E297: Kevin Bludso, Randy Williams, Glenn Robinson III & Rhonesha Howerton

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
advice to many occasions. In occasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.
You know. He'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry
decision makers. It's what he likes to do, it's what
he likes to share. Now it's time to hear from

(00:25):
my man, Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations. Here we come.
Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your host, Rashan McDonald.
I recognize that we all have different definitions of success.
For some is a sizeable paycheck. Mine is helping people
wake up and inspiring them to accomplish their goals and
live their very best life. These are my passions and

(00:46):
that's what I'm going to do for you. That's why
we do Money Making Conversations. Bring people on my show
to let them tell you their story, and you take
the information from their story to help you out with
your dreams. I want you to stop tripping over small
challenges and prepare to rise above the bigger obstacles that
life will present to you. My next guest is Kevin Blood,
so we go all the way back to the Hoodie
Awards in Los Angeles, California, before he opened Blood Cells

(01:10):
Ball in Q on Lobrea, which I've been too many
times in Los Angeles. Kevin's is a chef, television personality
and two times Steve Harvey Hoodie Award winner. In two
thousand and eight he opened Blood Souls by b b
Q and it's since grown into an international empire. Hear
me when I said international from Compton to international with
Blood Souls, Ball and Q, which I talked about earlier.

(01:32):
It is right there on Librea, right there, man, you
got valet parking, everything, great food. Every time I go there, man,
it's just a beautiful, uh display of food, people in
their cross sectional people. Uh. Concession stand at the l
A f C Soccer Stadium, a location in Proud Bird
right there at l A been there many times, catering
and a sprawling restaurant and ball called sant Antone by

(01:55):
Blood so BBQ in the crowd Casino and Melbourne him meant,
y'all your born Australia. That's where the International Park comes
from the legend of Blood. So BBQ begins, of course
the counter of Texas. That's right south of Dallas, Texas.
The reason I know. I'm from Houston, Texas, so I
passed through Colt Towner many times. I get up to Dallas.
Come on now where the Blood Show family has been

(02:16):
perfecting the craft of slow, slow smoked meats for five generations.
But while his family roots for Lady in Texas, Kevin
himself was born and raised in Compton, California. That's where
I met him. Now he is a television star. Like
I said earlier, he big time television star, sitting up.
That man got make up in anything land on. You
can catch him judging on Netflix the American Barbecue Showdown.
I've seen every episode. I'll also seen him on the

(02:39):
Food Chanleler Cookie Network. I've seen him on the bar Rescue.
I've seen this brother everywhere. Please working the money making conversations.
I want to call him a dear friend and a
guy I feel so blessed to talk to right now
on my show today, my man and Kevin Blood too.
How you doing, sir man? I am good. After that
in the duct interview over, I'm good smiling. Well, I

(03:02):
had to because I see you post let on the
on the on social media. You're gonna be talking to
the legend on Thursday. That's my Let me just let me.
Let me make it perfectly clear. I would not be
doing probably none of this extra stuff if it wasn't
for winning that first Hoodie award. Man, I would never
forget that. I remember talking to you backstage was so

(03:24):
cool and it was like I always knew you and
Steed too, but with me and you holler backstage and man,
you came and gave me the hug. I was like, damn,
have I manhill be false? Just say, man and I
have like and I mean, you told me something that
night and I don't know if you remember, but you
said you're gonna be all right. I always look out
for your folks. You remember you told me that absolutely

(03:46):
absolutely believe that that man. You know, And I just
want to say, Man, I appreciate you. I appreciate everything
you guys have done for me. Man, and I really
really missed the Hoodie Awards. I really do because win
a little it was so much fun. Man. How y'all
take normal folks from the neighborhood and made us feel

(04:07):
incredible every time for those three and Podas Man, I
just always wanted to thank you guys. Man. It was
an incredible time. It was an incredible ride. And even
because I think I went to like sixth straight or
absolutely remember we had those little those little meeting greets
and all that stuff. Remember, yeah, man, the little the
great room in there, because don't forget Kevin, get the

(04:32):
red carpet and to get my first one for what
was Sally Richard and uh Bernie mack and he was
not Bernie mack up George Wallace clowning for thirty minutes
and and my pants falling down and everything and memories, man,
I chaired the Shine real though. You know some I
have the video of of your winn I don't know

(04:53):
if you have that. I'm gonna send it to you.
Please don't show that, man, Please gona send it to you.
I got them all, my got that time history of
the hoodia Wars slash Neighborhood of Wars. I got it.
But but you know something Kevin is is is the
thing about it is that that's what it was all about.
It's always been about the people. It's always recognizing the
regular people, because you know, we get so we get

(05:14):
become like unknown we can we be get burdened, like
we're not even delivering a contributing And that's why I
was telling you about to take care of your people.
Because what we didn't know, you know, Steve Harry Now
didn't know at the time, was that well, you know,
I started this in Houston, Texas in nineteen eighties seven,
just as I was a sidekick on the radio show.
And then what happened when Steve came we got the

(05:34):
radio gig in l A. He said, Rill, Sean, did
you should do that goodie war thing? I think I
have told be big. You know, I would never as
a as an individual, I could never just go to
the radio stage. But Steve was big enough to say,
let's do this, let's do that. I gotta give credit
with credits do and they weren't know and they sold it,
and we sold the idea. We went to Vegas several
times with the Forum several times, and then we went

(05:57):
back to Vegas and so it was what was when
you when you talk about it, you know, because what
I didn't see coming was how it affected the business.
How enabled you can talk about how the Hood Awards
affected you guys with all that promotion, Steve holling it
out on them. Here's the nominees, here's the nominees. Here's
the top four. Here's the top four. Talk about that,

(06:18):
I mean, the pride that it. I mean, it's like
people still to this day just talking about when it
was time to vote, the first vote and the second vote,
and and and how genius it was the way y'all
put that together that had the first vote in the
second vote. But the pride of bringing people together and
people just wanted to be part of that, and then

(06:39):
when you win and and bringing home. Man, it's like
in the neighborhood, it's like, you know, winning the national championship.
You know, everybody want to come, and so many people
would wait to hear if you want. I mean, I mean,
we had customers cry when we lost, you know what
I mean? And uh, it's that I mean because like
I said, you don't have that much Like I said,

(07:00):
you you don't have that many shows that do that. Especially,
I mean, we barely got enough for real celebrities that
they give problems to, so to have you know, the
normal hard work and people trying to run their businesses
and all that doing their thing to getting a ward
and and and like I said, getting the award from
Sally Sally Richards and and and George Wallace and and
the people I met backstage and just the whole thing. Man,

(07:23):
It's incredible, man, I mean, it was a it was
a real beautiful time man. And it's just the pride
that it brings. And then the customers that you get.
If you notice everything that I do, every show that
I say that I do, they say about winning the
Hoodie Award, no matter what they always say in Canada,
Australia and whatever. Like the lady told the body, I said,

(07:43):
it's the hoodie you know all over always get a
problem man, Because like I said, that was just a
real exciting time, man. Was it was real fun, you know.
And and and I thank you, you know, because of
the fact that the whole idea man, was to celebrate
the real stars of the community. That was the basis
of the video Awards in the Neighborhood a Wars. Because

(08:04):
of the fact that and my whole thought was that, Okay,
instead of have the celebrities being recognized for un let's
use the celebrities as almost like props to get people there,
because you know, if we said that we were just
gonna be doing best bybecue best high school, would nobody
show up. But you got Steven Holt, you got the salary,
just just Sali Richardson's on stage, you got the George

(08:24):
Wallace stage, you got Scoop Dog Ice Q showed up
one year, Magic Jonawson showed up. When you get all
these people, people going whoa, whoa, what's going on here?
What's going on here? And then it allows us to
be back like like in the green like before the
Wars and in the green room with him, you know,
having cocktails, but just like and everybody interacting. Man, it

(08:46):
was incredible. And like I said to even the walker
to the not just the red carpet, when we walked
through the casino or whatever, going inside getting ready to
call in and walking inside that arena, man, that was like.
That was that was cool. That was that was a major.
That was that was majing because you know the thing
about it I would not share, No, I was people

(09:07):
come in and go, man, this is produced better than
the Emmies, Dude, this is better than it because I
because I had to do that the worst thing in
the world, man, is for us as black people, you know,
to say you're gonna do something good for us and
then do it half. I didn't do it, slopper, And
that's what that was my greatest love, man, because to
see the look on y'all faces because y'all didn't believe it. Okay,

(09:28):
this was always chipped me out, man. Was those acceptance species.
I wasn't ready for that, Kevin. So I wasn't ready
for because I I told Steve Irris, look, man, I
got the fact we're gonna nominate them. I got the
fact we're gonna vote. Vote. I said, I don't know
what they're gonna say when they get up there. Man.
Y'all got up there, man, and it was like if
they brought me to tears many times, man, because I
didn't realize the impact of a community award. That's what

(09:53):
it was. It was a community award and how it
affected and you know what I because I always like,
you know, because I was reading the guy Steve is
still the start, you know, way back there. But I
could go to a restaurant and I went by your
place one time back in the hood. And then when
and then and then I found out my girl Candy,
who should do my backstage celebrity streaming? She said, Kevin

(10:17):
is on Libraya. I said, he got a spot on Libra.
I didn't even know Kevin. I didn't even know you
had that. She was so candy, so cool after my
baby sister. Now, man, she is so cool, always so professional, man,
and just and incredible, you know. I mean, your whole
staff was just like you know, man, I mean, and

(10:38):
I mean when you guys came out and did the
video of me, uh, and I was still in compliment, man,
And I don't even know what you know. Candy, don't
give no information. You know. I used to find up
to see that. Boy. You think I'm losing my job
over you know that? So she said about the video.
When y'all did the video, she said, well, well, I

(10:59):
don't want to say she like, but she lies, like,
oh we do this with all the contestants. People don't
get on the video. And at the lunch and then
I was on the luncheon. I don't even know until
I got did you know. I mean, everything y'all did
was it was just it was it was for even
like the waiting like like like in that first time.
I mean, I'm I'm nervous. I'm sweating like a brother

(11:20):
of clan with the white woman. You know what. I'm
sweating that nervous. But I said, man, I ain't been
this nervous since football days. And it was just uh
and and I'm not even putting too much on it. Man.
It was other contestants that I met, and then the
friendships the people that I met from other businesses that
we are still good friends to this day. Man. That's
what that's what it's all about. Man. I mean, I

(11:41):
hear like the morning show sometimes and I get nervous
because I remember during the time when it's voting time,
because you know, we are burthen Coast got us about
a few obvious and they don't already started. But I
just remember that one year, it was six forty five,
they was about to go off the air and uh
and it was just correct. Tommy said he was doing

(12:01):
the top three or whatever, the top four, and we
was number three already in time. But Steve said, now
that's now, that don't make no sense. Bless those number
three and number brothers in l A. That's right. So listen,
let me explain to everybody. See what happened was from
two thousand one to two thousand five, we were l
A was l A based radio station. Steve Art name
two three and and Kevin and all everybody was in

(12:23):
other l A. So in two thousand and five were
left and went to New York. Were based in New
York for two years. So for one year we took
a year off. Two thousand and six, we didn't even
do it. We didn't even do it, and we're trying
to figure out what we had to do with our
own career. We were struggling and trying to come up
after that run. And then two thousand seven we brought
it back, and so we're freaking me and Steve I
was like, okay, they in l A and so you know,

(12:46):
you guys, and like you said, y'all were three hours difference,
and y'all were voting. Y'all were seriously voting Kevin. Yeah,
we had him. We had everybody, every old college people, everywhere,
everybody we knew, all over the uh United States. We
had them going. Man. But like I said, and you'd
be surprised. I mean, people still come and tell me

(13:06):
how much they missed that. And I missed those weeks
of the hoodie was and so many people when you win,
it would go and I remember being, you know, like
I said, it's it's starting in l A. You did,
you did, But I remember being and I member, you
know a couple of times bloss was the only one
in I mean one time we were the one. My
first year we wanted and crash shall High wanted and

(13:28):
after that it got so big it was people don't
know how hard it is. You know you're listening to
money making conversations with Rashan McDonald. We'll be right back.
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Welcome back to money making Conversations. I'm your host, Sean McDonald. Yeah,
it was like, you know, because you're absolutely right, because
two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, that's when
you know it became really national because we started out
syndicating to all these walking with New York, Chicago, Philadelphia,

(14:57):
you know, a good Charlotte or Miami, all these different
market dollars and so it wasn't just l A anymore.
That's why I steer trip that you guys were able
to win before it really explode, And when it really explode,
it was like, wow, this is something that was just
a just a cool idea that's become worldwide. But that
but that kind of like prepared you for what you're

(15:18):
doing now. As as as as they said international brand,
talk about the stuff we were talking about. This is
we talked about coming out of Comptom. You know, open
up your shop. You got this beautiful restaurant. I'm gonna
just tell you about the food. Okay, and uh blood
so ball and cute ball and Q that's on Labraya.
I swear to you guys, every time I go to

(15:40):
l A. You know, the COVID has kept me out,
but I will go there. And you know, I'm tell
you I'm gon typing by Candy Candy Candy. She goes
by Kendy Marina because I represent her as an actress
and and uh talk and producer. She took me at
the first time, she said, and then she said, Kevin
said he got you on this with Shan. I said,
you know, I don't like that. I don't like that,

(16:00):
and said I don't like ahead and so and so. So.
You know, every time I go in there, I don't
tell nobody. I don't go I've taken the air Force
in there. Air force in there because I had a
big contract the Air Force. And then I was doing
a base like two hours away and uh and in
the month of March, two hours away, and I told him,
I said, I want you all to go to l

(16:21):
A and Or and get and pick up this barbecue run.
They said, Rushan really Asa yes, blood so or libreya.
I said, the Colin Green's gonna kill you. Then we
mess you up. Now, I said, Colin Queen's gonna mess
you up. And they said when they two hours down
two hours back, was nobody disappointed. They went, Wow, let's

(16:42):
see why you went. That's how powerful I believe in
your brand. That's how good your brand is. Tell everybody
about the menu that you have, the type of food
that you serve on your menu. Kevin, like I always
say that we do it right, low and slow, like
a six vote. You know what I'm saying. Take that
time to brisket is fifteen hours. The ribs it's four
to five hours. You know, we we You know, I'm

(17:04):
a firm believer. It's ain't broke, don't don't fix it.
You know, I still do it the way Willie May
feels you should do it. When I was coming up
spend my summers and of course in Canada, you know,
she would take her time and do it right, you know.
And I just try to I just try to keep
that going at every spot that we got, you know.
Um and like I said, just knowing incredible people like
you and and and and and it's so funny you

(17:26):
bring up because I had a discussion about that with
a younger guy who just opened up a spot, and
he was saying, you know, say, you know, uh, sometimes
celebrities come in and and uh this and that this
and that said, let me just tell you one thing.
I don't care who they are, whatever, whatever, you give
them that option, because celebrities are different. Some of them

(17:47):
are just like you, who's like I want to pay
Some of them don't, you know, but you being you
need you need them more than they need you. And
like on any field, you got cool people and you
got uh, you know, people who are tripping or whatever whatever.
But that's on you to understand that. But a celebrity
coming in there, it's gonna look out for your business.

