New Beginnings: Financial Empowerment, Fatherhood, and Community Connection

Welcoming a new life and relocating has brought profound changes, deepening our appreciation for family and the moments we cherish together. This episode is packed with personal stories and insights into these significant life transitions, including the joy of sharing these experiences on social media and the emotional journey of fatherhood. We are excited to introduce our guest, Lou Rosado Jr., a financial planner who brings a refreshing approach to financial literacy, making it accessible to everyone through his straightforward, fee-based services. Lou shares his inspiring story of self-education driven by the challenges of finding financial advisors willing to work with someone earning a good income, and his passion for empowering others to take control of their financial future. 

Football fans, we haven't forgotten you! This episode also captures the energy and excitement of sharing lively interactions with fellow fans from teams like the Bills, Texans, and Miami. The episode transitions into the complex world of parenting, celebrating the achievements of our daughters in college and nursing internships, and the journey of our son as he embraces the challenges of entrepreneurship. We reflect on past struggles with addiction, the resilience it requires, and the joy of witnessing our children's growth and success. Amidst all, we highlight the importance of community and the role of supportive environments, drawing from experiences at veteran-owned business expos and the impactful work of organizations like the PTSD Foundation.

In another heartfelt segment, we express our gratitude for educators who have played transformative roles in our lives, sharing stories like that of my high school English teacher, Ms. Corey. Her genuine support during challenging times left an indelible mark, inspiring a commitment to positively impacting the lives of others. The episode takes a thoughtful look at navigating life's challenges, from overcoming gambling and addiction to the positive changes sobriety brings. We dive into the importance of rebuilding connections, especially in the face of social media setbacks, and the invaluable support networks among veterans. Join us for an episode filled with personal growth, community impact, and meaningful connections.

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Charlie Mike Military Apparel
Veteran Owned & Operated

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Charlie Mike the podcast Veterans helping
veterans.
Talking about things happeningin the veteran community, Things
we've experienced and overcome,such as addictions, PTSD,
depression, legal trouble, andwe also promote veteran-owned
businesses.
If you're talking about it,we're talking about it.

(00:24):
This is Charlie Mike thepodcast.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
So yo, what's going on everybody?
Welcome back to another episodeof Charlie Mike the podcast.
As always, I'm your host, ro,and man, things have been kind
of hectic, as you know that I'vebeen on a little hiatus.
There's been a lot going on inthe back, brought in a new baby
and a new location.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
That's not me by the way, I'm not the baby.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
So if you follow me on social media you know I share
a lot of stuff and it's ablessing.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
You know the family's growing man, the family's
growing it's a beautiful thingbro, it is when I saw that, that
little thing man like, look atthat.
Let's hashtag god's work rightthere bro, I was.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was an emotional wreck, like.
For like a week I felt like man.
I was man.
I was crying for any littlereason I really was like after
is that all one week?
Oh man, no bro, I'm still doingit.
I'm like I was trying to man upa little bit, but I can't.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Let it out, bro.
Let it out, that is manning up.
Let it out.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Man.
It's a surreal feeling becauseI have older kids.
My daughter, faith, is 19.
She's about to be 20.
My daughter, layla's, 12, aboutto be 13.
And um, you know when, when myyoungest, my oldest excuse me,
faith man, was in the militaryman, yeah, I was doing the army

(01:52):
thing, I was doing the the partything.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
I wasn't worried about trying to be a father and
cherish these moments because,you know, didn't realize that it
goes by so fast yes so now I'msitting back and I'm I'm more
cognizant, you're more aware,you're taking the moments
gratitude right taking themoments and I'm sitting back and
it just it's just.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
I get emotional all the time, you know, and I just
like, uh, it's, it's just, it'scrazy.
And, um, I'm blessed, dude, I'm42 years old, I got a newborn
baby, a beautiful, beautifulgirlfriend who's soon to be
fiance Shh, don't tell her.
And yeah, man, it's just, youknow, business is booming.

(02:34):
Man, I'm in a new location.
Well, man, this is about man.
Let me talk about it.
First of all, introduceyourself, man.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, yeah, man Lou Rosado Jr.
Man a lot of things I do.
Financial planners where arethe bread and butter at?
So I do what's called fee-basedfinancial planning.
Super simple.
I don't do complex.

(03:03):
Life, as you know, brother,brother is complicated enough as
it is.
How about we simplify?
yeah simple, right.
So I take that approach tofinancial planning.
I do it for a flat fee.
Yeah, I don't care about howmuch money you have, right, I
care about where you want to goand what you want to do with the
money that you do have.
Right, and I meet you where youare meaning.

(03:24):
If you don't know thedifference between a stock and a
bond brother, that's wherewe're going to start.
Yeah, that's good, and mythought process, my ideology, my
system, is to educate you.
That way you can now makeinformed decisions about what's
best for you and your family.
With my guidance, right, I rockwith you.

(03:44):
My guidance, right, I rock withyou.
Yeah, right.
So that approach.
It's very unique in my industrybecause full disclosure, man,
there's not a lot of incomethere.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
In being the.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
In doing it in that capacity.
Okay, okay, I got you Right.
It's ground level, it'sgrassroots, it's the nooks and
crannies, right, us normalpeople, so to speak.
Yeah, yeah yeah, right, thatdon't make tons of money, so we
don't need financial literacy,right.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
I'll tell you one thing, One thing I love about
you and I see we talked aboutyour social media thing going on
right now.
Well, we could touch on that alittle bit, but I one thing I
love about you, man, is the wayI learn is is it sounds dumb,
but I go and I get a book on howto do this for dummies and

(04:42):
because it breaks it down barneystyle right yeah man, I forgot
barney style.
Yes, sir so uh, that's the way II learned and I see that you,
you make it simple man yes andand bravo, that's.
That's, that's props to you,man thank you, brother.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
You know it.
Honestly, it stems from meneeding it, not be able, not
being able to find it yeah, okayyou know, I was 41, 40, 41 and
man, I'm making good money, butI don't understand.
I don't even know my 401k, howit works right and I could not
get a financial advisor to workwith me.
Yeah, and it's because I didn't, I wasn't bringing.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Even though I was making great money, I wasn't
bringing even though I wasmaking great money, I wasn't
bringing significant amount tothe table and I didn't
understand that.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
they work for commission.
The average is about 1%, giveor take a bit here or there.
And I got frustrated.
I said, all right, well, thatmeans I need to level up then.
So at 42, I went to college.
41, I went to college by 43, Iwas done my associates and my
bachelor's and decided I wasgoing to be a financial planner

(05:48):
and, yeah, of course, take careof doctors and lawyers and all
that.
Why?
Because if nobody's going to doit, then I need all of you all
to move out of my way so that Ican do it.
Okay, that was what got methrough.
That's how I was able to powerthrough getting two degrees in
two years.
Yeah, I was able to powerthrough getting two degrees in
two years.
Yeah Dang, I'm going to do forothers what nobody's going to do
for me.
Mm-hmm and not you know.

(06:12):
Let me be clear.
There are people that would youknow.
Give me a tip or two here orthere.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
No, no, that's not what I'm looking for Right.
So now that's the space that Ioperate in.
It's super.
I take the complex.
We make it really really simple.
Understand, cool, greatCongratulations.
You're now a professional right.
You're a specialist.

(06:37):
You understand how lifeinsurance operates right Now.
How much of which type do youfeel works best for you?
And we have that conversationabout you and your family.
Okay okay, and we just applythat accordingly, every step, my
whole process is upwards of onaverage.
It's about a dozen or someetings before you have a full,

(06:57):
comprehensive financial plan.
We're going to talk about yourtax situation.
I'm going to look over yourhomeowners and car insurance to
make sure you're adequatelycovered there.
I don going to look over yourhomeowners and car insurance to
make sure you're adequatelycovered there.
I don't sell it I have peoplefor that but it's a dollar sign.
It's part of your expenses, oneof your expenses right.
So, we need to make sure thatyou're taken care of.
We're going to look at yourestate planning.

(07:19):
You can put up the best fightin the world, brother, but
Father Tom is undefeated.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
You're going one day.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Hopefully it's decades from now, but even if it
is that, then what?
What are we leaving behind?

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Now I've run into a lot of old heads that they talk
about, like financial planningand things like that.
But I know a lot of them say,hey, when I die I want the last
check I write to bounce.
How do you feel when you hearsomebody say that?

