September 22, 2023 • 45 mins
In this captivating conclusion to our series with Fawn Weaver, the visionary behind Uncle Nearest Whiskey, we delve deep into the core principles that have fueled her remarkable journey. Fawn reflects on the journey of building the Uncle Nearest brand and the profound impact it has had on the spirits industry. She unravels the concept of discovering one's unique gifts and how harnessing them can shape the future you aspire to create. With wisdom born from her experiences, Fawn shares valuable insights into finding balance between personal and professional life in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship.
As we explore the fascinating history of alcohol distribution and its evolution, Fawn provides a unique perspective on the spirits business. She also imparts powerful wisdom on embracing your authentic self, being comfortable in your skin, and living a purpose-driven life. Join us for a compelling conversation that is sure to leave you inspired and motivated to pursue your own path with purpose and passion.Host
Guest IG: @fawn.weaver
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If I would taken that route, Uncle near Wright would
be dead. Right like every other black owned brand that
has come before me, it would be dead.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance
podcast dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from
the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business
and more. I'm your host, angel investor, technology enthusiast, and
media personality Tanya Sam. Each week, we talk with guests
who are making significant strides in their fields and learn
(00:33):
how they are making their money move. If you're someone
who's looking to make your money move, you're in the
right place. So open up your notes app and lock
us in, because this podcast will give you the keys
to the kingdom of financial stability, wealth, and abundance you
so rightly deserve. Before we start the episode, I'd like
to remind you to check us out at Gogreenwood dot
com and follow us on social media at Greenwood and
(00:56):
me on all things social at It's Tanya. Time to
stay locked in too new episode. We are honored to
welcome back a true trailblazer and visionary in the spirits industry,
Fawn Weaver, founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest Whiskey tell us,
how did you birth?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Uncle Near? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So my start really that gift of storytelling that I
have been able to hone from a very early age.
Now clearly it was a gift that was given to me.
It is not something I earned, It is not something
that I learned. It is something that was innate. So
(01:40):
that is the starting gift. I think a lot of
people part of why what they do is so tiring
to them is they're outside of one they were naturally
gifted to do. So we're going to start with what
I was naturally gifted to do, and that was to
be able to tell stories in such a way that
it inspired people to challenge people, caused people to want
(02:01):
to draw in. I've been doing that since I was eighteen.
So when you're looking at the story of Unclanier's I
was diving into the story itself, the story of the
first African American master distillery, and the question became, could
I tell the story better than anyone else. Remember, this
is not a new story. This is a story that
(02:22):
was originally in Jack Daniel's biography that came out in
nineteen sixty seven. It was twenty sixteen. By the time
I found the story, Wow, and it wasn't a story
that wasn't unknown. But the thing that and they'll tell
you this, the thing that Jack Daniels could not figure
out how to do was how to tell the story.
(02:42):
And a part of why they couldn't tell the story
is it wasn't authentic to who they were. You've got
a room full of.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
White dude, it wasn't to tell.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
How do you tell the story of a formerly enslaved man?
You can't tell that story and tell that story right.
We're working on another project that actually isn't to Uncle Nears,
but it's still in spirits. And the story when I
tell it, gives me chills, Like the story of Uncle
Nears gives me chills. And the reason it gives me
chills is because nobody else can tell it. There you
(03:11):
have to find those things that are so unique to
you that you know no one could do this better
and lean all the way into that. And so that's
how Uncle Ners got started. Is there anyone who is
going to put their head down and literally for months
on end, do nothing on research, Go meet with everybody
(03:33):
in town, go interview all of near's descendants, interview all
of Jack's descendants, go to every single cemetery, go and
meet with all the African American elders that are still alive.
You have to be willing to do what the other
people won't do, and that's exactly what I do. So
the amount of hours that I put into the research
(03:54):
for this was so much greater than any brand would
ever do because what I I was getting to was
the legacy the story. So whether it came out in
a book or a movie, which the book does come
out early next week, we're somewhere between May and June,
we're still lot the data. But the book does come out,
and before the book comes out, the manuscript will be
(04:16):
sold for the film. And so you do have all
those things I set out to do in the beginning,
but they went in a different order, which leads me
to opportunity. You might start off thinking this is what
I'm going to do. Another opportunity knocks on your door
that you have to pivot in order to take advantage
(04:37):
of it. But it doesn't mean you can't go back
to where you started, and where I started was a
book in a movie. It won't come out till twenty
twenty four. The brand came out in twenty seventeen, and
the brand the distillery opened in twenty nineteen. And you
could not have paid me in twenty sixteen to believe
I'd own a distillery, not just a distillery.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
But now, wow, I did.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Not know that. Oh, our distillery is one of the
top ten most visited distilleries in the world at this point,
and were We didn't open until twenty nineteen to our
first phase. Phase two opened on juneteenth, twenty twenty one,
so we're really only two years into this. And distilleries
(05:19):
that have been around for one hundred, two hundred years
they don't get when it was even close to ours.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Okay, when I tell you, when you say you have
a gift, you have such a gift. First of all, y'all,
this is an audio podcast, but my head is nodding
like a bobblehead because I'm so engrossed. I actually forgot
that I was supposing you and I was like, oh wait,
I'm supposed to be asking questions because I was so
into this story, like this is this is amazing. I
(05:47):
love this, Okay, And first of all, congratulations, that's a huge.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Now it is. It's my favorite. I always tell people
don't don't send me questions in advance. I never read questions,
accept questions in advance because where the conversation goes is
where the conversation goes. And I don't want anyone to
ever feel happen. So the questions they have to ask me,
it's going to go where it goes.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I do have one question that I really love because
I find you know, oftentimes people are really struggling for this, Well,
what's my gift?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
How do I find my gift? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know, and you've had and it's a hard thing.
You can't answer it for other people. But if you
were to be able to bottle up a nice answer
on how people can explore their gift, how they can
you know, tap into it. I feel like, now I'm
in my forties, I know I have such a better
(06:38):
appreciation understanding of what my gifts are. Yeah, I don't know,
And so I'm wondering what would you say to your
younger self on what are your gifts and how do
you use those to find to create a life where
you can make money and grow your gifts.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, I think that this is where parents do a
great disservice to kids is that we are constantly trying
to shape and mold children, and the classroom is trying
to shape and mold them. They go to college, they're
trying to shape and mold them. I think one of
the reasons why so many don't know is because they've
been shaped and molded their whole life. Most parents, those
(07:17):
who are really in tune and are determined to allow
every child's natural gift to really just explore that, you
will find that I don't know a single person whose
natural gift didn't show up before they were seven years old.
I don't know a single person. If you truly go
back to it, then I tell people all the time,
(07:38):
Fawn Weaver, at this age is seven years old, realized
that's all I am. I am not any different in
my personality than I was when I was seven years old.
I know how to control my anger.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Now, Yeah, I get it. I get it, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I know how to take away is this natural quote
unquote rebellion, and I know how to channel it. So
that is helpful for other people. How it's helpful for myself.
But all of those things that were innate to me
that didn't happen later in life. They're innate to me
when I was a kid. It's one of the reasons
Beyonce so successful. You go back and U look those videos,
(08:19):
and her parents saw that so early and they developed that.
And so my sister has one of my sisters I have.
I have five siblings. One of my sisters has five kids.
And one of the things that we marvel at is
how she is allowing each child to fully develop as
their own And when I tell you, their personalities could
(08:41):
not be any more different. But we know what each
one of them is going to be if they actually
move in their own gifts, if they don't get shape
shifted and molded. We know exactly what each one is
going to be because they're already showing it to us
at six years old, eight years old, ten years old,
thirteen years old. That is so you really have to
(09:02):
take the time to go back to what did you
fall in love with. So I'll give you a really
good example is we were you know, I'm old enough
that there were people that were coming around and selling
Encyclopedia Britannicas right right, it was a thing. It was
a thing.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Eight years But if you had a full set of encyclopedias.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Big deal, were you read big deal? But it was
a huge deal, big deal.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Big deal. So we we had and we had the
Encyclopedia Britannica, right, we had the whole the whole thing.
And I got in so much trouble. And this was
I was young. I think that that we were supposed
to be reading like Judy Bloom or something like that. Yes,
and I refused to read any of the novels because
(09:52):
I had Encyclopedia Britannica. So when my parents would get
on me about the fact that I didn't write this
book report and that book report, and I show them
something in the encyclopedia and like, but this is actually real.
I write the report on this, but I'm not interested
in writing a report on a novel that was made up.