(18:09):
But you have to respect just like they respect your
work as a chef and they come to your spot,
you have to respect they work. Like these people don't
want to deal with people sometimes, but they take the
time to come come to you and come to your spot,
and sometimes us as business owners have to really quick
speaking on people's pocket books and all that one tweet
or some of the like when you talk about free

(18:29):
advertisement or some of the stuff that you do. I
can never pay for that because I posted every time
I posted a couple of last months and I hadn't
even been there, and I act like I was there. Yeah,
And That's what I'm saying. But I can't. And how
I respect that, And I love that so much. And
I try to tell younger brothers and sisters who open up,

(18:50):
get that mentality. They at the time, they're gonna pay,
but make sure you give them the respect that they deserve,
you know. I mean, we got all huge celebrities coming
there and do the same thing with all of them,
all of them. You know, I'm not gonna drop no names,
but I'm coming about foods. You know. Some of the
best artists we ever had too, from the Titanic and

(19:11):
everything come in that spot and they all look out.
But you better give them, you know, take care of man,
because these people are gonna do. You need that. It
wasn't for that and the Hoodie Awards and getting to
know that. I mean, there was so many celebrities that
come to the Hoodie Awards that came to the restaurant
after word, I gotta come see what this is about.
Absolutely absolutely, and that's that's called community. But the thing

(19:31):
about it, let me just tell you, I'm telling some
real talk here. Every time I've been I've been there
over a dozen times. Okay, I brought people with me.
I went in there by myself and just got the
vegetable spread. Because when you get the vegetable spread and
the me, it's just too much. And I'm always traveling
and I don't really I'm in a hotel, so I
can't do it to go okay, And so so sometimes
I come in there and give me some corn bread

(19:53):
and then I give me the the you know, some
colar greens, some beans, and and so I just break
it up like that. Or sometimes you come in and
get me a sandwich. And but every time I go
in there, the service is always on point. Kevin. The
meal looks exactly the same of quality separation, I mean, picture,
I take pictures of your food, and then people do

(20:16):
people go okay, looking like that. I said all the time,
all the time. I remember when I brought the National
Guarden there. You know, we was we were standing way
in Long Beach for for conference. I said, they said,
it's what we're gonna eat. I said, we're going to
uh bloodsoe bar and Q it's where it's l A.
He said, all we on that. I said, yes, We're

(20:36):
gonna go over there, went up in there. Man, they
went wow after because because the beauty about the beat,
the thing about coming to this place, like when you
get your meal, you get that double meat, triple mea
the order. Because I'm a kind of guy man, people,
I was saying, man, you're small. You know that food. Hey,
stay off my plate, Stay off my plate. Stay we

(20:59):
need we need to. And so what happens when you
have by five people at the table okay, and all
that food come to the table. You get attention man,
because it looks so beautiful because every one of the
plates is look immaculate as far as we won'ta say
you work is immaculate. Everything's nothing running off the sides,
nothing too small. The portions are good. That's why I

(21:21):
just love what I what I eat. That's why when
I kind of sneak in because Chang. I'm gonna tell Kevin,
you know, you ain't what problem problem because it's about
of respect. That's why I started the Hoodie Awards, man,
because it's about showing love. Man. The fact that you guys,
you still believe in it just excites me even more. Man.
And and and the fact that the fact that you

(21:42):
you're doing so well and you your TV so talk
about how did the television stuff start for you? And
how would you how would you were you nervous? Did
you know? What? Did you? Did you play it off?
How did it all kick off for you? Kevin? What
my first one? And it's so funny, my niece, because
I'm I'm just like, shoot, this is maybe two thousand ten, Kevin.

(22:02):
I'm uh, I'm still knee deep in the compter location.
So uh uh. This producer called and said, hey, we
really want to get you know, Kevin Bluss. He happened
to be at the restaurant. I didn't know who he was,
you know, in the restaurant, in the kitchen, we clowned
in the back, We clowned and cracked jokes in bag.
So the dude heard me back there clowning. So I've
never even seen it, didn't know who he was, and uh,

(22:26):
he kept calling and he kept always he got my
niece itself on him met his calls and she's like, um,
this guy wants you for for a TV show. And
I was like what TV show? Bar Rescue? And I
never heard of it, you know, never heard of the show.
And that just and that he kept calling, and then
one day she said, look, this dude need a video.
We're gonna go to your house and do this video.
So we we went to the house and started the
video of just you know, me interviewing and whatever whatever.

(22:48):
But before the thing was even set up, it's me
cussing her out and like, God, I ain't got my time.
She's my name. Who he's throwing souls is and this man.
So when she sent it, she sent the whole thing
and John Taffery's seen anything. Now, I gotta have this dude,
I gotta have the bam bam bam. Uh and I
got into funny story. I'm gonna keep the shore. But
for my first episode was in Kansas City. Uh, I

(23:11):
think it was called Boondocks or whatever. The show never
was supposed to air because so we saved this boar.
I'm thinking this dude is. That's when I learned to
between like, oh southern racist are Southern rocker? This dude
was a Southern rocket. We we actually are good friends
now and you know Southern rocket they like rapp and
country and on thinking he was a racist. But anyway,

(23:33):
we get into it on the show. I'm like, you know,
I'm gonna put hands on this food and all on
the show. But he didn't have no reverse. He didn't
have no reverse, so he wasn't no pump you know
what I mean. I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get you
are you gonna get? But anyway, so it's so crazy,
So it takes about a couple of months for them
to do it. So the night before the show was
supposed to hear, which was Thanksgiving weekend that year, I

(23:54):
can't think of in that the exact year, he was
having a party at his bar and got I was
smoking a big time country singer at his bar and
they got into it, had a fight to do kind
of got the best and Chris Chris Shotton killed them
the night before the show was supposed to so they
had to pull up the show. But the show accidentally
aired on the replay later on that night. And it's

(24:17):
a big old thing and all that, but I'm saying,
I'm getting into this food. This food go to. He
could have went to the back and out of gun
on me, you know, but that was my first episode,
my first job. Then John Tapper is like huge in
my life, like you guys. So, I mean, this dude
is as far as business and bars and the things
that he knows. And like I said, the teen episodes later, Man,

(24:41):
he keeps me busy. In fact, he called me the
other day to congratulate me because the Netflix show is
doing so good. Number one after last week is the
number one unscripted show on Netflix and it's doing well. Man.
First of all, that we're talking about the American Barbecue showdown, okay,
and they got some characters on there. And your girl
up from Mississippi. She's the real deal who cooks the

(25:04):
whole hall. Did you know ever? Photo show are just
new off I knew ever. If I knew ever, that
was our first time meeting. And uh, she's incredible. I
mean she's a legend. She's a legend, and uh, and
you'd be surprised some of those Cooks to be first time.
I mean, they did such a good job of getting
that cast together. I mean, we're hoping for a season two,

(25:24):
but you've got some of the producers might not even
want to do a season two because he said, some
things just need to be left untouching. To get that
the cast of uh, the pit masses that they had,
and the attitudes and the personalities, it's hard to you
know what I'm saying, it's hard to strike gold twice,
you know, and you're part of well, you know you,
I know you'll be back because it's part of your brain,

(25:45):
it's part of you. It's just part of what you do.
That that like, you know, when I put the press
relead that police out, you know, they said, I said
with Kevin's name first, Kevin Bloss's name first on the
press release. That press release was reached a hundred million people. Wow.
Picked when you start talking about audience picked up our
different websites and they started putting that numbing together a

(26:06):
hundred million people. And that's what relationships do, Kevin. And
that's what you're talking about this whole conversation is that
you respect the process, you understand the process. Just drop
just drop some jewels on people about the value of relationships, Kevin.
I mean, it's like I said when you when you
say look at look out, I would not be here
if it wasn't for people looking out for me. And

(26:28):
you know what I'm saying. I always say, uh, Russia's uh.
I don't give to be blessed. I'm blessed, so I
give you know, it's not no secret recipe that this
you know, it has to come from your heart. Like
I try to tell people, love to to talk about
all the funerals and stuff we paid for um, you
know with blood cells. Okay, let's also talk about the

(26:51):
scholarships and how many kids we put through college to
more of the good things that outweigh the bad things.
And God has put me in position to help like that.
And that's what I'm saying, and and it it it
comes that, That's what it's It's like, it's so weird,
it's just And I try to tell people it has
to come from your heart and it's natural. The blessing
is gonna keep ringing in if you do what you're

(27:12):
posted to do. And how was you raised? You was
raised to give you know me us as black posting.
I mean, you know, coming up, what we had, all
we had was food and and love and hugs and
all that, and like we gotta we gotta go back
to that, man, we gotta we gotta go back to that.
And you gotta want to put the work in. It's
hard work. Like people want to get a business. I know,
you know, a business is gonna be the hardest job

(27:34):
you ever had in your life. Right and if you
don't have that mint that's why everybody can't do with
a business is gonna be the hardest job in your
I mean, I said it due something. I want to
be like you. I want to you know, be able
to live in Texas and this and not this and that.
I said, okay, well you ready to go eight years
without off day? You know what I mean, I'm gonna

(27:56):
post that all the motivational card, Kevin, don't put that
on my way. Are you ready to give eight years
date when open up? Let me tell you when I
first opened up blood Shoes, I was still d Jane,
so I would have I would I would get to
blood Tows at uh four o'clock on a Saturday morning
and uh be there until seven o'clock. Home at night,

(28:21):
go home, take a shower, pack my gig up, and
go do a DJ gig. Get back about two three
in the morning, take a shower, and go up to
blood shows to take briskuts off and get ready for
the day. Two hours straight. And that went on for
the first almost year and a half of my business
because I was at one time, I was just DJ
and and catering. So I was bucked, you know, But

(28:44):
I had to do what I had to do. I mean,
my daughter wrote wanted to car wish I had it.
She said, my daddy, if you knew the work my daddy,
it was called my Daddy's not overnight success. My daddy
would come in at three in the morning. I would
just hope my father got at least one hour of sleep,
and I know he didn't. My Daddy's not an overnight success.
And they got to know everybody's path. It's not gonna
be that way, you know, but it's tough, especially when

(29:04):
you and I would and I know you know, when
you know money making conversations. I would tell anybody, if
you can, please have the money and the backing to start,
because when you start on a shoestring budget, that's why
a lot of them don't make it because you need that.
And us as a community, that's why we need our
own banks and we need because we can't these younger
they can't get the loans. You know. They want you

(29:25):
to to be experienced to get a small business man
a loan. But you you need the small business man
only get going, you know, and they and they and
they have to understand that. Then as you grow, get
get you know, get with a good team. I have
a good team behind me. There's no way I could
do what I'm doing if I didn't have the team
that uh I have working you know with with you know,

(29:47):
the blood shows, LLC. The people that we have, the
things that have been done, the doors that have opened,
to get tied straight, to get on the bread, to
get in those conversations that we need to be in
so we can have a voice, you know. And that's
the whole thing. You have to have a good team, man,
And then you got to trust the team. You might
be the quarterback, but you need some good receivers, line,

(30:08):
running backs, coaches, you know, on the sidelines, cheering your
own cheerleaders, all that stuff, man. And more importantly, you
need fans in the stands. That's called customers people and
how you keep them by putting out a good product. Absolutely, Kevin,
I just want to thank you, man, and uh look,
don't hang up, come and wrap up this show. I

(30:28):
want to get the number and so we can stay
in touch. But uh, I just love you, man, I
just love you, man. Man, I got so much love
and respect for you. Bro, it's like it's it's unwavery
man real talk. You know, because of the fact that
I know where you came from. I know, I know,
and I know that what I've been doing all my
life and two people, I've been doing this since all

(30:49):
the eighteen years old. For some reason, God just just
said this is what you do. You uplift people. You
you don't somebody's behind you. You don't run off and
leave them. You extend their own or our hand. And
that's where the Neighborhood Awards and that's what the Hoodie
Awards was. And to see you have such a reaction
in it, and there's a lot of people like that. Man.
I'll be in DC. People to come on that you
ain't gonna bring it back, Come on that stop. I'm

(31:12):
talking about barber shops I'm talking about high school churches, Detroit, Atlanta,
all over this country. Stopped me for real, man, for real,
I said, look, thinking about it. Well, we're thinking about it, man,
I got something else, Gona, we're gonna jump off. But
we're talking about her brother because I understand exactly what's
going off, what's going on in life, and I know

(31:33):
its need, especially during these times or the pandemic and
black unrest, because you know, somebody messed up with this
pregnantlated to date, had their knee on her, the police,
and that it's not gonna stop, man. And we gotta
go out there and vote. We gotta register the vote.
And I'm voting in person, my friend, I am voting
in person. I'm not messing around with no mail in ballot.

