June 30, 2023 • 33 mins
Meet Court Smith another one of the first Dope Dad’s to be our guest on This Mama Got Drama as we celebrate Father’s Day all through June! He is a designer, a businessman and a dad of 3 who assumes his responsibility to protect and guide the children in his community like they were his own. He started his work designing team uniforms when he realized the kids in the league his kids played in we’re feeling and looking like they were lacking something - confidence! The designs in his uniforms gave these kids the push they needed to release their inner limitless potential so they could step on the court to handle business. In addition to working with youth athletes, he has an apparel line and works with NBA players to build their brands. As he continues to cultivate his businesses- Court also has a non-profit arm, Ascension, that aims to protect and empower Bay Area youth with its current focus being gun violence prevention. His love for design aligned seamlessly with his responsibility to help protect the kids when he created his own line of bulletproof backpacks. Join us as we talk what it takes to get an idea like this off the ground as well as how having kids impacted his drive and need to succeed!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This Mama got Drama back for anotherepisode. Hey, we gotta go with
ourselves for making it to the podcast, making it and doing it and getting
schedules to actually match up and peopleto come on and talk about because if
we if we are all the wayone hundred, I mean, this podcast
(00:22):
is here because we are not onlychasing career goals, chasing our dreams and
aspirations, but a lot of thosethings are dreams and aspirations we have for
our babies because we're simultaneously raising littlelittle ones all the way up to little
big ones. Right, and thenon top of that, you got to
find some time for self caring thereand you're uplifting the community. It's it's
a lot on the plate. Sowe are here, we are ready for
(00:45):
another episode. I'm Lady Rayer host. Of course, got our lovely radio
sister Dreda Gonzalez here with us,and of course we got another guest in
the building today. And I'm excitedbecause this is our first time. I'm
having dad's on. The dads arehere, y'all been represented for five day.
Fun makes any court Smith? Yes, Yes, what what's happening?
(01:08):
It's been so much fun having thedads on like just a different perspective,
but like, you know, youguys deserve that the recognition as well because
he worked just as hard, youknow, as us mamas do and we
kind of give it up because becauseyou know, we've talked about it before,
Court, it takes a village,like it's it's you know, the
(01:29):
moms. We we have our ourday and our full on like with the
babies and with the the grown kidsand whatnot. But it takes a village,
and we appreciate you for being apart of that village. Court.
Oh man, I appreciate you havingme. I appreciate you guys having to
me on. This is gonna befun, Yeah it is. So let's
let's kick it off by just talkingabout our kids right quick, Like,
(01:51):
what is something new that your kidsare doing? I mean our kids,
like they go through all kinds ofstages on the on the daily and new
chapters often, oh for Shore,So let's say I got a um,
I got a twenty six year oldwho's uh, he's an apparel designer dope
better than me, which was whatI wanted in the first place. So
he's he's doing like next level stuff. He in Paris and doing all that,
(02:16):
just lying out in Parasol. Sodaddy's a little clothing line. He's
like, you know, it's overhere. So I let him do that.
Sometimes I'll drag him in and makeen force him to design some stuff
for me. But and that's Ithink that's so dope that you kicked it
off by saying that's what you wanted, right, like we raise him to
be better than us to be right, of course, I mean you would
(02:40):
never want to compete with your kidsbecause they are an expression of you.
They're the next version, a betterversion of Yeah, So did you plant
the design seed in him or didhe just kind of gravitate towards that.
Um my son is very strong willed, like I'm I pushed basketball on both
(03:02):
my sons period, So that wasgonna be the That was the movement because
I was my favorite sport and somethingthat I loved. So my kids was
gonna be basketball players. And somy oldest son, my oldest son around
eleven twelve years old, he waslike, Dad, fuck this basketball shit.
I don't love I don't like it. So like, all right,
(03:28):
it's all good. So so you'regonna learn this adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator,
and how to design because these programsare gonna be here for the next
thirty four years. Put you ahead. So he I taught him how to
design stuff around twelve years old,so he's taken it and ran with it
to a whole different place. Solook at the vision there too. I
(03:51):
mean the fact that you sat downand we're like, you know what,
I'm gonna just go ahead and giveyou some other tools to having your toolbox,
and you know you you are,you are touched on him that you're
a designer yourself. I mean,tell the people about the line that may
not you know, know your workjust yet, or folks that know your
work and want to they they wantto find out how to get more of
it. Yeah. So I havea brand called Courtsmith, and it's broken
(04:14):
down to three different sections. Oneis we provide team uniforms for all teams,
all sports, all different schools programsAAU. So we do about ten
thousand or so uniforms of years forkids all over, which gives me an
opportunity to interact with all them kidsbecause I love I love, I love
them babies. So it helps meto infuse some of our positive messaging into
(04:38):
the kids and our brand and stuff. And then we have an apparel brand
that we sell where we sell outof a our own retail store, so
we have three in California, Sacramento, Oakland, and Anaheim as well as
online and we push that and promotethat. And then third, we have
brand partnerships where we partner with athletesand NBA players to be the machines behind
(05:00):
their brand. So we have abouta dozen or so players in the league
that we are the I guess ghostwritersbehind their brand. So it allows them
to generate revenue offer their own nameinstead of having to get that up or
sign a deal with somebody. Theymake money directly offer products they sell.
