December 14, 2021 • 23 mins
Mara sits down with Guy Troupe, owner of Black Wall Street's Liquid Lounge, an independent coffee shop located in the heart of Greenwood in Tulsa, OK.
Mara and Guy discuss nurturing future entrepreneurs, financial literacy, the importance of apprenticeship, and contributing to the community through coffee.
Host: @itstanyatime
Correspondent IG: @mara_hall
Guest Website: Black Wall Street Liquid Lounge
Guest IG: bws_ll
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily podcast,
determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom of
financial stability, wealth and abundance. As you know, mar Hall
was out in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and she sent us a
(00:21):
video so we can understand the word on the street
and the ins and outs, what you do know and
what you need to know. Let's take a look. Mr
guy True, thank you for having us at the Liquid Lounge.
How you doing today? I'm doing well. Thanks for coming
to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Showed up. Yes, Tulsa, Oklahoma's fine ist.
Here this wonderful establishment. This is your amazing coffee shop.
(00:43):
Tell us a little bit about your your business. This
is the Black Wall Street Liquid Lounge on ground zero
of Greenwood Avenue, the place of the race massacre. Uh,
that is not what we're here for. We respect the
culture of the survivors, what they need, what those families need.
(01:03):
But we're on the move forward, looking at sustainable economic opportunities.
The Liquid Lounge is designed to do that. Have conversations
around business and a coffee shop, cultivate young entrepreneurs. Uh.
It's sort of a double meaning in the title Liquid Lounge,
we serve beverages. We're gonna move into beer and wine soon,
(01:26):
but we're really trying to teach people how to stay
liquid in life. In life A black on the balance,
she's not alread. I love it. So, Guy, tell us
a little bit about how you are bringing the next
generation in as far as entrepreneurship. I know that you're
training the next the next people to come up and
and take the lead and take the helms of business.
(01:48):
So just tell us a little bit about that. Well,
I think the primary pieces is that we meet just
about every person in North Toll so that's entrepreneurs or
this African American from this base. They've heard about it
and so they walked through the door, order a cup
of coffee, and then we have a conversation and try
to figure out how we can nurture them to the
(02:10):
next step. Sometimes that's a networking situation and introduction. Oftentimes
its coaching on the fly with not without structure or setting.
And then we also have formal workshops. We do financial literacy.
We do help people with their credit, really trying to
show them how to launch or sustain their businesses. So
(02:31):
Cody Ransom as a young man that you just met uh.
I met Cody on the Block eight months ago. Now
he's an equity partner in the Liquid Lounge and we
had no history, but we have a connection based upon
really the spirit, yeah, and and the the work I
(02:51):
see him doing every day. Okay, Okay, So from what
I'm I'm listening to, this is your passion, like, this
is a part of who you are. You're this is
what you love to do. And you just talked about Cody.
But how did you get started in entrepreneurship? How did
you start um with your several businesses that you have?
(03:12):
How did you get started? Well? If I stumbled, really,
I wasn't taught to be an entrepreneur, although my family
was second generation Black Wall Street my grand aunt Lucy A.
Ram Madam c J. Walker's brand. But both of my
parents were educators and they taught me to go to college,
get a good job. And you know, that model is
(03:32):
what I followed, followed for a long time until I
really bumped my head in the corpor receiving. I worked
primarily in sports as a former college football player. Nights.
Where'd you go to college? I went to wicharda State
and Howard University HBC I got recruited by the own
the first African American coach to coach at the predominantly
(03:54):
white college. His name is Willie Jefferis. He's a trailblazer.
He's a hidden figure. Most people don't know about him.
In nineteen in the late seventies, he was hired. He
broke the color barreer Um actually working with him and
his family right now to do a movie of his life.
But he's Uh. We have a drink named after him,
the Sweet Willie j. That's our high chol parks here
(04:16):
we have old w Gurling. We named drinks after folks.
But how I got started after college. I went in
his office. I said, I don't know what I want
to do. He said, you can't lose with education. So
my mom and my my football coach encouraged me to
go to grad school. Uh So I went and got
a Masters in counseling psychology from Howard. During that time,
(04:37):
I wrote a paper on the counseling needs of athletes,
and one of my professors at Howard nurtured me to
to to a career in sports administration. He told me
what to do and I followed his instruction. I wrote
a letter to the n c A A, I applied
for an internship, I got it. UH. Then I worked
for the n c A for about seven years, and
(04:59):
then I transition didn't work for the NFL about the
same time. And I was always taught to shape trees.
So the cultural, uh institutional racism lands that I saw
in sports, I always was willing to kind of challenge
it and talk about it. So I ran the first
diversity council for the NFL. And and really during that time,
(05:22):
it's when I realized that I was gonna have to
go do my own things, and so I left to
start a consulting business, first really inside the sports, getting
hired by people I had worked with as an employee,
and so then I just trickled in the other businesses.