Speaker 3 (07:53):
So if I had a client that was of that mindset?
Listen, it's not about myopinions.
It's about how do we executethat Right?
Okay, how do we execute that?
And getting you to understandthe trade-offs I actually know

(08:15):
someone who lives in that space.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Not a client, just a friend.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right, right right.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
That's why it's not a client.
But, you know, listen it's notme.
It's not him.
If you're going to operate thatway, you need to be prepared
for if you go tomorrow, right,or if you go 35 years from now.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah , Right.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
And what if there's an accident Just because?

Speaker 1 (08:41):
listen, it's not live , or die.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Right, right.
There's a thing called disabled.
It happens very good.
Friend of mine, one of my bestfriends, sister, car accident,
wheelchair, perfectly fine uphere and a willing able from the
waist up.
That's a game changer.
Yeah, man, right.
So what about those situations?

(09:05):
If you truly don't care aboutany of it, you just want to
spend, then you really don'tneed me.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
Right, right, right, you know.
Okay, I see God bless you.
Have at it.
Yeah, yeah, have fun, becareful.
Yeah, yeah, hope it works outfor you, Skipper yeah, man,
that's crazy.
So hey, uh how this is yourfirst christmas here, or your
second?

Speaker 3 (09:27):
it is my second christmas here.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Second christmas and you originally from new from new
jersey.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, I'm a good dude .
Please don't hold it against me, man.
All right, man now?

Speaker 2 (09:36):
are you getting comfortable enough on christmas
day to be wearing flip-flops,t-shirts and a shirt?

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yes, don't threaten me with a good time you don't
miss this now.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
What?

Speaker 3 (09:47):
If I never see another flake a day in my life,
it will be too soon.
I see it on TV and I change thechannel.
A day like that, listen, youknow I lived in my house for 17
years in New Jersey.
Yeah, did a ton of, I meanstripped it down to the studs,
brother.
Ceiling jersey.
Yeah, did a ton of, I meanstripped it down to the studs,

(10:09):
brother, um ceiling, everything,new floors, and that was over a
stretch, you know, and a lot oftime, a lot of money, a lot of
sweat equity, a lot of a lot ofheart you know um taking that
house and making it our home andpeople said, man, all that,
what did it feel like when youleft?
I, bro, I didn't even look inthe rearview mirror.
That's it Gone.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
Gone.
Don't miss it in the least.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Did you change your sports teams?
Yet I noticed you've beencatching a couple of sporting
events.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Quite a few brother.
We've been to Roughneck Games.
We've been to Astros games.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
They do it different out here boy.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Understatement, Understatement.
But you know what I'll say.
This too, it's with such a highlevel of respect too.
Okay, Because on the East Coast, oh bro, they look for fights.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Oh yeah, Well, you go to a Dallas game, they do that.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
I get that.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so we're kind of different down
here in the South.
Yeah, yeah, we like to chill.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
I went to the Texans game, so I'm a Bills fan.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Okay, okay, oh, y'all got a crazy freaking fan base,
bro what?

Speaker 3 (11:16):
I love it, man, I don't understand, and I've seen
it grow.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
The table thing is crazy.
I don't understand it.
It's insane, bro.
It's crazy, I don't understandit.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
It's insane, bro I don't know, there's a lot of hey
, listen, I mean, thecheeseheads weren't normal and
now they are right.
So there's the mafia brother.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
You right, you right, you right.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
But Miami came to town, so it was kind of like a
win-win for me.
I get to support the Texanswhile rooting you know what I
mean against Miami, whatnot?
And it was so much fun to justwatch the dynamic because all
the fans were trash talking.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yep, there was a lot of Miami fans there, bro.
Yeah, it was loud in there whenthings were going the other way
.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
I was a little surprised.
I was like H-Town gotta step up, come on now.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
But-.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
There was a lot of Houston-born players on the
Miami team.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Houston-born players on every team?

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, but I guess they were like pretty good
friends and family.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
You know what I mean Like so yeah, the whole half of
one side of the stadium was thatteal?

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, it's crazy man.
Yeah, it's crazy.
It was like that when I wentlast year when Pittsburgh came
to town.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Pittsburgh fans travel.
I thought I was at.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Pittsburgh for a minute.
Man, all them yellow towels andeverything.
I was like whoa they travel.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
I'll go to pretty much any football game.
I won't go to Dallas because Iwon't go to any Dallas thing.
I mean, not to talk about allthe fans, but a lot of them.
Bro, just don't know how to act.
Yeah, you know, and it's just.
I mean you put Dallas andHouston together and it just
doesn't.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Imagine those fans in Philly.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
I couldn't imagine.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Nah, philly's bro.
We play Philly once every fouryears.
They're gangster too, huh.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Worse than Raiders.
Oh man, women will pick a fightwith you.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Oh shit, that's Dallas, oh bro it's yeah like I
don't take my wife.
I've been to several footballgames.
I don't take my wife with me.
I've never taken my kids withme.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
So when, when the football football came back to
Houston, man, the tailgate ruleswere come, everybody, party,
yeah, everybody, get down withthe get down.
Um, no tickets needed, nothinglike that, man, just come and
tailgate.
And then, uh, we played dallasfor the first time and shit got
game changer.
Yeah, all fights people gotarrested.

(13:34):
It was crazy, it was, it wasjust insane.
After that they changed therules, like yo you know it's
been a while at last.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, y'all gotta, y'all gotta have.
That's where the rules comeright.
When things get out of control,walls get broken.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Okay, so let's make these rules now, you know it's
the same thing in the militaryman when you walk into a
restroom and it says don't pisson the ceiling.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
you know somebody pissed on the ceiling.
Like oh man with the family howare they doing?

Speaker 2 (14:08):
oh, man, you know, your daughter was in college.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
My daughter is yes, she's still.
She's wrapping up.
As a matter of fact, she justbanged out her um midterms, yeah
, so she is now unwinding anddecompressing there, that's a
lot, man yeah yeah, you know,and, um, baby girl is doing her
thing and it is so.
It's such a bittersweet thing,right.
It's like you fold the perfectpaper airplane.

(14:30):
You know everything is likeincredible and amazing and then
you just want to keep it becauseit's like so perfect bro.
But you know they're made to beflown right and you're just
watching this thing sail and itis beautiful.
It just glides and it just getsfurther and further and further
and you're like proud of it butyou miss it as I know how you
feel, man, especially with that.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
My daughter did a nursing thing and uh, she, she
went and she graduated and she'sdoing her internship.
She's got another week ofinternship and uh, she called me
the other day and said, dad,she said, uh, they had a, they
had a sit down with me at the,at the, the place she works.
And I said, oh yeah.
I said what would they say?
They said, well, they said theylove the way I work.

(15:11):
They want, they want to hire menow I said, man, that's amazing
man.
I said what'd you say?
she said, yes, I was like goodwork, ethic brother man you know
, uh, just so proud of her, man,she's, she's, she's knocking it
out, man you.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
You know she's been through a lot bro.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
I put her through a lot Not to talk about her mom,
but her mom did too.
You know, we were young, dumbkids.
Been there, done that Battlingour own demons with addiction
and things like that man.
It's just to see her man shine,bro.
I'm just like dang, you know Iwant to take credit, but at the

(15:46):
same time I'm like no, I knowthat I helped, but I didn't help
as much as I could.
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
You know I look at my kids.
You know, my son is 24.
I just turned 24 last month andhe is going down the
entrepreneur path now.
Yes, so being an entrepreneur,I was just as proud as I was
petrified.
Yeah, yeah yeah, like, oh, gotto hustle baby.
We thought it was tough before.
You know he's doing the thing10-hour days, you know, putting

(16:25):
everything he's got into it, sohelping him as much as I can,
but he's stubborn, he's like Dad, I got it.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
You know, because I kind of know what it is, you
know.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
But to your point, man, you know you're always I
don't care, man, how good of afather you are you will always
feel like there's one momenthere, one moment there, where
you could have done.
You know what that's called,bro Hindsight yeah, 2020, man,
you're right, you're right, youknow I look at situations in the

