Empowering Voices and Igniting Change w/ Dan Smith

Ever thought about what it takes to rise from humble beginnings to becoming a prominent figure in the non-profit sector? Tune in this week as we navigate the transformative journey of Dan Smith, an entrepreneur whose heart beats for the Black and Brown communities. Born and bred on the East side of Kansas City, Dan has weathered life's storms, emerging as a beacon of hope and perseverance. Experience his raw and powerful insights about his life, the impact of generational trauma, and the importance of venturing beyond one's familiar surroundings. 

In our heartfelt conversation, we unravel Dan's path from struggling with poverty to becoming an inspiring father and a successful entrepreneur. We discuss his experiences in the cutthroat world of corporate America and how it's compelling companies to rethink their strategies and amplify the voices of their employees. Together, we explore the sacrifices he's made, his involvement in outreach programs, and the honor he received through the Community Giver Award. 

Dan's remarkable journey is a testament to the power of sacrifice, struggle, and unyielding dedication. His story reminds us that embracing technology and stepping outside comfort zones are crucial elements on the entrepreneurship trail. Prepare to be moved as we delve into his passion for creating positive change in the Black and Brown community. Join us as we share, learn, and get inspired by Dan's relentless pursuit of his dreams and his unwavering commitment to making a difference.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
In a world where success often steals the
limelight, the stories thattruly inspire, that truly matter
, are left behind in the shadows.
I'm your host, wesley Hamilton.
Welcome to the Out of theShadows podcast.
We need people that don't fitto challenge what we're doing

(00:27):
and how we're doing it.
If there are systems andpolicies that are in place that
are impeding our progress, thenwe need to figure out what those
systems are so we can make surethat we are making room for a
diverse system of thought.
Yo, what's up everybody?
This is Wesley Hamilton.
Welcome to the fifth episode ofOut of the Shadows.

(00:51):
This week we're going to shedlight on important issues within
the Black community.
Today I have my guest, danSmith, who is an entrepreneur
very passionate we're givingback.
Born and raised on the eastside of Kansas City, dan is just
involved in a lot of things.
He's a mover and shaker inKansas City.

(01:11):
I'm proud to call him a friendand I'm just ready to dive in.
Dan does a lot of work when itcomes to entrepreneurship and
then also making sure thatentrepreneurship is impacting
the Black and Brown community.
So, dan, thank you for being onthe show.
Man, it's an honor.
What's up, bro Dude?
I am so excited just to be ableto be in your presence, man,

(01:34):
you are a phenomenal cat man.
Appreciate the opportunity tocome on to your show.
I know it's new, so, man, to beone of the first guests?
I don't know, I'm not the firstguest.
One of the first guests, it'san honor, man, it's an honor, so
I appreciate the invitation.
Now I'm after sure, bro, youhave a powerful story and this

(01:55):
platform that I've created isfocused on those who stories are
being shared into the world.
But making sure that you have aplatform that always speaks
your narrative, I think that'sthe most important part, and
through my journey ofentrepreneurship and
philanthropy and being acelebrity now and in so many
areas, I've just learned how tokeep your narrative so that you

(02:19):
can stay authentic to yourvision and stay passionate about
your work.
So now let's dive in.
I do want you to share a littlebit about your backstory.
I've known you for a few yearsand now you're within this
entrepreneur setting.
But who is then growing up andgot you into this lifestyle, the

(02:41):
show?
I do some of these interviews,man, and I'm humble and very
appreciative because, especiallylike in West, I respect you and
your work, but the dope thingabout it is, I don't feel like
we're doing anything special, Ijust think that we're just doing

(03:04):
right the act of doing.
But anyway, we'll dive in.
And now, yeah, born and raised33rd and Jackson man, you know,
my mom still lives there.
I went to Miltonmore ElementarySchool, which was a Spanish
magnet elementary school, sohalf of our instruction was in
Spanish, believe it or not, andI can speak very little Muy

(03:28):
poquito español deal to this day.
But I remember two things thatstood out.
You know, as we'll normally getinto all of this, but you know
I'm with family, so like I coulddo all of this right.
So the fifth of May, single themile, like we used to get the
canyadas feel a little candy anddo all that, and we used to
swing the bats.
I was the best time.

(03:49):
And then field day.
Field day was the.
Those are the two days inelementary school that stood out
the most.
I know I'm not the moststudious person at all, so field
day was dope, field day wasdope.
But then middle school, I wentto Paul Robison Middle and the
sixth grade building was rightdown the street from my house,
which ends up turning into aapartment complex now.
And so my elementary schoolclosed down.

(04:11):
So now it's WBD boys learning,similar overall, for by all in
wood Paul Robison closed down.
So Paul Robison is no more andit's like I said, an apartment
complex on the other buildingwas.
It's a vacant land, just a land.
And then I graduated from fromHogan, from Bishop Hogan High
School, so a Catholic privateschool that my mom, because I'm

(04:35):
going to Central High, myfreshman years I was a central
cat.
My mom was like, nah, it's thesame, we got to get you out of
there.
So she actually paid tuitionfor me to go to Hogan, which my
mom didn't have a lot of it.
I was single parent household.
My mom struggled but she put methrough private school.
My little brother went toLincoln.

(04:55):
So you know my mom is so dope,but anyway, yeah, and now Bishop
Hogan is closed, but they had acharter.
Now you know the charter hadtook over, but we don't consider
that.
If you want Bishop Hogan, Imean we do, we do we family, I
can't do that, I can't do that,don't get it.
No, brother is not the same.
Yeah, it's not the same.
It's not the same, yeah, man.