(31:54):
I'm not messing around with that. I wanted somebody to go,
here's your card. Sure you've officially voted, because I want
to people understand that if you want something to life,
no matter what it is, a business, you want to graduate,
you want to be in a relationship for a long time,
it's hard work. It's hard work, and voting it is hard.
If he got stand in that line, if it's raining,
if it's storming standing that line, because if I don't

(32:14):
make a change, it's gonna be uh four more years
of a life that would never be good, especially for
people you aren't making it. And I'm just talking about
you know, we we we've crossed a little line there, Kevin.
We could survive the ignorance. I'm not. But again, if
I'm making it and my people ain't making it, then
I'm not making That's right. You ain't making it, because
that's that's that's a burden, you know. And I always

(32:36):
take you too, And I know we're wrapping. But it
wasn't that long ago when we talk about standing the lines.
I meant my son was at a play football at
Utah and he called me one day and he was
just upset and he was like that he was wing
a sixty five. I said, yeah, Mark. He said, the
Voters Act was made uh June or whatever six, So yeah,
whatever was he said, So when you was born, black

(32:58):
people couldn't vote. So he said, my granting them couldn't vote?
I said no, And if if it hit home with him,
like he knows people, he couldn't believe that he knew
black people that couldn't vote at the time. And if
people don't think certain things can happen again. Like I
tell people all the time, I'm not a conspiracy theorist,
theory of sporist or whatever I said. But when they came,

(33:19):
when got the brothers from Africa for slavery, said they
were living normal life, normal life. I said, please look
at the big picture on everything. Please look at people
trying to line up with with Russia and things like that.
Just always look at the big picture, man, and get
out there and vote. Man, it's just this. I never

(33:39):
thought we would be to this time again, and we are.
And if this don't bring us all together, and like
I said, you can't say certain things aren't different, because
I mean, I was in l A for the ninety
two rides. You know what I mean. You brothers and
Hispanics out there, But now look at who's out there now.
It's white, black, Hispanic together. And like I said, maybe
not in a lifetime, but I feel like once you

(34:02):
have kids, ain't it's about maybe in a lifetime and
a lifetime after that, racism might not exist no more,
you know what I mean. And that's what I try
to work towards. Man. But we gotta do it. You know, Yes, Kevin,
I would appreciate you coming on money making conversations with
a two time I said two times Steve Harvey Hoody
Award winner from Los Angeles, California, a k A Compton, California,

(34:25):
a k of course of count of Texas, just south
of Dallas, with dog who don't know I forty five?
See he know, I know, he know, I know juniors
graduating class the Bishop College and don't know my sister
went to school Bishop College. I know what you're talking about. Man.

(34:47):
We'll be right back with more from Marsan McDonald and
money making conversations. Don't touch that dog. Oregon donations save
lives and some Oregans can even be donated by a
living donor. August National Minority Donor Awareness Months. So let's
check in with Dr Denay Simpson, Assistant Professor of Surgery
at Northwestern Medicine. Tell us about the African American Transplant
Access Program. So this is my baby. This is a

(35:10):
program that I have dreamt about creating since I became
interested in transplant as a trainee, and it's a program
designed to address the significant disparities that are African American
Patients Space. The program is designed to educate patients about transplant,

(35:30):
let them know what transplant can provide to them, and
to help them access the resources that they find so
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them on the transplant path and back to you know,
some type of meaningful life. For more information, visit n
M dot org, Slash Radio Hi Roshan McDonald, the host

(35:52):
of Money Making Conversation. The Cafe Moca Swag Award is
a celebration of black man who will make it a
difference in our community by empowering others to reach their life.
Goes from civic leaders, businessmen, activists, celebrities and everyday dads.
The Kafee Morka Swagger. One of this week is civil
rights attorney Ben Crump. The police for justice is simply
this Crump said. Dr Martin Luther King said, he who

(36:15):
passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as
he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil
what our protesting is really like cooperating with it? It
truly is an epidemic of how they are destroying the
lives of so many young people of color, whether they're
killing us for bullets or whether they're killing us with

(36:37):
the laws. We're trying to make be an education for
young people, but also for white people who want them
to understand. Look at what you're doing to our future.
I don't want you to speculate and say, oh, we
never knew. You can't say we didn't know. The question
is what are you gonna do about it after you
have the knowledge. The Cafe Morka Swag Award represents men

(36:59):
who have strand, whose wisdom is assertive, and who is
genuine in their spirit. Welcome back to money making Conversations.
I'm your host Sean McDonald. My next guest. Randy Williams
is the president of Tally and Twining, a company that
designs and manufactures luxury watches and necessaries. Since starting the
company of fourteen, ranting this game national media attention with

(37:19):
Features and Men's Health, Black Enterprise, Huffing and Post Essence,
Blavety New York, New York Magazine, and Cosmopolitan. The company
names comes from an intersection that was formerly the center
of a notorious crime ready neighborhood in Virginia and reason.
In recent years, the neighborhood has been completely revitalized and
those same families now have the opportunity to own a

(37:41):
place where the dark past now has a bright future.
Talian Twine represents the future. It's not about how you start,
is about how you finish. Please welcome to money making Conversations.
The Owner, Founder, CEO, all the titles to go with
the leader of the pack, my man, Randy Williams, thank
you so much for having me great intro. Well you

(38:03):
submit that that you got Stephen A. Smith doing your intro.
That's legendary. Man. I love that. Hey man, the first
of all, I love when people recognize his voice. That's
my man, man, and he lays it as only Stephen A.
Smith concern I'm not broke, that's true. Well, this is
just what this show is about, talking to people who

(38:24):
are trying to gain their footh haul and in the
financial community, especially people of color. They have kind of
like been left out over the years. We haven't been
giving a blueprint or had the necessary means to figure
out figured out. You know, they tell us to go
to school, we get an education, but that that'sn't a
blueprint for success. That's to tell you how to become
an entrepreneur. Tell us how I got started for you, Randy,

(38:47):
a lot of trial and error and you know, like
you said, there isn't a blueprint. But if you want
to become an entrepreneur, you gotta go out and try
a few different things and kind of learned along the way.
So you know, fail feel that business a lot, and
all you need to be right is one time, right now,
be right now. You're an HBCU. Grat Okay, Why why

(39:09):
an HBCU for your education? Yeah, well it's not a
deep answer for me. They're the ones who accepted me.
You know, it was close to the whole. It was affordable.
You know, as a as a young man being raised
by my grandmother, we can't have a whole lot of
money saved up for me to attend college. So I

(39:29):
was less enough to have a decent g p A.
And you get in the Albany State University man, so
I had to. Um. I was thankful for that opportunity.
It gave me a great cultural experience, you know. Um
I actually didn't recognize the value of hbc US until
I attended one man. But it was a great experience.
When you said the value, what does that mean when
it's the value of an HBCU until you attended it.

(39:50):
So basically, like I said, they let you in, you
were thankful, you can continue education, but you usually understand
the other things that it brought to the table able
that now you see as a benefit. Yeah, it was
a huge cultural experience. You know, it's a celebration of blackness,
and it's an environment where instructors and professors make you

(40:12):
feel seen, and that's something that's missing in corporate America.
It's they're kind of like UM an incubator, Like they
have business incubators for businesses that kind of give you
a great push to start. That's what it does for
Black American man HBCU as an incubator to prepare you
for the corporate environment that you're gonna face after graduation.
And now that's called life after college, which we were

(40:33):
talking about now now and one of your questions that said,
you had previous businesses that have failed. Can you talk
about those before we got into the success story of
Italian Twine? Yeah? Sure, Um. The biggest failure I had,
I guess in terms of money was you know, trying
to get into real estate and right at two thousand
seven and two thousand eight, UM and right where you

(40:56):
are in Atlanta and losing my shirt. You know. So
that was one of the biggest lessons, is you know,
hopping into stuff without taking the time to properly educate
yourself on how to do it. So basically you saw
an opportunity, didn't do your research like you said, and
that that that famous year two thousand and eight, and
when everything went from success to horror, I mean from

(41:19):
a nightmare was find Nobody could explain it because they
had already the system had already had kind of like
pushed this limit on loans, pushed this limit on corporations
and needed bailout, and the stock market was the bubble burst,
and you part of that. I was part of America,
was part of that. Nobody was left, you know, you

(41:39):
were by Oprah. However, value just dropped and all these
major players in the tech game started suffering, and all
that those those levels of income that they thought were
gonna be there forever went away went away. Tally Entwine, Now,
I'm gonna tell you this, We're not not trying to
be negative or anything. I just I and Wining watches

(42:00):
it all I had in my mind. Um, I just
didn't wear I watched. I stopped warting to watch, probably
about inighties six, I stopped wearing to watch and uh,
and then um because somebodw I can always find the time.
You know, you have a phones, you have I'm very
good at knowing my time where I'm at, And so

(42:21):
that's where I would perceived watches to be time. Now.
I look at watches now as accessories, as as part
of the as part of your style, part of my
culture now. And so a friend of mine, uh, she
executive producer a family few, as a birthday president, president,
she Christmas friends. He brought me a watch and I

(42:44):
let it sat there that I was determined just to
hold true to Rushan. I'm not gonna wear watching I
bought all these years watching I wear watching that, and
I and I and I realized that sometimes you have
you have to change goals to be successful, you have
to change your the way you do business. And putting
on that watch really changed the way I I did
business and how I approached myself became more flexible. And

(43:07):
so I I used that as a as a lead
into the conversation that sometimes people who might say, what
does the watch bringing to the why I did the
where I watched where a watch changed the way I
approach life, Randy, and and if it allowed me to
be flexible, it allowed me to be fashionable because I
got like three different ones, you know, and I've just

(43:28):
found about your brand. So I'm out to perch me
a couple of your brand. That's how I've gotten that.
You know what I'm saying. And uh and so so
let's talk about you. You've heard my story and how
the impact of who the watch can have. It made me. Uh,
I felt it made me made me because I wear
suits all the times. Tailor made suits, so it made
my my my my clothing balanced. I felt because I

(43:50):
didn't have anything, because if you don't have anything on
your wrist, it's just naked there. It's just it's just
it's just skin. Now I have this watch, and I
can't tell you. Sometimes your people see me as I
I like your watch, and I don't even know because
I because I'm a guy who pointed out them. Very
active with my hands and then on my other I'm
a cancer survivor. So I have this little chain on
my right hand, on my right hand where reminds me

(44:13):
and asked me about it. I always tell them about surviving.
And so I have a watch that is on my
left which talks about my culture, my balance, and my
watching them all right, I got a risk chain that
talks about survival. And so when I when I, when I,
when the opportunity came about to interview you, I just
really wanted to know what was the driving legacy of

(44:35):
watches for you and the unpacking can have them a
person like me. Yeah, most of our customers have that
same story as you have. Somebody got it for him
gifts as a gift and they weren't really into him,
but once they started wearing, it's kind of one of
those things where you feel like, man, I don't want
to go out without one now. And my personal story
is during our senior trip in high school when on

(44:58):
the cruise went to the Bahamas, I went in to
one of these little local shops and they had a
fifty dollar guests watching there and I had never won
a watch before, but buying that, I spent my last
little money that I had. I bought that watch and
to bring it back home. That was the first time
I felt like a grown man, you know. I felt

(45:19):
like I have become a man and now I can
go on to college and face the world. And that
kind of was coinciding with me going to college. At
the same time I got my first watch, and so
that it became important to me for that reason, you know.
So again, just like you, I was a business major
and we wore a lot of suits, and I felt

(45:40):
like that watch really in hand that and gave me
that professional polish that I was looking for. And um,
how did you get in the watch business? You know,
like I said, you know people couldn't You know that
doesn't the first African American? Okay, and you you're getting
into the watch business and talk about that step because
of course, you know, it's this natural conversation to you.

(46:02):
We're all money making conversations. So I'm trying to walk
people through the steps of how you can get to
your dream. And it's not normal because you just can't
go to the next door and just talk to somebody.
I want to store. I want to get in to
watch it. They look at you like, Okay, now you
talk about the Bahama trip. Okay, that's a long ways
from what We're a long ways from Bahamas. Because of
the fact that you know Italian and Twine we talked

(46:25):
about how that is from from a street name in
the neighborhood, Like my business is thirty and fifteen media,
thirty and fifteen media. The number thirty fifteen is from
the home that I was born in that was in
the hood and uh and it was six bed room.
It was will six bear was six, six sisters and
two brothers. My both my parents who lived in a

(46:45):
two bedrooms shotgun house. So when I read that, Tali
and Trying, it's a lot of thing that you're doing
in your life that's very relatable to what I do
and what I what I stand for. And that's why
I feel that I always want to keep you in
my life because I feel that we have a certain kinship.
But again, you young man, wanted to do go into
the watch business. How does one get into the watch business? Yeah?

(47:08):
Through um so, through a lot of trial and error
and other businesses. You realize that in order for a
business to be successful, you have to fulfill a need,
fulfill a gap. So there's something missing or there's a
market that's not being served that could benefit from what
you have to offer. And so, as a consumer of watches,
and I think a lot of our people should really

(47:28):
take note of that is a lot of things that
you consume um represent an opportunity for you. And so
I was collecting a lot of watches, but I figured
out something. Most of the brands that were affordable, meaning
under a thousand dollars, they were just mimicking the more
expensive brand. So it was a lot of repetition in

(47:49):
the market. And I wanted to wear something different, you know,
I said, if I had a watch, I would change this,
I would change that, my band would look like this.
And after while, I realized that that represented a huge,
huge opportunity for me to get into business and designed
my own watch. Now how I was gonna do that,
I had no idea, and so that's when I went
to YouTube and Google university and kind of figure out

(48:11):
the steps to step by step. I started with a
sketch and then I eventually contacted the manufacturer. UH. They
helped me bring that to life, order some samples, and
once I got the samples the way that I wanted them,
you know, over the course of about a year year
and a half, that's when I decided to launch, and
we launched via the crowdfunding site kickstarter to raise money

(48:33):
for our first shipment. So you went out there. I've
heard people say Kickstarted, what what engaged people want to
contribute to your brain? What did you do? What was it?
What was your platform? What was your what made them
want to go, wow, I want to I want to
contribute to this. And how does kick started work when
someone contributes to it? Do they are they part owners?