Yeah, I mean it's it's already. The way you have it built is
(05:25):
so like it's set up and organizinga way that you're not only building up
these youths right and you're able tohelp them in terms of like guidance and
mentorship at a young age. Andthen also the fact that you're able to
come behind these players and help themwith their brand because a lot of times
their focus just on the athletic pieceof it. They're not really thinking about
(05:46):
the management. They're not thinking aboutthe opportunities to grow off the court and
ways to actually strengthen their brand sothat they have something in place for when
their body decides to be like,look that I gave you X amount of
years on that court, It's timeto figure something else out. So I
think it's really it's really dope theway you've organized the different components of your
(06:09):
business. And you know, asyou're designing for these youth and you're out
there helping to be a part oftheir teams, and it's a big deal
what their uniforms look like. Likeit's a bit when you I remember being
on on the youth team and whenyou walking that in that gym or on
that field, like you need tofeel like you're about to win too,
right, So how does that workfor you? Like going to the drawing
(06:32):
board and thinking of these uniforms forthese kids. I mean, like it
was it was dope for me becauseI'm a designer period. So when my
son started entering into the youth sportsage, my middle son, we would
have to go to all these tournamentsand I'm walking in and I'm like,
damn, these tournaments are trash.I mean who's designing this? So my
(06:57):
light bubb went off immediately. SoI told the coaches, the coach of
my son's team, like, hey, don't trip. I got you on
these uniforms, um And so whenI made them, all the kids was
going crazy. And the damn theremake them play better because they chests out
right like what like what you andall the kids is looking like, oh
my god, who is that?So just that feeling like got me really
(07:23):
addicted to like having kids feel thatway when they walk into the gym,
Like, I want you to feellike you're the best team in the gym
by how you look. Now yougotta do the other part play, but
like, at least you're rocking withme, you're gonna you're gonna feel like
you're the best team of them.So that that's been kind of our kind
of at the core of our businessis making kids look like you feel like
(07:45):
they're the best, the best teamin the gym. The confidence, right,
like building up that confidence, andyou know that's something that if you
if you don't build that up ata young age, it's really tough to
find it at a later age inlife. I mean, you can nothing
is impossible but man, if youdon't have that kind of built into your
infrastructure, it's it's a tough thingto dig up. So I mean,
(08:07):
as you're working with these youths,we've already we've talked about how you're giving
them that confidence, You're giving themthat opportunity to actually bring their talent to
the court. But now we talkabout, you know the fact that our
youth around there dealing dealing with somethings. They're dealing with some things that
we didn't have to think about whenwe were kids. I mean, yeah,
there were fights and people, youknow, there was there was violence
(08:28):
and all those things. But interms of like the way school shootings are
being normalized these days, it's avery different environment. And I know Dream
and I both have school aid children, and it's it's it's a fear,
right Like you you push through dailyand you're like, I'm not gonna let
this fear take over, but itis something that comes to mind. Um,
(08:52):
but in your mind, you werelike, I'm not gonna sit here
and just be fearful. I'm gonnafigure out a way to give these kids,
uh, not only like we talkedabout the confidence, but give them
just like that sense of reassurance withthis this backpack that you gotta talk to
us about the backpack. I justI have a philosophy that that kids are
(09:15):
all responsibility, not just mine,but all of them. So like back
in the when I grew up inEast Oakland, it was it was in
the era where yeah, you hadyour your mom, but the next door
neighbor was like your second mom andthe next door neighbor with your third mom.
So you can snitch thee like ifyou like my sister, My sister
(09:35):
walked down the street after school andlike hYP hyped her skirt up. After
she got around the corner, mymom was still gonna find out because the
community was was was parenting as well, you know what I mean. So
then she get home and be like, I know what you did when so
she's my sister was slick. Shehad change your clothes in the backpack and
(09:56):
switch it up. So and andso I feel like in this day and
age, I still move with that, like, not only is my kids
my responsibility, but the communities kids, they're all my responsibility. So as
a designer, what can I doto help? What can I do to
add value? And so when shitlike that was popping off. It was
(10:16):
breaking my heart. You know,it was breaking my heart. And because
the feeling of what that mom orthat dad had to go through. Uh,
and these kids is innocent. Thesekids are innocent. So what I
would what I composed was like,you know, how could we protect these
children? And so, you know, the bulletproof backpack just became the next
(10:37):
logical step of like, that's somethingthey carry every day, they have on
them all the time, and inan event of some a situation like that,
they can get behind that backpack andthey can feel some sort of security.
It's not a fix all, it'snot a magic bullet or nothing,
but at least there's some form ofprotection. And as a parent, you
(11:00):
could feel safe, just even ifit's just a little more safe to letting
your kids go out in that worldknowing they got something to protect them,
because because they gotta go out.They gotta go out, they gotta go
to school, they gotta they gottathey gotta play on these teams. They
gotta build their confidence, they gottabuild their skills. They can't they can't
just be in the house, right. So, um, and I don't
(11:24):
want to cut you off the stuffingbut like when I was younger, you
have you can go in different silos. So if you wanted to be in
the streets, you could go tothe streets. If you want to be
you know hoo, you go tothe hood, you knew what comp came
with it, you know what I'msaying. If you want to go to
to um the Grimiest club on aSaturday night, you know, downtown Oakland,
you took the risk. But nowadaysthese things are random. You can
(11:46):
be school, in grocery store orjust some random places, and so it
takes away kind of your conscious decisionmaking to be in them spots. You
just live in you right, right, And like you said, it's not
it's not an end off fix all. It's not. You know, these
things are still gonna happen, butjust to have that like that sense of
(12:07):
like, Okay, I might havea little line of defense or an extra
line of defense and can help themwalk a little a little more comfortable,
right um and and us parents feela little a little bit safe for dropping
them off at school. And theother part of it too is, you
know, growing up in California,earthquake preparedness was kind of something that was
(12:28):
ingrained in us. It was like, okay, you knew what to do.
Mind you, we didn't really haveany earthquakes, you know, outside
of the eighty nine, right,but other than that, but you knew,
we knew what to do. Thoughthis job, I started shaking.
I'm I'm gonna get under this deskor I'm gonna getting you know. So
so now it's like and we laughabout it, but it's reality. These
kids are preparing for if a shootingshould happen. What do they do in
(12:50):
those instances? And a lot oftimes they don't know what to do.
And you just having this conversation oflook, here's a backpack, here's your
here's your way to protect yourself,to to um not freeze up if something
like this happens, because it's aterrifying situation. So you know, um,
I've given you all the props before, but I definitely want to give
(13:11):
you your flowers here today because youknow the fact that you you know,
you're part of this, this thisvillage mindset that that Drena and I are
part of, which is you know, it takes a village when I see
somebody else's kid, you know,lost at the grocery store. My first
instinct is to we gotta find where'syour mother? Whereas I've seen a grown
(13:33):
person, a grown ass person,continue on their phone as if and I'm
like, you're just gonna let thatbaby walk in the street like these are
these are all our kids, um. And and that's the part that that
concerns me, is that we're notall a part of this, this mindset
of the village um. And weneed to have more adults subscribe to this
(13:56):
mindset because these kids, you know, you look at other countries. Kids
in Japan, they're two and threeyears old and can walk miles to the
store and there's no problem, Imean right, And it's so safe that
even adults on the way there arehelping them, and they have some of
(14:18):
them will have like a it's likea specific color or flag that they wear
so that adults will know when they'recrossing the street. I mean they will
stop. Everything stops when the babyis coming by. And they don't make
them feel uncomfortable, They don't likemake them hesitate on their own confidence.
They build them up as they goalong. And it's all about this this
(14:39):
feeling of honor, community and takingcare of each other, and we need
to get back to that. Likeyou said, Core, you mentioned it
when your sister would cut around thehead quarter, she should know it's gonna
be about or more all that roomto school. I remember being in high
school and being so nervous to dothings, and my friends would be like
(15:01):
your family is now. I'm like, you have no idea. I'm a
village. My aunt could drive byit anytime, my cousin could drive by
it anytime, just on their wayto work. And I'm out here with
y'all. Oh no, i gottaget to the class. And it was
it was a kind of fear thatwasn't like you know anything that you resented.
(15:22):
You felt the love right like youwere like, I don't need to
be out here with y'all because theylove me too much. They won't beat
me up if I never not evenbeat me up physically, but with words
to where I didn't even have right, didn't even have to put hands on
you sometimes because you'd be so afraid, like, uh, they're about to
tell Grandma too. Oh no,you know what I'm saying. I say
(15:43):
all that to say, like weneed to get back to that mentality of
like look, if I'm driving mykids off to this practice or this event,
all of your parents that are here, I'm trusting you with my baby,
just like if you were to dropoff here and I'm the parent bringing
snacks or whatever the case, I'mhere to look after the kids too.
