August 13, 2025 • 34 mins
Ever wondered what it truly takes to build multiple successful businesses from scratch? In this riveting episode of MindShift Power Podcast, entrepreneur Kelvin Abrams reveals the raw, unfiltered truth about his journey from selling toys out of his bedroom window as a child to owning a doggy daycare, coffee shop, gym, and online business platform.
"I've never been afraid to fail because I've been failing my entire life," Kelvin boldly shares, challenging conventional wisdom about success. As someone who nearly filed for bankruptcy when launching his first official business during the 2008 economic crash, his perspective on embracing failure as a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block offers profound insight for anyone pursuing their dreams.
The conversation takes a compelling turn when Kelvin unpacks his philosophy of "getting uncomfortable" – the sleepless nights, financial struggles, missed social events, and relentless work ethic required to build something meaningful. For those unwilling to embrace discomfort, his advice is refreshingly direct: "change course" and stick with conventional employment. This dichotomy forms the foundation of his book and online course of the same name.
What truly sets this episode apart is Kelvin's powerful advice to "reinvent yourself every three years." Drawing from lessons learned from successful mentors and cautionary tales like Mike Tyson's infamous loss to Buster Douglas, he explains why comfort becomes the enemy of continued success. Whether you're an established entrepreneur, aspiring business owner, or simply looking to grow in your personal life, this principle offers a framework for sustainable growth and innovation.
Ready to transform your approach to failure, comfort, and success? Listen now and discover why the path to achievement might be more uncomfortable – and more rewarding – than you ever imagined.
To learn more about Kelvin, purchase his book or look at his courses. please visit: http://www.kelvinabrams.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Fatima Bey (00:04):
This is MindShift Power Podcast, the number one
critically acclaimed podcastwhere we have raw, unfiltered
conversations that shapetomorrow.
I'm your host, Fatima Bey, theMindShifter, and welcome
everyone.
Today we have with us KelvinAbrams and he is out of Maryland
(00:28):
in the US.
He is an author, anentrepreneur and a successful
mistake maker, and we're goingto talk about that today.
How are you doing, Kelvin?
Kelvin Abrams (00:39):
I'm doing great, Fatima.
Thank you very much for havingme on your podcast.
Fatima Bey (00:44):
Thank you for coming on.
I'm really looking forward toall the stuff you're going to
say to my audience today.
So I like to dive right in.
Let's start off by telling usyour background.
Kelvin Abrams (00:55):
Okay, let's see.
My background is I grew up inNew Jersey, went to school at
Rutgers University, came out ofRutgers and I became a federal
investigator for a period oftime here in Maryland and from
there I started my firstbusiness back in 2008 or 2007.
Fatima Bey (01:13):
Oh, that's.
That's a while ago now.
Kelvin Abrams (01:17):
Yeah, it's been about.
It's actually been one onemonth shy of 17 years.
Fatima Bey (01:22):
Wow.
So what?
What was your first business?
Kelvin Abrams (01:26):
Well, my first business was back in high school
, no, probably junior highschool.
You know, we had, you know, formoney.
What we would do is sell ourold toys out of my window, my
bedroom.
So my first job was back then.
And then also, you know, we hadto hustle for money.
So back in the day we're Leejeans, were Lee jeans and a fat
(01:47):
shoestring Adidas were out inpopular, we would go up to
Philly and New York and so wewould cut grass and rake leaves
and shovel snow and hustle tomake our own money so we can go,
get our clothing, so we canlook fly.
If you remember that word fromback?
Fatima Bey (02:00):
in the day.
You just really age yourself,but yeah, you just really age
yourself, but yeah.
Kelvin Abrams (02:08):
You just told me how old you were.
A fly girl.
Fatima Bey (02:09):
a fly girl, oh my God, back in 1856, I remember
that's right.
So, even as a teenager, youfound a way to be an
entrepreneur, you and yourfriends.
Kelvin Abrams (02:22):
Absolutely.
I think it was just in my blood, like in my book, I like to say
you're born an entrepreneur andthat's just.
My humble opinion is thatyou're born an entrepreneur and
I knew very young that I was afree spirited, kind of creative
person from the very beginning.
I would you know, there arecertain toys that I would want,
and then I would try to makethose toys or make those objects
(02:45):
out of cardboard or plywood.
So, for example, my familynever went skiing but I wanted
to always ski.
So my brother and I we got someplywood and kind of cut it like
a ski, wrapped it around ourfeet and we made a snow mound
and we tried to go skiing downthe snow mound.
So I've always been creative.
And then we used to have skiingdown the snow mound, so that
you know I've always beencreative.
(03:05):
And then we used to have thislittle shed in the backyard and
you know I always wanted to goskydiving and I did as an adult.
And so my brother and I wouldtake like sheets or bags or
whatever and jump off the house,the little shed, and try to fly
down or skydive down.
So yeah, I've always beencreative since I was little lie
down or skydive down.
Fatima Bey (03:26):
So yeah, I've always been creative since I was
little.
Wow, you know what?
You just bring a point that Isay continuously and I have in
some other podcast episodestalking about this when we're
young and we're creative, thatis our bodies telling us what
we're meant to do.
It's our body trying todiscover our purpose, and so
parents listening out there.
(03:47):
If you have a child who'scurious about everything like
that, foster that.
There's a reason why they're socurious.
And if they're creative likethat, foster that, because they
may be the next millionaire.
Now tell us, calvin, what isyour business now?
Kelvin Abrams (04:05):
Well, I have a few businesses, so the first
business I officially started asan adult, I would say is my
doggy daycare boarding facility.
It's called Tiki's Playhouse.
And the second business fromthere was a doggy ice cream
truck that I no longer have.
Yeah, I had the first doggy icecream truck in Maryland.
I would go around.
Yeah, I had the first doggy icecream truck in Maryland, I
would go around, I loved it.
(04:25):
I miss it, though.
Um, because I started my thirdbusiness, which is canine and
coffee, and so I had to get ridof the ice cream truck, cause I
just couldn't maintain the icecream truck and all of that
stuff while running a bar called, or a coffee shop called,
canine and coffee.
Uh, and then my third business,uh, came, came by way of
opportunity, and that's a gymthat I own called American
(04:47):
Fitness Express, and they're allkind of in the same
neighborhood.
They're right across the streetfrom each other.
So I have three businesses thatare right here, across the
street from each other.
Platform course that I havecalled Get Uncomfortable or
Change Course Setting YourselfUp for Success.
(05:07):
So those are the fourbusinesses that I have, and of
course, I got two or three moreon the back burner, that once I
get through these businesses andget these businesses where I
want them to be, then I'll goahead and start working on the
other two or three businessesthat I have.
All right.
Fatima Bey (05:21):
What I hear is that you are successfully running
several businesses, not just one, and that is not easy to do.
Kelvin Abrams (05:28):
Definitely, Well, I don't know what, I don't know
how you define success, but Iwouldn't say I'm successfully
running all of them.
I would just say I successfullywork at all of them.
Fatima Bey (05:41):
Well, let's define success by what I'm saying with
this.
It doesn't mean thateverything's perfect or that you
want that.
Everything is where you want itto be right now, but you are
maintaining them correct.
Kelvin Abrams (05:53):
Yes, ma'am.
Fatima Bey (05:54):
You are maintaining them, and the fact that you even
were able to create them is asuccess.
There are levels to success.
(06:03):
Yes, ma'am, would you?
Fatima Bey (06:04):
agree?
I do Absolutely Now.
Are'am, would you agree?
I do Absolutely Now.
Are you a multi-billionairebecause of it?
Right now?
No, but that doesn't meanyou're not successful, and I
just I think that's important topoint out to our youth and to
the adults listening.
Success doesn't look like justone thing.
Success, for you know, successis reaching a goal.
(06:27):
One level of success isreaching a goal that you went
for, that you had.
Have you done?
Kelvin Abrams (06:35):
that, oh yeah, absolutely.
