February 14, 2022 • 18 mins
Derrick was an 18-year-old veteran in the music industry. During his time in the industry, he worked with Fat Joe, A$ap Rocky, and Bun B. Derrick was even the former manager of Mr. Worldwide, Pitbull.
Derrick sits in to tell us how he got started in the music industry and the story of how he became the manager of Pitbull. His decision to leave the music business to follow his passions and become a chef. Finally, Derrick talks about how legendary rapper Bun B encouraged him and supported him to start The World Famous House of Mac food truck.
Host IG: @itstanyatime
Guest IG: @bigteach718
Guest website: House of Mac
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey money Movers, Welcome
to another episode of the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood.
(00:24):
Right now, we're going to be joined by an eighteen
year veteran in the music industry, best known as the
former manager of Mr Worldwide himself pit Ball. Derek Turton
surprised everyone when he left his successful career behind to
open up the world famous House of Mac in Miami, Florida.
Money Movers here to tell us about his journey and
(00:45):
how we can get into making a lucrative living out
of pursuing our dreams and our love for mac and cheese.
Let's welcome Derek, Big Teach Turtain. Derek, so nice to
have you on the show today. So much for having me. Well,
thank you for joining us today. Your journey from the
music industry to restaurantur stardom is an untraditional way to
(01:06):
pivot and continue to follow your dreams. Very few people
can say they got there the way you did. But
let's start at the beginning and tell us all about
how you got your start in the music industry. Um, well,
well I got a music business. I started doing like
club promotions in Miami. Club promotions. Short story, club promotions
(01:28):
evolved into UM record label promotions. The first record label
I worked with was Uncle Luke was my first uh
Luke Records. Let we love it right. And then so
Pitt was signed to Luke at the time. So we
toured and you know, went over the country, went over
the world, and then um, I ended up starting my
(01:50):
own market income to be big mouth marketing, so you know,
me learning how to work. National promotions were looke. Um
I came back and I started the national the street
team and then uh at that time, Pitt had got
out of his contract with Luke and he was trying
to He's pushing his white label vinyl and trying to
get his stuff pop, and we would try to keep
(02:10):
running at each other. And I was coming out of
the club service on the jay Z record and he
was going into the club trying to walk his white
label records in or whatever, and he asked me to
manage him. And short story short, he he asked me
to manage him, and I managed him for fourteen years.
On a handshake, A handshake Yeah. Wow. I mean I wouldn't.
I wouldn't advise that, like to to to anybody. I mean,
(02:33):
we had a great relationship. Um, we had a great run,
but it doesn't always go like that, and so I
probably wouldn't if in hindsight, I probably wouldn't do the
handshake thing again. But it worked out for me, But
I wouldn't. I wouldn't advise that anybody do handshake business
because these days, uh doesn't really so when you say
(02:54):
a handshake, because you know, oftentimes people talking about you
even talking about in the beginning, like Pitbull got out
of his contract, contracts are sort of everything. How long
did you guys operate together on this handshake deal? Yeah?
Fourteen years? Yeah, fourteen years we worked for you know,
so you know we always I just we've We've always
had like a lot of mutual respect and I've learned
(03:14):
a lot. Um. I've learned a lot from him. We've
learned a lot from each other. Um. But you know,
when when when things started kind of getting to like
a weird place where it just felt like like like
I'm gonna give you an example, I brought him Uber
for equity. Wow, he passed on it, right, and then
like it got to a point where like I was
(03:35):
kind of bringing him things and and I felt like
he didn't really believe in my you know what I'm
I'm not gonna say that, but you know, it's just
like sometimes relationships, you know, just you have brothers and sisters,
and yeah, they run his course. And I felt like
it was that and it was just it was just
time for that for me. But prior to the music business,
(03:56):
I went to culinary school. And when I first moved
to Miami, like I'm originally from Brooklyn, when I first
moved down there, I thought I was gonna be like
top chef for the world, and and then and then
my first job in a restaurant, I hated it side tracks,
but I had coloring every training. UM. But I always
still love to cook therapeutically. So I was cook in
(04:16):
the studio for pitt. I was cooking the studio UM
based at Rocky Um Bumby from the legendary U g K.
