Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Suli Salaam.
The founder of Paint Your Heaven, on Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Here’s a breakdown of the key topics, highlights, and an about section:
Key Themes & Highlights
-
Origins of Paint Your Heaven
- Salaam explains the inspiration behind the company name, emphasizing the power of vision and positive thinking.
- He shares how the phrase Paint Your Heaven motivated him at 22 years old to pursue entrepreneurship.
-
Full-Stack Development Expertise
- Salaam discusses his skills as a full-stack developer, differentiating his work from basic web design.
- He explains the importance of front-end and back-end development, particularly in creating complex applications like Uber.
-
Challenges & Representation in Tech
- He highlights the lack of Black full-stack developers and attributes it to self-belief and limited exposure.
- He shares his personal journey growing up in a challenging neighborhood and how his mother and a supportive teacher encouraged him.
-
AI & Software Innovation
- Salaam discusses his company’s use of AI and APIs to enhance software development.
- He reveals a project aimed at simplifying audio production, allowing users to clean up sound with one-click technology.
-
Entrepreneurial Advice & Community Impact
- He encourages young people to embrace change and pursue careers in programming and AI.
- His company aims to serve businesses worldwide while also promoting positive thinking in inner-city communities.
About Suli Salaam & Paint Your Heaven
Suli Salaam is a full-stack developer and entrepreneur based in Kansas City. His company, Paint Your Heaven, specializes in web, app, and software design and development. The company combines technical expertise with creative design, making it a valuable resource for businesses looking to scale. Beyond business, Salaam is passionate about mentoring young people, promoting positive thinking, and helping communities embrace technology.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi there, this is Rushan McDonald. Welcome another day. Some people,
depending on what part of the country you are living
in a rainy day. But again I'm here providing information
I feel will be useful to you. It's up to
you to grade the usefulness of it. But again, I
try to bring individuals on the show that I engage
(00:20):
in their life, their success stories, their secrets to success.
And in the process of revealing those pathways or those journeys,
it may drop some information in your direction that can
help you figure out something or expand on an idea
or concept that you may be stumped on. Or you
may contact them personally because they may have a task
(00:41):
or maybe doing something that engages you to want to
know more information, because I always ask them for their
contact information. Again, this is Rushan McDonald. I host this
weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information
that this show provides are for everyone. It's time to
stop reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
And if you want to be a guest on Money
(01:02):
Making Conversation Master Class, just go to Money Making Conversations
dot com and click the b a guest button, fill
out the information, press submit that information will come to
me and if his information, I feel will warrant an
opportunity to be interviewing on this show and you provide
an information that will make other people's lives better. Who
listen to the show, you'd be sitting right next to
(01:23):
me or calling in next to me. Let's get this
show started with my guests. My guest created the company
Paint Your Heaven. He's based in Kansas City. His company's
unique combination of technical expertise and design skills experience makes
him an idea creator for web, app and software design
as well as development. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
(01:48):
Suley Salam. How you doing, Sully?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Every day is a good day. How you're doing today?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Pretty good? Now?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Paint your Heaven. Let's start off with that name right there.
Where did that name come from for your business? Paint
your Heaven?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Well, it's a phrase that really inspired me as a
young man getting right into adulthood. I wanted to spread
that message that as long as you have a clear
vision of what you want in life, you know you can,
you know, make it happen. And this is how we're
being an asset to other companies helping them bring their
(02:25):
visions to life as well.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Now what age I know, like a certain times I
always tell people, you know, a young mind, you can
provide information that can stay there forever.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
How old were you when you were impacted by this phrase?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Twenty two years old? Twenty two years old. I just
got into the self help books. Learn about the law
of attractions and the power of the mind and positive
thinking and coming from you know, a challenging neighborhood as
a child, you know, learning the positive or positive thinking
(03:03):
really transform my mind in my life.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You know, really when I talk to him, talk to Suley,
an incredible developer web designs, and I don't want to
insult him because there's a lot of people who designs
webs websites. He does more than that, he programs. He's
a stack developer. Isn't that correct, SOULEI.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yes, sir, full stack developer, front end and back in.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Okay, explain to people the difference because there are a
lot of people out there. They claim to do websites,
but then when you start trying to get into the
full stack end, that's when they run off and they disappear.
So tell everybody about the full stack development aspect of
your abilities.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So full stack is more so for example, creating an
app like foob, whereas basic web design would be like
your landing page for a small businesses going and so forth.
We can go as far as the mind can imagine.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Now when you say that, because I want to make
sure you separate yourself, because there's a lot of people
out there getting business. Have frustrated me. Okay, I sit
down with him. They claim they do something else and
basically they're doing a knockoff of a a template in
some ways. In some ways, you can do it yourself.
