. I don't do it anymore, but
I did it back then. There was a great way
to get started in business with no capital. But you know,
multi level marketing, by the way, completely separate thing. I'll
do a video on it. I mean, I'll do a
podcast on it. Actually not a long term play for you.
(02:53):
I sold Stacey Adams shoes through mail order. It was
a form in my briefcase with some visuals and remember Layaway,
remember sears Layaway some of you, some of you remember that,
And I would go and sell it. I mean, I
guess I'm decent at storytelling now. Because I had I
(03:15):
didn't have any real assets other than what was on
my ass my rear end sorry, and I didn't have
any physical inventory, and I didn't have well, I had
me and I had these slicks, these marketing slicks, and
then I had the rapport with whoever I was talking to.
So ninety percent of my sales came from people I knew. Yes,
(03:37):
I started with my family, then it went to my friends,
and it was my teachers at school, et cetera. That
was the beginning of a relationship capital. I didn't know
what it was back then. Then I built a relationship
with the banker in my classroom, and then I built
a relationship with yes friends in the neighborhood. Of course,
I built a relationship with the owner of Max liquor store.
(03:59):
That's where my first business came from, the neighborhood candy house,
inspired by him discounting me as a young man talking
to a man with a college degree. I'm like, yeah,
but I've got cavities. Man, I'm nine, almost ten years old.
I'm telling you settling the wrong kind of candy. You
wouldn't listen to me. Put him out of business. Out
of the candy business relationship capital is how I first
(04:22):
got my first acting gigs. I was an actor, was
a very good one. My father, Johnny Smith, I wanted
to go to business school when I was a young man,
and I said to my dad, who was making decent money.
We didn't realize until later he was financially illiterate and
technically broke. But we had a nice cash flow lifestyle,
(04:43):
and so in the present moment everything seemed fine. We
didn't realize it was a house of cards at that time.
And I told him I wanted to go to not
just private school, I wanted to go to a business school.
And I was in my early teens. I wanted to
go live with him and I wanted to go to
business school. When to move from my mother's house to
his house, and so he didn't want to tell me
that he didn't know how to get me in the
(05:04):
business school. So he told me find the school and
I'll get you in it. Okay, I like a good challenge.
So I went to what was the Yellow Pages now
you call it the Internet search, Google search whatever. I
went to the Yellow Pages, opening up, went the private schools.
Found the biggest ad in the Yellow Pages, Hollywood Professional School.
(05:25):
That looked like a business school. Hollywood Professional School. Oh,
that looks like a business environment. And I called up
and spoke to the head mistress. Had you know, lady
in charge? Person in charge? That missus Mann is her name?
And was her name? She still passed since passed on mclory.
She was ninety at the time. I was talking to her,
and Hey, I'd like to you know, hello, not hey
(05:47):
blah blah blah. My dad was information got I wrote
down how much it was. She told me it was
eight forty five in the morning to twelve forty five
in the morning, and you're out of school. I'm like,
what I said to myself, what kind of school is this?
I mean, I get to go to business school and
I'm out half the day?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Cool?
Speaker 1 (06:05):
It was in Hollywood and we lived in south central LA.
So my dad took me up there and missus Mann
just kept staring at me, just kept staring at me.
I can't figure out why she was staring at me,
like she had never seen a black person before. I
stared back, and she never mentioned why she stared at
me or whatever. Realized later on when we all my
dad would know was how much it was and she
could afford it.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So he signed me up.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And I went down the hall of the school on
my first day and here's Todd Bridges walking in the hall.
I think it was Todd Bridges Jared Johnson from another
TV series it was called The Lost Saucer. Here's Tatum O'Neil.
I definitely remember Tatum O'Neill and Griffin O'Neill, very famous actors,
the sons and daughters of Ryan O'Neill at that point,
(06:46):
who was a very big actor. All these stars from
the small screen and some on the big screen at
my school. What the heck's on on here? It was
a school for acting professionals. Hello, and I just got
it wrong, got the memo wrong. And they went from
eight forty five to twenty forty five because typically your
(07:06):
mentor in entertainment on the set and you don't have
a normal life, and you don't know how to work
with people, and you don't have social skills all that stuff. Well,
I didn't have a set to go to after I
got office. So after you went to school from a
forty five to twelve three y five, you then had
at lunch went to your movie set, which was coordinated,
and you went.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And filmed your shows.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I didn't have a set to go to, so I
mean I just I bounced and went home right and
hung out. I remember Tatum O'Neil gave me a ride
home one day and didn't realize where I lived. And
she as we went from Hollywood Boulevard to Sunset Boulevard
to Mail Rose to you know Venice and you know
(07:47):
eighteenth Street to twentieth Street, she got down of the
thirty fifth Street and dropped me off. I never knew
a BMW had a turning radius like that in my
entire life. Ome girl hit a U turn and burn
rubber and got the I got of there, but a
very sweet lady. It was very nice of her to
do it. Her and her troubled brother Griffin O'Neil became
(08:08):
we became friendly, and this leads to my point of
our relationship. Capital I became an actor not because I
was talented, because I really well wasn't. I became an
actor because I knew these people, got to know these
people and they would say, don't.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
You want to come on our show? Sure?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Or a casting director would show up to the school
and we were all pre qualified, if you will, because
we were in this school. At least in their mind,
we're prequalified. So we had a relationship in this example
through missus Man and the administrators at Hollywood Professional School
and their pre screening process. So I got my first
(08:47):
acting jobs not because I was talented had a great resume,
but because of the right place, right time, with the
right people vouching for me. And then I turned out
to be an okay actor, not a great one, and
I had a decent underwhelming career. So I had a
(09:12):
relationship with entertainment in Hollywood which went on to help
me later on in my life where I learned, you know,
to communicate and to compel and to storytell. Probably I'm
sure that's where I picked up some of it, and
ultimately I decided that, or maybe the industry decided for me.
(09:33):
That's that didn't get any meaningful work after a while,
that this was just not for me. And I didn't
want to be an alsul Ran. I don't want to
be one of the guys who was just an okay actor.
I want to be excellent at what I did. Doctor
King once said, if you're going to be a trash collector,
to be the best trash collector of the world's ever seen.
So I want to go find my you know, my destiny,
which I knew was in business, which is the reason
(09:54):
I went to the school in the first place. So
fast forward now I have befriended Will Marshall and Bill
Raphael at the Mayor's office in Los Angeles, and Mayor
Tom Bradley. He's pre Internet, so you wouldn't know that
he was the first black mayor who was mayor of
(10:14):
a city for twenty years, the city of Los Angeles.
And he was international. He was common knowledge in Asia,
specifically correct places like Korea. Just an incredible guy. Mayor
Tom Bradley the city of Los Angeles, and through Bill
Raphael and Will Marshall, who vouched for me in my
(10:36):
entrepreneurial zeal. I got to meet Mayor Tom Bradley, and
then Mayor Tom Bradley invited me on a delegation trip
to Korea, South Korea. I didn't have the money, but
I hustled and I, you know, found the money. So
the money you're spending on vacations or buying a stereo
or you know, buying the newest iPhone or ipping, you
(10:58):
know that couple hundred dollars to a couple of thousand
dollars that could be redeployed, you know, the bank of
you to invest in your dream. Well, I had deployed
money I would give used to floss and hang out.
I deployed that. But things like a trip to well,
there was a government trip which you had to reimburse
the government for its costs.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And I remember.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
One of the mayor's assistants, which was like the unofficial
mayor for Los Angeles. I mean he was like, did
you used to say to Will Marshall, who is this
little nappyhead kid? I had a little computer with me.