(05:16):
So and then through school, man,I went to a few colleges, man,
and finally ended up getting myundergrad, got my master's
degree, got my MBA and went intocorporate America.
And it didn't work for me, man.
I had a lot of issues withcorporate America.
I'm a hard worker, but stuffdon't make sense to me.
I don't just, it's hard for meto just keep keep doing what

(05:39):
doesn't make sense.
Right, I challenge, I startchallenging those games and you
know a lot of businesses don'twant to be challenged.
You know business managers andmid managers and all that other
stuff Just doesn't work.
So nonprofit went to nonprofitwork which evolved into me.
I started me and Sharron.
I started in the Porter HouseKC and then it's just, you know

(06:03):
it's, it's we're having so funin the last six and a half years
.
You know, yeah, before we go in, and you know break down like
what the Porter House KC isbecause of the dope organization
, you know in Kansas City thateverybody should know about it.
But you know, like, going backinto like you know your journey,
because of course I'm not goingto say we have a little age

(06:25):
difference, but you know like myjourney was a little different.
You know it was definitely Eastside and I feel like majority
of the schools, I stayed on theEast side unless I went to, like
, I went to Longfellow forelementary school, which was

(06:45):
cool it was.
It was definitely everythingchanged.
So talk about, like you know,growing up, you know, in the
inner city, you're connectedwith all these different schools
and, yes, they all do havedifferent, they have a different
, you know direction, you knowyou went to a Spanish magnet,
you went to the Catholic, butyou were also still, you know,

(07:07):
in a space that I'm assumingright and I want you to
emphasize, but I'm assuming thatthe spaces are semi filled with
black people because of thearea.
Yeah, so the influence, right,the inner city influence, and
how did you was able to kind ofbreak away to explore schools,
like you know?
Like you know, because a lot ofpeople don't get a chance to

(07:29):
have even that length of ajourney that you've just shared.
Yeah, yeah, I appreciate thatacknowledgement, man, you know,
the crazy thing is man, honestly, like and I start doing these,
these, like having theseepiphanies, and you know, when
you get older, you startreflecting on things and stuff
like that, and I had some, I hadsome reflection time and I

(07:53):
realized that my experience isbuilt from my, the people that I
had in my life that helpedraise me.
So my grandfather had a reallystrong impact.
He passed away a couple ofyears ago.
My mom had everything to dowith all of this and then my
grandmother, like I, had a core.
We had a core group of peoplethat just kind of poured it to

(08:14):
me and made sure that I wasright and that I had these
experiences.
Like, even though I came fromthe East side, even though, like
we were, I grew up in singlefamily household, my grandfather
and my uncle they owned a lakehouse down in the Ozarks.
So in the summers I got to godown to the Ozarks, I got to
experience lake life, boatingand jet skiing and motorcycles

(08:37):
and all these things that youknow it's not normal.
We'll quote, unquote we figureout that, we realized we're
normal and at that time I didn'teven look at it like this was,
like you know, not a normalexperience.
I just looked at it.
As you know, I was having fun,right, it's just you get
opportunity to have fun, right.
So, yeah, man, I, you know, Iwasn't what we consider a

(08:57):
product of our environment,right, I did live a different
life, but I was a fool too.
I was silly too.
I was out on the streets too.
I did stuff you know like.
Even with those experiences, Istill was a knucklehead, you
know, and I still was doingthings that I shouldn't have
been doing in the street, but itwas all self-imposed.
It wasn't things that I feltlike were because of my
environment.

(09:18):
It was me reaching and lookingfor these things and the people
that I was attracted to, thehomies that I had at the time.
And we all, like I got homiesthat went to jail.
You know, obviously you got her.
I'm in the prison.
I got people.
I got homies that killed, Imurdered.
I got homies that committedsuicide.
Bro, my first experience ofsuicide was in sixth grade.
My best friend we were in sixthgrade, we walked home together.

(09:39):
He was scared because he got introuble that day in school.
I never forget this.
His name was Eric.
He was scared that he was goingto get in trouble from his dad,
so he went home.
We walked home together.
I went to my house.
He's he's got it.
Next day we come to school.
I'm gonna find out thatgrievance people there and all
this other stuff didn't knowwhat happened Took his own life

(10:01):
that had a shotgun and took hisown life because he was afraid
of getting in trouble.
Like that was my sixth grade wasmy first experience, man, it
was just.
You know, I lived in it.
I had guns caught on me.
I've gotten, you know, we'vegotten in situations where folks
are shooting at us.

(10:21):
You know what I'm saying andluckily, you know, none of those
instances, anybody that we werearound, got hurt or anything
like that.
But I just but I didn't let thatbe my circumstance and it's
just a matter of perspective.
You know, perspective andinfluence, you know, because I

(10:42):
think what I'm hearing is agreat way to, you know, go into
the next conversation.
I'm like you know, it's a lotof homes that are fatherless.
There's a lot of homes thatdon't have the right type of
influence, you know, which leadsto being a product of the
environment.
Like you know, you've been ableto go down to the Ozarks.
Like I seen a post one day onsocial media and it says

(11:05):
something right.
You know, our family trip waslike to Mississippi every year,
where it was yours, and as aperson that now travels a lot, I
do see the power of beingexposed to certain spaces and
areas and what it do to yourmindset, you know, and it
doesn't limit you to thelimitations of your surroundings

(11:25):
.
And so then you have anothergroup of people that have maybe
been generationally traumatizedthrough fear of going outside of
the area.
So I think about, like myfamily and my group that I grew
up with off of 36 in Euclid, butI remember my grandmother
passed at 90 and I can't reallytell you when she left the house

(11:46):
, those 50 years, you know, likeI just, and it didn't hit me
for a long time, but when Ithink about being a part of my
environment, it comes from thatside of the family.
You know what I mean, and thatwas the family I was attached to
.
But if you know that bread andbutter like if that person isn't
moving the chicken andexploring and playing, sees
outside, then you do become apart of that environment, you

(12:09):
become.
So now, man, I appreciate yousharing that, because I have
family members that I think geta little bit of exposure or
opportunity to go somewhere elseand they have became more than
others right Like.
And so it's crazy how ourcommunity is one of the most
easiest influence, but we alsoare the ones that you know, can

(12:29):
create a lot of influence.
And so I think, just kind ofgoing into that, you know,
because I just want you to kindof speak on, because your father
, your husband, you know, youknow what's the importance of
that, because we family, I'msharing more than I normally
share, but even with mysituation, so, like my early 20s
, I didn't have what we didn'thave.

(12:51):
Like Sharad and I started abusiness at like 20, 19 or 20,
it was a maintenance company andit was just because we saw that
there was a need, right.
We went to a short story.
We went to an apartment complexof a friend.
His uncle was the maintenancemanager there and he was just
frustrated that day, just pissedoff, you know, and we're like

(13:11):
what's up, like what's wrongwith you, bro, and he had some
people call in maintenanceworkers folks, as supposed to be
in there.
It was a section eightapartment complex, so they have
to like get these apartmentsturned over quickly because the
char wings, you know it'sextremely hot.
And so we left like man, whatif we did that?
You know what I mean.
What if you did that?

