Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
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 on many occasions in indication didn't notice, I'm not broke.
You know. He'll be interview with 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
(00:25):
from my man, Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations. Here we go.
Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. As he stated, I
am your host, Rashan McDonald. I recognize that we all
have different definitions of success. For you and may be
the size of your paycheck. Mine is inspiring people to
accomplish their goals and live their very best life. It's
(00:46):
time to stop reading other people's success stories and start
writing your own. People always talking about their purpose or gift.
If you have a gift, leave with your gifts and
don't let your friends, family, or co workers stop you
from planning or living your dreams. My next guest, she's
the doctor of defeat. She is the person that I
should have found when I was sixteen. She should I
(01:08):
said that she should have commented my life. Dr Eylonda
Raglan She's one of the top Bunyan and Hambletow surgeons
in the Northeast with over twenty years of medical experience.
She maintains her office on Park Avenue in New York
City and the Washington metro area and Booie Miller. The
focus of her practice is Bunyan and hamblet To correction.
Her trade secret ti Era Toe t M, which is
(01:30):
a technique leads patients with sound a ready feet. We
know summer is coming. Ladies. You know men too with sandals,
you know, getting out there scaring us with your feet,
leaving no visible scarring after their surgical procedure. Dr Raglan's
goals is to help women be successful by supporting them
with strong foundation. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
(01:53):
The incredible much needed Dr Elanda Raglan. How you doing,
Doctor Rashan, thank you so much for that glorious introduction.
How are you doing well? You know I would. I'll
be honest with you. Uh, I made mistakes with my feet,
Dr Raglan, And I know that's not the first time
you've heard this. You you went into a business where you,
(02:15):
like you said, you're the foundation of what you're doing.
Life is how you stand, how you walk, how you
present yourself when you walk into a room and a
lot of people are walking around with very painful feet,
Am I correct? Absolutely? Not only they're they're walking around
with painful, embarrassing looking feet. Um and uh. And so
(02:37):
what I found very early on in my studies was that, um,
especially African American women, they wanted to correct these problems,
but they didn't just want to get rid of the pain.
They wanted to feat to be beautiful too. So that
was my AHA moment, and I just decided that, no,
(03:00):
this is what I was going to do. I'm going
to focus on this core group of UH of African
American women or women of color, and I'm going to
hone my skills in correcting Buning's hammer toes getting rid
of those those unsightly corns. But I'm not going to
(03:20):
just get rid of him, and I'm not going to
just read you of the pain. I'm also going to
do it with an aesthetic result. This is a very
serious subject that we're talking about. I brought it on
to just talk about her career, but more importantly to
give an outlet because a lot of people, like I said, uh,
walking in pain and then walking in pain my father.
I always remember my father, uh you know, you know,
(03:42):
you know, just being honest. Was I just see him
with these huge coins on his toes and U and
I when I look back now, I can only imagine
how much pain he was in because it was just
it was just just outrageously big. But he put his
shows on his shoes only walk out, and I'm she
was very uncomfortable. Correct, Yeah, but guess what rashan for men?
(04:07):
You guys, haven't you do have a little bit of
an option? I sold. I I sold shoes for many
years before I even thought about um becoming a docter
and so, and I sold men and women's shoes, so
men can get wider with even in your higher in shoes.
(04:29):
Women women, on the other hand, when you start getting
into these wide with the shoes, just become uglier and uglier,
so it almost becomes not an option for them. So um,
even though like you said, I'm sure you know your
father did experience some discomfort with the corns that he
(04:53):
had on his feet. He did have options where he
could go and get these shoes and at e with
or double e or tripoli or even a quat truple
e with where women just don't have that option, and
if they do have the options, just something that they
are not willing to do. They don't want to go there.
(05:15):
You absolutely are telling the truth. I wear a size
twelve shoe and I gotta and it gave me an
option to have a wide and I gotta watch you
and because I know if I get it tight, that's
what ruined that feet. When I was a teenager and
going into college, I will really tight, narrow shoes and
they were pointy toe, and I ignored the pain. I
(05:35):
ignored my shoe rubbing against rubbing up against the side
of my foot. I ignored the fact that my my
baby toe was collapsing and as it was collapsing underneath
because it was pointy toe, so it was rubbing up
against him. But guess what, everybody was complimenting me on
my shoes. Everybody those shoes shoes. Yeah, but did you
(05:56):
take it? Did you ever take your foot out of
the slipper? I'm telling doctor, I took it. Out and
put it right back in there because my ego was
being fed by people telling me it looked good, not
the pain and not not not the trouble. But I
really want to talk about it because your brand is
(06:17):
fixed your feet and the focuses on surgical corrections of
painful and embarrassing, you know, the formers, even bunnans and habitats.
Can you tell us how did you get in this business?