(16:03):
So I like that now more though, Unfortunately, you know, how do
we bring that back? That's theconversation we got. We just I just
I just do it. I justdo it. I mean some people are
so they only worry about themselves thatyeah. Yeah, it's like individualism.
It's like we're in the age ofindividualism, and so like we we damn
(16:27):
near need like new community commandments likehere the new commandments. First thing number
one is to protect these children.You know what I'm saying. Yeah,
yeah, that's just being given likekids. Yea yeah ye. But nowadays
neighbors don't talk to one another,like it's just there's just no sense of
(16:48):
community. Like you said, nomatter where you live, people just worry
about themselves yea. Yeah. Andit's funny because I chuckle because I had
to be there neighbor that was justlike, well, hello, you know,
I speak to all my neighbors andso I have a couple that I've
known for for a very long timeand they're the same way. And so
when we have new people move in, you know, we make it a
(17:11):
point. And it's not even oneof those like the only thing I can
think that's coming to mind is likeNed Flanders and the Simpsons, who's like
annoying, Like it's not that levelof like hello, it's like, hey,
we all live here, let's alltry to, you know, let's
get to know each other, becauseum, it's the only way right to
keep it safe, to keep itclean, to keep it community that you
want to live in, right ringCookies do you bring cookies? You know?
(17:36):
I bring I like to think Ibring words that are like sweet as
cookies. I break right, right, I try, I try. I
bring other stuff. I bring otherstuff, Like we did. We did
it. We had a cookout overthe weekend time and so we you know,
brought some different you know, meatsand things like that. But you
know, I I'm not gonna actlike I'm missus Fields up in here,
(17:59):
but you know, you know youknow so. But I mean I say
all that to say like we weknow what's missing. We know you know
what we need in the community.And it's not not everybody likes to talk.
Not everybody likes to be in eachother's business. And that's okay.
Just if the kids are outside andyou see a fast car like just you
know, add that little extra senseof adult stability for those babies. So
(18:26):
you know, we appreciate, weappreciate what you're doing with these backpacks.
And I think the one thing wedidn't touch on with the backpacks is that
you've been doing this like giving themaway. You're not even asking for these
kids to buy them. Nah.I think my goal is to get them
out. So what I do iswe have them on the site to sell,
so whichever want anyone that gets soldand were given one away. So
(18:48):
we're always trying to find ways togive them away. So if we get
donations, which happened sometimes, man, that's that those donations go towards giving
them to a particular community or groups. My goals is to get them out.
We make our money and other stuff, that's right, That's that's our
goals to get those backpacks in people'shands. So we made we got two
versions now, a heavier version anda smaller version for smaller kids. And
(19:14):
I'm gonna keep figuring out ways tomake them where either they're more compact or
easy because there they are a littleheavy. Um. But the goal is
to make as like many variations aswe can so that people have options,
you feel me, Yeah, Andthey kind of have to have that that
a little bit away to them inorder for the kids to have some safety.
(19:37):
So I appreciate that you guys arelooking at ways to kind of streamline
that. But you know, ifpeople are interested and they're they're hearing this
podcast and they want to find out, like how can I donate a backpack
or twenty? You know what Imean, where should they go? I
mean, if you want to purchaseone, you go to Courtsmouth dot com.
Or if you want to donate,then you go to you can go
to Ascension. That's the nonprofit onum that allows you to donate. Any
(20:03):
donations you make will go towards givingfree backpacks. So UM, we must
ascend dot org as the nonprofit thatcourt Smith works with and uses um so
that we can distribute as many backbacksas we can. I love sure to
put the links yeah on the podcastas well. That's incredible. M And
(20:26):
and you know, It kind ofgoes back to this this idea of you
know, giving back, being apart of the community. Um, you
might not be one of those peoplethat likes to be hands on with kids.
Well look your your checkbook or youryou know what I'm saying, can
can be a way to give backto these babies. And you know you're
doing so many great things with theyouth. I mean I came out and
(20:47):
hosted one of the basketball events forthe youth. It was so dope to
meet them and just see that theirfaces light up when they get to feel
special, right um oh man,and you shot at them out on the
radio, and I mean those kidswere so exciting, Like you don't realize
how juice those kids were so justthat one thing you did. You know,
(21:11):
it's funny that you bring that up. Thank you for mentioning that,
because you know, we we do. We meet a lot of people and
I'm so fortunate to be able tomeet a lot of people and to hear
them their excitement is what fuels usto keep doing it. Because we're in
a room talking on a mic.We don't always get that you know that
(21:32):
reply back, you feel what I'msaying, And so when we get out
in the community, we can actuallymeet people and talk to them. It
really it gives us that fuel tokeep doing it, especially us and do
like morning driving or up at likefour or five in the morning. You
know what I'm saying. And it'sfunny that you mentioned those youth because I
actually hosted an event over the weekendtime and one of the kids came out
the cut because my daughter and myson were in. They had like a
(21:53):
little jumphouse at this community family dayand they're jumping. I'm over there in
mambo like, oh no, you'reabout to fall off, Like you gotta
come out. And so the kidscame from the basketball tournament. They're like,
Lady Ray, like, excuse me, let me switch back. It
was hella cute because they were like, you was at You're supposed to be
(22:14):
at the basketball thing. I'm like, I go other places too, you
know. Oh yeah. They lovethat My phone was blown up the next
day. Felt like they were celebrities. They are. They are though,
and that's that's what your uniforms dofor them. They give them that that
when they walk into the building,and the backpacks give these kids that ump
that they need to get to schoolevery day because they don't want to go
(22:37):
sometimes and it's the fact that you'retaking the time to do all that and
and then also you know, plantingthese seeds into your kids and tell and
showing them, hey, look basketballwasn't for you, but guess what this
might be. And it takes thosemoments um to find out what they really
love and what they like doing.And I really appreciate she ain't the fact
(23:00):
that she shared that story about yourson being like, look, dad,
this ain't for me, because that'swhat you want. You want those moments
of like I love this or Ihate this. Let's find something else.
