Building Legacy: Donovan Everett on Billion Dollar Construction Success

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In this episode of the Beyond Normal Podcast, we sit down with Donovan Everett, President & CEO of D.A. Everett Construction Group, to explore what it takes to build a $100M+ business grounded in legacy, leadership, and long-term vision. From managing construction sites at age 15 to overseeing over $2B in completed projects, Donovan shares a powerful blueprint for growth rooted in people, process, and purpose.

Tune in as we discuss the evolution of the Spectrum Center, the importance of placing the right people in the right seats, and how Donovan balances entrepreneurship with community impact. Whether you’re leading a company or just getting started, this episode offers real talk on building with intention and leaving a legacy that lasts.

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🔗 Learn more about Donovan’s work at: https://www.daeverettgroup.com

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Episode Transcript

Kenny (00:33):
I I just wanna start out by, uh, thanking you all for
being part of the Beyond Normalpodcast, uh, first live session
with an audience.
It's been an incredible, uh,seven seasons for us.
And so everybody is telling usthat they're back outside and
they want in person engagement.
So we're, that's what we'regonna give them.
And, uh, we're starting out, uh,with a bang, with an incredible

(00:56):
first guest and, uh, DonovanEverett here.
So I think we're gonna be, uh.
Starting hitting the play recordbutton rather soon.
But I just wanted to start outby saying that for you all,
appreciate you all for comingout with us.
Um,'cause this is definitely thefirst of many more Oh.
With in incredible individualslike Donovan.

Donovan (01:16):
Oh no, thanks Kenny for having me here for, for the
first in person podcast.
Get my

Kenny (01:22):
No, we're gonna get to it.
We we're just breaking the ice.
We're just breaking icebreakingthe ice.

Donovan (01:26):
We're breaking

Kenny (01:26):
ice.

Donovan (01:27):
Everything else.

Kenny (01:28):
So, Darren, we're, we're good.
Alright, bet.
So, um, yeah.
Thank you all for, for beinghere with the Beyond Normal
Podcast.
As I just told you all this is avery, um, special inaugural
episode.
Uh, but before we get to that,we have some housekeeping
things, some very specialindividuals that we want to say
a couple things.
So we have Toya.
Oh, yes.

(01:49):
First.
Toya.
Everett first.
Uh, so Toya, do you need me topass you the mic or No?
I do, I need the mic.

Toya (02:03):
Okay.
No.
Just to echo what, um, Kennysaid, thank you all so much for
coming out.
I am one of the co-presenterswith Kenny, um, of this special
event today.
So when Kenny, you know, reachedout about having Donovan on the
podcast, you know, me and myvetting mode, um, I said, you
know, where do you typically doyour podcast?
Is it gonna be virtual?
Or do you do a podcast studio?

(02:24):
And he said, well, I do.
Sometimes I do a podcast studioand I do it at Do Greater.
I said, well, let's meet at DoGreater.
And so when I came out, learneda little bit more about Do
Greater, saw the space, I saidwe should do this in person.
Um, you know, one of the thingsthat, uh, you know, growing up
in a family of small businessowners, we understood the
importance of, and the impact ofensuring that small and minority

(02:47):
businesses are able to grow andscale the impact that they have
on communities.
We also learned, and I've beenin Charlotte for about 20 years
and one of the things that Isaw, um, was that there were a
lot of minority businesses.
Owners who reached, um, acertain growth and scale, but
they didn't share their storieson platforms such as these.

(03:07):
And so I told doma we need to bevery strategic about, you know,
partnering with the rightpartners and ensuring that other
minority and small businesseshave access to information and
exposure.
Because that's what it reallycomes down to, access and
exposure.
Um, so again, what better placeto host this event than Duke
Greater, who's our event sponsorfor the evening?

(03:30):
Um, you know, a place thatdrives innovation and creativity
through entrepreneurship.
So thank you so much, duke.
Greater, and I'll turn it overto Karina and then she'll flip
it back over to Kenny.

Karina (03:41):
Latoya.
Um, welcome to the Creative Lab.
I am Karina Anderson withDegrader Charlotte.
Um, I'm the events andoperations coordinator here for
Degrader Charlotte.
So.
I'm in charge of all of theevents, um, the coworking
membership and everything thathappens with the adults in our
space.
But we are a nonprofitorganization, and so our mission

(04:03):
is to serve, um, the youth,middle school, high school
students and teach them aboutentrepreneurship.
So really excited to have youguys here today.
Um, small, uh, business owner, Iwon't say small business owner.
And so you, you guys areinspirations to, to us as well
as our.

Kenny (04:27):
Appreciate that from, uh, Toya and Karina.
Um, my very first time steppinginto this do greater space, um,
I was really, um, in awe at justthe, the, them having a space
like this for the nextgeneration, I think their Gen
Zs, is that what they're called?
Right.
Um, but the next generation toreally come up with their own

(04:48):
business ideas, be creative.
Uh, they got, uh, I was herelast week.
They had some, uh.
Some students that were comingin, they were interested in, uh,
podcasting, photography, DJing,like these are the, the, the
areas where they wanna spendtheir time.
And so I think it's reallyimportant for a place like Duke

(05:08):
Greater to exist, uh, for themto have productive positive
avenues to, to kind of spillthat creativity into, in
addition to that, I know Corinadidn't mention it, but they do
have some incredible growth.
Um, coming up soon.
And so as you all being, uh,here with us today, we'll
definitely be following up withyou'cause there's some
opportunities to, um, reallyinvest a little bit more, um,

(05:31):
time, energy, money into thespaces and the, the
opportunities that they havemoving forward.
Appreciate y'all.
Uh, so without further ado, Ithink we are going to hop into
the conversation, uh, with, uh,Mr.
Donovan Everett.

Donovan (05:45):
Yep.
Well, no, Kenny, thank you forhaving me here on the very
first.
In person podcast and thank youdo greater for allowing us to be
here again.
Uh, it's amazing to always getto tell my story, um, because
when I was trying to start mybusiness, I was looking for
information and I was seekinghow others did it and what
helped me.
I said, if I had an opportunityto be able to do that for others

(06:05):
coming along, I wanted to dothat.
So anytime I have an opportunityto tell my story.
And share, share things thathelped me along the way.
I'm more than willing to do itbecause I know it helped me and
I had to pay a lot of moneysometimes for that.
So I can, if I can have that, dohelp y'all do that without
paying all the money that I didin some of those cases, you
know, I'd be more than happy todo it.
So, no, it's always exciting tobe so thank you for, uh, for
doing that.

Kenny (06:25):
Appreciate you throwing that in there.
And so you, you mentioned alittle bit about your, um,
experience and some of the, thethings that you've had to dive
into over your career.
Before we kind of dive into the,the meat and potatoes of the
conversation, though, I do havea brief kind of intro.
Yeah.
A couple things just to, to setthe stage for the things that,
uh, Donovan has really done withhis career.