(16:58):
past, like you know, I probablycould have handled that better
with my daughter.
Know, um, win more than you lose.
Right, take more, put up moredubs, and you do l's, yeah, yeah
, and you pray for the bestright you know.
And then I look at themgrinding, putting in in the work
, and you know it's like allright maybe I did all right.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
maybe it wasn't perfect, but it was perfect them
.
It was questionable there for alittle bit, but yeah, yeah man.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Especially, you know similar, my wife and I.
We've been together almost 30years now, so we were kids when
we got together.
Yeah, she was 18.
I was 19.
Oh, yeah, we're babies.
Yeah, man, you know, stilltrying to learn, wipe my own ass
.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Much less this kid's now.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
And I got you know, oh, bro you know, and that's why
I have all the respect in theworld for single moms.
You know, my mother was asingle mother and I knew how
hard it was for her.
I knew how hard it was for mywife and I and we were both
there and present and active,and it was still tough.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
So when I see a single mom doing that damn thing
.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Oh man, it just it's amazing, man.
I choke up, bro, Bro, I tellyou.
I tell you, man, you know, ITony that's my girlfriend's name
who, bro, she's shining man,she's shining.
And I tell her.
I said, claire, you're doingamazing.
I said, you're absolutelyeverything.
I said I don't even think it'spossible, but I feel like I've
fallen madly or deeply in lovewith you because of watching you

(18:36):
stop that watching you do whatyou do right now.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
You know what I'm saying fall in love with that
woman every single morning.
Yeah, don't let it slip, bro.
I'm telling you.
Every morning you open youreyes, look at her and fall in
love again.
Man, that's dope, I'm tellingyou.
Man, yeah, you know, sincemoving here, we've been together

(19:02):
for 28 years now and I'vewatched her over this past year
like if this has been her growthin life, it's a wall right now
that she just, I mean,absolutely exploded um and still
finding her new way yeah, youknow.
You know, and I'm just, I'mabsolutely loving it, doing what

(19:26):
I can to try to find thebalance of helping and
encouraging and supporting whilestaying out of her way.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Right right, right right.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Right, don't grow the way I want you, right.
But you tell me what you needand sometimes you know what it
is right.
You don't know what you need,right.
So that's my role in therelationship, you know, to
figure out what she needs, tohelp her be her, yeah, and find
her.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
That's dope, yeah, boy dropping, dropping jewels
man I appreciate you, brother,yeah man.
So uh man, I noticed you'vebeen uh real active with the
houston veteran chamber ofcommerce yes.
What's your position there?
How did you get involved withthat?

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Yeah.
So when I first came down hereI didn't know anybody.
I went to a networkingconference and I got the
opportunity to be on stage for a10-minute hot seat session, q&a
.
And somewhere along the linesI'd mentioned something about
the Marine Corps and I got abark from the audience.
I barked back Fucking Marines.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
You know how it is man.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Everything stops man you made eye contact, lock in
see my devil dog keep it moving.
After the session was done,beeline right for him and just
myself.
We start talking and hementions the chamber and I'm
like what, I can go and networkwith other military when and
where, and man it just I say itall.

(20:58):
It felt like home.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Right, right right.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
You know, it wasn't networking for the sake of
networking.
And first of all the second Ididn't even introduce myself,
but someone the man introducingme said Marine, and all of a
sudden people started takingshots.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh it's thatkind of party.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
This is real.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
That's why I love it Exactly right, exactly so, fell
in love from the rip.
They won and stuck around andcoincidentally, we were putting
together an expo.
It was just I think, maybe twomonths away at the GRB, about

(21:37):
200 veteran-owned businesseswere going to be on display
there at this expo and I said,hey, man, you guys need help.
They said, yeah, yeah, we gottons of things that need to be
done.
What can you do?
I can hammer the highest nail.
You got man point in adirection, so we need someone to
run.
Uh registration yeah, I said allright, what's entailed in that?

(21:58):
Well, anyone who comes up, youknow you going to have to check
them in, all right, cool.
So who do I help out?
I'm like, well, no, nobody'sdoing it, so now you do it.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Oh okay, was that John?

Speaker 3 (22:11):
It was John.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
What gave it away right.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
So, yeah, man, and God is great, he gave me a
couple of great volunteers, gavethem all the shine, gave them
all the light.
That great volunteers gave themall the shine, gave them all
the light.
You know, I, I, yeah, man, Itold them how things are going
to operate and step back and letthem do the thing.
You know, and I, and and um,during like once they were in
cruise control, I start floatingaround.

(22:37):
You know how you doing.
Hey, how did you hear about thechamber and how'd you hear
about this expo and gettinginput from people and talking to
people and meeting more peopleafter the expo was done?
Um, I see the trill, the, thetrio there was.
It was, uh, dave, john andjonathan yeah, you know, and
they're talking, they're kind oflooking at me and they're

(22:57):
talking and they're looking atme and I said to my wife I'm
like babe, something's about tohappen.
Yeah, you know.
And, uh, hold my purse, I guessI get that, yeah, yeah, I, I get
that right here, he goes youknow and um say listen, you know
we're looking for someone totake a leadership role.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
You know you're interested and you know me man,
yeah, yeah, yeah, how we do it,yeah I'm in.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
Well, let's talk about it.
We can talk about it on the way.
I'm in, um, the role ismembership director.
Okay, so my job, um in that, inthat role, is to support
membership on a ground levelright um, you and I had a
conversation, you know, sometime ago.
Um, you know what?
What do you need from thechamber?

(23:42):
right right right, right andfull transparency, right, you
know you, one of the things yousaid was the places you guys get
together.
Sometimes I I cannot go to withmy history, with my addiction.
It's not healthy for me.
Right, right, right.
Like man, we are failing thisguy, we're failing people like
him.
We can't have have that right.

(24:04):
So we've leveled up right and,as a matter of fact, we're going
to be at shout out, bubba's 33.
We're going to be at Bubba's 33in Pasadena, january 23rd, I
believe.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
It's going to be our first mixer down here.
I'll be there, oh man.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, I'll be there.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
That's a direct impact from your feedback.
You know locations matter umand for a myriad of reasons you
know so we were only doing umsmaller spots and and the only
consistent spot was honor cafein conroe oh, he's good people
um.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, chris, sad, I love that dude, he's, he's good
people man, I'll be here all day.
Yeah, yeah, Same same.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
All right, but Manitoba was far yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
People in Canaan.
But you're in that, you're kindof oh man.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
It's 20 minutes from Well, depending on traffic,
anywhere from 15 to 45 minutesright.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, well, shit with traffic.
We're looking at one day tomaybe an hour and a half.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right right, I can
get there in about an hour and ahalf to Friday, right you?

Speaker 1 (25:10):
know, yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
So people in Katy were like hey man, what about us
over here?

Speaker 2 (25:15):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
You know.
So now we're rocking androlling over there.
Scholars and Scoundrels is abeautiful location and we're
there once a month and um now onthe south side, man now on the
south side.
So yeah, we're uh yeah, we're,we're listening, we're growing
um it's, it's, uh, it's beenbeautiful man, it's man I gotta

(25:36):
link y'all up with with thepeople here at spacious man.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
They got an event center across the way and it's
nice man it's nice they, they doamazing things here.
It's like I told you, familyoperated uh amazing people, man
they're.
They've been nothing but uh,man, if hey here, do it.
Yeah, have fun let us know whatyou need and I'm like, okay,

(26:00):
that's a beautiful thing.
Yes, I came in here and I toldher.
I said hey, I said I'll besitting.
Um, I'll be sitting downlooking at the walls for a
little bit, just you know.
Don't mind me, I haven't lostmy mind, just trying to figure
it out she's all right.
so I was like, okay, okay, so Iput this up.
And she was like oh, you, youdo uh, you do uh some, what she

(26:23):
it remodeling on the sides.
I said, man, I've never donethis before in my life.
I said I Googled this and Iasked my brother and then I
painted that wall and I neverdid that.
I painted that and then we'redoing brick on that side.
It's just insane, man.
They've been so supportiveabout everything and I love it
here.
I love it here.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Peace of mind is priceless man.
Man, you're telling me itdefinitely is.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
For sure, and all the opportunities in the world are
opening up now and it's just,it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
That's been one of the greatest things here, right
Like when I came here, it waswhen you and I met my wife was
still back in Jersey.
I was here I call it on apart-time basis.
It was anywhere from three tosix weeks and I'd go back home
to Jersey for a week and thencome back and all I really

(27:16):
wanted to do was build my bookof business, learn Houston and
meet people.
Right, right right right a yearand some change later.
I have, I've done I I.
By that time, I lost count ofhow many podcasts I'd been on,
how many radio interviews I'dhad um co-wrote a book yeah,

(27:41):
yeah, I didn't, I didn't, Ididn't.
Yeah, co-wrote a book, I'll getyou a copy.
I didn't even think to bring itCool.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Tell me where to buy it.
I'll support bro.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
My man, yeah man, and that went number one on Amazon.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Best sellers for entrepreneurs.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
What's up?

