Crafting Success Amidst Tension

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Navigating the labyrinth of entrepreneurship and personal accountability, we've unearthed the powerful, yet often silent, tales of black male experience, a journey where resilience meets vulnerability. Our dialogue with Marcellus Clay, a seasoned painting company owner, peels back the layers of leadership, the weight it carries, and the unwavering support from those nearest to us that bolsters our climb. This episode stitches together the threads of emotional expression, the mentorship that fuels our growth, and the art of balancing life's multifaceted demands with the finesse of a craftsman.

Emotional support, an elusive haven for many men, stands at the forefront as we dissect the necessity of creating spaces where feelings are not foes but allies in the odyssey of manhood. Our candid exchanges traverse the landscape of familial business dynamics, teaching accountability to the next generation, and the intricate dance of work-life equilibrium. We reveal personal anecdotes that resonate with anyone who's juggled the hats of entrepreneur, partner, and parent, and how each role molds a tapestry of shared success.

As we wrap this soul-stirring episode, we take stock of how self-belief and dedication are the twin engines propelling us forward in business and marriage alike. We tackle the gritty realities faced when payrolls challenge our resolve, and we draw strength from the unity found in collaborative ventures with family. This isn't just a conversation — it's a heartfelt testimony to the relentless spirit of entrepreneurship and the profound impact it has on carving out legacies, one brushstroke at a time.

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All music, production, and vocals edited by Chief Ali,
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Here, let's go.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
If you're running a business, if it doesn't do
anything else for anybody, itshould make you feel more
accountable for your life, thedecisions that you make, the
time that you spend, how youfeel mentally happy in the
moment, and then, when you don'tfeel happy as a business owner,
you're supposed to be able toanalyze everything about

(00:50):
business.
Your business is your child.
You're supposed to be so honedin with that shit that when
something goes wrong, you knowwhat it is that went wrong and
you can fix it right away.
I remember hearing on this onepodcast, the Zo Williams.
Everybody typically tends to saythat he's like you know, sexist
against women or whatever, butit's more so like he's with

(01:12):
women.
But the fact of the matter isthat most people don't bother to
talk about how men are acts,how black men, black men no, I'm
like this black women andchildren.
They have far surpassed theslave error, in my opinion, far

(01:33):
surpassed it, because now thegovernment and everybody else
looks out for women and childrenbecause you're black ones.
But when it comes to a man,when it comes to a man,
everybody in Cleveland,everybody, every man that's on
child support, what do youhonestly think will really
happen to the county's economybecause a black man is not

(01:58):
working for them, nor is heworking for a house, so he lives
in.
The black man will nap.
The black man, acer, had thisone song called I'm gonna think
of it, but pretty much he justsaid no matter how much money or

(02:18):
how much work he puts in, Iwill forever be a field nigga.
My painting business has madeI'm 50 grand short of 400,000,
and that's in three and a halfyears.
I'm not looking for accoladesand all praises.
Let's suck a nigga dick everytime we see him.
My accent for that?

(02:39):
I don't think any black man hasan accent for that.
I think what the black man isasking for is to be heard the
same way how a child wants to beheard and the same way how a
woman wants to be heard.
A black man is not black man ornot heard, it can just don't
matter.
We can fucking commitinfidelity.
It can just be like well, youcheated two years ago, but then

(03:01):
you don't cook no more.
At the end of the day, youfucked up.
The world has made it so.
Nobody else takes account ofthese for themselves, but a man
and but a black man.
Forever a field nigga.
And I realized that yesterday,the nigga black man.

(03:24):
We only matter to ourselves and, as I think of the day, that's
all we, that's all who we couldreally just matter to is just to
ourselves.
Nobody else is going to take usseriously besides black,
besides ourselves as black men.
Nobody's going to sit here andput that stock into us.
That's the whole entire reasonwhy Drake's album for their dogs

(03:45):
.
I praise that shit.
I praise it.
You know why he's actually.
You got artists like six black,got artists like Brent Fias
that are actually really boldwith how men feel.
Drake's album was just like.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Regardless of how you bitches feel, I'm going to tell
you how a dog feels I just gothip to that, like just listening
to my album, listening to her,so getting a chance to hear that
album, and just kind of hear,like you said, man, a man being
vulnerable, a man, as one of thelines that I think he did say
and I'm a fan of Drake too melike, man, you don't make

(04:27):
records for people who don't getpussy.
You know what I'm saying.
So if you, if you're gettingyou with some ass here and there
, come with some feeling, comewith some emotion as much, as as
much as us, as men, try tosometimes put into a perspective
that we can just fucking begone in majority cases we can,

(04:47):
okay.
However, sometimes that youfeelings can get involved,
especially when you becomeromantic, and your feelings can
get hurt, you can be on thesucker end of the deal.
You know what I'm saying.
You can be on the, on the, onthe do not capitalize, and then

(05:08):
not even really knowing beingable to talk to people,
communicate with people, beingable to do this man, being able
to kind of speak about the reallike.
One of the things that we talkabout is like the real men
emotions, a real men segment,how we feel with you, know what
our, our thoughts are in acomplete form of.

(05:30):
This is how I feel about mywoman and what we doing and what
we trying to do.
This is how I feel about my, mychildren, my kids.
I'm trying to make sure I'mgiving them a good something to
see, a good example.
I'm trying to figure certainthings out.
I'm new to this, it's my firsttime, you know.
So, looking for some grace,giving some grace, looking for

(05:51):
some some praise in there,looking for even some
suggestions, I'm open to it.
The last thing I think most menmost of it, I know most men
most definitely don't want is alevel of criticism, especially
when I'm.
When you try it.
You know you sit here, you tryand you're trying to put in some
work, you're trying to figureit out, man, sometimes not

(06:13):
having a good teacher or thatkind of male role model that's
around or somebody that'sprobably been through what
you're going through that youcan pull that information from.
So it is crucial that wecommunicate heavy and it's
crucial that we talk to eachother and we speak freely, most
definitely here, at permissionto speak freely, podcast.
This is the platform where mostdefinitely for men, give it a,

(06:35):
get that, get that out.
Think about that.
Be able to detox, vent.
It's healthy, bro, it'snecessary man, and in all in all
, it's still inspiring, it'sstill a level of amen.
Look where I was here and I'mhere now.
I can measure my growth.

(06:56):
I was able to speak to a homieabout X, y and Z.
It helped him, it helped me.
We both got to laugh about it.
We linked back up to kind ofcheck status.
Like bros need that, men needthat, we need that checking in
with each other, thataccountability type of thing,
that even that level of likehierarchy, of like man, I look

(07:17):
up to you, you look up to me, wework together, we work as a
team, type of thing.
Very, very difficult to loanwith it man.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
That's why I was hitting you up so heavy.
I was like I was like I waslike are you busy?
And it's like that.
Like I know you're busy, likejust understand that I know.
Like you say you gotrescheduled, understand that, I
understand, I ain't salty about,but I'm like I get it.
But at the same time I was justlike, yeah, like you need that,
and the word I mean, like theword that you said was grace,
and I think that's somethingthat men need to.

(07:48):
Men need to closely associatethe word grace along with
strength, along with pride,cause, like strength is cool,
pride is okay in some situations, but you have to understand.
Like one thing I've kind ofunderstand as far as being a man
and growing up and even stillnow, is that you have to be able
to show grace.

(08:08):
A lot of people, a lot of men,they hope that they, they take
on stuff that happened to themback when they were a child.
Some things aren't right, andI'm not just fine anything, but
some things that do happen orhave happened.
You can, if you want clearunderstanding, you just ask.