I'm saying, not just me. I'm talking about not referencing you,
(04:19):
but anybody out there can do that because they have
templates out there. And so when you say full staff,
that means that someone can come to you. Suley, I'm
just being a person that's talking because I have done
business for Suley. He has, and I'm just let everybody
know that. That's why I brought him on the show.
I wouldn't bring a stranger on the show that I
didn't do any business with because of the fact that
(04:42):
what he's offering and when he brings to the table
is a very unique skill set especially from an African
American standpoint, Am I correct?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Why do you think there are not enough black full
stack developers in the game.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Self belief? I think that in our community it's actually
still very rare for us to be extremely confident in
what we're able to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And when you say that, Suley, you know something triggered you. Now, okay,
because you said earlier, maybe in much detail, you said,
look where I grew up in the neighborhood I grew
up in, and they wasn't motivating you. They wasn't encouraging you.
There'll be more people tell you what you can do
versus what you can do. Tell us about your upbringing
(05:36):
that allows you to be the person and you are
very inspirational. You're always motivating. Every time I ever spoke
to you, You've always been upbeating and you may have
had some bad days when you've spoken to me, but
you always maintain that upbeat personality.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Talk about your background, Yeah, so I come from humble beginnings,
two parents that I really admire and have a lot
of respect for. I have to really give my mom
a lot of credit for the self belief that I
have as a kid. A lot of moms tell you
(06:08):
that you can do whatever you put your mind to,
and I believe my mom when she said that. You know,
when you walk outside into the you know from the
you know, in the neighborhood that I grew up in,
and there's a lot of negativity going on. So everything
that you went outside extremely excited about, you know, your
(06:30):
friends and you know people around are you know, shooting
down your ideas just from a place of unhappiness, lack
of self belief on armed on their end, which is
understandable in the circumstances that we were growing up in.
My whole thing was just putting a plan together where
(06:50):
I contained the trajectory of my family, your assets that
my parents and you know, everyone that I care about,
and and also the world just making sure that this
makes it different.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
That's those are powerful statements. And I come from that neighborhood,
you know, filth Forard, Houston, Texas, a community where you know,
if I went back, it's not a friend of mine
who I grew up with, if they stayed in that neighborhood,
they were they are not alive today. It's just that
type of neighborhood. You don't you don't live long in
those neighborhoods. You don't retire in those neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods
(07:26):
wear you down and basically kill you because of distress,
the community, the type of environment. There's no upward mobility
tied to those communities. There's no positivity, you know, the
outreach is very limited, and so you have to be
around people who think you can be better than what
(07:47):
you are. And it started with your mom, and then
then you had to go to school. Somebody in the
adulthood of academia saw you, Souley and said, you can
do this.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Who is that person?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I think the first person I would like to credit
is my teacher, mister Odham. I've always been a very
creative kid, and especially during the high school, I was,
you know, visual artist and also a creative writer. And
my teacher believed in me so much, and I did
(08:21):
a lot of music. Uh, And he used to write
notes for me to skip class and watch Tucac documentaries
just to try to sounds funny, but it's real, you know.
He he would do that, you know, and remind me
that Tucac was no longer here and how easy it
(08:46):
is for me to go in the wrong direction, and
how I can actually do something with my creative mind.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Wow, wow, you know when I think about you, Please
tell the people name me your website because I want
them as we talk they have time and to your
website so they can see the creative mind and the
personality that I'm talking to. What's your website?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Paintrerheaven dot com and uh, paint yourhaven dot com.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And on that website we will find.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
What you'll find examples of some of the work that
we've created.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And how when when when one brings an idea to you,
like I brought an idea to you and sat down,
sketched it out some of it it was pretty detail,
and then you come back to us. So if somebody's
listening on this call, it said, you know, I won't
I won't paint your heaven to design a website to me,
or I won't paint your heaven to develop an app
for me because you do apps as well.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yes, Now I want to I want you to explain
something to me. You have a you have an app.
You have a website, right, do you have a mobile
version of that website?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Correct? Yes?
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And then you have an app what is the difference
between the mobile version of that website and the app.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Well, the different into this native functionalities. So when you
go on a mobile version of an app, you typically
aren't able to use space size, you know, Apple pay,
push notifications, uh, so on and so forth, like GPS,
like build location. Those are the difference like having those
(10:23):
functionalities natively in the you know, working with within with
the phone.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And that's really important. So you would encourage anybody who
has a business to have an app.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I would encourage, I would. I wouldn't say anyone who hasn't.
Depends on the size of the business, yes, sir, Yes, sir,
depending on the size of the business. If you're looking
at scale, definitely.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And so when you say skills, you know there are
a lot of competition out there, especially overseas. You know,
I know that the Indian market, uh in the India
is very competitive. If I mistaken, in the programming the
world very competitive in the programming world. I'm just going
(11:19):
to ask this question, why do you think that's like that?