I mean all back in the day, I used to
have a computer from from radio shack, Like you could
even see the diodes and all the little moving parts.
I mean I used to I messed around with technology
my whole life. I used to have computer. I used
(11:40):
to have a Cassio computer, and I had I had
a portable computer. Hello, portal computer that was, you know,
fifty pounds. I used to travel with a computer box,
a leather box that had and it was a little
coach seat right, and the front would come down as
a keyboard, and it was a screen in the back
would flip out, and it was a printer, yes, full printer,
(12:03):
full computer, full keyboard. And can you imagine people see
sitting next to me and around me, like what's going
on with this dude here? And uh uh? But I
was always I was I was really. I was about
my I was about my grind. It's about my business.
So Bill roth Feel was like sorry. The assistance of
the mayor was like, who is this little mappyhead kid kid?
Why is he here? And Will Marshall was like, well,
(12:25):
the mayor likes him, but really Will Marshall and and
and Bill Rafael liked me, and a couple other people
there and the Mayor's Office of Small Business Assistance, and
and then on time the mayor did learn to like me,
and so everybody else had to tolerate me. And that
introduced me to international and I got that bug, and
I've now been one hundred countries. And I built a
(12:46):
relationship with Mayor Tom Bradley, and later on I went
on to help the City of Los Angeles before I
found an operation to Hope created a city Lending Agency UH.
I innovated it a private public partnership with the City
of Los Angeles and the private sector drifting loan banks
(13:06):
in the city of LA But I was told I
was too young to run it, so they gave they
let this other guy run it who was in it
me by the way, and didn't want to acknowledge that
I was actually the founder of this idea. But I
knew that I had done it, and Tom Brawley knew
that I had done it, and he was appreciative that
I wasn't being a bully or not a bully. I
wasn't being pushy in trying to make sure I got
(13:28):
credit for it. I just was happy that the city
was doing it. So that built more rapport with me
and the mayor, and other than the fact that I
was repeatedly late for meetings, I remember one meeting with
the mayor. Please don't do this. Please do not do this.
Even black he born on probation in America. You know,
twice as smart, twice as intelligent, twice as Will dressed,
(13:49):
you know, twice as early step, twice as late. Please
don't do it. I just what I'm about to tell you.
For some reason, I'm sitting in my office in West
Los Angeles at the Irvine Building at Supovita and San Monica,
the south west corner, not next to the four five Freeway,
sitting in my marble office building for what was in
Brian Group Companies, and looking out south through my Florida
(14:12):
ceiling glass windows, feeling and self important. And I had
a meeting with Mayor Tom Bradley was a young kid,
you know, twenty one years old or something. I had
done a master buyout, bought this company that I had
previously worked for. And I'm sitting in my own office.
I'll tell you that story later. And I had a
meeting with the mayor. But the problem was this was
one new clock meeting and it was twelve forty five.
(14:34):
Why in the world I was still sitting at my
desk at twelve forty five when I had all day
to finish what I was doing, which was not really
all that important, and get my little behind in my car.
You know, we all know traffic in la is ridiculous.
Of course I was forgetting late. I was disastrously late,
and the mayor still was graciously saw me. Will Marshall
and Bill rolferre wanted to wring my neck, but they
(14:57):
gave me. They gave me a pass. Knew I meant well,
but that was a lesson, and of course I still
remember to this day. I'm just telling you the story,
and that has to be now. I mean, it's thirty
plus years ago and I'm still embarrassed. But relationship capital
got me in the door, and sometimes relationship capital got
me to sell, and sometimes relationship capital saved my rear
end from embarrassment. Here, let me put it in another way.
(15:20):
If you want to have a little grace in your life,
you better show a little mercy. Grace is when you
get what you don't deserve, and mercy is when some
rancid sob does not get the rear end are telling
off that he so rightly or she so rightly deserves. Again,
mercy is when somebody who has offended you in the
worst way, does not get the cursing out or whatever
that they so rightly deserve. But grace is where you
(15:41):
and I get the blessings and the gifts that we
don't deserve. If you want to have a little grace,
learn to show a little mercy. Relationship capital is the
bridge to that. You know, people upset about networking. It's
a waste of time. Only broke people network. I hate
to tell you, but you know, you go into a
meeting and you can't get you can't get your business
card out because it runs into the person aside the
(16:02):
other side trying to give you their business card. And
then you go home and you put all those business
cards in a desk and you never look at him again,
and you certainly don't follow up.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So what were you there? You were there for the
free food for a happy hour. I don't know why
you're there.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
But you'll never see whoever, pick somebody you admire, you know,
Oprah Winfrey or Robert Smith or Bill Gates or Striving
my cu of the six Mission, Richest Man in Africa,
or you know whoever your heroes or heroes are. You
won't see them at a networking recession, right, that's a
taking business. You want to build relationship capital, that's a
giving business. So who were my relationship? I'm gonna through
(16:36):
this pretty quickly, you know, I don't I don't want
to bore you or myself. And you're smart enough to
get the gist here. Dave Ormara was a guy on
Malibu cinemas. I don't know I met Dave, but I
think he just went into his theater one day and
struck up a conversation. He owned Malibu Centems back then,
and we got to know each other and when to
go visit him at the theater. I never asked him for
a thing. At some point he started asking me about
(16:58):
my dreams. And then, you know, I didn't have a car,
so he sold me a car, a little Triumph I
believe it was convertible British job. And I had some
dreams and he invested a few dollars in my dreams.
And one of the dreams was a mobile detailing business
that didn't work. Another one of my dreams was a
concert promotion company that didn't work. I was a manager
(17:21):
for one of the lead singer of the Platters, J C. Parrish,
that certainly didn't work. I ended up signing for When
I started signing for at power attorney started signing for
his dental work at the dental office, I knew something
was wrong, and I mean, I got cleaned out. He
meant well, he's a good guy. But I got cleaned out.
And would I hold a concert at Rialto Performing Arts Center.
(17:44):
I was the first client of the Rialto Performing Arts Center.
You can look it up now, it's been there for
twenty eight years plus, but I was a first client
ever to rent the place. And I had an actor
come out in a limousine as a VIP guest, and
I had fliers all over the city of Rialto, and
I had J. C. Pearis of the platters singing, and
the real concert roots in the area went and tore
(18:05):
all my flyers down as I put them up, gangster
gangster stuff. And it was like literally one person in
the audience, and that was my mother. That was I
think one of two times I got a loan for
my mother. She she loaned me five undred dollars to
just this encouragement. I was completely devastated, but everybody gave
(18:25):
me a pass because they knew I meant well. They'll
get relationship capital. Even the people who sponsored me, who
allowed me to rent this performing arts center, didn't hold
me accountable for the whole contract that would have bankrupted me.
So fast forward. Now again all these I didn't make.
I didn't pay Davel Mayor back. Okay, So David Mayer said, look,
in order to pay me back, you need a job.
(18:46):
Like you know, you're not really good at this entrepreneurship
thing at the moment.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
You need a job.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Let me should use you to Steve Stephan Codder Miller,
Steve Miller who owned Wade Cotder and Company. And I
went and met Steve Miller. He offered me a job.