So this is who I was as a kid. I
(10:13):
refuse to read novels as a kid because I had
Encyclopedia Britannica. So the fact that I do these deep
dives whenever I get interested in anything should not come
to a shop to anyone who saw me sitting amongst
all my Encyclopedia Britannica. Because refusing to do reports on novels.
Now I'm not struggling with my teachers, but this is
(10:34):
who I was, So you have to go back to
what was I doing in childhood that was different from
everybody else? Because the world shapes us like each other.
But you got to figure out what did you do
that was different from everyone and there lies your gift there.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
That is probably the most beautiful answer I've ever heard
to that question. And also, you know, I just I
do believe that the evolution of parenting. I'm not a parent,
but I have nieces and I learned so much from
my sisters who are parenting is so different because You're right,
once upon.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
A time and I think our parents' generation was like that.
They were just like look, in order for us to
survive and successful, everyone's got to get information.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And now this is a gift that we offer to
our kids to like dive in, to allow them to
be themselves and find that alignment with who they truly are.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
And I just feel like that's how we soar how beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Absolutely, and we can't be upset with our parents who
didn't do that. They were using the tools they had. Yeah,
we're not probably away from the end of it. People
like to track it back to slavery, but forget slavery
for this particular moment when we were being water hosed
(11:49):
and still beaten. We're talking about the fifties and the sixties.
So if that is what our parents and our grandparents
were experiencing, then we should not find it odd that
that is what they did with us, That what they
now call corporal punishment was just the normal way of
raising a black kid. But it's yes, they learned, they learned,
(12:13):
they passed down what they learned. So one of the
most freeing things that a person can do to allow
them to progress in life is to say, my parents
worked with the tools they had. Hard stop, Yes, hard stop,
and that's it, and that has been That has been
one of the most freeing things for me is my
(12:35):
parents will say they made a lot of mistakes and
God blessed them. I left home when I was fifteen
because that we just bumped heads and butted heads so much.
And if they could do it again, they would definitely
change that, right.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
But that's also their growth over time decades later, you
know exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
But at that time I can look at it and
not just say it, but truly believe in my heart,
they did the best that they could with the tools.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Thing that's beautiful. And you know, I also want to.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Reiterate what you said for you to be able to
understand that that has been a gift to yourself and
your own healing, and I think that is so important.
And this is this is why I love these like
very multi dimensional conversations with like successful people because it's
not just about how much you've built, how well you
can build a business or raise money or you know,
increase revenue. It's also the mindset and I think this
(13:28):
is where we really shift how we can give these
messages to so many people because I feel like I
keep learning these things about how I can heal myself,
be a better person, put into my gifts and it's
it's a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
We work hard, but you know, the payoffs are well.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Worth it, without question. And if you have if you
have a bunch of struggle and strife around you, whether
that's friends, family, whatever that is, that's going to keep
you from reaching your optimal business because then you always
have a pool on you. So if you can figure
out and this is just I don't see a separation
of professional and personal. I don't believe that exists. You
(14:07):
are a single human being and you can't divide yourself
in half. And so if the personal side is causing
you to be pulled in a direction that you don't
want to be pulled in, then your ability to be
propelled to where you want to go professionally is going
to be hindered. And so this idea that you work
(14:27):
on your professional life and not your personal life, good
luck with that. I don't know who anyone you've been
able to do that right. You have to figure out both.
And so for me personally, that's been a huge part
of my success is I am lockstep with my partner
and all things. My husband of now about to be
(14:49):
twenty years and we are the relay race of all
relay races. We will run that leg full tilt and
pass that baton to each other and keeps us from
being tired. Because when I am feeling tired and I'm like, oh,
then I just passed that baton right to him, he
picks it up. So we say lockstep to make sure
(15:11):
that we're both going in the same direction.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
And you know that's it's something that you have to
be very intentional about and communication communication.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I'm tired, I need you to pick it up now.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yes, you know when we see this, but it's really
putting it into action where you're like, look, baby, you
got to carry me right now because I'm tired. I'll
carry you later, or we can both walk now. But
it's really the communication that I think takes it to
that next level for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, I heard Renee Brown say something recently that I
thought was absolutely brilliant. She and her husband and I
might watch this because I didn't rewatch it. It was on Instagram,
but she said she and her husband every night they
come together and tell each other what percentage they can give,
and they look at it and say, okay, we got
(15:58):
to get to one hundred percent. So she will come
in and she might say I only have twenty percent,
and our husband will say, don't worry, I got the
eighty percent for you. She said, But if we both
come in and we both say we only have twenty percent,
we've got one hell of a deficit that we're going
to have to overcome together. But knowing in advance, I
can't pool this for you. I'm too tired myself. Is
(16:21):
really I mean that on the communication side is so
incredibly important, and I just just love that thing that
they do. We don't do that, but I loved that.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, And you know, I think there's something really beautiful
about that, being able to just have that vulnerability to
be like, I don't got.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
It right now, Yes I need help.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yes you got to pick it up paid like it's
and it takes practice, but it is such a beautiful
thing when you can do that.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It is for sure, it is fun.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I have a couple questions. I want to make sure
that we save time because I want to talk about
the fund that you raise. You do a lot of
your foundation as well, but we get a little bit
into the business and I want to just do a
little bit of a fire round of like how you
did this right? So you've researched this project, you become
sort of just I just feel like impassioned by the story, right,
(17:12):
and it's now lifting you up. Take me through, like, Okay,
how are you going to make this whiskey? How are
you gonna put in a bottle?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And how are you going to get national distribution at
the level you did?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, so how do you make the whiskey the beautiful
thing in the Spirit's business overall is you can source
what you need when you're when you're first beginning. Quite frankly,
many still source when you when you go to Scotland,
the majority of Scotch makers are not making their own product.
They're blending a bunch of other distilleries products and they
(17:43):
might have a little bit of their own in that blend.
Same thing in Cognac. They the majority of what the
cognac makers that we know that we buy, the vast
majority of what's in their bottles they didn't distill. And
so the making is actually quite easy because you can
source that product. In our case, because we knew that
(18:05):
we would be we might not be as welcomed in
this industry. We're quite different. Number one. Number two, our
Matt dab in the middle of a beloved story in
our industry, and so we didn't know whether or not
our supply line could get choked if we started to
grow to big.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
There's a whole podcast on that alone, or maybe a
book and documentary.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah. So I did not decide We're going to build
a distillery because I just wanted to have a show piece.
I decided out of necessity that if any of our
competitors that were much bigger than us saw us growing
and got concerned and decided to try to choke our
supply line. They wouldn't be able to because we were
(18:53):
our own supply line. So that leads me to how
we built the distributor network in our due And I
think other industries have this, but not like ours. In
our industry, it is a three tier system. There is
me as the maker the supplier. There's you as the consumer.
I can't sell directly to you unless you come to
(19:15):
my distillery. In order to sell to you at a restaurant,
a hotel, a bar, a retail store, any of that stuff,
I have to go through the second tier. The second
tier is the distributor tier is the mob. And I'm
not speaking in hyperbole, it's literally the mob. They were
created during prohibition. They were the runs running the alcohol.
(19:39):
And so on the other side of prohibition, we think
about Alcopone, and we think about he went to jail
for this and for that, and we know he murdered
all these people and all the rest of that stuff.
But what he was doing was running alcohol. He was
essentially acting as a distributor.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So on the other the prohibition, all of those mobs.
It's all of a sudden people were going to be
drinking alcohol again. But they had created a system in
which they ran on the alcohol. So that's what they did.
They went to their friends in the government and said
(20:16):
this should have a second tier, and gave a reason
why it should have a second tier. And every major
distributor still goes back to those original mob families, every
single one.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Guys, this is so crazy. We're actually talking about like
the modern day. This isn't a movie.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
This is like a controlled, organized system to make sure
that certain families profit, profit grossly and control the whole industry.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Listen, I will tell you I did a DEI for
one of the big three. There's three really big ones.
I did a DEI thing and they had their whole
team on. Leadership team was on, everybody was on, and
a person, an African American woman on the call asked me, well,
(21:06):
how do we fix this problem that there's no black
and brown people in the upper tiers and the elt
I said, you can't. And everybody on the call, you know,
it's one of those zoom calls where you've got hundreds
of faces and everyone's face just looked at me like why,
and I like, you're here to talk about DEI what
do you mean we can't And I said, you can't
(21:27):
because you're the Mob. And when have you ever seen
black and brown person sitting with the Mob?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Never?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
In business you had Sammy Davis who was performing and
he made friends within the Mob. But when have you
ever seen a black or brown person within the Mob? Never?