(08:29):
You ask what happened, you askwhat's going on Back right there
.
You're giving somebody a chance, whether it's as a man, whether
it's a mother, a father or abig mama or wife, child it all,
it all goes on through andthrough.
You have to be able to showgrace.
You have to be able to showgrace is a level of growth.

(08:52):
Grace is understanding that.
Grace is understanding thatit's not just about me.
Let me hear what this otherperson has to say about this
situation.
If they want to talk, cool, wetalk.
If I don't like what'shappening here, at least I get
an opportunity to speak and Ihad the choice to accept it or
not accept it.
But when you don't give grace,all you do is pretty much you,

(09:15):
you, you.
You harbor so much resentmentand anger all throughout your
whole entire life, especially asa man, that to the point where
it keeps you from reaching, likethat King status.
That King status if you watchthem Kings on Game of Thrones,
they, they being hit with moreshit than me and you being a
famine over in the fieldsomewhere.

(09:36):
You know the leather isn'tcoming out correctly, you know
it's all types of shit, but hesits there on his throne, he
just like.
We'll handle it, we'll dealwith it.
The King can compartmentalizeeach, every single situation

(09:58):
because each and every singlesituation deserves a different
reaction, a different type offeeling.
Hey, I think you should repeatthat Each and every single
situation requires a differenttype of action and a different
type of feeling.
When you, as a man, give 100%of what you don't need to be
getting to a situation, what areyou going to blame?
Not the Ghostbusters, you'regoing to blame you, the Black

(10:20):
man.
Blame the Black.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Man.
Yeah, so I'll say this man, Ireally like that quote that you
just used and that kind of playstowards the role of the man or
the person who provides, whokind of put things in play, that
you're going to be the oneviewed and looked at as the
issue when things don't kind ofgo that way and say for myself

(10:45):
recently, man, I caught me in aplace where I've been given and
that's kind of like the human inme, you know, that's the human
in me, me just kind ofconstantly giving, helping out,
being there to, to assist man,it's twigs to a Titan.
I have it to be able to do andto assist.

(11:08):
And there's another thing thatyou would say, man, that I
actually like to adopt.
It was like I take care ofeverybody because I can, even
though I have to learn, and I'mlearning to compartmentalize
just the person.
So I give you example with someof my family and friends, but
recently borrowed money and I'mthe person that they normally
come and borrow money from.

(11:28):
I'm Kenny Ting Bank.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
You know what I'm saying so.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
I don't mind loaning and lending now, especially if
we got that relationship of likehey, this is this, is we
trading services or goods ormaterials or whatever it is, so
I'm cool with it.
But when we have a you know arelationship with each other and
say you borrow something andyou don't pay it back, I look at

(11:54):
that as a a trust exercise.
Of like, hey, man, we had anexercise on trusting each other
on a give and take barteringsystem right here and it didn't
work out.
So it puts me in a position notto trust you any further.
But on this, not just discardthe entire person but just

(12:15):
compartmentalize.
Of like, hey, I don't trustgiving this person money, I
don't trust my kids with thisperson, or I don't trust you
know X, y, z, not that I'm justgoing.
Hey, this person has just throwthe whole person in the trash.
It's like no, I just hey, webought to get ready to fight and
one of our guys is in a fighter.
I'm not mad at him and he's nota fighter, but don't lie saying

(12:39):
you're going to fight.
If you're not, you can still bevery useful.
You can pop the trunk and youcan call the police.
You could get the drive to getaway.
You could do whatever, but youknow you can still be useful.
You're not entirely, uh, you'reuseless.
You know what I'm saying, butgotta kind of know where you sit
and you know the strong suitsof that.

(13:00):
So being able tocompartmentalize certain things
is, uh, it's, very healthy man,it's problem solving, especially
as being the man, the provider,the head, the well, why didn't
you?
You know being questioned onyour decision sometimes.
If why didn't you do this or dothat, if, hey, this person made
a mistake.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
they're not an enemy or real quick, or real quick, or
even if you, or even if youtake that, or even if you take a
certain step that you thinkmight be good for your family,
you still got to deal with theridicule sometimes.
You know what I'm saying.
Like it might be, uh, hey, can,can't remember something.

(13:40):
This guy looking at me, oh ohyeah, hey, you motherfucker was
nah, but then you go back to thetable.
Why did you do all that?
You know what I'm like.
I'll try to say that Nah, you,I'm not.
I wasn't even that serious,right, but you make it seem like
it kind of was.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
So you making it seem like it was more than what it
is and it really wasn't.
So let me ask you this, man,let me ask you this how is your
mental health now?

Speaker 2 (14:08):
I'm saying my mental health is getting better and
better by the day.
Only because of the fact thatwhat I?
only because of the fact that Ilook at what I, what it is that
I'm going through, like I, I, I,I, I, I.
I text my mom.
When all this stuff was goingon with my kid, I asked my mom
I'm like, is this retribution orjudgment for me?

(14:30):
Is this me actually having torelook in the mirror at myself?
I actually questioned myselffor a half minute and I'm like
no, no, I said because the trackhistory and track record has
shown I've done all.
I've done all that I can.
What did Drake say on the GMB?
Could I have done any better?

(14:50):
Not at all, not at all.
So, with that mentality ofknowing that if I could do
better, okay, I'll do better,but if I can't do any better,
I've done all I can.
What more is there for me to do?
So, as a black man, how am Idealing with my mental health?
Every single day, I make surethat shit gets better.
I make sure that shit getsbetter and better every day

(15:13):
because at the end of the day,like you said, we take care of a
lot of stuff.
This time, thursdays, black man,we do a lot of shit, so it's
easy for us to get mixed up inour emotions, mixed up in our
how we feel mentally and thinkthat we're not doing enough
because some people, some peopleare coming down on us.
We're not doing enough.
But then when you sit back andyou realize that I talk, that I

(15:33):
work, that I pay all the bills Icould, that I try to be the
best when I could, if you cancheck off yes to all those as a
black man like everyone elsedoes, then why can't you fill
out a captain today?
Why are you not allowed to fillout a captain today?
It's not a question of askingmyself no more, I'm allowed to
fill out a captain today.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
I'm allowed to and at the beginning, at the freedom
speakers for anybody that's outthere that deals with any form
of mental health, we want to letyou know that it's okay not to
be okay and to be able to seekassistance and help wherever

(16:16):
that you find comfortable.
If that's venting to a friend,family member, a co-worker,
potentially a charge of job,different types of programs that
may be in your city, or if youare creative beings such as
ourselves, you can reach out tous here at Permission to Speak

(16:37):
Freely podcast.
You can DM me on IG and we canbe able to have face-to-face
conversations via the internetto be able to help you walk
through and unpack justemotional and mental things that
you're going through.
You are not alone, people.
You are not alone.
So thank you for listening toeverybody that's tuning in to
everything that we do.
We have Marcellus Clay, ownerof Full Service Painting Company

(17:00):
, in the studio with us today,being able to just talk that
real about what it is to be aman, to feel, to have emotions,
to be the head of everything andstill be looked down on.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
You miss one thing too.
I'll say you miss one thing,and one thing that you miss is
that if you actually, if you'recircle and that's the thing like
me, like I know a lot, samething like you you know a lot of
people, but that circle is sosmall only because of the level

(17:34):
of respect that you're trying,the level of respect that you
have for your efforts, whatyou're trying to do with your
life, and it's not a knockagainst people.
But you got to understand ifthe people who are in your
corner are encouraging you,they're not like saying like,
hey, you could do it with aruble Then you need to read, you
need to check if, if, if, if,if, as a black man, if each and

(17:57):
every single time you go to getfucking advice and it just seems
more like, instead of like,encouragement, it seems more
like a beatdown, you really needto check who is in your circle.
You have a check who's in yourcircle.
We all know a lot of people,but I know for myself writing, I
know for myself, period.