Why do you think that is that something that a
difficult question for me to ask you because I'm just
taking aback when I know that's for a fact that
that that programming over there is it's kind of like
second nature.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, like it's it's very common there. I think it's
uh the culture, you know, it's it's something that they
can see a future in and a lot of them
trained in there early on and get into it right away.
And I think that's the big difference, you know. I
think that we're getting more into it here in the
(11:58):
States now right right. I think they've been doing that
for a while.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I know.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And it's really it's really it's like a six hour
swing hour time difference and things like that. So I'm
talking to Sule Salam. He's the creator, developer, and the
owner of Paint Your Heaven. His website is Paintoheaven dot
com if you want to see some of his work
web app and software design and development. And when when
you talk about you yourself, sir, you know you just started.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
From scratch, yes, sir twenty two, he.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Was motivated by Paint your Heaven. That's part of your
company name. There's your company name, your brand, your thought process.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
H how did you know you had skills for this?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
It's that so starting off, there is nothing that I
could point to that would say that would actually make
sense for me to know that I had. So when
I first started off, I knew that I could do
anything I put my mind to. So I wanted to
create an app for myself, okay, and I was able
(13:10):
to complete it, and I used the WIGS actually for
my first you know, big development project for myself, and
I built the social media app using Wix's platform for
the website, and I developed native functionalities and actually released
(13:33):
the app into the Apple Store and also android. WIGS
Corporate called me and said, they've never seen anyone do
this with a platform for and you know, let me
know that anything I need. You know, they're here to
support me. They appreciate using their platform, staring and so forth.
(13:54):
And you know, I became a partner with them, and
you know that kind of the moment where I knew, like, okay,
I might be special a little bit.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So so so that that please give me a little
bit more background in the software social media app that
you designed through the wis platform, which is a very
popular website based design platform that people use. A lot
of people go there for templates. It's very very designed friendly.
(14:29):
And so you sat down and you designed something that
they had never seen before the company Wicks and now
all these programmers they have over there and Nope, not
a program over there had ever thought of this concept
that you put out there. That they called you and went, wow.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Uh, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
What's your name, sir, h call us next time you
start thinking real hard because we want to talk to you.
That's basically what they said.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Right Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
When we come back and I'm gonna go through, I'm
gonna ask mister soonly some questions. You know how to
be a really good developer. I'm the Rashan McDonald test.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow Money Making
(15:29):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Diyd.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Everybody know how talented this young man is. Paint Your Heaven.
That's the name of his company. Paintchrehaven dot com is
the name is the website where you can see some
of his work. My name is Rashan McDonald and you're
listening to Money making conversations master class. Don't go nowhere.
We're talking to somebody I've never had on my should
the show before, a full stack development, now the website development,
(15:54):
A full stack developer, front end and back end. Come
right back, come back please, oh my full stack developer.
Suley's loan, Suley your company? Paint your paint you heaving?
I got one text came in, had this question for you.
What does native functionality mean?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Native functionality? An example is push notifications would be the simple,
uh you know answer for that. Push notifications on your phone.
So if you have an Uber Tarboro on your way
and you get a notification that says it's five minutes away, right,
that is a native.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Function Okay, cool, I think that's been answered. Now when
we go from the big picture when you started your
company as you are right now, what is the big
picture of your company?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
What?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What what's the destination? What's the landing you want to
be because you're based in Kansas City right, yes, okay,
what is the big picture of paint You're heaven.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
We want to serve businesses worldwide from startup to establish
businesses looking to scale, and then we also want to
launch the non for profits. Uh, where we go into
the inner city communities and teach the power of the
law of attraction and positive thinking.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Now does this also include AI? Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yes, yes, yes it is.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And now how do you work AI? Which is artificial intelligence?
And that's the big buzzword nowadays. Of all these platforms
you have out there that allow you to just just
read documents and it will tell you what's valuable key
points in the document. You don't have to read documents
anymore to tell you. Look, could look up insurance keywords
in this document, tell me what they are. They to
(17:35):
tell you what the document is. How do you incorporate
AI into your full stack development?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well? Fortunately, uh, there's so there's such a big pool
of developers now. A lot of the AI tools and
stuff that we incorporate into our projects are via API.
So we're able to kind of piggyback off of some
of the work that some developers have already got to
this point, and then we can tap into their API, right,
(18:05):
and we can expand upon it. If that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Okay, cool, Now when you expand on it, and I'm
gonna just tell you this, Suley, you know you know
the language. Now you start saying apif I text me
about that native they really dumb this down.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Okay, It's essentially one web application talking to another.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Okay, so say that.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So say chat chat GPT has an API, right, and
I want to create an avatar version of myself that
has the knowledge of chat GPT. I can use chat
GPT's a PR to connect it with my avatar.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
And so when you do that, it's important that we
maintain some type of level of communication. So let's go
from day one. They want why would somebody contact paint
your heaven? What's the reason to be contacting you?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
You have a big idea, you want to a quick
turnaround in someone who's flexible and how they work with you?