I mean starting my firstbusiness and at first, when I
started it and I started in 2008when President Obama got
elected and that was when thehousing market crashed and of
course, everybody blamed it onObama.
But the housing market crashedand that first year in business,
oh man, I used to pray and prayand I mean I remember times and
(06:57):
I was out in the yard in therain and I'm yelling and
screaming up at God asking himwhy did he do this to me?
And blah, blah, blah, and so,yeah, I mean it was tough.
So I would say success for meis making it past the first year
and then, after that, themilestone that every business
owner has to go through, whichis year three, and then year
five.
When you hit that hurdle atyear five, then that's usually
(07:18):
when you can kind of coast andyou know that you're going to
survive and luckily I I've beenable to survive and it's been 17
years here come next month.
Fatima Bey (07:27):
Wow, you just define one definition of success and,
like I said, there are levels,and you're living proof of that.
That's why I brought up thefact that you have so many
businesses and they may not bewhere your bigger vision wants
it to go to yet, but thatdoesn't mean you're not on the
way there.
You have other successes thatyou've already succeeded with,
(07:50):
and I think that's what you'resaying.
Kelvin Abrams (07:51):
Absolutely, my journey is.
I'm not.
I'm at the beginning of myjourney, very beginning.
I have such a long way to go,but yeah.
Fatima Bey (07:58):
I feel that way too.
I totally get that.
Now tell us I said you're asuccessful mistake maker.
Now tell us I said you're asuccessful mistake maker so I
was lying right, because you'vemade no mistakes and everything
was perfect as soon as youstarted your business.
That's how it works right, yeah, okay.
I got an island to sell youFantasy land.
Kelvin Abrams (08:22):
So tell us how mistakes have paved the way for
your successes.
So I like to tell people, likeI do, every so often I speak at
a local library here to mycommunity, because I'm trying to
give back to the community andhelp others not to make the same
mistakes that I make.
And so my mistakes.
Over the years I've learnedfrom them, or I like to say I've
(08:42):
learned from them, and thereare a few times that I had to go
back around the corner andlearn that same lesson twice,
but again I learned from it.
And so I always tell peoplethat failure equals success.
And the thing I always say topeople is I've never been afraid
to fail because I've beenfailing my entire life.
I mean, I've failed in school,I've failed classes.
I failed at Rutgers University.
(09:03):
I had to redo my whole firstsemester because I partied like
an animal.
So I made the choice to partyand not study.
So I failed at college and Ihad to redo the first year all
over again and it cost me moneyand it set me back.
I failed at relationships.
You know, you name it.
I failed and got fired fromjobs.
(09:24):
So I've been failing my entirelife.
So I'm not afraid of failure atall, but failure to me to
answer your question.
Failure to me equals successand that's why I welcome failure
.
Fatima Bey (09:35):
Now you have a book.
What is the name of that book?
Kelvin Abrams (09:39):
It's called Get Uncomfortable or Change Course.
Fatima Bey (09:41):
And what does this conversation have to do with
your book?
Kelvin Abrams (09:50):
Oh, it's everything with my book.
The title alone GetUncomfortable or Change Course.
So what I'm saying is getuncomfortable, which is get used
to failing, get used to beinguncomfortable, get used to being
at the edge of your seat, getused to sleepless nights, get
used to the anxiety, get used tohaving no money in your pocket,
get used to not eating, getused to not sleeping and staying
up all night.
Get used to missing vacationsand holidays and birthdays and
(10:11):
funerals, getting used to justmissing social events in life
and forget about your hobbies.
Get used to just being work,work, work.
24 seven period.
So get uncomfortable.
And if you're not willing toget uncomfortable, then change
course.
And change course means staywith your nine to five.
Fatima Bey (10:30):
What is the drawback of doing a nine to five versus
having your own business?
Kelvin Abrams (10:36):
For me, creativity and freedom.
So creativity to me is, youknow, my brain doesn't stop.
I mean, I go to sleep at nightand when that creative brain
starts working, I get up and Iwrite it down.
I write it down Constantly.
Once a week or more I'm writingthings down.
If not, first thing I get up inthe morning is I start writing
that stuff down so that I canremember no-transcript.
Fatima Bey (11:30):
Yes, so being uncomfortable and making
mistakes is a part of success.
Yes, yes.
And can we reach successwithout those two things?
Kelvin Abrams (11:42):
I don't think so.
Every successful athlete, everysuccessful celebrity, every
successful product out therewill have failure.
You know, failure goes all theway back to Isaac Newton
discovering electricity.
Right, it goes all the way backto Bill Gates and Microsoft, or
Bill Gates, and yeah, BillGates and Microsoft create
Microsoft in his garage.
And then it goes back to AppleComputer all the failures that
(12:04):
they made before they becamesuccessful.
Hell.
It goes back to Oprah Winfrey.
Look at all the failures andproblems that Oprah Winfrey had,
all the abuse that OprahWinfrey had.
And where's she?
You know so failure equalssuccess, Absolutely.
Michael Jordan would tell youthat.
Tiger Woods would tell you that.
Any athlete out there on top oftheir game will tell you
success equals failure.
Serena Williams, you name it.
Fatima Bey (12:25):
Absolutely, and every singer had a whole bunch
of unsuccessful notes beforethey had a successful one we saw
on stage.
Kelvin Abrams (12:32):
Absolutely.
And a whole bunch of rappershad their demo tape thrown back
at them before they becamesuccessful.
So, failure equals success.
Fatima Bey (12:40):
It does.
But failure doesn't equalsuccess by itself.
What else is needed to go withthat failure?
Kelvin Abrams (13:05):
termination.
You have to give that nobody'sgoing to fucking take shit from
me and you have to just be likedevious and you just have to be
like hardcore, like DavidGoggins.
I love his book.
He's got a book called youCan't Hurt Me and I read that
book once and I listened to thepodcast twice and that dude is
crazy.
But you know what Taking soulsis a lifestyle.
Taking souls is a mentality.
Taking souls is you're notgoing to take this from me.
(13:27):
I'm going to overcome anythingyou throw at me.
So you have to have thementality of I'm going to
overcome.
I'm going to overcome no matterwhat you do to me.
You can't hurt me.
And that's the mentality that Ilive by.
You can't hurt me no matterwhat you do.
I'm not afraid of failure.
I failed plenty of times.
I don't care about failing, doI'm not afraid of failure.
I failed plenty of times.
I don't care about failing.
The thing I care about is whenI meet the you know, when I go
(13:48):
and I'm approaching the pearlygates, I want that person to say
to me hey you, congratulations,you failed.
Versus why didn't you do?
Or why didn't you give it yourall?
Why didn't you try?
You?
I've given you life, I gave youthe opportunity, I gave you the
creativity.
Why didn't you try?
Why were you afraid?
And that's not going to be me.
Fatima Bey (14:12):
I'm going to go to the pearly gates and he's going
to say job well done.
So what mistake for the youththat are out there listening
right now is the year is 2025right now?
What mistakes would you saythat?
Kelvin Abrams (14:27):
you see some of them making right now Mistakes
and I see it all the time withmy employees and what that is is
that the generation nowadays,instead of crawling and then
slowly learning how to walk andthen jogging and then running
the generation today they wantto go right's why they're not
(14:52):
going to be successful because Ithink technology today has
ruined technology and socialmedia has ruined the generation
today.
Because everybody wants a fastbuck.
Girls are that sell makeup andperfume and all that stuff and
do face makeup on TikTok and allof that stuff.
(15:15):
So everybody this generation islooking for a fast buck.
Gone is the generation whereyou work from the bottom up.
This generation comes right outof high school asking for top
dollar with no experience.
So I think that's going to bethe failure of this generation.
Fatima Bey (15:30):
So what should they do instead?
Because where they should be,they're not, so that's where
they are right now.
We're here.
What can they do from here?
Kelvin Abrams (15:39):
Humble themselves .