Speaker 3 (28:01):
That was insane man.
Public speaking has become athing.
Took a bit of a hiatus fromthat because it just became too
much of a thing.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
Right.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
I see that I mean you either got it or you don't.
You know I can't.
The public speaking thing issomething that's always people
laugh.
Man, you do podcasting, bro.
You talk all day.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
I was like no, that's no, it's different it's a
completely listen just becauseyou funny can't mean, it doesn't
mean you can be a comedian.
Yeah right, it's.
It's two different things, man.
It really is.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
It really is I said well, I said, man, when I get in
front of people I don't knowwhat to do with my hands, I'm
like, oh, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Like it's just deliveries, oh man some of body
language reading the room.
I mean, there's so many otherthings that have to in order for
you to be a good public speaker.
All of that really has to besecond nature.
You can't be thinking about allof that, right?
If you're thinking, you'restinking.
All that's got to be secondnature.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
Were you always a good public speaker?
Did you take classes andstudied on that as well?

Speaker 3 (28:57):
No man.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
So it's something that was I never shied away from
it, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yeah.
You don't strike me as the shyaway type anyway in that
capacity.
No, not really.
One thing that gets me isoverthinking sometimes okay,
okay, yeah, yeah yeah, it'ssuper analytical you know,
thinking about and it becomesparalysis by analysis.
Right, if you're thinking abouteverything, you're not moving.
Yeah, right, so that was.
That was always a thing for me.

(29:27):
It's gotten much better now,but yeah, that was always a
personal struggle for me.
But the first time I wasoffered a mic, my thought
process was this is cool, right,I know something and now I get
to share that with everybody.
All right, this is dope.
Okay, cool, what do I got to do?

(29:48):
Yeah, right, and it washilarious, man, because it was a
room of about 200 people and Iset up and my back is to them.
It's your first go, my first go.
Oh, my back is to them and I'mlooking at the PowerPoint and
getting everything set up on thelaptop.
Bing, bang, boom, get the mic,tap, tap, we're good.

(30:08):
Turned around and went.
Oh, shit.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Hey, what are y'all doing here?

Speaker 3 (30:17):
So I start talking and, as God would have it,
someone that I knew in theaudience immediately asked a
question.
I was talking tech at the time.
Yeah, I said about two or threethings and he asked a very good
question.
Answered that a quick back andforth, cool.
He got it and now I'm in mystride, okay okay okay.

(30:39):
So you know God hooked me upwith that one, you know, easy
with the training wheels.
He left one on for me, yeah, youknow, hooked me up with that
one, you know, it's he easy withthe training wheels?
He left one on for me, yeah,you know.
And um, yeah, man, and there's30 minute conversation and I was
like, oh man, this is prettydope, you know.
And that kind of became a um athing in that space.
And then, um over here with myapproach to finance.

(31:01):
It was like, oh, that's cool,can you come and talk to my
church group?
We meet Wednesday nights.
Man, it's like a dozen guys.
Sure, yeah, you know.
And then that kind of spun intomore and more and more than
podcasts and radio interviews.
And one of the dopest ones wasI got a call from somebody in
Philadelphia.
He is a transformationalspeaker.

(31:28):
It's not about motivating andfiring you up and rah-rah.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
He wants to change you, help you grow.
That's a different wording.
Yes, transformation.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yes, man.
Yeah, his guy's name is NateEvans Jr.
He's absolutely incredible.
Travels the entire countryspeaking.
He does a lot of speaking inschool districts.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Speaking to kids man, but he does corporate level
speaking and whatnot, and he hesaid hey, man, I'm I'm having a
two-day uh, I'm having a uh asummit and we're talking about
this, this and that, and I havea financial panel um of three
people.
I can make it four if you wantto be a part of it.

(32:05):
I think I saw the promo forthat yeah man, and it was just
beautiful man, it really was.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
To speak to an audience that was looking to
grow.
They wanted to leave therebetter than when they walked in
as human beings.
It was different.
It was different, and to be apart of that, to be able to
contribute to that you know itwas called the Get to Worthy

(32:37):
Summit.
It was amazing.
It was such a blessing, such agodsend, man, and, interestingly
enough, I had a decision tomake.
After that man, there was agentleman there and runs a
high-level speaking deal, acourse, a school program that
he's got, and he said we need totalk.

(32:59):
And I prayed on it, man, andI'm not finished what I'm doing
in finance yet.
Okay, I have so much workthat's got to be done here yet.
I can use speaking as a tool inmy box, but I've got too much
work to do here yet, you thinkis it an option down the road?

(33:21):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Yeah, for sure.
That's what's up, man.
Yes, you're good at it, you'rewell-spoken, you're very
knowledgeable and it seems likepretty much everything you talk
about.
Yeah, appreciate you, man.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, the biggest thing for me is understanding
that which I'm blessed with.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Right, right right.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
You know I've seen some of the funniest
motivational speakers and guysand phenomenal storytellers.
My blessing is connection.
I've seen people in theaudience react to some of the
things that I've said while onstage and I know that for that

(34:09):
person they're the only one inthe room right now.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Right, okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
That's my blessing.
That's sad.
So now how do I use that rightto do his work?
He gave it to me for a reason.
He didn't give it to me to putit in my pocket Right, right,
right, right.
He gave it to me for a reason.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
He didn't give it to me to put it in my pocket Right
right, right, right.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
So how do I utilize that in a capacity that he wants
me to, and I just sift throughthe opportunities and see where
that will shine.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, dang, yeah.
So what do you got on thehorizon?
What do you got coming up?

Speaker 3 (34:49):
yeah, um, a bit of a redirect, and and with regards
to my business, is somethingI've been very hesitant about,
bro, you know they say if youcan service everybody, you're
not going to service anybody,and, as painful as it is, that
is accurate, right?

(35:10):
So, um, my approach for 2025 iskind of.
You know, I made theannouncement on facebook, um,
and making the announcement here, man, to your audience, you
breaking news.
I am honing in on a demographicthat has impacted my life more
than they'll ever know and I tryto share it with the select few

(35:32):
.
But educators, okay, yeah, theteacher's pension system is
complex and varies from state tostate.
I mean, new Jersey's got afive-tier system.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
It's a lot, right right, right, along with the
common misconceptions of I's gota five-tier system.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
It's a lot.
Along with the commonmisconceptions of I've got a
pension, I'm fine, my retirementyear's a no no, no.
No, no, no.
It could be as much as a 50% to60% pay cut when you go and you
retire and all you have is yourpension, and in some states
teachers do not contribute toSocial Security, so the pension
is all they will have, unlessthey do something else, like a

(36:06):
403B IRA.
Annuities are huge for thatright.
Anything else?
Something else to fill that gap?

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Right, right right.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Right.
But yeah, man, when I was inhigh school, 15 years old, my
sophomore year was going throughit, you know had an abusive
stepfather, you know, and I wasI mean, as it is 15, you're
trying to figure yourself out,right, you know, you're trying
to be like him who's doing allkinds of things, and you know

(36:35):
and then to go home, to that itwas tough and I was.
I wasn't sleeping right, youknow, and falling asleep in
class.
I wasn't sleeping right, youknow, and falling asleep in
class and my English teacher, msCorey, ms Denise Corey,
absegami High School, absegami,new Jersey, shout out, Ms Corey,
you know, she saw it, you know.

(36:56):
And she said hey, what's goingon with you?
When school started, she used tohave this really cool star
system in the back, you know,and my name was up on one of her
star students and she had totake it down, you know.
And she said you know, you'reslipping, something's going on,
what's wrong?
You're sleeping a lot and sheused to let me take little cat
naps, yeah, you know, especiallythe whole read silently to

(37:19):
yourself, kind of a thing.
I was out, bro, but she said toyou know, one day she said you,
you came in and you just wentright to sleep.
But I can't have that.
What's going on?
And, man, I lied right to herface.
It's gory.
Nothing, everything is fine.
You know, and it was partlybecause I didn't know how to
express what was happening.
You know, I mean, how do I?