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Okay, Okay, So when they present that idea, what do
you give back to them? Do they do you put
down or retain? I'm just trying to say the process
so people will know they just can't just it might
be five people. I got an idea, I got an idea.
Just be contacting you SI you go, oh, you may
have heard me. It doesn't work that way. This is
how I do business. You know you can you send
me a proposal. Just don't just don't call to me
(19:42):
talking about an idea, Send me a proposal.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, I would say, yeah, send a proposal. Make sure
you already have a budget in mind, and oh what
you what you have a loted for this project, sir?
And then on ri N we can let you you
know how realistic it is for us to get the
entire projects done within that that with that within that budget,
right or and also let you know what we can
(20:10):
do within it.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
So when you're when you're producing these workable software packages
and your team player you keep updating, you already said
they got you know, got things you can tap in
APIs you can tap into that already, you know this work,
so you can use it to your process so you're
not don't have to go through this learning process or
this learning curve because this particular plug in that you
(20:33):
can add into the program and will make it work.
So what is the most can you share with us
a couple of concepts that you have done that's available,
Like you shared with us the social media platform that
you created with Wicks that we can go to and
see some of your workers. That that's too private.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And I want to share okay, Uh, I would.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Just talk about the concept, just talk about the concept
with not in generalities, so we'll know just some of
the range of work that you've done.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
I apologize now behind the scenes, Yes, we're working on
a project that simplifies the post audio production process. So
whether it's podcasts, uh, movies, music, so on and so forth,
essentially you'll be able to cut your time down, you know,
(21:29):
and have as far as how long it takes you
to be ready for market. So that's something that we're
working on. Now.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
So what do you what do you mean you're you're
designing something? I got a podcast, So how would it
work for me?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So how it would work for you? Would? It's essentially
one button technology. Okay, so instead of having to go
through and EQ your voice and set up the compression.
I'm sure you have a tempt. But now right, let's
say you're in a new environment and you're getting an
echo and you click the button, echo is gone.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
So it cleans up the audio for you, Yes, it does.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
No, Now this is helpful for me. Now, I'm a novice.
Now I got I got hired, I got full time employees.
So if I'm just a guy, regular guy, I start
my podcast. I don't know how to edit or any
of these things. I definitely don't know how to do, uh,
you know with the pro tools. I think that's the
term they use for audio cleanup, you know. And so
(22:38):
so just this packet, is this something you're building for
somebody or you're building it within your office, within your company.
Paint your heaven so you can make available to people
who want to use it.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
This is something that I'm building for another company, Okay,
that I'm actually involved in as well.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Okay, and you see a need for that, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
A huge need for so on the side. Essentially, you
can upload your stems are like your musical instruments tracked out,
you know, your your vocals tracked out, so on and
so forth. Click the button. You're ready for marketing.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yes, so let me tell you something truly, you know,
I don't know if you're just super confident. Oh you
don't know that. That's pretty huge what you just said.
You know, you're they're they're major corporation. There are labels
out there.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
They're going.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Okay, now we got a problem with this. This cut,
this cut the middle man and the side man and
the third person out. This is straight to market. This
is somebody in their bathroom cut music and now they
distributing it and they're selling it. And they don't need
a board man, they don't need a studio, they don't
(23:56):
need anything. That's what you're saying, right.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It doesn't cut out the engineers.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So I'm an audio engineer as well. I was O
one like third in the big competition coming straight out
of high school and audio engineering, and I'm extremely passionate
about it. This is more of an asset to the
audio engineers.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So then cutting the matter as a picture.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Okay, cool, Okay, cool, But these are the type of
creative ideas that you come up with at paint you're
having and when you are you are you're a solo man?
You got a full staff? Are you working over there?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Man?
Speaker 3 (24:33):
What's what's the company you look like over there?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yes, we have a team. I can't take credit for everything.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Well you're right in to tex So take credit, my friend.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
And so the big picture is, like you said, is
being able to set the rate, being able to be creative.
You do website development, you do app development, you do
full stack development. The area that we talked about earlier
not enough people of color, especially not enough African Americans participating.
You know, the country of India as a dominant voice
(25:08):
in the full stack programming. I know that for a fact.
I've been knowing that for years. It always amazes me.
Sometimes you will call one eight hundred numbers and guess
what they're connecting you into India for technical service and
technical advice. That's true, you can just you've heard it
yourself personally. And that's the interesting that in a sense,
(25:30):
like he said, if we can just make our community
like that, if we can start creating, you know, neighborhoods
where young black kids can become just like they're doing
in India, it's not that hard. But we have to
start understanding the value of STEM programming. Stem education, that's
the next step. AI should not be something that we
run from. We should run towards it. If you had
(25:52):
to give any advice as we close out this interview,
so what would it be to our young people and
our adults for that matter, when it comes to prom
as well as AI.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I would like to say, I almost want to piggyback
off what you just said and say run towards chain.