And it's it's it's tough because I'mI'm in the I'm in the newer parent
category. And my mind in thebeginning was like, oh my god,
(23:22):
I gotta save up for the forthe I don't like this moments, right
because these are not cheap exploration activities, right like trying new sports and new
foods and new my daughter, Mydaughter picked up a book the other day
and in the front of it itwas basically showing them. It's an alphabetical
book, but it's showing them eachjob that they could have using the alphabet
(23:45):
court, Drina, if I cantell you, this girl went through that
book and said, I want this, I want that, I want the
keyboard, I want the ballet shoes. Like, hold hold on, hold
on, hold on. We couldhave we could do we could try these
things, but we're gonna have tolet's do one at a time. You're
not gonna you're not gonna try allten at once because you won't be able
to find out if you like itor not. Yeah, how old is
(24:06):
she? How old is she?She is three going on fifteen? So
oh yeah, oh yeah, that'sthe perfect age. I got my partner
in crime right here. Oh she'slike, she like, I did not
prove you to turn the camera thisway, dad. Yeah, you mentioned
you have a twenty six year oldson, and so what the ages of
(24:27):
your other children? I got twentythree year old son, and then I
gotta she's about to be seven inall. Yeah, oh to be the
little sister with two big brothers.Got a wide range. Range. That's
because you had to. That's becauseyou had to build up the team to
protect the baby girl. That's whatit was. My second son was played
(24:52):
basketball, did one year of collegeand now he in the music. He
loves music now, so he's workingon his music career. He's pretty dope.
And she she's just like your daughters. Like she she had like ten
things you want to be, Sowe're gonna go curated, see what you
want. Sports is not on thelist though, at all. To make
it clear, they know, theyknow my nine year old, he's no
(25:18):
no interest in sports nine year onnow, No thanks, no, no
thank you. I know. Andyou can't force it, you know,
like you said, you just gottakind of see what they are. But
they're into and let them kind ofjust uh becoming they're supposed to be.
(25:38):
I guess, yeah. And it'sit's such an amazing journey to be on
to be able to watch them growand go from these little you know,
beings that don't even can't even moveor anything, and now they're full on
talking sentences and and have you stoppingyour tracks? Like whoa did you just
(25:59):
ask me? Need that? Likeman, I mean, and I don't
want to get too philosophical about it, but like children, my children have
been my biggest teachers. You know. They've helped me change as a person
more than any book, any religion, any anything, because when you love
something that much and you know thatcertain behavior is contingent upon, you know
(26:21):
changing certain behavior is contingent upon youcontinue to be a good father, like
you're gonna change a lot of times, not every time, and that they've
I've I've changed a lot. They'vetaught me a lot, you know,
my good and my my dark sides, and helped me confront them. So
I owe them pretty much as muchas they feel they owe me. You
(26:41):
know, Yeah, I agree.I always say they you learn a lot
about yourself when you become a parent. I've had a lot of eye awakening
moments where I'm like, oh,that's me. I need to fix what
he's doing. Is I did?Yeah, dig, that's exactly what I'm
talking about. Learn a lot anda lot of that's a that's a healing
(27:03):
journey. I remember doing that,saying, man like that irritates the hell
out of me about my son,like I wouldn't fuck he wouldn't be one
of my partners in real life becauseof some irritating that thing. But then
I realized, damn, that's hegot that from me. Oh the mirror
check is a man, yes,And they don't prepare you for the mirror
(27:29):
check, like you know, youlearned that, you said. They say
these things to you, like getsome sleep, You're not gonna sleep much.
Uh, you know you are gonnachange, but you're still gonna be
you. They don't tell you aboutthe mirror check because they know if they
had told you about this mirror check, it might have shifted how you how
you how you moved in the parenthoodfor sure. What I think is the
most important is, you know,uh, is making that change for the
(27:52):
kids because some people know it's fromthem, but they don't want to make
that change and say, like right, as a parent, you know you
got to be willing to to dothat too. That's true. Benefit the
kids, you know, that's true. That that's to me, what actually
breaking generational curses is is is acknowledgingwhat's been handed down to you that's not
(28:19):
productive for your kids and deciding tobreak that ship before it gets too deep
into them, right. And that'sthe hardest, That's one of the hardest
things to do, but it's worthit. I think I agree, Yeah,
says the says the dad who hasa designer in Paris, a musician
aspiring and a young lady a youngqueen growing over there, and I love
(28:41):
it. I love it. Givesome advice to the dad or the mom
who's listening that has wanted to starta business, has wanted to get back
in the community, and you knowwhat, what are some things that they
could do to get that launched offthe ground. And it's I will tell
you this, it's it's a tremendoushow to sacrifice you it's sacrifice. So
(29:03):
um, some of the hardest thingsto do is build a business or something
when you have a family, becausethere's a tradeoff in time and so um,
you know, you might feel badsometimes with that tradeoff in time,
or if you're trying to make itup by waking up before the kids or
working after the kids is sleep,then then that tradeoff is your sleep and
(29:26):
that your health. So there's there'ssacrifices everywhere, and so I think it
comes down to what you're willing togive up. You know, you got
to give up a lot. Andso like you can't go to everybody's parties,
you can't go to everybody's birthday parties, you can't go to everybody's events.
You can't because if you have friends, then there's always something. So
(29:48):
you need time to work on yourship or to build your brand or build
or whatever, and you're gonna bepulling from even time with your family to
help build it. So you definitelygot to cut the fat, you know,
around your life in order to gatheras much time and be consistent with
it. You know. I thinkone of the things mistakes I made at
(30:08):
the very beginning was I shielded mykids from being in the working with me.
So I'll just leave him at homebecause I figure they have more fun
at home. But they never sawme because I was hustling, hustling,
hustle, hustling, hustling. Sonow it's like I'd rather have her around
me complaining that she wants to gosomewhere or go to the park or whatever,
(30:29):
but she's with me, versus likebeing at home and never see me.
So it's it's not it's a journeyand this is a sacrifice. But
I think if you got a purpose, then you got a passion, and
you got something that really driving you, it's in the back of your head
that you can't get out, thenyou have to find a way to harmonize
it. Another thing I'll say isthis with this type of shit is not
(30:53):
balanced. There's no balance. Don'twork. Balance works when you have like
more corporate if you're in the corporateworld, entrepreneurially balanced don't work. It's
harmony. You gotta harmonize it.So you got to fit it in.
You got to be able to fitit all in, like the harmony of
a song versus balance. There's harmony. There's ways you can find to put
(31:18):
things in if you if you spreadit out like a music sheet, you
know you can you can fit itall in. But there ain't no harmony
and entrepreneurship at all because you'd beup two o'clock in the morning sometimes trying
to figure it out or replying anemail or whatever. I love that.
I'm I'm I'm singing harmony all weekbecause of course, and then a week
(31:41):
after week after week to months andmonths a year. I appreciate those those
those uh, the hard work forsure, because I think with this day
and age that we live in,like you know, you see social media
and people just think you can getit like that, and right, that's
not how it works. So hellno, I mean, and and here's
another thing, stop looking at socialmedia to compare like comparison is dangerous because
(32:04):
ninety for some of them, theyain't got ship like that. They broke
us hell like they life is fuckedup. So but they'll put the pretty
parts up and it's like the partthat you want and you think, damn,
I'm a failure. Are ain't thereyet? But really they worse off
than you. So another thing,don't even trip like like that's all like
acting social media. You you dowhat you just be a better version of
(32:30):
you. That's sat everything right right, And I think that's that you said
it right there, like the bestand better version of yourself because there is
no one like you. You canyou know, you can sit and compare
yourself and tear yourself down, butit's not going to do you any good.