Because you know, we we we hear different professions. We
hear nurses, we hear you know, O, B G, y end,
we hear all different. But but to get into the
business you're in, how did that happen? And where did
(06:39):
you go to school? Well? Um, well, first of all
the school that I attended undergrad I went to University
of Maryland, and then I did five years in between
Maryland and I did a little interim before I went
to my dietary medical school. Um, I did some research
at the National Institutes of Health and I agentedmatology, so
(07:01):
I'm burst in skin. Um. And then and then that's
when I decided that yeah, you know, I'm going I'm
going to definitely move forward with medical school. And I
wound up at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine,
and then I did a rigor UH surgical UH program
(07:23):
with a with a hospital that is a wild cornell
Um Medical School affiliate. And then but but what really
tifted you in that direction? Because you have options? You know,
you're talented, you're educated, but what you know because everybody
has a charge to make it. Like I said, I
(07:44):
went to college and I wanted to be an engineer,
and then I drifted between different majors and I wound
up falling with my natural love and skill was mathematics,
and I minded on in sociology and I graduated and
that was really the right direction for me to go,
even though I thought engineer was the direction that I
wanted to go. Did you go in college? Would go
into college thinking about this direction? Or at what point
(08:06):
of the light bulb went out? And when I went
out and went above your head and said this is
where you should be pointing? Well, I knew I was
going to become a doctor. Um. Yeah, there was a
lot of things in health care I had experienced. So
I had experienced. Now what I looked back on it
was discrimination in the health care system. I didn't know
(08:29):
how to explain it back then, but now I know
how to articulate it. And that's exactly what was happening
to me. So I wanted to become a doctor because
I wanted to know what the doctors knew. Um, and
as I said, and undergraduate, I started doing research at
the National Institute's to Health in dermatology. So I thought
(08:50):
I was going to be a dermatologist and so um.
But I kept getting these applications from dietary school, not
knowing what it was. And I was and I would
throw away the applications and one of my friends stopped
by the lab as I was about to toss another
application in the garbage, and she stopped me and says,
(09:12):
what are you doing? Why are you throwing that away?
And I'm like what and she's like, that's medical school
and I was like, oh, what is it? And she didn't.
She explained to me, you know, it's medicine of the foot,
and she kind of like broke it down from me.
She does, you know that there's hair, skin, and nails
on the foot, So if you want to stop specialize
(09:34):
in dermatology on the foot, you can do that. And
I thought that that notion was kind of cool, because
I like, I like the idea of having like a
niche practice. I like, you know, being you know, real
specific and being like that that top notch specialist. So
I thought I was going to specialize in dermatology revolved
(09:58):
around the foot. Then I get a to me. Then
I get into podiatric medical school and I realized there's
this whole sturgical aspect which is basically is we're doing
surgery of the bones, so it's basically orthopedic surgery. And
I was like, holy guacamole, we got chipps. I'm like,
(10:18):
my hands are very dextrous, I am very good at
reproducing results. And I and when I found out that
there was this whole, big, huge surgical aspect, I was
just like, this is what I want to do. Because
when I was living in the dorms, some ladies would
stop me all the time and say hey, hey, and
(10:39):
this is me as a student. I'm like a first year,
second year student, and was like, hey, can you get
rid of this this corn right here? But I wanted
to be done cosmetically because they had seen the results
of their friends or their mom or their auntsie or
their cousins, and they didn't want that results. And I
kept hearing this over and over again the route uh
(11:01):
throughout medical school. And then you know, and then I
started seeing what results looked like. UM, when I was
in my residency program, and I would compare what I
would see on Caucasian skin versus black skin, and I
would and I would see that those results did not
translate over to the black skin. Maybe we scar differently.
(11:24):
So I said, you know, youve got to think outside
the box. You know, there's gotta be a better way
to do this so we can get better results on
people of color. And so with my dermatological background, I
was like, okay, there are ways the future the skin um,
you know thinks more like a plastic surgeon working on
(11:47):
one space. I just said, there's gotta be you know,
different ways to clothes and maybe there's different approaches the
the scars aren't visibly noticeable to the eyes, maybe we
can hide the ours. And because I was afforded the
opportunity to be in such a great residency program and
(12:08):
scrub in with literally hundreds and hundreds of different surgeons,
I got to see people do things so many different ways.
So I journaled the techniques that I thought were the
most optimal, and then I put those things together and
(12:28):
then I put a little bit of my special sauce
on it, and and then that's how I came up
with my petty plastic Tierra too technique. UM, and so yes,
that's that's basically. UM, that's basically how I how I
came up with with the practice. And like I said,
(12:51):
I started to practice to target the specific demographic with
in mind, keeping in mind that the procedures are for everybody.
But I felt like this specific demographic was being dismissed.
They weren't being heard and they weren't receiving the services
(13:12):
that they deserve. Right right, We'll be right back with
more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Now, let's
return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Now,
when you when you talk about trying to do something,
I have to say this technique, was it the new technique?
(13:34):
Was it a technique that you figured out? And then
when you when you started a planet that that other
fellow doctors in your industry questioned that technique or felt
there was some type of fad or some type of
you know, hype thing that you had, you had you
put in place, what was the reaction? So you know, honestly, Rashan,
(13:55):
I don't really pay attention to what's the was the
there people with what they're thinking, because I know that
I am doing something with reproducible results with UH, with
high satisfy, with a very high satisfaction rate UM for
(14:17):
over fifteen years. So so when if I have maysayers
that don't understand my demographic and that have been giving
my demographic, the demographic that I'm targeting less than what
they deserve, and if they are snubbing their noses at
(14:38):
my technique, I don't have time to pay attention to that. UM.