You know, don't be afraid of it. So no matter
if you're in this industry or whatever industry that you're in,
you know, always run towards the change. Don't be afraid
of husband.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Wow, I appreciate you, my friend. We're gonna talk soon
of course again. Paintreourhaven dot com. Please visit if you
have time and just see the creative mind of Sule Salom.
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation. My brother,
and you know, I know I can't see it known
for that good barbecue, So you know, when I'm in
barbecue country, I'm gonna stop by and say Hi.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
There we go.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you. I'll listen to
the audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
visit money Making Conversations dot com. Our social media handle
is money Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember
(27:06):
to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Keep winning
Hi there, this is Rushan McDonald. Welcome another day. Some people,
depending on what part of the country you are living
in a rainy day. But again I'm here providing information
I feel will be useful to you. It's up to
you to grade the usefulness of it. But again, I
try to bring individuals on the show that I engage
(00:20):
in their life, their success stories, their secrets to success.
And in the process of revealing those pathways or those journeys,
it may drop some information in your direction that can
help you figure out something or expand on an idea
or concept that you may be stumped on. Or you
may contact them personally because they may have a task
(00:41):
or maybe doing something that engages you to want to
know more information, because I always ask them for their
contact information. Again, this is Rushan McDonald. I host this
weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information
that this show provides are for everyone. It's time to
stop reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
And if you want to be a guest on Money
(01:02):
Making Conversation Master Class, just go to Money Making Conversations
dot com and click the b a guest button, fill
out the information, press submit that information will come to
me and if his information, I feel will warrant an
opportunity to be interviewing on this show and you provide
an information that will make other people's lives better. Who
listen to the show, you'd be sitting right next to
(01:23):
me or calling in next to me. Let's get this
show started with my guests. My guest created the company
Paint Your Heaven. He's based in Kansas City. His company's
unique combination of technical expertise and design skills experience makes
him an idea creator for web, app and software design
as well as development. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
(01:48):
Suley Salam. How you doing, Sully?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Every day is a good day. How you're doing today?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Pretty good? Now?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Paint your Heaven. Let's start off with that name right there.
Where did that name come from for your business? Paint
your Heaven?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Well, it's a phrase that really inspired me as a
young man getting right into adulthood. I wanted to spread
that message that as long as you have a clear
vision of what you want in life, you know you can,
you know, make it happen. And this is how we're
being an asset to other companies helping them bring their
(02:25):
visions to life as well.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Now what age I know, like a certain times I
always tell people, you know, a young mind, you can
provide information that can stay there forever.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
How old were you when you were impacted by this phrase?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Twenty two years old? Twenty two years old. I just
got into the self help books. Learn about the law
of attractions and the power of the mind and positive
thinking and coming from you know, a challenging neighborhood as
a child, you know, learning the positive or positive thinking
(03:03):
really transform my mind in my life.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You know, really when I talk to him, talk to Suley,
an incredible developer web designs, and I don't want to
insult him because there's a lot of people who designs
webs websites. He does more than that, he programs. He's
a stack developer. Isn't that correct, SOULEI.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yes, sir, full stack developer, front end and back in.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Okay, explain to people the difference because there are a
lot of people out there. They claim to do websites,
but then when you start trying to get into the
full stack end, that's when they run off and they disappear.
So tell everybody about the full stack development aspect of
your abilities.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So full stack is more so for example, creating an
app like foob, whereas basic web design would be like
your landing page for a small businesses going and so forth.
We can go as far as the mind can imagine.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Now when you say that, because I want to make
sure you separate yourself, because there's a lot of people
out there getting business. Have frustrated me. Okay, I sit
down with him. They claim they do something else and
basically they're doing a knockoff of a a template in
some ways. In some ways, you can do it yourself.
I'm saying, not just me. I'm talking about not referencing you,
(04:19):
but anybody out there can do that because they have
templates out there. And so when you say full staff,
that means that someone can come to you. Suley, I'm
just being a person that's talking because I have done
business for Suley. He has, and I'm just let everybody
know that. That's why I brought him on the show.
I wouldn't bring a stranger on the show that I
didn't do any business with because of the fact that
(04:42):
what he's offering and when he brings to the table
is a very unique skill set especially from an African
American standpoint, Am I correct?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Why do you think there are not enough black full
stack developers in the game.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Self belief? I think that in our community it's actually
still very rare for us to be extremely confident in
what we're able to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And when you say that, Suley, you know something triggered you. Now, okay,
because you said earlier, maybe in much detail, you said,
look where I grew up in the neighborhood I grew
up in, and they wasn't motivating you. They wasn't encouraging you.
