Life in Full Circle

Exploring Resilience and Community with Entrepreneur Joe Edgar In this special flash episode of the Project Good Podcast, hosted by Annemarie Hilton, we delve into the life journey of Joe Edgar, a seasoned entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Loca. The conversation explores Joe's experiences growing up on a reservation, his early start in real estate, and his transition into the tech industry. Joe discusses his perspective on life, resilience, community, and the importance of hard work. He also introduces Loca, his innovative app aimed at supporting small businesses and local communities. The episode highlights critical issues like poverty, wealth distribution, and the role of small businesses in the economy.

00:00 Introduction to Project Good Podcast

00:26 Special Guest: Joe Edgar's Background

02:04 Joe Edgar's Early Life and Influences

06:36 The Importance of Community and Real Estate

20:42 Transition to Technology and Education

31:13 Resilience and Perspective from Ukraine

33:16 Resilience Amidst Adversity

33:40 Comparing Hardships

34:40 The Spider Web of Debt

35:27 The Mental Aspect of Poverty

6:54 True Wealth and Capitalism

38:55 Family Dynamics and Motivation

41:26 Growing Up on a Reservation

44:43 Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

50:30 The Silver Tsunami and Wealth Distribution

59:14 Supporting Local Businesses with Loca

01:04:08 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

 

Bio for Joe Edgar

Joe Edgar is the founder and CEO of Loca, which helps small businesses find, manage and reward customers. Prior to Loca Joe founded TenantCloud and was the CEO of Rentler. Prior to TenantCloud he was a Principal with Petros Partners and prior to that, the Managing Director of the J4T Venture Fund; a $50 million venture fund focused on Texas early-stage companies.

He was also a member of the U.S. Treasury’s SSBCI Venture Capital Steering Committee. Prior to the J4T Venture Fund, he was with Governor Rick Perry and managed $487 million in state authority with a focus on Texas’ early stage and emerging companies. He was also an advisor to the Texas Rural Health & Economic Development Advisory Committee. He is a founding member of the Texas Pace Authority, a non-profit, which aims to bring clean energy to Texas commercial property owners. Joe also has an extensive background in real estate investing and development, which started when he was 14, and now includes investments in Texas, Oregon, Arizona, and Utah. Joe is writer for Forbes and a graduate of the University of Oregon with high honors, holds an MBA from Cornell, and is a Kauffman Fellow.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome to theProject Good podcast.
I'm your host, Annemarie Hilton.
Project Good is a social impact podcast,interviewing experts and advocates
about the pressing problems that weface globally and hearing how they
suggest we move forward in the future.
The Project Good Podcast is broughtto you by Project Good Work.
The goal of this podcast is toinspire people and organizations
to develop a mindset that canmove others to positive action.

(00:22):
Regarding the complex social issuesfacing people and the planet.
For August, we have a special flashepisode featuring Joe Edgar about
looking, uh, at life differently.
Joe is the founder and CEO ofLoca, which helps small businesses
find, manage, and reward customers.
Prior to Loca, Joe founded TenantCloud and was the CEO of Renter.

(00:44):
Prior to Tenant Cloud, he was a principalwith Petros Partners, and prior to that,
the managing director of J four VentureFund a $50 million venture fund focused on
Texas early stage companies and startups.
He was also a member of theUS Treasury S-S-B-C-I, venture
Capital Steering Committee.

(01:05):
Prior to the J four Venture Fund,he was the with Governor Rick Perry
and managed 487 million in stateauthority with a focus on Texas
early stage and emerging companies.
He was also an advisor to theTexas Rural Health and Economic
Development Advisory Committee.
He's a founding member of theTexas Pace Authority, a nonprofit,

(01:26):
which aims to bring clean energy toTexas commercial property owners.
Joe is also an extensive, has an extensivebackground in real estate investing and
developing, which started when he was 14years old, and now includes investments
in Texas, Oregon, Arizona, and Utah.
Joe is a writer for Forbes and agraduate of the University of Oregon

(01:48):
with high honors holds A MBA fromCornell and as a Kaufman fellow.
Let's get into the interview.
One thing that almost everyone canagree on is that life is unpredictable.

(02:09):
Where and how you startis not the way you finish.
From what many of us have been seenin life is that sometimes it's like
a rollercoaster with no safety belts.
It's in those moments.
You have your true character showngrit and your personhood is tested.
Today I have the pleasure of interviewingwell-known entrepreneur, Joe Edgar about

(02:31):
his life journey and what has kept himgrounded and moving forward in his life.
Welcome, Joe.
Ah, thanks for having me.
Yes.
I'm so excited about this, uh, interviewand I thought you would be the perfect
person because you have had, I would say,in, uh, uh, a remarkable, um, life, um,

(02:51):
in that you've, uh, had a lot of differentexperiences that, um, I would say maybe if
from, uh, from an outsider's perspective,um, would not be expected, I guess.
And so one of the things, um, I wannaask you, uh, before we dive deep into
the interview is, what is the mostimportant thing you knew about yourself

(03:13):
when you were a kid and what is it now?
Oh, um, that's a good question.
I think when I was a kid,I, I knew I was poor.
So, um, now I think I just regroup andalways think back to that, to kind of, I
guess, ground myself and, and, you know,you know, put myself in those cases.

(03:36):
Uh, in fact, I'm in Oregon right now.
I do a hike every year.
My, uh, son has, uh, been willing tojoin me the last five years and we hiked
the Pacific Crest Trail and one of thesections, you can walk past it and see
like the, you know, area I grew up inand, uh, reservation area in Chiloquin.
And so, uh, um, you know, it's been niceto be able to look at that and just, uh,

(03:57):
remember, you know, um, how things, uh,were once upon a time, I guess, I dunno.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so what do you know about yourselfnow that you think is the most important?
Well, um, you know, when you were evenwalking through that intro, it made
me laugh a little bit because, uh,part of it, when you're growing up,

(04:21):
you don't know how it will turn out.
And I've been called an entrepreneur manytimes and I, I do put that, you know, as
a serial entrepreneur, but, uh, I don'treally think of myself as an entrepreneur.
Uh, when you're.
You know, I'm one of 13 kidsand in a small town, I think
our population was like 750.

(04:42):
There's a sign actually if youcross it, that's been up there
for 40 years, then it says somenumber, like seven 50 or something.
And when you grow up in a, a place likethat, uh, you know, it's not really,
entrepreneurship is on your mind.
Like, I wanna start a business.
It's how do I survive?
So, uh, hustling is reallythe name of the game.
It's just doing whatever it takesto, you know, figure things out.

(05:04):
And so that's probably more of today isthat, you know, if I knew how it would
turn out, I'd probably end up being a,a little more lazy and less into it.
But the fact that, uh, you were tryingto, you know, hustle and just figure
things out, I think put that perspectiveon that today that, uh, you know, makes
me more appreciative of what I had.
I thought I had nothing.