(13:31):
You give us a contract, we doit, and there's no like sick
days, right, we just got to getthe work done, or if it's not us
, then we'll hire some people toget it done.
And so we faked it.
We put together this wholebusiness plan we, my artworks,
that is, print shop.
She gave us some Smith andThompson polo that we, that we

(13:52):
wore.
We did register the business.
We went out to the end.
It was so easy to register thebusiness right.
So we went out.
We got our LSD, he got our EIAand all that stuff.
Went to Google, pulled up somepictures of before and after a
bathroom before and aboutthrough after, and said, yes,
this is what we did.
Got a conversation with a blackdeveloper.

(14:16):
He all they own six or sevendifferent not yet like 10 or 12
different complexes in theKansas, missouri side.
Got a meeting with him, pitchedit.
He said, yes, I'm going to giveyou two of my development.
We were like, ok, now what?
Literally had to go get plentyof supplies at our parents'
cabinet Literally we're usinglike bleach and we had no clue

(14:38):
how to do another stuff.
So we started researching it.
This is after we already gotthe contract.
So we were in here painting.
We're doing all this stuff thatwe had no clue how to do, made
more money than we had ever madebefore in our lives.
To that point, the goal wasn'tto be an entrepreneur.
At that point, the goal wasjust to get money so we can go
to the club because we was outin the street.
So if we get a check, we gocast a check and she runs at the

(15:00):
bar buying the bar up foreverybody.
It's a dog Made this moneycleaning cleaning booboo off the
stairwells of a apartmentcomplex.
Well, yeah, no, it was fun, man.
But we my wife we met duringthat time and she's an educator
down in Florida.
She lived in Florida at thetime.
She went to the Baton Company,she went to the HBCU, she did

(15:22):
the Greek life down there.
She's a day.
She got her whole thing andthen she would come back.
She's from Kansas City, so shewould come back and we ended up
meeting at a party or somethinglike that and I was trying to be
you know whatever she would orwhatever, and so I hollered at
her and we ended up developing afull relationship.
But fast forward a year.
So she ended up coming toKansas City and, like I said,

(15:43):
I'm sharing this because wefailed.
We ended up getting herpregnant, my wife pregnant.
We weren't married at that pointin time and I had a moment of.
I had a fork in the road.
I was doing party promotion tooat that time.
I had a marketing company thatwe had started with some
business owners and my all boys,chris Johns, lester Johns and

(16:04):
George Forte.
We had a company called X-WorldMarketing Group.
He was out here in thesestreets, right, and I had a fork
in the road.
I had to figure out what Iwanted to do with my life and I
realized, you know, I found outthat she was pregnant and I was
like there's no way possiblethat I can allow any, any, any
seed that comes from me to beraised without a father.

(16:27):
Right, because I was in afather was half.
So I literally, probably withina week and a half two week
timeframe, decided I got to goto Florida because I didn't have
as much stability as she had.
You know what I mean.
She had a full time job, shehad everything going on, and so
I left and we ended updissolving the company, and it

(16:47):
was.
It was hard, it was probably thehardest thing I've ever went
through in my life and I endedup having having our son down in
Florida, stay down there.
A little while we realized thatyou know all our family's up
here, we can't have this kiddown here and not, you know, get
to know their family, grandma,you know all that good stuff.
And so we moved back.

(17:07):
We ended up moving back toKansas City.
After a while we ended upgetting married, had another son
and you know it was just thebest thing that ever happened to
me.
And the funny thing is we meand my wife had these
conversations where we love whenwe were in that process.
Nah, it wasn't a strong love,right, but we liked each other,

(17:29):
right, there was, there was that, but we fell in love.
And you know, that's my age,that's my rider.
But I've had a lot of turningpoints in my life.
I had a lot of points of forkin the road either make this
decision or make that decision,and that's one that I, you know,
would never, I wouldn't changefrom the world.
So, got a son.
He's a senior in high school.

(17:49):
Got my younger son he's asophomore in high school.
It's my guys, man.
They both play sports, bothsmart, way smarter than I was
when I was their age.
Yeah, man, you know Iappreciate it because I respect
you, I respect your journey, Irespect you as a father and a
family man that I see.
I feel like you do try tohighlight that as much as your

(18:10):
entrepreneurship journey.
And so just hearing that, andthen you know, I think you know,
for a lot of black men, youknow, we do have that mindset of
wanting to fulfill the spacethat we didn't have feel when we
were younger.
You know, coming from nothaving a father and wanting to
set the tone.
I feel like I had the same typeof mindset when it came to my

(18:33):
daughter.
I just did not with her mama,but with my daughter.
I feel it.
I feel it.
I got so custody, you know, veryquick, but of course I would
have done other things, but inall honesty, it was all because
I'm like, what can I do to makesure that I am in this child's

(18:56):
life and there is nothing goingto alter that, you know, as a
black man, a black father,knowing that there are so many
systems in place that can deterthat and make you where you're,
out of thought at home.
So, yeah, no, I, you know, Ithink I've got that in my
journey and I always tell peoplebefore I could actually really
become a father.

(19:16):
You know my situation happenedto me and you know I believe it
was just more of a wake up callbecause I had already made the
commitment to be a better father.
But the only way I was going tobe a better father was finding
a way to become be outside of my, my environment, right, and so,
of course, you know everything.
You know keeping on with theyear, but I definitely see my

(19:39):
life story as a blessing and, ifanyone knows it, it was my
daughter that allowed me toactually become who I am today.
So there is power in makingthat mindset to say, okay, this
is what I'm going to do and thenso, yeah, so let's go right
into that man, because I, youknow, even like for me, when I
think about, like my daughterempowering me to, you know,

(20:00):
wanting to be who I am, itreally allowed me to know that
like it's bigger than me, right,like you have these eyes, how
did we make an impact into thischild's life?
How do you create a newgeneration of thought leaders
and things like that?
And so from me, it was well,I'm going to entrepreneurship

(20:21):
and I know you shared a littlebit about the corporate.
You know world and how itwasn't for you, and you know I
wasn't a corporate worker per senot my whole life but I did,
you know, go and get into like,get a full-time job at a, like a
couple of call centers andthings.
And you know, during my injuryI was working but for me the

(20:43):
barrier was my job wasn'taccustomed to working with
someone with a disability, so Iended in to fall back because I
was dealing with real lifeissues that my job didn't
understand and so eventually Igot pushed out and I was kind of
forced to be on disability.
And you know I'm in my 20s, youknow.