And you're you. That person canhave all the things you think you
(32:50):
want, but it still would bedifferent on you no matter what. So
there it is. Court Smith giventhe website one more time Courtsmith dot com,
court Smift dot com. We're inthe fangs out season two, so
we're gonna be dropping stuff every weekto the rest of the year. Love
it, love it, appreciate youcoming on with us and he Fathers Day
months yes, appreciate y'all, Thankyou for having me.
This Mama got Drama back for anotherepisode. Hey, we gotta go with
ourselves for making it to the podcast, making it and doing it and getting
schedules to actually match up and peopleto come on and talk about because if
we if we are all the wayone hundred, I mean, this podcast
(00:22):
is here because we are not onlychasing career goals, chasing our dreams and
aspirations, but a lot of thosethings are dreams and aspirations we have for
our babies because we're simultaneously raising littlelittle ones all the way up to little
big ones. Right, and thenon top of that, you got to
find some time for self caring thereand you're uplifting the community. It's it's
a lot on the plate. Sowe are here, we are ready for
(00:45):
another episode. I'm Lady Rayer host. Of course, got our lovely radio
sister Dreda Gonzalez here with us,and of course we got another guest in
the building today. And I'm excitedbecause this is our first time. I'm
having dad's on. The dads arehere, y'all been represented for five day.
Fun makes any court Smith? Yes, Yes, what what's happening?
(01:08):
It's been so much fun having thedads on like just a different perspective,
but like, you know, youguys deserve that the recognition as well because
he worked just as hard, youknow, as us mamas do and we
kind of give it up because becauseyou know, we've talked about it before,
Court, it takes a village,like it's it's you know, the
(01:29):
moms. We we have our ourday and our full on like with the
babies and with the the grown kidsand whatnot. But it takes a village,
and we appreciate you for being apart of that village. Court.
Oh man, I appreciate you havingme. I appreciate you guys having to
me on. This is gonna befun, Yeah it is. So let's
let's kick it off by just talkingabout our kids right quick, Like,
(01:51):
what is something new that your kidsare doing? I mean our kids,
like they go through all kinds ofstages on the on the daily and new
chapters often, oh for Shore,So let's say I got a um,
I got a twenty six year oldwho's uh, he's an apparel designer dope
better than me, which was whatI wanted in the first place. So
he's he's doing like next level stuff. He in Paris and doing all that,
(02:16):
just lying out in Parasol. Sodaddy's a little clothing line. He's
like, you know, it's overhere. So I let him do that.
Sometimes I'll drag him in and makeen force him to design some stuff
for me. But and that's Ithink that's so dope that you kicked it
off by saying that's what you wanted, right, like we raise him to
be better than us to be right, of course, I mean you would
(02:40):
never want to compete with your kidsbecause they are an expression of you.
They're the next version, a betterversion of Yeah, So did you plant
the design seed in him or didhe just kind of gravitate towards that.
Um my son is very strong willed, like I'm I pushed basketball on both
(03:02):
my sons period, So that wasgonna be the That was the movement because
I was my favorite sport and somethingthat I loved. So my kids was
gonna be basketball players. And somy oldest son, my oldest son around
eleven twelve years old, he waslike, Dad, fuck this basketball shit.
I don't love I don't like it. So like, all right,
(03:28):
it's all good. So so you'regonna learn this adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator,
and how to design because these programsare gonna be here for the next
thirty four years. Put you ahead. So he I taught him how to
design stuff around twelve years old,so he's taken it and ran with it
to a whole different place. Solook at the vision there too. I
(03:51):
mean the fact that you sat downand we're like, you know what,
I'm gonna just go ahead and giveyou some other tools to having your toolbox,
and you know you you are,you are touched on him that you're
a designer yourself. I mean,tell the people about the line that may
not you know, know your workjust yet, or folks that know your
work and want to they they wantto find out how to get more of
it. Yeah. So I havea brand called Courtsmith, and it's broken
(04:14):
down to three different sections. Oneis we provide team uniforms for all teams,
all sports, all different schools programsAAU. So we do about ten
thousand or so uniforms of years forkids all over, which gives me an
opportunity to interact with all them kidsbecause I love I love, I love
them babies. So it helps meto infuse some of our positive messaging into
(04:38):
the kids and our brand and stuff. And then we have an apparel brand
that we sell where we sell outof a our own retail store, so
we have three in California, Sacramento, Oakland, and Anaheim as well as
online and we push that and promotethat. And then third, we have
brand partnerships where we partner with athletesand NBA players to be the machines behind
(05:00):
their brand. So we have abouta dozen or so players in the league
that we are the I guess ghostwritersbehind their brand. So it allows them
to generate revenue offer their own nameinstead of having to get that up or
sign a deal with somebody. Theymake money directly offer products they sell.
Yeah, I mean it's it's already. The way you have it built is
(05:25):
so like it's set up and organizinga way that you're not only building up
these youths right and you're able tohelp them in terms of like guidance and
mentorship at a young age. Andthen also the fact that you're able to
come behind these players and help themwith their brand because a lot of times
their focus just on the athletic pieceof it. They're not really thinking about
(05:46):
the management. They're not thinking aboutthe opportunities to grow off the court and
ways to actually strengthen their brand sothat they have something in place for when
their body decides to be like,look that I gave you X amount of
years on that court, It's timeto figure something else out. So I
think it's really it's really dope theway you've organized the different components of your
(06:09):
business. And you know, asyou're designing for these youth and you're out
there helping to be a part oftheir teams, and it's a big deal
what their uniforms look like. Likeit's a bit when you I remember being
on on the youth team and whenyou walking that in that gym or on
that field, like you need tofeel like you're about to win too,
right, So how does that workfor you? Like going to the drawing
(06:32):
board and thinking of these uniforms forthese kids. I mean, like it
was it was dope for me becauseI'm a designer period. So when my
son started entering into the youth sportsage, my middle son, we would
have to go to all these tournamentsand I'm walking in and I'm like,
damn, these tournaments are trash.I mean who's designing this? So my
(06:57):
light bubb went off immediately. SoI told the coaches, the coach of
my son's team, like, hey, don't trip. I got you on
these uniforms, um And so whenI made them, all the kids was
going crazy. And the damn theremake them play better because they chests out
right like what like what you andall the kids is looking like, oh
my god, who is that?So just that feeling like got me really
(07:23):
addicted to like having kids feel thatway when they walk into the gym,
Like, I want you to feellike you're the best team in the gym
by how you look. Now yougotta do the other part play, but
like, at least you're rocking withme, you're gonna you're gonna feel like
you're the best team of them.So that that's been kind of our kind
of at the core of our businessis making kids look like you feel like
(07:45):
they're the best, the best teamin the gym. The confidence, right,
like building up that confidence, andyou know that's something that if you
if you don't build that up ata young age, it's really tough to
find it at a later age inlife. I mean, you can nothing
is impossible but man, if youdon't have that kind of built into your
infrastructure, it's it's a tough thingto dig up. So I mean,
(08:07):
as you're working with these youths,we've already we've talked about how you're giving
them that confidence, You're giving themthat opportunity to actually bring their talent to
the court. But now we talkabout, you know the fact that our
youth around there dealing dealing with somethings. They're dealing with some things that
we didn't have to think about whenwe were kids. I mean, yeah,
there were fights and people, youknow, there was there was violence
(08:28):
and all those things. But interms of like the way school shootings are
being normalized these days, it's avery different environment. And I know Dream
and I both have school aid children, and it's it's it's a fear,
right Like you you push through dailyand you're like, I'm not gonna let
this fear take over, but itis something that comes to mind. Um,
(08:52):
but in your mind, you werelike, I'm not gonna sit here
and just be fearful. I'm gonnafigure out a way to give these kids,
uh, not only like we talkedabout the confidence, but give them
just like that sense of reassurance withthis this backpack that you gotta talk to
us about the backpack. I justI have a philosophy that that kids are
(09:15):
all responsibility, not just mine,but all of them. So like back
in the when I grew up inEast Oakland, it was it was in
the era where yeah, you hadyour your mom, but the next door
neighbor was like your second mom andthe next door neighbor with your third mom.