What I do know is that my h that I
have taken, like I said, it's been UH. The everything
about the technique is not completely new, but there are
aspects of it that are completely new. So I've taken
(14:58):
like I said, dif are things I saw one person
do you think one thing this way? Another person do
something another way, and I combine some of those things together,
and like I said, then I put Then then as
I started perfecting the technique, I started changing things and
tweaking it and just getting it so that I can
(15:20):
get the best result possible for these patients. Here's a question,
Dr Ragle, because I grew up with six sisters. And
I'm not saying I'm a female expert, but I had
six of them in my life, and I guess what,
they were very opinionated, and five of them were older
than me, so they did steer my my vision when
it comes to high heels, high heels safe to wear
(15:41):
all the time or is there a certain age less
weight limits for high heels? Talk about the high heels
phenomenon because they're not going away? Is a part of
the fashion culture? Is there? And uh, I wouldn't use
the word danger, but are they safe to wear all
the time? I was gonna talk about high heels like
(16:03):
like one would talk about alcohol. Where your eye heels responsibly.
So and I'm saying that you you should not be
in a pair of five in the lettos eight hours strength.
(16:24):
That's you know, that's bad form, that's bad decorum for
the flip um. But if you know, if you're having
a night out and you want to look extra and
you are able to tolerate walking around in those shoes,
why all means you? I think that express yourself. You know,
(16:46):
go ahead, you be you. Um, But like I said,
it's not something for you to stand around in all
day long for eight hours. If you're going to wear
heels like you should always bring pair of safety shoes
with you so that you can give your foot a
break from being in that declinated angle for so long. Um.
(17:10):
And and if you start to feel pain, like you
shouldn't be feeling pain, so like you were saying, you would,
you would feel the pain on the pinky toast, so
that pinky toast starts burning, it feels like it's about
to catch on fire. You need to come out of
them and get into your safety shop because that is
a point where your feet are literally talking to you
and telling you I need belief, Please get me out
(17:34):
of here. And that's that's true. What you're saying is
very true, very true. We ignore what our body is
telling us. We ignore our body talking to us. I
ignored it. And and that's why when I invited you
on the show. You know, my show is my main
conversation maskic life, because why do you have a foot doctor?
Because I know how my feet impact my life every day.
(17:58):
You know, because of my feet, I have to soak
them once a month, just just I'm not going into
any graphic details, but I have to take care of
my feet periodically to make sure that I can walk
into shoes that I now for myself. Because I'm smarter now,
I know about with I know about a round curve
toe area, something that I didn't do when I was younger.
(18:19):
Because I and my shoes still look smartly, they still
look sportly. People just still compliment compliment me on my shoes.
But I didn't know now what advice when you when
you when you when people come into your office, do
you become a counselor a person who give out an advice?
I know, because because they have to still take care
(18:40):
of their feet after you fix them correct. So you know,
I've become a little bit of everything. I'm I'm an auntie,
as sister, a best friend. I'm all and a counselor,
um their doctor, they're surgeon. I'm all of these things.
Because I wanted women to come to a safe place.
(19:04):
I wanted them to come someplace where they would get
really good information. They're gonna they're gonna get They're going
to be able to make a real good informed decision.
On whether or not they should move forward with surgery.
I'm going to tell you if you even really need
to have surgery. So I've actually and this is how
(19:26):
you know, this is how I make my bread and butter.
I this is I do not have a general um
pedietary practice. I make my bread and butter by doing
those few services that we announced earlier. And so if
and and and I want to protect my patients from
going to a predatory doctor because some of these people
(19:47):
come in with their really great insurance. They don't even
realize how great their insurance is, but they might not
have anything that really needs to be done. And I
don't want them to have surgery regret. Or I don't
wants them to do a procedure that is at high
risk and they have and they really don't have symptoms.
So I'm going to give my patients the best if I,
(20:11):
if I feel like you really need the surgery done,
I'm going to do I will do the procedure. If
I feel like you really do not need the procedure done,
I'm going to tell you that. Now. I've even had
a case where I tried to talk the lady out
of the procedure tried to. She's like, no, you're gonna
come in here, You're gonna do everything. She basically told
me that, and I said, what I got frightened because
(20:34):
I thought she was going to go to somebody else,
and I thought that they were going She's gonna wind
up with the result that she wasn't going to be
happy with. So I said, you know, I basically told
her to think about it. Call me back up. Here's
my cell phone number, call me, text me. I'll if
I don't answer the phone, text me. And she says,
I still want to do it. And that's when I said, okay,
(20:56):
I'll do it, you know. But then I read her
the Riot Act. You know, I told her what all
her risk was. She understood that. But really, if I
feel and I think that when I tell patients, hey,
look you really don't you really don't want to do that.
I'll do this thing over here. But you really don't
need to have this sun and done. It doesn't hurt
(21:18):
you just have a little slight bump over there. It's
and you can fit into your shoes. It's not an
issue for you. There's a lot of risk in buying
in surgery. Why would you put yourself at that risk.
And you know afterwards they say thank you doctor, thank
you for being so honest. This is why I started
this practice. I wanted to protect this this particular demographic
(21:42):
so people would not take advantage of them, and so
that they would get, like I said, the services and
the results that they deserve. I'm speaking to doctor yunon
the wragling about feet and then more importantly women feet
of females who are out there trying to however, are
trying to fix a problem that they created. This all
(22:03):
self inflicted at times, sometimes it's not. But in this case,
summer is coming. Dr ragling, what can women do to
make sure they don't mess up? Or what can they
do to keep their feet beautiful? Oh, you have to
wear proper fitting shoes. So it goes right back to
(22:25):
you know, does it hurt. If it hurts in the store,
it's going to hurt outside the store. So can you
say that one more time? Can you say that one
more time? You heard me? If it hurts in the store,
it's going to hurt outside the stone. That's what's gonna happen.