(05:25):
But when I look back,I was really blessed.
Uh, you know, I, I had a huge advantage.
The advantage was I didn't have anything,uh, you know, but, uh, hard work ethic.
My father was a contractor,my mother was a janitor.
Our family was the labor force.
So, you know, we had to go andparticipate and, you know, building
houses, cleaning construction sites,and then on the weekends helping

(05:47):
vacuum and clean toilets at the church.
And so, you know, all of those thingskind of, uh, you know, combined, you know,
instilled in me a, a strong earth, uh,you know, work ethic and, uh, you know,
seeing the community around everybodythat, uh, tries to support each other
and inside of a capitalistic system.
And by that I mean, you know,they were starting businesses

(06:09):
or they're doing lawn care.
So, you know, it's, it's reallythat old trade barter system and
you find out that's really thebackbone in the heart of the economy.
So, so I still have that in me today.
I see things in that kindof perspective where.
I definitely have zero desires to havea yacht, but I do have desires to,
you know, accumulate a lot of capitalso I can put it to, you know, to

(06:31):
work to help, you know, other peopletry and to, uh, grow their dreams.
So, yes.
And you know, I've, I've noticedthat, and there was a theme as I was,
uh, researching for this interview.
Um, one of, I guess I, I would say,if I had to put a word on, um, a theme
about even the businesses that you havecreated and what you have just explained

(06:52):
about, you know, your childhood andhow that shaped you into adulthood,
is that, I guess I would say the wordI would use with you is community.
Um, I, I, I guess that's what I wouldsay because, and the reason that I'm,
I'm picking that word is, you know,um, uh, for obvious reasons, um, real

(07:13):
estate and home building is I wouldsay what the foundation of community.
Right, right.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
We we're looking literally the foundation.
Yes.
Um, you know, uh, we, we are alllooking for a, uh, well, you know,
we're all looking for a, uh, a placeto live and need to have somewhere

(07:34):
to, uh, you know, art have a dwelling.
Right.
Um, so, you know, that's, uh, that'sthe, the start of, um, any community.
Um, is that we have to have aplace to put the actual people.
Right.
And so, um, you know, so I know thatyou started young and I guess, you know,
that, uh, was influenced, I guess, um,by your, your parents a little bit.

(07:58):
Um, and, and that yougot into real estate.
Would you say that is, uh, I guess wasthe driving factor of why you chose real
estate or it was just something that youwere interested in even at a young age?
I mean, I, I wish I couldsay I was so brilliant.
I picked real estate, but you, youare right that it kind of picked me.

(08:18):
Uh, it was conveniently there.
And I do love that youtalk about community.
I've never thought of that.
But having grown up in a very largefamily, if you ever were to sit
and have a meal with me, I have toconsciously tell myself, eat slow,
eat slow, eat slow, because I eatreally fast, like obnoxiously fast.
And that's just, I think one of thosethings growing up in a large family that,

(08:41):
uh, you know, happens, you just eat fast.
And so, being part of a community,there were 13 of us, but there were
way more than that at the dinnertable because our house was just an
open door policy to the entire, youknow, town or, or wherever it was.
So, so being part of the communityfor sure, um, my, my father was
a contractor, so I. He learnedto build houses as a trade.

(09:07):
He built the house.
We were originally, when I was born, Iwas the first one born on the reservation.
And so he built that house.
It was a small three bedroom and, uh,we, they started having so many kids
in there in their master, uh, bedroom.
They didn't finish the bathroom'cause they could only do so much.
They, uh, you know, built as much asthey could, but, uh, saved on expenses.

(09:31):
So it was just a, an open area andthat had some plumbing sticking
out and they had turned itinto, you know, some more beds.
So that was like an another bedroom.
Any closet was a bedroom basically.
And he, you know, built that house.
But as a family grewthen not far from there.
And to set the scene, I mean, Igrew up with, I live in Austin now.

(09:54):
I'm, I'm up here in Oregon, but.
We don't have mountains.
You know, we have these smallhills, but we don't have mountains.
And so I grew up at the base of thisgorgeous org, Oregon's largest lake, the,
uh, Klamath, it's actually the agency.
It's a branch of the Klamath Lake,and it's at the base of this entire
mountain range, uh, white peak mountains.

(10:14):
And it's just gorgeous.
And, uh, you know, we're at the top ofthe hill and then the small house, but
we had built a new house at the bottom.
And so I was in, Ibelieve the second grade.
How old are you in the second grade?
Maybe eight.
Yeah.
Eight.
Seven.
Eight.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, maybe eight.
And we had to help carry bricks.
I mean, literally we were the laborforce in building that and to finance it.

(10:39):
We had to sell.
So we did as much on the lower property.
They were able to buy it and they dug outa foundation, they put in all the bricking
and then they laid the first floor andthen they covered it with black plastic.
And that was the roof for the winter.
And we were gonna move in there sothey could sell the other house to
pay to build the rest of this house.
So, um, you know, that's what we did.

(10:59):
We lived there.
We had, you know, it was covered in snow.
Uh, the basement was just one hugearea, so divided it into bedrooms.
We took, uh, old wheat canisters, sothey'd buy wheat and honey by the bulk.
'cause we're a large family.
So they take these canisters and then wehad rebar hanging from the ceiling and

(11:20):
there would be clothes hanging on it.
And that was basically room divisionfor the small space, which was probably.
Uh, maybe 900 square feet.
I mean, I, when I was young,I was like, that was so big.
It was a huge pile.
Going back to it, it's not that big.
And then we had this little board as adoor that you would, you know, walk up
and we'd have a little Woodburn stove downthere and the outhouse would be outside.

(11:41):
And so that was our, ourfirst winter being down there.
But then we ended up building thishouse and it, it was a gorgeous house.
And later on when we could a afford it,I was, you know, in my later teens, we
were able to build this big wraparoundporch and really finish that house out.
And it's, it's a gorgeous house thatthey, uh, went on to sell, but, you
know, they had to kind of pay for it.
But, uh, we as children tookpart in all of the building.

(12:05):
And so we were the labor force, it wasjust, you know, it was trained in me.
It was something that I wish,and I've wanted to give to my
own kids to teach them like.
If nothing else, you know how to builda house, you know how to fix something.
But I've been terrible.
I, it's sad 'cause I look back andmy parents did such a great job
just making us work and I've donesuch a terrible job being a parent.

(12:26):
Unfortunately.
My, my own kids are, uh,not as skilled as I was.
And so by 14 I had already helpedbuild numerous homes and climb
everything from, excuse me, everythingfrom plumbing to electrical to
the, uh, framing the concrete work.
And so you just had tobe a jack of all trades.

(12:46):
So for me to buy a house and my father waskind of getting into this, he was trying
to figure out how can they get ahead.
So they had already bought one andthe whole family, you know, we helped
fix it up and, and get it ready.
So by the time I was 14, to be honest,I was quite trained in the art of.
You know, being able to, you know,take on a project of buying a house,

(13:08):
of fixing it up and on the reservation,just to put things in perspective.
'cause everyone's like, at14, where'd you the money?
And my very first house costs $10,000.
Wow.
Okay.
That helps, that helpsa lot of perspective.
Oddly enough, I recently just went back tolook at what does that house sell for now?
And it's still about 50,000.
So there is some inflation, but,but you know, the average house

(13:31):
in this country sells for 450,000.
So when you hear, I bought thefirst one, now it was trashed and
we had to do an entire remodel job.
But, um, you know, it, I, I put $3,000down that I'd saved up mowing lawns.
And I'd convinced the local hardwarestore really, because my parents, I said,
Hey, you know, well, can I borrow a loan?