Because of Dave O'Mara, I didn't know about lending a
brokeridge or whatever, and they sent me in the south
central Laida to basically to lend the little old ladies.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
They weren't racist. This is where I found the first
definition of non conscious inscrimination. They weren't racist.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
They just wanted a high return in their money above
as return of their money for their private investors. And
they found the people in south central la who had
a lot of equity in their houses, would take a
loan for the equity to get the cash and wouldn't
mind high interest rates and high points because they were
financially illiterate. Well, once I figured out what I was doing, like,
I can't do this.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
This is immoral.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
It's not you know, you don't mean to be racist,
but this is this is unethical and I can't do it.
So once I figured out what I was doing, and
I'll do another podcast just on this business model. But
the fast forward, I end up convincing Dave O. Mayer, sorry,
Steve Miller. I would give him his salary back. I
couldn't take Dave May the accessuse. I'll pay his money back.
(19:48):
I was give him a salary back in his car
allowance back, in his food stipend. I'd work for free
if he made me a partner in the company in
a new division that I would lead. And to a
humor me, Steve said, sure, he was a capitalist. He's like,
I get a free employee, I need to pay you.
And he left and well then I think, you know,
I failed the real estate California real estate test three times.
(20:10):
You can only pass it fell at four times before
they think you're too stupid and won't let you. FELT
want to let you take it again. I passed the
fourth time. First year did zero in business, second year
did nine million, thirty or fifteen million, fourth year twenty
four million. I did a measured buyout and bought my
employeer again. I'll get into that in another podcast. I'm
twenty early twenty something at this point, and Davel Mahyra
(20:34):
was proud of me, and Steve Miller was shocked. And
how did I get that deal done? By the way,
I opened the Yellow Pages again found the biggest ad
for a law farm in Century City. It was a
Jeffer Mangos, Butler and mar More. And I couldn't say Jeffer,
and I couldn't say Mangos without mangling it, and I
couldn't say Marmorro. So I called and asked to Jim
(20:54):
Butler partner. He answered the phone, and I told him
what I was calling Viio, that I was going to
do a measurement buyout. He says, you you can't do that.
You can't tell me what I can do. I'm not
you know that's racist. He's as slow down, ye man.
He said, I'm telling you, I know you've Miller and
you don't want to buy that business. Let me make
a phone call. So he hung up, call me back
and said, look, you're the only guy making any money
over there, why don't you just buy your own division.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I'll help you.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
And that's how I got in business initially. In that
business again, I build a quick relationship with Jim Butler.
I still have a relationship with that firm to this day,
thirty five years later. One of their Tory attorneys was
a pro bono free a law counsel for Operation Hope
for at least twenty five years and a great relationship. Okay,
(21:47):
let's get into the real deep waters now. So now
I build Operation Hope and the government shuts down. And
my banker was in a bank called I think it
was called Cedars Bank. It's changed names several times, but
William Hannah, who was the CEO don't call on Bill's
name was William and I had a relationship with William Hannah,
and I convinced him to give us a twenty five
thousand dollars line of credit for Operation Hope. And Operation
(22:09):
over had you know, no budget, like one hundred thousand dollars.
I mean we had no we were just starting out
and the government shut down. Maybe had a couple hudred
thousand dollars. Think the government shut down was twenty ninety four,
I believe, but certainly we couldn't We couldn't justify us
line of credit. He gave me his line of credit.
We ran through it pretty quickly.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
We had a.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Government grant, but the government had shut down. So I
went to William Hanna and said, look, all I got
is my word, all God is my name. You've known
me a little bit here. I won't let you down.
He unbeknownst to me, he went to his chief financial officer,
a woman, and again, luckily for her, I can't remember
her name at the moment, and she told him. He
told me later that William, you'll never get your money back.
Do not make this loan. I wanted one hundred thousand
(22:50):
dollars line of credit, and William overrode his chief financial
officer at the bank. He under his own authority, and
I guess if I default it, he'd been reliable for
He gave me that loan extension, and I said, I'll
pay you back. And I not only did I pay
him back, I paid him back early. Because I knew
that my reputation was writing on that. So I went
and hustled to hustle, worked hard, and I made my
(23:12):
highest priority keeping my word to William Hannah. And that
then turned me keeping the word about a twenty five
thousand dollars line of credit, which turned into one hundred
thousands line of credit, which turned it into a to
me paying the whole thing down to zero, then turned
into a million dollar line of credit. Hello, and then
it then turned ultimately into them leading a consortium of
banks for a multi million dollar line of credit at
that point, the largest line of credit to an unscared
(23:35):
line of credit to a nonprofit organization in California at
that time, Community's nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Organization, and that was William Hannah.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And that certainly was a relationship capital and I love
William and appreciate him to this day. I worked for
Harvey Baskin. Again, I'm just giving you the crib notes
on this. Harvey Baskin would be a billionaire today by
today's damage, worth a couple hundred million dollars.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
He was in the financial business.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I met him because I wanted that was aspirational, and
I was, uh, you know, I'm not sure which air
of my life this was, but I was I was.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I mean, I was leaving.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I was living I think in south central LA, and
I did not have a dependable car, so I was
catching the bus rapid transit district we call rough, tough
and dirty, and I and I got a job and
initially it grew glass Stones for Fish. Again, I didn't
have any capitals. I needed to lead on somebody else's
capital and credibility. So I needed some credibility and I
didn't have it. So I rode the bus. Got a
(24:29):
job at Glassdoms for Fish as a bus bus boy,
worst shift, seven in the morning, breakfast shift, and and
I had to get the bus to get there. I
had to get get up and get going at five
in the morning. And after a few weeks, I'm like,
oh no, this is not my crowd. Lawyers, it was doctors.
It was you know, all good people. But they were
the folks serving the people that I'm trying to access.
I'm trying to get to the folks that they are
(24:52):
clients to. They were vendors to wealthy people. I didn't
want to be a vendor, even a high end vendor
at a couple of I was an hour as a
lawyer or whatever. I wanted to be the dude, right,
So I quit and then I went and drove further
up the coast to Malibu to glad the Jeoffrey's restaurant
(25:14):
just been opened. Geoffrey at the end, beautiful man, great
human being, since passed on the glory. Harvey Baskin was
his lover and was his financier, and Harvey at this
is the first time I've ever seen this. Harvey just
got to give him the restaurant as a toy, like
this is a gift. He was just like, No, here's
a restaurant for you. You want to be in a
restaurant business. Here It's called Jeoffrey's Malibu. It's still there.
And I got to know Jeoffrey. They gave me a
(25:37):
Monday evening shift as a busboy, then a waiter. Translation.
I was a really crappy busboy and a waiter because
a Monday shift is horrible. You put your worst performance there,
adding care I work. I got to know Jeoffrey, got
the but Jeoffrey wasn't the financier. He was just a face.
I got to know him that I had to get
to know Harvey, So I got to know Harvey a
little bit and Harvey had two Black Ribbean assistants. Okay,
(26:00):
with Harvey's got a little soulle in him. He's got
he's got a little flavor. He's got these two brothers
or his assistance. So I got to know them too,
and enough people vouch for me, and I got to
know Harvey, and then he was like, well, you want
to come work for me? Yes, So I took a
pay cut, if you can believe that, from being a waiters,
they got tips to go become effectively a twenty thousand
dollars a year a personal assistant to a guy worked
two hundred million dollars. Now, don't start talking about fairness.
(26:22):
And oh you know I'm not being paid enough. No,
hold on to the story. Now, I got to work
in this beautiful mansion on the beach. I saw ocean
crashing in every day. I saw this guy walk around
in a Jesus robe. I call it a robe. I'm
sure you have any underwear on. This just was Harvey.