(37:39):
I didn't know how to say it andmy stepfather kicks the shit
out of me.
I, I don't know how tocommunicate that right right
right, um, I didn't know how tosay it and my stepfather kicks
the shit out of me.
I don't know how to communicatethat.
Right, right, right.
I didn't want anybody to get introuble because I loved him, I
loved my mom, so I didn't knowhow to say, how to react.
So I'm fine.
And she saw something hangingout of my notebook and it was

(38:08):
something that I'd written.
I didn't have anybody to listento me, but paper would right,
so I would just write mythoughts, write my feelings like
a journal, not on a notebook,on a napkin, whatever, just I
had to get it out okay, you know.
and you know, bro, when I wasdone, cool got it out.
Okay, you know.
And, bro, when I was done, cool, got it out.
I literally ran into trash.

(38:28):
Yeah, she said what's this?
I wrote that last night like 3o'clock in the morning.
I couldn't sleep.
And she said this is incredible.
Do you always do this WheneverI can't sleep?

Speaker 1 (38:40):
yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
She said well, from now on, whenever you write, give
it to me.
She gave me extra credit thathelped me pass Dang.
I never forgot that, thatfeeling of I see you.
Sometimes you just need to beseen.

(39:01):
That's it, bro Right, and shesaw me, and that was enough for
me to be seen.
That's it, bro Right, and shesaw me, and that was enough for
me to be seen you fast forward.
10 years later, I am the unitdirector of a boys and girls
club and I made it a point tosee every single kid in my

(39:25):
building and God is great.
I had an incredible impact onthose kids and still connected
to them.
I'm about to be 48 and stillconnected to these now adults
with kids.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know,yeah, and it's because of people
like Miss Corey, it's becauseof people like Miss Polk, susan

(39:47):
Polk, when I was my second gradeteacher.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
You remember that bro .

Speaker 3 (39:54):
I can't forget it.
Her classroom was a safe spacefor me.
It's a place that I knew I wasgoing to be okay.
There was going to be foodthere, there was going to be
friends there.
I wasn't going to have to worryabout I wasn't going to be
freezing cold because we didn'thave heat.

(40:14):
Right, it was a safe space forme Too young to understand it.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Right, right right.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
But, looking back, why was Ms was miss poke one of
my favorite teachers?
Because she created that safespace for me and I never, ever
forgot what that felt like,right.
And those moments are waybeyond teaching.
That's beyond the, the grades,right.

(40:42):
That's beyond the grades, right.
That's connecting to the humanspirit, to that soul, to that
human being.
Yeah, man, I got to dosomething for that, I have to
say it, and it's got to be morethan thank you for what you did
for me.
It's got to be more thanbecause of what you did.
Look at what I've been able todo for these kids, for these

(41:03):
people.
It has to be more than that,and this is, you know, god's
given me this vehicle.
I'm going to drive it, brother,you know.
So now, 2025 is going to be myapproach to educate the
educators, to thank them, togive back to them.
That's what's up, man.
You know they're veryunderserviced demographic,

(41:26):
because let's keep it a buck,man, how many teachers do you
know are millionaires?

Speaker 2 (41:31):
I can't tell you one Right.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
Plenty of doctors, plenty of lawyers, plenty of
corporate execs, but how manyteachers, right, so they're not
really sought after by people inmy industry.
Again, fine, do me a favor,step to the left so I can go,
and I'll do it.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
And when it comes to finances and teachers, man, the
only thing that I've ever knownis they don't make money or
enough money.
I don't want to say they don'tmake money, but they don't make
enough money for the servicesthey provide.
Services as in I mean damn.
They grow and grow in the youth, man.
You know teaching these kidsabout life.
A lot of times it's surreal.
Like you had a teacher.

(42:09):
I remember a teacher that comesto mind for me was in the ninth
grade.
Cheryl Searcy changed myeverything and they named the
school after her, right here inthe parallel.
Yeah, man, it was she.
Uh, let me tell you a crazystory so I was uh.
every veterans day we go down touh right here in parallel and

(42:33):
at the cemetery on 35 and we layflags on the the graves for the
veterans, you know, as a thankyou and um, not veterans day,
memorial day, excuse me.
And you know miss cercy hadpassed away when I was in Iraq
one of my tours and I never Ididn't get to say thank you, I
didn't get to say that goodbyeor I appreciate everything you

(42:54):
did for me.
So I was out there laying flagsand just out of the entire
cemetery, which is whatthousands and thousands of
people Don't even say it, Bro.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
I walked by and I saw hers and I was like what?

Speaker 2 (43:07):
what are the odds, man?
So I, you know, I spent.
I spent a good 15, 20 minutes,30 minutes there just talking,
just saying like hey, thank you,and and now, and just like it
tripped me out because I gotback in the car and I was like
all these people, all theseplaces, I could have went
anywhere but I went over there.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
I'm convinced man.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Every now and then God goes, I got you, you know,
and it's like oh man, you justflexed on that one, bro.
I appreciate you man.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
I mean, listen, I don't know how y'all talk to God
, but me and God, we're realdope, we're real cool, the same
yeah.
Yeah, we talk to each otherlike that.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
you know, you know, I gotta get back on it, man, I'll
be honest with you my, my, my,my praying, and everything has
kind of been slipping.
You know how they say, man you,you pray for the things that
you, you want, and then, whenyou start having them, sometimes
you forget that you need tocontinue to pray, not just for
asking for things, just forthanks.

(44:03):
Yeah, and I need to get back onit.
I noticed that.
I definitely got to fix that.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
You know, what works for me is I no longer pray for
specifics, nothing specific.
Yeah, I've learned not to prayfor anything specific.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Right, right right.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Pray for what's best, because I think I know what I
want, but he knows what I needRight, so I no longer will pray
for this client.
Oh God, please let me land thisclient man, because it could be
the worst client ever.
Right, yeah, right.
Please, god, let this situationwork out as it's supposed to

(44:47):
and then, when it does work out,however it works out be
thankful, Be grateful.
It's hard to be grateful andangry at the same time.
You know what's going on righthere, right now.
You have no clue what's goingto go on six months, six years
from now.
Right, trust them.

(45:08):
Trust them.
You know, and we get so wrappedup in the day-to-day we lose
sight of that, forget sometimeswe lose sight of that and, as
I'm telling you, I'm remindingmyself because it happens, you
know, bro, a lot of times people, you know people tell me a lot.
They thank me for some of thethings that I share on Facebook,

(45:28):
very transparent, right, andsometimes those are things that
I'm telling myself like I needto hear this right now, right,
and I'm sure that if I do,somebody else out there does too
.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah, that's 100.
I know a lot of things I shareabout my recovery and about my
sobriety and and um, you know Idon't do it to brag, I do it to
show other people like, hey,this shit is this shit and I'm
glad you said that, man, becauseI need to get this off my heart
, bro you have such a high levelof respect for you and people

(46:08):
like you.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
What I mean by that is it's one thing to overcome
what you have right Next level,to be grateful and to do good
things with, but to then, infront of God and everybody, to
say, hey, this is what I wentthrough, this is where I'm at

(46:35):
right now, this is the work thatI've put in.
If I can, you can too.
If I can, you can too.
Yeah, at no point in time, isit?
It's almost like it's not aboutyou, it's through you, about
someone who needs to hear it100%, and I love that so much.

(46:59):
It's almost like you createthings like this.
You've built this spotlight toput it on people that need it.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Right.
So when I'm offered thespotlight, when I'm offered the
mic, it's like cool, this dudecreated it.
He's letting me borrow it for ahalf hour.
Who needs it?
Right, and I love respect andappreciate you for that, bro.
Thank you for sure, man, thankyou that's.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
That's it, man.
I just try to share a message.
At one point in my time, onepoint in my life, I needed to
hear myself.
You know what I mean yeah tosay hey, man, it's okay to
struggle it's okay yeah, yes,and it's okay not to be okay.
You just it's.
Changes are possible.
You know what I mean.

(47:49):
Recovery is possible.
Alcohol and drugs is not theanswer.
You know.
It's a numbing agent to helpyou forget what the actual
problems are.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
And when it wears off the problems are still there.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Yeah, man, yeah and, and sometimes it just it makes
things worse.
But uh, getting clean and andand getting in trouble, uh, here
in the city, man was best, bestday of my life and and people
always tell me man, like yo, youdon't, you didn't have to like,
you didn't have to get all, youdidn't have to get in trouble
to get clean, you didn't have toget in trouble to do all this
sometimes you got to hit rockbottom I tell them one thing in

(48:29):
my life I've always learned, man, how do you learn life lessons?
I always learn the fuckinghardest way possible.
You know what I'm saying?
That's how I learned and andit's it's always been me, man.
It's always been me and I'm I'm.
I just at a.
I'm in a place in my life rightnow where I can share the
successes but at the same time Ido share the struggles.