We have a wellness company, we have a coffee shop,
(05:42):
real estate business, human capital management company, training uh and
then the sports consultancy also do a big event in
Super Bowl called a player Networking event. So, Mr Trupe,
you are Tulsa, Oklahoma's finest. Listening to all of your accolades,
all of your accomplishments is just very very very impressive,
and I am so honored to be in the presence
(06:04):
of you. So I really appreciate that. So I'm just
hearing a lot of noise, a lot of construction. What's
going on here? Well, we're we're at the gentrified section
of Greenwood. Uh, there's a Class A building going on
across the street, and there's a history center, the Greenwood Rising,
using that's going up. So we we decided to open
(06:24):
shop here to message to our people that that entrepreneurship
capitalism is taking place on sacred ground and either you're
gonna jump in and and make some money and be
a part of the solution, understand what's happening. And so
the primary reason that you hear that construction and the
(06:45):
Liquid Lounge is here being disrupted by the construction is
to really have a testimony about what really happened a
hundred years later on Black Wall Street. So, and I
really want to thank you for your compliment about tuss
is fine as But the sad reality is is that
there's hundreds of me from this town. It's not a
(07:08):
sad reality, it's the truth. And we just need to
expose and let the people know that you're here and
that you're doing wonderful things. But there's hundreds of me
that are eighteen year old in North Tulsa that need exposure, connection, mentorship. Uh,
there's there's hundreds. There's thousands of folks that left Tulsa
and they're at the top of the food chain in
(07:28):
their respective jobs, industries, possessions that that the world needs
to understand that this is a special place when I'm
when I in my travels, I've seen every state of
the US in my professional career of sports consultancy. Every
time I told people I was from Oklahoma, black people
in particular area. So now the world understands we had
(07:54):
the largest collection of black towns in America. Right we
settled way US uh and that trail of ten years. Uh,
we stopped here and we made we made lemon out
of lemonade. I love that. I love that. Okay. So
here on the Money Moves podcast, we always talk about
each one teach one, lifting as we climb and just
(08:17):
bringing our next generation up. And you've already spoken about
how you are bringing the next generation into the fold
with business and entrepreneurship. If you could tell us a
way to start from point A to point Z, what
would be the step by step process to help someone
that wants to go into business. Wow, that's I mean
(08:37):
that you you you almost made my eyes waiter and
you said each one teach one lifting as we climb.
I actually have a mente that's about ten years younger
than me. His name is Curtis black Boy. He's out
of Detroit. Uh lifting as we climb found Oh my god,
I'm sorry that that's my guy. That's my class that's
my classmate. We went to the same high school, King
(09:00):
High School. Wow, this is this is it? So Curtis.
Curtis called me when I was an executive at the
n CIA or the NFL. One of my college teammates
was one of his college coaches, and he said, I
want you to help this guy. And if Curtis tells
the story, he says he called me three or four
(09:21):
times and I didn't take his call. But that's not true.
But I'm on this board. I helped him develop all
his academic curriculum, actually going to Grand Rapids, Michigan on
the camp for his camp, and I facilitate all the
life skills with the college coaches. So you know Cecil Forbes,
you know Cecil, Dr Cecil. I got a bunch of
(09:41):
stories about the East side of Detroit. I've been going
there for over a decade. But Curtis is just one
of many men, UH and women that I try to
help and and really it's so the first step is
to be responsive two people that ask for help. It's
really simple. Professionalism is to call people back, do what
(10:05):
you say you're going to do. So UH now, most busy, busy, professional,
successful people, the calendars are scrapped. You know, it's just
too much. But I just try to make a point
to say, if I don't call you back, but me,
it's your responsibility as a as a person trying to
rise to connect with mentors and people that can help you.
(10:28):
So that's the first lesson I teach people. You have
to force yourself for me to know you don't be
don't be burdensoon. But there's ways that you stay in
people's mirror. So I try to first teach people do
something for someone. Service is the debt we pay locupiwer
space on Earth. So I try to serve, and I
try to teach people how to serve. And I believe
that that was the formula for UH Greenwood and and
(10:52):
UH Black Wall Street, Barter Trade spin serve. From what
I'm hearing, the first step in success in entrepreneurship is
trying to ask for help and just asking for someone
that's done it before you, who's paved the way. How
did you do this? And asking for help and the
squeaky wheel gets the oil, that's no doubt. And I
(11:13):
also I also really think it's it's important to know
that getting a job is important. Every job I ever had,
I just stole the information from. Okay, if I if
I worked in my first job, I was a little
clean up board at a restaurant, right like, I didn't
want to I didn't think that that was a glamorous job.