There'll be more people tell you what you can do
versus what you can do. Tell us about your upbringing
(05:36):
that allows you to be the person and you are
very inspirational. You're always motivating. Every time I ever spoke
to you, You've always been upbeating and you may have
had some bad days when you've spoken to me, but
you always maintain that upbeat personality.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Talk about your background, Yeah, so I come from humble beginnings,
two parents that I really admire and have a lot
of respect for. I have to really give my mom
a lot of credit for the self belief that I
have as a kid. A lot of moms tell you
(06:08):
that you can do whatever you put your mind to,
and I believe my mom when she said that. You know,
when you walk outside into the you know from the
you know, in the neighborhood that I grew up in,
and there's a lot of negativity going on. So everything
that you went outside extremely excited about, you know, your
(06:30):
friends and you know people around are you know, shooting
down your ideas just from a place of unhappiness, lack
of self belief on armed on their end, which is
understandable in the circumstances that we were growing up in.
My whole thing was just putting a plan together where
(06:50):
I contained the trajectory of my family, your assets that
my parents and you know, everyone that I care about,
and and also the world just making sure that this
makes it different.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
That's those are powerful statements. And I come from that neighborhood,
you know, filth Forard, Houston, Texas, a community where you know,
if I went back, it's not a friend of mine
who I grew up with, if they stayed in that neighborhood,
they were they are not alive today. It's just that
type of neighborhood. You don't you don't live long in
those neighborhoods. You don't retire in those neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods
(07:26):
wear you down and basically kill you because of distress,
the community, the type of environment. There's no upward mobility
tied to those communities. There's no positivity, you know, the
outreach is very limited, and so you have to be
around people who think you can be better than what
(07:47):
you are. And it started with your mom, and then
then you had to go to school. Somebody in the
adulthood of academia saw you, Souley and said, you can
do this.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Who is that person?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I think the first person I would like to credit
is my teacher, mister Odham. I've always been a very
creative kid, and especially during the high school, I was,
you know, visual artist and also a creative writer. And
my teacher believed in me so much, and I did
(08:21):
a lot of music. Uh, And he used to write
notes for me to skip class and watch Tucac documentaries
just to try to sounds funny, but it's real, you know.
He he would do that, you know, and remind me
that Tucac was no longer here and how easy it
(08:46):
is for me to go in the wrong direction, and
how I can actually do something with my creative mind.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Wow, wow, you know when I think about you, Please
tell the people name me your website because I want
them as we talk they have time and to your
website so they can see the creative mind and the
personality that I'm talking to. What's your website?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Paintrerheaven dot com and uh, paint yourhaven dot com.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And on that website we will find.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
What you'll find examples of some of the work that
we've created.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And how when when when one brings an idea to you,
like I brought an idea to you and sat down,
sketched it out some of it it was pretty detail,
and then you come back to us. So if somebody's
listening on this call, it said, you know, I won't
I won't paint your heaven to design a website to me,
or I won't paint your heaven to develop an app
for me because you do apps as well.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yes, Now I want to I want you to explain
something to me. You have a you have an app.
You have a website, right, do you have a mobile
version of that website?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Correct? Yes?
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And then you have an app what is the difference
between the mobile version of that website and the app.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Well, the different into this native functionalities. So when you
go on a mobile version of an app, you typically
aren't able to use space size, you know, Apple pay,
push notifications, uh, so on and so forth, like GPS,
like build location. Those are the difference like having those
(10:23):
functionalities natively in the you know, working with within with
the phone.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And that's really important. So you would encourage anybody who
has a business to have an app.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I would encourage, I would. I wouldn't say anyone who hasn't.
Depends on the size of the business, yes, sir, Yes, sir,
depending on the size of the business. If you're looking
at scale, definitely.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And so when you say skills, you know there are
a lot of competition out there, especially overseas. You know,
I know that the Indian market, uh in the India
is very competitive. If I mistaken, in the programming the
world very competitive in the programming world. I'm just going
(11:19):
to ask this question, why do you think that's like that?
Why do you think that is that something that a
difficult question for me to ask you because I'm just
taking aback when I know that's for a fact that
that that programming over there is it's kind of like
second nature.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, like it's it's very common there. I think it's
uh the culture, you know, it's it's something that they
can see a future in and a lot of them
trained in there early on and get into it right away.