Be humble and go back to thevery beginning.
Get a mentor, get someone older, get someone who's been there.
Get someone.
If you, if you want to be aninfluencer, go find someone who
did it from the bootstraps up.
Go talk to a business owner.
Find the oldest business thatyou can find in your
neighborhood and go talk to thatbusiness owner and learn from
that business owner.
(15:59):
Every small business that yousee has a story.
So go to any small business thatyou know and don't be afraid to
ask to talk to your owner, anddon't be afraid to get a mentor
or ask the owner to be yourmentor and have him or her teach
you, because today, what you'relearning on social media and
what they're learning on TikTokand what they're learning on the
internet is just garbage.
(16:20):
It's filling their mind withgarbage and it's not filling
their mind with the core valuesand the basics, like showing up
to work 10 minutes early, beingready to work, not showing up to
work at 8.01 and then having togo, put your bag away and
finish your Starbucks coffeethat costs you $10 and then sit
down and reply to a text messagebefore you start working.
(16:42):
No, no, no, no, no.
Get back to the basics.
Show up 10 minutes early, readyto work and be available after
your shift, and don't say it'sfour o'clock, I got to go, be
available until the job is doneafter your shift.
And that's say it's fouro'clock, I got to go be
available until the job is doneafter your shift.
And that's what's wrong withthis generation.
Fatima Bey (16:58):
So mindset is what I hear, and what I also hear you
saying is that they need to.
I want to add to that.
You said that they should getmentors and start.
You know, talking to people whohave been running businesses,
and I completely agree with thatpart.
I want to add to that Justbecause someone is and I'm
talking to the young audienceright now just because someone
(17:21):
is older and started a businessin 1974 and things are very
different now than they wereback then, you still have
something to learn from them.
You can take the principles thatthey use to be successful and
apply them to your modern world,Because you don't live in the
world he grew up in or hestarted in.
We don't live in 2008.
(17:42):
But you can still take theprinciples from what somebody
else went through and apply them.
Just change some of the detailsaround.
We now have AI.
We now have the internet.
That is a really big deal, andAI can do a lot for you, and I
love AI, but I also understandhow it can be damaging if you
(18:04):
rely on it too much.
So there are lots of ways ofmodernizing the advice you get.
So don't assume becausesomeone's older and they live in
a different time with adifferent technology and they
seem all out of date.
Their principles are never outof date.
Some of their details might be,but the principles aren't.
Learn how to listen toprinciples and not just details.
(18:28):
Absolutely, you can hear thingsdifferently.
Tails Absolutely you can hearthings differently.
So what advice?
What else?
I hear you saying that mindsetis one of the things that our
youth need to change, becauseour culture has taught them a
bad mindset.
I would agree with that.
A lot of mindsets have beenincorrectly taught.
(18:48):
But there are some youth that,okay, they grew up in this world
.
They can't help that.
They were taught these thingsby our culture because they were
born when they were born.
They can try to change theirmindset.
They can try to find someonewho runs a business.
What else can they do intoday's world to try to be
(19:10):
successful for tomorrow?
Kelvin Abrams (19:13):
in today's world to try to be successful for
tomorrow.
You know that's a greatquestion.
So two things I would say.
One is I've already talkedabout it, which is get a mentor.
And then the second thing islook for free programs or free
opportunities to better yourself.
Like there are a lot of grantsthat are out there, there are a
lot of educational programs thatare out there.
There are a lot of state fundprograms, federal funded
(19:37):
programs, like I mentioned in mybook Get Uncomfortable or
Change Course that I went when Istarted my business.
I went and I spoke to a SCORErepresentative from the Small
Business Administration forabout a year and boy, that guy
taught me a lot.
I mean, I thought I knew what Iwas doing and after about four
or five times of him ripping mybusiness plan apart and marking
(19:59):
it full of red X's and marks andquestion marks and all of that
stuff, you know I learned a hardlesson.
It humbled me very quickly, youknow.
So I would say there is plentyof free and the word is free
opportunity out thereeducational opportunities,
learning tools and advice andonline courses.
You know, don't be afraid topay for some online courses to
(20:19):
learn.
It's all about continuingeducation.
Fatima Bey (20:23):
Yes, education is so important, but there are so
many different ways to get it,and you're right, there's so
well.
In the US anyway, and I know inthe UK too, there are so many
opportunities to learn stuff forfree.
If you have the internet, yougot a whole encyclopedia right
there.
You can learn a lot of stufffor free.
Just go to YouTube and use itas a search engine.
(20:44):
There's so much that you can doto learn.
If you don't have people aroundyou who know what you want to
learn, then find the onlinepresence that can do that, and I
don't care what you want tolearn.
Then find the online presencethat can do that, and I don't
care what you want to learn.
There's something out there.
I completely agree with that.
So what does your course offer?
Since you say they should learnfrom taking courses, what does
your course offer?
Kelvin Abrams (21:04):
So my online course is all about setting
yourself up for success.
So it talks about.
It goes deeper than my bookgoes.
It just talks about everythingfrom a business plan to meeting
a banker what the banker'sexpectations are, what your
marketing expectations will be,what your social media
expectations will be people thatI work with and trust and I
(21:34):
spoke with my lawyer, I spokewith CPA bookkeeper, I spoke
with my marketing person contentwriter, I spoke with my mentor
and I spoke with my banker fromeverybody as to what's really
needed to create a successfulbusiness from the ground up.
And this business plan is I mean, my course is not the end of
(21:57):
all end, but what it is.
It's a great start for you toget going.
It talks to how to write abusiness plan.
What's important in thebusiness plan?
Everybody focuses on talkingabout me, me, me and the
business plan and what you'vedone, and put nice little pretty
pictures up in your businessplan.
But the reality missionstatement and immediately turn
(22:19):
to your financial section, whichis your three-year pro forma.
And that's exactly what theyturn to and that's what they
base their decision on is thefinances.
And to get to the finances,there are six C's that the bank
talk about that you have to,which are in my online course.
So in my online course, thereare six C's that the bankers
look at when they come in andthey look at your resume and
they look at you as a person.
(22:39):
There's six criterias that theylook for.
So my online course is a greatstart for someone who either
looking to start a business andafraid and don't know how,
because it provides resources,it provides links and things
like that.
And then also it's a greatcourse for someone who's stuck
(23:00):
and not really sure which way togo in their business.
So I think I've tried to.
I've tried to gear it towardspeople that are looking to start
their business, but also Ithink people that have started
their business and have a fewproblems would benefit from my
course as well too.
Fatima Bey (23:13):
That's great.
It's nice to have it all in oneplace, and it sounds like your
course is built for today, notyesterday, correct?
Kelvin Abrams (23:23):
Correct.
Fatima Bey (23:24):
And I say that because there's a lot of people
out there giving advice from1942.
You know, like this was trueback in 2001,.
But it's not true now.
But the fact that you reachedout to people today to create
this course tells me that thisis something that they can use
for the future.
I like to talk about the future, not just the past, here,
(23:45):
because our youth, they'regrowing up in a different world
and I want them to be successfulin the current and coming world
, not in the one we grew up in.
So I really like that.
Kelvin Abrams (23:55):
You mentioned something about principles and
the core values of principles.
So I have a mentor who's about75 years old and I've known him
for about seven years.
He's a self-made man.
He almost went throughbankruptcy, like I almost filed
bankruptcy when I was goingthrough my starting my business
and then he got his break.
And he loves to say this isthat his famous quote that he
(24:15):
uses is you make your own goodluck, and I quote that in my
book that you make your own goodluck.
And what that means for him isthat it's up to you to create
your own good luck.
You know, everybody goes outand buys a Powerball ticket and
a Mega Million ticket and wekeep praying and hoping that we
win right.
But you got to make your owngood luck and what that is is
opportunity.
You have to create theopportunity.
(24:37):
And so there are some principlesyou mentioned principles before
there are some principles thathe lives by as a 75 year old
that I totally disagree with.