(06:47):
I had to definitely do myresearch and take some notes.
I wanted to make sure for thisconversation in particular,
because you've done a lot,Donovan, um, but Donovan is a
season construction executivewith$2 billion in projects, um,
completed.
And so that is no small feat.
Um, he, he will definitely tellus a little bit about some of
those projects throughout theconversation, but I just wanted

(07:07):
to shout that out.
That is a really big number, andthat's something that we should
all be highlighting, uh, eachand every day.
In addition to that, uh, youknow, from a construction
background perspective, Donovanhas really, I don't wanna say
you spent your whole life inthis space.
I spent my whole life sincethis, but you have spent this
whole, your whole life in thisspace, uh, since the age of 15.
Uh, you, uh.

(07:28):
Got your degree at NC State,which I think is really, really
cool as well.
Um, I am a UNC Charlotte alumnimyself.
Just wanted to throw that outthere.
So, uh, the, the NC EducationSystem is definitely represented
well on this stage today.
And in addition to that, um,you've worked for some really.
Uh, big global firms, right, toreally, uh, sharpen your sword.

(07:48):
And so that, that, that'ssomething that I want to tell
folks to really set the stage.
And in addition to that, mostrecently, uh, you were actually
acknowledged by the CharlotteBusiness Journal, uh, number
four, I believe Charlotte, uh,owned business in terms of the
largest.
And then in addition to that,um, which is a much more
important stat or figure to meis you're on the list for

(08:10):
Charlotte Business Journal CEOsto admire.
And so not a lot of CEOs areadmired right now, I'll say
that.
So it's really, let's, let's,let's, let's, uh, give Donovan a
round of applause for that.
'cause that's something, uh, wedon't talk about a lot today.
Um, the CEOs that are doing itright.
Then lastly, um, I just wantedto touch on real briefly, your,

(08:32):
your focus on community, um, andnonprofit work.
Some of the advisory work youdo, you're actually on the
board.
We'll get to it later, Ibelieve, um, HBCU, uh, impact as
well.
And so I just want to set thestage with that and really, um,
I'm excited to have thisconversation with you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Oh, thank you.

(08:52):
Is there anything I missed?
I'm joking.
I'm joking.
We'll, we'll get to it.
We'll get to it.
We'll talk about it, I'm sure.
So, and so before we dive into,um, I gave, you know, just a
general kind of overview ofDonovan's, uh, a journey in this
space, the, the movie that, thatDonovan is really painting and,
and, and filming right now interms of your career.

(09:13):
Um, tell us from yourperspective, right, um, like
would, if you.
Or writing a book, or you'rewriting your, your, your own
movie right now.
Like what is the story that youwant to tell the pieces that I
didn't necessarily paint thedetail on?

Donovan (09:27):
Yeah.
No, and you know, I'll take,take a step back of what, where
my journey started.
You know, I grew up in a smalltown, small town, Beaufort,
North Carolina.
Um, and I, I'm, I'm nobodyspecial.
I'm, you know, I just, but I,I'm a person that had big dreams
and big goals.
And I, and I never, and I'venever said, I, I said I'm never
gonna quit on him.
So ever since I was a small kidworking with my dad in the

(09:49):
construction industry, uh, Ialways wanted to own my own
company at some point in time.
Um, but as I've grown andgotten, you know, growing his
business, saw also leaving alegacy I.
Um, you know, you, you, you see,you know, if you drive around
the city and you see names onbuildings and family names on
buildings and what the, thefamilies are doing in the

(10:09):
community that, that, that hasallowed outlast lived some of
the people that the names on thebuildings.
So it's the community, it's the,uh, it's the legacy that leads
where lead the community in abetter place.
Than you were before you gotthere.
So by growing this business,giving folks opportunities, um,
that, and opportunities creatingthat, that legacy to last, uh,

(10:30):
outlast of me.
You know, if I can do that, man,that's just, you know, that,
that's just the, uh, icing onthe cake to be able to do
something like that.
So

Kenny (10:38):
I think that's, uh, actually a cheat code naming the
business after yourself.
Like I, I, a lot of businessowners we see now, they, they
come up with like the catchy,you know, the, the, the, the, I
fly where they add the, i at thebeginning of the word, the
buzzword.
Right.
But naming a business afteryourself, like there's intrinsic
value for you.

(10:58):
You want that business to besuccessful because it's your
namesake.
Yeah.
That's a easy way to not psychyourself into making the
business successful, but youbelieve in it from day one.

Donovan (11:09):
Yeah.
I, it's funny when you, you saidthat when I started a business
or when I was, had the idea tostart the business.
I went back and forth like,should I name it after myself?
Should I, should I name itsomething else?
And you know, just throughtalking with folks, he's like,
no, they know you, so they knowyour brand.
They know you the the name, soyou need to name it after
yourself.
So, you know, but it does forcesyou to, when your name's on the

(11:30):
door, if you will, you gottalive up to what that name is.
You, you, you can't go out thereand.
Live this, have this life of,you know, bad business when your
name's on the door, you, youknow, doing unethical stuff and,
and, and not living up to whatthe business and the brand is.
So when, when you have abusiness that is named after
that, it it, you, you gotta liveup to it.

(11:51):
So it's, it's a forced a way tomake you continue to keep the
pick picture in front of you.
But also too, knowing that yougotta, you want to keep the
name, keep, keep the name proudand, and, and keep going
forward.
So, yeah.

Kenny (12:03):
Thanks for that.
And you know, next up, you know,perfect segue, I think in terms
of you having, you seeing yourname there, right?
And a lot of leaders, a lot offounders, they want to build
something that gets to the scalethat you've built, right?
A hundred million plus, right?
$2 billion in completedprojects.
But they don't necessarily knowlike what all goes into that.

(12:25):
So can you talk a little bitabout, um, just your strategy
around.
Like what do you put in placefrom a strategic perspective for
your business?

Donovan (12:34):
Yeah, so I want to kind of go back a little bit about
the name.
You know, even though my namemay be on the door, it doesn't
operate without people.
I.
So you gotta have good people inyour organization that will make
this thing go.
Um, and to scale a business, youneed people.
Um, you, it doesn't cost moneyto have people.
It costs you money not to havepeople.
And, um, it, as I was going tobusiness, it was hard for me to

(12:58):
learn that.
Uh, because you're, you know,you make, you're making some
money.
You're like, oh, I gotta keepthe money so I can continue to
grow it.
But, and you're like, I don'twanna hire a person yet because
you, uh, I don't wanna spend themoney.
But what I learned when gettingin the rooms with the right
people, who've grown businessesto us upscale, they teach you
very quickly.
I.
It's gonna cost you more moneynot to have the right person in
the seat.