Long beards, some sandals, and he did.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
As he liked.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
But I saw him cutting deals and on the phone
doing his thing, and I'm like, okay, this is the
way to roll right. And I worked there for a
little bit, and then I had so many questions for Harvey.
I'm like, can I take you to dinner?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So he told me what restaurant he liked. I put
him in my brokedown. I think it was Aludy. Back
then he had broken his foot, so he needed like
driving me days, just days.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
He had to sit in the back seat with.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
The front pass your seat pushed forward, you know, front,
front seat pushed down, his leg was up, he was
in the back. I'm in the front again. Looked like
driving his daisy. I didn't care. And so I drove
him from Malibu down to Venice to the restaurant to
he loved. And the bill comes. I'd ask him all
kinds of questions. Bill comes and he passes the.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Bill to me. It's one hundred bucks.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I mean one hundred bucks back then, making twenty rand
a year take home pay, I don't know, fifteen thousand
dollars have taxes or something. And he's he's got worth
two hundred million dollars right, he's giving the guy a
restaurant hello, And he passes this one hundred dollars bill
to me. I'm like, no, no, no, I passed one hundred
dollar bill to him. This is the bill for the dinner.
He passes the bill back to me. I slid the
(27:41):
bill back to him. He slid the bill back to me.
He said, say, hey, hey, John's slow down now. Everybody
listening now, He said, John, you got to figure out
what business you're in. Do you want to pick my
brain or pick my pocket? One lasts longer, pooh man,
because I asked. He said, you've gotten you know, tens
(28:02):
of thousand dollars worth a free consulting if you've asked
me every question on the sign here, and I'm going
charge you for that. But you don't want to pay
the bill. I mean, nothing in life's free. So I
pulled that one hundred dollars bill back, and as much
as it hurt me, I took everything I had and
I paid the bill for this multi millionaire. You may
not think that that's not fair, but life's not fair.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Capitalism is a gladiator sport, right, Period's not it's not fair,
and it's not emotional. And I learned how to take
stuff like that person. In fact, he was teaching me.
He was helping me, you know, like did I want
something for free or did I want to did I
want to lean in right?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Do I want to invest in? Co invest in?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
He was trying to figure out what kind of character
I had. So anyway, Harvey went on to endorse me,
introduce me, helped me out when I needed it countless
times after that. And again he's pre internet, so you
don't see a lot of information on Harvey Basking. But
you know, I still in this podcast because he changed
my life. And there's been so many heroes and she
(28:54):
roes and Bastarrandrew Young I chased for ten years. Quincy Jones.
I chased Quincy Jones. I talkedalked about that in one
of my other podcasts. I think about being homeless. Bill
Rogers of what's now Truest Bank used to be sun
Trusts a mentor, Jim Wales before him, the CEO before him,
Brian Jordan, the first Horizon Bank. People like Charlie sharfon
(29:17):
Wells Fargo, Doug McMillan at Walmart. Guy who made the
biggest bet on me I didn't know it was Marraghetti
who runs three hundred fifty billion dollar areas Management today CEO.
And Tony Wrestler his the chairman of areas CO invested
in my real estate company, which I then built with
(29:37):
a forty million dollar investment, no business plan, no PowerPoint presentation,
nothing but my credibility in my word. And I built
that company from zero to two hundred million dollars in
acid value, just under that one hundred and eighty and
seventy million dollars in asset value. And I sold that
company in December Christmas Eve twenty twenty one, they say,
clipped a coupon on Wall Street and paid off eighty
(29:59):
nine million dollars worth of debt and equity, including my
investors with interest that I promise him. And I still
am proud of that to this day, no favors. And
I've done four billion dollars plus worth of deals.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Did you hear that?
Speaker 1 (30:11):
I've transferred, transmitted, communicated, placed more than four billion dollars
worth of capital just through operation Hope another few hundred
million dollars through my private companies.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
And I'm up for.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Nothing, right, Nobody gave me a thing. I didn't have
a trust fund or a hook up or nothing. I
did it all myself up from nothing, and I did
it through what I'm talking to you about. And we
can go on and on and on with this. There's
so many people who's had an impact in my life.
Steve Ryan, my counsel lawyer, one of the lawyers that
Operation Hope. I met him and he believed in me.
(30:44):
And he was sitting in a government meeting one day
and somebody, some company had a fine and they had
to figure out what to send five million dollars, and
he just said, well, you should send an Operation Hope.
I got the five million dollars through my nonprofit because
he believed in me and I had a relationship with him.
I can do that all day and all night, and
I might in the description list a number of these names.
(31:05):
Doctor Dorothy Hype, you know, wasn't just men, women too.
Doctor Dorothy Hype was a mentor. It was civil rights,
it was social justice, it was entertainment. It was business,
it was banking, it was finance. All quarters of my life,
relationship capital right that I honored and treated. And I'd
go in a room. The first question I'd asked is
(31:25):
you know, I look at the pictures behind their desks.
Tell me about your children, tell me about people love
talking about themselves. Most people want to talk about themselves,
not asking the other person about tell me about yourself.
And I was always just genuinely fascinated and interested in
other people. And it was authentic, like it wasn't a game,
and I never would ask for anything. And at some point,
and yes, it took longer than you might like, but
(31:46):
at some point in all these relationship, people say, look
what can we do together? I like you, Like I
had this conversation with this one billionaire and I brought
him a business deal and he cursed me out. He's like, man,
stop bringing me business deals. Like I don't need to
make any more money because I pay more taxes on
income than I do on capital gains. It's a whole
another video for another time, another podcast, another time, which
is all the white it's whole ridiculous political conversation about
(32:08):
taxing billionaires is so crazy because they don't owe. You know,
the secretary pays more taxes than a billionaire because a
billionaire doesn't make any any active income. Billionaires make passive income. Okay,
it's a whole nother thing, but it's just look look
up the word passive income. Look up you know capital gains.
The taxing capital gains is twenty percent and the tax
(32:29):
on regular income. Is you know thirty five thirty eight
you had. This local tax could be as much as
forty five to fifty percent. So anyway, he said, I'm good.
I don't need to make any more money to paying
the reer in. I got to pay a bunch of
taxes on it. I'm good. I've paid my debt. I'll
do this because I like you. That's it. That's why
I'll do this deal. So if people don't like you,
don't respect you, don't admire you, they're not doing anything
(32:50):
with you. I don't have to. Nobody owes you a
thing except a hello and a goodbye. So I'm saying
now goodbye. I love you too much. Go to Operation Hope,
sign up and get the silver rights alright to deserve.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
I believe in you.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Money and Wealth with John O'Brien is a production of
the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the
Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome The Money in Wealth with John Hobryant, a production
of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Hey, Hey, hey,
this is John Hope Bryant and this is the Money
in Wealth podcast series. This one will be hard for
(00:24):
people to accept. Relationship capital is probably the most important capital.
People are like, no, no, no, no, no, John. We
need investment capital. We need you know, equity in our
businesses or our lives. We need a line of credit,
we need credit cards, we need inheritance. All this stuff
is important. I'm not discounting it. But after you know,
(00:50):
sustenance poverty, which is a roof over your head, food
on the table, reasonable healthcare. All other forms of poverty
are mindset related. Think about that for a minute. I
covered in detailing my book Up from Nothing, and I
talked about the five pillars of success, and none of
them are about purely money, or actually none of them
(01:13):
around money.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Actually the money will come.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
The money is important, but the money is about communicating
a means of value. Right, it's transactional, it's trading. Let
me not talk about what it's not about. Let me
talk about what it is about. Relationship capital. It's literally
everything and changed my life I grew up in the hood,
all right, the hood d a hyphen hod and I
(01:41):
didn't have inheritance, I didn't have a trust fund.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I didn't have anybody hooking me up.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So my first relationship capital, I didn't realize it was
with my teachers in school. Who did I mean, what
did I do in school? I went to school. I
was an okay student, but I sold mail order everything
to anybody who buy it. Teachers, you know, administrators, the principal.