And you work for the Mob, and it was so cool,
and I give them so much credit. One of the
(21:58):
chairmen of the company, who is now I think fifth
generation in this distributorship, he sends me an email and
he said, your call was very fascinating. I'd love to
talk to you. And now I didn't know he was
on the call. It's you know, yeah, yeah, I didn't
(22:19):
realize the chairman was on the call. And we set
up a call and we get on a zoom together
and he said, I gotta tell you, never before had
anyone call us the Mob. And then he starts laughing.
He goes, but you're not wrong. Oh my god, he said, listen,
(22:40):
it's how we all started. Every single one of us
began this way. And he said, in the fact that
you talk to us in this manner. It allows it
makes us take you seriously because you've taken the time
to actually research to know who we are and to
understand how to deal with us. And so he actually
(23:01):
told me, he said, make sure to tell your team.
He said, I know that they get timid when we
push back on them, and when my people push back
on them, and they know they don't want to lose.
He was like, tell them, I give them permission to
challenge all of my people because it's the only way
they're going to move. And so I have an approach
(23:23):
from the very beginning that not one distributor will distribute
us across the country. We currently have eighteen distributors. One
distributor we started off with eight with eighteen states. Then
they bought another one. They bought another distributorship that had
twelve states, So then we're end up in thirty states
(23:44):
with them. I am currently cutting eleven of them and
taking them down from because that's too much control over
my company. You have to know when someone can impact
your bottom line because they have too much control. Absolutely unacceptable.
(24:05):
And so but I told them in advance, I said, listen,
if these states aren't performing at this level, I'm going
to cut no questions asked. I'm not going to have
another conversation They're going to be at the level or
I'm going to cut them and I'm going to bring
in another distributor. And what so many in our industry
why they have failed, is that they think to have
(24:26):
so many distributors, that's so much work, that's so difficult.
Is it really if you're having to have a conversation
with the same distributor every day, frustrated because they're not
doing their job, by the way, because they don't have to,
because they have you in forty states and they have
no competition for your business, and at that point, they're
(24:46):
dictating how your business does. Because the reason why I
chose to not go with one single distributor, even though
it was offered for the entire country, is because if
I'm not performing well, if Uncle Nears wasn't performing well,
then they would be able to just look in their
system and say, listen, you don't have you don't have
(25:07):
the consumers. There's not the excitement because this state only
did this state only did this, but it's all their
states and so absolutely so what I've been able to
do is say pay distributor in California. Why are you
being outpaced by distributor in Georgia? Wait hop distributor in Texas?
Why are you getting your butt kicked by the distributor
(25:29):
in Virginia?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Step up your game.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
But the thing is is that if I had taken
what is the normal route which everyone takes for ease,
If I had taken that route, Uncle Nears would be dead,
right like every other black owned brand that has come
before me, it would be dead, and it would be
dead because someone else had the power to put my
(25:53):
cases in a corner and focus on their big brands,
the ones that make them the most money. Don't get
me wrong, I'm grateful for the role that the distributors play,
but I don't expect them to build my brand. And
I'm real clear with them. I expect them to deliver
my boat, but I don't expect them to build to
build it. But if they're not delivering it at a
(26:16):
number that makes sense for me based on what I
know their potential to be. Because I have other distributors
with states with similar potential, then I'm going to drop
them and go somewhere else. And I'm okay with that.
I'm not afraid to do that. Yes, that tear really
truly controls our industry.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
But I know my worth, but you know your worth
and you know that boldness that that you know ability.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I'm not backing down. And I know how to build.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I know the vision behind knowing how you want your
business to be run and to be built is so.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
And you really have to know who you who you're
dealing with. You've got to know. Okay, this, this particular
industry has been white male dominated for you know, throwing
the number of years. But why, what's the reason? Give
the history? And it's not always just a historical well
because white men ran the country. In the case of distributors,
(27:15):
it wasn't about it was about a white white man,
but it was about white men who were in the mob.
That's different than a regular white man.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, no, absolutely, that power structure, the business structure.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Who yes, understanding how did they come to run banking,
how did they come to run diamonds, how did that
whatever the field is that you were trying to be in,
understand how they came to run it. And it wasn't
just their race. Figure out what else it was other
than just their race, Because that you're in that that
(27:49):
is how you succeed.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
So now you know you've mastered and have a very
thorough understanding of distributorship, the markets you're going into.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
What's the next big thing that you think has made you.
So I walk through.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
The door every single time like a recon ball, like
it will not everyone is not going to be excited
to see me walk through the door. I walk through
with so much energy because I am a believer that
number one, I don't have time to waste. So we're
not gonna do a bunch of small talk. We're not
(28:24):
gonna do a whole like I don't need you to
pat me on my back. I can pat myself on
my back. Let's have let's have a real, real conversation.
And so that will make a lot of people uncomfortable.
I'm comfortable with their discomfort because I have a company
to bug, I have an entire industry to move forward.
(28:47):
So I can't be concerned about people and their feelings.
And so I would say that that needs show up
as my most not only my most authentic self. But
I'm always telling you who you can expect from me,
and I'm delivering on that promise. You're not going to
see me laver. When I walk through the door, I'm
(29:07):
going to walk through with all the confident And it
doesn't mean I am I have this confidence because everything
is going right. Every single day I'm dealing with something
going wrong. Right, I'm literally walking in and knowing in
my heart of hearts that I belong in that space
and that there's something in that space that is going
to help take me to the next level, and I'm
(29:29):
there to find that.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I love this speaking and you know, I will say Fan,
you know looking you up like you are known as
one of the most powerful leaders, and so this is
like a beautiful evolution to this conversation because I think,
you know, the best leaders that we've seen. They know
how to make a decision, they know how to disseminate
those decisions, and it comes from a place of strength.
(29:50):
But something really interesting you said there. You're like, I'm
okay with people being uncomfortable because you are the leader.
And I think I hate to genderize the conversation, but
oftentimes for women in powerful positions, this is a hard
role to play. And it's not hard for you, which
I think makes you be an incredible leader, but other
people find it difficult because as women, we're supposed to
(30:13):
be these like empathic caregivers.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
That's going to make everybody feel comfortable. But you're like,
I have.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
A job to do here and it's much bigger than
your little discomfort.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
How do you balance that?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Don't get me wrong, It doesn't mean that that's easy
for me. That's a difficult thing for me. I just
don't allow that difficulty to hamper what I'm there to do.
That's the difference is it is a It doesn't mean
that it doesn't bother me. I have to have hard
conversations all the time, and every single time I have
(30:47):
to have it, I can feel it in my back.
I can feel it in my neck, But guess what,
my neck in my back will be fine the next
day I have to have the hall And so it's
not that it is any less difficult for me than
it is for anyone else. The difference is that I
am so purpose driven, I am so clear on what
(31:08):
I am here to do and how I am to
do it and what I am to do that if
other people are uncomfortable in this journey, that's not my
discomfort to bear. That's theirs.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Ooh, ugh, I love that purpose driven. Oh I love
that right there. Okay, before we wrap up, we've got
a couple of minutes. I want to take a minute
to talk about the Uncle Nearest Venture Fund. And I
know that this is something that you have sort of
birth out of your you know, strong belief to empower
communities entrepreneurs. So tell us a little bit about the
(31:43):
venture fund, tell us a little bit about your foundation
and what you guys are doing, because I think that's
very special. I want to make sure everybody knows about it.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Yeah, well I will tell you on the venture side.
This will take us back to the business plans I
started off with the venture fund, had to completely undo
it and now it is as Uncleannaire's Ventures and I
had to do it as separate spbs. And the reason
is I could.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
I couldn't find.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Enough bipop founded brands with business plans. So this goes
back to there's plenty of people with money, we don't
have anywhere to get it. And so originally I went
to our uncle Airs investors are phenomenal and I have
over one hundred of them. They're all individuals and and
I'm about to host I call them my sixth man,
(32:27):
I'm about to host six man day and in about
four weeks. I do it each year at the distillery.
All that the the investors come out and they learn,
we talk, we recap it, but I tell them where
we're going in the next year, and I tell them
where we're going in the future, and and it's a
beautiful thing. But for each of those years, during that
period of time when we launched this, everybody was trying
(32:49):
to figure out where to put money to support black
and brown I mean everybody, and so making it to
phone calls, it was really easy to round up the money.
Then I began looking for the brands, and that was
a problem. There were not brands that were ready to go.
(33:10):
And by ready to go, I mean you don't have
a backup plan, you don't have another job. You have
a full business plan with a swat analysis, and you
can tell me how you are going to make this
money work. There weren't enough and so I literally we
deployed the first I think sixteen million, and I literally
(33:33):
looked at it and said, we just we have to
pause and wait for something else to rise to the top.