(18:17):
Yeah, I keep about.
I got about folk.
I got about maybe like four orfive people, men that I talk
like, like, like friends, likelike male friends, including my,
my brother that I talked to,and it's only because of the
fact that, it's not because ofthe fact that you know we're all
business owners, but it'sbecause of the fact that the
level of mentality that I needin this moment you know what I'm

(18:40):
saying it's a level, it's thelevel of mentality that you need
for the moment.
So, as black men, if you arelistening to this and you do
have, like somebody else, a bitmore experience and knows more,
a bit more about life, and youtrust them, those are the people
who you need to be running to.
You need to be going to them.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
For sure, for sure, um, for it's always promoted
heavily for men to have mentorsor OGs that they're able to pull
information from.
They can guide them and teachthem, and I'm a big, I'm a big
believer in them and I'm a bighomie to a lot of people myself.

(19:19):
I'm a teacher, a sensei, youknow, a person that's looked to
for guidance.
So I believe in that beingsomething serious for men to
have.
But I also believe that is veryserious for women to have as
well, that women can benefitfrom having a healthy woman's

(19:45):
group that can be able to speakto women who say, for example,
they have husbands or men whoare in powerful positions, their
councilmen, their businessmen,their principals, teachers,
their uh chairmen.
They're just, they have aposition where they're in charge
.
Most of the time.

(20:05):
It is stressful, uh, they havea certain expectation placed
upon them, they have a certainview placed upon them.
Hey, being the wife of this uhhusband, to this husband of this
type of man, of this caliber,how do you do it?
How do you uh tend to this manwho is so demanding, because the

(20:26):
position he holds is demandingof him?
You know how is he taken careof?
How can you reciprocate thisenergy?
How can you know?
How do you ease his mind, men?
So how do you make his daybetter for him?
Uh, you kind of get to see,when he's going out here
fighting the world, what he's upagainst.
Can you make the last place hehas to fight at home, can you?

(20:49):
Can you make that happen forhim?

Speaker 2 (20:51):
And you be told it doesn't.
It doesn't, in my opinion, itdoesn't make a woman.
It doesn't make uh, uhopportunists.
It doesn't make a womanopportunists to see that she has
a man, she's with somebody whois striving for something and
then, on top of that, if shefeels that same thing that man
feels inside, something in heris taking over.

(21:12):
She got to break it down, bustit open.
You know she, she got to, shegot to let people know and
understand that that backingthat I just said right there, as
far as like for a man goes,because he's pretty much letting
you know If I can do it, youcan do it and with the more

(21:33):
knowledge that I'm absorbing andI'm learning, I can help you.
I got put you in a positionwhere it's not even put it like,
it's not even like, put uppositions Like like do like
anything, like nothing.
Well, it could be a major inyour business, but it could also
be something for themselves.
Like you said, if you gotenough experience in life that

(21:54):
you know some things and this isour third how can you pass that
knowledge on to other?
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
So freedom speakers, one of the things I like for
y'all to do this week, if youcan, is look out and reach out
and find you a mentor if you donot have one, or become a big
homie or mentor or teacher orsomebody.
And if you already that men,expand your teaching, expand
your reach and your message tomore and more people out there.

(22:25):
You can find me at permission,the number two underscore, speak
freely podcast on IG.
So I mean, I got anotherquestion for you.
When it comes to business, doyou ever find yourself in a
place of procrastination?

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, I over, like the last, like you know things
going on, I found myself doing abit more drinking and just
trying to figure things out,versus just let me, just let me
not drink for the day and let meactually just process and

(23:06):
figure things out and just staybusy with what I need to do.
Like, um, procrastination isone of my biggest things you
mentioned, like on the lastepisode that I went when I was
here.
Last time you was like youdecided your wife said that you
were the type of person thatwent.
Only time you perform reallywell is when you back into a
corner.
It's only because you have nochoice and I'm the same way Like

(23:29):
the gym, like I'm the same way.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Can be a powerful if you use correctly.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
So pretty much like.
So pretty much like.
To like.
Sum it up like what we just saidabout being a procrastiners and
like business owners, you're inlike your first couple of years
of business Okay, like youstill finding your rule in your
roof or things.
But once you actually come tothe understanding and that's a
thing like I remember, likegrowing up as a kid with the

(23:59):
Bible studies, like that whenyou come to a level of
understanding, that's what makesyou accountable.
At that point you canacknowledge in your brain or you
can not acknowledge in words,all out and make sure
accountable.
So, as a business owner, to bea procrastinator, you know to
like, literally like, try to runyour business.
Procrastinating.
What I have found is the factthat because I have been running

(24:21):
my business or like going likeyou know this year right here be
going like just like my fourthfull year running my business
what I found out is that whenyou actually stay 10 toes down
to your business and saydedicate to your business, after
a certain amount of time goesby, business starts to become
kind of regular.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, some stuff hit automatic.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, some stuff starts to roll around
automatically.
If you have not learned tocompartmentalize and to deal
with situations, Eventually thegoals that you want to reach as
far as being a business ownerwill be for nothing.
Why?
Because you have not yetlearned or told yourself that I
can't procrastinate no more,Since an urgency isn't there

(25:07):
anymore, Though you might hityour goals last year.
And guess what?
Because you hit your goals lastyear, you're automatically 9%
out of 10, so you stayconsistent and don't
procrastinate anymore.
You're gonna hit your goalsagain.
But the more and more you do,the longer you're running your
business, the more ways you'retrying to find ways to expand.

(25:27):
So when you're trying to expand, if you're having a hard time
procrastinating, if youprocrastinate about the one
business that you're running,how you going to add 2, 3, 4
more to your business?

Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, trying to add multiple services.
Yeah, you're right.
So let me read you somethingreal quick.
I had a quote, but I'm prettygood at quotes.
I'm gonna look out people formy motivational calendar and for
my 365 motivational,inspirational quotes coming soon
on the ebook.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
So one of Hold on, man, I just I gotta clap no for
real, I gotta clap to that,because that's no, that's dope.
Oh man, my wife, bro, is shehelping me?
Yeah, like, yeah, it matters.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
So freedom of speakers.
If anyone follows me on IG oron Facebook primarily Facebook I
put a lot of motivational,inspirational quotes up there
and a lot of employer tips aswell.
So my wife had seen me put upemployer tips and she had seen
me put up motivational thingsand just our hashtag, chief Ali.

(26:51):
You know chief Ali, my hashtag.
So one of the things that I putup the other day was one day in
business is a long time.
One day you're a week behindprocrastinator week.
You're a month behindprocrastinator month.
You get the picture.
It's like the last thing youwant to do is possibly the first

(27:12):
thing your ass should be doing.
Get to work.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
Hey with one of those man just.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
I understand, say, for the year 2023,.
Man, I procrastinated a lottrying to find a level of
normalcy.
We were able to do well, butnot as well as we could have if
we weren't dragging our feet ona lot of tedious things.
A lot of new came into play.
Still, we did grow, but we didtake some ill, so we didn't grow

(27:44):
or maximize as much as we could.
We just kind of got a littleahead on just a smidgen
percentage.
But we get the chance to kind ofsee myself of what this new
vision is that I have and thisnew place that I want to take us
and gaining a lot of notorietywithin the city of Cleveland,

(28:05):
ohio.
Man, two on six, wanting toshow the city a different level
of beauty.
That comes from people such asmyself, a thinker, intellectual
person that takes anon-traditional route but looks
like I know which way is up.
So I want to be able to connectwith other people with that and
give this information tolike-minded individuals such as

(28:28):
you is how we partnered up andhow we work together and we have
this relationship where we goteach other as family man,
business man, entrepreneurs, andbuild a core, as another quote
of mine that I have is they callme the weirdo or the urkel and
I'm like that's cool man.