(21:05):
So you know that was for melike that was.
My push into entrepreneurshipwas because, again, I probably
could have settled it by the endof my life, probably to be like
you know, like this is athousand dollars a month, I'm
going to give me good, but yeah,it was like this is not going
to be able to take care of myhome, this is not going to be
able to allow me to raise mychild like I want.
Maybe this is set up forsomeone that doesn't have a

(21:27):
child or something like that,but this is not set up for a
father or, you know, like afamily in here, so push me into
that.
You know so.
For you, you had all thesedifferent things that guided you
into entrepreneurship.
How has we're going to shift alittle bit, but how has that
experience pushed you more intothat nonprofit work?

(21:48):
Yeah, you know, and the funnything is I'm glad you shared
that about your work, your worksituation, because enough had
these conversations directlywith what some CEOs and founders
and whatnot.
When you get hired, when you getinterviewed and say, you know,
like, towards the end of theinterview they'll say you know,

(22:12):
we'll try to see if it's a goodfit right, if it's a good fit
for our company and our art,what the team that we're hiring
you into, if it's a good fitright and normally what that
good fit means.
That's like for me and you knowI could be, you know I'm just
putting it out there For me,good fit means you got to fit it
.
You see, somebody that's goingto fit into the mold that we

(22:35):
already have set for ourenvironment rather than being
open enough and realize thatbringing we don't.
We need people that don't fitto challenge what we're doing
and how we're doing it.
If there are systems andpolicies that are in place that
are impeding our progress, thenwe need to figure out what those
systems are so we can make surethat we are making room for a

(22:57):
diverse system of thought.
Right, a diverse system ofthought.
And a lot of these companiesdon't?
They want to find somebody thatthat's cookie cutter, that I
could put in, that I can mold,and that we can tell what to do
and make more robot, right.
But I think that corporateAmerica is kind of going through
that shit.
It's gone through that shit andthere's more honest and there's

(23:17):
more, because there's more jobsavailable now than there's ever
been and they will in a longtime.
Right, there's a lot of of wagewars, dollars, I mean.
There's a lot going on rightnow workforce development and I
think that that's a good thingBecause it forces companies now

(23:39):
to not just kind of sit on thismiddle management thing.
You're where the middlemanagers, you know, get to like
pull the strings and do all thatstuff and then you know
completely silo off the frontline employees from the exact
company executive.
So, so it's a good thing, right,and back then I was in a
position kind of probablysimilar to yours, that I Didn't

(24:02):
feel like I had a voice.
Yeah, right, I didn't feel likemy voice matter, be it because
lack of experience, lack ofknowledge, like history, and all
those other things thateverybody Wants to throw in your
face as to the reason why youcan't and you shouldn't, right,
yeah, I'm not about the kids inthe, I'm about.
I'm about how do we figure thisout, right, and so that's kind

(24:24):
of what would drill me into thespace that we're in now.
Man, but there was this hugeconversation about ten years ago
about Google fiber coming toKansas City Big, you know, the
Tavor, the city council,everybody was, oh my gosh, care
cities about the just I.
We were about to be the nextSilicon Valley.
100%, we were, we were it right.

(24:47):
But that conversation wasn'tbeing added over in the
communities that we come from.
Right, and I wanted to figureout why.
Because I, like I said, I'vebeen an entrepreneur, fired to
this, but nothing like widelysuccessful I, you know, banked a
lot of bread or anything likethat.
But but I have been on thatentrepreneurial journey and I
had experiences at the Lincolnbuilding.

(25:08):
Our first Office was at theLincoln building the city of
Kansas City used to do anincubator a best for all
business incubator years ago,and we were and we got to
benefit from Working out of thatspace man.
We got to meet Jackie bikes whowas the owner of server
cleaning back in the day.
I used to work for Jackie.
She was a dope entrepreneur.

(25:29):
We followed her.
That's why I learned, obviously, the realization that I come to
later, but that's where Ilearned a lot of my the hustle
and the grind and what'snecessary was needed to be an
entrepreneur.
But anyway, we try to figure itout.
We couldn't.
We.
We had all the right answers,right, we knew what it was like
a network, lack of capital, lackof access, lack of education,

(25:50):
lack of lack of black Right.
So we went down that trail.
So we have, we have a lot offriends, that's our consummate
professionals through I meanthat we have met through A
various channel school, I meanprofessional environments of
where we're both me and Sharonare both members of capital of
the side turning, incorporated,and so we would bring in some of

(26:13):
these cost of a professional toteach Marketing, teach grand
management, teach accounting,just the principles of these
things like workshops out there,and and that was all our plan
was.
It wasn't to grow it into whatwe are in now, but there were
some challenges that put on thatwill put on a table.

(26:34):
We got introduced through thecoffee foundation, through
Courtney.
Courtney was a business owner.
You might, if I use I, tellthese stories.
Disease stories are important,are they very important?
How many?
So I used to go every Wednesdaymorning to one billion cups
back when it was, you know,they're Religious Lee, religious
Lee, yeah.
And I'm telling, yeah, and andyou're, we used to see each

(26:56):
other there, right, like, allthe time, like, and so this,
this lady by the name Courtney,she just came up to me.
I was like, hey, you lookinteresting, what do you do?
And I was like, nah, this ain'tthe same.
Like couple of teens, you know,I'm just here to soak up
knowledge, meet some people andthat's it.
Honestly, I am a introvert.
I'm an introvert by heart, butI forced myself to learn how to
be out, right, yeah.

(27:17):
And so she walks up to me andI'm like disengaged.
I'm like, no, I'm okay, it'scool, you know.
And then, so the next week Icame back.
She said you came back, you'rehere again, like what we're so
like, what do you do Like no,like seriously, like I don't
have any, you know.
It sounds like, alright, thisis, this is what we're trying to
do.
She's like, well, would youlike to pitch?
And I'm gonna be cause.