(48:54):
They have a little percentage of your brand? How does
that work? M um? Well, my platform was just what
I told you, So here's something new for the market.
Here's something that is not going to be a replica
of all the other watches that are out. So that
was my main platform. And then also I started with
the interchangeable band, so I have these canvas bands that

(49:17):
we can change. You can give your watching completely different looks.
So those are my two platforms. And then the way
kicks Started works is it's basically a pre order system.
So in order to get your products early, people will
pay um ahead of time and they will get a
discount off of the retail price. Right, So let's say

(49:40):
my goal was to raise and so I knew I
needed I think maybe a hundred and hundred and fifty
backers to pre order the Watch, who believe in what
we were doing, who believed that we would be able
to get the main manufacturing process done to go ahead
and pre order and an exchange. They were able to
get a steep discount off of the initial watch. But no,
they are not part owners, so they just they basically

(50:03):
we just ordered their product at a discount. Yes, sir,
Some crowd fund the platforms at work like that where
you do get ownership. But I didn't do that. Absolutely,
you didn't thankful for it, aren't you? You know, because
we all have dreams. The thing about when the dream

(50:24):
that comes successful and then people look around tapping you
on the show talking about what my chick it's about
a hundred and fifty of them? Ready, that that gets
pretty hugly real fast man, Well hundred, I'm talking about
where my check at. You know. Look, man, look, let
me give you back your two dollars. Okay, you can
go about your business all right? Sorry, no, no, no,

(50:45):
that's not what my contracts say. My contracts saying I
owned some of this and I want my share. Man.
You be here for screaming up and down now when
I'm looking at these bands. Man, you know, because on
your site right, and the different look it's what you know,
the large face is, they're very clean. Your you're watches,

(51:06):
uh don't have numbers on them? Was what that was?
That the look that you were seeking. Yeah, that's the
look that I was seeking, because again, I wanted to
do something that wasn't traditional. And you said it earlier.
We don't really use our watches for telling time now.
It's more of a fast accessor, and so I wanted
to give it a unique look. So we only have
the number seven on all of our watching and why

(51:30):
is that? Well, the number seven represents completion. So I
told myself when I started talenting Twine, I was gonna
finish what I started. You know, you know a lot
of times as entrepreneurs we started stuff and thinking of stuff.
Don't I love you boy? I number seven? You know,
you know seven days in the week. You know what
I'm saying, You gotta complete your prod. That's right. And

(51:53):
then there's also something very recognizable. Man. I imagine people
being out in the store looking over at somebody's wrists
and seeing that up and say, hey, is that a
talious one? You're listening to money making conversations with Rashan
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car shield dot com and use cold money m N
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Com code money. A deductible may apply. Welcome back to
money making conversations. I'm your host, Sean McDonald, so you know,
or they go why just or creature conversation, you know,
or as a conversation exactly what type of watching? Because

(53:20):
that in the end, man, that's really all you're trying
to create. Like I said, you know, people try to
create ice breakers. And first of all, it's a beautiful watch,
and then that number seven on it. You know, if
somebody is is just or seven, then you explain it.
Then you get to a conversation with somebody and now
all of a sudden there's a great ice breaker. But
the but the look in the fashion is really so

(53:41):
this is really I think a very timely watch. So
what with the official launch date for this watch, Randy,
We launched in November two thousand, November, right before Christmas,
smart move, right before christ Okay, so everything's online, correct, Yes, sir?

(54:01):
We sell directed consumer. Um, we don't do any retail
right now. Okay. So COVID hit, the pandemic hits, the
country shuts down. What does that do for your brain?
We saw increase in sales, you know, because people were
at home. Um, and unfortunately the social unrest also added

(54:23):
a boost to our business. You know, as people begin
to seek out black owned businesses, you know, so you know,
it kind of validated my thinking from the beginning was that,
you know, eventually traditional retails gonna continue to continue to
slow down and people are gonna want to owner their
products online. They're not gonna want to put up with
the higher prices at retail, They're not gonna put up
with the bad customer service. They get a retail um

(54:45):
and so I kind of pushed all my chip to
the table to be saying that we're gonna do directly
consumer and sell online only. We actually turned out so
some major contracts from some traditional retailers to keep our
brand intact. When you say that, what do you mean
you you to keep your brand intact? What does that mean? Yeah? Meaning, um,
let's say we we got a um A purchase order

(55:09):
from from North from Fly and we chose not to
do it. Because when you shop at North from your
northroom's customer, they control the social they control the customer service.
They can talk to you how they want to, they
can ship in whatever time frame they want to, and
ultimately you become their customer. As a direct and consumer business,

(55:29):
you maintain the connection with all of your customers. So
I can say, hey, Mr Williams, thank you for your
purchase last month. You want to know if you'll be
interested in one of our leather bands to accompany the
watch that you purchase, or I can send you a
card on your birthday, or I can send you a
free gift in the mail prior to the holidays. And ultimately,

(55:50):
the value in today's market is having that customer base.
There's no need to give it away to somebody just
because you know their name and they've been around for
a while, because you're ultimately providing the value. Wow, I'm
talking to Randy Williams. He's the president of Italian Twine, accompaniate,
the designs and manufacturer luxury watches and accessories. He started

(56:10):
November fourteen. And you're really good at getting UM media
to look at your brand. How you're accomplishing that task,
because that's the number one talk that people talk a
he man, I I can I get promotion I can
get from I can get all the cole written on
my product. First of all, out to have a good
looking product. But you're you when I look when I
when I'm doing this interview, you have a very interesting

(56:32):
personality with interesting meaning is good because you have a plan,
you have a conversation. You know, you're you have all
the right things to say about who you are and
why you're doing this. You know, like that number seven
is really slick. You know, interchangeable watches, you know. I
know when I was marketing Steve Harvey's first book, they
always put out a little phrases out of the book

(56:54):
so you can when you go to an interview. These
are buzzwords and people jump on them. So what is
your degree in randy market My degree is that marketing.
So all listen, this is all part of the big plan. Really,
you know what I'm saying. Part of the big plan
it because everything you do is like not I won't
say marketing one on one, but guess what. You have

(57:16):
all the right little layers and buzzes and statements to
be able to say, I'm an interesting guy. You can
put me on TV, I can talk if you write
about me. Guess where I got stuff to put in print?
And it all comes back to a product that looks outstanding. Man,
Thank you man. I'll tell you what, Sean, it's like this, Um,
I think I like it to I attributed to self awareness.

(57:40):
So it's just like when you go from being a
young man to an older man, you understand who you
are more and you understand why you're doing what you're doing.
You're not just doing something to make money or you're
not just doing something for attention. And I wanted Italians
wanting to be a brand like that that understood it,
so that had these principles and these values that were
built into the brand, and we weren't kind of following

(58:01):
the trends and following was popular. And so that's how
I think about it. And to answer your question about
how we got the media, I have no idea. We
have never had a pr agency. We don't reach out
to media outlets. Somehow we get UH coverage and I
just consider it a blessing. I just say that that's
God's grace. And I really don't have a strategy for

(58:22):
that one. But I go to the website. I see everybody,
you know what I'm saying. I see I see the strategy.
You know, from the marketing standpoint, I see Men's Health,
Black Enterprise, he poses Plavity, Mashable. They not New York
cost Bottom Ebony. That right there. Let everybody know, we'll
brand is being recognized by all the top media outlets.

(58:46):
That means that you are you're very much aware of
who you are and the story you're trying to tell.
Now you have a men's line and you have a
women's line. Okay, I'm assuming you started with the men's
line first. Correct, Yes, sir? When did you get smart?
Got to bring it on the women because they're the
one they're they're the ones who really they're the ones
who buy two or three things. You know, they got

(59:06):
a dress for this, they got a dressed for that.
You know when when when did that pop up? Realize
that the women? I'm assuming that the women are the
biggest buyers. Correct, it's about yeah, so, which which I
like because that means that you have a pretty much established,
especially on the men's side, a certain dollar value customer. Yeah, yeah,

(59:28):
I would say so. I think two years in I started,
I couldn't resist it anymore because I wanted tally trying
to be men's brand, because that's who I knew how
to market too. I was so afraid of trying to
market the women. I didn't want to mess up in
the way that I was communicating with them. But after
a while, man, after get email and email and call

(59:50):
and call, it was women buying gifts for men as
much as there were men shopping on our site, and
so it just represented a no brain I mean, the
people actor and they wanted, uh, a watch that match
their husbands. They wanted to give set and so I
just kind of took that feedback and you know, I
had to slap myself against the head. It's like, what
are you doing? You know, why aren't you selling women's

(01:00:12):
watching or so we rolled that out and you know,
it instantly wasn't hit. And what I love about having
female customers is when they love a product, they are
going to talk about it, They're going to discuss it,
they're going to share it. And that's really one of
the things that has allowed us to grow. You know.
The thing that I really like about what I'm seeing
here in on your line is that, man, these watches

(01:00:34):
look sexy. Man, you know, because you know, I I
here's a guy like I said, what intoen I put
a watch back on my body, okay, And so I'm
watching these watches. Man. You who's ever taking these photos? Man?
They really know how to make these watches look man,
I want that to watch with my risk. Man, I
mean these are I mean, these are some attractive looking

(01:00:55):
photos that look so are you involved in the selection,
you know, like when looking for Let's go back when
you have had this Playball magazine? You know he went
through all the pictures, He's made all final selection on
the photos that went on into the magazine. How involved
in you? Because I'm just telling you, man, this is
the These these photos with the watch, it almost like, Man,

(01:01:16):
I can put that watch on my all right there
with that shirt. I put that watch with my blue suit.
This is what you're selling. You're selling is not. I
don't need to see the full body. I just need
to see high looks on my wrist. And that's what
you're doing. Somewhere along the line, Randy, You've tapped into something, man,
And uh and I'm just trying to m and this.

(01:01:37):
I know it's I know over time I figured out.
But his interview. You're special, dude, You're special and understanding
what excites people. What what You're making a watch value
to me? You're making me want to buy your watch
when I go through this website. You're making me want
to like, not just one watch, I want to try
a couple of them, you know, two or three, because

(01:01:58):
you know black goes are black or gray, brown goes blue.
You know browns can go with great. So you can't
just put a watch on with everything. I've learned that
you know you when you have a value customer, Like
I said, you go in my house. I got like
four or five watches because I got my silver, my platinum,
because different suits I put on, I have to look
a certain way. Now. My two favorite colors are my

(01:02:20):
black and my brown wrist bands. But one of the
big sellers for your watches that you can interchange bands, correct, yes, sir, yes, sir.
So let's go back to the selection of these photos
and start. I forgot about that. No, I didn't forget
about that. How did these pictures get on your website?
Because they are they're like making me want to like
put out my American Express to start dying. And right now,

(01:02:42):
I mean, you're making me sick right now, Randy, I'm
telling you, man, brother, I got I will be buying
a couple of these watches. Brother. Well, it's a it's
an important part of the process. So like you know,
you're like custom suits and you go in and you
get greeted by someone. They measure you, they ask you questions,
they find out about just a really personal experience. And

(01:03:02):
so as an online business, we don't have that person
to person touchpoint. So we have to try to make
the website as attractive as possible so that people can
understand the real value of the watch that they're going
to be getting. So we try to photograph it from
all angles. We try to photograph have photographs of people
wearing it in their element so that we can really
tell that story without having that one on one contact.

(01:03:25):
So that's one of the hurdles that we have to
get open. So that means our website has got to
be ten times better and more attractive than it would
be if you had that in story experience. So yeah,
I'm really involved there today with the marketing and the
photography and video selection, and I really enjoyed that part
of my busines the business. It is actually my favorite part,
absolutely absolutely. So what is the warranty I buy to watch?

(01:03:46):
You know a couple of watches that I really like,
the sold sold out, the ALREADYO top of so what
just just what do you select to watch? What's the
window and what's the warranty on your watches. We have
a two year warranty on our watches to the big
thing happens, get it, get replaced, which is unprecedented in
our pride. That's incredible. Two years year warranted. And also

(01:04:14):
you can return a product and definitely you know, if
you got it and you haven't used it, as long
as something used, will always be able to refund you
or exchange it for you. So we have a very
generous return policy because we really believe in our product.
Now this this this black metal band, the one that
sold out, you know, of course it will be you know,
you know I would pick the one that sold out,

(01:04:35):
you know, crazy like that that that charcoal band on it.
That's cold right there, man. I just love the women,
the women lines, man, I love that that that that
pink band, that blue band. Man, you know you you're
just making a killing of that pink watch right here. Man,
the pink leather band. That's outstanding. There's a pre order
shipping by octob wards. That mean pre order shipping by

(01:04:58):
October fifteen. The roles go, what does that mean? When
I see that? Well, um, we were expecting to be
a hundred percent improvement over what we did last year
in terms of sale. But somewhere in the first three
months of the year, we that catapulted over year and

(01:05:20):
uh we sold out everything man, so um, we had
to start making them available for pre order. UM. So
we'll be shipping those pre orders are actually within the
next couple of weeks, UM, and then after that hopefully
we can have them stopped and we'll be shipping directly
from the site. We know on this shipping two to
three business days. But you know, the man has been
so strong this year that we've had to switch over

(01:05:41):
the pre orders. Well, Randy, all I gotta say, man,
all right, if you don't mind, I'm gonna I'm gonna
put you in my news letter goes out there thousand subscribers. Okay,
I'm gonna put you on my shopping thank You uh,
which is on my Money Making Conversation and also on
my um Money Making Conversation as well as on my
um my HBCU Awards UH website that just launched this month.

(01:06:05):
And my whole thing is that you have a great business.
I am a customer and you my name will pop
up on your site as a as a buyer because
of the fact that, uh, you're special, man, not just
a just special from a standpoint of the product. But
if you have unique qualities and a unique understanding of
how you want to be viewed, It's not about to check.