And I think that's the big difference, you know. I
think that we're getting more into it here in the
(11:58):
States now right right. I think they've been doing that
for a while.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
I know.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And it's really it's really it's like a six hour
swing hour time difference and things like that. So I'm
talking to Sule Salam. He's the creator, developer, and the
owner of Paint Your Heaven. His website is Paintoheaven dot
com if you want to see some of his work
web app and software design and development. And when when
you talk about you yourself, sir, you know you just started.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
From scratch, yes, sir twenty two, he.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Was motivated by Paint your Heaven. That's part of your
company name. There's your company name, your brand, your thought process.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
H how did you know you had skills for this?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
It's that so starting off, there is nothing that I
could point to that would say that would actually make
sense for me to know that I had. So when
I first started off, I knew that I could do
anything I put my mind to. So I wanted to
create an app for myself, okay, and I was able
(13:10):
to complete it, and I used the WIGS actually for
my first you know, big development project for myself, and
I built the social media app using Wix's platform for
the website, and I developed native functionalities and actually released
(13:33):
the app into the Apple Store and also android. WIGS
Corporate called me and said, they've never seen anyone do
this with a platform for and you know, let me
know that anything I need. You know, they're here to
support me. They appreciate using their platform, staring and so forth.
(13:54):
And you know, I became a partner with them, and
you know that kind of the moment where I knew, like, okay,
I might be special a little bit.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So so so that that please give me a little
bit more background in the software social media app that
you designed through the wis platform, which is a very
popular website based design platform that people use. A lot
of people go there for templates. It's very very designed friendly.
(14:29):
And so you sat down and you designed something that
they had never seen before the company Wicks and now
all these programmers they have over there and Nope, not
a program over there had ever thought of this concept
that you put out there. That they called you and went, wow.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Uh, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
What's your name, sir, h call us next time you
start thinking real hard because we want to talk to you.
That's basically what they said.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Right Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
When we come back and I'm gonna go through, I'm
gonna ask mister soonly some questions. You know how to
be a really good developer. I'm the Rashan McDonald test.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow Money Making
(15:29):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Diyd.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Everybody know how talented this young man is. Paint Your Heaven.
That's the name of his company. Paintchrehaven dot com is
the name is the website where you can see some
of his work. My name is Rashan McDonald and you're
listening to Money making conversations master class. Don't go nowhere.
We're talking to somebody I've never had on my should
the show before, a full stack development, now the website development,
(15:54):
A full stack developer, front end and back end. Come
right back, come back please, oh my full stack developer.
Suley's loan, Suley your company? Paint your paint you heaving?
I got one text came in, had this question for you.
What does native functionality mean?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Native functionality? An example is push notifications would be the simple,
uh you know answer for that. Push notifications on your phone.
So if you have an Uber Tarboro on your way
and you get a notification that says it's five minutes away, right,
that is a native.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Function Okay, cool, I think that's been answered. Now when
we go from the big picture when you started your
company as you are right now, what is the big
picture of your company?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
What?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What what's the destination? What's the landing you want to
be because you're based in Kansas City right, yes, okay,
what is the big picture of paint You're heaven.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
We want to serve businesses worldwide from startup to establish
businesses looking to scale, and then we also want to
launch the non for profits. Uh, where we go into
the inner city communities and teach the power of the
law of attraction and positive thinking.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Now does this also include AI? Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yes, yes, yes it is.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And now how do you work AI? Which is artificial intelligence?
And that's the big buzzword nowadays. Of all these platforms
you have out there that allow you to just just
read documents and it will tell you what's valuable key
points in the document. You don't have to read documents
anymore to tell you. Look, could look up insurance keywords
in this document, tell me what they are. They to
(17:35):
tell you what the document is. How do you incorporate
AI into your full stack development?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well? Fortunately, uh, there's so there's such a big pool
of developers now. A lot of the AI tools and
stuff that we incorporate into our projects are via API.
So we're able to kind of piggyback off of some
of the work that some developers have already got to
this point, and then we can tap into their API, right,
(18:05):
and we can expand upon it. If that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Okay, cool, Now when you expand on it, and I'm
gonna just tell you this, Suley, you know you know
the language. Now you start saying apif I text me
about that native they really dumb this down.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Okay, It's essentially one web application talking to another.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Okay, so say that.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So say chat chat GPT has an API, right, and
I want to create an avatar version of myself that
has the knowledge of chat GPT. I can use chat
GPT's a PR to connect it with my avatar.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
And so when you do that, it's important that we
maintain some type of level of communication. So let's go
from day one. They want why would somebody contact paint
your heaven? What's the reason to be contacting you?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
You have a big idea, you want to a quick
turnaround in someone who's flexible and how they work with you?
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Okay, Okay, So when they present that idea, what do
you give back to them? Do they do you put
down or retain? I'm just trying to say the process
so people will know they just can't just it might
be five people. I got an idea, I got an idea.
Just be contacting you SI you go, oh, you may
have heard me. It doesn't work that way. This is
how I do business. You know you can you send
me a proposal. Just don't just don't call to me
(19:42):
talking about an idea, Send me a proposal.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, I would say, yeah, send a proposal. Make sure
you already have a budget in mind, and oh what
you what you have a loted for this project, sir?