So uh, they'll play around with it. Um Now, I
(22:47):
would advise every woman and this is gonna, you know,
future on. In the future, I'm going to create a
pair of shooting stretchers. But every woman should have their
own pair of shoe stretchers at home. And that's because
you know, this way, you don't have to go to
(23:07):
the shoe store. You'll you'll as soon as you get it.
You shouldn't be breaking in the shoe. Your foot should
not be breaking in the shoe. Allow the shoe stretcher
to do that job. You can put you can get
your you know, those nice beautiful Italian or French design shoes,
you can put them in the shoe stretcher. Lets them
sit in there for a week or so, and now
(23:29):
they're broken in. It's like somebody's been walking in them
straight for two, you know, two weeks straight and now
they're broken at UM. So, like I said, the shoe
has to be comfortable. That's the that's the most important thing. UM.
Keeping your feet clean and dry, keeping UM, inspecting it daily. UM,
(23:52):
making sure that you moisturize your foot daily. UM. Exfoliating
all the all the horror of skin gently exfoliating. Quick
question here, Dr Raglan, because I you know, I've seen
women with band aids on the back of the heel
on their toes. Okay, these are these are warning signs
(24:16):
that this is a bad shoe. Correct. I think that
these are warning size and signs that it's an ill
fitting shoe. So a lot of times if you have
those band aids, or if you have something that's in
the back, it's probably because the shoe does not fit
you properly. It's if you have to put a pat
(24:37):
in the back. The shoe is too big. Your foot
is flighting forward and the shoe was too big, and
that's why you're getting the friction on the on on
the back of your heel, or some ladies have something
called the pump bump, and that could be a reason
why now you have a pup bump. You might want
to put something there that stops that friction from happening.
(24:59):
Something called mole skin. You can get that from any
drug store and that will stop the friction there. And
and that that's something you know, that's just how your
body has developed. But if you don't have a pump
bump on the back of your heel and that foot
that she was slighting off, you shouldn't have purchased the shoe.
In the first place. Sometimes we just want to shoot
(25:22):
so bad and we just buy the side up or
the side down, and it's not worth it. And that's
you know, I can't you know, as as a witness,
as as I'm testifying right now, I'm testifying that she's
telling you the truth from a male perspective. I did
everything that she's saying incorrectly. I wore the tight shoot.
(25:44):
I wore this shoe, you know. You you know, towards
the teenage, I wearing size twil but I was wearing
the size nine. I wore size tena words, and that
when that was when I was in the level, I
was wearing the size you know, it was a ten
and a half. Okay, I slapped my foot in there,
you know, and I did that. I let my foot
stretch out. The shoe, you know, expanded, you know, as
I got older than I I have shoe horns, and
(26:06):
I put them in there, and that stretched them out,
and I would let them. You know, I used to
marinate in that shoe to get it right from my
foot so my foot won't be screaming. And so now
I live a comfortable life with my feet. But my
feet have paid the price. And what you're trying to
say to all the callers, who are all the people
(26:26):
who have listening to this show is that do not
get to rushan stage of life you know where, do not?
You know, it's not worth it. It's not I have
a life of regret. And the thing is, in this
day and age, we have the internet, so you can
literally scour the internet to find your size if needs so,
(26:50):
we didn't have that back in our day, Rashan, we
didn't have that. Mom. Just to let you know, you
know where a certain brand of shoe and that's saw
this shoe the other day. I'm gonna just let you know.
This almost drifted back into old Rashan, our size twelve
and it went it went up to size E level.
(27:11):
I went, oh, that shoe looks so good. But I
always remember that. Okay, Rashan, you're too old and too
smart to get stupid again. And now, because I was
almost about to fall into the old weald again, sizing
down on a big foot, sizing down on the big foot,
I want the listeners to all hear this too about
(27:32):
shoes sizes. Ladies, all you ladies out there that like
there is telling your European sizes, and those shoes sales
people tell you a thirty nine is a nine. I'm
telling you right now, it's a lot. Thirty nine is
not a nine. A nine is a forty. Okay, it's
the next number up. Those people don't know what they're
(27:53):
talking about. I sold shoes. I know what I'm talking about. Okay.
I sold shoes. When we used to measure your foot
on the branding device, we sat down in stools and
we put the shoes on your foot. Not these people
that come and throw the boxes that you are run away.
So I'm telling all of you when they come and
(28:15):
tell you what thirty eight is the eight, they are lions.
I just want a yes. They're also and in the
same goes for the men's shoes as well. So all
these people that are telling you don't buy the shoe
just because of the size, by what fits, what feels
(28:36):
right on your foot, don't get caught up in the number.
It's just the number. Yeah, just some dr Young Raglan.
I I so appreciate you coming on my show. Allow
me to just you know, tell the truth about Rashawn
and his feet. His magical feet there that's so magical
when I take the socks off, they're rather terrifying. And
(28:58):
I say that because of the fact that I was stupid.
I I ignored the pain. I wore shoes that were
smaller than what they should have been. Now I am
happy with my life. I well quality issues that that
allows me to gracefully walk the halls or gracefully drive
my car. But I didn't have to pay the price
if I would have just listened. That's all. And that's
(29:18):
why I invited you on the show. Dr Raglan was
to just let people know you are not You're not alone.