But at the same time I take thecore value of what he says to
me and I turn it around intoday's world and in my mindset
and I use what he gives me.
Because here's this guy whoalmost filed bankruptcy, had a
(24:59):
family, self-made man.
He's a millionaire, nowself-made man.
He's a millionaire nowself-made man and he's still
doing it at 75.
He has two companies stilldoing it at 75.
So I listened to what he has tosay.
Now I may not take every advicehe has to say, but I take what
he the core values, and I use itfor today's, in today's world.
Fatima Bey (25:19):
I like to say my way of wording, that is, eat the
meat and spit out the bones.
You got it Just because someonekind of goes what I was just
saying.
You've got to, just becausesomeone gives you their advice
and how, what worked for them.
That may not be the way thatit'll work for you in detail,
but the principles don't reallychange.
The principles of success arethe same for all of us.
(25:41):
They just look different, butsometimes you listen to the way
the person did it and oh okay,now I get it.
You get a different view andthat makes a big difference,
Absolutely, For all of my youthout there.
Just because you're young, donot let anybody treat you like
you're stupid.
You're not, and sometimes youmight be smarter than them.
(26:02):
Amen.
You just got to find your way.
Kelvin Abrams (26:05):
Got to find your way.
Fatima Bey (26:06):
Yes, and finding your way means making mistakes.
You got to try.
You don't know how far you canrun until you try running.
Yes, absolutely.
You don't know how well you canbuild a car until you start
building.
Amen.
And you're going to makemistakes when you do that.
If you don't, and you nevermake mistakes, you're perfect.
Well then you should probablywake up because you overslept.
(26:28):
You were dreaming that ain'treal.
I like that.
You're still dreaming Becauseyou're still dreaming, you
overslept, it's time to go toschool, but the reality is and I
say this because so often and Ikeep this is like a repeat
theme I keep hearing my guestssay on my podcast when we look
(26:50):
at social media which is what,if you're a teenager or young
adult right now, what you'repaying attention to all day long
, because that's what you grewup with we see the highlight
reels of people's lives.
We see the highlight reels oftheir successes.
We don't see how many timesthey failed before they put the
pretty stuff in front of you.
And you got to remember that.
(27:11):
Don't be ashamed of makingmistakes and do not let anybody,
any stupid adult, put you down.
And I said stupid because youmade a mistake.
See, you should have never donethat.
They can shut up and you cankeep going and try again,
because I can tell you right nowand Kelvin will agree, he would
not be sitting here with meright now if he had let his
(27:31):
first letdown, his first failure, cause him to stop.
Kelvin Abrams (27:36):
Right, and if I would have listened to people
that told me to stop, I wouldn'tbe here today.
I mean, I've had plenty offriends and family members
saying, give up, why don't youjust give up?
And you know I'm like no man,you know they're going to have
to roll me out of this buildingand I'm OK with that because
that way I know that I gaveeverything I had and I left it
on the field.
Fatima Bey (28:04):
Just like you hear athletes saying were saying
earlier about the determination,because that here's the thing
Most people don't realize it'snot the great, the most gifted
that succeed is the mostpersistent.
Oh amen, it's the mostpersistent, the most persistent,
the ones who don't give up, whokeep trying to keep going until
they get it right and go ahead.
Kelvin Abrams (28:25):
I'm sorry, I mean to cut you off.
I apologize.
So you know, it is the personthat just never gives up, right?
But I learned this a long timeago from a guy who owned 45
pizza huts in the state ofMaryland, multimillionaire.
And what he said to me.
And then I had another clientof mine that had seven
restaurants and he was againanother multimillionaire, and
(28:46):
the best advice both of themgave to me is every three years,
reinvent yourself.
And that doesn't mean start anew business every three years.
No, what it means is everythree years, reinvent yourself,
because if not, you're going toget stale and you don't want to
be stale.
And the example that I like touse is this um iron mike tyson,
(29:07):
no doubt the greatest, greatestboxer that has ever lived and
the youngest world champion ever, got comfortable.
And when he got comfortable,there was a guy named buster
duster Douglas Jr, that hadnothing to lose, he had
everything to gain.
And that guy was relentless, hetrained, he worked hard, he
(29:30):
believed, etc.
And Mike Tyson walked in therecomfortable.
And when he walked in therecomfortable, he came out
uncomfortable because he gotcomfortable.
So, every three years, I thinkit's so important that you
reinvent yourself every threeyears.
Just pivot and do somethingdifferent every three years.
(29:51):
I'm not saying change yourindustry, change that.
No, what I'm saying is maybeadd to your service, maybe
change your service a little bit, maybe be more creative with
your service.
Just reinvent yourself everythree years and never let
yourself get comfortable.
That's when you start to fail,is when you get comfortable.
Fatima Bey (30:08):
And if you own a restaurant, that might mean
adding something to the menuExactly, there's always a way of
doing that.
Kelvin Abrams (30:13):
What is it now?
Vegan or gluten-free orwhatever?
Add whatever to your menu, butyou're 100% correct.
Fatima Bey (30:20):
Yeah, and I love that.
I was just going to ask youwhat's your advice for for the
youth today, and then youalready just gave it to me.
Stop reading my mind.
Kelvin Abrams (30:26):
There it is Pivot Every three years.
Pivot, reinvent yourself.
Fatima Bey (30:29):
I actually really like that advice and I, I, I see
what you're saying and I thinkit's, I think it's pretty wise.
We do get stale if we do thesame thing over and over again
for too long, and when we becomestale, we become comfortable,
and comfort is sometimes ourbiggest enemy.
Sometimes comfort is thebiggest enemy to success.
Thus your book and your courseget uncomfortable.
Kelvin Abrams (30:54):
Yeah, Amen, I mean you know.
Another example is I hate tosay this, but in today's modern
world look at Sean Puffy, Combs,P Diddy.
P Diddy got comfortable doinghis little freak offs and
started getting more wild andwilder, and wilder.
And he got comfortable and allof a sudden he forgot.
He forgot who he was, whatworld he's in.
He forgot and look where he'sat right now.
(31:14):
He got comfortable.
Fatima Bey (31:15):
And I hope they, I hope he suffers in jail, but
that's another conversation.
Kelvin Abrams (31:19):
Yeah, yeah, I hope he fries in jail, but
that's another conversation.
Yeah, yeah, I hope he fries injail too, but I mean, hey,
that's another conversation.
I mean being up on a woman.
Fatima Bey (31:25):
Come on, man, I'm glad he's being publicly
embarrassed, let me just sayright, right, I'm really glad,
it makes me happy yeah exactlynow, uh, but you're right, when
we but even though you use himas an example, there are other
people we can think of as well.
When we get comfortable,arrogance sets in, we start
(31:46):
getting loose with the badthings we're doing, and he's an
example of that he's not theonly one.
There's plenty of others.
But when we get comfortable, westop being innovative.
When we get comfortable, westop trying to look for the next
gain.
When we get comfortable, westop trying to upgrade.
When we get comfortable, westop trying to be better, and
(32:08):
that's why being uncomfortableis a good thing.
So where can people find youruncomfortable book?
Kelvin Abrams (32:17):
Oh, thank you.
I have a website calledwwwkelvinabramscom and I'm sure
you'll provide a link, but it'sspelled K-E-L-V-I-N.
Abrams, a-b-r-a-m-scom, sokelvinabramscom.
They'll find my book.
I have a workbook.
They'll find a link to myworkbook, as well as my online
(32:39):
course, and also they'll seesome of my podcasts that I've
done in the past.
Fatima Bey (32:44):
Sitting right there as well.
Well, thank you once again,Kelvin, for coming on and being
a guest.
I really appreciate it.
I've enjoyed this conversation.
Kelvin Abrams (32:50):
Likewise, thank you so much for having me.
Fatima Bey (32:54):
And now for a mind-shifting moment.
I want to take you back tosomething that Kelvin said that
I think is very important.