(01:06:28):
It's about the brand. I always tell people, always tell
people this. You know, I don't really chase money. I
changed relationships and I changed and I control my brand.
And if you do all those things, then you will
make money and you'll be able to control your destiny
and your future. But if you start giving away your
brand for a check, then gets what you have to
cater to them. And you're absolutely right. It's like it's

(01:06:50):
like I always always go back to what I's to
do with uh with with Krispy Kreme. Krispy Kreme, man,
when that little sign came home, you stopped and you
had best hot Donna in the world. Then they start
going in the grocery stores, they start going to stops,
and you crat that doing up Cole was hard. And
that's what you're saying about Norstrom. I don't want anybody

(01:07:12):
to market my brand along with a lot of other
watches and make it competitive and telling you this is
this and this does this come to me. I'm gonna
give you two years. I'm give you loyalty, I'm gonna respect,
and I'm gonna tell you the truth about my product.
And that's what you're doing on Italian Twine. I respect
that and I love you for a brother. Thank you,
thank you man, Thank you for the kind words. I
appreciate you. No, no, we were looking at kind words.

(01:07:35):
I gotta start marketing. I gotta jump up there. I
want my little money making conversation go up there with
a huff Post and uh ebond and you know what
I gotta do that. I gotta I gotta get up there.
Man talent, come on. But thank you for taking the
time to come on this show. And I appreciate you
man and uh mad respect and I will always and
like I said, everything I do on money making conversations,

(01:07:55):
there's no check attached to it. It's about promoting positive
individuals who are trying to make are different. Because you
you create taxes, you create employment, you can an opportunity
to make this country a lot better. That's what entrepreneurs do.
And I just want to recognize you for your efforts. Man,
Thank you, and I love what you're doing. Man, keep
up the work. I know it's hard working it into
your schedule, man, but we really need to continue. So thanks.

(01:08:17):
I appreciate all Right. There. You want to hear more
money Making Conversation interviews, please go to money Making Conversation
dot com. I'm ra Sean McDonald. I'm your host. My
next guest. Rhodesia Howardtons were several hats in the entrepreneur
lifestyle space. She currently serves as owner and CEO of
Credit Medics LLC. She's co founder or Go Get Crown,

(01:08:37):
nonprofit organization for women empowerment, and co owner of Get
Well Urgent Care medical Facility. Come from a poverty, strict
and neighborhood and have an escaped the statistics, Howardton has
found her purpose and passion, which is encouraging others and
helping tom to reach their fullest potential and cheering them
on to the finish line. Please walk on to Money
Making Conversation. Rhodisha Howardton's good morning, good morning, thank you,

(01:09:03):
thank you, thank you so much. Well. First of all,
you know when I when I hear the word thank
you for coming on the show Money Making Conversation. Uh.
I appreciate all guests who will take the time to
deliver nuggets or inspirational information or define information that you
can use to make themselves successful. Because I have women
dominate my listenership by sixty percent of my audience women. Uh,

(01:09:24):
eight percent of my audience is under the age of
forty four, and so that means that they have an
entrepreneurial mindset and they want to they want to be
information that will help them win. Why did you look?
I mentioned three organizations in your credit Let's start out
with credit Medics in the in the middle of pandemic
and financial Uh, the average person financial sitter rich, is

(01:09:47):
in disarray. Does credit Medics help them or can be
a role to play? They try to get them through this?
Uh these difficult times. Well, absolutely, before the pandemic we
have we have really changed thousands and thousands of our
clients lives by just educating them or financial literacy. You'll

(01:10:09):
be surprised. You know, I come from you know, an
urban community, and you'd be surprised how many of us
are never taught about credit. America has ran on credit
and at these times, you you literally can use credit
to survive, you know, if you got laid off, if
you know they cut back when your hours. There are

(01:10:29):
lines of credit that you would have access to if
you were able to qualify for these lines of credit.
You could use these lines of credit to survive until
your income picks stack up and the bates have given
me personally, on my on my personal line, I have
twenty five thousand dollars um as the next on my
line personally, and I have a few of those. So

(01:10:52):
if I was to fall on hard times, that could
carry me until I can figure it out, until I
create could create another strain line and income or just
to be able to survive. So credit is super duper
important to be able to leverage, to be able to leverage,
not just even during these times, you know, to be
able to leverage to create generational wealth for you and

(01:11:12):
your children. So it's very important and credit metics has
assisted thousands and thousands of clients. I'm talking about home ownership,
I'm talking about personal credit. I'm talking about business credit.
I'm talking about establishing new businesses. I'm talking about expansion.
All of that we know. Thank you for the energy
and thank you for the points um about credit and
about your credit score. When need credit? When did that?

(01:11:35):
When I in your bio. Can you when when I
when I read the statement poverty stricten neighborhood, what is that?
What is that type of environment? And how long did
you live in that? And how did that motivate you
to who you are today? That coming in and being
raised in that type of environment. So honestly, when I
say poverty stritching, I was raising what we were called

(01:11:56):
the hood. You know, a lot of inner city urban
can n of these are you know, cause the hood
we're living in poverty, very low income, you know, lack
of education, A lot of the things that I have
seen I should not have seen as a child. But
I never used that as a crutch. I never used
that as um a source of discouragement for me. I
used that as encouragement for me. I used that as

(01:12:18):
an example of I did not want to be like that,
and I knew as a child. UM. The fortunate part
of my childhood was I was able to travel a
lot and my my dad who raised me because I
was raising a single parent household and usually you hear
you know the mother was a single mind, but it
was my dad and we didn't have a lot of money.

(01:12:40):
But my dad saw the importance of connecting us with
people who could offer resources that he could not. So
we traveled a lot, and me being able to travel
outside of that environment, I was able to see that, Hey,
life is bigger than this. Life is bigger than living
in poverty and being content with being poor and not
being able to have access the resources and not being

(01:13:02):
able to live a great life growing up. Excuse my friend,
I saw a lot of rich white people on TV.
But when I begin to travel, I saw that white
people weren't the only people that were able to be successful.
Black people could be too. So that for me was
the eye opener, and that for me challenged me to
think bigger. You know, um, first of all, what you're

(01:13:25):
sending is absolutely correct, is about getting out and seeing
a bigger world because when you re reports and I
I've been able to do a lot of social work
and a lot of environmental My minor is in sociology
and uh a lot of black people within the intern city.
I grew up in inter city fifth Ward if it's
just used in Texas, so I know exactly when you
say the hood. I was born and raised in the

(01:13:46):
hood fearth Ward and so and so the average black
person who lives in the environment, don't really get out
of that environment. In fact, they live, they and they
work or if they want to call it work, and
they can die, and that can munity and never know
there's a downtown. Never know there are other layers of
life outside their movie theaters. They can go to their restaurants,

(01:14:07):
they can they can participate in a fine dining and
all these things because of the fact they've never been
exposed to that. And I really, I really like when
you said that because a lot of people they take
that for granted, who have been exposed. They think that's normal,
and it's not normal in the Inn city. It's not
normally at all. Right, That exposure is so important, you know,

(01:14:28):
because you're only going to go as far as you
think you can go, or see yourself going. So when
you see other people. That's why a lot of people,
you know, speak down about social media. But one of
the things I like about it is it gives us,
gives us a lot of access to see a lot
of young black people, right, believable, and it's believable. So

(01:14:48):
it's you look like me and I and I looked
like you, and you're saying, hey, I came from the hood,
and I see you doing really well. You're running your
successful break own business, and you're you're living a beautiful
home and your children, you're raising your children. You know
more with more world I use, and you know to
be good, upstanding citizens. And I see driving nice cards
and you're traveling the world. That will be inspiring to me,

(01:15:09):
and most importantly, it would make me realize that I
can obtain that too. And that is so true. I
always tell people I love to having an individual like
you who talk about credit. And I tell people that
when I was eighteen years old, Ms. Howardton, for some reason,
I understood I had to have good credit. I was
I wanted to protect my credit. I wanted credit. When

(01:15:30):
somebody told me the credit establishes you a better life
for you, I knew that, Okay, I'm gonna get good credit.
I got and I got my my They're closed and
I had my Montgomery Wards card back then, my Serious
card back then. Then I finally upgrade and got my
my American Exprest Green card. A big deal. I would this.

(01:15:53):
I would dank this. That Serious card back in the
day was bigger than the American Express back in the
day because you got your serious car, you were you
were the bar right there. So when I got that
serious card, I knew my credit was hit in the
right direction. What age were you when you realized the
importance of credit? You you want to hear something funny,
So I told you. I was raised by my dad.

(01:16:15):
My dad was horrible with bills, horrible. I remember coming home,
let me cut off. I'm like, Dad, wait a minute,
I flicked the sweats. Now we ain't got an electric
over here. But it was because he just wasn't um.
He wasn't conscious of just making payments on time, and
it was sometimes we didn't have it, and you know,
he did what he had to do to make it work.

(01:16:35):
But then it was times when he did have it,
and he just would forget. So I didn't learn that
from my dad. I remember when I turned eight, team
and a lot of we were graduating high school and
a lot of my friends were going to get store
cards because they were so easy to get. So they
were getting like structure and Dad and m expressing all
these cards, and I remember us going shopping and them

(01:16:58):
just you melt max the part out and I would
be very very very conscious, like, oh no, I don't
want to get too much because I don't want to.
I don't want to not be able to afford the payments.
So I was already thinking like that. I don't know
where it came from, but I was already responsible was
my finances at eight team. So now when my friends
those accounts want into collection status. I continued to build

(01:17:21):
and I continued to build, and at the age of
twenty one, my dad gifted me a duplex. So I
had a duplex at twenty one where I lived in
one unit and then I've rented the other unit out,
and then when I moved from there, both units were
rented out and it became a source of income for me.
But I always looked at finances and money and credit differently,

(01:17:42):
and it wasn't even I guess it just was self taught.
It was just natural for me. But it was so
important to get that at that age, it really was.
I'm talking to Rhodesia Howarton. She's the owner and founder
of Credit Medics LLC, which is a leading national credit
and business counsel consulting firm located in Philip off your
p A. This is one of two comp three companies.

(01:18:03):
I'm gonna talk to her about but I wanted to
expand on this because we, like she said, she was
doing this before the pandemic, and it wasn't something that
she just started last week. And she's been changing lives
and improving credit scores and making people understand the value
of credit and why credit is so important to you.
But we are in the middle of the pandemic and
people's credit scores are being damaged, and like you said,
your dad he didn't understand the value what that meant

(01:18:27):
to his credit score, but it didn't stop him from
being successful. It made me just a little bit more harder.
How serious should you take your credit scores? You should
take your credit score is very serious. Any um credit
or any line of credit that you are trying to
apply for to get an approval, they are going to
review your credit scores. They're going to inquire about you,

(01:18:50):
which is what we call an inquiry. So anytime you
apply for a line of credit, whatever that whoever that
creditor is, they are going to inquire about you. What
you need to understand, and it's simplest form is your
credit scores and your credit report is your financial portfolio.
So that is even gonna tell a credit creditor one

(01:19:10):
that you are credit worthy and trustworthy enough for me
to go ahead and lend you this credit based off
of your existing payment history. So if you already have debt,
and what do we call debt your card now, okay,
if you have a cardinal, you have student loan debt,
if you have a mortgage, um, if you have personal loans,
whatever the case may be. If you have credit cards,
if you are currently late on your existing debt, and

(01:19:33):
a creditor goes to pull your credit and they see that,
why would they want to lend you new debt? They
will not. So it's so important because that's going to
determine if you get approved in that based off of
your existing payment history. And the other thing would be
your credit utilization, which pertains to revolving credit. So you
know you mentioned early SAAR Serious card, so serious card.

(01:19:56):
What would be considered as a revolving credit card. It's
a retail card on dells may seez wal Mart Target.
Those are considered as revolving retail store cards. And then
you have your major credit cards in American Expressed master Card,
Visa Discover, which is another form of revolving credit You
don't want to have large balances on these credit cards.

(01:20:18):
You should only be using thirty percent at max of
your credit list. When you see that, you're going to
see a drastic decline in your scores. So that's another
thing that lenders look at to determine if they feel
like they can trust you. So just imagine if you
have a friend, Okay, well, let's say Rasshan, I said

(01:20:39):
the correctly, Rushian Shane Rashan, Rashan. If you lent me money, right,
you say, okay, I come to you, say, Rashan, can
I borrow you know, a hundred dollars until next month
and I'm gonna pay you back? And you say, you
know what runs You're sure I'm gonna give it to you.
So then I borrow the money from you. Next month comes,
you don't hear from me, right, So then another month go,

(01:20:59):
you don't have from me. So now you start to
get word. You say, listen out of game. Wright needs
your money off a good face, and he's supposed to
She's supposed to give me my money back. So now
our friends Sean, who is also you know, a mutual friend.
I go to him and I say, Sean, can I
want a hundred dollars til next month? And Sean is like,
you know what, I remember Rashan telling me that I

(01:21:21):
need your brow money. Let me go ask him. And
Sean comes to ask you, Hey, RO needs you to
tell you many. You say, man, don't you learn RO
needs you no money? I don't wait three months. I
ain't gotta dime yet. So that's the same way that
a lender looks at your payment habit and your utilization
habit to determine if they're more likely to get paid
back or less likely. You're listening to money making conversations

(01:21:43):
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Welcome back to money making conversations. I'm your host, Sean

(01:22:48):
McDonald ll. You know I love it because that is
a straight street talk right there, that street talk one
on one, street talk one on one right there. You know,
you know, man, and don't and don't show up and
don't show up. She got some new shoes on. Don't
show off. Some seafood, eat some seafood that come. Yeah.

(01:23:17):
You know you got some strip on your plate, you know,
a pile of strip, and you owe me a hundred dollars.
Don't do that to me because I love that you
would I wouldn't love that you were natural. That's what
you're so successful because sometimes you got to talk to
people in the natural form so they can understand what
And that's what I do. I speak the language of

(01:23:38):
my people, yes, and break it down as simple as
I can. Well, okay, now, no, not right now. Our
people they're struggling and during this pandemic, and then you know,
the credit scores are being damaged. And we all know
when you hear that word thirty percent. And sometimes I
suggest people take a cash advance and you part of
that canshervance to make your minialment monthly payment so your

(01:24:00):
cred school don't go messed up. You put yourself on
automatic payment on the minimum of my mouth, okay, and
that way you you part of that advantage that you took,
said it aside, so you make those minimum one payments
doing this pandemic run that were your credit scores like you,
you agree with you, you cannot allow your credit score
to get damaged. It get damaged. You just you just

(01:24:22):
defaulted into a worse situation for yourself. But how can
these people survive? And when I say this, people of color,
minorities you know people who are already struggling. And you know,
the first of all, they gave us the twel hunt
and all stimulus check, and then they gave us a
six weekly check that they did July thirty one. And
now that they told us that the CDC can suspend evictions.