(02:07):
But these weren't random people. These were people I knew.
These are people who I had built hello a relationship with.
There was some connective tissue, there was some energy. They
even maybe believed in me, and yeah, maybe it was
a little bit of guilt while they've made the first purchase.
But after a while they're like, you know, this kid's
got onto something, and these are good products. And I
(02:28):
sold Avon, I sow yes, Avon I sew omni jury
later on in my life out of business, these are
multi level marketing companies. I don't do it anymore, but
I did it back then. There was a great way
to get started in business with no capital. But you know,
multi level marketing, by the way, completely separate thing. I'll
do a video on it. I mean, I'll do a
podcast on it. Actually not a long term play for you.
(02:53):
I sold Stacey Adams shoes through mail order. It was
a form in my briefcase with some visuals and remember Layaway,
remember sears Layaway some of you, some of you remember that,
And I would go and sell it. I mean, I
guess I'm decent at storytelling now. Because I had I
(03:15):
didn't have any real assets other than what was on
my ass my rear end sorry, and I didn't have
any physical inventory, and I didn't have well, I had
me and I had these slicks, these marketing slicks, and
then I had the rapport with whoever I was talking to.
So ninety percent of my sales came from people I knew. Yes,
(03:37):
I started with my family, then it went to my friends,
and it was my teachers at school, et cetera. That
was the beginning of a relationship capital. I didn't know
what it was back then. Then I built a relationship
with the banker in my classroom, and then I built
a relationship with yes friends in the neighborhood. Of course,
I built a relationship with the owner of Max liquor store.
(03:59):
That's where my first business came from, the neighborhood candy house,
inspired by him discounting me as a young man talking
to a man with a college degree. I'm like, yeah,
but I've got cavities. Man, I'm nine, almost ten years old.
I'm telling you settling the wrong kind of candy. You
wouldn't listen to me. Put him out of business. Out
of the candy business relationship capital is how I first
(04:22):
got my first acting gigs. I was an actor, was
a very good one. My father, Johnny Smith, I wanted
to go to business school when I was a young man,
and I said to my dad, who was making decent money.
We didn't realize until later he was financially illiterate and
technically broke. But we had a nice cash flow lifestyle,
(04:43):
and so in the present moment everything seemed fine. We
didn't realize it was a house of cards at that time.
And I told him I wanted to go to not
just private school, I wanted to go to a business school.
And I was in my early teens. I wanted to
go live with him and I wanted to go to
business school. When to move from my mother's house to
his house, and so he didn't want to tell me
that he didn't know how to get me in the
(05:04):
business school. So he told me find the school and
I'll get you in it. Okay, I like a good challenge.
So I went to what was the Yellow Pages now
you call it the Internet search, Google search whatever. I
went to the Yellow Pages, opening up, went the private schools.
Found the biggest ad in the Yellow Pages, Hollywood Professional School.
(05:25):
That looked like a business school. Hollywood Professional School. Oh,
that looks like a business environment. And I called up
and spoke to the head mistress. Had you know, lady
in charge? Person in charge? That missus Mann is her name?
And was her name? She still passed since passed on mclory.
She was ninety at the time. I was talking to her,
and Hey, I'd like to you know, hello, not hey
(05:47):
blah blah blah. My dad was information got I wrote
down how much it was. She told me it was
eight forty five in the morning to twelve forty five
in the morning, and you're out of school. I'm like,
what I said to myself, what kind of school is this?
I mean, I get to go to business school and
I'm out half the day?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Cool?
Speaker 1 (06:05):
It was in Hollywood and we lived in south central LA.
So my dad took me up there and missus Mann
just kept staring at me, just kept staring at me.
I can't figure out why she was staring at me,
like she had never seen a black person before. I
stared back, and she never mentioned why she stared at
me or whatever. Realized later on when we all my
dad would know was how much it was and she
could afford it.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
So he signed me up.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And I went down the hall of the school on
my first day and here's Todd Bridges walking in the hall.
I think it was Todd Bridges Jared Johnson from another
TV series it was called The Lost Saucer. Here's Tatum O'Neil.
I definitely remember Tatum O'Neill and Griffin O'Neill, very famous actors,
the sons and daughters of Ryan O'Neill at that point,
(06:46):
who was a very big actor. All these stars from
the small screen and some on the big screen at
my school. What the heck's on on here? It was
a school for acting professionals. Hello, and I just got
it wrong, got the memo wrong. And they went from
eight forty five to twenty forty five because typically your
(07:06):
mentor in entertainment on the set and you don't have
a normal life, and you don't know how to work
with people, and you don't have social skills all that stuff. Well,
I didn't have a set to go to after I
got office. So after you went to school from a
forty five to twelve three y five, you then had
at lunch went to your movie set, which was coordinated,
and you went.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And filmed your shows.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I didn't have a set to go to, so I
mean I just I bounced and went home right and
hung out. I remember Tatum O'Neil gave me a ride
home one day and didn't realize where I lived. And
she as we went from Hollywood Boulevard to Sunset Boulevard
to Mail Rose to you know Venice and you know
(07:47):
eighteenth Street to twentieth Street, she got down of the
thirty fifth Street and dropped me off. I never knew
a BMW had a turning radius like that in my
entire life. Ome girl hit a U turn and burn
rubber and got the I got of there, but a
very sweet lady. It was very nice of her to
do it. Her and her troubled brother Griffin O'Neil became
(08:08):
we became friendly, and this leads to my point of
our relationship. Capital I became an actor not because I
was talented, because I really well wasn't. I became an
actor because I knew these people, got to know these
people and they would say, don't.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
You want to come on our show? Sure?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Or a casting director would show up to the school
and we were all pre qualified, if you will, because
we were in this school. At least in their mind,
we're prequalified. So we had a relationship in this example
through missus Man and the administrators at Hollywood Professional School
and their pre screening process. So I got my first
(08:47):
acting jobs not because I was talented had a great resume,
but because of the right place, right time, with the
right people vouching for me. And then I turned out
to be an okay actor, not a great one, and
I had a decent underwhelming career. So I had a
(09:12):
relationship with entertainment in Hollywood which went on to help
me later on in my life where I learned, you know,
to communicate and to compel and to storytell. Probably I'm
sure that's where I picked up some of it, and
ultimately I decided that, or maybe the industry decided for me.
(09:33):
That's that didn't get any meaningful work after a while,
that this was just not for me. And I didn't
want to be an alsul Ran. I don't want to
be one of the guys who was just an okay actor.
I want to be excellent at what I did. Doctor
King once said, if you're going to be a trash collector,
to be the best trash collector of the world's ever seen.
So I want to go find my you know, my destiny,
which I knew was in business, which is the reason
(09:54):
I went to the school in the first place. So
fast forward now I have befriended Will Marshall and Bill
Raphael at the Mayor's office in Los Angeles, and Mayor
Tom Bradley. He's pre Internet, so you wouldn't know that
he was the first black mayor who was mayor of
(10:14):
a city for twenty years, the city of Los Angeles.