He said to reinvent yourselfevery three years.
I want to focus on theprinciple behind that statement.
Are you allowing yourself toget stale?
(33:15):
Are you just going along to getalong and never reassessing or
looking to make changes?
This is applicable not just inbusiness, but in your
relationships and other areas oflife.
Are you just staying the sameand becoming stale?
I want you to think about howpowerful that principle is.
(33:39):
It's not just about reinventingyourself.
It's about reassessing.
Are you reassessing yourselfonce in a while?
Are you reassessing yourrelationship?
Are you reassessing your career?
Are you reassessing how youhandle your finances?
Just something to think about.
(34:02):
You've been listening toMindShift Power Podcast.
For complete show notes on thisepisode and to join our global
movement, find us atFatimaBaycom.
Until next time, alwaysremember there's power in
shifting your thinking.
This is MindShift Power Podcast, the number one
critically acclaimed podcastwhere we have raw, unfiltered
conversations that shapetomorrow.
I'm your host, Fatima Bey, theMindShifter, and welcome
everyone.
Today we have with us KelvinAbrams and he is out of Maryland
(00:28):
in the US.
He is an author, anentrepreneur and a successful
mistake maker, and we're goingto talk about that today.
How are you doing, Kelvin?
Kelvin Abrams (00:39):
I'm doing great, Fatima.
Thank you very much for havingme on your podcast.
Fatima Bey (00:44):
Thank you for coming on.
I'm really looking forward toall the stuff you're going to
say to my audience today.
So I like to dive right in.
Let's start off by telling usyour background.
Kelvin Abrams (00:55):
Okay, let's see.
My background is I grew up inNew Jersey, went to school at
Rutgers University, came out ofRutgers and I became a federal
investigator for a period oftime here in Maryland and from
there I started my firstbusiness back in 2008 or 2007.
Fatima Bey (01:13):
Oh, that's.
That's a while ago now.
Kelvin Abrams (01:17):
Yeah, it's been about.
It's actually been one onemonth shy of 17 years.
Fatima Bey (01:22):
Wow.
So what?
What was your first business?
Kelvin Abrams (01:26):
Well, my first business was back in high school
, no, probably junior highschool.
You know, we had, you know, formoney.
What we would do is sell ourold toys out of my window, my
bedroom.
So my first job was back then.
And then also, you know, we hadto hustle for money.
So back in the day we're Leejeans, were Lee jeans and a fat
(01:47):
shoestring Adidas were out inpopular, we would go up to
Philly and New York and so wewould cut grass and rake leaves
and shovel snow and hustle tomake our own money so we can go,
get our clothing, so we canlook fly.
If you remember that word fromback?
Fatima Bey (02:00):
in the day.
You just really age yourself,but yeah, you just really age
yourself, but yeah.
Kelvin Abrams (02:08):
You just told me how old you were.
A fly girl.
Fatima Bey (02:09):
a fly girl, oh my God, back in 1856, I remember
that's right.
So, even as a teenager, youfound a way to be an
entrepreneur, you and yourfriends.
Kelvin Abrams (02:22):
Absolutely.
I think it was just in my blood, like in my book, I like to say
you're born an entrepreneur andthat's just.
My humble opinion is thatyou're born an entrepreneur and
I knew very young that I was afree spirited, kind of creative
person from the very beginning.
I would you know, there arecertain toys that I would want,
and then I would try to makethose toys or make those objects
(02:45):
out of cardboard or plywood.
So, for example, my familynever went skiing but I wanted
to always ski.
So my brother and I we got someplywood and kind of cut it like
a ski, wrapped it around ourfeet and we made a snow mound
and we tried to go skiing downthe snow mound.
So I've always been creative.
And then we used to have skiingdown the snow mound, so that
you know I've always beencreative.
(03:05):
And then we used to have thislittle shed in the backyard and
you know I always wanted to goskydiving and I did as an adult.
And so my brother and I wouldtake like sheets or bags or
whatever and jump off the house,the little shed, and try to fly
down or skydive down.
So yeah, I've always beencreative since I was little lie
down or skydive down.
Fatima Bey (03:26):
So yeah, I've always been creative since I was
little.
Wow, you know what?
You just bring a point that Isay continuously and I have in
some other podcast episodestalking about this when we're
young and we're creative, thatis our bodies telling us what
we're meant to do.
It's our body trying todiscover our purpose, and so
parents listening out there.
(03:47):
If you have a child who'scurious about everything like
that, foster that.
There's a reason why they're socurious.
And if they're creative likethat, foster that, because they
may be the next millionaire.
Now tell us, calvin, what isyour business now?
Kelvin Abrams (04:05):
Well, I have a few businesses, so the first
business I officially started asan adult, I would say is my
doggy daycare boarding facility.
It's called Tiki's Playhouse.
And the second business fromthere was a doggy ice cream
truck that I no longer have.
Yeah, I had the first doggy icecream truck in Maryland.
I would go around.
Yeah, I had the first doggy icecream truck in Maryland, I
would go around, I loved it.
(04:25):
I miss it, though.
Um, because I started my thirdbusiness, which is canine and
coffee, and so I had to get ridof the ice cream truck, cause I
just couldn't maintain the icecream truck and all of that
stuff while running a bar called, or a coffee shop called,
canine and coffee.
Uh, and then my third business,uh, came, came by way of
opportunity, and that's a gymthat I own called American
(04:47):
Fitness Express, and they're allkind of in the same
neighborhood.
They're right across the streetfrom each other.
So I have three businesses thatare right here, across the
street from each other.
Platform course that I havecalled Get Uncomfortable or
Change Course Setting YourselfUp for Success.
(05:07):
So those are the fourbusinesses that I have, and of
course, I got two or three moreon the back burner, that once I
get through these businesses andget these businesses where I
want them to be, then I'll goahead and start working on the
other two or three businessesthat I have.
All right.
Fatima Bey (05:21):
What I hear is that you are successfully running
several businesses, not just one, and that is not easy to do.
Kelvin Abrams (05:28):
Definitely, Well, I don't know what, I don't know
how you define success, but Iwouldn't say I'm successfully
running all of them.
I would just say I successfullywork at all of them.
Fatima Bey (05:41):
Well, let's define success by what I'm saying with
this.
It doesn't mean thateverything's perfect or that you
want that.
Everything is where you want itto be right now, but you are
maintaining them correct.
Kelvin Abrams (05:53):
Yes, ma'am.
Fatima Bey (05:54):
You are maintaining them, and the fact that you even
were able to create them is asuccess.
There are levels to success.
(06:03):
Yes, ma'am, would you?
Fatima Bey (06:04):
agree?
I do Absolutely Now.
Are'am, would you agree?
I do Absolutely Now.
Are you a multi-billionairebecause of it?
Right now?
No, but that doesn't meanyou're not successful, and I
just I think that's important topoint out to our youth and to
the adults listening.
Success doesn't look like justone thing.
Success, for you know, successis reaching a goal.
(06:27):
One level of success isreaching a goal that you went
for, that you had.
Have you done?
Kelvin Abrams (06:35):
that, oh yeah, absolutely.
I mean starting my firstbusiness and at first, when I
started it and I started in 2008when President Obama got
elected and that was when thehousing market crashed and of
course, everybody blamed it onObama.
But the housing market crashedand that first year in business,
oh man, I used to pray and prayand I mean I remember times and
(06:57):
I was out in the yard in therain and I'm yelling and
screaming up at God asking himwhy did he do this to me?
And blah, blah, blah, and so,yeah, I mean it was tough.
So I would say success for meis making it past the first year
and then, after that, themilestone that every business
owner has to go through, whichis year three, and then year
five.
When you hit that hurdle atyear five, then that's usually
(07:18):
when you can kind of coast andyou know that you're going to
survive and luckily I I've beenable to survive and it's been 17
years here come next month.
Fatima Bey (07:27):
Wow, you just define one definition of success and,
like I said, there are levels,and you're living proof of that.