(01:24:45):
But then at the end of the year, you owe
that money for the rent you didn't pay. How can
we get around? You know, amagine getting caught up after
you already behind right and you don't have no income.
Now how crazy is that? You know how? I agree
with what you said, you know that cash advance. But
once again that goes back to see, here's the thing

(01:25:05):
I tell people to already be prepared. One of the
things that I have been blessed and fortunate to do
is to always stay prepared financially, because even when things
are good, I still don't go crazy. I have I
have very great discipline with my finances. So although I
would be you know what you would call I'm successful

(01:25:27):
and I have money, I still don't spend like I
have money. I don't. And I'm realizing that as I
begin to hang around people who are who have their finances,
their finances are stable. I'm realizing that a lot of
them don't make unnecessary purchases, so you have to be prepared.
But now we're in a situation so a lot of people,

(01:25:48):
and I know some of my associates, they have taken
that twelve hundred dollars and just blew it. They have
taken the unemployment checks and I've known, I know people
who have gotten ten thousand dollars and twenty thousand dollars
and I'm like, you got that money, I'm like, what
are you going to do with it? And it's scoring already,
but that could have helped them over just by making
the minimum payment. It will hold you over so that

(01:26:09):
you won't ask any late payments reporting That will decline
your score. Your scores will drop anywhere between thirty to
seventy points from one late payment. Wow, And can you
tell them how those how those those scores are reported? Uh,
not trying to complicate the conversation, but people need to

(01:26:30):
know that, you know, electronically in that world, then people
track you. They track you, and they track your main rabbit. Always.
It always amazes me, Rhodesia when I put my credit
card in and I mean, like seconds, I needs seconds
later it say has approved that that even today that
boggles me God that the model of computer forces tied

(01:26:53):
to that is incredible that because i know, at the
same same time, obtenously, I'm sure hundreds of thousand people
are pushing their card in that same type of machine
or card card reader and time obtainionsly and it's hitting
the word approved immediately. All rejection depended on where you are.
Is data. All of it is is data, and it's

(01:27:13):
and it's like you said, it's tracking. Their tracking your payments,
they're tracking your utilization. They're tracking even down to where
you live at. You know, anytime you put on an application.
I don't know if people are aware of when you
pull your credit every address that you have lived at
that you used to apply for something shows up on
your credit report. So it's definitely attracting system. But the

(01:27:33):
credit bureaus are nothing but data companies, a billion dollar industry.
They get paid to collect data, to report your behalf
to then sell to the bigger banks and financial institutions.
That's all it is. Now one of your favorite are
I could say nonprofits that you are tied to are
associated with our creators called go Get crowned, tell us

(01:27:55):
about why you start that work not. I have my
points about actually, actually it's queening now. I changed it
to queening um and I do. I do a mentorship
program for young girls between the q r Q you
E E N I N G yes. And I also

(01:28:16):
wrote a book called Queening on Amazon. So so Queening
is a non practic organization for young black women okay
from the ages of fourteen to twenty one. And it's
basically me giving them all of the life skills that
I have acquired over the years. I'm talking about, you know,

(01:28:36):
teaching them how to see money as a tool and
not as just this tangible thing to just spend spend
since since spend teaching them how to invest. I'm also
a real estate investor, and I have several female friends
that are real estate investors. I bring them in to
talk to my girl so that they can see other
young black success for women or minority women who because

(01:28:56):
we have some Latinos also who looked like them and
curse from communities where they come from, so they can
see the example. I also bring in my other entrepreneur
friends from different industries. So some of my girls and
the start of the program will ask them, you know,
what interests you do you have an idea of where
you want your life to go or where you seeing yourself,
where you see yourself in the next five to fifteen years.

(01:29:18):
So whatever that industry is that they choose, I try
to get somebody to come in from that industry to
UM talk about their experience, the ups and the downs,
the highs and the lows, and then also ask them
if they with my mentoring my girls based off of
the industry that they choose, because I feel that that's
super important to to have a mentor UM. A lot
of things could be prevented a lot of trial and

(01:29:40):
error if you have a mentor who can help you
and assist you that you have access to along your journey.
I feel like that's very important. So we teach you
home ownership, We talk about, you know, self esteem. We
talk about African culture and the beauty of being Africans
and celebrating our feature is and celebrating our culture. We

(01:30:01):
talk about money management, we talk about it. That's when
we talk about all different types of life things that
could actually enriching you know, their lives. I'm tell you, Nicia,
you're one of my favorite people. You know, we you know,
you know we we we we we. We didn't connect
originally on our original set time. I would maybe she
don't want to talk to maybe maybe maybe you don't

(01:30:24):
want to talk to Rachelle McDonald the money maker. No, no, no,
you got it going on, queen, Come on that you
know I'm talking about Nisha Howardtons. Okay, we've already talked about.
You know, one of the businesses which is a CEO.
She's a CEO found up Credit Medics now the nonprofit
which is mentoring. The reason I said you're one of
my favorite people because that's why I established Money Making
Conversation for mentoring, because I can't mentor a lot of people.

(01:30:46):
People always approaching me. So I just said, I mentor
you by providing you with free information. Because that's what happens.
You can upload. I upload these interviews on my YouTube
channel for free, upload on my website for free. All
people have to do is just search and you can
you can hear an incredible person like you telling them
why they have to protect their credit, tell them how
they can protect themselves. And also the other side of

(01:31:08):
the table, they can find out about you and go
to you and take advantage of your services, take advantage
of what you're trying, how you're trying to change lives
with this mentorship program and letting people know the empowerment
of looking in the mirror, recognizing that the face that
they see, the color that they see, can be successful,
is beautiful, is worth standing strong, don't let the negative

(01:31:29):
pull you down. And that's what you're saying with the
Queenan program correctly, absolutely, absolutely, And I love the interaction
with these the young women. And then so it's so
it's so crazy because the mentorship that I did um
three years ago. My girls in that class, two of

(01:31:49):
them I have hired and they work for me. And
just to see the progress in the confidence and the
self esteem, by itself touches my heart. It touches my part.
And just to have them up under me. One of
my one of my men took min tees Um came
to me. She said, miss meech, I'm ready to buy
a duplex. I said, whatever I gotta do to make
it happy for you, Let's do it. You know. She

(01:32:13):
could say, hey, missie, I want to go buy a
channel back. But this time, miss me, I want to
get to but you know what I'm saying. So that's
touching to me. Putting that, putting that crown on your head.
You know what, you got your black I'll checking you
know miss credit Man, you know good that girl the
queen and I like that Thilano queen e. But before

(01:32:35):
we wrap up, a queen and I wanted to talk
about to get well urgent care, which is like a
medical facility. Is that it's that part of the franchises
or this an individual location that you are Actually that
was just that was just an investment that came um
that came up. Somebody asked me, did would I'd be
interested in investing in the urgent care clinic? And at
the time I didn't know anything about it, right, I

(01:32:55):
honestly did not. I started to do my own research,
and of course, with any of the investment, it's risky.
You know. I always tell people, don't you know, invest
money that you're expecting to get back, it's really a risk.
Rather I mean real estate is the risk is you
know less less, But in any investment is going to

(01:33:16):
be risky. So I didn't know anything about it at
the time, and I just felt like, hey, let me
just shoot my shot. And I did it, and it
was one of my friends. Her husband was actually a doctor,
and he was even as a doctor, you're still an employee.
And he was working for UM I think it was
Pimont Medical Facility facility and what he was. He decided that,

(01:33:38):
you know, he didn't want to be an employee anymore.
He said, you know, I'm overseeing five of these urgent
care clinics and I'm seeing these invoices. I'm seeing these
invoices that I'm like, no, people, you're looking at his
check n check look at that, and it's breaking down.

(01:34:01):
Youre he's looking at the white folks running around here. Okay, okay,
making all this good money. Okay. He said, oh, they're
making this, making this women, and I'm making this. So
he started, you know, started women. So he decided that
he wanted to do his own urgent care and he
was looking for investors. And his wife was a friend

(01:34:23):
of mine, and she you know, brought the opportunity to me.
She said, you know, would you be willing to invest? UM.
I did my research, and I just went ahead and
just you know, and some of his own faiths too,
you know, because you can do all the research, you want,
but some of it, you know, like I said, you
have to you have to sit down and go toothless
tools for now. What I'm talking about this is when

(01:34:44):
you say, let's let's talk about get well urgent care.
First of all, it's medical and we all know, okay,
people gonna die. People don't get sick. Okay, that's that's
the fact of life, okay. Now, And so with that,
and so the investment part of ability possibilities like ore,
where are they putting it at? That's all you have
to worry about. Who's running it and where are they

(01:35:05):
gonna put it at? Because I've seen these urgent cares
and they and they always got cars park out in
front of them, okay, And that means that people need
that service. And so so from a standpoint of your research, you,
like you said, you're riding on the statement that I
just said, people are gonna die and people are going
to get sick. Okay. So with that being said, how

(01:35:28):
do you participate? Are you do you go buy your facility?
You're an investor? Do you check on it? Do you
have board meetings or what? How do you do? I
sit on the board and I'm really just a silent investor.
So of course I get you know, quarterly checks based
off of my sacility of equity in the company. Right

(01:35:49):
now that is here. Or do we see more franchises
that you will be associated with or you said rou Sean,
we're gonna see how this plays out for the next
one or to actual league. Um, I'm probably not going
to do any more business with them right there, right there?

(01:36:10):
See did I tell you? Did I she's one of
my top people now because seem you cannot win being fake,
you can win right there right But what I am
working on, it's free times in my million dollar business,
Credit Medics. Cool. Cool, that's what I'm doing. Cool. And

(01:36:32):
in the process of doing that right now, trying to
um create a software to make it very very very
um manageable and um very easy to navigate through and
all that kind of stuff. So that's the only piece
that's missing to Credit Medics, and then I will franchise
my business. Well, my friend, I want to let you know, uh,
I got a newsletter that goes out to my fans

(01:36:54):
named some thousand, ninety plus thousand fans every two weeks.
I want to put you all Credit Medics in there,
because like I said, you move to the top of
the food chain with me because you keep read, keep
on because see the thing, the reason the reason I
say that is that we have a lot of relatable
values that I come from the inner city and and
I realized that, you know, when I was exposed to

(01:37:15):
information outside of the inner city, I am the person
I am today. So I'm always a proponent. And also
I give back. I give back in so many different ways.
And like said, money, money and conversations. Just wanted the format,
but I work with HBCU platforms should information to exposure
at such a high level. And so all I know
is that you have a friend in Rashaan McDonald. I'm
so glad we was able to pull off this interview

(01:37:37):
and portaling porting your nonprofit organization is beautiful. I'm gonna
promote that. And you look fantastic on social media, which
all black old with the crown on, putting it tilting
into the lab, you know, doing your thing, and uh,
you know, so how can we reach out to you?
Tell us, Mr Niche show. So you can actually go

(01:37:57):
to my website and you will see we have like,
oh my god, so many different services available from first
time home ownership to building business credit business consulting. If
you're a business owner already, I feel like in our
community and I just moved into a bigger, phenomenal location.
My office is beautiful and there's enough space for me

(01:38:18):
to actually have it's like a conference area, a seminar.
We can have seminars. So I'm gonna be offering monthly
free workshops to existing business owners black small business owners
because I feel like that's a piece that's missing. You
can be really skilled at whatever it is that you
do in talented, but if you don't know the business
side of it, your business will suffer. So we're gonna

(01:38:39):
be offering free classes to small black business owners. So
you can go to Credit Medics and that c R
E d I T M E d I c S
one zero one, Credit Medics one on one dot com
for all of our services UM And you can find
me on Instagram at Credit Medics one O one and

(01:39:00):
you can find me on Instagram. My personal page is
at my zerati niche and that's m A S E
r A t I n E E S eight And
I thank you so much for having me, Thank you
for sharing your platform with me. UM Peace and blessing
to everyone listening. I'm loving on y'all. Okay, I'm loving
on YouTube. Thank you for coming on the show. She's amazing.

(01:39:21):
She's at the top of the food chain with money
making conversation. So we're gonna be hearing from game, especially
when you are when you when you get that software,
that software done right and be able to franchise and
bring it to Rashad McDonald's so I can sell it
to my people first and put the word out about
it because I believe in you, because you're a real
talker and you don't try to sell false hopes. And
that's important in the today and pandemic, when we're being

(01:39:43):
overtly affected by the virus, being overtly affected by the
financial crisis that is creating in our household. We need
information to overcome those obstacles. And my friend Ms. Howardton's
she provides it. Thank you for coming on the show.
Thank you have a good one. All right, thank you.
If you want to hear more money making Obversation interviews,
please go to mind Making Conversation dot com. I'm Rashan McDonald,

(01:40:04):
I'm your host. We'll be right back with more from
Marsan McDonald and money Making Conversations don't touch that. Oregan
donations save lives and some organs can even be donated
by a living donor. August is National Minority Donor Awareness Months.
So let's check in with Dr Denay Simpson, Assistant Professor
of Surgery at Northwestern Medicine, tell us about the African
American Transplant Access Program. So this is my baby. This

(01:40:27):
is a program that I have dreamt about creating since
I became interested in transplant as a trainee, and it's
a program designed to address the significant disparities that are
African American patients space. The program is designed to educate
patients about transplant, let them know what transplant can provide

(01:40:50):
to them, and to help them access the resources that
they find so scarce and so challenging to access in
order to get them on the fans plant tack and
back to you know, some type of meaningful life. For
more information, visit n M dot org, Slash Radio. Him
Rushan McDonald's the host of Money Making Conversation. The Cafe

(01:41:11):
Moka Swag Award is a celebration of black men who
are making a difference in our community by empowering others
to reach their life goals from civic leaders, businessmen, activists,
celebrities and everyday dad's. The Cafe Mocha Swagger Award one
of this week is Dr Shaun Woodley, a graduate of
Hampton University. Dr Shaun Woodley has dedicated his professional career

(01:41:31):
to education. He is the architect behind the Educated movement
Teach Hustle Inspired. He has written the best selling book
mc means Moved the Class How to Spark engagement and
motivation to urban and culturally diverged classrooms. I firmly believe
that education it's a key that can unlock so many
doors in so many different directions. We need to be

(01:41:55):
sure that the bright young scholars in the four walls
of these classrooms across us and you are being exposed
so that they have something to shoot for an education
get do that. The Cafe Marka Swag Award represents men
who have strength, whose wisdom is assertive, and who is
genuine in their spirit. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations.
I'm your host, Sean McDonald. My next guest, Glenn Robinson.