(13:18):
Um, and so when that mindset forme, it allow, when you have the
right people and the rightsystems and the right processes
in place, it just starts tomultiply.
Because what, what is, what isscale?
It's through people, it'sthrough process, through it's
through processes, through andthrough, uh, systems.
So as we've been growing ourbusiness.
Getting the right people,getting the right leadership
team in place, um, and continueto just so you can replicate

(13:40):
yourself and others in thebusiness.
So you can out continue to dothat.
But you know, you gotta keep thebrand, the brand too, um, as you
grow and scale.
So, and I think the way to dothat, well, I have to, I have
to, I have to be able to set thetone for the brand.
Um, of what I'm doing andhopefully that the team sees
that.
So to continue to, to model,mimic that brand that we have
and that allows you just to growand scale because clients are

(14:01):
gonna continue to hire you and,and they see you are able to do
what you say you're going to do.
So that's scaling 1 0 1 and, andlike the quick snapshot, but
yeah, that's, yeah.

Kenny (14:12):
I appreciate that.
Um, definitely a Jim, I, I'mtaking notes.
I know some of the folks in the,all of the folks in the in the
audience are definitely takingnotes on that.
Um, that's something we canrelate from day put into our
business from day one.
Yeah.
So I appreciate you sharingthat.
Um, next up I want to talk, Iwant to dive a little bit into,
um, the specific, uh, projects.

(14:34):
That you've worked on.
Right.
And so some of the projects thatyou've worked on or you're
currently working on would,would be the Spectrum Center,
for example, or in the pastyou've even had the opportunity,
um, to work, uh, do some work atHBCUs.
Yeah.
Uh, such as North CarolinaCentral.
Right.
And so can we talk a little bitabout what.

(14:57):
What all goes into those,getting to those projects?
Like you can't, obviously Ican't start from day one saying
I'm gonna work with the Hornet.
So like, how do you get to thatlevel?

Donovan (15:07):
Uh, you know, when you, you start a business, you gotta
have a, you gotta be able to seewhere you're going.
You, you wanna know where you'regoing from day one.
So when we, when the businesswas literally nothing, I had
this vision of where I wanted tobe in 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years
from now.
And so all these projects didn'tjust happen overnight.
It started, I.
Years ago, um, and it started bywhat we did, what we did 15

(15:31):
years ago is paying off today ifthat's exactly what's, because
it's a brand that's beenrecognized over 15 years that
they, they're gonna do what theysay they're gonna do.
They're gonna execute andthey're gonna, and they're going
to show up and do what they saidthey're gonna do each and every
time.
So the, let's just take theSpectrum Center for an example.
That was a strategic win, uh,for us.
It wasn't one that we justhappened to walk into, you know,

(15:55):
we had been working in Charlottefor, for many, many years and,
um, we worked with the city ofCharlotte, did the Bojangles
Coliseum, and, uh, we had heardabout the Hornets gonna, uh, the
Spectrum Center was gonna berenovated.
So five years before the jobdropped, we really started.
Putting that deal together, ifyou will.
We, we found our specific jointventure partner that we knew can
execute.

(16:15):
So Turner, who's probably thelargest, uh, sports builder in,
in, in the, in this, in thisarea, they have done work with,
with Atlanta Hawks and doingother things like that.
So we aligned ourselves with a,a sports builder Turner, and we
just started working that.
And when the, the job dropped.
We, we had already had fiveyears, if you will, of early
game.

(16:35):
Um, and so all these things arevery strategic in what we do.
Um, I, I'll give you anotherexample.
So right now we're working withone of the largest automotive
dealers in the, uh, in, in, in,in the auto, in black owned
automotive dealers in, in themarket.
Um, but just happen to be, youknow, part of the, uh, owner of
the, uh, hornets.
But that was, that was probablyeight years of working that

(16:58):
relationship.
Eight years of working thatrelationship with him to try to
get in front of him.
And it wasn't until the hornetsthat he picked up the phone
call, we had built dealershipsfrom here to the Virgin Islands.
But it wasn't until that timethat we wanted the hornets that
he picked up the phone andanswered and, and, and, and

(17:19):
said, Hey, let's talk.
And what I, as I sit back andthink about that, I said, wonder
what that was?
But what I realize now.
I'm glad it was wasn't a untilthe opportunity because we
probably were not ready to dohis work.
We were still fine tuning our,our business.
We were still building ourplatforms and systems out, and
now we're on project numberthree with, or number two with
him, uh, about to build, uh,ultra luxury brand for him out

(17:42):
in, out in, uh, north of here.
And um, so you gotta kind oflook at it and be strategic and
do your self-analysis on your,on your own business.
Because a lot of times when youlose.
That's, it's for good reason.
And when you look, sit back andlook at it, sometimes it's the
best thing to lose.
So you can sit back and retooland think about what you needed
to do as a business so you canget correct for when your time

(18:04):
comes.
I got asked a question, uh, guy,you asked me where, where,
where, where is it?
He left out, but he asked me aquestion like, what, what do you
do when stuff is coming at youand you're not ready for?
I said, just the best thing youcan do is always be ready.
You know, just, just always beready.
'cause you never know.
An opportunity's gonna knock.
Um, that's how our, ouropportunity with the Virgin
Islands came about.

(18:24):
Um, we, we've done work in theUS Virgin Islands and that
opportunity just came out of,came outta nowhere and I didn't
know how I was gonna do it, butI, we, we said we're gonna do it
and did it.
You know, that whole sayingcommit first and figure the rest
out later.
That, that's, that, that isliterally business commit first
and figure the rest out later.
Because a lot of times thoseopportunities aren't gonna keep
coming.
If they're gonna come one time,and if you can't show up for it

(18:48):
and be strategic and creativeenough to figure it out, they
probably won't show back up.
So that, that mentality ofcommit first and figure the rest
out later, that's how I run.
And I know Wendy's back there.
She's probably like, don't Ihate when you run like that.
So,

Kenny (19:05):
so, uh, that is a, that's not an easy skill, I would say
to, like you said, say yes tosomething I.
Before you even have it built.
Yeah.
Like, so I wanna go back alittle bit.
Are there, are there any momentsfrom your early career that
helped you get to that point?

Donovan (19:28):
Yeah, I think, I think over time you just build success
is the, uh, what is success?
It's the me, it's the memory ofwinning.
It's the memory of winning.
So as you're, it gets easier tomake, see these decisions as
you're going along in yourbusiness because you, one thing
for me, I'll tell you, I'm notafraid to fail at all.

(19:50):
And the faster you can fail, thequicker you learn the lesson and
what you need to do to get towhere you're going.
So, um, you know, you just buildthat, it's like going to the
gym.
You show up every day to buildthat muscle.
Um, and you just, you make thedecision, um, because whatever
the decision is, whether it's,if it's the wrong decision,
you're gonna figure out veryquickly if it's the wrong
decision.
If it's the great rightdecision, well you, you're gonna
be on your way a lot quicker.