(11:33):
But I learned something from some of the bus boys
that I still used today, and it really is engagement,
you know, talking to people. And so from every job
I've ever had, I learned how to write, I learned
how to add, I learned how to mix with people,
I learned how to brand sell. So I think if
you want to be an entrepreneur, go work for someone
(11:54):
first in that industry and learn what they're doing. Okay, Okay,
So apprenticeship is the second step. So first you ask
for help. The next step is apprenticeship what's next, I
would say next, it's a real simple thing. If you
can't balance your personal check book, you won't be able
to balance a business book. And so you have to
(12:14):
learn how to balance your check book red black So
credit is important. So you have to start there with
your personal assets, your personal situation. If you're in debt,
get it to zero at least. So knowing basic financial
literacy without a doubt, got you got. Business is just numbers. Really,
(12:37):
when it comes down to it, you're in the black
of the red right. Absolutely started this business three years ago,
took hold of this place and patiently built it. Right.
You can't expect to live off of a liquid lounge
in the first week, the first month, the first year.
You have to build a culture. That's all we're trying
to do here. You build a culture that that deals
(12:59):
with uh that I always has the numbers in mind,
and then you're okay, you're gonna You're gonna win if
you stay at it. It's sustainable if you're watching the
numbers right and you're building a culture. Okay, wonderful, Mr Truth,
tell us how you started the Black Wall Street liquid lounge? Well, uh,
(13:19):
and don't be humble with it because we heard in
these young Greenwood Toast, Oklahoma streets that you're doing great things. Brother. Well,
I'm It's a thin line between you know, areas and confidence,
right uh. And so I'm confident in the model that
uh that I rock to try to to grow my
(13:40):
brand and to save my family and to contribute to
my community. And so it's no real secret, sauce. I
share it every day and and and competition is the
thing in America. So I just wake up. Really the secret, sauce,
wake up and compete for whatever. Your wife, your business,
(14:01):
your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your your your you know, your
your dreams can be earned. That's that's the critical part.
I earned if you compete every day and you showed
some consistency. So all we did here a guy played
college football where got named the white eating here, and
he worked in retail and Taco Bell, KFC brand, Starbucks.
(14:25):
That's his lane. I've never done anything in that lane. Uh.
And so at some point I said, man, you know,
my wife wanted to move home to help our grand baby.
So we came back to Tulsa, Okhoma in twenty nineteen.
After I was I've been going thirty five years. But
I knew the richness of this culture and I and
I had friends that I grew up with. This said
(14:48):
I was needed in this community. So I answered the car,
I said, okay, I'll do it. I don't know anything
about coffee. My wife loves coffee and wine, so I
said I'll try that. I liked the coming places like
this and chill. I don't really I never had a
vision of run anyone right, but it's just morph into
it every day. I have to do something to grow
(15:08):
this brand, to grow this culture. So uh, Dwight and
I and my wife sat down, said let's do it.
So we put her wellness products integrated into the drinks.
She has a brand called Wild Wellness. The first brand
is called Beverage Balance, and so we've integrated into several
drinks in this coffee shop. She's trying to keep me alive,
(15:29):
make me live right, eat right right. We tried to
do that in here. Uh be Uh. So we always said, okay,
we we understand what Starbucks is right, but what happened
in Philly and Starbucks would never happen here. Uh We're
not We're not profiling anyone. Anyone from any culture can
(15:49):
come in here and get black folks. But our culture
is what's gonna be in here. We were unapologetically African American.
We're gonna tell all our stories. So sometimes it gets
loud and noise in here. Sometimes it sings like a barbershop.
Sometimes you might think you're in a club and there's
too much drinks from because the discussion gets heated. It's
(16:10):
for the people, Yeah, that's right. So that's that's all
the places. And what I want everyone to understand is
they're welcome here. Their opinions matter. And what people don't
really understand about Tuls is if you go in the
box of Greenwood, Archer and Pine, that's the gat Man
Greenwood Archer and Pine. Yeah, we're on history Greenwood Archers
right there. Pine is about a mile that way. Uh.
(16:32):
Inside of that, it's being really gentrified. Right, So if
you keep going North Street North, that's the black community, Uh,
the black community of African American and Tuls has been
left behind. And so part of what we're here to
do is to lift while we climb, right, find the diamonds,
(16:52):
nurture them so they can do amazing things. I'm telling
it's so much talent here it's it's amazing. So nurturing
the diamond and shining bright like the diamonds that we are,
the diamonds in the rough, and just bringing the new talent.
That's all we're about with the Greenwood Bank and also
Money Moves podcast. Just just exuding black excellence and that
is what you are. So you spoke earlier about Cody,
(17:15):
your associate here that has been here for eight months
and now he's an equity partner. How did that start?