(01:42:18):
The third is an NBA basketball player. That's what you
know when you see somebody, But that's all you think.
But life is more than just being an NBA basketball player.
His A r I Foundation, which stands for Angels Are
Really Indeed, as a nonprofit organization aimed at empowering fathers
and helping create deeper bonds between fathers and their children.

(01:42:38):
They're also they also provide resources to help elevate fatherless
children and families. Glenn was inspired to launch his initiative
after the birth of his daughter Ariana Arianna help him
super saying it correctly, and wanted to shine a light
on the importance of the relationship between children and their fathers.
Glenn highlights fathers and their stories on his Instagram page
and wants to shine and light on someday amazing work

(01:43:00):
they're doing. Please work with the money making conversation, my man,
Glenn Robinson, the third are you doing today? I had
to get a lot out there live before I spoke
to you, man, A lot, a lot, because you know
the thing about it. First of all, Uh, what are you?
What are you calling it from right now? I'm calling
it from Indiana, Indiana, Indiana, Indiana. So I'm based in Atlanta, Georgia.

(01:43:26):
Syndicate nationally on podcasts and all that good this series XM.
The beauty of bringing an individual or what I wanted
to talk to you about first of all was why
they why was their need for you to do a
foundation like this. I think that is uh a need
you know in our community, especially our Black communities, to
feel that that that for us fathers you know, first off,

(01:43:48):
and to feel that fatherhood role if the father is
not around, you know what, meaning just stepping up and
empowering other parents, other fathers, UM doing what you can
to help um. You know, our young kids grow up
in today's society, I think they need all a mentorship
and all the help that they need. And having a
daughter myself and going through this process, you know, I

(01:44:09):
just know how much my daughter means to me, and
as she grows every day is important, you know. So
if I'm able to help other people and just have
that same type of impact in their lives and spread
that that that knowledge you know, around, I think that
we can we can start to have more successful communities
and more successful children in our communities. That's really important
that you say that. Really, I I have a daughter,

(01:44:30):
uh she's only child, and just having a child in general,
giving life really changed my perspective because in a way,
you know, we all live a selfish life. We just
want to do what's what's best for us, what's what
we gotta do to get what we want. And when
you have a child, that changes your value system. Talk
about how to change your value system, Glenn. Yeah, it

(01:44:51):
hangs a lot, you know. I think being a professional athlete,
you know, I just finished my six season. Uh, I
finished with the Philadelphia has haventy six is this year, um,
and I'm now a free agent. But looking at how
I was as a rookie and then now after six years,
and you know, I have a daughter who's to um,
you know, my time management changed, you know, my responsibilities
obviously change, you know. UM obviously my finances and what

(01:45:14):
I'm doing with my money, UM changed a lot. You know.
So it matures you, and it makes you grow up,
um in several different ways, you know. And I think
that if it wasn't for my daughter, UM, you know,
I just see how far you know back that you
tend to be and you think that you know everything,
but you really don't, you know, And and and you
know it's funny how how that how that comes out.

(01:45:34):
It really is amazing. I know that. Uh, I would
tell people the the best time I have with my daughter,
wouldn't she when you know, when she was about gets
up to about eight months, that's when she wasn't able
to push off. Then they started pushing off. Then also
they think they ruled the world. But when she was
just falling asleep on my chests and you know, laying
next to me and just just barely you know you

(01:45:56):
use proper upland and then they leaned on one side
because they didn't I mean also control to me, man,
those those memories stick with me. Man, that all the
memories stick with me, but that memory of it just
being able to fall asleep on my chest and and
lay next to me, and just realizing that how much
power I have, and shaping a mind, how much power

(01:46:17):
I have, and delivering a good person to this world.
I'm sure when I read your intro and I read
the research on you, it really almost messed you up
a little in a good way. The responsibility. Yeah, yeah,
yeah it did. Uh. You know, first off, I thought

(01:46:37):
I was, you know, obviously being a basketball player. You know,
I thought my first kid was gonna be a boy.
You know, we were gonna play basketball. You know, I
thought that it was gonna be all my way, you know,
and and and and God and life got a funny
sense of humor and you know how you really expected
and you know, and and my biggest blessing in my life,
that's been my daughter, I think, just because of the

(01:46:58):
alleys that I've been able to create, you know, surrounding her.
And that's the reason why I started the foundation is um,
you know, I didn't have a boy, you know, my
last name in a sense, you know, a lot of
men tend to worry about that, you know, And I
think that I just wanted to show her my genuine
love and create something that she'll see and look back
one day and she'll pick up this foundation because it's

(01:47:20):
named after her already, and she'll she'll realize, you know,
what we've created, and how many people that we've helped,
you know, and growing up and and as she grows, Um,
I do have that influence on her life. And I think,
like you said, that's the biggest thing that we can
control as parents, is you know, we we do have
a lot of influence in their lives. As they tend
to get older, you know, so that, um, they're going

(01:47:41):
in the right path, you know, whether that's racism, whether
that's schooling and education, whether that's you know, career paths,
whatever that is. I think that they contend to kind
of put put themselves on a decent past if they
have that influence around me. We know, we're talking about
changing people's lives. We're talking about controlling destiny. And you
know this season you played for the Philadelphia seventy sixers

(01:48:03):
and you got to experience the bubble down in Orlando, Florida,
and basically you didn't have control of your life anymore
at that point, I believe. Can you tell everybody I
had cg Color alone that last week and he had
me laughing just talking about how I was from your perspective,
and tell us that this walk us through the steps
of how controlled the testing process of living life in

(01:48:25):
the bubble. If there was some good thing, tell us
about it, the annoying things you can tell about, tell
us about it, because you had no control of your
life at that point. Glenn. Yeah, you know, I think
the hardest decision was, you know, they gave us a choice,
do we want to go or not? You know, do
you want to receive your paycheck and go to this bubble.
And we didn't know anything much about the virus at

(01:48:46):
that point, and we didn't know anything what this bubble
was gonna be like. So I had to make the
decision to lead my two year old daughter, which was hard,
but you know, I didn't want to leave my teammates down. Um.
I wanted to go do my job. I want to
go try to win a championship. And then my main
concern concern was just staying. Say, you know, so if
we had to test every day, that's what we had

(01:49:07):
to do, even though, like you said, it wasn'tnoying, but um,
we test literally every day for the coronavirus um. And
they would stick the Q tip up your nose, um,
and they would swab us mouth and and nose every
single day. Um. You know, the first two days there
we were in quarantine. You couldn't leave your rooms, and
they would bang on your door and just drop your food,

(01:49:29):
you know, at your door, and you will open it.
Nobody would be there. You grab your door and close it.
You grab your food and close the door and then
open you up your box lunch or boxes dinner, you know.
And that was the first two days they sprinting down
the hall you COVID natine not even on the hallway

(01:49:51):
no more. If it was there, That's that's funny, man,
you know. But my overall experience, I think it was
a lot better than I thought it was gonna be. Um.
You know, the food got better. They started opening up
things for us such, you know, such with Gough, Um
we could go. You know, they had a pool for us,
you know, allowance for us, um, a bar for us.

(01:50:13):
It was. It was a lot of different things, a barbershop. Um,
so there was. Life started to get a little bit
better after day probably thirty year around there. But I
was I was trapped in there for forty five days
before we lost and and and we exited out and
came home. M But that was an experience that I'm
gonna tell my daughter about my grandkids about. Um. You know,
a lot a lot of people won't be able to

(01:50:34):
experience that. And I'm just thankful that I came out
of it healthy and and and still you know, remain
the same and so so and so far, no one's
tested positive for COVID eighteen at the NBA bubble. They haven't,
you know, And I think that that's the only way
that you can do is if you're gonna have sports,
you have to do it in the forum that they did,

(01:50:54):
and it was hard to do. It was strict, and
they spent a lot of money, I think a hundred
and fifty million to keep us safe. But I think
if you're gonna do it, you have to do it
like that. If you want to keep people safe, well,
the more important thing is that just like me, Glenn,
I'm speaking to Glenn Robinson, the third UH. He's plays
currently for the Philadelphia seventy sixers. The name sounds familiar.
He has a father father, University of Mixican shop shooting dad.

(01:51:19):
I remember their run. I remember that run. Man, oh boy,
I tell when they run and then it came to NBA. Man,
I just hate that shot, man, I hate it. And
it's like Steph Curry shot, you know when it goes
up and like how could he miss? Type shot? And
that was your father's gift and you followed your father
was It wasn't an option that Glenn to not play basketball.

(01:51:41):
Can you play tennis? Can you play for my wide receiver?
Been the next Julius Joe Julian June well, I can
think of his name right there, being a wide receiver.
What were your options there? Brother? He he just looked
at you put a ball in your hand when you
can basketball in your hand. That was it, what was apting.
It's funny I tell people story of the time I
was born premature. So I was born three months early,

(01:52:03):
and I was months in the incubator, and my dad
and mom put a little produced you know, they put
a little mini basketball and my incubator when I was young.
So I like to tell everybody, I've been playing ball
since I was since I was an incubator six months.
But no, you know, that was one of the things
I was always grateful for my mom and dad, especially

(01:52:25):
my dad being a number one pick um, you know,
in ninety four and really being a man that in
that air. Um. He never forced it on me. You know,
I played football growing up. I played other sports growing up,
but I fell in love with basketball, and I followed
his footsteps in that sense. But you know, um, I
think that I've always tried to remain you know, a

(01:52:47):
different person, you know, and not just follow his footsteps,
but create different paths, you know, throughout my career to
kind of separate me. And you know, he never had
a foundation, Um, but he did give back to the
kids again Indiana where we're from, and what holds a
free basketball camp every year. Um. So I continue to
do that, that same thing, and on top of that,

(01:53:08):
I'm doing my foundation. Angels are real indeed who were
helping empower other father So I try to take what
he's done and model his example, but also continue to
make it better and elevate it even more and reach
even more people, because, um, the more people we can reach,
even if it's just a few kids, who knows how
their lives will change. You know, I'm glad. Uh, I'm
enjoying this interview with you. Your your very unique voice,

(01:53:31):
and and you just happen to be able to dribble
a little basketball, okay, and and I respect. And I'm
gonna tell you I'm one of the little You know,
everybody thinks they can play bad, but I can really
play ball. But I was one of them hard headed people.
I thought the coach is gonna eventually come to a
neighborhood park see me and tell me I can start.
I didn't want to go out there practice they were
I was that arrogant you know, I was as I was,

(01:53:53):
as the neighbor would say, I was all Park gLing,
I was all Park. I was a bad boy and
uh and so. But you know, when I look at
the NBA and I look at the ability to play
an NBA, man, that's special man. You know, that's that's
a unique talent. What does it take to be uh
uh NBA player? Because I from a mindset standpoint, from

(01:54:17):
a physical standpoint, I knew what I could do. But
I know I didn't have the ability because first of all,
I didn't have the discipline to be an NBA player
because I wouldn't even I wouldn't even audition or going
for the basketball practice because I thought I was better
than everybody else. So what does it take to be
an NBA player? Yeah, I think the biggest things that
I've noticed, and like we talked about, I just finished

(01:54:38):
my sixth season in the NBA. So you know, for
whatever it's worth, you know, I've been able to stick
in this league after seeing a lot of people come
in and out the league. I was drafted second I
was drafted second round, and it's only a small percentage
of players that I'm gonna tell you something when you
went pro. I was mad at you. I was mad
at you. I was like, what is he doing? What
is't he was a good busio team too? What do

(01:54:59):
you continue with? I just want to get that out years.
I was young, you know, I had just turned twenties,
you know, but and I had no idea about the
whole business. But um, you know, I think after being
around now for a few years, Um, what really separates

(01:55:20):
you know, NBA players and a lot of players that
I've seen, and um, discipline and all those things that
you've said. But just to break it down to simple terms,
is whatever you got going on in your life, whether
as women, whether that's finance issues, its family issues, kids,
whatever that's going on in your life, you have to
find some way. When you were able to come onto

(01:55:40):
the court everything that happens in those lines, you're able
to take your discipline and your hard work and you're
able to turn it into success by focusing and locking in.
You know, when when when this distractions out there and
you're not able to focus your mind, um, it can
really mess you up. You know. And NBA players and
athletes in general, we already got a lot going on

(01:56:01):
the money that's thrown at us people. That's thrown at us. Um.
And and that discipline is what you have to have. Well,
you know I've been uh, but I participate in the
high level, as we say, in the entertainment game. So
I know discipline is important because it does come to you.
It always amazes me how I'm financially able to do

(01:56:21):
a lot of things, but I get free meals, I
can get discount on my clothes, and my wife just
looks at me to go, really, really, this is gonna
be fu and uh. And because I always make a
point of now I got you, I gotta I paid
when I go in because it's because I'm an entrepreneur.
So I know being an entrepreneur, you know you have
to be with respect people and and tell them that

(01:56:41):
their brain has value. And so when I look at
you and and and this conversation the first time we
ever talked. But I as a as a person who
talks to a lot of people, Glenn, Um, I'm a
fan just just this conversation, and I want to maintain
a relationship with you because your your your your success
and your your your brand is beyond the court. It's

(01:57:03):
beyond the court. Man. I don't know if anybody told
you that, but just hearing how you talk, you know
you God just gave you the gift, your gift at
someplace else, brother, and you just need to find it
and hold on to it and get the right people
around you. And I'm not telling you to quick the NBA.
I'm just telling you this. This foundation, you know, uh