So you can snitch thee like ifyou like my sister, My sister
(09:35):
walked down the street after school andlike hYP hyped her skirt up. After
she got around the corner, mymom was still gonna find out because the
community was was was parenting as well, you know what I mean. So
then she get home and be like, I know what you did when so
she's my sister was slick. Shehad change your clothes in the backpack and
(09:56):
switch it up. So and andso I feel like in this day and
age, I still move with that, like, not only is my kids
my responsibility, but the communities kids, they're all my responsibility. So as
a designer, what can I doto help? What can I do to
add value? And so when shitlike that was popping off. It was
(10:16):
breaking my heart. You know,it was breaking my heart. And because
the feeling of what that mom orthat dad had to go through. Uh,
and these kids is innocent. Thesekids are innocent. So what I
would what I composed was like,you know, how could we protect these
children? And so, you know, the bulletproof backpack just became the next
(10:37):
logical step of like, that's somethingthey carry every day, they have on
them all the time, and inan event of some a situation like that,
they can get behind that backpack andthey can feel some sort of security.
It's not a fix all, it'snot a magic bullet or nothing,
but at least there's some form ofprotection. And as a parent, you
(11:00):
could feel safe, just even ifit's just a little more safe to letting
your kids go out in that worldknowing they got something to protect them,
because because they gotta go out.They gotta go out, they gotta go
to school, they gotta they gottathey gotta play on these teams. They
gotta build their confidence, they gottabuild their skills. They can't they can't
just be in the house, right. So, um, and I don't
(11:24):
want to cut you off the stuffingbut like when I was younger, you
have you can go in different silos. So if you wanted to be in
the streets, you could go tothe streets. If you want to be
you know hoo, you go tothe hood, you knew what comp came
with it, you know what I'msaying. If you want to go to
to um the Grimiest club on aSaturday night, you know, downtown Oakland,
you took the risk. But nowadaysthese things are random. You can
(11:46):
be school, in grocery store orjust some random places, and so it
takes away kind of your conscious decisionmaking to be in them spots. You
just live in you right, right, And like you said, it's not
it's not an end off fix all. It's not. You know, these
things are still gonna happen, butjust to have that like that sense of
(12:07):
like, Okay, I might havea little line of defense or an extra
line of defense and can help themwalk a little a little more comfortable,
right um and and us parents feela little a little bit safe for dropping
them off at school. And theother part of it too is, you
know, growing up in California,earthquake preparedness was kind of something that was
(12:28):
ingrained in us. It was like, okay, you knew what to do.
Mind you, we didn't really haveany earthquakes, you know, outside
of the eighty nine, right,but other than that, but you knew,
we knew what to do. Thoughthis job, I started shaking.
I'm I'm gonna get under this deskor I'm gonna getting you know. So
so now it's like and we laughabout it, but it's reality. These
kids are preparing for if a shootingshould happen. What do they do in
(12:50):
those instances? And a lot oftimes they don't know what to do.
And you just having this conversation oflook, here's a backpack, here's your
here's your way to protect yourself,to to um not freeze up if something
like this happens, because it's aterrifying situation. So you know, um,
I've given you all the props before, but I definitely want to give
(13:11):
you your flowers here today because youknow the fact that you you know,
you're part of this, this thisvillage mindset that that Drena and I are
part of, which is you know, it takes a village when I see
somebody else's kid, you know,lost at the grocery store. My first
instinct is to we gotta find where'syour mother? Whereas I've seen a grown
(13:33):
person, a grown ass person,continue on their phone as if and I'm
like, you're just gonna let thatbaby walk in the street like these are
these are all our kids, um. And and that's the part that that
concerns me, is that we're notall a part of this, this mindset
of the village um. And weneed to have more adults subscribe to this
(13:56):
mindset because these kids, you know, you look at other countries. Kids
in Japan, they're two and threeyears old and can walk miles to the
store and there's no problem, Imean right, And it's so safe that
even adults on the way there arehelping them, and they have some of
(14:18):
them will have like a it's likea specific color or flag that they wear
so that adults will know when they'recrossing the street. I mean they will
stop. Everything stops when the babyis coming by. And they don't make
them feel uncomfortable, They don't likemake them hesitate on their own confidence.
They build them up as they goalong. And it's all about this this
(14:39):
feeling of honor, community and takingcare of each other, and we need
to get back to that. Likeyou said, Core, you mentioned it
when your sister would cut around thehead quarter, she should know it's gonna
be about or more all that roomto school. I remember being in high
school and being so nervous to dothings, and my friends would be like
(15:01):
your family is now. I'm like, you have no idea. I'm a
village. My aunt could drive byit anytime, my cousin could drive by
it anytime, just on their wayto work. And I'm out here with
y'all. Oh no, i gottaget to the class. And it was
it was a kind of fear thatwasn't like you know anything that you resented.
(15:22):
You felt the love right like youwere like, I don't need to
be out here with y'all because theylove me too much. They won't beat
me up if I never not evenbeat me up physically, but with words
to where I didn't even have right, didn't even have to put hands on
you sometimes because you'd be so afraid, like, uh, they're about to
tell Grandma too. Oh no,you know what I'm saying. I say
(15:43):
all that to say, like weneed to get back to that mentality of
like look, if I'm driving mykids off to this practice or this event,
all of your parents that are here, I'm trusting you with my baby,
just like if you were to dropoff here and I'm the parent bringing
snacks or whatever the case, I'mhere to look after the kids too.
(16:03):
So I like that now more though, Unfortunately, you know, how do
we bring that back? That's theconversation we got. We just I just
I just do it. I justdo it. I mean some people are
so they only worry about themselves thatyeah. Yeah, it's like individualism.