(20:11):
So, and also too, I'll go backto surrounding yourself with
people who have done what you'relooking to do.
Hands down, I, I, to, to, toreally go back there.
I stopped talk, I stoppedlistening to people who hadn't
achieved what I was looking toachieve because they couldn't
tell me how to get through thishurdle that I was gonna face.
'cause they had never done that.

(20:31):
That's not a knock on them.
But they just, they weren'tequipped to tell me how to get
through a hurdle in this part ofmy business.
So I surrounded myself withpeople who had, who were aware I
was trying to go, who haveachieved what I was trying to
achieve.
And I surrounded.
So it allowed me to make mydecisions easier.
'cause I, I can see where theroadblocks that I was possibly
gonna hit.

Kenny (20:49):
Over here taking notes instead of thinking about the
next question.
But, uh, this is, uh, this isreally relevant, um, in the time
we're in now, where it seemslike, uh, the Gen Zs that I
mentioned earlier, they do wantto fail fast.
Yeah.
They, they have a little bitmore appetite for it, it seems.

Donovan (21:11):
Well, is it appetite or they just heard on Instagram?
Hmm.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't, I I hear you.
It is the buzz word of fail forYeah.
I mean, I hope, I hope that'swhat they want, because that's
really the hack, if you will.
Um, you, the quicker you canfail, the faster you'll get to
where you're going.
Um, and that's what happened,uh, for the business.

(21:33):
You know, we, we try, we'vetried all kinds of things.
I mean, just any and everything,we just, it is, I don't know if
it's gonna work.
I don't know.
Maybe it will, maybe it won't,you know?
Um.
Posting.
I mean, I, my first video wastrash, but I was like, I was
like, uh, what I, the, theinformation I got from somebody
who had achieved what I wastrying to do said, you need to

(21:55):
get out there and promote andpost your business and talk
about it.
And that's, it was just a musclethat just kept doing it.
It, I probably failed somethingalong the way in trash videos,
but.
Y'all are here from the video.
Right.
So, I don't know, maybe itworks.
I don't know.
So,

Kenny (22:12):
well, there's a And

Donovan (22:13):
Terrence made my video

Kenny (22:13):
look good.
So I imagine that, uh, so there,as you were talking, I was
thinking about, like you said,these five, potentially five
year sales cycles.
Yes.
Like really embracing the, the,the, the wins.
Right.
And kind of forgetting some of,not forgetting, but.
You know, failing fast and thenmoving forward.

(22:35):
And that, to me, one of thewords that came out, came top of
mind was endurance.
Like having some sort ofendurance.
So like how do you build, um,endurance into yourself
personally versus the businessas well?
Yeah,

Donovan (22:49):
no, I think I'm big on health and wellness.
Um, and I think you, youindividually, you gotta be
equipped to deal what comes atyou.
To do that, you gotta be able tomaster this unit right here.
First.
You're 24 inches or whatever youare.
And if you can't get this right,you can forget everything else.

(23:12):
Um, you know, I, I, I'm, I'm bigon health and wellness and that,
that, that, that allows me toabsorb.
The stuff that you get day inand day out because you, as a
business owner or, or leaders orwhatever, you, you going to go
through some stuff.
This, this is not an easycakewalk to have a business or
leading stuff.
It it, it is not.

(23:32):
So the best way I can do is if Ican control this, then I can
control whatever else comes atme and I'm equipped to do it.
So going to the gym, eatinghealthy, as healthy as I can,
that transfers, translates intothe business.
So when I go to, to do my work.
I know I can achieve thatbecause I did that part.
I control what I could controlwith my body, my mind.

(23:53):
So if I could, if I can controlthat, you can control everything
else that comes at you.
And as far as, you know, lossesor, you know, the sales cycle.
I mean, there are projects welose and things like that.
Um, but there's always a lessonto it.
There's always a lesson to aloss that we take.
So we.
We don't sit there and oh, well,we lost and this and that, and

(24:15):
we wallow in it and, and, andwhatever, man, we, we, we take
the whooping and go home and weget on the board and figure out
why we lost.
We're gonna get back out therethe next day and figure out,
okay, this is what we need tocorrect.
And, and for us, you know this,every day is Monday.
What do we say every day isMonday.
Why?
Because what happens on Mondaywhen you come in, y'all

(24:37):
reenergize, you got a new week,and I'm gonna kill this.
I'm gonna kill that.
Well, Friday comes, it's Mondayfor us because what's happening
on Friday for most people, theyready for the weekend.
Mm-hmm.
They ready to go hang out, butwe ready to kill it like it was
Monday because we know we got,we got big goals to achieve.
So Friday is Monday for us.

Kenny (24:59):
As you were talking, and we mentioned social media
earlier, the idea of likework-life balance is a hot topic
right now.
And so for a lot of people,work-life balance means working
less.
And spending more time on lifestuff.
Right.
Uh, so I'm curious, like foryou, like you mentioned some of
the things that you build intoyour routine, like what does

(25:21):
work life balance look like?
You in particular?

Donovan (25:24):
I'll say

Kenny (25:24):
this, if you want to

Donovan (25:26):
build anything big, be prepared to be out, be prepared
to be out of balance, handsdown.
You, you can't build somethingbig and say you're gonna be
balanced here and here and herebecause at some point in time
you be working so hard on thisthat you gotta focus on this.
But then there may time you'regonna have to focus on this and

(25:47):
this is outta balance.
Um, so you know, when I was uh,getting into my fitness journey,
my sleep was outta balance.
'cause you gotta get up earlymorning and go, or if I'm
working a lot of hours, family'soutta balance.
But it's all for a biggerpurpose.
So if you know where you'regoing into what you're trying to

(26:08):
do it for, then the result ofthe win that you're trying to
get, balance everything out.
But I don't think there's evergonna be a quote balance, and if
anybody believes that they'vebeen fed some bad stuff, I'll
leave it at that because it isjust, it's just, it's just not
possible, man.
I mean, and not be successful.

(26:29):
I, I don't believe that.
It's just, it's just.
To be wildly successful, yougotta, you gotta go out every,
each and every day and put in,put in extraordinary amounts of
effort in whatever you're doing.
Um, I, I don't, I don't know howyou, if somebody can achieve
balance and write a book, sellit.
'cause I don't know how you cando it.

Kenny (26:50):
Got it.
As you were speaking, like I wasbelieving.
What you were saying, like yougotta really like, like the
waking up early, like do some ofthose things.
Yeah.
And that throws other things offbalance.
Like it could throw your familylife off balance at times.
Right.
But you gotta, there's gotta be,there's gotta get, be a give and
take When you're going for andin

Donovan (27:09):
life, whatever you're trying to achieve, in order to
get something, you have to giveup something.
You always have to give upsomething in order to achieve
what you're looking for.
Always.
If you want to get in shape, yougotta give up the donuts.
If you want to build a business,you gonna have to give up,
sacrifice something, money,time, whatever.