(27:38):
Like no, this is not my crowdwe work with or work for.
And I was like I'm good, youknow.
And she said well, okay, she'slike all right, so the next week
, cause, and I'm there again andshe comes to me.
She says, hey, I got somebodywant to introduce you, so all
right, okay, who was this firstright?

(28:00):
And so it was Aaron AaronJenkins, that she at that time
she was a program officer at thecoffee foundation and so we got
to get coffee and I kind oftold her about location and
where we're trying to accomplish.
She's like, hey, because you'renot anything, probably gonna
give you some sponsorshipdollars because we have been
paying.

(28:20):
We had, it was on the bus lineand we had that we paid for out
of our own pockets.
We had, we had, we did all themarketing, we pay for all the
marketing on our pocket.
And again, none of this was tocreate a business, it was
literally just to try to helpsolve a problem and we felt like
was there.
So we weren't trying to gainnothing out of this, we were
losing.
So, courier, so, so everythingto us and say, hey, we can get

(28:43):
you a $5,000 sponsorship Just tohelp with the food and things
like that Massive.
That's what we could do rightnow.
So I'm grand, like what?
Like let's go.
Oh, we got a paper, this out ofpocket.
Oh, my gosh, this is the bestthing.
I was like, what is he unheardof, right?
And so we did that.
We start with paper now we payfor some more advertising.

(29:03):
And so we from there we gotchallenge.
She said there's more to this isthe ESO, and if you don't know
what entrepreneurs, supportorganizations are, you need to
do your research, you need tolook it up.
You just figure this out.
And so that's what we starteddoing.
We started going down this,this rabbit hole of ESO work,
and that's when we came upon avector 90.
That was Nipsey Hussles spot ina content that he had created

(29:27):
for young folks.
It wasn't specifically just anESO, but it was a part of Of
that system.
They did that digital educationas well.
But we found this group waterup.
We found black tech week downin Miami.
We found all these groups allover the country doing these
things and we just like, mindblown, right, fast forward.

(29:49):
A couple of months, the guysfrom water came to Kansas City
because they were acoffee-funded organization.
We didn't know that.
I Aaron call me said hey, I gotthe guys from water.
You're only gonna get fiveminutes, but I want you to inch,
I want to introduce your team,it's okay, you know, literally
got in front of them, met him.
Instead, next week we're comingup to Cincinnati because we

(30:13):
want to know more.
And they were like, yeah, right, okay, if you come, you come,
we'll old street, okay.
I had a friend of mine.
They didn't know.
My fraternity brother lives inCincinnati.
So I caught him up.
I said shit, need to play tostay, bro.
I broke.
I ain't got no money.
We can play this babe.
We want to meet these guys.
Whatever she was like, bro, wegot a basement pump.

(30:34):
You know what I mean?
Like, come hang out.
We literally drove up that nextweekend to Cincinnati,
manchurian.
It was crazy rain and it wassteep.
It met them, they tore usaround, they were very
hospitable.
We came back with a vision.
We came back with a vision andit was just from there the work

(30:55):
and saw work been all worked.
Yeah, all one.
Hey, you know what, man?
And I love that you shared that,because that's I mean, it's
always power in the story andthere's definitely power in
yours, I think anyone that firstof all, shout out to One
Million Cups, because OneMillion Cups is a solid platform
.
It definitely was better if youdidn't add Kauffman.

(31:16):
It was definitely dope atKauffman, but yeah, anyway, it's
a good platform.
But then, like this, having theability to make the sacrifice
right, like, that's the thing.
Like man, a lot of people don'tunderstand that sacrifice Like,
and all you deal with is allowsomeone to doubt you enough to

(31:41):
pursue what you believe could bemore and then make them into
believers of you and then allowyou to even be a believer of
what you could create.
And I think that I'm a storyguy, so I appreciate it.
I apologize, I appreciate it,but I want to share another
really quick story which waslike after reflection, was like

(32:05):
seriously, Like I used to.
So when we moved back to KansasCity, I couldn't find a job.
Right From Florida, I couldn'tfind a job.
I got a kid, got a wife that'san educator.
She's doing her, she's in linealready.
Everything's dope.
I just, I was struggling, right, hershey's in the right.
So I had to go to a temp agency, right.
So I worked for Xerox through atemp agency.

(32:29):
I worked for Xerox in Black andBeach right.
So Black and Beach contractedXerox to do all their mail
services and everything else.
So I worked in their mail roomand the experience was like wow,
I just saw, you know, all theseblueprints everywhere and mail

(32:50):
and all this other stuff.
And so I was like this is not.
You know, and you know, we allhave these moments of there's
more to this, there's more tolife than this, right, and I
couldn't figure out life, butthe life of me, what the next
thing's going to be.
And this is way before any ofwhere we are now happened.
But fast forward to last year.

(33:11):
I got an opportunity to speak atthe Civic Council's Thrive
event, or not Thrive the CivicCouncil's there's an annual
event.
I'm having a brain fart rightnow, but there's an annual event
.
It's really dope.
They bring the top CEOs,presidents, leaders from around

(33:32):
the area to come to thesemeetings.
It's kind of like a you knowwhat we're doing now, what we're
focused on for next year, youknow those types of things and
they like to bring in some folksand join some things really.
And so I got to speaking.
It was dope.
But afterwards the CEO who'sretired now, but the CEO came up
to me from Blackin Beach andtold me that he was inspired by

(33:55):
my story, appreciated mespeaking and was like hey, we
need to connect.
The CEO of Blackin Beach, whereI worked at Xerox for a tip
agency, tell you love to meafter speaking and literally

(34:15):
waited to talk to me.
And that was like for me, likeand I'm not big on like, I'm not
big on like celebrity status orany of that stuff right, yeah,
but that moment, like areflection, was just like.