So yes, first of all, I just wanted I will
let people know everything. So first of all, I just
want everyone to know out there, I am actually a
Pegasus unicorn. I am arguably the only African American woman
on this planet that has that caters to her sister folks,
(29:44):
the practice that strictly focuses on correcting buns and hammertoes
and removing corns with a cosmetic result. I am Dr
Landa Ragling. My business is pick your Feet, UM you
can find me. I'd like everybody to pull out their
phones right now. Follow me on Instagram, UM and Twitter,
(30:04):
UM and Facebook on fixture Feet. Also TikTok as well
with picture Feet and also go to my fixture Feet products.
I have a new product line. I have the Ficture
Fungal Nail product line. It is second to none than
anything out there. If you're having a problem with fungal nails,
go to that website. Send it out. We can we
(30:27):
can eradicate that. Dr Elonda Raglan, thank you for taking
the time to come on Money Making Conversation master Class.
You were brilliant as you are whenever I meet you.
Thank you. You're wonderful when you are a person of
breath of fresh air. Thank you for coming on Money
Making Conversation master Class. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. You are now
(30:47):
tuned into the Money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with
Rushan McDonald. Hi Rashan McDonald for Money Made Conversation with
your daily minute of Inspiration. This week, got sat down
with television and field producer and Harvard graduate A Leah
Williams to discuss the project she is produced to her
production company, Just the Rubble A Little Shares about spreading
(31:07):
joy in her story about black people. Your smile. It's sunshine,
young ladies, Sunshine tell us about that. Thank you very much.
But I have to give all that credits to my mother.
I think that she would say to me every day,
every morning, smile and the world will smile with you,
something that I've always carried with me. And you know,
there are definitely situations where it is hard to smile,
(31:30):
but I definitely try to bring that into all aspects
of my life and especially in the stories that I
want to tell for people. I think we deserve joy.
If you want to listen to this full interview with A.
Leah Williams is available on money Making Conversation dot com.
Now let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald.
(31:50):
My guest today on Money Making Conversation Master Class is
Miguel Wilson. Is the founder and CEO that Miguel Wilson Collection.
It would teach formal. Weare designed business for men and
one of the only men's wear designers that specifically carries
a wedding collection for grooms and grooms men. For twenty years,
The Washington, d c Native design suits, sports coach trialsers,
(32:11):
shirts and accessories for men with a long client list
and include celebrities and other high profile people including Bishop T.
D Jake's pastor, Jamal Bryant, hollybod Hollywood producer Will Packer,
Rappers To Chain, and Walker Flocca, and We're Housewives of
Atlanta husbands Peter Thomas, Todd Tucker, and Michael Sterling, just
to name a few. He currently maintains four locations in Atlanta,
(32:35):
d C, Miami, and New York City. Are also traveling
around the world to accommodate his clients and providing his
services virtually. Thank god they're zoom please walking with the
money making conversations Masterclass, Miguel Wilson, How are you doing, sir? Well?
First of all, high fashion Okay, um, you know if
(32:56):
I've managed a guy who's a high fashion king, Steve
Harvey for sixteen years, um, and so that was that,
you know, his soup line and everything, and so he's
just wanted to be dressed the immaculate and Taylor made
clothes or part of his DNA. I've been blessed to
be able to say I've been able to afford tailor
(33:17):
made clothes in my lifetime. So that makes a difference.
So what you being in the tailor made business. What
is the difference from listening to my customers listeners, because
this is a live show, what is difference between buying
a tailor made suit and buying it off the rack
in a store, in a quality store. Well, you can
(33:39):
find quality. I sell quality suits in my stores every day. Okay,
so you can buy quality. But it's something very special
about a gentleman being able to be a part of
the design and it's clothing. So to be able to
choose the lapel, choose the savaig, choose the lining pockets,
(34:04):
and then you know, even have your name inside of it.
I just think that's a it's it'sn't it's you know
what it is. The difference is one, it's more of
an experience. I think going through the process of having
a suit made is more of an experience. Um, there
are features in a custom made untiler made suit that
(34:27):
aren't generally available and off the rat So guys who
have these suits made can generally identify a suit that
was that was made based on these these qualities. So
if you see, for instance, like functional button holes on
the sleeves, things in the ship generally identifies as something
that was you know, had to be made. Absolutely. You
(34:51):
know when you when you when you talking about suits
and clothes, people when they hear the word Taylor made,
they're just running out of fear. I can afford that.
I can't afford that. And and I tell people all
the time because we're talking about men and we're not
talking about women's fashion. And you know, I'm a I'm
a I'm a guy who watches old TV, watches Westerns,
and men fashions really don't change, you can correct me.