How did that happen? I've never heard of that. So
that is very, very impressive and very remarkable. So just
tell us a little bit about that. Well, you heard
the statement words bond, right, So when I met him,
I saw something in it and and I told him verbally, look, man,
(17:35):
I want you to help build this. He's a he's
an iconic type figure in this community. I didn't know
it when I met him. I just saw him serving
every day. So he left a job in the oil fields,
decided he was going to come to the corner on
Greenwood and just be here every day. So him and
a guy named Tony Williams, another guy named Evan, a
(17:56):
white guy, another guy named Sterley, Matthew was a Senator
Matthew's son. I see another guy named on Maalley Bailey,
a singer entertainment. They're always down here, and I said,
who are these guys? They're not going to work. What
are the all doing every day? Then we represent the culture.
So they started out playing video games on the corner
(18:19):
and bringing kids down, just trying to show you this
is Greenwood. So they set up a little video thing
on the ship. So I was I would see him
every day and just what's up man, you know, and
then come down. We got a little coffee shop, right,
So it really I met him eight months ago. We
eat the deal maybe four months ago, and it was
a verbal deal. I said, look, man, I believe in you,
(18:40):
and we have to learn how to believe in people.
Are handshake used to mean something, Your word used to
mean something. So I know that he will work out
because he came to working without reading contract. He started
lifting right without any money. It was hey, bro, let's
(19:01):
build this. And so now we got it on paper.
But it's just simple. You can cut through all the bs.
It's real simple to do a deal. So that's all
we did, and that's that's really the business model. I
have I worked. I told you I have an event
of Super Bowl. I bring active and former players, corporate
people together. Twenty first year. We celebrated last year. We'll
(19:21):
be in l A this year. And really the model is, hey,
let's bring all the athletes, people love athletes, all y'all
come together, Let's bring the business community together, and let's
let's buy the trade. And you know what's really interesting
is that you are passing the torch on the Cody
and he's going to do the next thing for the
next generation. So that's really remarkable. Just giving that information
(19:44):
and then seeing it grow and creating a new legacy
that you're doing. That's really what's sealed the deal with me.
I saw Cody has a little basketball team. He played
a little college basketball. Left didn't graduate, but you know,
bumped his head right, and he's he's got an amazing group,
a little fourth fifth greatest. They come in here. He
takes him on the road, he spins out of his pocket,
(20:05):
so that be time passing. If you passed it to him,
you are passing to him and he was already doing it.
That's what it's all about. We're equally yoked that way,
we're connected by a way of doing things away and
living the same mindset sat mantra, which is guess what
you know in business right in life. And I fight
(20:26):
with my wife all the time. We're not gonna agree
on everything. As African Americans people, we gotta get over.
I don't like what you said to me. Okay, let's
make some money. I don't like what you did. Okay,
we can see heat. Right. I can't agree with everything
you say, but we can get to from from being broke,
poor credit to zero to taking off sustainable collective economics,
(20:50):
putting our money in a But so that's really all
the liquid knowledge is about. I'm to every person that
has an idea. Man, let's just put it all on
the table. Let's make it rock and let's support one another.
Let's be here of one another to see everybody win
without a doubt. So this, this is not just the
economic play for me. It has nothing to do with it. Really,
I want. I'm good, I've worked, my wife and I
(21:12):
are we're straight, we were good financially, and we're not greedy.
Capital capitalism is a greedy model. And the sooner we
figure out how to share right, At some point, what's
the number, what's enough? Right, So philosophically I differ from
most capitalists, like when I'm good, I'm good, right, I've
(21:33):
never heard for a meal. And then most people don't
have that same ideology. They are very much so good
business coaches coach me to say that's wrong. And you
know what I do? I get can I can I
do that? On this TV show? I give him the
finger right, right? You know you like and I'm not.
I don't. I don't, I'm not. I'm not really a
(21:55):
race monger. Right, But that's a Eurocentric model where capitalist
you take take, take, take, take, take, take, you take
every resource. And that's the problem with the planet, that's
the problem with the hood. Everybody just keeps just just
pulling out. You gotta you gotta put something back in.
And I'm not gonna be perfect at it. I'm gonna
(22:16):
make some mistakes sometimes, I'm gonna want my money. But
if I don't know that, that's selfish. If I keep
doing that, if I if I don't understand that somebody
else needs to eat, then then then what am I
here for? Right? So guys, please tell us where we
can find all of your information with the Black Wall
Street Liquid Lounge. Well, I have a problem. I'm not
(22:38):
very good at social media. I need a lot of help,
you know. So I've got to look up at that board, Facebook,
b WS Liquid Lounge, Instagram, at BWS Underscore l L
and that's the same for Twitter, and our website is
b WS l l dot com. Um. But I like
to tell people if if I'm leading something, I should
(23:04):
be accessible. And the bed you can just find me
if you just google Guide Troupe. It's a phone number
that can get to me and it's going to ring
to me, right. So that's really what I like to
put out to the world. I love that. I love that.