And it hasn't happened. But it hasn't happened not because
there aren't some others, but because there were so many
others that also committed so much money to black and
brown in every area that they began funding those with
(33:56):
no business plan.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Oh, this is a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I literally just had a conversation with someone who heads
up a really large fund and I said, you are
giving them just enough money to fail because they don't
have a business plan. And that's not enough money for
someone without a business plan.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
And this sort of cannibalizes the industry for these communities,
right because now we have these higher rates of failures.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
It's a problem.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Oh, this is a whole conversation.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Then they're able to look at all the failures and go,
what we tried that.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Didn't work, that didn't work, that didn't work, And because
it becomes specifically a community of BIPOCK people, it's it
is a proof point that is against a community of
BIPOC people exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
And no one is going to say, well, we invested
in somebody without a business plan. They're going to look
at it and say all these Bypock founded brands failed,
but no one is going to say why they failed,
and that's why they failed. They didn't have a business plan,
they didn't have leaders that didn't have a fallback, that
didn't have some other job that was paying them, and
(35:03):
then you didn't give them enough money to really be
able to succeed. And so for us, one of the
big things is is that I didn't want to give anybody.
I didn't want to invest less than two million in
any I wanted to make sure that this was a
brand that could grow to be a legacy brand. So
we didn't invest less than two million in any of
these of any of these brands. And I literally could
(35:26):
not find another brand out there that was ready for
two million.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
I get that, and I went.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Through over two hundred.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Oh I believe it one hundred percent. I believe that.
I believe that.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
I think that's a bigger conversation for the state of
like early stage companies, how we grow, how we scale,
how you know. I think honestly, like as someone who's
run multiple accelerator accelerators through Morehouse, Atlanta here, I know
exactly the problems that these early stage companies have. And
I think that that's where you know, the real work
(35:58):
can be done to help these folks. And it's never
it's oftentimes, like you say, the idea that it's your
first company, your first idea. You know, when we look
at the story of Facebook, and it was some you know,
Mark Zuckerberg was an eighteen year old kid who built this,
like I believe it, I believe it happens. But there's
a huge bit of education around what it takes to
build these companies, and you are have embodied that.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
But also look at how early Mark took in VC Yes,
so Mark had powerhouses surrounding him very very early on.
Facebook would have failed if those vcs did not step in, yes,
and so that we can't look at that and say
that was Mark. Yeah, that wasn't Mark. It was the
(36:42):
vcs that were brought in they had the experience. Yeah,
that's very very different.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
And I'd love, I mean, I'd love to have a
whole conversation on building a team because, as we mentioned
in the beginning, you have an all female leadership team,
and team is so important. You know, team is the
wind beneath your wings.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
It is really how like you can grow and scale
to the next level. So as we wrap.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Up, because I'm certainly cognizant of your time, I want
to ask you about hiring. I think this is one
of the things that when people look back, it was
integral to their success. And you could say there might
be something else, But I want to ask, can you
give us some wise words on hiring and building out
your team?
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Absolutely, there are two things that I did that I
think is the reason why we have such an incredible team.
The first happened very early on, as as a company,
we collectively the people that were the very few people
that were here at the beginning. I wrote out ten
company principles and I sent it to everybody that was
in the company, and I said, give me get rid
(37:45):
of the ones you think aren't important, and add ones
that you think are important, and we refined our company principles.
As a company. Everybody had buy in, So then we
had an entire company of people. And by entire company,
I mean we're talking about a very small number. I
don't even know if we had ten people at that time,
and you are everyone has a complete buying because they
(38:08):
helped to write these company principles. Then in every job
posting for Uncle neris if you go back and you look,
we haven't done a job posting in years, And I'll
tell you why. Because that's the second thing. The if
you go back and you look at our job postings,
what you had to get to to actually get to
the job description is you had to read all of
(38:29):
our company principles, the description around our company principles, and
if you agreed with all of them, then you should
look at the job description. And so we were telling
people out the gate, this is who we are and
we're not changing this for you. So if you fit
in this ecosystem that we've already created, you're welcome. If
(38:52):
you don't, do not apply. And it was so it
was like you literally could not get in to our
company without these key tenants. Now, as we continue to
grow and we literally abide by those company principles, you
ask anyone in my company, you go, what are your
company principles? They may not be able to tell you
(39:14):
all ten, but they're going to be able to tell
you a good number, and they for sure will be
able to tell you the top three. Wow, what we
are is a living, breathing just it is our ecosystem,
it is who we are. And so because of that,
then as we began to create this amazing culture, then
(39:35):
you had so many people wanting to be a part
of our culture. Well, the question began came, how do
we protect this culture. We don't just let people in.
So we haven't done a job posting in years. Because
the way that you come into our company is you
have to already be operating and meaning one of your
(39:56):
team members literally has to say I've seen this person
out in the market. They're amazing. We go out and
we find our people. We don't let people apply for
the jobs. Someone in our company has to vouch for
someone else, and they have to have either been working
with them, say, for instance, they work for a taste
company or distribution. They have to have been working with
(40:18):
them for at least two years before we will bring
them into our company. Every single person who has come
in as a new hire over the last two years
was already working with one of our team members for
at least two years.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
In that is sensational. That is really special. But it
makes a lot of sense. Like I would like to say,
people are proud to be drinking the juice.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Yeah, well it's a people will understand the cost of turnover, right, yes,
and so they'll bring in They'll bring in these superstars.
I don't want any superstars. Give me a rock star.
Give me someone who is sound as a rock, who's stable,
who I know every day they are going to go
out and they're going to do the job. We don't
(41:02):
do competition within our company. I know that that's really
unheard of them, especially for salespeople. But we share best practices.
And so someone was asking me the other day, you
know who are those Actually was an investor, was asking me,
who are those few people in the company that are
like your superstars that you want to try to get
everybody too. I said, I don't have a single one.
(41:23):
No one gets to superstar status in my company because
we've built a culture that they're so excited to share
with their colleagues their successes, and our best practice is
that nobody gets too far ahead of anyone else because
they're constantly taking the best practices from each other and
they're constantly improving.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yeah, what a beautiful culture, really really beautiful.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Find Before we wrap up, can you I want to
say one thing? You know, supporting businesses like this. We
started off by saying like I am the first person
to walk in and be like, I'm asking for uncle
near us, And.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
If they have it they have.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
If they have it, I order it, and if they don't,
it honestly plants a seed where it's like, who I
want to get this, I need to get this. So
I implore all the money movers that are listening ask
for these things. This is how you help support black businesses.
This is how you support businesses that you like that
are coming and growing. Ask for it, because that's how
you get things off shelves. But can you tell us
where we can find your product, where we can come
(42:21):
for a distillery tour, where we can find you on
social media?
Speaker 1 (42:24):
We need because our distillery is in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and
we've got four hundred and twenty three spectacular acres and
you it is not like any other distillery experience in
the world. So I always tell people, if you're going
on some type of distillery tour, any of that Kubourbon tour,
whatever come to ours last, you will be otherwise depointed,
disappointed everywhere else you go. You've literally built out something
(42:49):
that and this is not this is not exaggeration or hyperbole.
People are there for eight hours because we've built out
so many things for people to do while they're there.
The tour is ninety minutes, but that's only a fraction
of what there is to do on our grounds. And
that was very, very intentional. We wanted people from every
background to be able to come. We wanted people with
(43:11):
every age group. Most of our tours will have like
three generations on it, and I love that. And so
that is that. In terms of Uncle Nears, I don't
even know how many locations we're in at this point,
probably fifty thousand. I think it's harder to not find
Uncle Nerris at this point than it is to find
Uncle Neras. The question is is that when you see
(43:31):
Uncle Neris, do you order it?
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Do you buy it?
Speaker 1 (43:33):
That is the piece that is the most important. But
if for whatever reason, you go somewhere and you live
in a city where you're not seeing Uncle Nerris everywhere,
if you go to Uncle Nears dot com and you
put in your zip code, it's going to show you
the hundreds or thousands of locations that are near you.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Oh my goodness. Fine, you are such a delight, You're
such a joy. Thank you so much for carrying on
this legacy. Thank you for all the work that you do,
offing so many gems for us today. We appreciate your
time on this podcast, and we definitely appreciate your whisky.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Thank you, I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Thank you money Movers for tuning in. That's all the
time we have for today. But you know where to
find fun, and you know where to find that whiskey.