(28:49):
I'm the square that takes careof my circle.
I'm okay with that.
I'm okay with that.
I'm okay with that.
I'm okay with being the squarethat takes care of my circle.
That's how it's supposed to be.
These people are.
I want to say that's how it'ssupposed to be, that kind of
takes away a choice I'll say.
What I like to say is this iswhat I've been practicing.

(29:14):
Let me show you, or explain toyou, how it's been going for me.
This is how it's been workingout for me.
More than oh, you should do itlike this.
It's like no, this is how it'sbeen working for me.
It might not work the same foryou.
I had the same handle.
But, that being said, I want tobe able to show Cleveland, ohio
216, where I was born and raisedthat, hey, man, beautiful

(29:35):
individuals such as myself, witha mindset that I know that they
kill people sometime about isin the city, a revolutionary
type of person that can show youbusiness and entrepreneurship,
can motivate you, inspire you,teach you economic inclusion,
but, at the same time, be ahuman being and be able to show
you a level of empathy andsympathy and understanding,

(29:57):
which is what we need sometime.
But, at the same time, I'llbust your ass and I'll let you
sit in your shit just to learn.
But it's a lesson in.
There is not to be malicious,but it's hey, you got to figure
this one out on your own.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Literally.
No, no, real talk.
The one thing that can't, theone thing that the one thing
that can't why I did not say wasthe fact that this is actually
like, right now, what's going on.
This is actually a mentor, oh,this is my sensei.
You know, this month, likeeverything that you hear right

(30:34):
now is going on on a pot.
These experiences like what areyou saying?
You got to understand this isactually going on in real time.
Right now I blew this man phoneup for a minute, blew him up
for a minute but also, at thesame time, like still
understanding that the shit thatI'm blowing him up about I'm

(30:58):
still in control of it.
At the end of the day, it'sstill in my control.
I can come running to himanytime, all the times that I
want, but eventually it's goingto be like, come on, I'm not you
about to do, you know,seriously.
So you know, take advantage of,take advantage of these type of

(31:19):
relationships, because youhonestly don't like in the
moment no, you don't know whenit's going to be needed or when
it's going to happen or whenit's going to, but if you keep
these people close and if youunderstand, like, the level of
their importance, if youunderstand, like, how important

(31:39):
they are, not just to thecommunity but to the same effect
of, like, your livelihood.
One question I wanted to askyou was is you know you may have
for your listeners right now?
You know a lot of them, a lotof them may, a lot of them may,
may have been in business.
You know.
Same amount of time as you have, maybe a little longer.
Same thing with a boom inbusiness.
What does a sense of normalcylook like for you?

Speaker 1 (32:03):
I said, what does a sense of normalcy looks like for
me?
That's a pretty good question,man.
Thank you for that.
Well, a sense of normalcy to meis a premeditated routine,
sought out Like I can see it.
I see it through from mychildren back in routine with

(32:28):
school, which is really kind ofsets the tone of the day getting
them off and out the door,checking my corners with my team
, my leaders within business,helping them put out any fires,
if there are any.
Playing from a level ofpreventative we're being more

(32:55):
proactive than reactive.
During my meditation time inthe morning to myself and then
at night, finding like these,these slithers of you know
sanctuary like this, this, thislittle slither of a sanctuary

(33:17):
for me, okay, I just pray realquick, be like thankful real
quick, just keep telling myselflike get out my own way, keep
moving, keep moving, keep moving.
But that's a level of normalcy,even the same routines of this
time of year.
This is what the workforce isgoing to be like.

(33:38):
This is what finances are goingto kind of be like.
Bouncing back from being hitwith COVID, as most
entrepreneurs, most businesses,like we all, had to shift in
some kind of way, shape or form.
So finding new rules and that,especially being in healthcare,
you know it's all kind of newpolicies for things of that

(34:00):
nature.
Trying to get that in place,implement it, you know, train
the people on it, find somenormalcy with, like this is the
new norm.
It, you know, it's blended.
All you know together A lot ofpeople so I say this as well a
lot of people don't know my wifeand I.
We live together because that'smy wife.

(34:22):
You know that's how I work, butwe work together as well and we
own the business together.
We have children together.
Those are a lot of layers to arelationship for us to be able
to balance with one another anda lot of times it's not always,

(34:42):
hasn't always been the easy path.
I know for social media it looksreally good to be like, oh yeah
the spouse and y'all worktogether, more money and the how
, and it is that's the, that'sthe upside.
But when it's one of those like, hey, this show boss talking to
you, this ain't your husband,hey, you gonna get your ass
fired.
Hey, this is what you need todo, this ain't negotiable, it's

(35:05):
one of, and then you get to takeit out at home I was like that
was the boss, but it was MrJohnson, that wasn't me.
Why you mad?
Not, why your ass mad.
I know you supposed to do thatshit anyway, you know, but it's,
how do you balance that?
How do you have that and it, it, it's heavy, compartmentalized.

(35:29):
You have to Um, like, I'm notupset at her about work things,
and it transfers home, um, orthings of that nature or vice
versa.
But one thing that I do, likethat transfers over is, say,
like the decision making, theproblem solving, the teamwork,

(35:50):
uh, the collective ideas, theshared responsibility, that it
isn't just one person's fault.
It happened to us all you know.
So those are some things that Ido learn and take from you know
, work and working together in arelationship of we don't own
problem solving, we can use that.

(36:11):
You know what I'm saying, butthis is how we demonstrate us
problem solving together, andit's difficult, but when it's
work is beautiful as fuck thoughit's beautiful, it's a.
It's a I don't know who who?
who in charge right now is likeit's, it's still me, it don't
matter if it's Ken one, mrJohnson, chief, ali K Y,

(36:33):
whatever is, is him, he, him inall forms.
You know what I'm saying.
I'm just being able to learnthat and exercise that in a
certain level of uh, dominanceand confidence that comes with.
Okay, I have this person's ear,I have their ear.
What do I say to them?

(36:55):
Do I, if they're willing tolisten to me?
Do I play a selfish from my ownbenefit and they, they just
kind of become almost like aslave to me.
Or do I play the situation fair, where we both give and we both
take, but it's a reciprocal, sothat it's one of us is always

(37:15):
in a position to be able toassist one another, we not
breaking each other.
You know, um, real, good, realrelationship, exercising the
things that are transferable ofall relationships, not just
business, but even with my, my,my children.
So I give you example with KJman, I always got my, my, my

(37:35):
segments with my son, okay, sorecently we had an accident in
our house.
We have, we have two pit bulls,two dogs.
We are pit bull parents orpuppy parents, and KJ assist us
with taking care of the dogs.
I completely can understand thisman having to let the dogs out

(37:59):
and not letting them do a numberone and a number two.
And the dogs, you know it mightbe cold, it might be hot and be
eager to come back in the house, but they go do their number
one and then, kind of, you know,we're back in.
When they really got to do anumber one and two, they just
say not their longer.
So this man accidentally didnot allow the dogs enough time

(38:25):
to do their business and theyhad an accident in the house.
So the lesson I expressed tohim is hey, you know when let
the dogs out, make sure they outthere a certain amount of time.
They doing what they need to do, boom, boom, boom.
And once they do that, your jobis through.