That's why I brought up thefact that you have so many
businesses and they may not bewhere your bigger vision wants
it to go to yet, but thatdoesn't mean you're not on the
way there.
You have other successes thatyou've already succeeded with,
(07:50):
and I think that's what you'resaying.
Kelvin Abrams (07:51):
Absolutely, my journey is.
I'm not.
I'm at the beginning of myjourney, very beginning.
I have such a long way to go,but yeah.
Fatima Bey (07:58):
I feel that way too.
I totally get that.
Now tell us I said you're asuccessful mistake maker.
Now tell us I said you're asuccessful mistake maker so I
was lying right, because you'vemade no mistakes and everything
was perfect as soon as youstarted your business.
That's how it works right, yeah, okay.
I got an island to sell youFantasy land.
Kelvin Abrams (08:22):
So tell us how mistakes have paved the way for
your successes.
So I like to tell people, likeI do, every so often I speak at
a local library here to mycommunity, because I'm trying to
give back to the community andhelp others not to make the same
mistakes that I make.
And so my mistakes.
Over the years I've learnedfrom them, or I like to say I've
(08:42):
learned from them, and thereare a few times that I had to go
back around the corner andlearn that same lesson twice,
but again I learned from it.
And so I always tell peoplethat failure equals success.
And the thing I always say topeople is I've never been afraid
to fail because I've beenfailing my entire life.
I mean, I've failed in school,I've failed classes.
I failed at Rutgers University.
(09:03):
I had to redo my whole firstsemester because I partied like
an animal.
So I made the choice to partyand not study.
So I failed at college and Ihad to redo the first year all
over again and it cost me moneyand it set me back.
I failed at relationships.
You know, you name it.
I failed and got fired fromjobs.
(09:24):
So I've been failing my entirelife.
So I'm not afraid of failure atall, but failure to me to
answer your question.
Failure to me equals successand that's why I welcome failure
.
Fatima Bey (09:35):
Now you have a book.
What is the name of that book?
Kelvin Abrams (09:39):
It's called Get Uncomfortable or Change Course.
Fatima Bey (09:41):
And what does this conversation have to do with
your book?
Kelvin Abrams (09:50):
Oh, it's everything with my book.
The title alone GetUncomfortable or Change Course.
So what I'm saying is getuncomfortable, which is get used
to failing, get used to beinguncomfortable, get used to being
at the edge of your seat, getused to sleepless nights, get
used to the anxiety, get used tohaving no money in your pocket,
get used to not eating, getused to not sleeping and staying
up all night.
Get used to missing vacationsand holidays and birthdays and
(10:11):
funerals, getting used to justmissing social events in life
and forget about your hobbies.
Get used to just being work,work, work.
24 seven period.
So get uncomfortable.
And if you're not willing toget uncomfortable, then change
course.
And change course means staywith your nine to five.
Fatima Bey (10:30):
What is the drawback of doing a nine to five versus
having your own business?
Kelvin Abrams (10:36):
For me, creativity and freedom.
So creativity to me is, youknow, my brain doesn't stop.
I mean, I go to sleep at nightand when that creative brain
starts working, I get up and Iwrite it down.
I write it down Constantly.
Once a week or more I'm writingthings down.
If not, first thing I get up inthe morning is I start writing
that stuff down so that I canremember no-transcript.
Fatima Bey (11:30):
Yes, so being uncomfortable and making
mistakes is a part of success.
Yes, yes.
And can we reach successwithout those two things?
Kelvin Abrams (11:42):
I don't think so.
Every successful athlete, everysuccessful celebrity, every
successful product out therewill have failure.
You know, failure goes all theway back to Isaac Newton
discovering electricity.
Right, it goes all the way backto Bill Gates and Microsoft, or
Bill Gates, and yeah, BillGates and Microsoft create
Microsoft in his garage.
And then it goes back to AppleComputer all the failures that
(12:04):
they made before they becamesuccessful.
Hell.
It goes back to Oprah Winfrey.
Look at all the failures andproblems that Oprah Winfrey had,
all the abuse that OprahWinfrey had.
And where's she?
You know so failure equalssuccess, Absolutely.
Michael Jordan would tell youthat.
Tiger Woods would tell you that.
Any athlete out there on top oftheir game will tell you
success equals failure.
Serena Williams, you name it.
Fatima Bey (12:25):
Absolutely, and every singer had a whole bunch
of unsuccessful notes beforethey had a successful one we saw
on stage.
Kelvin Abrams (12:32):
Absolutely.
And a whole bunch of rappershad their demo tape thrown back
at them before they becamesuccessful.
So, failure equals success.
Fatima Bey (12:40):
It does.
But failure doesn't equalsuccess by itself.
What else is needed to go withthat failure?
Kelvin Abrams (13:05):
termination.
You have to give that nobody'sgoing to fucking take shit from
me and you have to just be likedevious and you just have to be
like hardcore, like DavidGoggins.
I love his book.
He's got a book called youCan't Hurt Me and I read that
book once and I listened to thepodcast twice and that dude is
crazy.
But you know what Taking soulsis a lifestyle.
Taking souls is a mentality.
Taking souls is you're notgoing to take this from me.
(13:27):
I'm going to overcome anythingyou throw at me.
So you have to have thementality of I'm going to
overcome.
I'm going to overcome no matterwhat you do to me.
You can't hurt me.
And that's the mentality that Ilive by.
You can't hurt me no matterwhat you do.
I'm not afraid of failure.
I failed plenty of times.
I don't care about failing, doI'm not afraid of failure.
I failed plenty of times.
I don't care about failing.
The thing I care about is whenI meet the you know, when I go
(13:48):
and I'm approaching the pearlygates, I want that person to say
to me hey you, congratulations,you failed.
Versus why didn't you do?
Or why didn't you give it yourall?
Why didn't you try?
You?
I've given you life, I gave youthe opportunity, I gave you the
creativity.
Why didn't you try?
Why were you afraid?
And that's not going to be me.
Fatima Bey (14:12):
I'm going to go to the pearly gates and he's going
to say job well done.
So what mistake for the youththat are out there listening
right now is the year is 2025right now?
What mistakes would you saythat?
Kelvin Abrams (14:27):
you see some of them making right now Mistakes
and I see it all the time withmy employees and what that is is
that the generation nowadays,instead of crawling and then
slowly learning how to walk andthen jogging and then running
the generation today they wantto go right's why they're not
(14:52):
going to be successful because Ithink technology today has
ruined technology and socialmedia has ruined the generation
today.
Because everybody wants a fastbuck.
Girls are that sell makeup andperfume and all that stuff and
do face makeup on TikTok and allof that stuff.
(15:15):
So everybody this generation islooking for a fast buck.
Gone is the generation whereyou work from the bottom up.
This generation comes right outof high school asking for top
dollar with no experience.
So I think that's going to bethe failure of this generation.
Fatima Bey (15:30):
So what should they do instead?
Because where they should be,they're not, so that's where
they are right now.
We're here.
What can they do from here?
Kelvin Abrams (15:39):
Humble themselves .
Be humble and go back to thevery beginning.
Get a mentor, get someone older, get someone who's been there.
Get someone.
If you, if you want to be aninfluencer, go find someone who
did it from the bootstraps up.
Go talk to a business owner.
Find the oldest business thatyou can find in your
neighborhood and go talk to thatbusiness owner and learn from
that business owner.
(15:59):
Every small business that yousee has a story.
So go to any small business thatyou know and don't be afraid to
ask to talk to your owner, anddon't be afraid to get a mentor
or ask the owner to be yourmentor and have him or her teach
you, because today, what you'relearning on social media and
what they're learning on TikTokand what they're learning on the
internet is just garbage.
(16:20):
It's filling their mind withgarbage and it's not filling
their mind with the core valuesand the basics, like showing up
to work 10 minutes early, beingready to work, not showing up to
work at 8.01 and then having togo, put your bag away and
finish your Starbucks coffeethat costs you $10 and then sit
down and reply to a text messagebefore you start working.