(48:49):
You know I.
You know there's a lot ofthings I still wish I could do,
like go out and and be atdifferent places and do things
like that.
But sometimes I just know like,hey, that's probably not the
best option.

Speaker 3 (49:05):
That's probably not the best idea you know or?
Things like that, but it's justand we all.
We all have that in somecapacity right certain things.
For me, I very much enjoy thefeeling that I get at a
blackjack table or craps tableoh yeah right, okay, um, so you
know what I do.
I keep my narrow ass out ofthere yeah, right the last time
I gamb.

(49:27):
There's a casino in AtlanticCity called the Borgata that
opened up I don't know man, 20some odd years ago.
Yeah, and I went with my wifeand we said all right, I got
$200.
You've got $200.
Let's go play.
Okay, I lost mine in about 20minutes.
She gave me like $50 of hers.

(49:50):
I lost that in about 20 seconds.
She takes her $150, gets allthat money back.
Playing the nickel slots Nickelprice is right as a matter of
fact.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
People.
I don't understand how they dothat.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
And that was the last time I gambled.
I love that feeling, I know Ilove it, so I stay away.
Never, you know, had had issues, you know, but I know that's a
tendency so I'm not even gonnaflirt with it.
Man.
One fantasy football league.
That's it, yeah, yeah, yeahthat's the extent of my gambling
, yeah knowing man, that's.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
And it's so easy now, bro, right from your phone.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
yeah, man, it's so easy.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
now, bro, right from your phone, yeah man, it's so
easy you can gamble on anything,yeah, literally anything that
would probably be.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
You know and I don't know Now I'm just taking a stab
in the dark, but that wouldprobably be a more difficult
addiction than drugs or alcohol.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
Yeah, because it's everywhere.
I mean so is drugs and alcoholIf you're hanging around the
right people.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
I mean alcohol, if you're hanging around the right
people.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
I mean wrong people, but you know what I mean.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but uh, yeah,man.
So you know, I know I've gotthat tendency and I've never
gone down that path.
That's good, thank god.
So.

Speaker 3 (50:57):
But you're smart enough to know that that's, and
that's, my point right, you'rethe awareness that you have.
You know it's like yeah, youknow that looks like fun.
Sucks, I can't go.
Oh well, yeah, yeah, right yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
I then know people ask me a lot of times, man, like
hey, why do you continue to doit?
You know well, honestly,because I've ganged a lot.
I've ganged so much.
I would never be in thesituation I am right now without
being clean and sober.
I would never have the thingsthat I have.
I never would.
I wouldn't have that brand newbaby.
My brand new baby Charliewouldn't be in the picture.

(51:29):
You know, house things,business, everything, just it's.
I've been blessed withopportunity and I just want to
share the message now, man.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
You know what's helped me too.
Right Like so.
I went through a lot as a kid,went through a lot of my teens
that led to in my 20s Iessentially lived a life of
survival.
I mean, at one point in time Iwas working one job from 9 am to
5 pm.
I'd leave there and go and worka different job from 6 pm to 2
am.
That's insane.
You know that was zero stars,would not recommend.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah .

Speaker 3 (52:10):
But I had a kid to feed and bills to pay, right,
right, right.
So that was, that was um, thatwas life for me, you know.
And as time went on, Ieventually, you know, got a, got
a better gig and turned into acareer path, but survival mode
was my normal right right now.
then you get into, I'm into my30s and kind of start to wean

(52:30):
away from that.
But with that I can do it.
I'll run through a brick wallif I have to.
Right, there's a level of furyand anger that comes with that
Right, and it's harnessing thatto do good, to do positive right
.
But in my 30s that man, thisanger shit, is kind of old man.

(52:55):
Yeah.
Yeah, you know it's starting towear on me.
Like at what point in time doesit transition from motivation
to an anchor, like I feel like Ialmost can't grow anymore
because I'm always just I'mgonna, hey, you so started to in
my mid-30s.
I'm just going to be morepositive.
I don't know what that lookslike, but I'm going to be that

(53:19):
you know and started to changemy DNA man.
You know people say, oh man,and I've had people ask me good
friends coming from an authenticplace, bro, are you always
really this happy?

Speaker 2 (53:38):
I know and I'm like I don't know.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
Happy is a strong word bro.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what, but I'm always as grateful.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
And at times I'll forget and I ask for his grace
and then I continue that path ofgratitude.
But just like you, somebodycuts me off.
I might get a little ticked.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:59):
But I actually, especially here in H-Town, bro,
I have learned to leaveridiculously early and just take
my time you got to man.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
You got to Someone wants to.
It's great Go.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
Go ahead, bro.
Did you need to go too?

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Go for it, Me driving ask anyone they be like man.
You drive like an old man.
I said, what's the rush we?

Speaker 1 (54:22):
got plenty of time.
We got plenty of time.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Somebody want to go go around me you know what I
mean I ain't got nowhere to go.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
I just anything and everything that I can do to
protect my energy, and that'sdifficult Because to get to this
point I had to cut people off.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
People that are not bad, people Right right right
right, you know, it's one thing.
If you're sucking the energyout of my life and you're a bad
dude, you know.
If you're sucking the energyout of my life and you're a bad
dude, you know.
But if you genuinely love me,but you're just, it's not
conducive to my growth as ahuman being.
I love you, but I got to goRight right, right, you know,
and that was some thosedecisions were some of the most

(55:07):
difficult.
I had to make Less scars.
You know, full disclosure, man.
I miss my dudes, I really doright, but you know what, I love
them.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
People places things, bro, I love them.
That's the number one thing inrecovery, man.

Speaker 3 (55:23):
First thing you do is change people, places, things
and coming here all new placewith all new people, all new
people Shining bro, all newthings Shining.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Christ almighty man, I see you, I mean it's just.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
The opportunities are endless here you know, and yeah
.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
And y'all doing the damn thing with the veteran
chamber.
Man, I see the growth and it'sinsane.
I'm excited for you guys.
Man, y'all hustling, y'alldoing the thing and it's showing
, you know, and, and I see it, Itext, I text.
John the other day was like manI see you bro that's all.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
That's all I wanted to say was like I see, yeah,
yeah and it's the things and andI've I've only been involved in
the chamber a little over ayear, year and a half, and the
growth has been incredible.
And I'm not talking about, oh,we're up to x amount of members,
no, no, no, no.
I'm talking about thedifference that we're making.
Yeah, the impact.
There's legislation that'sabout to change for veteran

(56:20):
owned businesses.
That's what is it?
Because of the work that we'reputting in amazing, that's huge.
That is huge to make sure thatyou, the veteran business owner,
is accounted for and are seen.
It's amazing.
Right, that's that's the workthat the chamber is putting in

(56:44):
and there are levels to that man, you know, sometimes it's just
a mixer other business owners,everybody get together, yeah,
you know, break some bread, getto know each other's businesses,
get to know each other aspeople.
You know, bond only the way wecan right right right, that's
one of the things that I love.
People say, oh so what's what'sdifferent about your guys?

Speaker 2 (57:05):
chamber like we're veterans man yeah, we speak a
whole other language yeah youknow, which is funny, my wife.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
So my wife is the only paid employee from the
chamber oh is she everybody elseis a volunteer.
We do this because we love themission.
My wife is is the admin for thechamber.
And it's funny, man, she wouldher first days.
She would, because we both workfrom home.
Man, god is good, so she would.
You would call me over to heroffice and she's like so what's

(57:30):
an FOB?
Like it's a forward operatingbase.
So you got to think right,you've got the main base and
then you've got everythingthat's going down.
The forward operating base isin between, right, so that the
Marines don't have to go all theway back.
Right, you just write this oh,okay, so that that's why we call
Conroe an FOB.
Right, that's what Honor Cafeis, right, so members can just

(57:52):
go there instead of all the waydowntown.

Speaker 2 (57:55):
Right, right right.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
Just go right to that forward operation.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
Oh, okay, got it.
And now, man, you should hearher.
That's awesome, you should hearher.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
She picked up on a lingo.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Oh, did she ever man, did she ever?
She's just spreading her wings,bro.
That's awesome.
But yeah, the chamber's doingsome great work.
I'm so you know you and Itouched on that in my previous
interview.
Yeah, um, you know my, my timein the marine corps was
shortened medical discharge onlyjust in two years, right and um
, the chamber's been my way ofbalancing that.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
Yeah, see, that's one of the things that I've always
disliked about veterans, man,when they say I only did this
amount of time.
Yes, nah, nah, nah, nah.
And you know what?