He's actually like a really good friend of mine. He's
one of the people that, like really um pushed me
and inspired me to take cooking more seriously because he
followed me on Instagram. And so what would happened was
when we used to go on tour and stuff like that.
The only time we would see each other's like family
(04:38):
and stuff like that. It's like I would do like
the barbecues in my house when I would come home,
and then so like everybody would come through with their
kids and whatever, and it was it was almost like
a test kitchen for me because then I would just
go crazy. I would do these crazy spreads and things
on the table and see how people responded to the food.
So this was always sort of a calling for you.
(04:59):
This isn't this is suppill circle you wanted to be
in food. Food feels like you're like when I hear
people like you talk about cooking and cooking for large
groups of people, it's like a love language. Yeah, it's
It's it's always been like therapeutic, right. It's it's like, um,
it's like I can go in the kitchen and lose
myself for hours and you know it's it's it's just
(05:19):
always been like a therapeutic thing for me. Like I've
always loved it personally, but I hated it professionally. And um,
bund By follow me on Instagram, so like he saw
like yo when I come down there, you bring us
in the lobstermac. For the first time I brought him
the lobster mac. It just turned into like ritual, like
every time he was in Wow, I love a lobster mac.
(05:40):
So he um. One day he was down here for
the Gunbow three thousand um race and he called me
to his hotel. You order a bunch of food. And
he called me to his room and he was like, yeah,
I want to show you something. He called all the
guys down the Dumbo three thousand. It's like, you know,
I don't know if your Yeah, he called all the
guys down. Huh. The car goes down from the race
(06:02):
to his room and he's like, it's It's like it's
like it's it's a race Eve's husband runs it. It's
like a cannibal run kind of situation. But like they'll
starting like Miami and ending London or like dribbing like
Lambos and and and Raine rovers and fandoms and so
it's like, um. So he called all the guys down
(06:23):
to his room, took the foil off the pans, and
they went crazy in the food. He was he was like,
I ain't gonna tell him who made it. I ain't
gonna tell you whatever, just going to corn. I just
want you to see what I'm saying. He like hit
me with like the shrug, like you know what I'm saying.
And then when they left, he sat me down and
he was like, look, you need to take this cooking
thing more seriously. And you know, at that time, I
(06:44):
still was working with pit. I'm flying private I'm you know,
I'm doing a music thing. But at that time in
my life, um, I used to use money as a
measuring stick for me, for for success. Right and wait,
wait say that again, because I want people to really
understand how your mindset here is changing. You're like, I'm
(07:06):
flying on private planes. You know, I got some watches,
some money, we're making revenue here, and so you're like,
I'm successful. This is what life should be about. It
was comfortable. It was comfortable, right, And and so there's
a lot of people less like comfortable. They got like
great jobs, but they don't necessary Like when I first
got into the music business, I was passionate. I was like, really,
(07:28):
I brought into the dream and I loved it. And
then when there's no money with artists, a lot of
times it's all love because they don't have money to
pay you. And then when it's money, then it's all business.
And then then then the financial advisors kicking. And you know,
everybody wants to count your money when you're making money,
but nobody wants to uh count your money like when
(07:50):
you're working for per d M or yea whatever. So
the love of the business kind of slowly faded away
from me and the only thing I really still had
love for wasy And what I was saying is like, um,
when I was in the music business, I used to
I used to um, my measurement stick for success was
like money and cars and I mean watching God and
(08:13):
you know what I mean. Just you know, it was
like trophies and stuff, because that's that's what we're It's
sort of thrown at us. That's success. That's that's how
you know you made it. But this is this is different.
I'm really appreciative of this mindset. So when I finally
you know, I made my first may now is like
I was like, is it? And like I didn't. I didn't.