It's like we're in the age ofindividualism, and so like we we damn
(16:27):
near need like new community commandments likehere the new commandments. First thing number
one is to protect these children.You know what I'm saying. Yeah,
yeah, that's just being given likekids. Yea yeah ye. But nowadays
neighbors don't talk to one another,like it's just there's just no sense of
(16:48):
community. Like you said, nomatter where you live, people just worry
about themselves yea. Yeah. Andit's funny because I chuckle because I had
to be there neighbor that was justlike, well, hello, you know,
I speak to all my neighbors andso I have a couple that I've
known for for a very long timeand they're the same way. And so
when we have new people move in, you know, we make it a
(17:11):
point. And it's not even oneof those like the only thing I can
think that's coming to mind is likeNed Flanders and the Simpsons, who's like
annoying, Like it's not that levelof like hello, it's like, hey,
we all live here, let's alltry to, you know, let's
get to know each other, becauseum, it's the only way right to
keep it safe, to keep itclean, to keep it community that you
want to live in, right ringCookies do you bring cookies? You know?
(17:36):
I bring I like to think Ibring words that are like sweet as
cookies. I break right, right, I try, I try. I
bring other stuff. I bring otherstuff, Like we did. We did
it. We had a cookout overthe weekend time and so we you know,
brought some different you know, meatsand things like that. But you
know, I I'm not gonna actlike I'm missus Fields up in here,
(17:59):
but you know, you know youknow so. But I mean I say
all that to say like we weknow what's missing. We know you know
what we need in the community.And it's not not everybody likes to talk.
Not everybody likes to be in eachother's business. And that's okay.
Just if the kids are outside andyou see a fast car like just you
know, add that little extra senseof adult stability for those babies. So
(18:26):
you know, we appreciate, weappreciate what you're doing with these backpacks.
And I think the one thing wedidn't touch on with the backpacks is that
you've been doing this like giving themaway. You're not even asking for these
kids to buy them. Nah.I think my goal is to get them
out. So what I do iswe have them on the site to sell,
so whichever want anyone that gets soldand were given one away. So
(18:48):
we're always trying to find ways togive them away. So if we get
donations, which happened sometimes, man, that's that those donations go towards giving
them to a particular community or groups. My goals is to get them out.
We make our money and other stuff, that's right, That's that's our
goals to get those backpacks in people'shands. So we made we got two
versions now, a heavier version anda smaller version for smaller kids. And
(19:14):
I'm gonna keep figuring out ways tomake them where either they're more compact or
easy because there they are a littleheavy. Um. But the goal is
to make as like many variations aswe can so that people have options,
you feel me, Yeah, Andthey kind of have to have that that
a little bit away to them inorder for the kids to have some safety.
(19:37):
So I appreciate that you guys arelooking at ways to kind of streamline
that. But you know, ifpeople are interested and they're they're hearing this
podcast and they want to find out, like how can I donate a backpack
or twenty? You know what Imean, where should they go? I
mean, if you want to purchaseone, you go to Courtsmouth dot com.
Or if you want to donate,then you go to you can go
to Ascension. That's the nonprofit onum that allows you to donate. Any
(20:03):
donations you make will go towards givingfree backpacks. So UM, we must
ascend dot org as the nonprofit thatcourt Smith works with and uses um so
that we can distribute as many backbacksas we can. I love sure to
put the links yeah on the podcastas well. That's incredible. M And
(20:26):
and you know, It kind ofgoes back to this this idea of you
know, giving back, being apart of the community. Um, you
might not be one of those peoplethat likes to be hands on with kids.
Well look your your checkbook or youryou know what I'm saying, can
can be a way to give backto these babies. And you know you're
doing so many great things with theyouth. I mean I came out and
(20:47):
hosted one of the basketball events forthe youth. It was so dope to
meet them and just see that theirfaces light up when they get to feel
special, right um oh man,and you shot at them out on the
radio, and I mean those kidswere so exciting, Like you don't realize
how juice those kids were so justthat one thing you did. You know,
(21:11):
it's funny that you bring that up. Thank you for mentioning that,
because you know, we we do. We meet a lot of people and
I'm so fortunate to be able tomeet a lot of people and to hear
them their excitement is what fuels usto keep doing it. Because we're in
a room talking on a mic.We don't always get that you know that
(21:32):
reply back, you feel what I'msaying, And so when we get out
in the community, we can actuallymeet people and talk to them. It
really it gives us that fuel tokeep doing it, especially us and do
like morning driving or up at likefour or five in the morning. You
know what I'm saying. And it'sfunny that you mentioned those youth because I
actually hosted an event over the weekendtime and one of the kids came out
the cut because my daughter and myson were in. They had like a
(21:53):
little jumphouse at this community family dayand they're jumping. I'm over there in
mambo like, oh no, you'reabout to fall off, Like you gotta
come out. And so the kidscame from the basketball tournament. They're like,
Lady Ray, like, excuse me, let me switch back. It
was hella cute because they were like, you was at You're supposed to be
(22:14):
at the basketball thing. I'm like, I go other places too, you
know. Oh yeah. They lovethat My phone was blown up the next
day. Felt like they were celebrities. They are. They are though,
and that's that's what your uniforms dofor them. They give them that that
when they walk into the building,and the backpacks give these kids that ump
that they need to get to schoolevery day because they don't want to go
(22:37):
sometimes and it's the fact that you'retaking the time to do all that and
and then also you know, plantingthese seeds into your kids and tell and
showing them, hey, look basketballwasn't for you, but guess what this
might be. And it takes thosemoments um to find out what they really
love and what they like doing.And I really appreciate she ain't the fact
(23:00):
that she shared that story about yourson being like, look, dad,
this ain't for me, because that'swhat you want. You want those moments
of like I love this or Ihate this. Let's find something else.
And it's it's it's tough because I'mI'm in the I'm in the newer parent
category. And my mind in thebeginning was like, oh my god,
(23:22):
I gotta save up for the forthe I don't like this moments, right
because these are not cheap exploration activities, right like trying new sports and new
foods and new my daughter, Mydaughter picked up a book the other day
and in the front of it itwas basically showing them. It's an alphabetical
book, but it's showing them eachjob that they could have using the alphabet
(23:45):
court, Drina, if I cantell you, this girl went through that
book and said, I want this, I want that, I want the
keyboard, I want the ballet shoes. Like, hold hold on, hold
on, hold on. We couldhave we could do we could try these
things, but we're gonna have tolet's do one at a time. You're
not gonna you're not gonna try allten at once because you won't be able
to find out if you like itor not. Yeah, how old is
(24:06):
she? How old is she?She is three going on fifteen? So
oh yeah, oh yeah, that'sthe perfect age. I got my partner
in crime right here. Oh she'slike, she like, I did not
prove you to turn the camera thisway, dad. Yeah, you mentioned
you have a twenty six year oldson, and so what the ages of
(24:27):
your other children? I got twentythree year old son, and then I
gotta she's about to be seven inall. Yeah, oh to be the
little sister with two big brothers.Got a wide range. Range. That's
because you had to. That's becauseyou had to build up the team to
protect the baby girl. That's whatit was. My second son was played
(24:52):
basketball, did one year of collegeand now he in the music. He
loves music now, so he's workingon his music career. He's pretty dope.