Speaker 3 (58:39):
You say that and I used to say I only did two years
Like it was a bid, you know.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
Like I did a stint in the county yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
I only did two years you know I used to say I did
time overseas and people wouldbe like I was like no, I was in
the military.
Yeah, yeah, Right, you know soI've been that still.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
it is not my normal yet it's still something that I
have to be cognizant of andconsciously say yes, I served
for two years.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
And then explain yeah , yeah, I was cut short.
Medical discharge, cool, youknow?
Um stop using words like justyou know, or only right.
You know, yeah, and that's anadjustment for me.
You know, old dog new tricksI'm gonna learn it right you got
it man.
So you know, but uh, but yeah,that that's.
That's been a thing you know,and I got so much out of the
marine courts and the fiber ofeverything that I do.

(59:29):
This is my opportunity tofinally get and I've given it
back and and I, you know,retrospect, um, some of the
things that I've learned, I'veinstilled in teams that I've run
over the years.
Right, you know, so there'sthat aspect of it, but this is
like a man to the 10th power.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
You know, to be able to impact a veteran's business,
that's it man, that's everything, and their family and help them
grow to the point where nowthey need to hire employees.
Who are they going to look for?
They're going to hire veterans,yep Right, and to be a part of
that and the creation and thebuilding of it, oh man, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Like God's flossing right.
Yeah, that's amazing, man.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Uh, I just just sitting backwatching, man, I told you I had
to step away because I was doing, uh, you mean trying to get
this everything situated, youknow, and now that it's it's,
it's finally coming back, I'mlike, all right, I need to jump
back into these, thesenetworking things.
I need to jump back into thechamber.
I need to jump back into thesenetworking things.
I need to jump back into thechamber.
I need to jump back into, youknow, different, different

(01:00:32):
things, because, man, it'smeeting new people, growth
opportunity, it's all out there.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
Brother, when you sent me that message, man, I'm
surprised you didn't hear mesmile.
You know, I mean it was trulyear to ear.
I was like yes, yeah, man, Iwas like, you know, I mean, it
was truly ear to ear, I was likeyes, yeah, man, I was like you
know, I said man first January,I'm doing this all and make
changes.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
you know, get everything, man rolling.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Because it told me two things.
Number one you were stablebecause I knew there was
transition right, and you don'tdo things like that in the midst
of chaos.
Right right right, that's a.
Once this stuff settles down,I'll get to that kind of thing.
So that told me that, numberone, things had settled down and
you were in a much better place, right.
Two, we were a fit now becauseclearly we were not Right.

(01:01:26):
You know, just things were notin good alignment, right right,
right it was not conducive toyou, helping you grow your
business, and now it is.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Yeah, right, it definitely is, man, because I
see the growth, I see y'allcoming down this way.
I see things like that, youknow, because when I first did
the business thing, I was likeokay, chamber, houston chamber,
paraland chamber.
Let me see about this localthing first, you know great
people over here, don't get mewrong, but I just it's like man,
I need my people.

(01:01:59):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Feels like home man, becauseit's just like I always tell
this to my girlfriend too.
I was like you know, veteranssupport veterans.
I said I don't care what it is,he could sell dirt and I could
get it for free over here, butI'm going to buy that dirt just
because he sells it, you know,and it's just things like that.
And she's like for real.

(01:02:20):
I was like yeah, it's what wedo.

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
That's it.
Don't worry about your six.
I got your six.
Head and eyes straight to thefront.
Focus on task at hand.
Yeah man, yeah right, it's howwe function, man that's it, bro,
you know.
So, yeah, when you offer theopportunity to come down here,
I'm like game.
Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
I don't have the following I had on on social
media after the hack I'm stillrebuilding um, but man, my, my
11 1200 followers are gonna seeyou man, hey, that's uh, that's
crazy, though I I noticed a lotof that happened to a lot of
people recently too, and andthat's one of the things that
scares me and that's anotherreason I went and got verified,

(01:02:59):
you know, because they they stopa lot of that, that, that
bullshit yeah, do the two-stepauthentication, do all of it,
man, you know um sometimes itdon't even hurt to just get that
little blue check man.

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
It was tough, man.
I was pushing 5,000 followers,everything's surrounded around
social media.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
now, bro, Everything, business life, everything.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
Contacts.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
I lost so many connections because my public
speaking ramped up and anytimeI'd go somewhere, I'd go and I'd
speak at a venue, at a function, and I'd get half a dozen more
connections, and then thosepeople, when I would post
something, would tag.
You know, hey, this is the guythat I was telling you about,

(01:03:43):
you know, and that continued tospider out.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
I would get meetings, I'd get appointments with
people that I never met before.
I'm like.
So how'd this come about?
Oh, my cousin saw you speak atthis function.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, and shesaid I should probably talk to
you.
Oh, okay, great, how can I helpyou out?
Yeah, you know, and so muchdeeper than just another client,
just another Making change.
She said that you like to workwith single moms.

(01:04:08):
I do.
Can I help you out?
And I literally make a dollar,literally in some cases, right,
but the impact that's what it'sabout it's tremendous.
You saw, it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
You know the struggle Been there.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
Done that.
I know exactly what you'regoing through and I know what
your kids are going through, so,thank you.
I want you to take a bow forbooking this appointment and
making change.
You want to know how.
You want to know what to do.
Congratulations, you just didit, right, yeah.
Now what Now?
What are we going to do Now?
What Right Now?
What yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
Yeah, you remember.
Yeah, man, now what remember.
Yeah, man, now what right here,you guys all right now what?

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
yeah, whether it's good, whether it's bad.
That was, that was a reminderfor me, man, when I was off
social media for a month, monthand a half.
All right now.
What, yeah, now, what am Igoing to do, you know?
And, um, it's interesting, someof the people that reached out
the way they did once I finallygot back on my feet, my guy,

(01:05:09):
chris Fahey, who has a hugefollowing, immediately posts and
tag and put the shine on me,put the spotlight on me.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Is he in the chamber?

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
He is.
He's actually more breakingnews.
He's actually going to berunning our social media for us
now.
Oh yeah, he is.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
He's going to be our director of social media, that's
for sure.
You definitely got to make theconnect man so we can get more.
Yeah, he's an incredible humanbeing man.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
Just very much like you.
Man Took everything that he'sbeen through you know and is
doing so much good with it andbecause of it, you know, at Camp
Hope it's almost like Camp Hopeis just the epicenter for him,
because he's doing so much morebeyond PTSD Foundation.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
Yeah, did he go through the program?
He did, he did, he did.

Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
Yeah, amazing man, yeah man, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
You know, that happens, man.
You know, as I know, a lot ofveterans struggle through things
and they find that younecessarily don't have to
struggle alone and that you canmake changes.
And I think that you can make achange.
So let me show you how I did it.
And it's possible not to not totry to school.

(01:06:19):
You just try to like hey, I'm a, I'm a guide you, but the rest
is up to you.
You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
He's just he's a phenomenal human being man.
I love that dude's spirit.
I watch him work sometimes, youknow, because from a
professional perspective it's abalance.
Right, because his job is tohelp raise funds.
Right, you know, camp hope isexpensive yeah yeah, yeah, right
, you know it's a non-profit manso somebody's got to pay for it
, right?
They rely on donations, um, andhe, he does such an amazing job

(01:06:50):
at connecting your dollar withthat work.
It's just amazing.
It is absolutely beautiful towatch the difference that he
makes, because I know where thatdollar's going.
I've been to Camp Hope.
He gave me a tour.
I saw the work that they dothere.
I saw the work that they dothere.
You know, I've seen rehabcenters where, family day,

(01:07:13):
you're in a room on a metaltable, almost like it's a prison
Right, and their family area,man, it's a park.
You know they got swings thereand stuff for the kids to do,
man, and you know it's.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
I've been to it when it was, when it was when it
first started.
I went there as a as asupporter.
I haven't been in many years.
Man, I need to.
I need to swing by and check itout.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
It's an amazing facility.
You know they do.
They do God's work there, man,I really wish it's one of those
things.
I wish I could contribute morein some capacity, but I do what
I can to give them shine.
As a matter of fact, whenever Ido any form of public speaking
on behalf of the chamber I openwith PTSD Foundation I talk

(01:07:57):
about.
There are tons of things inplace for the broken and the
disabled veteran.
Thank God there are, because weneed PTSD Foundation, we need
Camp Hope, we need WoundedWarrior.
We need all of these thingsRight, we've earned it Right.
But what's there for theveteran business owner that just

(01:08:20):
needs help selling widgets?