Thank you so much guy for being here with the
Money Moves Podcast. My name is Mara Hall and this
(23:24):
has been amazing. Thank you for having me. Thank you
so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you
want more or a recap of this episode, please go
to the bank Greenwood dot com and check out the
Money Moves Podcast blog. Funny Moves is an i heeart
radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
(23:48):
For more podcast on iHeart Radio, visit the i Heart
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from
Hey, Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily podcast,
determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom of
financial stability, wealth and abundance. As you know, mar Hall
was out in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and she sent us a
(00:21):
video so we can understand the word on the street
and the ins and outs, what you do know and
what you need to know. Let's take a look. Mr
guy True, thank you for having us at the Liquid Lounge.
How you doing today? I'm doing well. Thanks for coming
to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Showed up. Yes, Tulsa, Oklahoma's fine ist.
Here this wonderful establishment. This is your amazing coffee shop.
(00:43):
Tell us a little bit about your your business. This
is the Black Wall Street Liquid Lounge on ground zero
of Greenwood Avenue, the place of the race massacre. Uh,
that is not what we're here for. We respect the
culture of the survivors, what they need, what those families need.
(01:03):
But we're on the move forward, looking at sustainable economic opportunities.
The Liquid Lounge is designed to do that. Have conversations
around business and a coffee shop, cultivate young entrepreneurs. Uh.
It's sort of a double meaning in the title Liquid Lounge,
we serve beverages. We're gonna move into beer and wine soon,
(01:26):
but we're really trying to teach people how to stay
liquid in life. In life A black on the balance,
she's not alread. I love it. So, Guy, tell us
a little bit about how you are bringing the next
generation in as far as entrepreneurship. I know that you're
training the next the next people to come up and
and take the lead and take the helms of business.
(01:48):
So just tell us a little bit about that. Well,
I think the primary pieces is that we meet just
about every person in North Toll so that's entrepreneurs or
this African American from this base. They've heard about it
and so they walked through the door, order a cup
of coffee, and then we have a conversation and try
to figure out how we can nurture them to the
(02:10):
next step. Sometimes that's a networking situation and introduction. Oftentimes
its coaching on the fly with not without structure or setting.
And then we also have formal workshops. We do financial literacy.
We do help people with their credit, really trying to
show them how to launch or sustain their businesses. So
(02:31):
Cody Ransom as a young man that you just met uh.
I met Cody on the Block eight months ago. Now
he's an equity partner in the Liquid Lounge and we
had no history, but we have a connection based upon
really the spirit, yeah, and and the the work I
(02:51):
see him doing every day. Okay, Okay, So from what
I'm I'm listening to, this is your passion, like, this
is a part of who you are. You're this is
what you love to do. And you just talked about Cody.
But how did you get started in entrepreneurship? How did
you start um with your several businesses that you have?
(03:12):
How did you get started? Well? If I stumbled, really,
I wasn't taught to be an entrepreneur, although my family
was second generation Black Wall Street my grand aunt Lucy A.
Ram Madam c J. Walker's brand. But both of my
parents were educators and they taught me to go to college,
get a good job. And you know, that model is
(03:32):
what I followed, followed for a long time until I
really bumped my head in the corpor receiving. I worked
primarily in sports as a former college football player. Nights.
Where'd you go to college? I went to wicharda State
and Howard University HBC I got recruited by the own
the first African American coach to coach at the predominantly
(03:54):
white college. His name is Willie Jefferis. He's a trailblazer.
He's a hidden figure. Most people don't know about him.
In nineteen in the late seventies, he was hired. He
broke the color barreer Um actually working with him and
his family right now to do a movie of his life.
But he's Uh. We have a drink named after him,
the Sweet Willie j. That's our high chol parks here
(04:16):
we have old w Gurling. We named drinks after folks.
But how I got started after college. I went in
his office. I said, I don't know what I want
to do. He said, you can't lose with education. So
my mom and my my football coach encouraged me to
go to grad school. Uh So I went and got
a Masters in counseling psychology from Howard. During that time,
(04:37):
I wrote a paper on the counseling needs of athletes,
and one of my professors at Howard nurtured me to
to to a career in sports administration. He told me
what to do and I followed his instruction. I wrote
a letter to the n c A A, I applied
for an internship, I got it. UH. Then I worked
for the n c A for about seven years, and
(04:59):
then I transition didn't work for the NFL about the
same time. And I was always taught to shape trees.
So the cultural, uh institutional racism lands that I saw
in sports, I always was willing to kind of challenge
it and talk about it. So I ran the first
diversity council for the NFL. And and really during that time,
(05:22):
it's when I realized that I was gonna have to
go do my own things, and so I left to
start a consulting business, first really inside the sports, getting
hired by people I had worked with as an employee,
and so then I just trickled in the other businesses.