(13:52):
And I, I definitely borrowedmore than I think they thought
they were going to lend me.
So I think they were like, sure,we can give you a little bit.
But I extended that.
I, I spent a little over $10,000 justfixing it up, and it took me about 60
days and I just cranked it every day,every night, every second I could.
And definitely got some, uh,you know, help, uh, doing that.

(14:15):
And then sold it for about 45,000,you know, after those, those 60 days.
So that kind of was the start.
Wow.
That's, that's, that's amazing.
So say, I took credit, but youcan see that it wasn't really me.
It was really, uh, you know, I,I do say you, you have to take a
advantage of an opportunity, but,uh, but being able to take advantage,
that preparation wasn't really me.

(14:36):
Well, that's, that's so amazingbecause, well, you know, as they always
say, I guess they don't make thingslike, like they used to make them
as, uh, and what I mean by that is,uh, kids are so different now, right?
Uh, if you had, uh, you know, and I'm justtalking in generalities, there are still,
you know, kids that would do that, butnowadays they'd be like, are you serious?

(14:56):
Like, you know, yes.
They're like, it's not digitalor technical, or it's true.
Like, you know, you get dirty.
Like, yes.
Uh, so, you know, um, which is, youknow, I, I, I guess I, I, I feel
a little bit of your, your pain.
And I, I feel that it, um, well, this isa little bit of an aside, but I almost
feel that that's what's wrong with our,our times and our, our world today,

(15:21):
um, is that, um, you know, uh, peopledon't have that, that inner drive in a,
um, know, um, what shall I say, a. A,um, uh, I don't wanna say foundational.
It's not really foundational.
It's about, um, uh, I guess maybe it's adrive to survive, I guess I should say.

(15:42):
Right.
They don't, that's like a hustle taken.
Yeah.
There's the, that's, uh, like, uh, takenfrom people and it doesn't even matter.
You know, I've realized it's evendoesn't even matter what country anymore.
Um, when I talk to people all over theworld because of, you know, I guess I
would, uh, a little bit blame technology.
Um, and also, you know, the, I guessthe, the quickness of communication

(16:08):
now, um, uh, has, uh, I think changedthe way that, um, you know, youth.
I guess participate withintheir own, own lives.
So that's what I've noticed anyways.
I'm sure you've noticed similar things.
It's, it's hard to narrow it down.
I, I mean, I, I agree.

(16:28):
I, I have some my own ideas,but I, I don't know what it is.
I mean, some of it families are smaller.
Definitely.
You know, my grandmother, uh, she'sone of 11 and she's, she's still alive.
98. Her sister just turned a hundred.
So there they live together.
Uh, fun pair of sisters.
And then my mother comes from, youknow, so my grandmother had 11 children.

(16:52):
And, and, uh.
And then she went on to have even more.
So my grandmother has over 170in living direct posterity.
It's crazy, man.
That's huge.
Wow.
But if you compare that to now, Imean, if you, if you were to see
any of your friends have a familyof four, you're just like, oh my
goodness, how do you do that four?

(17:14):
You know?
And we're not that far away from bigfamilies and they're already small.
So most families, you know,you would see one or two.
And when you have one or two,I think resources change.
'cause we have, people havechanged where, um, you know, a lot
of young people, uh, we alreadyhave delayed household formation.

(17:35):
And, you know, that means moreand more men and women are waiting
to move out of their homes.
They're living with theirparents well into their
thirties and so they're waiting.
To start their family, to startliving independently, which means
they're also waiting to have children.
And there could be pros and cons to that.
I just talked to a, a lady yesterdayhaving a conversation like, well,

(17:57):
I got married when I was 17 andI was just pregnant constantly.
The next 20 years of my life and allthe things she wanted to do in life.
She's like, you know,basically that's all gone.
I, I love all my grandkids.
She doesn't regret any of it, butshe's like, you know, the world is so
different for her and she wasn't ableto really have a job at certain times.
And so you now see where, you know,there's an equal opportunity of sorts

(18:19):
for anyone, male, female, race in thiscountry to really try to go out and,
you know, establish something, which,which now puts sort of a centric focus on
themselves versus a family necessarily.
And then, and what that does is if younow wait until you're, you're thinking
your mind, it used to be, I need a family'cause that's gonna help me survive.

(18:41):
Like I was the labor force and in manyfarming communities, you had a big family
'cause they're gonna go work the farm.
Uh, but now people save up and theywait to have children until they
can, you know, provide for them.
And so when children are now providedfor, I think there is less of an
urgency, a less of a demand to hustle.
And so I think it, you know,they, it's more of like, oh, I

(19:03):
didn't have all this technology.
Here's technology.
And then, you know, we, we do have theability as a country and a world to.
You know, thrive.
I mean, there's so many things youthink of, you know, not too many
generations ago, and you thinkthey're wealthiest and, and you know,
running water, air conditioning arepretty standard and everyone's asked.
I mean, no matter where you go,there's a TV and a phone and internet.

(19:26):
So there are some, some thingsthat really make it broad.
But at the same time, with allthat, I still love entrepreneurs.
There's so many entrepreneurs outthere inventing and creating things,
and we, we look at them just playingon their phone, but a lot of 'em are
now inventing things that we never, infact, sometimes I don't even understand
it, but they create immense amounts of,of wealth and, and, uh, you know, for

(19:46):
different generations who want to dothat very thing, you use their phones.
Yes.
And, you know, um, so you as, uh,you know, took your, uh, real estate
from, uh, I guess I would say knowingthe, the, uh, pun intended and not
intended, uh, the groundwork and thefoundation of, you know, what it is

(20:06):
to, um, you know, create and build thehome and the importance of community.
And then later, um, expanded it into,um, you know, not only, uh, you know,
typ, uh, uh, um, I guess you would saytypical real estate, but then, um, made
a turn into technology yourself, I guess.

(20:28):
What was, um, uh, I don't know if youremember the moment or, or day or time,
what made you, I guess, um, I guess,uh, make a turn towards technology?
Oh, man.
Fun question.
I, so, I mean, I was on the reservation.
And my local school was not amazing.

(20:51):
We had public education and, uh,many stories, um, since then.
Uh, you know, if you, if you gothere and you teach for five years.
They'll help pay off your student debt.
And they, they almost have noone who makes it that long.
And so it's a bit of a wild place.
Uh, lots of fights and a smallarea, but, uh, pretty wild.

(21:13):
And I ended up dropping out of highschool to really do a lot of that real
estate, but I still loved education.
And so about 30 miles away, the,the closest town was Klamath Falls.
And to me that was a big city, whichnow if you drive through it, it's, I
mean, I think maybe 15 or 20,000 people.
So it's a small farming community,but to me it was a big city.