(27:32):
When I was building thisbusiness, there's a, there's a
lot of things I would've hadbeen rather doing, but I knew
that there was a bigger thing.
But you, you always gotta bewilling to give up something to,
to, to, to get to somethinggreater.
You know, I was working for acorporate company before I
started business, making goodmoney.
I had to give all that up.
Mean I moved to Charlotte, what,two a year or so ago?

(27:53):
It was in Raleigh for 24 years.
You have to give up somethingsometimes.
It's what you, sometimes whatyou pray for.
You gotta give that up.
I prayed to, had that house inRaleigh.
I had to give it up to come toCharlotte for something bigger
and better that I believed thatwas the the right thing to do to
achieve the goals and dreamsthat I was setting to do.

(28:15):
But most people aren't willingto give up stuff.
Because the comfort kills them.
You know, it might be, and that,that giving up could be people,
could be things, could bematerial things, could be
whatever you have to give up.
But most people aren't willingto give that up, and that's what
kills them and stops'em becausethey aren't willing to give up
what is comfortable to them inorder to, to get to where

(28:38):
they're going.
So if you, if you, if you canget to yourself that I'm willing
to give up something in order toachieve something more.
Over time with that discipline,you'll start to see the pieces
come together.

Kenny (28:50):
Appreciate that.
And as you were.
We're speaking just now.
You, you've talked about howyou've, you started to sh or
you, you're sharing more aboutyour brand publicly now.
Yeah.
Like you're, you're recordingcontent, like you said, you fail
at first and then you figure outwhat you want your story to
tell, be told to the world islike, so what is the
relationship between how you'reshowing up publicly, having

(29:12):
speaking engagements like this,and then how you're leading your
team?

Donovan (29:16):
Well,

Kenny (29:16):
I hope

Donovan (29:17):
they say I'm the same person here, that I'm.
At the office or at home orwherever.
So here, what, what is a brand?
A brand is what a brand is.
It speaks to who you or thebusiness is, whether you're
there or not.
So when I'm not there or thebusiness is not there, it should
be the same whether I'm there ornot, the experience should be

(29:38):
there.
Who I am, that's what, who I'mat work.
This is who, this is who I am.
Um, you know, I'll give you anexample.
We just come back from New York.
I went to walking down thestreet, went to es.
From the moment that I showed upat that store, the brand hit me
and it wasn't, it wasn't what Iwas buying there.

(30:00):
It was the experience.
It was the experience.
And as I was starting to gothrough there, I.
You know, they walk you throughthe door and they greet you, Hey
Mr.
Hey, how are you doing?
How can I help you?
And first thing they do is, canI get you some water and bring
out sparkling water and thisnice Hermes branded coaster.
The coaster had about$2,000.
'cause it was, it was cashmereand all this other stuff, but

(30:22):
they experience right there thatjust, that taking that
experience through there.
And just so you know, I wasnever going to buy anything.
I just was like, lemme go in thestore.
I'd never been in Hermez before.
So I go in there and.
Give us this soda and or thesparkling water and the
experience.
They sit you down in this nice,probably a chin chill, a chair
or whatever it was, and you sitthere and they're like, what?

(30:42):
Can I help you?
Like I'm just looking, are niceshoes over there.
Well, I walk outta there and wasintended to buy nothing, but
they experience hooked me.
Their brand hooked me, and I waslooking around at all the people
and every sales professional wastreating the customer the exact
same way.
That's brand.
And I'm sure if I go to LA it'sprobably gonna be the same way.

(31:07):
That's probably why they chargehalf a million dollars for those
bags.
I don't know.
They got me to buy these shoes,but I was not intending.
But my point of that is to saythe brand is who, who you, who
you are at all times.
Whether you're there or not, youshow up whether you're there at
the door, whether you're not.

(31:29):
The brand is the same thing.
And if it can't, it can't, youcan't give mixed signals, mixed
signals with your brand.
'cause the moment you give mixedsignals with your brand, it's
just people don't believe it.
And so for me, health andwellness, I'm hoping I'm showing
up to look and communicate thatI'm trying to be healthy,
driven.
I, that's me message.
I'm communicating, I'm driven.

(31:50):
Um, I'm pushing hard sometimesdelusional, but, but that, but
that's'cause I have big goalsand big dreams.
Very just, you know, so that, Ithink brand has gotta be
consistent whether you're thereor not and just, it's gotta be
able to speak that at all times.

Kenny (32:09):
That's interesting because when, think about some
of the, the CEOs that we allknow, we know very little about
their, about their personal.
Life.
Right?
And so that's the part where,for me, I'm trying to figure out

(32:30):
if you have to, if those twohave to align, but, but who are
the CEOs you're talking about?

Donovan (32:36):
It was, that's a serious question.
Like, um, like corporate?
Yeah.
Corporate.
Yeah, definitely corporate,right?
They got it.
I'm gonna tell you why.
It's not their agenda, it'scorporate.
So they have to be a way thatcorporate tells them to be.
I'm not corporate.
I'm Donovan.
Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna be how I want to be.

(32:58):
So I want people.
So,'cause me, I was looking forsomebody to tell me how to show
me how to do this.
I wanted to know what it, thosecorporate CEOs can't tell me
what it's like to go sign yourhouse over, put your house on
the dotted line.
Can't do that.
So.
But, and there's nothing wrong.

(33:19):
I'm just not saying anythingabout, but they, they're in a
different capacity.
So I, I, I've had to what?
This business, I had to createthings.
I didn't, I didn't have amarketing department.
We didn't have a accountingdepartment.
We didn't have in-house legalattorneys.
We didn't have, we had to createall that.
Well, corporate, it's alreadythere.
Mm-hmm.

(33:40):
They're, they, they just, theyscrew it up.
They get a golden parachute togo to the house.
Mm-hmm.
I screw it up, we shutting itdown, we gonna lose a house.
He ain't gonna be able to go toschool and all this other stuff
because I screwed it up.
So there's a big push to makethis thing right.
I'm gonna push hard on thisbusiness, promote it,'cause it's
got to win.

(34:01):
There's no plan B.
I don't have a golden parachuteto go to the house.
So I got, I'm gonna showeverything why we're gonna make
this successful.
I'm gonna promote it.
I'm gonna show why we're doingthis.
I wanna track the right people.
Because if we can't get theright people, the business ain't
gonna survive.
I don't have a backend officethat's going to go start
looking, calling through 10,000resumes.
We gotta do this, we gotta dothis here.

Kenny (34:24):
I appreciate you, um, breaking that down for me
personally, because I'm comingfrom corporate into this space
now as a founder of a company.
And so that is a switch.
That has to be turned.
I mean, I came from corporate.
Again, I'm

Donovan (34:38):
not knocking corporate.
'cause corporate, the reason whyI am where I'm'cause of
corporate, they, they, they payme good money to learn how to
run a business.
But what I also learned comingoutta corporate was it's time to
swim.
You gotta, you, you, you don'thave that corporate monster
behind you protecting you.
So what are you going to do?