Financial freedom is great, So I don't want to get
(08:34):
that twisted, like financial freedom is great, but um, I
realized that like purpose was more important to me, right,
And so I realized that. And when I when I
had money, when I bought my first building, when I
you know, I bought my my first role like that,
it was like it's like it's cool with It's like, okay,
this is it. Like I didn't really feel fulfilled by
none of that stuff, right, So um, it was important
(08:58):
for me to uh try to focus on passion. But
the scary part about passion is that comfort zone, right
because I am flying private and I am traveling and
I am living a certain that you know, like it's
a lot of people envy to be in that space.
And when I'm telling when I go into Sony and
I'm like, yeah, I'm thinking about buying a food truck
(09:19):
and looking at me like I got like three heads
on my show, what you mean? Like what do you mean?
Like I'm like, yeah, I'm thinking about going to get
a food truck. And like, initially, so Bun sat me
down and he told me basically like listen, if you
don't really shoot your shot, you're never gonna forgive yourself
later on it. And I gave up my word that
I was gonna, you know, I was gonna vote for
(09:40):
it and I did it. And then so initially I
still was um, me and me and pitched that my
father passed away and two thousand and thirteen, actually, so
that was that had me more on offense because when
when when my father passed away, my father is actually
the logo the guy with the afro on my thing.
I don't if you see that, yeah, and it's picked
is behind you there too, So my father, my father's
(10:04):
my father's likeness is actually like the chefboy or deal
of my brand. But he passed in two thousand and thirteen.
And when he passed away, that also kind of added
on too, like my whole mindset because you know, I I,
you know, it happened like really suddenly by the time
he lived in Detroit. By the time I landed, he
had already passed. He had a tyrant as the order,
and so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye
(10:26):
and anything. And then but I sat in the room
with his with his body for like two hours, me
and my sister, and um the finality of it, right,
you know, people people have this tendency to um procrastinate,
and they have this mentality where like you got all
this time to do all of these things, and the
(10:46):
reality of it is you don't. The reality of it
is the life. Life is short, and you got one
shot of life, and there's no duovers. Like whatever you
did and make it count, that's it. And then when
it's over, it's over. It's no du overs with it, right,
So that kind of shifted my entire mentality towards everything
and everything else, putting my energy into and then it
made me think about legacy and made me think about like,
(11:09):
at that point in my life, it's like, Okay, cool,
I got I got some plaques in my wall, got
a few dollars in the bank, But better time than
now to actually pursue your passion. And you know, I think,
like I really love conversations like this because everyone always
hears about the money, the Bentleys of this, and you
made that money, but it kind of also afforded you
(11:29):
the opportunity to properly follow your passions. And I think
if you do that right, the money comes. And it's
to be able to have the courage to say, you
know what, if I really tap into my passions, what
I really want, my dreams, the money will come, and
it just comes easier it just comes in a different way.
I think that's the scariest part though. Scary I think
(11:52):
for I think for most people more than money, because
you know, we found the money to do whatever we want.
When we want to call we you know we don't
have it. We're gonna find it want you know, we
want whatever we want money for, we find the money for, right.
But like, what's more scary than that is like stepping
away from your pumfort zone, like like really kills. Like
I go speak at college campuses and I talked to
(12:14):
kids all the time, and and you know, a lot
of these kids you talked to them, it's like, do
you what are you going to school for? I go
to school for something or something, so like do you
love what you're doing? And a lot of them saying, well,
they do that because their mother was a doctor or
their their father was a lawyer. And they're not even
doing it, you know what I mean. You invest in
a lot of time and energy and money into something
(12:36):
that like you don't even love. And I think that's
like I love that you're going to school campuses because
I think half of the messaging is the kids is
you need to experiment because you're so young that your
parents tell you being like I had the same thing.