(21:34):
It was gigantic.
There were two storybuildings and stoplights.
It was just unbelievable.
The, the big city.
And they had a school there,Oregon Institute of Technology.
And conveniently it's, you know,its main focus was technology.
And I started there when I was 15.
Uh, it was originally I couldn'tdrive, so I was hitching a ride to try

(21:56):
to make it to class there every day.
And I, uh, I joined a program.
It was really designed for, um, youknow, more adults who were trying to
return to school, but, uh, it wasn'tre limited to, uh, an age group.
So that's how I was able to get in.
And, uh, I could only go part-time atthe beginning, but I'd have to sit there
'cause I could hitch a ride in the morningand then I couldn't get a ride back.

(22:19):
So for a good year or so, untilI could get my first car, um,
there was lots of flexibility.
I'd have to go to class, but I, youknow, I was When, when was that?
Uh, mid nineties.
The mid nineties.
So I had my first email account then.
That was phenomenal to haveemail and figure this out.
And modems at that time were four14 k, you know, 36 K modem, and they

(22:45):
were still going, you know, it was,I remember that exactly the dial up.
So I think any of us from thatgeneration know that noise.
I do it to my kids, they'relike, what are you talking about?
Yes.
But, uh, but yeah, I, I basically wasluckily and fortunate enough to go to a
place where technology was up and coming.
So, um, believe it or not, I endedup studying c plus plus programming,

(23:08):
which is still used today in, uh, someplaces, which is, that's pretty fun.
'cause I don't do a lot of coding now.
Um, we have, you know,to stay on top of it.
We have teams.
I, I would be the least efficient.
But, uh, but yeah, that was my.
Kind of my core basis in, uh, learningabout technology, which on went on to
become, you know, a huge, uh, tech world.

(23:30):
But, uh, unbeknownst to me, I justwas again, uh, happened to land
upon it and was very excited tolearn about all the different things
that software could do for sure.
That's, that's cool.
You just, you know, um, one thingI'm, I'm, I'm noticing about you is
that you, and, you know, and I couldbe, um, just taking this and not
knowing of course, the background'cause everybody has their inner mind

(23:53):
workings, but you, you seem to, I guessnot be, you seem to be willing to, um.
Not be fearful in taking on, I guess,uh, challenges, is that how you've
always been or do you not see them aschallenges because of the fact that you
grew up in a family of 13 and I know justfrom, I didn't grow up from, uh, a large

(24:18):
family, but I have parents that did.
And so they used to explain, like as youwere explaining about just, uh, you know,
sitting down at the table, like if youwait too long, all the chicken is gone.
So it's so too bad a brother Tommydidn't make it because he was
stuck outside playing on the swing.

(24:39):
That's exactly right.
Yes, yes.
So, um, it's, I mean, I think yousaid it, the chicken's gone, right?
It's that miss that miss out opportunity.
And so if you don't take advantageof what you see now that yeah,
you're probably gonna go hungry.
So I use that all the time.
When I say I eat really fast and.
That stays with me on almost everything.

(25:00):
It's like, you know, there's,there's things happening all around.
I don't wanna miss out.
Yeah.
I wanna learn about this,I wanna learn about that.
So, so yeah, that probably is justingrained in me just because, you know, if
you didn't do it, if you were gonna be theone who was, in fact, I, last year I went
to a wedding and, uh, the guy I ran into,and, you know, he knew my older siblings.

(25:20):
I didn't remember him, but heis like, I remember the Edgars.
He's like, we, it was unbelievable.
We went over there to sit down for dinnerand like, I just like, you know, they,
they put the food on the table and Iwas just scooting in my chair, looked
up, it's all gone, everything's gone.
Uh, I think my entire family, they'reall, uh, you know, entrepreneurs

(25:41):
and doing different things.
So I think that's just something that you,you grow up and you have a hunger for, you
know, finding any opportunity that, uh,you can come across and grabbing onto it.
So.
Yes.
And so that's, you know, um, yeah, thatis, uh, it's a, it's amazing because
like the things that you don't thinkthat are shaping you when you were

(26:01):
younger, like, you know, like, um, it,it, it seems like a, um, like nobody
would think like, you know, the dinnertable then would equate to, you know,
pushing someone to opportunities.
But the, the thing that I, you know, andI, I'm bringing this up because I want
our audience to realize, um, becauseI think a lot of times people, um, uh.

(26:23):
You know, our, our, our, our theme isthat we're looking at life differently
is that people, I think nowadays as,as we see in the public, you know, beat
themselves up for how, you know, um,they were raised or who they were when
they were young, or, uh, you know, um, Iguess, you know, uh, uh, kind of this, uh.

(26:46):
Well, I'll, I'll use the word,even though nobody likes to use it,
the victimhood mental mentality.
Right, right.
Um, uh, and everybody that youknow, that's like, I'm offended.
That's what my, my daughter would saythis all the time about everything.
I was like, what?
Your generation, literally just.
Literally says they'reoffended about everything.
Not only are they offended, butthey constantly Right, right.

(27:09):
And so, you know, and then youwanna come back and say, well,
I'm offended that you're offended.
Right, exactly.
Yes.
Um, and so, you know, and so, you know,uh, in this modern time, a lot of people,
'cause that's, you know, what you see onthe, the, the TV these days or the news
that is just like, oh, it's a theme.

(27:29):
Right?
That keeps, this, keeps going.
But the, the thing is that thesethings are actually important
lessons that are, are shaping usinto the people that we need to be.
And there's this, um, you know.
Uh, I guess desire to avoid anyshaping in the, in the society.

(27:54):
Um, and so, you know, and I guess itgoes back to what we were saying, that,
that I believe that that is maybe,um, this avoidance of, uh, you know,
um, like as they say, like, you know,iron sharpens iron and, uh, you know,
getting, you know, when you're gonnahave, uh, if you went to an, you know, a
blacksmith or whatever, they're, they'reironing the heck outta these things.

(28:15):
Right?
Right.
Um, and that, um, you know, if you want tobecome a quote unquote useful tool, you're
gonna have to go through the fire andyou're gonna have to get some, you know,
some kind of pains inflicted on you inorder to be, um, you know, useful and, um.
And so I just think that's an importantfor you to highlight that, you know, look

(28:40):
at something that you would have neverat that age equip, you know, uh, made a
connection to now how that helped shapedyou and make you successful in life.
So, yeah, I mean, it's, you reallybring up two, uh, fun topics.
One of 'em is, sure I can say, oh,I've, you know, I mean, you think of a

(29:00):
river rock and the more it tumbles, thesmoother it gets, and you, you ultimately
want to be this nice, smooth rock,you're gonna have to get tumbled a lot.
So there's, there's definitelyhard things and I, I, I now
like to say, oh, I grew up poor.
And, you know, I, I say these justbecause they are triggering to people.
So people are like, you know,like, oh, wow, you're kidding.
Because most people, you know, don't.

(29:21):
So it is slightly, you know,different of sorts, but, um.
I growing up in that,I did know I was poor.
My parents were struggling out.
There was a lot of focus to like do work.
They took out a lot of loans.
So I, I definitely knew that, uh, youknow, we were trying to get ahead.
That was just built into meas they did so many things.

(29:43):
We even had a family food truck.
I mean, we're, our, our, the daywe hate the holiday, we hated
the, the most was Labor Day.
'cause that was known to be, we'regonna work way harder on Labor Day.
But we worked on Christmas Eve.
I mean, it was like every, you know,not ha school was great 'cause then
you could not work because Saturdays,I mean you just worked all the time.