And he was international. He was common knowledge in Asia,
specifically correct places like Korea. Just an incredible guy. Mayor
Tom Bradley the city of Los Angeles, and through Bill
Raphael and Will Marshall, who vouched for me in my
(10:36):
entrepreneurial zeal. I got to meet Mayor Tom Bradley, and
then Mayor Tom Bradley invited me on a delegation trip
to Korea, South Korea. I didn't have the money, but
I hustled and I, you know, found the money. So
the money you're spending on vacations or buying a stereo
or you know, buying the newest iPhone or ipping, you
(10:58):
know that couple hundred dollars to a couple of thousand
dollars that could be redeployed, you know, the bank of
you to invest in your dream. Well, I had deployed
money I would give used to floss and hang out.
I deployed that. But things like a trip to well,
there was a government trip which you had to reimburse
the government for its costs.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And I remember.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
One of the mayor's assistants, which was like the unofficial
mayor for Los Angeles. I mean he was like, did
you used to say to Will Marshall, who is this
little nappyhead kid? I had a little computer with me.
I mean all back in the day, I used to
have a computer from from radio shack, Like you could
even see the diodes and all the little moving parts.
I mean I used to I messed around with technology
my whole life. I used to have computer. I used
(11:40):
to have a Cassio computer, and I had I had
a portable computer. Hello, portal computer that was, you know,
fifty pounds. I used to travel with a computer box,
a leather box that had and it was a little
coach seat right, and the front would come down as
a keyboard, and it was a screen in the back
would flip out, and it was a printer, yes, full printer,
(12:03):
full computer, full keyboard. And can you imagine people see
sitting next to me and around me, like what's going
on with this dude here? And uh uh? But I
was always I was I was really. I was about
my I was about my grind. It's about my business.
So Bill roth Feel was like sorry. The assistance of
the mayor was like, who is this little mappyhead kid kid?
Why is he here? And Will Marshall was like, well,
(12:25):
the mayor likes him, but really Will Marshall and and
and Bill Rafael liked me, and a couple other people
there and the Mayor's Office of Small Business Assistance, and
and then on time the mayor did learn to like me,
and so everybody else had to tolerate me. And that
introduced me to international and I got that bug, and
I've now been one hundred countries. And I built a
(12:46):
relationship with Mayor Tom Bradley, and later on I went
on to help the City of Los Angeles before I
found an operation to Hope created a city Lending Agency UH.
I innovated it a private public partnership with the City
of Los Angeles and the private sector drifting loan banks
(13:06):
in the city of LA But I was told I
was too young to run it, so they gave they
let this other guy run it who was in it
me by the way, and didn't want to acknowledge that
I was actually the founder of this idea. But I
knew that I had done it, and Tom Brawley knew
that I had done it, and he was appreciative that
I wasn't being a bully or not a bully. I
wasn't being pushy in trying to make sure I got
(13:28):
credit for it. I just was happy that the city
was doing it. So that built more rapport with me
and the mayor, and other than the fact that I
was repeatedly late for meetings, I remember one meeting with
the mayor. Please don't do this. Please do not do this.
Even black he born on probation in America. You know,
twice as smart, twice as intelligent, twice as Will dressed,
(13:49):
you know, twice as early step, twice as late. Please
don't do it. I just what I'm about to tell you.
For some reason, I'm sitting in my office in West
Los Angeles at the Irvine Building at Supovita and San Monica,
the south west corner, not next to the four five Freeway,
sitting in my marble office building for what was in
Brian Group Companies, and looking out south through my Florida
(14:12):
ceiling glass windows, feeling and self important. And I had
a meeting with Mayor Tom Bradley was a young kid,
you know, twenty one years old or something. I had
done a master buyout, bought this company that I had
previously worked for. And I'm sitting in my own office.
I'll tell you that story later. And I had a
meeting with the mayor. But the problem was this was
one new clock meeting and it was twelve forty five.
(14:34):
Why in the world I was still sitting at my
desk at twelve forty five when I had all day
to finish what I was doing, which was not really
all that important, and get my little behind in my car.
You know, we all know traffic in la is ridiculous.
Of course I was forgetting late. I was disastrously late,
and the mayor still was graciously saw me. Will Marshall
and Bill rolferre wanted to wring my neck, but they
(14:57):
gave me. They gave me a pass. Knew I meant well,
but that was a lesson, and of course I still
remember to this day. I'm just telling you the story,
and that has to be now. I mean, it's thirty
plus years ago and I'm still embarrassed. But relationship capital
got me in the door, and sometimes relationship capital got
me to sell, and sometimes relationship capital saved my rear
end from embarrassment. Here, let me put it in another way.
(15:20):
If you want to have a little grace in your life,
you better show a little mercy. Grace is when you
get what you don't deserve, and mercy is when some
rancid sob does not get the rear end are telling
off that he so rightly or she so rightly deserves. Again,
mercy is when somebody who has offended you in the
worst way, does not get the cursing out or whatever
that they so rightly deserve. But grace is where you
(15:41):
and I get the blessings and the gifts that we
don't deserve. If you want to have a little grace,
learn to show a little mercy. Relationship capital is the
bridge to that. You know, people upset about networking. It's
a waste of time. Only broke people network. I hate
to tell you, but you know, you go into a
meeting and you can't get you can't get your business
card out because it runs into the person aside the
(16:02):
other side trying to give you their business card. And
then you go home and you put all those business
cards in a desk and you never look at him again,
and you certainly don't follow up.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So what were you there? You were there for the
free food for a happy hour. I don't know why
you're there.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
But you'll never see whoever, pick somebody you admire, you know,
Oprah Winfrey or Robert Smith or Bill Gates or Striving
my cu of the six Mission, Richest Man in Africa,
or you know whoever your heroes or heroes are. You
won't see them at a networking recession, right, that's a
taking business. You want to build relationship capital, that's a
giving business. So who were my relationship? I'm gonna through
(16:36):
this pretty quickly, you know, I don't I don't want
to bore you or myself. And you're smart enough to
get the gist here. Dave Ormara was a guy on
Malibu cinemas. I don't know I met Dave, but I
think he just went into his theater one day and
struck up a conversation. He owned Malibu Centems back then,
and we got to know each other and when to
go visit him at the theater. I never asked him for
a thing. At some point he started asking me about
(16:58):
my dreams. And then, you know, I didn't have a car,
so he sold me a car, a little Triumph I
believe it was convertible British job. And I had some
dreams and he invested a few dollars in my dreams.
And one of the dreams was a mobile detailing business
that didn't work. Another one of my dreams was a
concert promotion company that didn't work. I was a manager
(17:21):
for one of the lead singer of the Platters, J C. Parrish,
that certainly didn't work. I ended up signing for When
I started signing for at power attorney started signing for
his dental work at the dental office, I knew something
was wrong, and I mean, I got cleaned out. He
meant well, he's a good guy. But I got cleaned out.
And would I hold a concert at Rialto Performing Arts Center.
(17:44):
I was the first client of the Rialto Performing Arts Center.
You can look it up now, it's been there for
twenty eight years plus, but I was a first client
ever to rent the place. And I had an actor
come out in a limousine as a VIP guest, and
I had fliers all over the city of Rialto, and
I had J. C. Pearis of the platters singing, and
the real concert roots in the area went and tore
(18:05):
all my flyers down as I put them up, gangster
gangster stuff. And it was like literally one person in
the audience, and that was my mother. That was I
think one of two times I got a loan for
my mother. She she loaned me five undred dollars to
just this encouragement. I was completely devastated, but everybody gave
(18:25):
me a pass because they knew I meant well. They'll
get relationship capital. Even the people who sponsored me, who
allowed me to rent this performing arts center, didn't hold
me accountable for the whole contract that would have bankrupted me.