(35:15):
You know, they kind of stayed the same. It just
just gets updated a little bit. But you know, they
were wearing button downs and the twenties and thirties and
they were wearing two buttons and three button suit jackets
and the Western's Western Western era and all that stuff
and pop up collars and all that stuff. So, so
what what makes fashion fashionable for men? I guess that's
(35:37):
the question. Okay, So, so let's understand this fashion changes
a little bit every single day. It doesn't move fast,
but it's just like you took If you move one
inch today, nobody really recognizes the inch, don't even realize
you moved any But in the course of a year
(35:58):
or two years. You know, you're down the street now
and so now we see you moved. Okay, So fashion
is the same way and that you if you were
in fashion certain things today people will notice it as
something that's in now and and and it's and it's
not just the clothing. A lot of a lot of
fashion is around the where it's one. So it could
(36:22):
be the same things, but it's one differently. For instance,
you mentioned Steve Harvey. You know, everybody still to this
day kind of recognize when they see a baggy pair
of pants on they say, it's like Steve Harvey pants now,
although he doesn't wear those types of things today it's
just ingrained and pep with mind that that's the Steve
(36:42):
Harvey look for sale. Okay, so today you guys rid
the pants, more European cut, slimmer plee. You know, we
just do the deep pleas now we do no police.
So while there are some similarities, there's always these subtle
changes that that really separate something that's in style versus
something that was previously in style. Right when you and
(37:05):
I agree with that, I know that I know that
you know a lot of ministers from talking about Steve
harve in his fashion that a lot of it grew
out of the fact that he was hosting showtime at
the Apollo and uh and so ministers would wear his fashion.
It really caught on. It became very popular and uh
and like I said, that grew into the point that
you know, Macy started carrying his shoe line and other
(37:28):
people around the country start caring his shue line. Well
what let's let's go back up a little bit because
I jumped out real quick and ask you questioned by fashion,
Mr Wilson, how did you get started in this whole
game and in the early days before you became in
high profile and and people trusted you to be able
to deliver on these fashion based on the names that
I mentioned when I mentioned the Bishop T d J's,
(37:49):
you know Will Packer and then you jump over the
rappers to change, which is a totally different fashion look
and fashion style. But let's talk about how it all started,
because it's all about promise when you start, but then
you have to believe in yourself to make it happen.
Story sir, Well, you know I would say this that
one um, I've always had a passion for fashion. My
(38:10):
grandfather and my father both for lack of better word,
closed horses. Guys like to dress. They were closing and
to this day they both think they dressed better than me.
So and I make a living at it. But um so,
you know, proximately in the nineties, I had a good
friend of mine who actually I was having ice at
my suits made and a friend of mine was in
(38:32):
the business. Uh he wanted to start his own companies
working for someone else and asked me to be a partner.
And I invested and worked in the business for seven
years and learned what I need to learn. And it's
just trying to just went from one level to the
one stage to the next, you know. So um the
greatest you know, the transition from you know, just starting
(38:56):
out or you know, getting the name out there and
then really catapult to the next level where you do
have the celebrities and people become more trusted names. You
will is a result of a lot of trial and error. Okay,
being in this business as long as I have, I've
made pretty much every mistake a person can make. The
(39:18):
thing is I didn't quit as results of mistakes. That's
the first thing. Second thing is I changed because of
those mistakes. One thing about me I tell my people today,
I'm fine with you are making mistakes, mistakes is going
to happen. What I don't like is the same mistakes
being repeated. So when we have a mistake, we have
(39:38):
to come up with solutions and ways to prevent it
from being a mistake tomorrow. So this, this has been
part of what I feel to be the trust that
people gaining me is the fact that I think over
a period of time we've been able to eliminate a
lot of the mistakes and create you know, a high
rate of quality service and quality products. We've lost some
(40:04):
great um now. I know Andre Leon Tally. I interviewed
him with Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I read his book
Inspiring and Virgil, we just lost him. When you see
talent like that leave your industry and then, uh, those
are those mentors to you, are those people you look
up to talk to us about that? Um. You know,
(40:27):
I take a little bit from everyone, and you know
I can. I learned from entrepreneurs and business so so
so as as a fashion as I am, I'm also
a businessman taken from you know, from the fashion standpoint.
You know, my inspirations come from a variety of places.
It can come from people that can't come from just art.
It can come from traveling. Um. But I think I
(40:51):
learned I learned a lot just talking to business people,
and you know, through those conversations, sharing stories, you know, details,
issues and problems and things how they handled it, I
think has been a great part of the process as well. So,
but you know, the thing I want to talk to
(41:12):
about is that you know that because you mentioned about
customer service is not making mistakes. Let's because you're dealing
with fashion and this is something that somebody puts on
it's gonna go out in public. And then you're dealing
with high profile failing. They may be on red carpets,
they may be on TVs, H entertainment tonight, maybe on
a uh different different layered or restaurant or an event.
(41:34):
And so your brand is not like something that doesn't
get recognized and can be put on the spot. It
can be means on social media, it can be it
can be uh it can be a blessing and also
a curse if it's done wrong. And so you know,
you know, you know what I'm saying it. So when
you when you're looking at fashion and individuals come into
(41:55):
you for your brand, you because they're seeking your advice.
I know I do. When I'm sitting down with someone
who's designing something from or I might pitch an idea.
They might go, uh, Shane, I don't think that's a
good idea. How do you work that through the process.
I know you're a trusted leader in fashion, but you
also pitched ideas. How do you work their ideas of
a client into your fashion talents to deliver the clothes
(42:18):
that they want? That's a that's a great question. Um.
You know, people come to me with ideas all the time,
and realistically, I have to be able to see it.
And you know, people come with ideas that are kind
of way out there and yeah, but but I but
if I'm not feeling it like then I will tell them,
(42:41):
you know, this is I understand what you're trying to do.