We have a wellness company, we have a coffee shop,
(05:42):
real estate business, human capital management company, training uh and
then the sports consultancy also do a big event in
Super Bowl called a player Networking event. So, Mr Trupe,
you are Tulsa, Oklahoma's finest. Listening to all of your accolades,
all of your accomplishments is just very very very impressive,
and I am so honored to be in the presence
(06:04):
of you. So I really appreciate that. So I'm just
hearing a lot of noise, a lot of construction. What's
going on here? Well, we're we're at the gentrified section
of Greenwood. Uh, there's a Class A building going on
across the street, and there's a history center, the Greenwood Rising,
using that's going up. So we we decided to open
(06:24):
shop here to message to our people that that entrepreneurship
capitalism is taking place on sacred ground and either you're
gonna jump in and and make some money and be
a part of the solution, understand what's happening. And so
the primary reason that you hear that construction and the
(06:45):
Liquid Lounge is here being disrupted by the construction is
to really have a testimony about what really happened a
hundred years later on Black Wall Street. So, and I
really want to thank you for your compliment about tuss
is fine as But the sad reality is is that
there's hundreds of me from this town. It's not a
(07:08):
sad reality, it's the truth. And we just need to
expose and let the people know that you're here and
that you're doing wonderful things. But there's hundreds of me
that are eighteen year old in North Tulsa that need exposure, connection, mentorship. Uh,
there's there's hundreds. There's thousands of folks that left Tulsa
and they're at the top of the food chain in
(07:28):
their respective jobs, industries, possessions that that the world needs
to understand that this is a special place when I'm
when I in my travels, I've seen every state of
the US in my professional career of sports consultancy. Every
time I told people I was from Oklahoma, black people
in particular area. So now the world understands we had
(07:54):
the largest collection of black towns in America. Right we
settled way US uh and that trail of ten years. Uh,
we stopped here and we made we made lemon out
of lemonade. I love that. I love that. Okay. So
here on the Money Moves podcast, we always talk about
each one teach one, lifting as we climb and just
(08:17):
bringing our next generation up. And you've already spoken about
how you are bringing the next generation into the fold
with business and entrepreneurship. If you could tell us a
way to start from point A to point Z, what
would be the step by step process to help someone
that wants to go into business. Wow, that's I mean
(08:37):
that you you you almost made my eyes waiter and
you said each one teach one lifting as we climb.
I actually have a mente that's about ten years younger
than me. His name is Curtis black Boy. He's out
of Detroit. Uh lifting as we climb found Oh my god,
I'm sorry that that's my guy. That's my class that's
my classmate. We went to the same high school, King
(09:00):
High School. Wow, this is this is it? So Curtis.
Curtis called me when I was an executive at the
n CIA or the NFL. One of my college teammates
was one of his college coaches, and he said, I
want you to help this guy. And if Curtis tells
the story, he says he called me three or four
(09:21):
times and I didn't take his call. But that's not true.
But I'm on this board. I helped him develop all
his academic curriculum, actually going to Grand Rapids, Michigan on
the camp for his camp, and I facilitate all the
life skills with the college coaches. So you know Cecil Forbes,
you know Cecil, Dr Cecil. I got a bunch of
(09:41):
stories about the East side of Detroit. I've been going
there for over a decade. But Curtis is just one
of many men, UH and women that I try to
help and and really it's so the first step is
to be responsive two people that ask for help. It's
really simple. Professionalism is to call people back, do what
(10:05):
you say you're going to do. So UH now, most busy, busy, professional,
successful people, the calendars are scrapped. You know, it's just
too much. But I just try to make a point
to say, if I don't call you back, but me,
it's your responsibility as a as a person trying to
rise to connect with mentors and people that can help you.
(10:28):
So that's the first lesson I teach people. You have
to force yourself for me to know you don't be
don't be burdensoon. But there's ways that you stay in
people's mirror. So I try to first teach people do
something for someone. Service is the debt we pay locupiwer
space on Earth. So I try to serve, and I
try to teach people how to serve. And I believe
that that was the formula for UH Greenwood and and
(10:52):
UH Black Wall Street, Barter Trade spin serve. From what
I'm hearing, the first step in success in entrepreneurship is
trying to ask for help and just asking for someone
that's done it before you, who's paved the way. How
did you do this? And asking for help and the
squeaky wheel gets the oil, that's no doubt. And I
(11:13):
also I also really think it's it's important to know
that getting a job is important. Every job I ever had,
I just stole the information from. Okay, if I if
I worked in my first job, I was a little
clean up board at a restaurant, right like, I didn't
want to I didn't think that that was a glamorous job.