(30:05):
It was a family of working.
And so there was lots of work, which,you know, you could say is hard
and I could talk through all thethings, but to be honest, you look
back, I had an amazing childhood.
I grew up in this place with fresh air.
We had well water, um, we hadto grow our own garden for food.
So I had all this really good organicfood that we used to, um, we had

(30:27):
to go and do a trade for manure.
Um, our family would go and help, uh,buck hay at a farm, and in exchange we'd
get a cow every season that we'd, youknow, be able to put in the freezer.
So I ate ama I mean, to eat like thatnow you're like, this is so expensive.
And this was, this was my poor life.
You're kidding me.
That's what I had an amazing place.

(30:49):
It, it was just beautiful.
You could run free.
I mean, you had to work hard a lot,but there was just things all around.
Uh, you know, we had a mountainwe'd go to, you know, I got
into snowboarding and we'd.
Have to go and hike intoCrater Lake, Nashville Park.
'cause we couldn't affordto go to the ski resorts.
But, but still it was justan amazing, gorgeous place.
I tell people like, I, you know,I had to go to Crater Lake.

(31:09):
I mean, this is such a gorgeousnational treasure that we have Now.
I put that in perspective becausethe other part that you say is,
uh, really comparing, comparingis always a tough thing 'cause.
I'm trying to compare my lifenow to my life then, and yes,
it, it, it is interesting.
But over the last, you know,three or so years, uh, 10 o'clock,

(31:32):
one of our teams was in Ukraine.
And I've still, to this day, the, the locateam, part of the loca team is in Ukraine.
So I still travel there to today andyou know, when you go and see these
resilient people in Ukraine, this is whereI just laugh at me even trying to claim
I had any type of a hard life at all.

(31:55):
It's like not even comparable.
Uh, I mean these people are soresilient, so amazing, and here
they are being bombarded, um, bybombs every night and it's just.
Disruption every day.
And you can imagine thestrain that it would go on.
I mean, um, you know, I think thewhole country's probably going to

(32:16):
suffer from PTSD when this is saidand done, but just the impact it is,
and these people are so resilient.
And giving you an example, I mean, we'rein, uh, this is the leiv and actually,
I guess it was Ivana Frankie's, but thesame place, uh, about a year and a half
ago when they took out all the power.
So they have these stores, they'restill trying to run their stores
and trying to figure it out.

(32:37):
Everywhere in that town, youcould hear this buzzing noise.
And when they, um, air, 'cause when a bo,whenever there's a bar bombing, you'll
have the city siren go off and it'llbe loud everywhere, this huge siren.
And uh, you know, everybodyshould go down and, and hide.
And if there's a subway, in the subwayor in the cellars or something like that.
So you hear the bombing, butthen almost at the same time

(32:58):
you'll hear this like humming.
And so when the power would go out.
This humming that wasresonating to the city.
They're all generators.
Hmm.
So the city figured out how toreplace their power to keep the
refrigerators going, to keep every,to keep the lights on for business.
I mean, they're just open for business.
All these generators are everywhereand they're all open for business.

(33:20):
Electrical cords, literally like just,uh, normal Home Depot type electrical
cords are spanning the streets.
And, you know, they're givingpowers to their neighbor.
And, you know, the wholeplace is just operating.
They're selling fish, they'reselling every, all their products,
you know, are still there.
Just a, a resilient people,you know, there to hustle.
And so when you really compare,and this is a country where

(33:42):
the average pay is $600.
Wow.
And to, you know, take those type ofresources where you are crammed between
a country that wants to invade youand literally wipe you off the planet.
And between Europe, who you know, likesyou, but doesn't wanna bring you in.
'cause they want to keep abuffer between that same villain.
And, you know, talk about a place whereyou know, you, you are up against real

(34:08):
problems and the problems are so big thattalking about your own personal family
problem in Ukraine isn't even there.
Like, there's just monstrousgeopolitical problems.
And so when you put it in that typeof a perspective, you know, I don't
think I had much of a, a hard life.
It was pretty easy.
I was blessed to be in acountry where, you know.

(34:30):
Resources and opportunities abound thatreally, even though my parents, um,
were in debt and when I had to do this,I, I couldn't just think of myself.
I had to think of like, how do I helpthe rest of the family get outta debt?
Because it all kind of, if I talked,I call it the spider web, but it was
kind of like, you know, this personwould loan them money and then they'd
loan it to them, and then it was, Imean, that's how we were trying, we're

(34:52):
all trying to get out of this hole andit was more like crabs in a bucket.
And so for somebody to finally getout was, was not easy to, to pull
through a lot of that, you know, quoteunquote spider wha and that debt.
But you put it in comparison to theworld and, you know, we're very fortunate
to, you know, have those problems.
So, so fun conversation.

(35:13):
Yeah, so when you talk about, I guess,a, a spider web, because the thing
is, here's one of the challenges,and I guess it's, um, uh, I forget
the, the saying that, um, uh, that itis, I'm always bad at these sayings.
Um, but it's, uh, you know, you get,uh, influenced by, you know, who you're
surrounded by and things like that, andthat, you know, um, and that it is hard

(35:37):
for people to uplift themselves, um, outof, uh, you know, situations of, uh, uh,
poverty because, you know, poverty, whenpeople think about poverty, um, they
just think about, um, you know, the, thepictures they see, like, you know, not
enough resources of, uh, food or shelteror clothing and things like that, right?

(35:59):
That's, you know, the instant, the, uh,instant thing when people hear poverty.
But poverty is, uh, so much deeper.
Than, um, you know, nothaving things mental, right.
And so, yeah, there'sthis, this mental thing.
So even like sometimes peoplesay that they can say that we
were, uh, uh, broke, right?

(36:21):
Not having stuff, but they weren't poorbecause poor is, there's, there's this
mental, um, I guess he would say, uh.
Um, a loss of hope, right?
Because I believe that's, that'swhat, that's what I always, um, like
when, uh, if you want to examine, uh,poverty really is, uh, a loss of hope.
And that, and that only I think, cancome into play when people really can

(36:44):
disengage themselves from, from things.
And, you know, as we are in thissociety, I think we're in a, a, a, well,
I think we're facing that right now.
Um, is that, you know, what is, I thinkthe, one of the, well, there's a few big
questions out on the plate, uh, but Ithink one of the big things that the US is
looking at is what is true wealth, right?

(37:06):
Mm-hmm.
Um, and that's a, and that's a, a, aquestion because, you know, um, uh, as
you know, in, in capitalism has beendriven by, um, money and, and things.
But we now see the.
Um, I guess other effects becauseone of the things when you start to

(37:27):
accumulate things, and I've, I'veseen this, you know, not only from
our society, but even from personalaspects and from, uh, watching other
people, is that you sometimes forget.
About what the true wealth is andwhat that means is that the reason
why you wanted that money and thingsin the first place was to give you

(37:48):
the things that you talk about thatyou enjoyed in childhood, but didn't
know that you really had Well, right.
Funny, isn't it the circle of whichthen you give to your kids, uh, because
they had it, they no longer want it.
Correct.
Right, right.
So it's it's, it's funny that youknow, that you didn't realize and,

(38:09):
and you don't, and you don't wakeup to that until sometimes you know
it's too late or that you're like,oh my gosh, I was working for what?
I actually already had.
Right.
That's like the, you know, the guywho searched the world looking for his
diamond, and then turns out he sold theproperty, he sold to go, you know, raise

(38:31):
the money to go and diamond searching.
He was, you know, had the largest diamond.
Yes.
And so, you know, um, so when we talkabout, I guess poverty, how did you,
I guess, um, and maybe, you know, andI'm, uh, I guess first I should go
back and maybe understand, because itseems that you had a, you know, um.