So please please get out there and cheers to you,
salu whatever you say, and let's raise a glass.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
And we're toasting to your success.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Thanks for listening to today's episode. If we helped you
make your money move, please share it with your community,
subscribe and leave us a review on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
And Apple podcasts.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Follow us on social media at Greenwood and visit us
at Gogreenwood dot com for more financial tips and remember,
money Movers, if this.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Were easy, everyone would do it.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
So take the lessons you've learned from this episode and
apply it to your life. Money Moves is an iHeartRadio
podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts from. Make sure to
tune in Monday, Wednesday and Friday and subscribe to the
(45:06):
Money Moose Podcast powered by Greenwood, so that you too
can have the keys to financial freedom you so rightly deserve.
Until next time,
If I would taken that route, Uncle near Wright would
be dead. Right like every other black owned brand that
has come before me, it would be dead.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance
podcast dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from
the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business
and more. I'm your host, angel investor, technology enthusiast, and
media personality Tanya Sam. Each week, we talk with guests
who are making significant strides in their fields and learn
(00:33):
how they are making their money move. If you're someone
who's looking to make your money move, you're in the
right place. So open up your notes app and lock
us in, because this podcast will give you the keys
to the kingdom of financial stability, wealth, and abundance you
so rightly deserve. Before we start the episode, I'd like
to remind you to check us out at Gogreenwood dot
com and follow us on social media at Greenwood and
(00:56):
me on all things social at It's Tanya. Time to
stay locked in too new episode. We are honored to
welcome back a true trailblazer and visionary in the spirits industry,
Fawn Weaver, founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest Whiskey tell us,
how did you birth?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Uncle Near? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So my start really that gift of storytelling that I
have been able to hone from a very early age.
Now clearly it was a gift that was given to me.
It is not something I earned, It is not something
that I learned. It is something that was innate. So
(01:40):
that is the starting gift. I think a lot of
people part of why what they do is so tiring
to them is they're outside of one they were naturally
gifted to do. So we're going to start with what
I was naturally gifted to do, and that was to
be able to tell stories in such a way that
it inspired people to challenge people, caused people to want
(02:01):
to draw in. I've been doing that since I was eighteen.
So when you're looking at the story of Unclanier's I
was diving into the story itself, the story of the
first African American master distillery, and the question became, could
I tell the story better than anyone else. Remember, this
is not a new story. This is a story that
(02:22):
was originally in Jack Daniel's biography that came out in
nineteen sixty seven. It was twenty sixteen. By the time
I found the story, Wow, and it wasn't a story
that wasn't unknown. But the thing that and they'll tell
you this, the thing that Jack Daniels could not figure
out how to do was how to tell the story.
(02:42):
And a part of why they couldn't tell the story
is it wasn't authentic to who they were. You've got
a room full of.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
White dude, it wasn't to tell.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
How do you tell the story of a formerly enslaved man?
You can't tell that story and tell that story right.
We're working on another project that actually isn't to Uncle Nears,
but it's still in spirits. And the story when I
tell it, gives me chills, Like the story of Uncle
Nears gives me chills. And the reason it gives me
chills is because nobody else can tell it. There you
(03:11):
have to find those things that are so unique to
you that you know no one could do this better
and lean all the way into that. And so that's
how Uncle Ners got started. Is there anyone who is
going to put their head down and literally for months
on end, do nothing on research, Go meet with everybody
(03:33):
in town, go interview all of near's descendants, interview all
of Jack's descendants, go to every single cemetery, go and
meet with all the African American elders that are still alive.
You have to be willing to do what the other
people won't do, and that's exactly what I do. So
the amount of hours that I put into the research
(03:54):
for this was so much greater than any brand would
ever do because what I I was getting to was
the legacy the story. So whether it came out in
a book or a movie, which the book does come
out early next week, we're somewhere between May and June,
we're still lot the data. But the book does come out,
and before the book comes out, the manuscript will be
(04:16):
sold for the film. And so you do have all
those things I set out to do in the beginning,
but they went in a different order, which leads me
to opportunity. You might start off thinking this is what
I'm going to do. Another opportunity knocks on your door
that you have to pivot in order to take advantage
(04:37):
of it. But it doesn't mean you can't go back
to where you started, and where I started was a
book in a movie. It won't come out till twenty
twenty four. The brand came out in twenty seventeen, and
the brand the distillery opened in twenty nineteen. And you
could not have paid me in twenty sixteen to believe
I'd own a distillery, not just a distillery.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
But now, wow, I did.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Not know that. Oh, our distillery is one of the
top ten most visited distilleries in the world at this point,
and were We didn't open until twenty nineteen to our
first phase. Phase two opened on juneteenth, twenty twenty one,
so we're really only two years into this. And distilleries
(05:19):
that have been around for one hundred, two hundred years
they don't get when it was even close to ours.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Okay, when I tell you, when you say you have
a gift, you have such a gift. First of all, y'all,
this is an audio podcast, but my head is nodding
like a bobblehead because I'm so engrossed. I actually forgot
that I was supposing you and I was like, oh wait,
I'm supposed to be asking questions because I was so
into this story, like this is this is amazing. I
(05:47):
love this, Okay, And first of all, congratulations, that's a huge.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Now it is. It's my favorite. I always tell people
don't don't send me questions in advance. I never read questions,
accept questions in advance because where the conversation goes is
where the conversation goes. And I don't want anyone to
ever feel happen. So the questions they have to ask me,
it's going to go where it goes.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I do have one question that I really love because
I find you know, oftentimes people are really struggling for this, Well,
what's my gift?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
How do I find my gift? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know, and you've had and it's a hard thing.
You can't answer it for other people. But if you
were to be able to bottle up a nice answer
on how people can explore their gift, how they can
you know, tap into it. I feel like, now I'm
in my forties, I know I have such a better
(06:38):
appreciation understanding of what my gifts are. Yeah, I don't know,
And so I'm wondering what would you say to your
younger self on what are your gifts and how do
you use those to find to create a life where
you can make money and grow your gifts.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, I think that this is where parents do a
great disservice to kids is that we are constantly trying
to shape and mold children, and the classroom is trying
to shape and mold them. They go to college, they're
trying to shape and mold them. I think one of
the reasons why so many don't know is because they've
been shaped and molded their whole life. Most parents, those
(07:17):
who are really in tune and are determined to allow
every child's natural gift to really just explore that, you
will find that I don't know a single person whose
natural gift didn't show up before they were seven years old.
I don't know a single person. If you truly go
back to it, then I tell people all the time,
(07:38):
Fawn Weaver, at this age is seven years old, realized
that's all I am. I am not any different in
my personality than I was when I was seven years old.
I know how to control my anger.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Now, Yeah, I get it. I get it, you know.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I know how to take away is this natural quote
unquote rebellion, and I know how to channel it. So
that is helpful for other people. How it's helpful for myself.
But all of those things that were innate to me
that didn't happen later in life. They're innate to me
when I was a kid. It's one of the reasons
Beyonce so successful. You go back and U look those videos,
(08:19):
and her parents saw that so early and they developed that.
And so my sister has one of my sisters I have.
I have five siblings. One of my sisters has five kids.
And one of the things that we marvel at is
how she is allowing each child to fully develop as
their own And when I tell you, their personalities could
(08:41):
not be any more different. But we know what each
one of them is going to be if they actually
move in their own gifts, if they don't get shape
shifted and molded. We know exactly what each one is
going to be because they're already showing it to us
at six years old, eight years old, ten years old,
thirteen years old. That is so you really have to
(09:02):
take the time to go back to what did you
fall in love with. So I'll give you a really
good example is we were you know, I'm old enough
that there were people that were coming around and selling
Encyclopedia Britannicas right right, it was a thing. It was
a thing.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Eight years But if you had a full set of encyclopedias.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Big deal, were you read big deal? But it was
a huge deal, big deal.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Big deal. So we we had and we had the
Encyclopedia Britannica, right, we had the whole the whole thing.
And I got in so much trouble. And this was
I was young. I think that that we were supposed
to be reading like Judy Bloom or something like that. Yes,
and I refused to read any of the novels because
(09:52):
I had Encyclopedia Britannica. So when my parents would get
on me about the fact that I didn't write this
book report and that book report, and I show them
something in the encyclopedia and like, but this is actually real.
I write the report on this, but I'm not interested
in writing a report on a novel that was made up.
So this is who I was as a kid. I
(10:13):
refuse to read novels as a kid because I had
Encyclopedia Britannica. So the fact that I do these deep
dives whenever I get interested in anything should not come
to a shop to anyone who saw me sitting amongst
all my Encyclopedia Britannica. Because refusing to do reports on novels.
Now I'm not struggling with my teachers, but this is
(10:34):
who I was, So you have to go back to
what was I doing in childhood that was different from
everybody else? Because the world shapes us like each other.