My dad was a doctor, so like I had to
be go into medicine. Be that was it. But like
now is the time to like check out all the explore,
(12:57):
Like if your friends are all doing the same thing,
you're only gonna know. Gon't meet new friends that are
doing different things. You might like cooking, you might like this,
And so being able to like experiment and take those
risks to find new passions is really huge. So, Derek,
one thing that really stands out for me is that
you have been very intentional with taking the knowledge and
experience that you have and teaching others. Is this where
(13:19):
the name big Teach comes from. It's actually not, but
it's it's it's funny that it involves into that, like
my my name teacher actually comes It's a childhood nickname.
So when I was I used to I used to
I used to have glasses when I was I was
like a wild kid in Brooklyn, and but I wore glasses.
I wore these like round polo frames and and it
(13:43):
was a nickname that because because I used to be
fighting iced to be whatever we was getting it in
one block. But people used to be like, you're like
a teacher, and we used to tag we usaid, we
used to write our names, and so I used to
tag teacher and then and then and then it got
abbreviated to teach, and then I got Biggest and it
turned into big Teaching And that's just a nickname that's
stuck with me from then. But it almost because it
(14:09):
might not be as cool of a story is what
you wanted to hear. But like I really I really
try to like um put dudes on and boss like
dudes up. Like my partner, my partner in my um
My Northing Beast location, he started with me as a
cash Yeah, but he's just really committed to everything. He
basically treated the brand like like it was his. And
(14:31):
it's hard to find people like that. And but you know,
like I've also learned it like with people, um managing people,
like from working with artists. It's not one size fit all, right,
So different things are important to different people. So you
might have an employee that like spending time with their
families important. Might have somebody else that, you know, money
is important to might have somebody that status and and
(14:52):
and titles are important to them. So I think it's
important to to know the people that you have around
them and around you and kind of be eat those things.
So I had this one guy, Reggie, and you know,
he just ownership was important him. So when we want
to did the North Might Beach location, I was, you know,
I let him come in like really low, and I'm like, yo,
put some money up, and I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna
(15:13):
give you some equity, you know what I mean. So,
you know, I try to empower the people that I
have around me that that they put their heart into
it and just so you know, just kind of pay
it forward. I mean, well, I think big teachers quite fitting.
And it's almost like you grew in and lived up
to the prophecy. This little kid running around everyone called
(15:35):
him teaching. Now you are really doing that. You're like
teaching the community that was around you. Yeah. Even better. Well, Derek,
it's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for
teaching us all about your business. I cannot wait to
try that Mac and Cheese in Miami. I will be
like knocking on the door that of your restaurant sometime soon.
(15:56):
I don't know if I have the mac and Cheese
or the Seafood Dish. But can you tell us where
to find you on social and where your restaurants are?
All right? So we have two locations like I have
one in UM in Overtown which is Morthal Second Avenue, Okay,
and we have one UM in North Minay Beach which
is on one Biscame one three five to one Biscame
(16:17):
Boulevard um the uh my Instagram and my Facebook is
at world Famous House of Mac. At World Famous House
of Mac. I cannot wait to try it. I'm a
huge Mac and Cheese man. Thank you so much for
all you've done, and we've loved hearing about your journey
from Mr Worldwide to Bundy to Mac and Cheese. Thanks
(16:37):
so much. I really appreciate you guys for having Thank
you money Movers, thanks for joining us here on the
Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. I don't know about you,
but Big Teach definitely taught me a few things I
can use in my own money Moves. But while you're
making those big plans for your financial and professional future,
make sure you stay right here tuned into Money Moves
(16:58):
because we've got a whole lot more coming. Thank you,
so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you
want more or a recap of this episode, please go
to Bank Greenwood dot com and check out the Money
Moves podcast blogs. Stay tuned tomorrow and every day this
week for very special Money Versus Moves. I didn't know
anything about printing T shirts. How much did you invest
(17:20):
to get it off the ground? About two hundred dollars
or from our expert Derek Big teach curtain. The music
business taught me critical thinking. And you know, I managed artists,
so I've basically managed their lives and every day was
a different day, so it wasn't really a challenge for me.
And I guess you won't want to miss o. G Bundy.