(38:47):
When the dogs poop outside,that's my job.
I picked that up.
Don't know Bali volunteer tohelp me.
But when they poop in the house, it happens to everybody
because everybody's responsiblefor taking.
You know the dogs in and out,but I told him like a big
handsome is your job first, as apart of your rules, your

(39:08):
routine every day.
So now the date and shit in hishouse you getting to learn first
hand how you clean up somebodyelse's shit, literally.
Hopefully in this lesson youlearn to give the dogs their
time so that you ain't got topick up no shit, because it's

(39:31):
going to be some shit going tohave to be picked up one way or
another.
When it's outside, it ain'tyour problem.
When it's inside is everybodyproblem but yours first.
So we haven't had any accidentsmoving forward.
That day has been my job, justpicking up all the shit.
We letting them stay out therea little too long now.
But is hey, you didn't donothing wrong.

(39:55):
But here's some critiquing ondoing something Right, because
who clearly want to clean upsomebody else's shit when it can
be prevented?
You feel me Biggest thing isit's preventative.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
Like I tell my kids, I tell I'm glad you said that
too, because it kind of go backto what I've been telling my
wife.
But we've been trying to takeyears.
Is that pretty much like?
If you don't do the dishes atnight, what you end up doing is,
especially on the weekend or ify'all break from the holidays,
like y'all, like y'all want tobe.
My one daughter she always wanteggs and like eggs or something

(40:35):
.
The other, my other daughter,the twin daughter, my twin
daughter, she uh, my other twindaughter, she can't eat eggs,
but the one twin, she alwayswant eggs and sausage.
So I always try to tell them isit's important for you to do the
dishes at nighttime and alsomake sure that they're clean.
I say it comes from one, unlessyou're gonna actually eat off
of this plate yourself while itlooks like this, I don't think

(40:57):
that you would want us to eatoff of it as well.
But then for two, if you don'tdo the dishes at nighttime, you
also mess up breakfast.
If you all want breakfast inthe morning, who don't want to
cook breakfast first thing inthe morning with like no clean
dishes and nothing like that?
I ain't gonna want something todo fucking dishes we ain't
doing.
It's about them understand likeI'm trying to like instill in

(41:18):
them to understand, like, whenyou all get to a certain age,
you up with a good, good job andWhatever you will is cashier,
fry station waiter, whatevercase might be Understand that
your role is very important iffor what you're doing, because

(41:39):
if you fuck up your role, thenyou fuck up the next process,
the process after that, and theneverything is in chaos and then
it falls back on you a level ofresponsibility and
accountability.
So, no, I like I fuck with thatand then, as well, like I like
the fact that you also said thatlike it's like the, it's like a
couple's like Perfect, it'slike the couple's exercise,

(42:02):
because for the most part, likemost households, you know
everybody going a different waysto make that money and waste.
Talking about you know how canwe get it together.
When you talking about how youcan get it together, that's a
bit different.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
Yeah, yeah, man, that's a Getting it together is
a beautiful thing if it works,but it takes a lot of Role play.
It takes a lot of of.
She's a leader, I'm a leader,but I'm in charge right now.

(42:37):
When it's when she gives us thebest benefit to to win, she's
in charge.
When it comes to me giving usthe best benefit to win, I'm in
charge.
But the other person haslearned to become Complementary.
Or you match me or yourespectfully just get the fuck

(43:01):
out my way.
Well, the other person's wayyou feel me is just one of those
of we're not looking to benegative in any kind of way,
shape or form.
What we're looking to do is Towin collectively.
We attain, we attain.
So I'm just in charge right nowon this one.

(43:22):
So We've learned that it have tobreak through to each other to
know that we're not here to hurteach other, that we do have
each other's best interest, anda lot of times that only comes
through test, it comes throughthe word of mouth.
Of course we'll say anything, alot, let anybody tell it, but

(43:43):
when circumstance comes intoplay and it's like hey, can you
assist me?
Yeah, I got you on this one, orno, I ain't got you on that one
, but I've come in to be able tobe, you know, a pillar for you,
be able to come and help you upand sustain some things.
It.
It has to be Taken intoaccountability like okay, thank
you, so much level ofappreciation compared to gotcha
bitch and I'm helping yousurvive temporarily.

(44:08):
You know I'm saying so.
We've, we were still learningman I love that woman on what we
are learning together andlooking at each other, just on
some mental blocks and thingsthat we weren't really you know
sure about with each other veryearly on.
And just Keeping in mind youknow this, I'm trying to express
to someone a vision that I haveand convince them like this is

(44:30):
what the lifestyle is going tobe and what we get to do, and
you know how we get to give back, but then we get to be able to
do X Y Z, but just how it, howit can.
It can be a little bit of achallenge to X Y Z, but just how
it, how it can it, how we canbe what it is now and what it's
gonna continue to grow into.

(44:51):
It's a very difficult challengeto express to somebody that you
know what's in your head intothe world very to convince them
Can actually work for sure.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
All right, so okay.
So permission to speak freely,so.
So the flip coin to that, so sothe flip side to that, when you
all get to sit down and thenyou all look at what you all
have done, what you all havemade, what you have accomplished
Telemetry and launch condition.
The question I guess I want toask you is is the process that

(45:24):
you are going through, thethings that you are dealing with
, like you said, at the end ofthe day, when you all sit back
at the other day and I sit backand relax and have your shot and
your drinks, it's worth it,isn't it?

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Fuck, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's.
Bro, you gonna give meemotional now.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
Permission, permission to get emotional, my
nigga permission.
Because no, no, no, no, no,because the reason why I'm doing
this is because what I wantyour listeners to understand is
that, no matter if it's runninga business together or just
going y'all separate ways Tomake money, that it's still like

(46:03):
Everything.
Like everything still matters.
But even still, if you arerunning a business together, how
you all have, how, like yousaid, pretty much like is you
know, since you want the visionyou know it's like you know you,
like you say you pass oninformation, but then you get to
sit back, you relax.

(46:26):
How does that make you feel atthe end of the day?
How's it after year, after year, bro, like I know I've never
actually this Like I quit, likeI asked myself, like, how do I
feel after you're done?
Like sometimes the same, how doyou feel when you look, cuz I
see that you elevate everysingle year?

Speaker 1 (46:46):
Oh, that's a really good question, man.
So first I'll say On theemotional part, it is always
worth it, with my wife doing it,and it pays off in a steel pan
off because we, we had tobelieve in each other and use
each other in the best benefitFor us and our family and what

(47:06):
we believed in with the businessFrom her you know, getting on
payroll, coming off payroll tohelp with tax purposes for her
to be able to Grow her positionand sharpen her skills and mix
in all of her creativity withshe's coming from and what she
does like.
Almost, like I said, almost anymerch you see me wear on the

(47:27):
show or anything within the corein our home that you can see on
social media, anything at ouroffice spaces, at our rental
properties these are all of herdesigns.
This is where she gets to becreative and us together we were
able to create these otheroutlets for her to be able to
say hey, I went from, you know,drawing and painting and

(47:50):
canvassing in my room as anoutlet to hey, now I have a.
I'm picking out colors ofcountertops and floors and paint
colors For rental propertiesfor someone else to have a
sustainable living butcomfortable as well.
Stylish, like a like I wouldlike to live in here, one of
those type of things that it'sstill getting to show who she is
and like it, shit like that,that it blossoms more than like

(48:14):
heavy punching the clock everyday to pay bills.
But With this, with our realitythat we're building, what else
are we?
The elevation comes when weExpand ourselves more than just
what we've built to be tosustain.
Okay, so I'm a huge person thatbelieves that money fused the

(48:37):
future.
People are trying thingsbecause people have astronomical
amounts of money to put intoresearch and development to make
things happen.
People who are going to thebottom of the ocean Billionaires
and millionaires are going tothe bottom of the ocean because
they got enough money to paysome scientists to build a Pop
can that can go maybe a couplehundred feet under water.