But you got to figure out what did you do
that was different from everyone and there lies your gift there.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
That is probably the most beautiful answer I've ever heard
to that question. And also, you know, I just I
do believe that the evolution of parenting. I'm not a parent,
but I have nieces and I learned so much from
my sisters who are parenting is so different because You're right,
once upon.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
A time and I think our parents' generation was like that.
They were just like look, in order for us to
survive and successful, everyone's got to get information.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And now this is a gift that we offer to
our kids to like dive in, to allow them to
be themselves and find that alignment with who they truly are.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
And I just feel like that's how we soar how beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Absolutely, and we can't be upset with our parents who
didn't do that. They were using the tools they had. Yeah,
we're not probably away from the end of it. People
like to track it back to slavery, but forget slavery
for this particular moment when we were being water hosed
(11:49):
and still beaten. We're talking about the fifties and the sixties.
So if that is what our parents and our grandparents
were experiencing, then we should not find it odd that
that is what they did with us, That what they
now call corporal punishment was just the normal way of
raising a black kid. But it's yes, they learned, they learned,
(12:13):
they passed down what they learned. So one of the
most freeing things that a person can do to allow
them to progress in life is to say, my parents
worked with the tools they had. Hard stop, Yes, hard stop,
and that's it, and that has been That has been
one of the most freeing things for me is my
(12:35):
parents will say they made a lot of mistakes and
God blessed them. I left home when I was fifteen
because that we just bumped heads and butted heads so much.
And if they could do it again, they would definitely
change that, right.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
But that's also their growth over time decades later, you
know exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
But at that time I can look at it and
not just say it, but truly believe in my heart,
they did the best that they could with the tools.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Thing that's beautiful. And you know, I also want to.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Reiterate what you said for you to be able to
understand that that has been a gift to yourself and
your own healing, and I think that is so important.
And this is this is why I love these like
very multi dimensional conversations with like successful people because it's
not just about how much you've built, how well you
can build a business or raise money or you know,
increase revenue. It's also the mindset and I think this
(13:28):
is where we really shift how we can give these
messages to so many people because I feel like I
keep learning these things about how I can heal myself,
be a better person, put into my gifts and it's
it's a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
We work hard, but you know, the payoffs are well.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Worth it, without question. And if you have if you
have a bunch of struggle and strife around you, whether
that's friends, family, whatever that is, that's going to keep
you from reaching your optimal business because then you always
have a pool on you. So if you can figure
out and this is just I don't see a separation
of professional and personal. I don't believe that exists. You
(14:07):
are a single human being and you can't divide yourself
in half. And so if the personal side is causing
you to be pulled in a direction that you don't
want to be pulled in, then your ability to be
propelled to where you want to go professionally is going
to be hindered. And so this idea that you work
(14:27):
on your professional life and not your personal life, good
luck with that. I don't know who anyone you've been
able to do that right. You have to figure out both.
And so for me personally, that's been a huge part
of my success is I am lockstep with my partner
and all things. My husband of now about to be
(14:49):
twenty years and we are the relay race of all
relay races. We will run that leg full tilt and
pass that baton to each other and keeps us from
being tired. Because when I am feeling tired and I'm like, oh,
then I just passed that baton right to him, he
picks it up. So we say lockstep to make sure
(15:11):
that we're both going in the same direction.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
And you know that's it's something that you have to
be very intentional about and communication communication.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I'm tired, I need you to pick it up now.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yes, you know when we see this, but it's really
putting it into action where you're like, look, baby, you
got to carry me right now because I'm tired. I'll
carry you later, or we can both walk now. But
it's really the communication that I think takes it to
that next level for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, I heard Renee Brown say something recently that I
thought was absolutely brilliant. She and her husband and I
might watch this because I didn't rewatch it. It was on Instagram,
but she said she and her husband every night they
come together and tell each other what percentage they can give,
and they look at it and say, okay, we got
(15:58):
to get to one hundred percent. So she will come
in and she might say I only have twenty percent,
and our husband will say, don't worry, I got the
eighty percent for you. She said, But if we both
come in and we both say we only have twenty percent,
we've got one hell of a deficit that we're going
to have to overcome together. But knowing in advance, I
can't pool this for you. I'm too tired myself. Is
(16:21):
really I mean that on the communication side is so
incredibly important, and I just just love that thing that
they do. We don't do that, but I loved that.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, And you know, I think there's something really beautiful
about that, being able to just have that vulnerability to
be like, I don't got.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
It right now, Yes I need help.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yes you got to pick it up paid like it's
and it takes practice, but it is such a beautiful
thing when you can do that.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It is for sure, it is fun.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I have a couple questions. I want to make sure
that we save time because I want to talk about
the fund that you raise. You do a lot of
your foundation as well, but we get a little bit
into the business and I want to just do a
little bit of a fire round of like how you
did this right? So you've researched this project, you become
sort of just I just feel like impassioned by the story, right,
(17:12):
and it's now lifting you up. Take me through, like, Okay,
how are you going to make this whiskey? How are
you gonna put in a bottle?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And how are you going to get national distribution at
the level you did?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Yeah, so how do you make the whiskey the beautiful
thing in the Spirit's business overall is you can source
what you need when you're when you're first beginning. Quite frankly,
many still source when you when you go to Scotland,
the majority of Scotch makers are not making their own product.
They're blending a bunch of other distilleries products and they
(17:43):
might have a little bit of their own in that blend.
Same thing in Cognac. They the majority of what the
cognac makers that we know that we buy, the vast
majority of what's in their bottles they didn't distill. And
so the making is actually quite easy because you can
source that product. In our case, because we knew that
(18:05):
we would be we might not be as welcomed in
this industry. We're quite different. Number one. Number two, our
Matt dab in the middle of a beloved story in
our industry, and so we didn't know whether or not
our supply line could get choked if we started to
grow to big.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
There's a whole podcast on that alone, or maybe a
book and documentary.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah. So I did not decide We're going to build
a distillery because I just wanted to have a show piece.
I decided out of necessity that if any of our
competitors that were much bigger than us saw us growing
and got concerned and decided to try to choke our
supply line. They wouldn't be able to because we were
(18:53):
our own supply line. So that leads me to how
we built the distributor network in our due And I
think other industries have this, but not like ours. In
our industry, it is a three tier system. There is
me as the maker the supplier. There's you as the consumer.
I can't sell directly to you unless you come to
(19:15):
my distillery. In order to sell to you at a restaurant,
a hotel, a bar, a retail store, any of that stuff,
I have to go through the second tier. The second
tier is the distributor tier is the mob. And I'm
not speaking in hyperbole, it's literally the mob. They were
created during prohibition. They were the runs running the alcohol.
(19:39):
And so on the other side of prohibition, we think
about Alcopone, and we think about he went to jail
for this and for that, and we know he murdered
all these people and all the rest of that stuff.
But what he was doing was running alcohol. He was
essentially acting as a distributor.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So on the other the prohibition, all of those mobs.
It's all of a sudden people were going to be
drinking alcohol again. But they had created a system in
which they ran on the alcohol. So that's what they did.
They went to their friends in the government and said
(20:16):
this should have a second tier, and gave a reason
why it should have a second tier. And every major
distributor still goes back to those original mob families, every
single one.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Guys, this is so crazy. We're actually talking about like
the modern day. This isn't a movie.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
This is like a controlled, organized system to make sure
that certain families profit, profit grossly and control the whole industry.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Listen, I will tell you I did a DEI for
one of the big three. There's three really big ones.
I did a DEI thing and they had their whole
team on. Leadership team was on, everybody was on, and
a person, an African American woman on the call asked me, well,
(21:06):
how do we fix this problem that there's no black
and brown people in the upper tiers and the elt
I said, you can't. And everybody on the call, you know,
it's one of those zoom calls where you've got hundreds
of faces and everyone's face just looked at me like why,
and I like, you're here to talk about DEI what
do you mean we can't And I said, you can't
(21:27):
because you're the Mob. And when have you ever seen
black and brown person sitting with the Mob?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Never?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
In business you had Sammy Davis who was performing and
he made friends within the Mob. But when have you
ever seen a black or brown person within the Mob? Never?
And you work for the Mob, and it was so cool,
and I give them so much credit. One of the
(21:58):
chairmen of the company, who is now I think fifth
generation in this distributorship, he sends me an email and
he said, your call was very fascinating. I'd love to
talk to you. And now I didn't know he was
on the call. It's you know, yeah, yeah, I didn't
(22:19):
realize the chairman was on the call. And we set
up a call and we get on a zoom together
and he said, I gotta tell you, never before had
anyone call us the Mob. And then he starts laughing.