(16:42):
No, no, no, no, no.
Get back to the basics.
Show up 10 minutes early, readyto work and be available after
your shift, and don't say it'sfour o'clock, I got to go, be
available until the job is doneafter your shift.
And that's say it's fouro'clock, I got to go be
available until the job is doneafter your shift.
And that's what's wrong withthis generation.
Fatima Bey (16:58):
So mindset is what I hear, and what I also hear you
saying is that they need to.
I want to add to that.
You said that they should getmentors and start.
You know, talking to people whohave been running businesses,
and I completely agree with thatpart.
I want to add to that Justbecause someone is and I'm
talking to the young audienceright now just because someone
(17:21):
is older and started a businessin 1974 and things are very
different now than they wereback then, you still have
something to learn from them.
You can take the principles thatthey use to be successful and
apply them to your modern world,Because you don't live in the
world he grew up in or hestarted in.
We don't live in 2008.
(17:42):
But you can still take theprinciples from what somebody
else went through and apply them.
Just change some of the detailsaround.
We now have AI.
We now have the internet.
That is a really big deal, andAI can do a lot for you, and I
love AI, but I also understandhow it can be damaging if you
(18:04):
rely on it too much.
So there are lots of ways ofmodernizing the advice you get.
So don't assume becausesomeone's older and they live in
a different time with adifferent technology and they
seem all out of date.
Their principles are never outof date.
Some of their details might be,but the principles aren't.
Learn how to listen toprinciples and not just details.
(18:28):
Absolutely, you can hear thingsdifferently.
Tails Absolutely you can hearthings differently.
So what advice?
What else?
I hear you saying that mindsetis one of the things that our
youth need to change, becauseour culture has taught them a
bad mindset.
I would agree with that.
A lot of mindsets have beenincorrectly taught.
(18:48):
But there are some youth that,okay, they grew up in this world
.
They can't help that.
They were taught these thingsby our culture because they were
born when they were born.
They can try to change theirmindset.
They can try to find someonewho runs a business.
What else can they do intoday's world to try to be
(19:10):
successful for tomorrow?
Kelvin Abrams (19:13):
in today's world to try to be successful for
tomorrow.
You know that's a greatquestion.
So two things I would say.
One is I've already talkedabout it, which is get a mentor.
And then the second thing islook for free programs or free
opportunities to better yourself.
Like there are a lot of grantsthat are out there, there are a
lot of educational programs thatare out there.
There are a lot of state fundprograms, federal funded
(19:37):
programs, like I mentioned in mybook Get Uncomfortable or
Change Course that I went when Istarted my business.
I went and I spoke to a SCORErepresentative from the Small
Business Administration forabout a year and boy, that guy
taught me a lot.
I mean, I thought I knew what Iwas doing and after about four
or five times of him ripping mybusiness plan apart and marking
(19:59):
it full of red X's and marks andquestion marks and all of that
stuff, you know I learned a hardlesson.
It humbled me very quickly, youknow.
So I would say there is plentyof free and the word is free
opportunity out thereeducational opportunities,
learning tools and advice andonline courses.
You know, don't be afraid topay for some online courses to
(20:19):
learn.
It's all about continuingeducation.
Fatima Bey (20:23):
Yes, education is so important, but there are so
many different ways to get it,and you're right, there's so
well.
In the US anyway, and I know inthe UK too, there are so many
opportunities to learn stuff forfree.
If you have the internet, yougot a whole encyclopedia right
there.
You can learn a lot of stufffor free.
Just go to YouTube and use itas a search engine.
(20:44):
There's so much that you can doto learn.
If you don't have people aroundyou who know what you want to
learn, then find the onlinepresence that can do that, and I
don't care what you want tolearn.
Then find the online presencethat can do that, and I don't
care what you want to learn.
There's something out there.
I completely agree with that.
So what does your course offer?
Since you say they should learnfrom taking courses, what does
your course offer?
Kelvin Abrams (21:04):
So my online course is all about setting
yourself up for success.
So it talks about.
It goes deeper than my bookgoes.
It just talks about everythingfrom a business plan to meeting
a banker what the banker'sexpectations are, what your
marketing expectations will be,what your social media
expectations will be people thatI work with and trust and I
(21:34):
spoke with my lawyer, I spokewith CPA bookkeeper, I spoke
with my marketing person contentwriter, I spoke with my mentor
and I spoke with my banker fromeverybody as to what's really
needed to create a successfulbusiness from the ground up.
And this business plan is I mean, my course is not the end of
(21:57):
all end, but what it is.
It's a great start for you toget going.
It talks to how to write abusiness plan.
What's important in thebusiness plan?
Everybody focuses on talkingabout me, me, me and the
business plan and what you'vedone, and put nice little pretty
pictures up in your businessplan.
But the reality missionstatement and immediately turn
(22:19):
to your financial section, whichis your three-year pro forma.
And that's exactly what theyturn to and that's what they
base their decision on is thefinances.
And to get to the finances,there are six C's that the bank
talk about that you have to,which are in my online course.
So in my online course, thereare six C's that the bankers
look at when they come in andthey look at your resume and
they look at you as a person.
(22:39):
There's six criterias that theylook for.
So my online course is a greatstart for someone who either
looking to start a business andafraid and don't know how,
because it provides resources,it provides links and things
like that.
And then also it's a greatcourse for someone who's stuck
(23:00):
and not really sure which way togo in their business.
So I think I've tried to.
I've tried to gear it towardspeople that are looking to start
their business, but also Ithink people that have started
their business and have a fewproblems would benefit from my
course as well too.
Fatima Bey (23:13):
That's great.
It's nice to have it all in oneplace, and it sounds like your
course is built for today, notyesterday, correct?
Kelvin Abrams (23:23):
Correct.
Fatima Bey (23:24):
And I say that because there's a lot of people
out there giving advice from1942.
You know, like this was trueback in 2001,.
But it's not true now.
But the fact that you reachedout to people today to create
this course tells me that thisis something that they can use
for the future.
I like to talk about the future, not just the past, here,
(23:45):
because our youth, they'regrowing up in a different world
and I want them to be successfulin the current and coming world
, not in the one we grew up in.
So I really like that.
Kelvin Abrams (23:55):
You mentioned something about principles and
the core values of principles.
So I have a mentor who's about75 years old and I've known him
for about seven years.
He's a self-made man.
He almost went throughbankruptcy, like I almost filed
bankruptcy when I was goingthrough my starting my business
and then he got his break.
And he loves to say this isthat his famous quote that he
(24:15):
uses is you make your own goodluck, and I quote that in my
book that you make your own goodluck.
And what that means for him isthat it's up to you to create
your own good luck.
You know, everybody goes outand buys a Powerball ticket and
a Mega Million ticket and wekeep praying and hoping that we
win right.
But you got to make your owngood luck and what that is is
opportunity.
You have to create theopportunity.
(24:37):
And so there are some principlesyou mentioned principles before
there are some principles thathe lives by as a 75 year old
that I totally disagree with.
But at the same time I take thecore value of what he says to
me and I turn it around intoday's world and in my mindset
and I use what he gives me.
Because here's this guy whoalmost filed bankruptcy, had a
(24:59):
family, self-made man.
He's a millionaire, nowself-made man.
He's a millionaire nowself-made man and he's still
doing it at 75.
He has two companies stilldoing it at 75.
So I listened to what he has tosay.
Now I may not take every advicehe has to say, but I take what
he the core values, and I use itfor today's, in today's world.
Fatima Bey (25:19):
I like to say my way of wording, that is, eat the
meat and spit out the bones.
You got it Just because someonekind of goes what I was just
saying.
You've got to, just becausesomeone gives you their advice
and how, what worked for them.
That may not be the way thatit'll work for you in detail,
but the principles don't reallychange.