I think it's about prepared its right. People always say
(17:42):
what it is they want to do and where to go,
but how prepared are you really to get there? How
rady are you if the opportunity presents itself to take
advantage of that opportunity. Money Moves is an I Heart
Radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcast us on I Heart Radio, visit the
I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
(18:04):
your podcasts from
Hey, money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey money Movers, Welcome
to another episode of the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood.
(00:24):
Right now, we're going to be joined by an eighteen
year veteran in the music industry, best known as the
former manager of Mr Worldwide himself pit Ball. Derek Turton
surprised everyone when he left his successful career behind to
open up the world famous House of Mac in Miami, Florida.
Money Movers here to tell us about his journey and
(00:45):
how we can get into making a lucrative living out
of pursuing our dreams and our love for mac and cheese.
Let's welcome Derek, Big Teach Turtain. Derek, so nice to
have you on the show today. So much for having me. Well,
thank you for joining us today. Your journey from the
music industry to restaurantur stardom is an untraditional way to
(01:06):
pivot and continue to follow your dreams. Very few people
can say they got there the way you did. But
let's start at the beginning and tell us all about
how you got your start in the music industry. Um, well,
well I got a music business. I started doing like
club promotions in Miami. Club promotions. Short story, club promotions
(01:28):
evolved into UM record label promotions. The first record label
I worked with was Uncle Luke was my first uh
Luke Records. Let we love it right. And then so
Pitt was signed to Luke at the time. So we
toured and you know, went over the country, went over
the world, and then um, I ended up starting my
(01:50):
own market income to be big mouth marketing, so you know,
me learning how to work. National promotions were looke. Um
I came back and I started the national the street
team and then uh at that time, Pitt had got
out of his contract with Luke and he was trying
to He's pushing his white label vinyl and trying to
get his stuff pop, and we would try to keep
(02:10):
running at each other. And I was coming out of
the club service on the jay Z record and he
was going into the club trying to walk his white
label records in or whatever, and he asked me to
manage him. And short story short, he he asked me
to manage him, and I managed him for fourteen years.
On a handshake, A handshake Yeah. Wow. I mean I wouldn't.
I wouldn't advise that, like to to to anybody. I mean,
(02:33):
we had a great relationship. Um, we had a great run,
but it doesn't always go like that, and so I
probably wouldn't if in hindsight, I probably wouldn't do the
handshake thing again. But it worked out for me, But
I wouldn't. I wouldn't advise that anybody do handshake business
because these days, uh doesn't really so when you say
(02:54):
a handshake, because you know, oftentimes people talking about you
even talking about in the beginning, like Pitbull got out
of his contract, contracts are sort of everything. How long
did you guys operate together on this handshake deal? Yeah?
Fourteen years? Yeah, fourteen years we worked for you know,
so you know we always I just we've We've always
had like a lot of mutual respect and I've learned
(03:14):
a lot. Um. I've learned a lot from him. We've
learned a lot from each other. Um. But you know,
when when when things started kind of getting to like
a weird place where it just felt like like like
I'm gonna give you an example, I brought him Uber
for equity. Wow, he passed on it, right, and then
like it got to a point where like I was
(03:35):
kind of bringing him things and and I felt like
he didn't really believe in my you know what I'm
I'm not gonna say that, but you know, it's just
like sometimes relationships, you know, just you have brothers and sisters,
and yeah, they run his course. And I felt like
it was that and it was just it was just
time for that for me. But prior to the music business,
(03:56):
I went to culinary school. And when I first moved
to Miami, like I'm originally from Brooklyn, when I first
moved down there, I thought I was gonna be like
top chef for the world, and and then and then
my first job in a restaurant, I hated it side tracks,
but I had coloring every training. UM. But I always
still love to cook therapeutically. So I was cook in
(04:16):
the studio for pitt. I was cooking the studio UM
based at Rocky Um Bumby from the legendary U g K.