I'm I just can't see I don't have a vision
for this what you're trying to do, or or I
see it, I just don't like it, right, Okay? And
I just I think being honest one of the biggest traits,
the greatest traits a business person, and have its integrity
(43:01):
and good character that when you say something, people know
you mean it. In this it's from the heart. So
I don't try to I don't say things to make
I don't say anything just to make somebody feel good.
I don't tell people what they want to hear. I
tell them what I think and what I feel, and
that that comes with people give you a lot of
(43:23):
respect when they feel like you know, I can trust
his opinion. Not all about the dollar, is about the
honest relation, because you know, these people need to learn
just about fashion, and like when I would sit down
with a person like you, Miguel, first of all as
trust and also I was thinking advice to okay, you know,
(43:43):
I might be a person who might write to check.
But I'm also kind of a little bit stupid too, okay,
and so you have to educate me a little bit.
So I appreciate what you're saying. And people need to
hear him when he says that, because a lot of
times people when they ask questions and ask advice, they
really want the truth. They want to know. Now it
(44:03):
might not be what they want to hear, Otherwise they
would never ask the question, So it means you need
to tell them something they need to hear to make
them have a balance of reality. So if something that
comes into your restaurant and they have an idea coming
to your pitching an idea to you, and in the
back of your mind, the average person walks over, I
ain't want to hurt their feeling. Okay, right, there's the mistake.
(44:25):
I don't want to hurt their feeling. You probably needed
to hurt that person's feeling. Then they won't be embarrassed.
They won't be opening the restaurant with no budget, with
no business plan because you didn't step up to the plate.
And I know because of you being a guy who's
a designer, it took. At what point did you realize
that this had to be part of the conversation to
(44:47):
be honest, that's that's a very good question. In two
thousand eleven, after bankruptcy and pretty much lost everything I owned,
had to start over branch, and as I evaluated the loss,
I realized that a lot of it was self inflicted
(45:09):
and I really had no one to blame but myself.
The economy and so forth was a part of it,
but I made some bad decisions and didn't really run
business right. So in rebuilding a new company. I knew
that I had just changed in certain ways, and one
(45:30):
of the ways was really, you know, just having a
good character about stuff and and not putting a dollar first.
And then let me give you example, I wouldn't intentionally
doing I think a lot of business don't intentionally lie,
intentionally mislead. But let me give an example. People will
come used to come to me and say, hey, can
you do this for me? Can you make this from me? Now,
without me really knowing I could execute against it. I
(45:53):
would say yes, and I'll just figure it and let
me figure it out. And I had every intention of
figuring it out and getting it right. But sometimes I failed,
and as a result, you not deliver on the promise
or the customers expectations. So too often we're getting these
(46:13):
desperate situations and business where we make deals and situations
to pay rent or to or to or to fix
us a serious problem we have financially. But at the
end of the day, we've messed up by our integrity
and messed by character and messed up the potential for
someone to refer to other people to do more business
with us. So through evaluating myself and those types of decisions,
(46:38):
I just made a decision that I'm making make any money.
I don't have any money at this point. I don't
have much, and so let me just operate, you know, uh,
in a way that I know I can deliver and
be good and great and great at what I do.
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
(46:59):
with ru Sean mcdone donald. Now, let's return to Money
Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. He was talking about mentoring,
which I which I which is a modern term in
the sense that I know when I was growing up,
I didn't have that word to my disposal. And the
and the millennials, they in gen Z they understand the
(47:19):
value of mentoring. And I also want to be able
to say that that's the purpose of me creating this
show was to create lanes where people can come on
this show, either call on the show or or just
hear interviews. Through mentorship, maybe they won't make the mistakes.
Talk about your mentorship, sir, for what you do in
(47:40):
this area as well. And you're right, millennials do understand
it better than you know previous generations. Um. You know,
knowledge is power, and you know sometimes you can learn
the hard way. You can learn from others. I'm the
hard way. I'm the hard way, Michael, I'm the hard way.
But you know, so as a result, I have you know,
many um I do fashion shows and things, have a
(48:02):
lot of designers that participate that you can look at
me as as a mentor and call on me for
advice and questions stuff. One of the things, you know,
I think a common mistake is that designers or people
who intend to be designers and want to start a
line or whatever, set it up based on just their
(48:25):
own personal likes and dislikes and not with the customery mind.
So I think that you need to if you're if
you're in fashion, if you want to stand out in fashion,
because there are millions of brands out there now, right,
So how do you how do you segment yourself or
(48:46):
separate yourself from everything else is there? You have to
do something or have a particular purpose or client or
a niche that you're focused on to really do that.
So back talked to you. But when I filed bankruptcy
and started had started over, one of the other things
that then was identified a space in fashion that was
(49:10):
unoccupied and that was serving grooms. So when I started
that process, nobody was really doing it. Men's warehouse rental tuxedos,
But nobody's really catering to men having not only great clothes,
but a phenomenal experience. You know, women when they get engaged,
(49:30):
their girlfriends yet bridle shop, they sit in Champagne. It
is a party, right so, right, so so, and then
they show up at the you know, they feel phenomenal
to their wedding day because they know that they that
they're wearing the most beautiful gown they've ever created for themselves.