(11:33):
But I learned something from some of the bus boys
that I still used today, and it really is engagement,
you know, talking to people. And so from every job
I've ever had, I learned how to write, I learned
how to add, I learned how to mix with people,
I learned how to brand sell. So I think if
you want to be an entrepreneur, go work for someone
(11:54):
first in that industry and learn what they're doing. Okay, Okay,
So apprenticeship is the second step. So first you ask
for help. The next step is apprenticeship what's next, I
would say next, it's a real simple thing. If you
can't balance your personal check book, you won't be able
to balance a business book. And so you have to
(12:14):
learn how to balance your check book red black So
credit is important. So you have to start there with
your personal assets, your personal situation. If you're in debt,
get it to zero at least. So knowing basic financial
literacy without a doubt, got you got. Business is just numbers. Really,
(12:37):
when it comes down to it, you're in the black
of the red right. Absolutely started this business three years ago,
took hold of this place and patiently built it. Right.
You can't expect to live off of a liquid lounge
in the first week, the first month, the first year.
You have to build a culture. That's all we're trying
to do here. You build a culture that that deals
(12:59):
with uh that I always has the numbers in mind,
and then you're okay, you're gonna You're gonna win if
you stay at it. It's sustainable if you're watching the
numbers right and you're building a culture. Okay, wonderful, Mr Truth,
tell us how you started the Black Wall Street liquid lounge? Well, uh,
(13:19):
and don't be humble with it because we heard in
these young Greenwood Toast, Oklahoma streets that you're doing great things. Brother. Well,
I'm It's a thin line between you know, areas and confidence,
right uh. And so I'm confident in the model that
uh that I rock to try to to grow my
(13:40):
brand and to save my family and to contribute to
my community. And so it's no real secret, sauce. I
share it every day and and and competition is the
thing in America. So I just wake up. Really the secret, sauce,
wake up and compete for whatever. Your wife, your business,
(14:01):
your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your your your you know, your
your dreams can be earned. That's that's the critical part.
I earned if you compete every day and you showed
some consistency. So all we did here a guy played
college football where got named the white eating here, and
he worked in retail and Taco Bell, KFC brand, Starbucks.
(14:25):
That's his lane. I've never done anything in that lane. Uh.
And so at some point I said, man, you know,
my wife wanted to move home to help our grand baby.
So we came back to Tulsa, Okhoma in twenty nineteen.
After I was I've been going thirty five years. But
I knew the richness of this culture and I and
I had friends that I grew up with. This said
(14:48):
I was needed in this community. So I answered the car,
I said, okay, I'll do it. I don't know anything
about coffee. My wife loves coffee and wine, so I
said I'll try that. I liked the coming places like
this and chill. I don't really I never had a
vision of run anyone right, but it's just morph into
it every day. I have to do something to grow
(15:08):
this brand, to grow this culture. So uh, Dwight and
I and my wife sat down, said let's do it.
So we put her wellness products integrated into the drinks.
She has a brand called Wild Wellness. The first brand
is called Beverage Balance, and so we've integrated into several
drinks in this coffee shop. She's trying to keep me alive,
(15:29):
make me live right, eat right right. We tried to
do that in here. Uh be Uh. So we always said, okay,
we we understand what Starbucks is right, but what happened
in Philly and Starbucks would never happen here. Uh We're
not We're not profiling anyone. Anyone from any culture can
(15:49):
come in here and get black folks. But our culture
is what's gonna be in here. We were unapologetically African American.
We're gonna tell all our stories. So sometimes it gets
loud and noise in here. Sometimes it sings like a barbershop.
Sometimes you might think you're in a club and there's
too much drinks from because the discussion gets heated. It's
(16:10):
for the people, Yeah, that's right. So that's that's all
the places. And what I want everyone to understand is
they're welcome here. Their opinions matter. And what people don't
really understand about Tuls is if you go in the
box of Greenwood, Archer and Pine, that's the gat Man
Greenwood Archer and Pine. Yeah, we're on history Greenwood Archers
right there. Pine is about a mile that way. Uh.
(16:32):
Inside of that, it's being really gentrified. Right, So if
you keep going North Street North, that's the black community, Uh,
the black community of African American and Tuls has been
left behind. And so part of what we're here to
do is to lift while we climb, right, find the diamonds,
(16:52):
nurture them so they can do amazing things. I'm telling
it's so much talent here it's it's amazing. So nurturing
the diamond and shining bright like the diamonds that we are,
the diamonds in the rough, and just bringing the new talent.
That's all we're about with the Greenwood Bank and also
Money Moves podcast. Just just exuding black excellence and that
is what you are. So you spoke earlier about Cody,
(17:15):
your associate here that has been here for eight months
and now he's an equity partner. How did that start?
How did that happen? I've never heard of that. So
that is very, very impressive and very remarkable. So just
tell us a little bit about that. Well, you heard
the statement words bond, right, So when I met him,
I saw something in it and and I told him verbally, look, man,
(17:35):
I want you to help build this. He's a he's
an iconic type figure in this community. I didn't know
it when I met him. I just saw him serving
every day. So he left a job in the oil fields,
decided he was going to come to the corner on
Greenwood and just be here every day. So him and
a guy named Tony Williams, another guy named Evan, a
(17:56):
white guy, another guy named Sterley, Matthew was a Senator
Matthew's son. I see another guy named on Maalley Bailey,
a singer entertainment. They're always down here, and I said,
who are these guys? They're not going to work. What
are the all doing every day? Then we represent the culture.