The principles of success arethe same for all of us.
(25:41):
They just look different, butsometimes you listen to the way
the person did it and oh okay,now I get it.
You get a different view andthat makes a big difference,
Absolutely, For all of my youthout there.
Just because you're young, donot let anybody treat you like
you're stupid.
You're not, and sometimes youmight be smarter than them.
(26:02):
Amen.
You just got to find your way.
Kelvin Abrams (26:05):
Got to find your way.
Fatima Bey (26:06):
Yes, and finding your way means making mistakes.
You got to try.
You don't know how far you canrun until you try running.
Yes, absolutely.
You don't know how well you canbuild a car until you start
building.
Amen.
And you're going to makemistakes when you do that.
If you don't, and you nevermake mistakes, you're perfect.
Well then you should probablywake up because you overslept.
(26:28):
You were dreaming that ain'treal.
I like that.
You're still dreaming Becauseyou're still dreaming, you
overslept, it's time to go toschool, but the reality is and I
say this because so often and Ikeep this is like a repeat
theme I keep hearing my guestssay on my podcast when we look
(26:50):
at social media which is what,if you're a teenager or young
adult right now, what you'repaying attention to all day long
, because that's what you grewup with we see the highlight
reels of people's lives.
We see the highlight reels oftheir successes.
We don't see how many timesthey failed before they put the
pretty stuff in front of you.
And you got to remember that.
(27:11):
Don't be ashamed of makingmistakes and do not let anybody,
any stupid adult, put you down.
And I said stupid because youmade a mistake.
See, you should have never donethat.
They can shut up and you cankeep going and try again,
because I can tell you right nowand Kelvin will agree, he would
not be sitting here with meright now if he had let his
(27:31):
first letdown, his first failure, cause him to stop.
Kelvin Abrams (27:36):
Right, and if I would have listened to people
that told me to stop, I wouldn'tbe here today.
I mean, I've had plenty offriends and family members
saying, give up, why don't youjust give up?
And you know I'm like no man,you know they're going to have
to roll me out of this buildingand I'm OK with that because
that way I know that I gaveeverything I had and I left it
on the field.
Fatima Bey (28:04):
Just like you hear athletes saying were saying
earlier about the determination,because that here's the thing
Most people don't realize it'snot the great, the most gifted
that succeed is the mostpersistent.
Oh amen, it's the mostpersistent, the most persistent,
the ones who don't give up, whokeep trying to keep going until
they get it right and go ahead.
Kelvin Abrams (28:25):
I'm sorry, I mean to cut you off.
I apologize.
So you know, it is the personthat just never gives up, right?
But I learned this a long timeago from a guy who owned 45
pizza huts in the state ofMaryland, multimillionaire.
And what he said to me.
And then I had another clientof mine that had seven
restaurants and he was againanother multimillionaire, and
(28:46):
the best advice both of themgave to me is every three years,
reinvent yourself.
And that doesn't mean start anew business every three years.
No, what it means is everythree years, reinvent yourself,
because if not, you're going toget stale and you don't want to
be stale.
And the example that I like touse is this um iron mike tyson,
(29:07):
no doubt the greatest, greatestboxer that has ever lived and
the youngest world champion ever, got comfortable.
And when he got comfortable,there was a guy named buster
duster Douglas Jr, that hadnothing to lose, he had
everything to gain.
And that guy was relentless, hetrained, he worked hard, he
(29:30):
believed, etc.
And Mike Tyson walked in therecomfortable.
And when he walked in therecomfortable, he came out
uncomfortable because he gotcomfortable.
So, every three years, I thinkit's so important that you
reinvent yourself every threeyears.
Just pivot and do somethingdifferent every three years.
(29:51):
I'm not saying change yourindustry, change that.
No, what I'm saying is maybeadd to your service, maybe
change your service a little bit, maybe be more creative with
your service.
Just reinvent yourself everythree years and never let
yourself get comfortable.
That's when you start to fail,is when you get comfortable.
Fatima Bey (30:08):
And if you own a restaurant, that might mean
adding something to the menuExactly, there's always a way of
doing that.
Kelvin Abrams (30:13):
What is it now?
Vegan or gluten-free orwhatever?
Add whatever to your menu, butyou're 100% correct.
Fatima Bey (30:20):
Yeah, and I love that.
I was just going to ask youwhat's your advice for for the
youth today, and then youalready just gave it to me.
Stop reading my mind.
Kelvin Abrams (30:26):
There it is Pivot Every three years.
Pivot, reinvent yourself.
Fatima Bey (30:29):
I actually really like that advice and I, I, I see
what you're saying and I thinkit's, I think it's pretty wise.
We do get stale if we do thesame thing over and over again
for too long, and when we becomestale, we become comfortable,
and comfort is sometimes ourbiggest enemy.
Sometimes comfort is thebiggest enemy to success.
Thus your book and your courseget uncomfortable.
Kelvin Abrams (30:54):
Yeah, Amen, I mean you know.
Another example is I hate tosay this, but in today's modern
world look at Sean Puffy, Combs,P Diddy.
P Diddy got comfortable doinghis little freak offs and
started getting more wild andwilder, and wilder.
And he got comfortable and allof a sudden he forgot.
He forgot who he was, whatworld he's in.
He forgot and look where he'sat right now.
(31:14):
He got comfortable.
Fatima Bey (31:15):
And I hope they, I hope he suffers in jail, but
that's another conversation.
Kelvin Abrams (31:19):
Yeah, yeah, I hope he fries in jail, but
that's another conversation.
Yeah, yeah, I hope he fries injail too, but I mean, hey,
that's another conversation.
I mean being up on a woman.
Fatima Bey (31:25):
Come on, man, I'm glad he's being publicly
embarrassed, let me just sayright, right, I'm really glad,
it makes me happy yeah exactlynow, uh, but you're right, when
we but even though you use himas an example, there are other
people we can think of as well.
When we get comfortable,arrogance sets in, we start
(31:46):
getting loose with the badthings we're doing, and he's an
example of that he's not theonly one.
There's plenty of others.
But when we get comfortable, westop being innovative.
When we get comfortable, westop trying to look for the next
gain.
When we get comfortable, westop trying to upgrade.
When we get comfortable, westop trying to be better, and
(32:08):
that's why being uncomfortableis a good thing.
So where can people find youruncomfortable book?
Kelvin Abrams (32:17):
Oh, thank you.
I have a website calledwwwkelvinabramscom and I'm sure
you'll provide a link, but it'sspelled K-E-L-V-I-N.
Abrams, a-b-r-a-m-scom, sokelvinabramscom.
They'll find my book.
I have a workbook.
They'll find a link to myworkbook, as well as my online
(32:39):
course, and also they'll seesome of my podcasts that I've
done in the past.
Fatima Bey (32:44):
Sitting right there as well.
Well, thank you once again,Kelvin, for coming on and being
a guest.
I really appreciate it.
I've enjoyed this conversation.
Kelvin Abrams (32:50):
Likewise, thank you so much for having me.
Fatima Bey (32:54):
And now for a mind-shifting moment.
I want to take you back tosomething that Kelvin said that
I think is very important.
He said to reinvent yourselfevery three years.
I want to focus on theprinciple behind that statement.
Are you allowing yourself toget stale?
(33:15):
Are you just going along to getalong and never reassessing or
looking to make changes?
This is applicable not just inbusiness, but in your
relationships and other areas oflife.
Are you just staying the sameand becoming stale?
I want you to think about howpowerful that principle is.
(33:39):
It's not just about reinventingyourself.
It's about reassessing.
Are you reassessing yourselfonce in a while?
Are you reassessing yourrelationship?
Are you reassessing your career?
Are you reassessing how youhandle your finances?
Just something to think about.
(34:02):
You've been listening toMindShift Power Podcast.
For complete show notes on thisepisode and to join our global
movement, find us atFatimaBaycom.
Until next time, alwaysremember there's power in
shifting your thinking.
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