So fast forward. Now again all these I didn't make.
I didn't pay Davel Mayor back. Okay, So David Mayer said, look,
in order to pay me back, you need a job.
(18:46):
Like you know, you're not really good at this entrepreneurship
thing at the moment.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
You need a job.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Let me should use you to Steve Stephan Codder Miller,
Steve Miller who owned Wade Cotder and Company. And I
went and met Steve Miller. He offered me a job.
Because of Dave O'Mara, I didn't know about lending a
brokeridge or whatever, and they sent me in the south
central Laida to basically to lend the little old ladies.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
They weren't racist. This is where I found the first
definition of non conscious inscrimination. They weren't racist.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
They just wanted a high return in their money above
as return of their money for their private investors. And
they found the people in south central la who had
a lot of equity in their houses, would take a
loan for the equity to get the cash and wouldn't
mind high interest rates and high points because they were
financially illiterate. Well, once I figured out what I was doing, like,
I can't do this.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
This is immoral.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
It's not you know, you don't mean to be racist,
but this is this is unethical and I can't do it.
So once I figured out what I was doing, and
I'll do another podcast just on this business model. But
the fast forward, I end up convincing Dave O. Mayer, sorry,
Steve Miller. I would give him his salary back. I
couldn't take Dave May the accessuse. I'll pay his money back.
(19:48):
I was give him a salary back in his car
allowance back, in his food stipend. I'd work for free
if he made me a partner in the company in
a new division that I would lead. And to a
humor me, Steve said, sure, he was a capitalist. He's like,
I get a free employee, I need to pay you.
And he left and well then I think, you know,
I failed the real estate California real estate test three times.
(20:10):
You can only pass it fell at four times before
they think you're too stupid and won't let you. FELT
want to let you take it again. I passed the
fourth time. First year did zero in business, second year
did nine million, thirty or fifteen million, fourth year twenty
four million. I did a measured buyout and bought my
employeer again. I'll get into that in another podcast. I'm
twenty early twenty something at this point, and Davel Mahyra
(20:34):
was proud of me, and Steve Miller was shocked. And
how did I get that deal done? By the way,
I opened the Yellow Pages again found the biggest ad
for a law farm in Century City. It was a
Jeffer Mangos, Butler and mar More. And I couldn't say Jeffer,
and I couldn't say Mangos without mangling it, and I
couldn't say Marmorro. So I called and asked to Jim
(20:54):
Butler partner. He answered the phone, and I told him
what I was calling Viio, that I was going to
do a measurement buyout. He says, you you can't do that.
You can't tell me what I can do. I'm not
you know that's racist. He's as slow down, ye man.
He said, I'm telling you, I know you've Miller and
you don't want to buy that business. Let me make
a phone call. So he hung up, call me back
and said, look, you're the only guy making any money
over there, why don't you just buy your own division.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I'll help you.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
And that's how I got in business initially. In that
business again, I build a quick relationship with Jim Butler.
I still have a relationship with that firm to this day,
thirty five years later. One of their Tory attorneys was
a pro bono free a law counsel for Operation Hope
for at least twenty five years and a great relationship. Okay,
(21:47):
let's get into the real deep waters now. So now
I build Operation Hope and the government shuts down. And
my banker was in a bank called I think it
was called Cedars Bank. It's changed names several times, but
William Hannah, who was the CEO don't call on Bill's
name was William and I had a relationship with William Hannah,
and I convinced him to give us a twenty five
thousand dollars line of credit for Operation Hope. And Operation
(22:09):
over had you know, no budget, like one hundred thousand dollars.
I mean we had no we were just starting out
and the government shut down. Maybe had a couple hudred
thousand dollars. Think the government shut down was twenty ninety four,
I believe, but certainly we couldn't We couldn't justify us
line of credit. He gave me his line of credit.
We ran through it pretty quickly.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
We had a.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Government grant, but the government had shut down. So I
went to William Hanna and said, look, all I got
is my word, all God is my name. You've known
me a little bit here. I won't let you down.
He unbeknownst to me, he went to his chief financial officer,
a woman, and again, luckily for her, I can't remember
her name at the moment, and she told him. He
told me later that William, you'll never get your money back.
Do not make this loan. I wanted one hundred thousand
(22:50):
dollars line of credit, and William overrode his chief financial
officer at the bank. He under his own authority, and
I guess if I default it, he'd been reliable for
He gave me that loan extension, and I said, I'll
pay you back. And I not only did I pay
him back, I paid him back early. Because I knew
that my reputation was writing on that. So I went
and hustled to hustle, worked hard, and I made my
(23:12):
highest priority keeping my word to William Hannah. And that
then turned me keeping the word about a twenty five
thousand dollars line of credit, which turned into one hundred
thousands line of credit, which turned it into a to
me paying the whole thing down to zero, then turned
into a million dollar line of credit. Hello, and then
it then turned ultimately into them leading a consortium of
banks for a multi million dollar line of credit at
that point, the largest line of credit to an unscared
(23:35):
line of credit to a nonprofit organization in California at
that time, Community's nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Organization, and that was William Hannah.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And that certainly was a relationship capital and I love
William and appreciate him to this day. I worked for
Harvey Baskin. Again, I'm just giving you the crib notes
on this. Harvey Baskin would be a billionaire today by
today's damage, worth a couple hundred million dollars.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
He was in the financial business.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I met him because I wanted that was aspirational, and
I was, uh, you know, I'm not sure which air
of my life this was, but I was I was.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I mean, I was leaving.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I was living I think in south central LA, and
I did not have a dependable car, so I was
catching the bus rapid transit district we call rough, tough
and dirty, and I and I got a job and
initially it grew glass Stones for Fish. Again, I didn't
have any capitals. I needed to lead on somebody else's
capital and credibility. So I needed some credibility and I
didn't have it. So I rode the bus. Got a
(24:29):
job at Glassdoms for Fish as a bus bus boy,
worst shift, seven in the morning, breakfast shift, and and
I had to get the bus to get there. I
had to get get up and get going at five
in the morning. And after a few weeks, I'm like,
oh no, this is not my crowd. Lawyers, it was doctors.
It was you know, all good people. But they were
the folks serving the people that I'm trying to access.
I'm trying to get to the folks that they are
(24:52):
clients to. They were vendors to wealthy people. I didn't
want to be a vendor, even a high end vendor
at a couple of I was an hour as a
lawyer or whatever. I wanted to be the dude, right,
So I quit and then I went and drove further
up the coast to Malibu to glad the Jeoffrey's restaurant
(25:14):
just been opened. Geoffrey at the end, beautiful man, great
human being, since passed on the glory. Harvey Baskin was
his lover and was his financier, and Harvey at this
is the first time I've ever seen this. Harvey just
got to give him the restaurant as a toy, like
this is a gift. He was just like, No, here's
a restaurant for you. You want to be in a
restaurant business. Here It's called Jeoffrey's Malibu. It's still there.
And I got to know Jeoffrey. They gave me a
(25:37):
Monday evening shift as a busboy, then a waiter. Translation.
I was a really crappy busboy and a waiter because
a Monday shift is horrible. You put your worst performance there,
adding care I work. I got to know Jeoffrey, got
the but Jeoffrey wasn't the financier. He was just a face.