He goes, but you're not wrong. Oh my god, he said, listen,
(22:40):
it's how we all started. Every single one of us
began this way. And he said, in the fact that
you talk to us in this manner. It allows it
makes us take you seriously because you've taken the time
to actually research to know who we are and to
understand how to deal with us. And so he actually
(23:01):
told me, he said, make sure to tell your team.
He said, I know that they get timid when we
push back on them, and when my people push back
on them, and they know they don't want to lose.
He was like, tell them, I give them permission to
challenge all of my people because it's the only way
they're going to move. And so I have an approach
(23:23):
from the very beginning that not one distributor will distribute
us across the country. We currently have eighteen distributors. One
distributor we started off with eight with eighteen states. Then
they bought another one. They bought another distributorship that had
twelve states, So then we're end up in thirty states
(23:44):
with them. I am currently cutting eleven of them and
taking them down from because that's too much control over
my company. You have to know when someone can impact
your bottom line because they have too much control. Absolutely unacceptable.
(24:05):
And so but I told them in advance, I said, listen,
if these states aren't performing at this level, I'm going
to cut no questions asked. I'm not going to have
another conversation They're going to be at the level or
I'm going to cut them and I'm going to bring
in another distributor. And what so many in our industry
why they have failed, is that they think to have
(24:26):
so many distributors, that's so much work, that's so difficult.
Is it really if you're having to have a conversation
with the same distributor every day, frustrated because they're not
doing their job, by the way, because they don't have to,
because they have you in forty states and they have
no competition for your business, and at that point, they're
(24:46):
dictating how your business does. Because the reason why I
chose to not go with one single distributor, even though
it was offered for the entire country, is because if
I'm not performing well, if Uncle Nears wasn't performing well,
then they would be able to just look in their
system and say, listen, you don't have you don't have
(25:07):
the consumers. There's not the excitement because this state only
did this state only did this, but it's all their
states and so absolutely so what I've been able to
do is say pay distributor in California. Why are you
being outpaced by distributor in Georgia? Wait hop distributor in Texas?
Why are you getting your butt kicked by the distributor
(25:29):
in Virginia?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Step up your game.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
But the thing is is that if I had taken
what is the normal route which everyone takes for ease,
If I had taken that route, Uncle Nears would be dead,
right like every other black owned brand that has come
before me, it would be dead, and it would be
dead because someone else had the power to put my
(25:53):
cases in a corner and focus on their big brands,
the ones that make them the most money. Don't get
me wrong, I'm grateful for the role that the distributors play,
but I don't expect them to build my brand. And
I'm real clear with them. I expect them to deliver
my boat, but I don't expect them to build to
build it. But if they're not delivering it at a
(26:16):
number that makes sense for me based on what I
know their potential to be. Because I have other distributors
with states with similar potential, then I'm going to drop
them and go somewhere else. And I'm okay with that.
I'm not afraid to do that. Yes, that tear really
truly controls our industry.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
But I know my worth, but you know your worth
and you know that boldness that that you know ability.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I'm not backing down. And I know how to build.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I know the vision behind knowing how you want your
business to be run and to be built is so.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
And you really have to know who you who you're
dealing with. You've got to know. Okay, this, this particular
industry has been white male dominated for you know, throwing
the number of years. But why, what's the reason? Give
the history? And it's not always just a historical well
because white men ran the country. In the case of distributors,
(27:15):
it wasn't about it was about a white white man,
but it was about white men who were in the mob.
That's different than a regular white man.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, no, absolutely, that power structure, the business structure.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Who yes, understanding how did they come to run banking,
how did they come to run diamonds, how did that
whatever the field is that you were trying to be in,
understand how they came to run it. And it wasn't
just their race. Figure out what else it was other
than just their race, Because that you're in that that
(27:49):
is how you succeed.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
So now you know you've mastered and have a very
thorough understanding of distributorship, the markets you're going into.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
What's the next big thing that you think has made you.
So I walk through.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
The door every single time like a recon ball, like
it will not everyone is not going to be excited
to see me walk through the door. I walk through
with so much energy because I am a believer that
number one, I don't have time to waste. So we're
not gonna do a bunch of small talk. We're not
(28:24):
gonna do a whole like I don't need you to
pat me on my back. I can pat myself on
my back. Let's have let's have a real, real conversation.
And so that will make a lot of people uncomfortable.
I'm comfortable with their discomfort because I have a company
to bug, I have an entire industry to move forward.
(28:47):
So I can't be concerned about people and their feelings.
And so I would say that that needs show up
as my most not only my most authentic self. But
I'm always telling you who you can expect from me,
and I'm delivering on that promise. You're not going to
see me laver. When I walk through the door, I'm
(29:07):
going to walk through with all the confident And it
doesn't mean I am I have this confidence because everything
is going right. Every single day I'm dealing with something
going wrong. Right, I'm literally walking in and knowing in
my heart of hearts that I belong in that space
and that there's something in that space that is going
to help take me to the next level, and I'm
(29:29):
there to find that.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I love this speaking and you know, I will say Fan,
you know looking you up like you are known as
one of the most powerful leaders, and so this is
like a beautiful evolution to this conversation because I think,
you know, the best leaders that we've seen. They know
how to make a decision, they know how to disseminate
those decisions, and it comes from a place of strength.
(29:50):
But something really interesting you said there. You're like, I'm
okay with people being uncomfortable because you are the leader.
And I think I hate to genderize the conversation, but
oftentimes for women in powerful positions, this is a hard
role to play. And it's not hard for you, which
I think makes you be an incredible leader, but other
people find it difficult because as women, we're supposed to
(30:13):
be these like empathic caregivers.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
That's going to make everybody feel comfortable. But you're like,
I have.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
A job to do here and it's much bigger than
your little discomfort.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
How do you balance that?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Don't get me wrong, It doesn't mean that that's easy
for me. That's a difficult thing for me. I just
don't allow that difficulty to hamper what I'm there to do.
That's the difference is it is a It doesn't mean
that it doesn't bother me. I have to have hard
conversations all the time, and every single time I have
(30:47):
to have it, I can feel it in my back.
I can feel it in my neck, But guess what,
my neck in my back will be fine the next
day I have to have the hall And so it's
not that it is any less difficult for me than
it is for anyone else. The difference is that I
am so purpose driven, I am so clear on what
(31:08):
I am here to do and how I am to
do it and what I am to do that if
other people are uncomfortable in this journey, that's not my
discomfort to bear. That's theirs.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Ooh, ugh, I love that purpose driven. Oh I love
that right there. Okay, before we wrap up, we've got
a couple of minutes. I want to take a minute
to talk about the Uncle Nearest Venture Fund. And I
know that this is something that you have sort of
birth out of your you know, strong belief to empower
communities entrepreneurs. So tell us a little bit about the
(31:43):
venture fund, tell us a little bit about your foundation
and what you guys are doing, because I think that's
very special. I want to make sure everybody knows about it.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Yeah, well I will tell you on the venture side.
This will take us back to the business plans I
started off with the venture fund, had to completely undo
it and now it is as Uncleannaire's Ventures and I
had to do it as separate spbs. And the reason
is I could.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
I couldn't find.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Enough bipop founded brands with business plans. So this goes
back to there's plenty of people with money, we don't
have anywhere to get it. And so originally I went
to our uncle Airs investors are phenomenal and I have
over one hundred of them. They're all individuals and and
I'm about to host I call them my sixth man,
(32:27):
I'm about to host six man day and in about
four weeks. I do it each year at the distillery.
All that the the investors come out and they learn,
we talk, we recap it, but I tell them where
we're going in the next year, and I tell them
where we're going in the future, and and it's a
beautiful thing. But for each of those years, during that
period of time when we launched this, everybody was trying
(32:49):
to figure out where to put money to support black
and brown I mean everybody, and so making it to
phone calls, it was really easy to round up the money.
Then I began looking for the brands, and that was
a problem. There were not brands that were ready to go.
(33:10):
And by ready to go, I mean you don't have
a backup plan, you don't have another job. You have
a full business plan with a swat analysis, and you
can tell me how you are going to make this
money work. There weren't enough and so I literally we
deployed the first I think sixteen million, and I literally
(33:33):
looked at it and said, we just we have to
pause and wait for something else to rise to the top.