(34:58):
Take all the things thatcorporate showed you to do,
surround yourself with peoplewho act actually built
businesses.
Take their advice, learn whatyou learned there and put it all
together and it happens.
And that's, that's what what Idid, you know, my advice come
from people who built business.
Um, and when I, when, if youlook at our growth trajectory,

(35:22):
the where, where it started toreally take off, I got more
intentional about listening topeople who were where I was
trying to go because theyquickly showed you how to get
past the hurdles.
They told you some of theroadblocks that you're gonna hit
before you got there, but theyalways told you to keep your
foot on the gas, but be cautiousof these things right here.

(35:43):
So, um, I keep saying surroundyourself with people who have
what you're trying to achieve.
That is the ultimate, one of theultimate hacks of business life
in general, uh, to get you tothe next, next level.

(36:06):
I'm sorry folks, like

Kenny (36:07):
I'm sitting here taking notes again in my mind and
trying to wrap my head aroundwhat you're saying.
Yeah, I, I certainly appreciateit because you're build, you're,
you're saying these things.
You're building your company ina public.
Manner.
And you're not necessarily like,you're not gatekeeping, you're
not keeping this in a treasurechest and throwing away the key.
Yeah.
That's super powerful.
Now,

Donovan (36:27):
I mean, you think about most people that built they,
they got the curtain in front ofthem and they're, they're hiding
'cause people looking for'em,coming out stuff.
But for me, I mean, there'ssomebody out there that is, you
know, I get messages back onwhen I post stuff and messages
back.
People go, thanks for sharingthis.
It really helped me.
That, that, that, that feedback,that's, that's more powerful

(36:51):
than anything because you, youknow, you're actually giving
back to somebody to help them.
And I know how they felt becauseI felt the same way when I was
able to get that information.
So I, I'm, I'm trying, I want tobe able to return the same thing
that was given to me in so manyways, because if I hadn't have
had that, to be able to seethat.
We say all the time.
If we'd learned a lot of stuffwe learned early on, it'd be a

(37:13):
lot further off.
Further, further along.
But to be able to do that and tohelp somebody along the way with
information, you know, you know,like I said, I said it earlier,
that paid to be in rooms wherepeople would do it.
I mean, paid money to sit inrooms with people worth
billions, and the informationthat they gave.

(37:36):
Long, as long as you apply it,go back, apply it, stick to it,
stay disciplined, it works.
Um, so, so that, that,

Kenny (37:44):
that's a, a great segue for me.
Thank you so much for sayingthat.
Uh, so I think about networksand like you just said, like you
may have to pay to be in some ofthe, in these rooms, like how do
you strategically go aboutleveraging your network, whether
it's in construction or not.
Yeah.
To get stuff done for DA ever.
Yeah.

Donovan (38:04):
Um, so I'll go back to pay.
There's a saying, if you paymoney, you gonna pay attention,
pay enough good money, you gonnastick with it'cause you don't
wanna waste your money.
Um, but as far as the network,you know, a lot of successful
people spend their time buildingtheir networks.
They're very selective about whothey spend their time around.

(38:27):
So, so for, for, for me, I'm, Ibuild a lot of, uh, I work, I
spend my time building a lot ofnetworks of, in, in, in the
industry, outside the industryof whether it's pol political,
uh, community relationshipsbecause those relationships
actually can help you in the bigpicture.
And if you just focus it solelyon.

(38:47):
Construction or specific market,uh, uh, relationships, you're
limiting yourself.
But, you know, coming toCharlotte, I realized Charlotte
was a, a community, uh, a placeof community.
So community is a big thing.
So when I got here, the firstthing I started doing was
started building networks andrelationships in the community
and those that come backtenfold.
And we do a lot of communityprojects.

(39:08):
Spectrum Center, that's acommunity project.
Um, you know, schools, it was acommunity project, so.
If you're not investing orbuilding networks in the
community, how do you expect thecommunity to reward you with any
of that work?
So, um, I spend a lot of timebuilding those networks because
those are important.
Um, and, and, and, you know,it's not about, it's, it's, it's

(39:33):
all those things start to cometogether and, and, you know,
everything's a transaction, buthow you transact.
If it's relational is where,where it matters.
Everything's a transaction, butyou, if you don't make it
transactional, that's where thejuice comes from.
So are you getting to knowpeople?
What makes them tick?

(39:53):
What are their families like?
So you can, you know, we gotthese tickets to the, to the
Hornets, and I was building arelationship with someone and
their son wanted to go to aHornet scheme.
They, they had never satcourtside, but to be able to do
that and give that, give themthe ticket so they can take

(40:13):
their kid and they, man, theysent me handwritten notes,
called me, said their, their kidhad the most absolute time.
But that's a relationshipbuilding.
'cause I took the time tounderstand what would make them
tick.
So I didn't do that just to getsomething in return out of it.
I heard what they wanted orheard what they, what would make

(40:33):
them tick.
And I was able to do that withmy means.
So by doing that, that opened upa different level of
relationship versus just saying,well, what can I buy from you?
What can you gimme?
What can, that's not?
That's not relationshipbuilding.
Relationship building is builtspending time with people and
understand what they need tohelp them get to the next part
of their life or how you canhelp add value to them.
Um, and so.

(40:53):
Networking piece and, andbuilding those relationships,
staying present.
Um, one of the best pieces ofadvice I got from another
business owner is you gotta staypresent in your business.
A lot of business owners get tocertain levels, you know,
certain revenues, certainthings, and they, if you will,
turn the keys over and get outthe car, I'm gonna turn the keys

(41:18):
over, I'm staying in that carbecause you gotta make sure
you're pushing on the business.
It stays consistent and yougotta see your leadership.
The community's gotta see, Imight not be on the project
sites building the projects, butam I meeting with community
leaders?
Am I doing things in thecommunity that the community
needs from leaders like myselfand or others in my
organization?
So it's a all, it's, it's alwaysa, a, a, a, a ever changing

(41:42):
thing, but it, it involves youto stay involved in what you're
doing.

Kenny (41:47):
So you talk about.
I appreciate you bringing thatup.
Just about eventually somebusiness owners, some founders,
they turn over the keys.
Yeah.
I guess in terms of theconversation around legacy
mm-hmm.
Like what is, what are your,what is your game plan with
that?
Do you see this being somethingto your point where, you know,

(42:09):
the.
From a leadership perspective,it stays with like, I guess like
a, a, a family led business ordo you feel like you can step
away and then other individualscan come in and run something?
Build?
Yeah.
I think as a business

Donovan (42:25):
grows, in order for the business to grow and folks in
your organization to grow, Ihave to continue to grow.
To, to grow and get out of theirway so they can continue to do
stuff.
Um, I don't know.
What's Hunter?
What does he wanna do?
Uh, uh, y you know, the legacycould mean anything, whether I'm
there running it every day.
The legacy, what I built, cancontinue by me not being there

(42:48):
every day.
'cause bringing leaders andothers that I can bring in the
organization, continue on whatthe vision and mission is of the
business.
Legacy is what it is.
I mean, you look at it, there'sa lot of businesses with family
names on it.
The original owners and originalfounders aren't there running
it, but their legacy stillcontinues long after they're

(43:09):
gone.
So that's intentional.
And they, they might, may or maynot be family members still
there, but it still continues.
So for, for, for me, that's whatI want to be able to do to even
when I step away.
Mm-hmm.
What we set up continues on.
Whether I'm there or not.
And if he wants to, maybe if, ifit's something else, you know,

(43:30):
don't know that he may not wannado it, who knows.