And she she's just like your daughters. Like she she had like ten
things you want to be, Sowe're gonna go curated, see what you
want. Sports is not on thelist though, at all. To make
it clear, they know, theyknow my nine year old, he's no
(25:18):
no interest in sports nine year onnow, No thanks, no, no
thank you. I know. Andyou can't force it, you know,
like you said, you just gottakind of see what they are. But
they're into and let them kind ofjust uh becoming they're supposed to be.
(25:38):
I guess, yeah. And it'sit's such an amazing journey to be on
to be able to watch them growand go from these little you know,
beings that don't even can't even moveor anything, and now they're full on
talking sentences and and have you stoppingyour tracks? Like whoa did you just
(25:59):
ask me? Need that? Likeman, I mean, and I don't
want to get too philosophical about it, but like children, my children have
been my biggest teachers. You know. They've helped me change as a person
more than any book, any religion, any anything, because when you love
something that much and you know thatcertain behavior is contingent upon, you know
(26:21):
changing certain behavior is contingent upon youcontinue to be a good father, like
you're gonna change a lot of times, not every time, and that they've
I've I've changed a lot. They'vetaught me a lot, you know,
my good and my my dark sides, and helped me confront them. So
I owe them pretty much as muchas they feel they owe me. You
(26:41):
know, Yeah, I agree.I always say they you learn a lot
about yourself when you become a parent. I've had a lot of eye awakening
moments where I'm like, oh,that's me. I need to fix what
he's doing. Is I did?Yeah, dig, that's exactly what I'm
talking about. Learn a lot anda lot of that's a that's a healing
(27:03):
journey. I remember doing that,saying, man like that irritates the hell
out of me about my son,like I wouldn't fuck he wouldn't be one
of my partners in real life becauseof some irritating that thing. But then
I realized, damn, that's hegot that from me. Oh the mirror
check is a man, yes,And they don't prepare you for the mirror
(27:29):
check, like you know, youlearned that, you said. They say
these things to you, like getsome sleep, You're not gonna sleep much.
Uh, you know you are gonnachange, but you're still gonna be
you. They don't tell you aboutthe mirror check because they know if they
had told you about this mirror check, it might have shifted how you how
you how you moved in the parenthoodfor sure. What I think is the
most important is, you know,uh, is making that change for the
(27:52):
kids because some people know it's fromthem, but they don't want to make
that change and say, like right, as a parent, you know you
got to be willing to to dothat too. That's true. Benefit the
kids, you know, that's true. That that's to me, what actually
breaking generational curses is is is acknowledgingwhat's been handed down to you that's not
(28:19):
productive for your kids and deciding tobreak that ship before it gets too deep
into them, right. And that'sthe hardest, That's one of the hardest
things to do, but it's worthit. I think I agree, Yeah,
says the says the dad who hasa designer in Paris, a musician
aspiring and a young lady a youngqueen growing over there, and I love
(28:41):
it. I love it. Givesome advice to the dad or the mom
who's listening that has wanted to starta business, has wanted to get back
in the community, and you knowwhat, what are some things that they
could do to get that launched offthe ground. And it's I will tell
you this, it's it's a tremendoushow to sacrifice you it's sacrifice. So
(29:03):
um, some of the hardest thingsto do is build a business or something
when you have a family, becausethere's a tradeoff in time and so um,
you know, you might feel badsometimes with that tradeoff in time,
or if you're trying to make itup by waking up before the kids or
working after the kids is sleep,then then that tradeoff is your sleep and
(29:26):
that your health. So there's there'ssacrifices everywhere, and so I think it
comes down to what you're willing togive up. You know, you got
to give up a lot. Andso like you can't go to everybody's parties,
you can't go to everybody's birthday parties, you can't go to everybody's events.
You can't because if you have friends, then there's always something. So
(29:48):
you need time to work on yourship or to build your brand or build
or whatever, and you're gonna bepulling from even time with your family to
help build it. So you definitelygot to cut the fat, you know,
around your life in order to gatheras much time and be consistent with
it. You know. I thinkone of the things mistakes I made at
(30:08):
the very beginning was I shielded mykids from being in the working with me.
So I'll just leave him at homebecause I figure they have more fun
at home. But they never sawme because I was hustling, hustling,
hustle, hustling, hustling. Sonow it's like I'd rather have her around
me complaining that she wants to gosomewhere or go to the park or whatever,
(30:29):
but she's with me, versus likebeing at home and never see me.
So it's it's not it's a journeyand this is a sacrifice. But
I think if you got a purpose, then you got a passion, and
you got something that really driving you, it's in the back of your head
that you can't get out, thenyou have to find a way to harmonize
it. Another thing I'll say isthis with this type of shit is not
(30:53):
balanced. There's no balance. Don'twork. Balance works when you have like
more corporate if you're in the corporateworld, entrepreneurially balanced don't work. It's
harmony. You gotta harmonize it.So you got to fit it in.
You got to be able to fitit all in, like the harmony of
a song versus balance. There's harmony. There's ways you can find to put
(31:18):
things in if you if you spreadit out like a music sheet, you
know you can you can fit itall in. But there ain't no harmony
and entrepreneurship at all because you'd beup two o'clock in the morning sometimes trying
to figure it out or replying anemail or whatever. I love that.
I'm I'm I'm singing harmony all weekbecause of course, and then a week
(31:41):
after week after week to months andmonths a year. I appreciate those those
those uh, the hard work forsure, because I think with this day
and age that we live in,like you know, you see social media
and people just think you can getit like that, and right, that's
not how it works. So hellno, I mean, and and here's
another thing, stop looking at socialmedia to compare like comparison is dangerous because
(32:04):
ninety for some of them, theyain't got ship like that. They broke
us hell like they life is fuckedup. So but they'll put the pretty
parts up and it's like the partthat you want and you think, damn,
I'm a failure. Are ain't thereyet? But really they worse off
than you. So another thing,don't even trip like like that's all like
acting social media. You you dowhat you just be a better version of
(32:30):
you. That's sat everything right right, And I think that's that you said
it right there, like the bestand better version of yourself because there is
no one like you. You canyou know, you can sit and compare
yourself and tear yourself down, butit's not going to do you any good.
And you're you. That person canhave all the things you think you
(32:50):
want, but it still would bedifferent on you no matter what. So
there it is. Court Smith giventhe website one more time Courtsmith dot com,
court Smift dot com. We're inthe fangs out season two, so
we're gonna be dropping stuff every weekto the rest of the year. Love
it, love it, appreciate youcoming on with us and he Fathers Day
months yes, appreciate y'all, Thankyou for having me.
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