(48:57):
But their finance put thatresearch and development into
play to for exploration, fortheir excitement you know what
I'm saying for their discovery,all kind of different things
that can be.
But money made that happen.
Money makes going to spacehappen.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
But also the belief that something is a thought, but
also the belief that somethinggreat could come from what
they're trying to do.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
You have to almost be delusional.
You have to almost be in aplace of Venice another quarter
mile, being confident and fuck,you are your neighbors.
You're going to have to get toknow them very, very fucking
well.
You're going to have to get toknow them very, very well.
You're going to have to be veryconfident in yourself, your

(49:46):
moves and things that you wantto make in your vision that
nobody can deter you from thatpath.
And for those that do, and theytry to, your fuck you game has
to be so strong, okay, backed bya spell of belief.
All right, so I say this tomakes me emotional as well I
gotta put a spell of belief onmy soul so strong that no mortal

(50:10):
man can break it.
You can't.
You can't convince me to besomething that I, that I know
that I'm not.
You can't convince me to besomething that I don't want to
be, something I don't want to do.
I'm, I'm my own man, I'm sureof it, like I'll hear you out,
but I'm just as potent with myyes as I am with my no.

(50:32):
Like no, I'm okay and I'llstand on it for my own reasons.
So Building my self up andlearning myself wasn't a journey
by my own.
My wife was there.
She got a chance to see what Iam and what I wasn't, and how I
have grown and develop myself.

(50:54):
And I challenge myself.
Okay, I'm, I will challengemyself, I would challenge myself
.
I am huge on self discipline.
I'm huge, I come up, I'm a veryhuge self starter on my own.
As I tell my son, I'm like hey,nobody who wakes me up in the
morning, he's like God, likeyou're not wrong, of course.

(51:16):
Yeah, I'm like, thank God,whatever one at work that day,
for that for sure I'm like.
But after that man who wakes me, who wakes me up, he was like
nobody I'm like who wakes you uplike you do.
So it was just giving the thesteps of like, hey, man, my job
is to get you up and make surethat you're getting up and

(51:38):
you're getting things done,because if I'm late, then you're
late, then this is late, thenthat's late, and then you don't
know, nobody has any breathingroom.
Yeah, everything getscompletely out of whack.
You trying to remember thatprocrastination quota man, you
late, one day, you week behind.
Procrastinate one day, you weekbehind, so on and so forth.

(52:00):
So Learning to and stilllearning to be able to challenge
ourselves, to be able to makegoals, to work to not be at odds
with each other and and knowlike this is a joint venture.
This is like with marriages.
This is what business is like.

(52:20):
There is no difference to me inmy philosophy and theories of
it.
There is no difference in beingmarried to my woman and being
married to my business.
I am dedicated to both of themevery day, even though I may not
respectfully give them my all,but I'm dedicated to it.

(52:41):
I'm here, I'm defending it, I'mtaking care of it, I'm making
sure that I'm bringing in what'snecessary to keep things
operational.
I need to grow with it.
I'm in love with themotherfucker.
I have to be very understanding.
You know what I'm saying, butit's the.

(53:02):
I gotta be better to it.
I gotta be better than me.
We haven't always been the bestto each other.
We didn't really recognizefully what each other was.
I'm talking about not my wife,but my business.
It's the same thing, but in aretrospect of it, my wife is the
same way.
We had to make sure andrecognize that we both were

(53:24):
something to each other thatlike, hey, not, not only am I
the only, I'm not the only manattracted to her as just as
she's not the only womanattracted to me.
That a we have to keep our scopeof like a.
It's a difference between funand funds.
Somebody over here that youjust happened an experience with

(53:47):
and then somebody over hereyou're living an experience with
.
It's a really big differencethere, like when we, when we in
business, like we ain't playing,this ain't no game,
motherfucker, this is serious,this is life or death, no matter
what industry you in.
So part of that man who won'this shit, that ain't got time to
play.
And any realm man, he on hisshit, he ain't got time to play.

(54:11):
So don't play no games with him, because then he gonna show you
his options and you get to seehow regular you are but you know
, it is not even.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
It's not even about that for me, in my opinion about
the options.
It's a simple fact that, a factthat I've mentioned to you, that
I've told you that I kind offeel like entrepreneurs were
like I say demigods because, youknow, in my experience and from

(54:43):
like what I, you have to reallyyou really have to say forget
the, you know, I mean shed a fewtears, I'm not gonna, I'm not
gonna figure it out, but thinkabout it.
Figure it out and think about itonly because I got so much to
lose and, at the same time, I'vebeen spending so many years
trying to get people to believein me and like, and that's

(55:07):
what's so powerful?
And I actually them questionsbecause, like you got understand
, like what you're doing rightnow, like I don't, you know, not
everybody is really likecomfortable with the idea of
business but for you to actuallygo ahead and be able to have
this vision of a world foryourself and for your family,

(55:29):
for you to actually be able todo that and then be able to
convince somebody else who mightnot have been there or might
have been thinking like that atthat point in time.
He convinced them and nowthey're following you and now
you're building a level ofstructure inside of your house
with your children, to the pointwhere yeah, like the only thing

(55:53):
that could really go wrong forreal is just you, because I'm
showing you that it's fuckingdifferent out here.
Like I had that experience.
My oldest daughter she spent.
She spent like a lot of timeyou like over all of these and
stuff.
But, like you know, we was likeI was able to show her, like
what I do in the basement, likeit ain't glamorous, it ain't

(56:14):
glorious Like my fucking camera.
Stand, don't hold them, work asmy epoxy fucked it up, so like
it just stays at a certain level.
So you just see hands, like,but I showed her, like you put
your mind to something and thenyou make that your.
You you think about the ideaand then you figure out the

(56:35):
process to it and then you makeit your reality.
But you, we live in a realityalready because we're born into
this world that's alreadystructured and that's falling
apart and that's fucked upalready.
But as us, as entrepreneurs,what we're doing is we're like
fucking.
I can't remember what thecharacter is in the Marvel
comics, but I think it's.

(56:56):
Is it a professor Xavier's sonor I don't know?
Probably one of the fantasticfour kids, but anyway, he was so
powerful as, even as a kid, apsychic that he was able to make
inside, like it's in the comicbooks, like in like one, like in
his jeans.
He made a pocket universe forhimself.

(57:18):
So all we're doing right now asentrepreneurs, we're living in
a reality that already exists,but we're building our own
pocket universe.
Right now, we're building auniverse that even so long as we
go, so long as we go by by theIRS and buy by them laws or
something like that, we'reliving in our own universe.

(57:39):
It's like the certain shit thatwe used to deal with before is
like I don't even recognize thatshit no more.
It's to the point where it'slike, yeah, I keep my old
paychecks by.
You know, I look at them, shitsometimes.
It'd be like yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
So let me ask you this Well, I say this, man,
thank you for thank you for that, thank you for a level of
acknowledging what it is thatyou know I'm doing and my wife
is doing and expose, given thatit has to be people like you to
tell people what we're doing.

(58:17):
If I continue to say what we'redoing is just like, ah, fool,
whatever.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
I can't believe it's just today.
Let me just talk about it rightnow.
Right now, you appreciate it.
You appreciate it because I'mpulling it out of you and you be
told, I'm pulling out of youbecause I want to fuck, I want
to fucking know as a student,you know, what I'm saying.
You know what I'm saying.
You're like as a student.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Yeah, for sure, man.
So I say thank you for that man, thank you.
It's going to continuouslyalways be a journey with her and
not a build it, but it is it.
Being able to convince someoneabout the hopes and dreams and
goals and the outcome of it isis a difficult thing, man.