And it hasn't happened. But it hasn't happened not because
there aren't some others, but because there were so many
others that also committed so much money to black and
brown in every area that they began funding those with
(33:56):
no business plan.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Oh, this is a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
I literally just had a conversation with someone who heads
up a really large fund and I said, you are
giving them just enough money to fail because they don't
have a business plan. And that's not enough money for
someone without a business plan.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
And this sort of cannibalizes the industry for these communities,
right because now we have these higher rates of failures.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
It's a problem.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Oh, this is a whole conversation.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Then they're able to look at all the failures and go,
what we tried that.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Didn't work, that didn't work, that didn't work, And because
it becomes specifically a community of BIPOCK people, it's it
is a proof point that is against a community of
BIPOC people exactly.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
And no one is going to say, well, we invested
in somebody without a business plan. They're going to look
at it and say all these Bypock founded brands failed,
but no one is going to say why they failed,
and that's why they failed. They didn't have a business plan,
they didn't have leaders that didn't have a fallback, that
didn't have some other job that was paying them, and
(35:03):
then you didn't give them enough money to really be
able to succeed. And so for us, one of the
big things is is that I didn't want to give anybody.
I didn't want to invest less than two million in
any I wanted to make sure that this was a
brand that could grow to be a legacy brand. So
we didn't invest less than two million in any of
these of any of these brands. And I literally could
(35:26):
not find another brand out there that was ready for
two million.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
I get that, and I went.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Through over two hundred.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Oh I believe it one hundred percent. I believe that.
I believe that.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
I think that's a bigger conversation for the state of
like early stage companies, how we grow, how we scale,
how you know. I think honestly, like as someone who's
run multiple accelerator accelerators through Morehouse, Atlanta here, I know
exactly the problems that these early stage companies have. And
I think that that's where you know, the real work
(35:58):
can be done to help these folks. And it's never
it's oftentimes, like you say, the idea that it's your
first company, your first idea. You know, when we look
at the story of Facebook, and it was some you know,
Mark Zuckerberg was an eighteen year old kid who built this,
like I believe it, I believe it happens. But there's
a huge bit of education around what it takes to
build these companies, and you are have embodied that.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
But also look at how early Mark took in VC Yes,
so Mark had powerhouses surrounding him very very early on.
Facebook would have failed if those vcs did not step in, yes,
and so that we can't look at that and say
that was Mark. Yeah, that wasn't Mark. It was the
(36:42):
vcs that were brought in they had the experience. Yeah,
that's very very different.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
And I'd love, I mean, I'd love to have a
whole conversation on building a team because, as we mentioned
in the beginning, you have an all female leadership team,
and team is so important. You know, team is the
wind beneath your wings.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
It is really how like you can grow and scale
to the next level. So as we wrap.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Up, because I'm certainly cognizant of your time, I want
to ask you about hiring. I think this is one
of the things that when people look back, it was
integral to their success. And you could say there might
be something else, But I want to ask, can you
give us some wise words on hiring and building out
your team?
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Absolutely, there are two things that I did that I
think is the reason why we have such an incredible team.
The first happened very early on, as as a company,
we collectively the people that were the very few people
that were here at the beginning. I wrote out ten
company principles and I sent it to everybody that was
in the company, and I said, give me get rid
(37:45):
of the ones you think aren't important, and add ones
that you think are important, and we refined our company principles.
As a company. Everybody had buy in, So then we
had an entire company of people. And by entire company,
I mean we're talking about a very small number. I
don't even know if we had ten people at that time,
and you are everyone has a complete buying because they
(38:08):
helped to write these company principles. Then in every job
posting for Uncle neris if you go back and you look,
we haven't done a job posting in years, And I'll
tell you why. Because that's the second thing. The if
you go back and you look at our job postings,
what you had to get to to actually get to
the job description is you had to read all of
(38:29):
our company principles, the description around our company principles, and
if you agreed with all of them, then you should
look at the job description. And so we were telling
people out the gate, this is who we are and
we're not changing this for you. So if you fit
in this ecosystem that we've already created, you're welcome. If
(38:52):
you don't, do not apply. And it was so it
was like you literally could not get in to our
company without these key tenants. Now, as we continue to
grow and we literally abide by those company principles, you
ask anyone in my company, you go, what are your
company principles? They may not be able to tell you
(39:14):
all ten, but they're going to be able to tell
you a good number, and they for sure will be
able to tell you the top three. Wow, what we
are is a living, breathing just it is our ecosystem,
it is who we are. And so because of that,
then as we began to create this amazing culture, then
(39:35):
you had so many people wanting to be a part
of our culture. Well, the question began came, how do
we protect this culture. We don't just let people in.
So we haven't done a job posting in years. Because
the way that you come into our company is you
have to already be operating and meaning one of your
(39:56):
team members literally has to say I've seen this person
out in the market. They're amazing. We go out and
we find our people. We don't let people apply for
the jobs. Someone in our company has to vouch for
someone else, and they have to have either been working
with them, say, for instance, they work for a taste
company or distribution. They have to have been working with
(40:18):
them for at least two years before we will bring
them into our company. Every single person who has come
in as a new hire over the last two years
was already working with one of our team members for
at least two years.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
In that is sensational. That is really special. But it
makes a lot of sense. Like I would like to say,
people are proud to be drinking the juice.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Yeah, well it's a people will understand the cost of turnover, right, yes,
and so they'll bring in They'll bring in these superstars.
I don't want any superstars. Give me a rock star.
Give me someone who is sound as a rock, who's stable,
who I know every day they are going to go
out and they're going to do the job. We don't
(41:02):
do competition within our company. I know that that's really
unheard of them, especially for salespeople. But we share best practices.
And so someone was asking me the other day, you
know who are those Actually was an investor, was asking me,
who are those few people in the company that are
like your superstars that you want to try to get
everybody too. I said, I don't have a single one.
(41:23):
No one gets to superstar status in my company because
we've built a culture that they're so excited to share
with their colleagues their successes, and our best practice is
that nobody gets too far ahead of anyone else because
they're constantly taking the best practices from each other and
they're constantly improving.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yeah, what a beautiful culture, really really beautiful.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Find Before we wrap up, can you I want to
say one thing? You know, supporting businesses like this. We
started off by saying like I am the first person
to walk in and be like, I'm asking for uncle
near us, And.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
If they have it they have.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
If they have it, I order it, and if they don't,
it honestly plants a seed where it's like, who I
want to get this, I need to get this. So
I implore all the money movers that are listening ask
for these things. This is how you help support black businesses.
This is how you support businesses that you like that
are coming and growing. Ask for it, because that's how
you get things off shelves. But can you tell us
where we can find your product, where we can come
(42:21):
for a distillery tour, where we can find you on
social media?
Speaker 1 (42:24):
We need because our distillery is in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and
we've got four hundred and twenty three spectacular acres and
you it is not like any other distillery experience in
the world. So I always tell people, if you're going
on some type of distillery tour, any of that Kubourbon tour,
whatever come to ours last, you will be otherwise depointed,
disappointed everywhere else you go. You've literally built out something
(42:49):
that and this is not this is not exaggeration or hyperbole.
People are there for eight hours because we've built out
so many things for people to do while they're there.
The tour is ninety minutes, but that's only a fraction
of what there is to do on our grounds. And
that was very, very intentional. We wanted people from every
background to be able to come. We wanted people with
(43:11):
every age group. Most of our tours will have like
three generations on it, and I love that. And so
that is that. In terms of Uncle Nears, I don't
even know how many locations we're in at this point,
probably fifty thousand. I think it's harder to not find
Uncle Nerris at this point than it is to find
Uncle Neras. The question is is that when you see
(43:31):
Uncle Neris, do you order it?
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Do you buy it?
Speaker 1 (43:33):
That is the piece that is the most important. But
if for whatever reason, you go somewhere and you live
in a city where you're not seeing Uncle Nerris everywhere,
if you go to Uncle Nears dot com and you
put in your zip code, it's going to show you
the hundreds or thousands of locations that are near you.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
Oh my goodness. Fine, you are such a delight, You're
such a joy. Thank you so much for carrying on
this legacy. Thank you for all the work that you do,
offing so many gems for us today. We appreciate your
time on this podcast, and we definitely appreciate your whisky.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Thank you, I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Thank you money Movers for tuning in. That's all the
time we have for today. But you know where to
find fun, and you know where to find that whiskey.
So please please get out there and cheers to you,
salu whatever you say, and let's raise a glass.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
And we're toasting to your success.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Thanks for listening to today's episode. If we helped you
make your money move, please share it with your community,
subscribe and leave us a review on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (44:34):
And Apple podcasts.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Follow us on social media at Greenwood and visit us
at Gogreenwood dot com for more financial tips and remember,
money Movers, if this.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Were easy, everyone would do it.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
So take the lessons you've learned from this episode and
apply it to your life. Money Moves is an iHeartRadio
podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts from. Make sure to
tune in Monday, Wednesday and Friday and subscribe to the
(45:06):
Money Moose Podcast powered by Greenwood, so that you too
can have the keys to financial freedom you so rightly deserve.
Until next time,
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.