(38:55):
Uh, a strong family in that, you know,I'm sure there were some of the, your
siblings, you know, ha was argumentative.
Like, I'm not getting up tomorrow morningjust to go on and tick anything for you.
Right.
I'm sure, I'm sure there were a few ofthose that were like, look, look here.
Oh man.
My mother would literally come in witha bowl of ice water, like a big bowl of

(39:19):
ice water and throw it at you in the bed.
If you, uh, you did sleep in, youmight call that incentive, but, so
you didn't really have a choice.
But, but, uh, you know, but I'm surethere were some, as they got older, were
just like, I'm gonna have a discussionwith these, these parents, you know?
Right.

(39:39):
Um, but uh, in that setting, Iguess, how did you pull yourself?
Out of maybe that mentality or was thatmentality not really in the family?
'cause you didn't even have time, Iguess, to think if they were just like,
whoop, just slept two hours too long.
Whoosh.
You know?
Uh, how did you get yourselfoutta that mindset, I guess?

(39:59):
I mean, you're bringing up somereally good conversations that
could have long conversationsin themselves because, you know.
I don't remember having a mindsetof like, what can I accomplish?
I mean, I think when you have,you know, what are incentives?
Some incentives can be in front of you.
Like you're trying to grab something,you just have a desire to go in.

(40:20):
And so that's the motivation.
I want this, I want this, I want this.
And then some motivations are behind you.
You have a fear of what this is gonna,you know, become, so you just keep moving
forward because, you know, you're like,well, I don't, oh, I don't want that.
So you gotta keep moving forward.
And I, I think when I was younger,it was definitely behind me.
It was just like, we have to do this.
It's a hustle.
Like this is just a thing.

(40:42):
And I, I wasn't trying to become ordo something specific that I recall,
I did want out of, you know, thepredicament that our family was, which
was, you know, this entrapment of debt.
And no, we could not seemto, you know, get ahead.
And so, um, you know, I was, I wasdriving, you know, towards that.

(41:03):
And I, you know, like I said,I do remember being poor, but.
I, it's hard to have this conversationwithout having a conversation about race.
Mm-hmm.
And I, I say that because I grew up asa white kid and I was, I had adjectives
before that, you know, fing white boy.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but I didn't know, I thought Iwas a minority actually growing up.

(41:26):
Is that because you are on a reservation?
Exactly.
I, that was, I guess that's one question.
I, I, uh, I guess I'm, I'm, uh, um, notlooking at the elephant in the room,
but how did you end up on a reservation?
Mm-hmm.
So my father had moved.
Uh, and my mother, they had gotten marriedand I, I wish I could say it was like

(41:47):
a, a good type of laundering business,but a legitimate laundering business.
They had it, uh, received from mygrandfather and my maternal side, my
mother's, uh, father, and he did alot of sewing, sewing machines and
thread and la laundry businesses.
And so as the kids would grow up, he'dhelp them establish one of these, but

(42:09):
they'd have to move in different cities.
And so, uh, my parents had movedto Klamath Falls because my aunt
had moved there and she was, uh,had started a, a fabric business.
And so they had gone to kind of matchit with laundry and um, uh, sewing.
And so.
They did it, but I guessthey weren't very good.

(42:30):
And I was not born yet, so I'm of coursejust telling the story as I've heard
it, but they weren't very good at it.
So my father had tried to make endsmeet and learned how to, he became
a construction worker and so hewas, you know, helping build houses.
And that became a trait he hadlearned, uh, during hard times.
And because they were doing so welland he was doing so bad at the sewing

(42:50):
store, they ended up shutting itdown and, and they were building.
And so when they were trying toput up a house for themselves.
They went to find the cheapest propertyand the farthest out you get, you
can get to the, um, reservation.
So that's where they got thecheapest piece of property, and they
built that first house we were in.
And then while he was living, um, there,I, so I was born a year after they

(43:15):
finished the house, and then just afterthat someone convinced him to run as the
Justice of the Peace, um, for that area.
It's like a non-attorney.
They musically do like traffictickets and things like that.
And he got elected to kind of, well,he was the local, uh, justice of the
Peace and it's kind of a small operationthere in the town that's for the county.

(43:38):
But, uh, but that sealed us deepin the reservation at that point.
And so, yeah, that's how they got there.
And, and why we, you know, stayed for along time, but there weren't too many.
I mean, mostly it's native.
And, you know, large families and,and there was, you know, I mean, as

(44:00):
much as I say is, you know, I, I,I mean you definitely had to fight.
Fighting was just part of the culture.
So I grew up definitelybeing in lots of fights.
Um, but I think kids do, maybe notas much now, but I think kids do
all over the place and, but I do.
I do remember feeling when, youknow, I went to the big city, the
Klamath Falls next to it, which wasmore of a white farming community.

(44:23):
That it was such a contrast.
I was like, you know, this is interesting.
And when I can remember kind of goingthere, so to learn that, you know, I was
a majority was a bit of an, an eyeopener.
Uh, but the reason I say it does comeinto race is, is not so much on my, I'm
not trying to say, oh, as poor me, Iwas a minority, uh, by any means really.

(44:43):
If you break down a lot of the datathat comes across in this country
and that what, what is known as thecircle of poverty and that is mm-hmm.
You know, and, and being able toenvision being somewhere that you
want to get out of that poverty.
And so that poverty could be amotivator in the sense that it's fear.
I don't want that, but youdo need kind of an example.

(45:04):
And I think we, we didn't have that.
Like I had my father who didn't drink,uh, he was trying to be ambitious.
So it's hard for me not to saythat that is my role model.
But on the reservation, I mean,fathers were definitely missing.
Um, you know, there were a lot ofgrandparents that, uh, raised kids.
Uh, alcohol is something that is justrampant and, uh, it's, it's tough.

(45:28):
And so just seeing from that perspective,uh, there, I don't think there were a
lot of, you know, uh, mentors or a lotof examples to say, Hey, this person
has been here, made it and done it.
And there weren't any, you know, Imean, I, I do think my father was a
leg up for me and, and even for thecommunity at, at large, uh, just to say

(45:52):
he didn't, I mean, it was really whatset him apart is he didn't drink that.
That's how, that's how low of a bar was.
Mm-hmm.
But that's a huge bar because, youknow, my father, my parents are still
married, um, and, you know, still alive.
I think they're 70, late seventies now.
And so, you know, that those kindof stories, you know, aren't there.
So that was our, uh, you know, objective.