Kenny (43:35):
Appreciate that.
Uh, that, that clarity there.
Uh, Donovan, I am early on in myfiguring out what my toddler
wants to do, so with her life.
So that's why I asked thatquestion.
So I appreciate you giving methat gym.
There it is.
Whatever they want to do.
Yeah, right.
At the end of the day,

Donovan (43:51):
you can't.
I didn't get pushing.
This is what I wanted to do.
And I think where, where you,when you try to push them into
it, it kind of, it, I think itmay backfire in some, in some
regards that, you know, I triedto, one thing I do with him is
take him to take him to meetingswith me.
Take him where all I'm trying tocondition him to do is to be

(44:11):
able to communicate,communicate, maneuver, and
whatever those skills that he,those soft skills that he's
learning, whether he wants to.
Race cars or, or build or buildbuildings or whatever.
Those soft skills that I wanthim to learn, he can take them
any and everywhere and besuccessful wherever he wants to
be.
'cause what I learned iscommunicating, building

(44:34):
relationships.
If he can learn those basicskills, the rest of the stuff
will come to him.
So, you know that that's, that'sreally what it boils down to.
Mm-hmm.

Kenny (44:44):
Appreciate that.
Um, I think

Donovan (44:48):
where we at in time.
Okay.

Kenny (44:57):
I just wanna make sure we got time for folks that, that,
that may want to ask a questionor two.
If there's anybody who has aquestion, feel free to raise
your hand and we will figure outhow to get a mic to you.
I wanna make sure we make timefor folks to ask questions.

Audience 1 (45:15):
Thank you.
Donovan, thank you again so muchfor being here.
Um, I wanted to askspecifically, when it comes to
access to capital, you know,it's critically important to be
able to grow businesses,especially when starting off,
what type of advice would yougive a early startup when trying
to get access to more capital?

(45:35):
You know, lines of credit mightbe there, you know, personal or
business credit cards might bethere too, but maybe like a
non-traditional route.
Um, when looking to get, I.
Large, larger amounts ofcapital.

Donovan (45:49):
Yeah.
It, it, it goes, I think itmultiple, I think it goes back a
couple things.
It's about buildingrelationships with people that
have capital.
You said non-traditional.
Um, you know, I, I didn't startwith a lot of capital.
You know, we, I did not startwith a lot of capital at all and
we're gonna be a hundred plusmillion dollar business.

(46:10):
We basically financed ourcompany.
Year after year, after year.
But, so I think just reallybuilding relationships with
people, getting in those circlesand understanding, but as you're
doing that, build the wins.
'cause money follows success.
And if you're winning, thecapital will come easy.
So I'll give you an example.

(46:32):
I wouldn't got some capital tostart my business and it, it was
no money.
Like when I say no money, I meanit was, it was just enough to,
to get the thing going.
It took me, I was in his officeprobably like three hours.
Fast forward several yearslater, I wanted to grow my

(46:53):
business.
I was like, I need some outside.
I need some capital to do thisthing.
Like I probably need about amillion,$2 million.
I went to the office, but keepin mind that was five years, six
years have went by for the firsttime, but we've been winning.
You know, we've shown success.
Whatever.
It took me 10 minutes to getthat money.

(47:15):
Seriously.
10 minutes.
And I go, man, I should ask formore.
But what my, my point about thatis, is you gotta, you gotta
build that success so people canunderstand that you're serious
about what you're doing.
Traditionally with the outsidecapital, no different with
banks.
Banks gonna wanna see a successstory.
Banks gonna wanna see, are youprofitable?
Are you, are you, are, you know,what, what are you doing in your

(47:37):
business?
No different than people on theoutside.
And as long as they believe inyou, they'll give it to you.
You can have a, you can have abusiness model that might not
work, but if, if you believe itwill work, they go, they'll
stroke you a check.
But I think you gotta buildsuccess along the way so you can
help make that case.
Um, so that, that's my, that'smy advice.

(48:06):
So much

Audience 2 (48:06):
Donovan.
Um, I've been writing down a

Donovan (48:08):
lot of notes,

Audience 2 (48:09):
um, and to include some questions.
I do have a couple of questions,but I'll wait till the end.
Um, my first question is, howlong were you a subcontractor
before you became a primecontractor?
Or were you ever asubcontractor?

Donovan (48:20):
Yeah, so no, we started out as straight up general
contractor, constructionmanager.
Um, that was, we.
I started, uh, corporatecompany.
Um, so we were a general con orconstruction manager, and that's
how we started our business.
We, and we intentionally, weknew that was what we wanted our
business to be a generalcontractor.
So we had people offer, youknow, will you be a

(48:42):
subcontractor?
And we intentionally did not.
We gave up because we wanted tostay.
Remember I said brand?
Yes.
We wanted our brand to be whatthat was.
So we.
And again, we were in a, i, myposition may be a little
different, so I, I don't want tosay don't turn out opportunity,
but my, but I knew that this iswhat I wanted this business to

(49:02):
look like, and we, generalcontract is all we've ever been.
It's all we, that's all we'veever done.
So, um, and it was just, it's,it's a, it's a discipline, you
know, it's opportunities comealong.
He's like, oh, I can do this anddo that, but.
It is a brand we wanna stick toit.
And I'm glad we did because nowpeople don't, they don't even,

(49:23):
they don't even come to us aboutthings and, and they, they, but
they come to us about the, whatwe want them to come to.
So, yeah.
So, you know, I'll talk aboutYeah.
Joint.
Good point.
Joint ventures, you know, we,we've done some joint ventures
on larger projects.
Um, where we're a minority sharein a large project, but we're
still at the prime level.
But that allows us to really bea part of big projects, but also

(49:44):
sometimes learn from the biggerthe, the bigger, uh, animals
that their systems and theirprocesses and things that we
wanna bring back to our organorganization to do that.
But they're all strategic.
You know, we don't do it just todo it.
We do it for a strategic reason.
And over time, you know, thathelps your business.
Um, but also Sue, say with yourbusiness, if you're wanna do

(50:07):
joint ventures, you don't wannamake that your primary business
because you will live and die onthe partnership.
You think about it, if, if allmajority of your work is joint
ventures, the joint venturesdrop and you don't have anything
to go to your own, you gonna diewhen the partnership dies.
So just make sure you build yourbusiness, whether it's

(50:27):
partnerships or subcontractors.
You want to do it in such a waythat it aligns with your
business and, and that itdoesn't put you as dependent
upon one, one thing of anything,dependent upon one thing of
anything is terrible on it justis just a bad place to be.
But we all be in that position'cause you're growing your

(50:47):
companies.
But once you, the quicker youcan quick, uh, quickly think
about that and get outta thatpart, the faster you'll be able
to, to grow your business.
So, yep.