He's actually like a really good friend of mine. He's
one of the people that, like really um pushed me
and inspired me to take cooking more seriously because he
followed me on Instagram. And so what would happened was
when we used to go on tour and stuff like that.
The only time we would see each other's like family
(04:38):
and stuff like that. It's like I would do like
the barbecues in my house when I would come home,
and then so like everybody would come through with their
kids and whatever, and it was it was almost like
a test kitchen for me because then I would just
go crazy. I would do these crazy spreads and things
on the table and see how people responded to the food.
So this was always sort of a calling for you.
(04:59):
This isn't this is suppill circle you wanted to be
in food. Food feels like you're like when I hear
people like you talk about cooking and cooking for large
groups of people, it's like a love language. Yeah, it's
It's it's always been like therapeutic, right. It's it's like, um,
it's like I can go in the kitchen and lose
myself for hours and you know it's it's it's just
(05:19):
always been like a therapeutic thing for me. Like I've
always loved it personally, but I hated it professionally. And um,
bund By follow me on Instagram, so like he saw
like yo when I come down there, you bring us
in the lobstermac. For the first time I brought him
the lobster mac. It just turned into like ritual, like
every time he was in Wow, I love a lobster mac.
(05:40):
So he um. One day he was down here for
the Gunbow three thousand um race and he called me
to his hotel. You order a bunch of food. And
he called me to his room and he was like, yeah,
I want to show you something. He called all the
guys down the Dumbo three thousand. It's like, you know,
I don't know if your Yeah, he called all the
guys down. Huh. The car goes down from the race
(06:02):
to his room and he's like, it's It's like it's
like it's it's a race Eve's husband runs it. It's
like a cannibal run kind of situation. But like they'll
starting like Miami and ending London or like dribbing like
Lambos and and and Raine rovers and fandoms and so
it's like, um. So he called all the guys down
(06:23):
to his room, took the foil off the pans, and
they went crazy in the food. He was he was like,
I ain't gonna tell him who made it. I ain't
gonna tell you whatever, just going to corn. I just
want you to see what I'm saying. He like hit
me with like the shrug, like you know what I'm saying.
And then when they left, he sat me down and
he was like, look, you need to take this cooking
thing more seriously. And you know, at that time, I
(06:44):
still was working with pit. I'm flying private I'm you know,
I'm doing a music thing. But at that time in
my life, um, I used to use money as a
measuring stick for me, for for success. Right and wait,
wait say that again, because I want people to really
understand how your mindset here is changing. You're like, I'm
(07:06):
flying on private planes. You know, I got some watches,
some money, we're making revenue here, and so you're like,
I'm successful. This is what life should be about. It
was comfortable. It was comfortable, right, And and so there's
a lot of people less like comfortable. They got like
great jobs, but they don't necessary Like when I first
got into the music business, I was passionate. I was like, really,
(07:28):
I brought into the dream and I loved it. And
then when there's no money with artists, a lot of
times it's all love because they don't have money to
pay you. And then when it's money, then it's all business.
And then then then the financial advisors kicking. And you know,
everybody wants to count your money when you're making money,
but nobody wants to uh count your money like when
(07:50):
you're working for per d M or yea whatever. So
the love of the business kind of slowly faded away
from me and the only thing I really still had
love for wasy And what I was saying is like, um,
when I was in the music business, I used to
I used to um, my measurement stick for success was
like money and cars and I mean watching God and
(08:13):
you know what I mean. Just you know, it was
like trophies and stuff, because that's that's what we're It's
sort of thrown at us. That's success. That's that's how
you know you made it. But this is this is different.
I'm really appreciative of this mindset. So when I finally
you know, I made my first may now is like
I was like, is it? And like I didn't. I didn't.
Financial freedom is great, So I don't want to get
(08:34):
that twisted, like financial freedom is great, but um, I
realized that like purpose was more important to me, right,
And so I realized that. And when I when I
had money, when I bought my first building, when I
you know, I bought my my first role like that,
it was like it's like it's cool with It's like, okay,
this is it. Like I didn't really feel fulfilled by
none of that stuff, right, So um, it was important
(08:58):
for me to uh try to focus on passion. But
the scary part about passion is that comfort zone, right
because I am flying private and I am traveling and
I am living a certain that you know, like it's
a lot of people envy to be in that space.