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
What's there for the guy that, hey, listen, man, I
need to build a website.
How do I do this?
What's there for the woman thathas grown her business to the
point where now she needs HRsupport.
I don't know how to hire people.
How do I do this?
What's there for that veteran?

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Not much.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
Not much, and I'm proud to say that that's where
the Houston Regional VeteransChamber of Commerce comes into
play, because if we don't havethat direct support from within,
we have connections that we canconnect you to.

Speaker 2 (01:08:57):
So what's the next adventure?
I got coming up.

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
We are literally planning 2025 as we speak.
We're now going to have, we'regoing to go from one mixer per
month, one to two mixers permonth to one per week oh dang.
All over Houston.
Yeah, good man, that's amazing.
One in Conroe, one in Katy, onein Pasadena Every single week

(01:09:24):
in a different location and thenonce a quarter downtown at a
restaurant called Cowboys andIndians.
Really awesome food, dude.
It's a blend between Texan andIndian food and, as they put it,
indian with the dot, not thefeather.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
That's on their napkins.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
I love it, it's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (01:09:45):
You can say that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:46):
Yeah, that's what I was like.
Ooh, they were like well.
Well, if they're saying it, Iguess it's okay you know, yeah,
that's how they put it out there.
But yeah, like the menu evenit's like all Texas stuff on
this side you know brisket andwhatnot, and then all straight
Indian food on this side youknow curry and stuff and the
fusion in the middle that'sinsane.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
Yeah, man, all right, I'm going to check that out.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
It's intense, man, so we're going to be there once a
quarter.
Okay, okay, and that's rightdowntown.
So now we're up north, one onthe west side, one on the
southeast side and then onceright in the middle, and that's
just mixers.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:10:22):
We've got someone else now.
We've got a coordinator for umto operate in the corporate
sponsor space to help bring inthe bigger dollars right, to get
the bigger functions, the exposthat we're involved in all over
this, not just houston yeah butI mean my wife and I went out
to san antonio.
We did some work out there okay, you know um yeah, we're going

(01:10:43):
to be in austin in, I believe,february.
We're headed over there.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Y'all just recently had the big event, the air show
right.

Speaker 3 (01:10:50):
That is massive on so many levels.
So, we had the biggest, baddesttent there, bro.
We had 22 veteran-ownedbusinesses in there.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
I always want to go, but it's insane over there the
people, the traffic, everything.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
Once you're in there, though, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
I guess that's it.
And when you get there early,leave early, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:11:16):
You got to get there early.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:17):
You either got to get there early or like midday when
everybody's already in, butthen you're going to miss out.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
I remember a few years back I used to just park
over there at the I don't thinkit burned down the american
legion.
Okay, they used to let us justpark in there and chill and just
watch the flight never, neveractually went in, okay.

Speaker 3 (01:11:36):
Yeah, so we saw, you know yeah, so man the veteran,
uh, business marketplace man,you know, this year we're
sponsored by walmart oh yeahthey came on heavy duty.
We're sponsored by xfinity okaythey came on heavy, heavy
supporters of all the work thatwe're doing, enabling us to do
more work.
And, yeah, man, we're probablygoing to have to expand.

(01:11:58):
That's great.
You know, we had a 40 by 60tent.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
Packed.

Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
Yeah, packed.

Speaker 3 (01:12:05):
Amazing, and we're probably going to have to go to
a 40 by 80 this year.
Amazing, and we're probablygoing to have to go to a 40 by
80 this year.
Bro, it started out with a 10by 10 pop-up.
I remember that, you know, withhalf a dozen guys battling for
elbow space yeah yeah, and nowwe got this massive tent and
it's only getting bigger and itshows the work y'all putting in,
man.
It's amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:12:22):
It's a blessing.
I've always my hat to Dave andJohn man and Dave and John man
and they've been putting in thatwork.
Yeah, so that's amazing.
Man, this was your first rodeoseason, huh, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
How did you like that ?
Yes, so we went to the firstrodeo.
I was here, okay, but I didn'twant to go without my wife.
Okay, okay okay, so I didn't goin previously, but we went this
year.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Massive man.

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
It's crazy, it was in a good way.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
Yeah, yeah, insane.

Speaker 3 (01:13:06):
I know, man, I've never seen that many people in
one location and I've been toTimes Square in New York.
Yeah, you know.
Oh yeah yeah, and it's justdifferent, right, that many
people in one place for onething, and everybody was cool

(01:13:26):
and it's all love bro.
That's the thing Again.
Full disclosure.
Right, there are not manyPuerto Ricans here.
Everybody was cool and it's alllove bro, that's the thing
Again.
Full disclosure.
Right, there are not manyPuerto Ricans here.
Yeah, Right, and I don't knowwhat it is.
But my wife and I we don'tblend in.
Well, Right, People say y'allnot Mexican.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
No, we're not Mexican .

Speaker 3 (01:13:45):
What are y'all?
Honduran or something?
No, we're Puerto Rican.
Oh wow, and like we'redifferent.

Speaker 2 (01:13:51):
It's so funny man.

Speaker 3 (01:13:52):
It's so funny, you know, especially when we start
to talk.

Speaker 2 (01:13:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh shit, you hear the accent?

Speaker 3 (01:13:58):
Those key words right .
So we don't really blend in,but it doesn't matter.
We were at a we're from theEast Coast, you know and we were
at the rodeo and we felt likewe belonged.
Yeah, man it was beautiful, thebest barbecue I've ever had in

(01:14:20):
my life, you know, I mean it'sjust yeah, it's just beautiful.
Like I've tried, I'm activelyrecruiting friends and family
members to come down.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
Yeah, did y'all get to see down?
Yeah, who did y'all get to see?
Anybody?

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
who just see.
So that's the one.
We didn't, we were, we dideverything around okay, okay,
yeah, yeah um next year.
We're going to actually go in.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
We're going to see who we want to go see you know,
and then go and check them out.

Speaker 3 (01:14:46):
Yeah, man, it's a blast.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
It's always amazing.
Every year I let my daughterspick one each yeah and of course
they're different.
Yeah, want to pick rap.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
Uh, my oldest always picks bum b day yeah and then my
little one picks one of thesecountry singers and that's the
thing, right, you know houstonis such a melting pot of
diversity, man, it's crazy tosee, you know, like from one day
to the next, you know, you'llhave one of the biggest country
stars and then 50 Cent, you know, and it's like, and it's just

(01:15:21):
as packed on both days you know.
So yeah, it's pretty dope man,I love it yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:27):
Man, it's been an honor having you bro.
I really appreciate all theconversation likewise bro um uh,
man, we want to say uh, merrychristmas, actually merry
christmas, and happy new year toeverybody out there.
Again, this is going to be backrolling on a consistent basis.
Uh, y'all be sure to follow myman lou.
How do they follow you, bro?

Speaker 3 (01:15:44):
yeah, so, um, due to some social media hacking that
went down, um, I now have analias.
I guess we can call itBenevolent Advisor on Facebook.
Please feel free.
It's open to everyone.
Maybe that's what got me jammedup before, right, but access is
my biggest thing, right, alwaysproviding access to information

(01:16:07):
, and Facebook is my tool forthat.
So, yeah, you can follow me onFacebook, benevolent Advisor.
If you ever have any questions,any capacity and it has to do
with a dollar sign, do nothesitate to shoot me a DM.
Hey man, I don't understandthis.
How does an IRA work?
How much life insurance shouldI get?

(01:16:28):
You know it's?
It's because for me, it's aboutthe information right right
right.
It's about getting theinformation out to those of us
that need it the most yeah, man,you guys, thank you again for
tuning in.

Speaker 2 (01:16:38):
Be sure to follow, share, like, subscribe and again
, if, uh, it's a holiday season,be sure to check on your
friends and family and if you'rein a crisis, be sure to dial
988.
If you're a veteran, press 1.
You can also text that number.
So, you guys, it's okay not tobe okay.
Check on your friends andfamily.
We love you, as always, charlieMike Blessings.

(01:16:59):
Thank you all for listening toCharlie Mike the Podcast.
This is me, soulja Harwood RedCar 1 Music Group and we out.