(49:51):
So men deserve the same thing, particularly in this day
and age when so many of us are paying for
the weddings. I've own pocket too. Unlike previously the fathers
used to help out and so forth. You know, in
the case today, so a lot of us are paying
for it, and and truthfully it's probably the biggest party
(50:13):
that most of us will throw their weight. So the
man deserves, the groom deserves to look great, feel great,
and you know, not be short changed after the you know,
you know, you know, the fun part about that is
that it almost like it's about time, you know, because
(50:34):
that is true, is that the experience of going in
getting that perfect gown. You know how many how many
tuxis as I've rented, and it's just been uh he
told me to come get that color in the corner,
and I get it and get some ugly shoes and
I go, okay, And that's really that's the experience. I remember.
I'm just telling you the truth. I've I've done this
(50:55):
several times, so it's always a hard pair uh pad
leather shoes and uh fitting up a tux so that
that somebody else has worn maybe four or five hundred
times before I put it on. So what what I've
done is looked at the total wedding experience for a
man and recreated it. Okay, So it starts it's thank you,
(51:17):
thank you. It starts off with the clothes, of course,
but at the end of the day too, they got groomsmen,
and I want them to come in from the moment
you coming into our just want our showrooms. I want
them to steal special like we are celebrating. You were
celebrating this occasion. It's not just about the wedding day.
It's about the process, and I want you to enjoy
the journey along the way going to it. So we
(51:41):
do a thing called grooms Lounge where we invite the
groom to bring all the groomsmen in. We have champagne
and cocktails and we do all the fittings and then
we ended with our groast and toast of the groom.
And I'll tell you this is probably one of the
most phenomenal things that I have come up with, because
(52:07):
every week when these guys coming near, and I don't
care where they're from around the country, but they get
together and they're roasting and toasting. One guy is grown
their friends, their brother and hear these brothers tell this
man how proud they are of him, how much they
love him, how much they support them. It's something that
(52:28):
we don't see in America much often. You know, people
tend to think that, you know, we kill each other,
we do this, we do that. But one thing about
that roasting toast in my stores every week, you see
that brothers black men in particular, I love each other,
(52:49):
that we support each other, that we have good fathers,
good brothers, but also we love our women. Mm hmm.
No know, it's it's society or or the media or
to tell a story, it will be nothing like the
reality that we experienced every single week in our stories.
(53:11):
So it is amazing and um. But the thing is
the groom and the groomsmen walk away feeling like they've
just experienced something that was much needed and and just
doesn't happen. Because how often do we just tell each other,
even though we might talk frequently, whatever, how long can
(53:32):
we tell each other? Man, I love you and I'm
proud of you. Bro, you're doing the great thing that
you need some help whatever, you know what I mean.
So this is this is a great time that will
be remember every guy that goes through this, this would
be one of the highlights of what you know. I'm
getting I'm engaged, I'm getting married and may myself and
I'm telling you a lot of the stuff that I've
(53:53):
created for my grooms are the very things I want
for myself. I'm gonna do a broom's lounge. There you go,
there you go, I'm gonna do ropes and talks. I'm
gonna have all these same things for myself and dropping
on social media because if we all need to see it, Miguel,
I'll tell you something. Man, You're you're inspired me. Man,
Like I said, I really appreciate you coming on the
(54:14):
show in fact that can you be a regular? Can
you come back when you're about to do can you
come back and make and mate? Because I want to
talk about the polo team at at More House and
all that good stuff. But what my big takeaway from
you is that man, that's a love man. And what
you're doing there's a passion and the desire to be
the best, but not the best, because that's what people
(54:34):
compete for. It's about it's about breaking stereotypes, about being
uh living the lane of black excellence, and you're doing
it in the lane of fashion. I'm talking to Miguel Wilson.
Collections for locations support the whole principle of black excellence.
And I appreciate you coming on Money madd conversations. One
thing you know every week, I mean Splause in Atlanta,
(54:58):
and these guys, these brothers to walk by a good sheet,
have to walk by Rason. She had to walk by
Tom Ford in all these places to get to my store. Okay,
And the one thing I want them to do when
you make their work, I want to make it worth while.
And one thing we do is make each and everyone
on them feel a love that you feel it's the
place that you are honored and treat it well and
(55:19):
feel great. Thank you. I thank you, Miguel Wilson. I
appreciate you. Brother. We're gonna talk soon. May you get married? Righty? Right? Yeah? Okay, cool,
I get on after that show. After I get married,
we come on back on. Thank you. You've been listening
to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Always remember
(55:39):
to lead with your gifts. Money Making Conversations Master Class
is a presentation of thirty fifteen Media Incorporated. You are
now tuned into the Money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration
with Rushan McDonald. Hire Rashan McDonald for money Making Conversation
with your daily Minute of Inspiration, which the last Boke
with my Friend Access. Met in podcaster and host of
(56:01):
own Networks The Big Holiday Food Fight Kim Whitley. We
discussed her weight lost journey, Single Mom podcast and holiday series.
Kim shares how being happy and inspirational helped her with
her own personal journey. I'm a firm I'm a really
really firm believer in how you feel on the inside
will come out on the outside. A lot of water
is what they really make you drink, get you stay hydrated,
(56:24):
your skin's gonna look good. But being happy on the inside, um,
I think it comes out because people are always like,
You're always so happy. I really try to maintain that
because I like to be an inspiration to so many people,
so I think that's what And when I look good
and feel good, then I'm even happier. If you want
to listen to this four interview with Kim Whitley is
(56:45):
available on Money Making Conversation dot com