Audience 3 (51:03):
Hey Jonathan.
Uh, just wanted to thank youagain for coming.
Yeah.
Out.
Um, Grayland Heard Young up andcoming real estate developer 29.
Um, uh, so I've heard you talkabout relationships building
them, um, as someone that isyoung, successful black man.
You know, sometimes we see thepitfalls of young black men
being, or just.

(51:24):
Men in general, women in generalas well, is the partner and who
they choose.
Right.
Um, and I think the, the mostimportant relationship that you
could have is someone thatyou're married to.
Right.
So I know that you talked aboutbalance and things of that sort.
What advice do you have inregards to picking the right
partner and managing thatrelationship as being a
successful entrepreneur?

(51:45):
'cause that's kind of where I'mat right now.

Donovan (51:47):
Yeah, good question.
I got my partner here tonight.
Um, I think.
The who you pick in, in yourpartner is, is will either break
your making for sure.
And I think whoever you pick,you gotta make sure you are in
alignment with your goals andyour dreams and they gotta be in

(52:09):
alignment with that.
I, I'd say all the time, if Igotta sacrifice my goals and
dreams for somebody else'shappiness, yeah, I'm not gonna
be a very happy person.
So you gotta make sure youcommunicate that to align that,
to say, this is what the goalsand dreams are, and this is why
it's gonna benefit this unit.
I'm doing this because it'sgonna benefit the greater good,

(52:31):
but when I go out and I'mpushing and I'm, and I'm doing
what I need to do, there's analignment on that.
What I'm doing is for thatreason.
So I think if you have a partnerthat understands that of what
your goals and your dreams areand they can get behind that,
then that's what's, that's gonnamake it easy for you.
But if you don't, it's gonnamake it hard for you.
Because think about it, ifyou're pushing the gas, and I've

(52:53):
used this example before, ifyou're pushing the gas and she's
pushing the brake, where are yougoing to go?
Not, not, not anywhere.
So I think you, you got, yougot, you gotta have alignment in
that because that will, I mean,if you can't, if you can't get
that part right, it's gonna behard when you.
Go out and try to do yourbusiness because something's

(53:14):
gonna be pulling at you.
And until, and I think if youcan get in alignment with that,
you know, and if you can't getin alignment with it, you're
gonna have to choose.
There's no balance.
Me, me, me.
Meaning, meaning if you're inalignment, that's the balance.

(53:37):
They know where you're going andwhy you're going there, then
they should understand whatyou're doing.
That's the balance.
Um, so you gotta, you gotta, yougotta, you gotta communicate.
And, and so we didn't go ontrips for, for, for a while.
When I say trip trips, liketrips, because the business
went, the business went where itneed to be.

(53:59):
Uh, it need things like that.
So, and they have to understandthat.
We can't go buy, yeah, we madesome money here last year, but
we can't go buy a new car, a newhouse this year.
'cause I'm got, I have goals.
We have goals to get thisbusiness to world or whatever
the case may be.
So they gotta understand thesacrifice, but you also gotta

(54:19):
understand the sacrifice they'remaking to help you achieve your
goals and dreams.
You see what I'm saying?
So, uh.
It's, it's all comes back toalignment and communication.
Um, because when you're buildingyour business, it's going to
take it, it's going to take timefrom you and a time away.
But I think if you can alignthat you, you do.

(54:40):
But if you can't, only thing Ican say, it's probably gonna be
hard.
So Good.

Kenny (54:48):
Yeah.
Appreciate the questions, uh,that looked like what we had,
um, in terms of folks havingfollow-ups.
Is there anybody else?
Just real fast.
All right.
Um, so, so in closing, I reallywant to, uh, thank Donovan for
having this incredibleconversation with us sharing

(55:10):
your Gs your, your, yourexperiences is really second to
none.
Right.
And, um, it was amazing just forme from the very first day
conversation that I had withToya, um, just having this, this
sort of opportunity put in frontof me as I build my brand.
So I definitely just appreciateyou for, for coming on the
platform and sharing your story.

(55:31):
I do want to leave it, um, kindof final thoughts to you in
terms of like closing this out,kind of what you want the
audience, and then obviouslywe'll have listeners who listen
to this on other platformstakeaway.

Donovan (55:41):
Yeah.
Um, well, no, thank, thank youall for.
Coming out, like I said, anytimeI get an opportunity to share a
journey and help others, youknow, that's, that's what it's
about.
You know, like I said, I'm justthe guy from Beaufort, North
Carolina that had big goals andbig dreams.
But what, for me, what didhappen is I, I said I will

(56:02):
refuse to quit on my goals anddreams.
So whatever y'all are doing thatyou're trying to do, and it
doesn't have to be a business.
It could be your careers, itcould be business, it could be
family, whatever those thingsare, all these things still
transfer over what I'm saying,but established goals and
dreams, big, like wildly therethere's a, there's research that

(56:23):
shows the bigger the goal, themore fulfilling that it will be
and the more easier that it willbe to achieve'em because you get
creative.
So set these big wild dreams andbig wild goals.
Stay committed to him.
Don't quit.
Don't quit it.
Just, and, and it's, it's justgonna take discipline,
commitment and creativity tofigure it out.

(56:44):
And then you'll get there.
So you, you going to, you goingto, if you stay disciplined
over, you know, keep My dad, mydad used to, he used to, he used
to tell me this thing.
He used to thing called nudgingthe ball.
He said, every day if you justnudge that ball a little more,
just keep nudging the ball.
You gonna look, even if younudge it just a inch a year,

(57:06):
five, 10 years from now, ifyou've nudged that ball every
single day, no matter if younudged an inch, two feet, three
feet, or four feet, you're gonnabe a lot further along than you
were if you did not nudge thatball every single day.
So my advice is to whatever yourgoals, your dreams are, nudge
that ball every single day.
Because once you look up, you'regonna go, I'm a lot further

(57:26):
along than where I was.
And you're gonna be a lot morehappy with yourself because
you've worked towards your goalsand your dreams, and you're
gonna see some fruits of thatlabor as you've been nudging
that ball all that time.
So just don't give up, keepdreaming and it will show up.

Kenny (57:41):
Appreciate that, Donovan.
Uh, thanks for everybody fortuning into the first, uh, live
episode of The Beyond NormalPodcast.
Appreciate it.

Audience 1 (57:48):
Yep.