(34:38):
That was crazy for me.
Yeah, yeah, it was crazy for me.
But, man, when you talk aboutlike that sacrifice journey and
you know I'll be real brief, butI always tell people, like you
know, when I started to say,when I really was in the
hospital bed, I knew there was acause, I knew there was
something, but it took me to gooutside of my community, get

(34:59):
into, like you know, make asacrifice to go to CrossFitCon,
learn what that vision was goingto be and come back to Kansas
City and implement that.
But, as I shared, like you know, I was kind of forced into
being on disability because Icouldn't really find employment
with a disability and I remembertaking three, I had $300 left

(35:24):
for my disability check andthrough one million cups I had
met one of the like, one of thepeople that worked for WeWork,
right Like, and I remember Imean they had a nonprofit
discount, it was like 250 amonth I could get an office.
So I went on, got an office andthat allowed me to be in a

(35:46):
space where I could be able toshare my story.
Nobody knew my struggle, right.
Nobody knew my struggle, nobodyknew how to handle knowing
nothing.
I just thought at that point Iwas in alignment with everybody
else, right.
And I remember we would do theseoutreach programs and I'm
sharing this because there'spower in not only knowing your

(36:07):
vision, but there's also powerin making sacrifice for the
things that you want and there'seven more about it and doing
more even if you're not paid forit, right.
So we used to do these.
These called Hydrate theHomeless, and it was completely
different than the mission fordisabled, but not really right.

(36:28):
It was a way to give back.
That was different, but alsoprovide an opportunity for
people with disabilities to beinvolved in work.
There.
It took I had got the officespace in maybe August or
September of maybe 2017,something 2018, and I remember

(36:49):
about January they had reachedout to me and said hey, mene, we
love the work you're doing.
We're going to nominate you forthis Community Givers Award.
There's about 200,000 members,all of this, but we're going to
nominate you.
And so they come back a coupleweeks later.
They're like Wes, you want it,you got this community, and just

(37:10):
like, you're like you know.
And they're like oh, I'm goingto be in New York.
And I remember telling someonethis is the first time I've ever
been flown from somebody else'sdorm.
You know, I'm trying to act out.
I've been trapped before, but Ihad never like I'm good, so I
didn't know anything that washappening.
I literally just thought I wasgoing to get an award for giving

(37:31):
back and I was happy for thetrip, right.
And so I remember man gettingon stage and they're like hey,
can you share your story?
And this is my first time inlike 2,000 people, I don't know
like maybe a few seconds later,man, I get off of sharing my
story and they like wait, man,wait a minute.
The four of you it was fourpeople out of 200,000 that was

(37:53):
selected and they're like youknow, we're going to give you
$18,000.
And I'm like what you know, Iremember like the video, like
just capturing it, or like mejust laughing because a lot of
people didn't understand, like Ihad literally saccharine with
nothing.
I didn't expect anything.
Like I was just like I want tocreate an impact, a woman's way

(38:16):
of doing it, and like I wasblessed with something that
allowed me to like Go more intoforward progress.
Right Like, and keepUnderstanding that, as long as
you start to create change, aslong as you start to to have
this vision and you're willingto sacrifice time, effort,
passion into something that'simpacted somebody else's large

(38:38):
Like you, the lessons and thingsthat come, or just, and you,
you, you can't put nothing on it, right Like, it's just one of
those things there's no value.
So I just, you know, I Iappreciate you sharing that
story because I think that thoseare the things that people miss
, right Like, when they thinkabout entrepreneurship, they
hear about the sacrifice, theyhear about the heartache, but

(38:59):
it's like man, if you have atrue vision, like, the blessings
will come, because the passionthat you have is going to always
fuel you.
You know I mean and, and, and Ithink Layla Ali says it perfect.
She said you have to let yourpassion drive you, and so you
know, when you're thinking aboutthat car, your passion will
drive you past anything that youhave in your pocket, it, you

(39:23):
know, like you, you you'll goand be like man.
I can't even have this space,no more, because we can't pay
rent, but I could sit down withpeople.
You know what I mean and Icould, I could tell them this
knowledge.
So I'm still sharing thisknowledge, right, like.
I don't need anything thatimpact the life with what I have
appeared.
Right, it only helps me Toimpact more lives with the

(39:43):
support of many if they start tosee my vision, right.
So, and and you know what andyou, you know what the, the in
addition to that was what is,what is?
Um, I don't think it's talkedabout enough Is everybody we
want to frame things.
Everybody wants to be in a frameof something, right, like, and
what I mean by that is like.
If you do this, this will bethe outcome, right, if you put

(40:11):
this microwavable meal In amicrowave and you get 30 seconds
, you're going to get 30 secondsof heat on that, on that meal,
right, but that's not how lifereally works.
And there's some people thatunderstand that.
And then the folks that don'tunderstand that are the ones
that are really trying to fightwithin these systems, in these
systems, and Really trying tochange this.

(40:34):
And then then, whenever and,and you know, nothing happens,
it'll.
I wonder why, like, why didn'tthis?
Because this is not becausesystems are created to be
adjusted, you know, to createsomething.
A person created the system, ora group of people created by
system.
That doesn't mean that that islaw, that doesn't mean that that

(40:54):
, even if it is, it doesn't meanthat that's your, your, your
life, right, yeah, so luck, workand luck, equal success.
I see, if you're working, youget lucky.
At a point in time when you'reworking, in some success may add

(41:16):
through right, part way, luckand blessings.
I I'll call it luck or blessing.
You can insert luck, insertblessings or luck or blessings
in prayer, but at the end of theday, if, if you're not doing
the work, this point in time,that blessing, that luck, you
won't find the success becauseyou're out putting in the work.

(41:38):
You know what I'm saying.
Hey, the work, the work is the.
I'm just.
I'm just saying, if you'redoing the work, you're gonna
find some luck along the way andit's gonna potentially lead to
some success.
Or what about that work?
You can't even get to the theend of the equation, but it's.
It's important for people tounderstand that Focusing on the

(42:01):
work without focusing on asuccess will only allow you to
surpass the success that maybeyou envisioned in the first
place, because once you're everbecoming driven by the work, man
, like harder work pays off.
You know you could be, youcould work smarter, not harder,
right?
We don't want everybody talkingabout 18 hour days if you ain't

(42:22):
got to, but at the same timeyou use, you're sacrificing
something for A greater good,and there's no way that the
blessings Won't shower on you aslong as you keep focusing On
that vision.
Right, like that's it?
Like man?