And when I'm telling when I go into Sony and
I'm like, yeah, I'm thinking about buying a food truck
(09:19):
and looking at me like I got like three heads
on my show, what you mean? Like what do you mean?
Like I'm like, yeah, I'm thinking about going to get
a food truck. And like, initially, so Bun sat me
down and he told me basically like listen, if you
don't really shoot your shot, you're never gonna forgive yourself
later on it. And I gave up my word that
I was gonna, you know, I was gonna vote for
(09:40):
it and I did it. And then so initially I
still was um, me and me and pitched that my
father passed away and two thousand and thirteen, actually, so
that was that had me more on offense because when
when when my father passed away, my father is actually
the logo the guy with the afro on my thing.
I don't if you see that, yeah, and it's picked
is behind you there too, So my father, my father's
(10:04):
my father's likeness is actually like the chefboy or deal
of my brand. But he passed in two thousand and thirteen.
And when he passed away, that also kind of added
on too, like my whole mindset because you know, I I,
you know, it happened like really suddenly by the time
he lived in Detroit. By the time I landed, he
had already passed. He had a tyrant as the order,
and so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye
(10:26):
and anything. And then but I sat in the room
with his with his body for like two hours, me
and my sister, and um the finality of it, right,
you know, people people have this tendency to um procrastinate,
and they have this mentality where like you got all
this time to do all of these things, and the
(10:46):
reality of it is you don't. The reality of it
is the life. Life is short, and you got one
shot of life, and there's no duovers. Like whatever you
did and make it count, that's it. And then when
it's over, it's over. It's no du overs with it, right,
So that kind of shifted my entire mentality towards everything
and everything else, putting my energy into and then it
made me think about legacy and made me think about like,
(11:09):
at that point in my life, it's like, Okay, cool,
I got I got some plaques in my wall, got
a few dollars in the bank, But better time than
now to actually pursue your passion. And you know, I think,
like I really love conversations like this because everyone always
hears about the money, the Bentleys of this, and you
made that money, but it kind of also afforded you
(11:29):
the opportunity to properly follow your passions. And I think
if you do that right, the money comes. And it's
to be able to have the courage to say, you
know what, if I really tap into my passions, what
I really want, my dreams, the money will come, and
it just comes easier it just comes in a different way.
I think that's the scariest part though. Scary I think
(11:52):
for I think for most people more than money, because
you know, we found the money to do whatever we want.
When we want to call we you know we don't
have it. We're gonna find it want you know, we
want whatever we want money for, we find the money for, right.
But like, what's more scary than that is like stepping
away from your pumfort zone, like like really kills. Like
I go speak at college campuses and I talked to
(12:14):
kids all the time, and and you know, a lot
of these kids you talked to them, it's like, do
you what are you going to school for? I go
to school for something or something, so like do you
love what you're doing? And a lot of them saying, well,
they do that because their mother was a doctor or
their their father was a lawyer. And they're not even
doing it, you know what I mean. You invest in
a lot of time and energy and money into something
(12:36):
that like you don't even love. And I think that's
like I love that you're going to school campuses because
I think half of the messaging is the kids is
you need to experiment because you're so young that your
parents tell you being like I had the same thing.
My dad was a doctor, so like I had to
be go into medicine. Be that was it. But like
now is the time to like check out all the explore,
(12:57):
Like if your friends are all doing the same thing,
you're only gonna know. Gon't meet new friends that are
doing different things. You might like cooking, you might like this,
And so being able to like experiment and take those
risks to find new passions is really huge. So, Derek,
one thing that really stands out for me is that
you have been very intentional with taking the knowledge and
experience that you have and teaching others. Is this where
(13:19):
the name big Teach comes from. It's actually not, but
it's it's it's funny that it involves into that, like
my my name teacher actually comes It's a childhood nickname.