(46:14):
But I think you go into lotsof communities and I've done
lots of, you know, houses.
I've now worked in lots ofcommunities doing things.
I served in Mission Australia for awhile and went around and, uh, lived
with the Aboriginals for a while.
And you, you definitely get a sensethat you wanna see somebody who
has had your plight and made it.
And this definitely can be even in race.

(46:36):
Mm-hmm.
Know you can see something.
I think Barack Obama said a a, aprecedent for so many young kids to
say, actually, and I can get there.
I see myself being there.
I think you do have to envisionyourself being somewhere.
And it's, it's why it'simportant, twofold.
And I say this 'cause as a venturecapitalist, I didn't realize.

(46:56):
My own bias, and I did this when Iwas in the Kaufman Fellows, which
is a group of, you know, venturecapitalists along the country.
Um, they asked everybody, it's like,okay, well, you know, how diverse are you?
Da da da.
And I being, you know, I'm like,listen, I, I grew up, you know,
on a reservation, I, I mm-hmm.
I mentally tell myself, I don't see,you know, color, everybody's green.

(47:18):
I mean, I don't, I don't care.
Yes.
And that was my response.
And I thought that wasa truly unprejudiced.
Comment, I, I see green.
And you know, what it means to mewas, you know, if anybody, you know,
woman, man, any race, if they havea good idea, I'm supporting that.
You know, I'm just init for the money, right?
Mm-hmm.
And I was challenged and she said,okay, well if you are to green, I want

(47:41):
you to spend the next three monthstracking data of who and what meetings
you do and not thinking about it.
So I did.
We put all that together and laterI was shocked to find out 98%
of my meetings were white males.
And it really was a shock to me thatsays, wow, that that is my bias.

(48:07):
It's what people saw in me,not so much what I saw in them.
Mm-hmm.
And being a venture capitalist, they'rereaching out to me because they see me
as someone who might fund their business.
And so it's not so much aboutthose who see me, it's about
those who didn't see me.
As someone who wouldinvest in their business.
Mm-hmm.
And so that was a bit of an eyeopenerfor me to say, wow, I really have

(48:29):
to go out and look under the rocks.
I need to be proactivelygoing into communities.
I need to be proactivelyfinding all these groups.
Like that was just, you know, a,a really big thing to find those
entrepreneurs who are necess, who, whoare looking for opportunities like I
was, but aren't, you know, maybe don'thave a father who is not drinking,

(48:52):
that's some leg up, whatever, you know?
Mm-hmm.
But they're, they're great entrepreneurs.
They're really ambitious.
They have something.
And so we're not proactivelylooking in for these places.
We're really missing opportunitybecause, you know, I mean.
Coming from my own standpoint,I didn't know what college was.
I knew I wanted an education.
I knew I wanted something.
It was very hard to go after and get,but I didn't really know what it was.

(49:14):
I didn't know you had to take likean SATI didn't know how important
it was to even get into college.
Now I kind of skipped that part.
But then to learn about graduateschool, there's all these
tests for graduate school.
I didn't know those existat the GRE, the mca.
Like, what are these?
And there's just basic things.
And then you find out likewhere you go to college matters
even more than your degree.

(49:35):
And you're like, what?
And so it's, uh, you know, mark Twainsaid, never let you know, uh, school
get in the way of your education.
You find out that's true.
There's an education, but there's thisentire political thing of schooling.
Um, you know, just the land in Harvardalone, Harvard, Stanford, you know, uh,
booth Wharton, these as a business schoolwill set you miles ahead of anyone else.

(49:58):
And so you'll have a a million dollarsigning bonus if you go to one of
these schools where, uh, you know, oneof the lower bottom 20 schools, you
know, it's an entirely different world.
And so, and I just give that as anexample, that there's so many things
that hungry entrepreneurs that haveambitions, that want to do things,
uh, don't have a preset example.

(50:19):
They there, there isn't a fold out there.
And then to caveat this conversation,that's why I say you open up that,
that's a whole separate thing.
So you have to cut half of this out.
But you, you opened it up so I'll say it.
And that is we have the silvertsunami about to happen.
There's already a massivewealth, wealth divide.
10% of the population controls76% of the wealth of this country.

(50:43):
And there's a silver tsunami, whichis about $30 trillion that's gonna
be handed down for baby boomers.
And if you go back and you now take just,um, savings of the baby boomers, right?
So we're.
There in 1970, there was three.
If you look to retiree, comparedto workers, there were 3.7

(51:06):
workers to, um, every retiree.
Right now there's 2.8, we're missingalmost a whole worker to help
support with tax dollars to helpsupport social security and Medicare.
And then it's gonna eventuallyget down to about 2.4 to 2.5.
So we're missing almost a worker and ahalf to help support, um, our seniors.

(51:27):
And if you look at the same senior, it'slike, okay, well what are their savings?
If Social security and Medicare aresoon to be bankrupt, the average
social security check is like $1,800.
So it's not much to live on.
Average house in this country is like$450,000, and then you break down savings.
And if you go in by race andthen you break down by education,

(51:49):
you're down to around $5,000 insavings for an African American.
I mean, that's, you cannotretire in this country on that.
So that's like a, amonth's living serious.
Exactly.
Not even a month in some places.
That's crazy.
It's d Well, yeah, I like inCalifornia, you know, that's,
that's cutting it tight, probably.
Um, and the average is like 250,000.

(52:12):
So even the, the ones thathave money, it's not much.
And, and you think of like, we'regoing to have to address that.
It's just not gonna go away.
It's a, it's a real issue our country isfacing and we're, we're going to have to
now come to terms to say, okay, well ifyou look at the top 100 wealthiest people
in the world, most of it's inherited.
Well, and we're gonna haveto like, come to this.

(52:34):
And I, I'm hard 'cause on oneside I'm like, listen, if I
earn this, it's double taxation.
I don't wanna give it to thegovernment who's inefficient.
But on the other hand, I'm like.
Well, uh, this is gonna arisein some massive disruption
in our fabric of democracy.
So, well, well, you, well you bringup so, so many like key points.

(52:55):
Well, you brought it up, up.
I'm just dressed Well, no, but theway that you've, you've laid it out
in, in ways, um, and you've, you know,weaved in your own life experience and
experiencing it from a whole differentperspective of being an insider outsider.
And what I mean by that is that, youknow, you grew up with, I would say,
you know, I have some, um, uh, friendsthat are native, uh, American and, um,

(53:19):
and I've, uh, you know, uh, been on areservation and, um, you know, I was, uh.
Shocked and appalled.
Like some of these places don'teven have running water and things,
and I'm just like, oh my gosh.
Right.
This is like the same country.
And then, um, uh, you know, um, soI understand when you were talking
about, you know, it's like a, a wholedifferent world inside this place that

(53:43):
is, you know, the wealthiest in thecountry, in the world, in the world.
It's a, it's, it's, it's a amazinglike, uh, you know, to have like,
um, I guess different worlds,but that's how it is, right?
And that's the thing that's on thestage right now is that all these
different worlds, and they're notnecessarily coming from a reservation,
but they're coming from, I guessyou would say cultural subsets.