So they started out playing video games on the corner
(18:19):
and bringing kids down, just trying to show you this
is Greenwood. So they set up a little video thing
on the ship. So I was I would see him
every day and just what's up man, you know, and
then come down. We got a little coffee shop, right,
So it really I met him eight months ago. We
eat the deal maybe four months ago, and it was
a verbal deal. I said, look, man, I believe in you,
(18:40):
and we have to learn how to believe in people.
Are handshake used to mean something, Your word used to
mean something. So I know that he will work out
because he came to working without reading contract. He started
lifting right without any money. It was hey, bro, let's
(19:01):
build this. And so now we got it on paper.
But it's just simple. You can cut through all the bs.
It's real simple to do a deal. So that's all
we did, and that's that's really the business model. I
have I worked. I told you I have an event
of Super Bowl. I bring active and former players, corporate
people together. Twenty first year. We celebrated last year. We'll
(19:21):
be in l A this year. And really the model is, hey,
let's bring all the athletes, people love athletes, all y'all
come together, Let's bring the business community together, and let's
let's buy the trade. And you know what's really interesting
is that you are passing the torch on the Cody
and he's going to do the next thing for the
next generation. So that's really remarkable. Just giving that information
(19:44):
and then seeing it grow and creating a new legacy
that you're doing. That's really what's sealed the deal with me.
I saw Cody has a little basketball team. He played
a little college basketball. Left didn't graduate, but you know,
bumped his head right, and he's he's got an amazing group,
a little fourth fifth greatest. They come in here. He
takes him on the road, he spins out of his pocket,
(20:05):
so that be time passing. If you passed it to him,
you are passing to him and he was already doing it.
That's what it's all about. We're equally yoked that way,
we're connected by a way of doing things away and
living the same mindset sat mantra, which is guess what
you know in business right in life. And I fight
(20:26):
with my wife all the time. We're not gonna agree
on everything. As African Americans people, we gotta get over.
I don't like what you said to me. Okay, let's
make some money. I don't like what you did. Okay,
we can see heat. Right. I can't agree with everything
you say, but we can get to from from being broke,
poor credit to zero to taking off sustainable collective economics,
(20:50):
putting our money in a But so that's really all
the liquid knowledge is about. I'm to every person that
has an idea. Man, let's just put it all on
the table. Let's make it rock and let's support one another.
Let's be here of one another to see everybody win
without a doubt. So this, this is not just the
economic play for me. It has nothing to do with it. Really,
I want. I'm good, I've worked, my wife and I
(21:12):
are we're straight, we were good financially, and we're not greedy.
Capital capitalism is a greedy model. And the sooner we
figure out how to share right, At some point, what's
the number, what's enough? Right, So philosophically I differ from
most capitalists, like when I'm good, I'm good, right, I've
(21:33):
never heard for a meal. And then most people don't
have that same ideology. They are very much so good
business coaches coach me to say that's wrong. And you
know what I do? I get can I can I
do that? On this TV show? I give him the
finger right, right? You know you like and I'm not.
I don't. I don't, I'm not. I'm not really a
(21:55):
race monger. Right, But that's a Eurocentric model where capitalist
you take take, take, take, take, take, take, you take
every resource. And that's the problem with the planet, that's
the problem with the hood. Everybody just keeps just just
pulling out. You gotta you gotta put something back in.
And I'm not gonna be perfect at it. I'm gonna
(22:16):
make some mistakes sometimes, I'm gonna want my money. But
if I don't know that, that's selfish. If I keep
doing that, if I if I don't understand that somebody
else needs to eat, then then then what am I
here for? Right? So guys, please tell us where we
can find all of your information with the Black Wall
Street Liquid Lounge. Well, I have a problem. I'm not
(22:38):
very good at social media. I need a lot of help,
you know. So I've got to look up at that board, Facebook,
b WS Liquid Lounge, Instagram, at BWS Underscore l L
and that's the same for Twitter, and our website is
b WS l l dot com. Um. But I like
to tell people if if I'm leading something, I should
(23:04):
be accessible. And the bed you can just find me
if you just google Guide Troupe. It's a phone number
that can get to me and it's going to ring
to me, right. So that's really what I like to
put out to the world. I love that. I love that.
Thank you so much guy for being here with the
Money Moves Podcast. My name is Mara Hall and this
(23:24):
has been amazing. Thank you for having me. Thank you
so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you
want more or a recap of this episode, please go
to the bank Greenwood dot com and check out the
Money Moves Podcast blog. Funny Moves is an i heeart
radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
(23:48):
For more podcast on iHeart Radio, visit the i Heart
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