So when I was I used to I used to
I used to have glasses when I was I was
like a wild kid in Brooklyn, and but I wore glasses.
I wore these like round polo frames and and it
(13:43):
was a nickname that because because I used to be
fighting iced to be whatever we was getting it in
one block. But people used to be like, you're like
a teacher, and we used to tag we usaid, we
used to write our names, and so I used to
tag teacher and then and then and then it got
abbreviated to teach, and then I got Biggest and it
turned into big Teaching And that's just a nickname that's
stuck with me from then. But it almost because it
(14:09):
might not be as cool of a story is what
you wanted to hear. But like I really I really
try to like um put dudes on and boss like
dudes up. Like my partner, my partner in my um
My Northing Beast location, he started with me as a
cash Yeah, but he's just really committed to everything. He
basically treated the brand like like it was his. And
(14:31):
it's hard to find people like that. And but you know,
like I've also learned it like with people, um managing people,
like from working with artists. It's not one size fit all, right,
So different things are important to different people. So you
might have an employee that like spending time with their
families important. Might have somebody else that, you know, money
is important to might have somebody that status and and
(14:52):
and titles are important to them. So I think it's
important to to know the people that you have around
them and around you and kind of be eat those things.
So I had this one guy, Reggie, and you know,
he just ownership was important him. So when we want
to did the North Might Beach location, I was, you know,
I let him come in like really low, and I'm like, yo,
put some money up, and I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna
(15:13):
give you some equity, you know what I mean. So,
you know, I try to empower the people that I
have around me that that they put their heart into
it and just so you know, just kind of pay
it forward. I mean, well, I think big teachers quite fitting.
And it's almost like you grew in and lived up
to the prophecy. This little kid running around everyone called
(15:35):
him teaching. Now you are really doing that. You're like
teaching the community that was around you. Yeah. Even better. Well, Derek,
it's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for
teaching us all about your business. I cannot wait to
try that Mac and Cheese in Miami. I will be
like knocking on the door that of your restaurant sometime soon.
(15:56):
I don't know if I have the mac and Cheese
or the Seafood Dish. But can you tell us where
to find you on social and where your restaurants are?
All right? So we have two locations like I have
one in UM in Overtown which is Morthal Second Avenue, Okay,
and we have one UM in North Minay Beach which
is on one Biscame one three five to one Biscame
(16:17):
Boulevard um the uh my Instagram and my Facebook is
at world Famous House of Mac. At World Famous House
of Mac. I cannot wait to try it. I'm a
huge Mac and Cheese man. Thank you so much for
all you've done, and we've loved hearing about your journey
from Mr Worldwide to Bundy to Mac and Cheese. Thanks
(16:37):
so much. I really appreciate you guys for having Thank
you money Movers, thanks for joining us here on the
Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. I don't know about you,
but Big Teach definitely taught me a few things I
can use in my own money Moves. But while you're
making those big plans for your financial and professional future,
make sure you stay right here tuned into Money Moves
(16:58):
because we've got a whole lot more coming. Thank you,
so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you
want more or a recap of this episode, please go
to Bank Greenwood dot com and check out the Money
Moves podcast blogs. Stay tuned tomorrow and every day this
week for very special Money Versus Moves. I didn't know
anything about printing T shirts. How much did you invest
(17:20):
to get it off the ground? About two hundred dollars
or from our expert Derek Big teach curtain. The music
business taught me critical thinking. And you know, I managed artists,
so I've basically managed their lives and every day was
a different day, so it wasn't really a challenge for me.
And I guess you won't want to miss o. G Bundy.
I think it's about prepared its right. People always say
(17:42):
what it is they want to do and where to go,
but how prepared are you really to get there? How
rady are you if the opportunity presents itself to take
advantage of that opportunity. Money Moves is an I Heart
Radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcast us on I Heart Radio, visit the
I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
(18:04):
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