(59:00):
It's convincing, it's almostlike religion.
It's almost like religion isconvincing them that one day is
going to always is going to bethis, that joy comes in the
morning and then, when joy don'tever come, you like it's really
dark, but you still got tobelieve that.
I still got to believe inbelief is very, very powerful.

(59:22):
So it's power in the tongue,it's power and belief, and if
you actually work and pushyourself to things that you
believe and you work on it, youwill.
You will make yourselfcontagious.
You'll make yourself contagiousto people who are on the same
path as you or similar, or whoare looking for guidance or

(59:47):
looking for somebody who'swilling to give it.
As a person who chooses thisplatform people, all the
listeners, freedom speakers Ichoose this platform to be able
to give this information as afamily man, as a businessman, as
an entrepreneur, in the mostcool, smooth, raw, as authentic
way I possibly can of this ain'tfor the gram of.

(01:00:10):
Hey, man, this is the you canmake it.
Y'all you got to do is do thesefive steps and like nah, the
five steps are a factor intowhat you need to do, of course,
but is a real life shit of beinga business person, real life
issues and headaches.
Real life triumphs though goals, getting to live out certain

(01:00:33):
things because you, somewherealong the line, you sacrifice
something to, you, gave upsomething to get something later
.
So you didn't lose anything.
You didn't lose it all.
So I get freedom speakers.
This past Friday, december 29th,I had an issue with my payroll

(01:00:57):
company, had a boo boo.
So this is real lifeentrepreneurship.
Right here for a second.
So I'm laid up on my couch withmy wife, you watch the TV and
just finished smashing.
I'm hoping I get to smashsomething else.
You know we laid up, but I gota call from the payroll company,

(01:01:19):
mr Johnson, like hello man justspeaking.
Oh hi, this is Kathy, I justwanted to reach out to you and
tell you that we were not ableto process payroll for you.
We've had some technicaldifficulties on our end.
However, wanted to know.
As the years go by, you know.
However, wanted to know as doyou have any other methods of

(01:01:42):
payment to pay your staff whilewe work on this issue?
Maybe, yeah, I think.
Maybe Zell, cash App, paypal oreven just writing checks, like
we're so sorry, mr Johnson.
We hope that you're thisdoesn't ruin anything between

(01:02:04):
our business relationship.
No, we straight, we good, sowrite checks.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Yeah, Cash App, PayPal, any other form of method
, Zell, just any other method.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
But, but thank you for understanding, mr Johnson.
Thank you so much.
All right, bad, I digress on mystory there, my interpretation.
But we sent out a message toour team of like, hey, we've had
some issues, we're getting themworked out, but please send us

(01:02:37):
your preferred method of payment, either Cash App, zell, paypal,
paper check.
You're going to let us keep themoney, you know that kind of
shit, whatever.
But people reached out to us onand so forth, but once we
started sending money throughPayPal and not PayPal through
Zell and Cash App in largeamounts, it stopped.

(01:02:58):
It was like oh, don't wait aminute there, fella, simmer down
, let's simmer down what youdoing.
So I had to send anothermessage out there.
Everybody like oh, some ofy'all got paid, some of y'all
didn't, but the next morningplease come up to the office by

(01:03:19):
1030 am and get y'all checked.
So I had to make sure I was upto the next morning to write Out
everybody checks and you canfeel the pressure and see
everybody I was looking like oh,we first arrived on Mr King
about to Jay him real quick.

(01:03:40):
He don't give us our money, butto get to see you know people.
Everyone was very understanding, but this was a real live
entrepreneur issue of hey, sorrythat you didn't get the
paycheck at the time that it wassupposed to be directed
positive, but you did get paidthe same day.
Along with everybody got eighthours of just holiday PTO, just

(01:04:03):
like here you go, you can haveit.
And then everybody got like ahundred dollar holiday bonus.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
So now, while you mentioned real quick how the
staff might have felt, how didyou feel in that very moment?
You got that call?

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
I was very embarrassed, more so because it
was me, like I knew better.
Not even the blame it on thepayroll company was more of me.
I had more of a cushion to getin a double and triple check,
like I do, like that's promotedfor me to do within my own notes
of hey, you don't wait to thelast, last minute when you do
have a couple of days Grace.
So me kind of pushing it off tothe bitter end and not checking

(01:04:39):
my own corners is what allowedthis to happen.
Um, they could have.
I could have got ahead of it aday before checks could have
been mailed or whatever thesituation could have been.
Or when I processed it, I couldhave got a feedback a day or
two, hey, instead of a few hours, because I processed payroll a
few hours before the deadline Icould have had, could have

(01:05:01):
really used the grace periodthat was in there.
So I felt embarrassed myself tositting there and I'm I'm being
transparent with everyone andexplaining to them like, oh,
yeah, it was happening to us too.
They sitting in all yeah, it'scool, it's cool, it's cool.
But in the back of their minds,who is?
I just checked by now,motherfucking bounce.
I know that shit.
Mr King got a fresh haircut.

(01:05:23):
That's where our money went.
Beat his ass.
I've been on the other side ofthe other table too.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
So I know like oh man , what the fuck, I'm about to
take some shit.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
I'm about to take some shit I gotta do.
My kids got to eat.
You know what I'm saying.
So I felt embarrassed but Ialso felt like, hey, we're
exercising and showing how westill are.
I just, I, just, I, just, I,just, I, just, I, just, I, just,
I, just, I just.
I just started showing how westill are adaptive as a company

(01:05:52):
and being able to make do foreverybody, and I posted a check.
When I posted it, I dated thecheck for a day before and not
the day of.
And I explained it to somepeople and they was like what
I'm like, if I wrote a, wrotetoday's date on there and you
cast a check, it wasn't clear totomorrow, which is Saturday, so
I wrote it for Thursday.

(01:06:13):
So when you put it in the check, the can't like the account
today.
It's your clear.
Today.
You should get your money today.
So that, oh cool.
Thank you, mr Ken.
And bro, I'm writing out checks.
Bro, I ain't not a spellerthousand, like I haven't written
down the word thousand.

Speaker 2 (01:06:31):
You know what I'm saying, I'm just kind of like I
had that put up on Google at onepoint in time to.
I asked Alexa real quick when Iwas in there.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
But it was one of them.
Like man, I have him.
That's just a certainpenmanship I needed to, you know
, kind of get back in play.
But you know, man, just mywalls, from sewer to
entrepreneur, man, just little,little small things that
happened, just hiccups, but wasable to just do like I said come
to the, come to the, a staffwork for the money that got, the
money was able to be paid, wasembarrassed that I wasn't, you

(01:07:03):
know, on more on top of my shitlike I should have been.
I didn't not shifting any blameon anybody or anything, it's
clearly on me.
I could, like I said, I hadmore grace in that, in that
place, in that time frame, to beable to submit in paperwork or
numbers earlier and then stillhad the grace to be able to see
if there was any errors, like Iusually do.

(01:07:23):
But I've been really excitedwith a lot of new things and
moving and I was pushing theenvelope with Tom and it was
just one of them, larry, Iprocrastinated and look what
happened.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
There you go and then you know it and that's funny
how you ended it off right there, because that's how we start
the conversation pretty much.
You know what I'm saying.
We started off like you know Iwas a procrastination, hurt, a
entrepreneur, especially duringthe time of expansion and growth
, and you know, shit happens andit is where it is.