I got to know him that I had to get
to know Harvey, So I got to know Harvey a
little bit and Harvey had two Black Ribbean assistants. Okay,
(26:00):
with Harvey's got a little soulle in him. He's got
he's got a little flavor. He's got these two brothers
or his assistance. So I got to know them too,
and enough people vouch for me, and I got to
know Harvey, and then he was like, well, you want
to come work for me? Yes, So I took a
pay cut, if you can believe that, from being a waiters,
they got tips to go become effectively a twenty thousand
dollars a year a personal assistant to a guy worked
two hundred million dollars. Now, don't start talking about fairness.
(26:22):
And oh you know I'm not being paid enough. No,
hold on to the story. Now, I got to work
in this beautiful mansion on the beach. I saw ocean
crashing in every day. I saw this guy walk around
in a Jesus robe. I call it a robe. I'm
sure you have any underwear on. This just was Harvey.
Long beards, some sandals, and he did.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
As he liked.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
But I saw him cutting deals and on the phone
doing his thing, and I'm like, okay, this is the
way to roll right. And I worked there for a
little bit, and then I had so many questions for Harvey.
I'm like, can I take you to dinner?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So he told me what restaurant he liked. I put
him in my brokedown. I think it was Aludy. Back
then he had broken his foot, so he needed like
driving me days, just days.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
He had to sit in the back seat with.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
The front pass your seat pushed forward, you know, front,
front seat pushed down, his leg was up, he was
in the back. I'm in the front again. Looked like
driving his daisy. I didn't care. And so I drove
him from Malibu down to Venice to the restaurant to
he loved. And the bill comes. I'd ask him all
kinds of questions. Bill comes and he passes the.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Bill to me. It's one hundred bucks.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I mean one hundred bucks back then, making twenty rand
a year take home pay, I don't know, fifteen thousand
dollars have taxes or something. And he's he's got worth
two hundred million dollars right, he's giving the guy a
restaurant hello, And he passes this one hundred dollars bill
to me. I'm like, no, no, no, I passed one hundred
dollar bill to him. This is the bill for the dinner.
He passes the bill back to me. I slid the
(27:41):
bill back to him. He slid the bill back to me.
He said, say, hey, hey, John's slow down now. Everybody
listening now, He said, John, you got to figure out
what business you're in. Do you want to pick my
brain or pick my pocket? One lasts longer, pooh man,
because I asked. He said, you've gotten you know, tens
(28:02):
of thousand dollars worth a free consulting if you've asked
me every question on the sign here, and I'm going
charge you for that. But you don't want to pay
the bill. I mean, nothing in life's free. So I
pulled that one hundred dollars bill back, and as much
as it hurt me, I took everything I had and
I paid the bill for this multi millionaire. You may
not think that that's not fair, but life's not fair.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Capitalism is a gladiator sport, right, Period's not it's not fair,
and it's not emotional. And I learned how to take
stuff like that person. In fact, he was teaching me.
He was helping me, you know, like did I want
something for free or did I want to did I
want to lean in right?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Do I want to invest in? Co invest in?
Speaker 1 (28:32):
He was trying to figure out what kind of character
I had. So anyway, Harvey went on to endorse me,
introduce me, helped me out when I needed it countless
times after that. And again he's pre internet, so you
don't see a lot of information on Harvey Basking. But
you know, I still in this podcast because he changed
my life. And there's been so many heroes and she
(28:54):
roes and Bastarrandrew Young I chased for ten years. Quincy Jones.
I chased Quincy Jones. I talkedalked about that in one
of my other podcasts. I think about being homeless. Bill
Rogers of what's now Truest Bank used to be sun
Trusts a mentor, Jim Wales before him, the CEO before him,
Brian Jordan, the first Horizon Bank. People like Charlie sharfon
(29:17):
Wells Fargo, Doug McMillan at Walmart. Guy who made the
biggest bet on me I didn't know it was Marraghetti
who runs three hundred fifty billion dollar areas Management today CEO.
And Tony Wrestler his the chairman of areas CO invested
in my real estate company, which I then built with
(29:37):
a forty million dollar investment, no business plan, no PowerPoint presentation,
nothing but my credibility in my word. And I built
that company from zero to two hundred million dollars in
acid value, just under that one hundred and eighty and
seventy million dollars in asset value. And I sold that
company in December Christmas Eve twenty twenty one, they say,
clipped a coupon on Wall Street and paid off eighty
(29:59):
nine million dollars worth of debt and equity, including my
investors with interest that I promise him. And I still
am proud of that to this day, no favors. And
I've done four billion dollars plus worth of deals.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Did you hear that?
Speaker 1 (30:11):
I've transferred, transmitted, communicated, placed more than four billion dollars
worth of capital just through operation Hope another few hundred
million dollars through my private companies.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
And I'm up for.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Nothing, right, Nobody gave me a thing. I didn't have
a trust fund or a hook up or nothing. I
did it all myself up from nothing, and I did
it through what I'm talking to you about. And we
can go on and on and on with this. There's
so many people who's had an impact in my life.
Steve Ryan, my counsel lawyer, one of the lawyers that
Operation Hope. I met him and he believed in me.
(30:44):
And he was sitting in a government meeting one day
and somebody, some company had a fine and they had
to figure out what to send five million dollars, and
he just said, well, you should send an Operation Hope.
I got the five million dollars through my nonprofit because
he believed in me and I had a relationship with him.
I can do that all day and all night, and
I might in the description list a number of these names.
(31:05):
Doctor Dorothy Hype, you know, wasn't just men, women too.
Doctor Dorothy Hype was a mentor. It was civil rights,
it was social justice, it was entertainment. It was business,
it was banking, it was finance. All quarters of my life,
relationship capital right that I honored and treated. And I'd
go in a room. The first question I'd asked is
(31:25):
you know, I look at the pictures behind their desks.
Tell me about your children, tell me about people love
talking about themselves. Most people want to talk about themselves,
not asking the other person about tell me about yourself.
And I was always just genuinely fascinated and interested in
other people. And it was authentic, like it wasn't a game,
and I never would ask for anything. And at some point,
and yes, it took longer than you might like, but
(31:46):
at some point in all these relationship, people say, look
what can we do together? I like you, Like I
had this conversation with this one billionaire and I brought
him a business deal and he cursed me out. He's like, man,
stop bringing me business deals. Like I don't need to
make any more money because I pay more taxes on
income than I do on capital gains. It's a whole
another video for another time, another podcast, another time, which
is all the white it's whole ridiculous political conversation about
(32:08):
taxing billionaires is so crazy because they don't owe. You know,
the secretary pays more taxes than a billionaire because a
billionaire doesn't make any any active income. Billionaires make passive income. Okay,
it's a whole nother thing, but it's just look look
up the word passive income. Look up you know capital gains.
The taxing capital gains is twenty percent and the tax
(32:29):
on regular income. Is you know thirty five thirty eight
you had. This local tax could be as much as
forty five to fifty percent. So anyway, he said, I'm good.
I don't need to make any more money to paying
the reer in. I got to pay a bunch of
taxes on it. I'm good. I've paid my debt. I'll
do this because I like you. That's it. That's why
I'll do this deal. So if people don't like you,
don't respect you, don't admire you, they're not doing anything
(32:50):
with you. I don't have to. Nobody owes you a
thing except a hello and a goodbye. So I'm saying
now goodbye. I love you too much. Go to Operation Hope,
sign up and get the silver rights alright to deserve.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
I believe in you.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Money and Wealth with John O'Brien is a production of
the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the
Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
John Hope Bryant
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