(42:43):
All right, this is a done likethis has been fired, bro, I have
a.
You know, I have a couplequestions that I want to kind of
like be able to hone in ourofficial.
So, um, you know, how do youthink?
And this is, this is important,because I think, um, while we
talk about entrepreneurship,especially in a black community,

(43:03):
I'm I'm pretty sure me and youhave received support and people
have seen our visions that areoutside of our community, right,
um, yeah, so how do you thinkthe black community can better
support and fosterentrepreneurship?
Uh, particularly for theyounger generation?
Yeah, yeah, I think that wehave to, not, you know, I've had

(43:28):
this conversation recently.
We have to not be afraid ofwhat happens if something
happens.
Let me explain it.
Um, so, like technology, I'lluse technology.
I'll use, uh, tick tock.
Right, there's a lot ofanti-tick tockers, right, and

(43:48):
there were some people that wereearly to adapt to tick tock
that are having monumentalsuccess.
And you wonder why?
It's because they were quick toadapt to the technology.
Right, we have a lot of peoplethat are live Well, I'm gonna
wait and see.
I'm gonna wait to see how thisworks.
I'm gonna wait to see if it'slegit.

(44:09):
I'm gonna wait to support.
I'm gonna wait to get on.
I'm gonna wait, I'm gonna wait,I'm gonna wait, I'm gonna wait.
And then you wait and then yousee everybody else winning
Because you just and you decidedto wait.
Then you try to catch on andthen it's too late and then
you're like, oh my gosh, whycan't I get this, why can't I
get that?
Because you can't wait.
I mean, you know what I meanLike, at the end of the day,

(44:31):
you're gonna, you're gonna lose.
You're gonna lose way more thanyou in, especially in this
entrepreneurship game.
You know, let's understand thatyou're gonna lose.
Um, and just be willing to putyourself out there.
At the end of the day, you guyswill not even try to jump into
the fight.
Well, just just stay on thesideline, just wait and watch
everybody else do what they do.
If you're willing to lose,you're willing to be out there.

(44:53):
You willing to connect, you'rewilling to look like a fool, you
look, you're willing to be, uh,ostracized.
You're willing to be, um, youknow in these positions that you
don't, that it's notcomfortable.
Uh, then you're right.
Then get in the game and let'spush.
But if you're not, man, justjust stay on the sideline.
Man, don't, don't adapt, be onthe sideline, don't worry about

(45:15):
what we doing on tiktok.
You know what I'm saying.
You stay on facebook and andkeep your stuff on facebook and
we'll be over in tiktok lanetrying to figure out ways to
accelerate.
Man, I was like, you know kcyesterday and saw this new dope
technology that's coming out.
Man, if they're working on itin school of technology pro,
like chat gbt, if you know, ifyou're not on, if you're not

(45:39):
interested in and on, uh,figuring out what chat gbt does
for you can't do for you.
Instead of looking at it as abad thing and how horrible it is
, you have to start learningabout it.
We've got to figure that outbecause you're going to be
waiting and you're going to beupset because your, your
counterparts and people that arewilling to look.
We're going to find monumentalsuccess using the technologies

(46:02):
and things that are out there.
And it's free.
I'm just saying it's free, butI'm passing, so let me die.
You know my soul box, hey, butI'm there.
I'm saying you know, but I likethat.
You know, I was definitelygoing to emphasize and see what
you thought about the ai, butyou know, like in the, in the
sense of what I.

(46:22):
What I'm kind of grasping isthat you know, at least at this
moment, technology is such sucha powerful tool at your
fingertips, searching forsupport everywhere else outside
of the thing that you utilizeevery day is just it's Out is
mind-blowing.
You can you, you can.
You got free platforms that youcan literally say hey, what's

(46:45):
the best way to start a business?
Am I in my state and can youprovide links on where to go?
Boom, boom, boom, boom,everything.
Marketing everything is out oftool.
It's like learning theresources Instead of being
drowned, drowned into being aconsumer to things.
Start to be a visionary andstart to be a thought leader and

(47:07):
see how you can utilize thecrucial arms to support you
right.
The platforms that you'resupporting can actually support
you.
They can give you the educationthat you need.
They could give you a communitythat you want to build right,
like.
And so now, man, I really like,how did you share that?
Because I think technology isone of those things that a lot

(47:29):
of people can hone into and ittakes away the excuses On a lot
of levels.
You know, now, if you're nottech savvy, I get it, but you
know, even Apple do courses toteach you how to use they, they,
they products right, and thoseare free to Be okay.
Being uncomfortable.
Yeah, that's the thing.
Be okay with beinguncomfortable, because I think a

(47:51):
lot of people don't becomesuccessful because they're
worried about how people seethem in the process you don't
want.
You don't want to pitch abusiness Because you might have
a family friend in a room thatmight, you know, challenge the
way you're thinking, but theymight not know how you're
thinking.
Failure comes a lot becausefigure Right.

(48:13):
So, before we end up, man, Iknow, like you know, you share
with me, you know your, your,some of your milestones and, of
course, love the success in anup-and-down journey of
entrepreneurship through you,what Porter house is doing.
I want you to make sure you,you share, you know your
programs, how people can beinvolved and all that good stuff
.
Yeah, right, because 20, 22,you know you, you've been proud

(48:38):
of your impact in 2022.
Can you share with the some ofthose accomplishments that
you're most proud of and howthey contributed to uplifting
the black community?
Yeah, we put it.
I'm glad you asked that we putin some good work.
This, this, you know it.
We're often told don't, don'tboast and brag about things that
you've done.
You know all that good stuff.

(48:58):
This is not boasting andbragging.
This is just being excited,excited about what, what we've
been able to accomplish andwhat's to come.
So on our website, we have ourimpact report.
So if you go towwwporterhouseaccom.
Go, scroll down, see the impactreport you get.

(49:20):
It'll pop up right there.
But, man, we've had we've had alot of dope success, which is a
quote that I love, and it's atthe beginning of our impact
report.
The reasonable man adaptshimself to the world.
The unreasonable one persist intrying to adapt the world to
himself.
Therefore, all progress dependson the unreasonable man, so we

(49:41):
have this written on the wall upin our office and this George
Bernard Shaw.
I love.
That quote is, though, but thispassion man, we've been able to
give out about 190, 90, 5000plus of small, small business
dollars, mostly small, smallgrants.
Nothing that we do is in a lowform, so they're all grants.