(01:08:00):
But you know, this is anexample of this, is a.
This is not.
I'm probably like this.
This is an example of a personwho is actually like not just
trying to just like grind themetal in one direction, but he's
actually trying to, he'sactually trying to get multiple
gears started for like a giantmachine.

(01:08:23):
So it was cool, Like it's okay.
It's okay to accept the factthat you know things could have
been slightly, a bit more better.
As an entrepreneur or just evenas a regular person, it's okay
to accept that amount ofresponsibility because what

(01:08:43):
you're working for, what you'retrying to do, All you're being
is just a maintenance man toyour own machine and that's
really it.
I like that.
You're your own maintenance manto your own machine.
That's why I said, and Jupytold, like that's why.
That's why I said before Idon't necessarily there are

(01:09:07):
instances where I do stressabout my business, but for the
most part I know that shit isgetting to the point where it's
automated.
I'm getting to the point where,like now, if I actually had
accepted a certain level ofresponsibility years ago when I
started my business, then, whoknows, I may have been at this

(01:09:31):
point right now where I'm at,and some things are just a
little bit more automated thanother ones.
Some money comes with a littleless trouble and problems than
other money, but for the mostpart I've come to accept the
fact that If I didn't buy that,if I didn't learn to try and

(01:09:54):
spray jobs of my own, or if Ididn't learn to do certain
larger drywall jobs of my own,or just even something as simple
as just not procrastinating myschedule and putting off, I said
that wrong.
More so, me not paying moreattention with my schedule and

(01:10:18):
getting kind of just comfortablea little bit, it's kind of
helped me to be a lot moresharper with things, a little
less reactive, and just I canlisten now word for word and
dissect it and figure it out.
But I can also tell myself aswell that, alright, look like if

(01:10:41):
you want to play it threestrikes with yourself cool.
That's fine.
It's up to you, but I'mchoosing not to and I don't want
to.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
You're going to pay for it one way or another.
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
One way or the other.
And the thing is is that thelonger that you're running your
business, the more and more youbecome a con before, because the
more and more you're going todo, the more and more people are
going to want you to do certainstuff, the more and more you're
going to want to grow as abusiness, add certain services
to your business.
It's all going to require muchmore time and much more

(01:11:14):
sacrifice, but at the end of theday, if you are a thorough
maintenance man for yourself, ifyou take accountability for
yourself not just as a black man, but just as a business owner,
just a regular or just whoeveror just whatever, so long as you
can take just a certain levelof accountability and

(01:11:37):
responsibility for what you havegoing on and you know that you
need to make it better to beable to make a better future,
then you yourself could be yourown demi-god.

Speaker 1 (01:11:50):
What is your view and experience with working and
hiring family?

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
I'm for it.
Just I mean honestly.
I'm for it only because of thefact that you know, if they give
you the time and they wantsomething, you know and they, I
like this.
If you actually truly want tohave something out of life and

(01:12:16):
then you actually have anopportunity whether it's like
with a family member or withlike a friend or whatever case
might be I personally feel likeyou should give it a chance.
Not everything is bad, noteverything is taboo.
Like you know, you shouldn'thire family.
I think it's more so just amatter of being able to

(01:12:38):
compartmentalize, like wherethey're, like their position, as
far as like whether they're atany regular life, then also in
business life.
You know I use my brother oftenfor marketing.
You know I use him for all themarketing.
I ask him for his advice andeverything else.
He got his own thing going on.
Sometimes he can get to meright away, sometimes he can't.

(01:12:59):
Am I going to sit here and bethe, you know, sensitive per?
Oh, hey, little man, hey,little bro, are you not going to
answer my call?
Like what's going on?

Speaker 1 (01:13:10):
No, he got his own shit going on.

Speaker 2 (01:13:13):
It's cool, I understand it.
But so long as he knows that,understand, I'm trying to build
with you.
I want you to be a part ofwhat's going on and we're moving
in that direction.
It's okay.
I meet my cousin.
I hired my cousin to work withme.
Like we worked together likepretty strong for like a strong

(01:13:35):
year, just painting, like youknow, I showed him that.
You know, even though I got theADD going on and whatnot you
know, and no, like my businessdidn't really start off the
greatest.
I'm trying to, you know, I wantto show you, like you know,
it's possible that even for you,for you having your own
painting business, and when I'mwriting, when I'm writing him

(01:13:55):
his checks, or when I you know,whatever case might be like, am
I paying you by your name, I'mpaying you by your business name
.
So it's like everybody can,everybody can.
Everybody can fit in you.
Just, in my opinion, you haveto just be able to, you have to
be able to figure.
You have to be able to figurethat out as well, while still

(01:14:17):
trying to inspire them to stillbelieve in you.
Because it's often times I toldmy little brother like you look
like a.
I talk to you like you're mybig brother sometimes.
You know, you know, you know,you know, you know, you know
what I'm saying.
We sit down, we'll sit down, dothe same thing that me and you
doing, and you know we smokingand everything else.
And he just like look, you needto make your videos.

(01:14:39):
This transition is faster, likeso, I'm listening, I'm listening
to him, I'm listening to him,I'm listening to him and I'm
grateful for that Because it'slike, even though he may not be,
even though he how can I put itEven though he may not be, I

(01:15:03):
guess, as intertwined with whatI'm doing, with what I have
going on as much as I wouldreally want him to be.
But that's the selfish part ofme I'm grateful for the fact
that I can still incorporate himsomehow some way in my business
and even, at the same time,still hear from him that I've

(01:15:25):
inspired him and that he lookedto me.
You know I'm automatic bookingand everything.
I'm looking at you too, likeit's all intertwined.
But so, even if your familymembers aren't working directly
under you and you can inspirethem to continue on their own
personal entrepreneur journey,and y'all still still I'll sit

(01:15:49):
over here and I'll sit over here, as I was one day, and we was
waiting for this one DJ topremiere, like his song, like
all these, like new songs byours, and so I'll sit over there
with him and, alright, it'scoming up.
It's coming up.
Oh, not again.
Like you know, I'm over there,like I'm hyped for him because
he made the video and I'm likedude, like I'm about to be part
of this, like I want to be inthe video, like I'm gonna run a
clip, but like it's the supporthe wrote with me to DC.

(01:16:14):
We drove like three hours justsmoking, just three.
It was a blown out of our mindand then installed this portrait
in the house and just it wasthe greatest because, like, not
only it's like alright, like itwas, like it was like a you know
, a family vacation, but it waslike I got a chance to be able
to spend quality time with mybrother but also business time

(01:16:35):
with him, because he got achance to see my vision and see
what it is that I'm doing andit's inspiring him.
So, no, I'm not against.
I know I might have likefumbled like the intro, like to
your question, but like I wasn'texpecting it, but like.
I'm not against hiring andworking with family.

(01:16:56):
I think it's more so just amatter of just like still
getting them to understand andbelieve in you so that even if
their business isn't evensomething, that if their
business is something that canbe intertwined with yours, then
bet, let's get this money, let'sget it somehow, because I think

(01:17:18):
that a day is 24 hours.
In a day, you work eight hours,I work eight hours, I'm working
a little bit less, don't matter, but if I can still inspire you
to show you that it's possible,that if you utilize your 24
hours the best way that you canby being your own maintenance
man, you're going to be okay,yeah yeah, hey, you heard it

(01:17:42):
here first people, marcellusClay, a full surface painting
company, giving you his livingtruth and information as a
entrepreneur in 2024.

Speaker 1 (01:17:56):
Greatly appreciate you all listening and tuning in
to next time.
Freedom Speakers, peace out.