And then on ri N we can let you you
know how realistic it is for us to get the
entire projects done within that that with that within that budget,
right or and also let you know what we can
(20:10):
do within it.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
So when you're when you're producing these workable software packages
and your team player you keep updating, you already said
they got you know, got things you can tap in
APIs you can tap into that already, you know this work,
so you can use it to your process so you're
not don't have to go through this learning process or
this learning curve because this particular plug in that you
(20:33):
can add into the program and will make it work.
So what is the most can you share with us
a couple of concepts that you have done that's available,
Like you shared with us the social media platform that
you created with Wicks that we can go to and
see some of your workers. That that's too private.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
And I want to share okay, Uh, I would.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Just talk about the concept, just talk about the concept
with not in generalities, so we'll know just some of
the range of work that you've done.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
I apologize now behind the scenes, Yes, we're working on
a project that simplifies the post audio production process. So
whether it's podcasts, uh, movies, music, so on and so forth,
essentially you'll be able to cut your time down, you know,
(21:29):
and have as far as how long it takes you
to be ready for market. So that's something that we're
working on. Now.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
So what do you what do you mean you're you're
designing something? I got a podcast, So how would it
work for me?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So how it would work for you? Would? It's essentially
one button technology. Okay, so instead of having to go
through and EQ your voice and set up the compression.
I'm sure you have a tempt. But now right, let's
say you're in a new environment and you're getting an
echo and you click the button, echo is gone.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
So it cleans up the audio for you, Yes, it does.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
No, Now this is helpful for me. Now, I'm a novice.
Now I got I got hired, I got full time employees.
So if I'm just a guy, regular guy, I start
my podcast. I don't know how to edit or any
of these things. I definitely don't know how to do, uh,
you know with the pro tools. I think that's the
term they use for audio cleanup, you know. And so
(22:38):
so just this packet, is this something you're building for
somebody or you're building it within your office, within your company.
Paint your heaven so you can make available to people
who want to use it.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
This is something that I'm building for another company, Okay,
that I'm actually involved in as well.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Okay, and you see a need for that, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
A huge need for so on the side. Essentially, you
can upload your stems are like your musical instruments tracked out,
you know, your your vocals tracked out, so on and
so forth. Click the button. You're ready for marketing.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yes, so let me tell you something truly, you know,
I don't know if you're just super confident. Oh you
don't know that. That's pretty huge what you just said.
You know, you're they're they're major corporation. There are labels
out there.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
They're going.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Okay, now we got a problem with this. This cut,
this cut the middle man and the side man and
the third person out. This is straight to market. This
is somebody in their bathroom cut music and now they
distributing it and they're selling it. And they don't need
a board man, they don't need a studio, they don't
(23:56):
need anything. That's what you're saying, right.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It doesn't cut out the engineers.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So I'm an audio engineer as well. I was O
one like third in the big competition coming straight out
of high school and audio engineering, and I'm extremely passionate
about it. This is more of an asset to the
audio engineers.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So then cutting the matter as a picture.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Okay, cool, Okay, cool, But these are the type of
creative ideas that you come up with at paint you're
having and when you are you are you're a solo man?
You got a full staff? Are you working over there?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Man?
Speaker 3 (24:33):
What's what's the company you look like over there?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yes, we have a team. I can't take credit for everything.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Well you're right in to tex So take credit, my friend.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
And so the big picture is, like you said, is
being able to set the rate, being able to be creative.
You do website development, you do app development, you do
full stack development. The area that we talked about earlier
not enough people of color, especially not enough African Americans participating.
You know, the country of India as a dominant voice
(25:08):
in the full stack programming. I know that for a fact.
I've been knowing that for years. It always amazes me.
Sometimes you will call one eight hundred numbers and guess
what they're connecting you into India for technical service and
technical advice. That's true, you can just you've heard it
yourself personally. And that's the interesting that in a sense,
(25:30):
like he said, if we can just make our community
like that, if we can start creating, you know, neighborhoods
where young black kids can become just like they're doing
in India, it's not that hard. But we have to
start understanding the value of STEM programming. Stem education, that's
the next step. AI should not be something that we
run from. We should run towards it. If you had
(25:52):
to give any advice as we close out this interview,
so what would it be to our young people and
our adults for that matter, when it comes to prom
as well as AI.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I would like to say, I almost want to piggyback
off what you just said and say run towards chain.
You know, don't be afraid of it. So no matter
if you're in this industry or whatever industry that you're in,
you know, always run towards the change. Don't be afraid
of husband.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Wow, I appreciate you, my friend. We're gonna talk soon
of course again. Paintreourhaven dot com. Please visit if you
have time and just see the creative mind of Sule Salom.
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation. My brother,
and you know, I know I can't see it known
for that good barbecue, So you know, when I'm in
barbecue country, I'm gonna stop by and say Hi.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
There we go.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you. I'll listen to
the audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
visit money Making Conversations dot com. Our social media handle
is money Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember
(27:06):
to always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Keep winning
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