(50:04):
Yet the pitches we have pitchclasses.
So folks are, you're not,you're not just throwing up to
try to pitch, pitch yourbusiness.
We actually have a class thatyou go through to wire it how to
pitch and then you get up there.
So that's, that's things thatto.
You'll be back, and Jake MorganChase, we're there.
The support and also networkKansas we did some stuff over in

(50:26):
Kansas as well as, as itrelates to some small dollar
giving.
We also have a 15 week smallbusiness development class.
We also have a mentoringprogram which is 12 months long
that we do so the alchemysandbox.
We actually just close it.
The new application will openup again for the next quarter.
So every quarter we open up ourapplications on our website for
the alchemy sandbox.

(50:49):
That's the pitch, competitionfor the $5,000.
But so we did that.
Last year we made a lot ofconnections.
Our story is there not created19 community partnerships?
What oh?
Eight funding partnerships?
We always do 10 events.
Man, it was just a lot, a lotgoing on, my man.

(51:10):
We're really excited about it,but our hope is that we can
continue this and we cancontinue to push.
Obviously we're still a fairlynew, small-knob profit.
We don't get a lot of Financialsupport.
We'll get a ton of financialsupport, but the support that we
do get from Kaufman and JakeMorgan and and you'll be Baye

(51:31):
has been tremendous.
Price we got to hire twoemployees, so we have a director
of education and then we have aperson that's going to be a
manager and then we have aprogram manager and myself, and
so, as Shiran still works a fulltime to nine to five and he's
he's only participating Withwith the border high states and

(51:52):
he runs black drip, set out tothe run and but he's though,
he's though too, but but yeah.
So We've been able to do a lot,man, with a little, and we
would continue to strive to tryto get more.
So we can, we could do more forthe, for the both of you.
So we got a space that's openingup 31st and right up 31st and

(52:13):
shrooms.
That's a space that nine, ninedifferent business owners are
gonna be able to retail theirproducts out of.
They actually are manning therestill is inside this space.
Yeah, it's under constructionnow.
We've been sharing someconstruction updates and stuff.
So, really, geeked about that,man, it's coming, it's coming
along.
We, we rockin, we get not alsotwice five but spot actually

(52:36):
sponsored, has sponsored fivememberships for the last Five
years of us being around, and so, like people, they get enrolled
into our programs, get access,also get access to flex pot,
which is really, though, andthey've been a great spot for a
while.

(52:56):
So, just, you know we aretrying to work.
Yeah, I love that.
So you know, if you're in theKansas City, missouri area, you
have a vision.
You know you need someassistance.
You know if you're representingdifferent communities, like,
definitely reach out to thePorter house, kc, their
information to be shared on theyou know, on our notes and all
of that.

(53:16):
Dan Smith, like, get a stickerto put on your laptop.
Hey, man, before I, before Iend, like Any any last words
when it comes to like you know,I know you shared a quote, but
do you have any other questionwant to share?
Are there any books that you'rereading that can that people
can go grass to give them asession of inspiration?
Yeah, I'm glad you said thatI'm a book guy, but I'm an audio

(53:40):
book guy, so I don't do a wholebunch of it, but this is all my
audio books that I've beenrocking with.
I'm currently listening to theautobiography of James Baldwin
and so I'm really interested inJames Baldwin in his perspective
.
Miseducation of the NegroExactly, I'm on the same page.
I'm on the same page.
Exactly, rick Rubin.

(54:03):
I just finished this book byRick Rubin.
It's called the Creative Act.
I respect Rick.
He's a co-founder of Dev Jam.
He co-founded Dev Jam.
Not a whole bunch of peopleknow who he is, but Rick Rubin
is a really smart dude and hisbook is dope.
I read Task System by IsabellaWilkerson, like really breaking

(54:25):
down what task systems areacross the world.
And then Will Smith's book wasdope man.
I know Will's book was histhing, man, but his book was
phenomenal and I still supportWill man, even though we all go
through our journeys.
You know what I'm saying.
We all have to figure life outand I hate when we make mistakes

(54:47):
that we just kind of like pushpeople to the side and it was a
mistake.
It was a mistake.
You know Nipsey says it says itbest.
You know that we as a peoplehave to learn how to react to
disrespect and you know andthat's something that we're
still learning within the blackcommunity Thank you for sharing

(55:08):
the books.
Thank you for sharing.
Like.
I'm definitely an avid reader.
I always talk about.
My growth came from readingbooks.
So I'm going to share my twofavorite that I think people can
grab.
So how to raise your own salaryby Nicole and Miguel Very
powerful book.
Of course, I didn't say thinkrich, grow rich, because you

(55:29):
need to know how to raise yourown money first too.
And then Black Magic.
Black Magic is definitely apowerful book for any, any
individual, black or brown.
That's just trying tounderstand things, and it says
what black leaders admire fromtrauma and try out.
So definitely reach out andcheck out these books and I

(55:50):
didn't want to share a couple oflast words.
Like some of our comments onhere.
Here, it's just a portal intogreatness.
When you step through, youlevel up.
Thanks, alex.
What about it?
You know, man, like I thinkthat's.
That's such a powerful thing,and sharing the struggles is

(56:13):
just as important as thesuccesses.
Another Nipsey also quote youknow, if you're sharing your
success and not just struggles,you're a fool.
I'm a firm believer of thatbecause you're missing out on
reaching a lot of individualsthat come on from your story,
because they can see themselvesfrom your, your, your past and
your, your journey maybe notwhere you are right now and so

(56:36):
make sure that you always bringthat story out to shadows.
And thanks everybody forchecking us out.
Until next time, appreciate itand thank you again, dan.
As we conclude anotherinspiring episode, I want to
remind you that success isn'tjust about the spotlight.
It's also about the shadows.
It's about the struggles weconquer, the unseen battles we

(56:59):
fight and the silent victorieswe claim.
I'm Wesley Hamilton and you'vebeen listening to Out of the
Shadows podcast, where weilluminate the stories of often
left untold.
Join me again next week as weventure back into the shadows
and bring another amazingindividual into the light.
Until then, remember, no storyis too small to inspire.

(57:20):
Keep fighting, keep winning andstay out the shadows.