(01:57:24):
that you started. The mission is to empower fathers with
their central resources that will allow them to be the
best dads they can be. We will also provide assistance
to fatherless children and families. Tell us about that part,
providing assistance to fatherless children and families. How does that work?
Glenn Robinson the third Yeah, when I first, you know,
started my foundation, Uh, I was playing for the Warriors

(01:57:46):
at the beginning of this year, and uh, there was
a there was a family in my building who had
just one day they placed off a lottery. Uh. They
didn't have, you know, very much money. Uh they they
they you know, income wasn't very high. What paint for
rent was very low because they wanted to do a lottery. Um,
but she couldn't get in the door. I was just

(01:58:06):
moving in as well, and myself and my brother here
you're younger than me three hundred pounds, big dude. You
know he he actually played football, I hope. So, so
we helped this lady out. Her name was miss c
C and um, she broke down to the front desk, Um,
you know, thank you to Glenn and Jelyn for for

(01:58:27):
the help, and would love to cook for them one day. Um.
So we ended up going in and to her spot
and she cooked us food, fried chicken mac and cheese.
I hadn't had a home, couldn't meal in a while,
you know, I wrote a lot. That's a meal, you
fried chicken mac and you're already starting at the at
the at the they said that the at the core

(01:58:47):
of good home cook meal right there, brother exactly. So
so we were getting ready to eat, and my brother
and I we sit down and she just had two chairs. Um,
you know, to to just patio picnic chairs. Um, and
you know we ate. And after that, my brother lived
at me and he was like, you know, you've been
talking about this foundation. I think the first family. I

(01:59:08):
think the perfect opportunity would be to help them. Um,
you gotta get them a table at least. And I
was like, you know what, you're right, and we went.
A couple of weeks later. I surprised her, told her
that we were gonna help get lunch. I was gonna
take her out. Um. She does her husband, she's actually
been involved in you know, domestic violence. She has two children, UM,

(01:59:28):
no father involved in the house. And she's worked two
or three jobs her you know, their whole lives. Um.
And spend her last thirty dollars to prepare that meal
for my brother. Not because we watched her hitting the house. UM,
and I told her we were gonna go get some lunch. UM.
I furnished her whole apartment twenty six pieces of furniture.
And they were sleeping on the ground, all three of them.

(01:59:50):
And they now got bed to sleep on that night. UM.
And she she just called me the other day. And
her son just became a father, and she's now a grandmother.
And I still maintain that relationship. And UM, those are
the type of families, UM, that we that we help
when we talk about fatherless children, and and and and
her son. UM actually told me that I'm the reason
why he wanted to get a job. He went and

(02:00:12):
got h He just started as an electrician. Um. He's
on a path of success and as a father. So
those those stories and those type of things that we
do that mean a lot more than, like you said,
anything that I can do on the basketball court. I'm
able to help that family take them basically from off
the streets. And now that because I spent a couple
of thousand dollars, you know, on them, not even a
lot of money, but to get them in a decent

(02:00:34):
bed at night. That's what it's about. You're listening to
money making conversations with Rashan McDonald. We'll be right back.
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(02:01:40):
back to money making conversations. I'm your host, Sean McDonald. Well,
you know it's really interesting, man, because I've been fortunate
to change people's lives, you know, with with emotional assistance,
physical assistance, financial assistance. And people just want to let
you know that they're human, that's all. And once you
can remove, uh, you know, a layer of embarrassment, and

(02:02:03):
that's sleeping on the floor of the lawyer embarrassment. Uh
old gona close that you got to wear the school,
the wear of the work or a lawyer of embarrassment.
It allows you to focus on who you really are
and can be. And that's what you did for them.
But you know, you allow them to walk into that
apartment not stressed, to walk out feeling good because they

(02:02:24):
felt like humans again. And and that that's why, that's
why I was just when I when I when this
interview with scheduled. You know, they they you know, we
have a meeting all the time, Glenn, who who are
gonna bring? What? What did he do? Because I'm not
just gonna bring black basketball players on my show. And
they that did my research and I went wow wow,
But what what is impressing me more is you? Though?

(02:02:45):
Is you? What? What's what's what's the driving force of you?
Because a foundation is what it is. But the success
of the foundation is the the is the leader, the founder,
the person who wakes up thing. Anybody go to sleep
thinking about trying to make it big or try to
try to try to save more people than sometimes you

(02:03:06):
umtually you know, you can only put your arms around
so many people at one time. Sometimes we try to
trying to try to expand and hurt your back. So
before you hurt your back, man, tell us about you. Man,
tell us about you. Man. Yeah, I mean, I uh,
you know everything that I got, you know, I've seen, Um,
you know, my dad was successful. He had you know,

(02:03:28):
money and cars and things like that, But that never
was my purpose or what drove me because I've seen
that and I was fortunate enough to see that with him.
But I grew up in the house with my mom
and my grandma. My grandma's from Mississippi, you know, my
mama and grandma. Currently they still live, uh, you know,
close to Gary, Indiana. So we met West people and
at the end of the day, they care about who

(02:03:48):
are you as a person rather than whatever else that's
going on. Is at the end of the day, when
I look at myself in the mirror, what have I done?
Who am I as a person? And I feel and
as I walked through just finding my purpose, I know
that I don't know my I don't I feel like
I don't know my exact purpose or mission yet, but
it's coming and through this foundation, like you said, Um,

(02:04:10):
I've realized that, you know, it's about helping the masses
of amount of people. From what I do as a
professional athlete. You know, I'm able to take you know,
my six years experience as an athlete and able to
talk to kids, able to help fathers, you know, different
alleys of people that I can reach. Um, and affecting
people's lives. That's just who I am in and since

(02:04:31):
I was first in the league, you know, I would
find kids to kind of help out here and there,
or go to the hospital and visit the sick kids
and play video games with them. It's just been who
I am. And I found a way to create a
team around my foundation and we meet weekly on different
ideas that I have a different you know, suggestions that
they might have a families to help. So I put

(02:04:51):
a real structure around this because I know that I
take from being a father and having my daughter and
um me just being in her life as a blessing.
So you know, I want to be able to take
that and help others to just be that role and
kind of model figure for them, because you know, they
look at professional athletes and a lot of people do
at superheroes and this and that. But like you said,

(02:05:11):
at the end of the day, we're the same as you.
We put our pants on, the same thing as everybody else.
And if they're able to understand that in some type
of way and you're able to come to terms and
them to look at you as a as a human
being and a decent human being, because we already know
how people think about athletes, then they're able to connect
with you. And I've noticed that. Well you know, I'm
connecting with you right now. Okay, and so, uh, I

(02:05:33):
know you just got some swag down here that you're
selling on your website. You know, got you know, some
selection when you're sold out on the on the black
T shirt, they're sold out. You got the hoop, got
the jersey, got that the dad had, got to pull
over hoodie. You know. So I'm telling what I got.
I got a newsletter goes out to an eighty thousand

(02:05:54):
people and uh and I'm it goes out by monthly
until next week. I'm gonna drop your store, your your
store into my newsletter and then recommend people browse your
your you and then and then ilso on my website,
I have a store, and I'm if you don't mind,
I'm gonna drop your your swag gear on there for

(02:06:15):
potential purchase as well, because that's what I do with
money making conversation. This because you know, this is amazing.
This is a free format. Man. You know, my my
blessing is coming aware, my blessing talking to you because
I get to beat you man, I'm going like this
brother here, man, if this brother like because I'm trying
to this is how this is how I think. Man,
I'm trying to figure out how I can help this
brother raise money because see what I don't like here, man,

(02:06:39):
When I was managing Steve Harvey, uh never you know,
and uh you know he's to spend his money. He
he's a brag about it. I spend my money on
my foundation. I go do Now, you really need to
be spending somebody else's money that keep your money in
your foundation, build your brand so other people have value
in what you were saying, and then they give you

(02:07:01):
money and you can do more. And so that's my
that's my thoughts is running through my mind with you,
is like how can we get together and you know,
put together your e p K and start putting together
sissor real so we can get you some get you
some forwards and some some some Truish banks and some
Bank of Americas on your website, dude, because you know

(02:07:26):
it's it's people out that d there Michigan need to
be on here making some donations. You know what I'm saying.
You know all at I'm just telling you how I
think because you go to university. You know, I'm excited. Hey, brother,
you know like I'm gonna give you after this call
if you want to give myself number. Anytime you have
a good or bad thought, you called me. Okay, this

(02:07:47):
is what I do for a liver. Girl. You if
you don't even know who I am, google me. Brother.
All I do is make people famous. All I do
is make corporations a lot of money. Because I think
that's my skill. That's you know, when I was eighteen
years old, I realized that was my gift. I just
didn't then't understand it until I was in my authorities.
I just always used word like I'm just at the
right place at the right time. I'm just lucky like that.
And then I realized, you know, that's what you do.

(02:08:10):
You know, that's what you that's your gift. You're able
to look at things and evaluate people and really push
them to lenings and give a clear understanding of what
they can do with their lives because so many people don't,
you know, because you know, they've been told what they're
supposed to do. Like and I was, I was told
to go to college. I got to college, which was
truly a blessing for me. But I realized that wasn't

(02:08:31):
what and my degree is in mathematics, and I went
to work like I was told. I went to work
for IBM. Then I realized, this ain't what I want
to do. This ain't what I want to do. And
so so I'm listening to you. You're successful as NBA player.
I'm just telling you right now. I don't during how
many teams you've been on because you're in the n
b A. You played in the n b A. I
know how hard it is. The D league is full

(02:08:52):
of people want to be you, you know, and so
and so so. But then what is bigger than that?
You know. Look, as great as Lebron is what he
does away for the league, I respect way more, way
more because I know God gave him the ability to dribble,
to dunk, the i Q, to be able to be

(02:09:14):
the best basketball player in the world. But everything else,
he's thinking about everything else you're thinking about, Glenn, that
wasn't part of the equation when people were telling you
what you were supposed to do, telling you what you
were capable of doing. This is something that you have
matriculated through life and said this is who I want
to be, This is what I want to represent this
and and it was borne out by the birth of

(02:09:36):
your daughter. Man, I'm telling him, I'm inspired talking to you, brother,
and believe me, I've done a lot for you to
be inspiring me. Appreciate that's here and I appreciate you
having me here today. Well, the thing is is that
man to be successful, Glenn, And that's what money making
conversations all about. His creating relationships people here this and

(02:09:57):
and then hear our conversation and your fan bras who
hopefully great some more followers. But more importantly, it's creating
relationships and creating a brain awareness of who is exactly
is Glenn Robinson the third beyond basketball and beyond basketball,
you're a person who cares about making other people's lives
better that are not directly tied to you. They're not
your cousins, ain't your aunt, nature sustain your brother, ain't

(02:10:18):
your child or your girlfriend or your wife. They're just
people that you know need a helping hand. And we
were at the University of Michigan, my brother, there are
a lot of people over there with that can help
you with this because it's it's phenomenal and you are
very articulate man. And you can talk. Brother. I don't

(02:10:40):
know if anybody told you, but you can talk. Man.
You know you just need to go and realize what
I just told you and just keep talking. Glynn, Just
keep talking, brother, I'm keep talking. Brother. I'm telling you, Man,
I'm way impressed with you. Brother, I do so if
you don't have to drill another basketball, if you keep talking,

(02:11:00):
you're gonna be making way more money just because your
ability to talk than your ability to drible. I'm just
gonna tell you that, believe that bleed up the passion
that I hear and the ability to articulate who you
could be in life. You are impressive. Man. I I
can I can only say that to you verbally because

(02:11:21):
of the fact that you have to believe that yourself.
You have to wow man. Man, I tell you I
love this show. I love I love I love reading
what they said A diamond and the rough. You see
your diamond and the rough? Brother. I just look. No,
You'll be walking around and you see something just sparkle
on the ground and go, what's that? You know? I

(02:11:41):
looked down there, what's that? That's the third picked them
up do something. We're gonna do something. Love you, man,
I love you, Man, I love your brother. Angels are real, indeed,
man helping fathers become barrel in fatherhood and helping families

(02:12:02):
without one. Founded by Glenn Robinson the Third Glenn, my man,
I'm telling your brother, as God is my witness, You're
gonna make way more money talking than drippling in your
life because you care about people and you want to
make a difference in people's lives. And it all starts
with your ability to think and articulate. And you do

(02:12:24):
it very well. You just haven't accepted it yet. Accepted. Man,
Gonna go for it, brother, gonna go for it. You
walk on that damn University music camping with a with
an E p K and a sizzle real and walk
out of there with several millions of dollars. Brother, No
more spending your money, no more, no more, no more,
no more, no more. Let's stay in touch. We appreciate

(02:12:46):
everything and it's a pleasure. Okay. Man, Again, I didn't,
I didn't. I didn't just utter those words so I
can just sweat on on the microphone these words so
you can give it. Alright, Brother, I want to thank
you for coming on this show, Glenn, and we were
will be in touch man, because like I tell you, man,
to hear somebody like you talk and you're young because
I didn't. I didn't figure out, because I didn't figure

(02:13:07):
out my my success path until I was in my forties.
And believe me, I had a lot of Mercedes bends
and a lot of big houses along the way, a
lot of good times and a lot of times I
wish I wouldn't have participated in. But they were all
good memories right now, because when you get old, all
you can live off your memories. Okay, but uh, but again,
my brother, thank you for coming on money making conversations. Okay, yes,

(02:13:31):
thanks a lot. I appreciate some time. Yeah, get my
contact information we can hook up. But but again, I'm
gonna put you your whole or your whole squag in
my not this week's but next Wednesday's newsletter. And uh,
just to get the word out, man, I'm I'm a
Glenn Robin the third fan. We're gonna get these angels
are real, indeed brand off that love that logo, by

(02:13:51):
the way, it's outstanding. We're gonna get it off. It's
gonna be on fire. Man. I'm just telling me, you're
walking around two many millionaires. Brother, be spending your own money. Now,
stop that. Stop that today. Okay, we're good, brother. We
talked soon. Man, go bye. Okay. If you want to
hear more money Making Conversations, please go to money Making
Conversation dot com. All the interviews are there. I'm ras

(02:14:14):
Sean mcdown. I'm your host.

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Rushion McDonald

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