(54:07):
And the experiences that peoplehave, um, dealt with over these
decades are now coming and clashingtogether in a time that there is.
Um, you know, as you said, likethis, this big wave of wealth
that is about to be distributed.
And so, um, partly, and I'm, I'msure you see it too, I believe

(54:30):
that's why we're having all thisupheaval for the people that do
know about this or saw this coming.
Of course, you know, decades beforethey were like, okay, well, you know,
we've gotta start like preparingthis and, you know, we gotta get
these people so it can come in.
'cause I, you know, I believe there'salways like a, there's an online
subset of people that are like, why?

(54:51):
While, while the animals arefighting over there, we'll just
come in, clean up and run away.
Well that's what, that'swhat trusts are, right?
Yes.
So the wealthy have been creatingtrust, and I'm guilty as well.
I, you know, creating one for my kids.
But that's what they're doing is,you know, preparing like, okay, well
how do we pass on wealth without.
You know, getting taxes andhow do we set up mm-hmm.

(55:11):
You know, entities that, uh, you know, cangrow and pay lower tax and, and so yeah.
They're, they already see thatthey're already working at that now.
Yeah.
So, you know, that's why I keeptelling people, and, you know, that's,
uh, our, our, our podcast is, youknow, definitely is mainly focused.
And I, we always say, uh, focused on whatmatters, that you know, everyone, while

(55:32):
you guys are fighting for, you know,the, the, um, chicken at the table, the
table, the table is actually disappearing.
The, the table that's keepingthe holding the chicken up is
going, you guys and my house.
That has to be really fast.
Sake.
'cause that chicken's gone fast.
Right?
Right.
There's not much time left.

(55:52):
Um, yeah.
So, um, yeah, you've brought up some,uh, remarkable points that, um, I think
in encompass, you know, um, the absolutetimes that we're in and for those people
who are awake and understanding of, um,you know, of the depth that you've just
went into from a, a life experience.
And I like that you actuallyhave tied it into being, because

(56:16):
everybody always thinks of, uh,you know, racial categories.
The, the once againvictimhood poor minorities.
Yes.
And minorities have went through a lot.
But there is something of, um, beingable to understand from, uh, you know.
Uh, you know, looking, lookingone way, but not anyone

(56:37):
understanding your life experience.
So from the outside they're like,oh, you know, typical white guy.
But understanding that each person isan individual and we don't understand
the, the story that, that lays beyondthe, the layer of that, um, you know,
outer, outer shield of a person.
Um, and so you've explained itso beautifully in a way that I

(56:59):
don't think, um, many people can,uh, relate to or understand, but
that it can bring them to the.
The door that they need to, to start.
Um, you know, tying the, the biggerpicture that we are all in this together.
And I know that's a clichesaying, but we really are.

(57:22):
This, this is one big round mud ball.
Exactly.
So we really, really do need to startthinking about things on a, a, a much
deeper level because there are somany critical things at stake And, um.
And I know it's overwhelming, but, um,as they say, well, society's gonna be
judged by how they treat their weakest.

(57:44):
Yes.
And we're about to see likehow it plays out Exactly.
We're about to see seniors, you know,how how do we judge our own society?
So it's about to comehappen next 20 years.
Yes.
I, I feel like we're in the, uh, asubset of the movie, uh, what is that?
The Mockingbird or whatever,uh, to Kill a Mockingbird.
That's, yes.
I was like, here we go.

(58:05):
Buckle up.
Maybe triple buckle up.
Or maybe not.
Maybe wanna be free so you can run.
I keep thinking that.
I keep like, uh, going backand forth, buckle up or run,
I don't know.
But, uh, yes.
Anyhow, um, I just have one lastquestion and then we'll wrap it up.

(58:26):
Um, I guess if you were goingto, uh, look at your, uh, um.
Uh, this is kind of like aintrospective, but, um, you know,
I guess, uh, hope statement.
I guess, what would you say isyour biggest goal currently that
you would love to achieve in life?
Um, from an interest, uh, personalperspective, and then also maybe,

(58:51):
you know, I don't know, maybe havesomething wild you wanna like, uh,
you know, move to Bali or something.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, that's a, that's a big one.
I, uh, um, I mean, there are definitelybig life ambitions, but I, I'd, I'd
say I'd rather introduce lo a littlebit and say, that is really the

(59:12):
heart of my, my most recent goal.
So that's the one I hope to accomplishearly in the next five years.
And that is, if you were to take,like the city of Austin, there's 200
multinational corporations, but inthat same area, geography, there's
38,000 local small businesses.
And those 200, if I were to ask anyrandom person, like name 10 companies

(59:33):
right now, none of them would be localbusinesses because local businesses
don't have these huge billion dollarbudgets and they don't have thousands of
locations to try to get our attention.
So they just got the oneshop, and so it's, it's.
Really competing with each otherto try to get our attention.
So Locus is trying to fix that.
It's trying to give power backto the small local businesses.

(59:55):
All marketing advertisingused to be local.
Uh, but now we've gone to this digitalage and it's, you know, technology
has brought the, you know, world closetogether, but it's made the world
that's actually around us farther away.
And that's unfortunate because allthese local businesses, I mean,
99.9% of all businesses in theUnited States are small businesses.

(01:00:18):
99.9. It's crazy.
They, um, employ close tobetween 45 and 50% of everyone.
And so it's, it's a powerhouse.
The small business is the routeto becoming an entrepreneur.
It's the first step to being able, youknow, I can, oh, I can create something.
And, uh, unfortunately it's, uh,you know, it's, it's being attacked.

(01:00:39):
It's being attacked by and.
We, even though we want tosupport them, no one does.
It becomes very hard.
So what Locus trying to do?
It's be a single app and it'sgonna bring all local businesses
on one app and instead of havingpoints, it's all cash rewards.
So you can get paid to go around andvisit local businesses, earn cash, and

(01:01:01):
then you can create content for them.
And so if you go into the business,you can take a picture of your food,
you can take a picture of, you know,the, the business around and share
it and you can get paid purview.
It's really saying, let's skip the.
Big boy companies that are doing allthe marketing and let the customers do
the marketing and make it all local.
And so by keeping our advertisingdollars local and giving it to

(01:01:22):
customers, customers find lowerprices, earn cash rewards, and it
really allows these local businessesto show off what they're great at.
And that is being authentic.
And being authentic means I like sittingat a place where my chairs do not match.
They wobble the table wobbles and allof our coffee mugs are half broken

(01:01:42):
and glued back together and different.
That's unique.
And it used to be, you know, the place,but if you drive around now breakfast
place, breakfast joints are gone,they're almost all fully extinct.
They're just gone.
And you know, others are beingattacked constantly by that same thing.
So to keep those local businessesalive, we've gotta support them.
But uh, you know, if you surveypeople, they say the reason they

(01:02:05):
don't support local businesses,they don't know what to expect.
They don't know what, where to findthem and they think they're expensive.
And so Locus trying to fix that problem.
And that's really what my main, youknow, thriving goal is, is if you,
you know, it's one thing to come outand say, oh, support local business.
But that doesn't work.
Uh, it's never gonna workif it's just charity.

(01:02:26):
If someone is doing it justto, because you know, it's what
economists call the warm glow.
And if they're just doing it for that.
Fun sensation, it'll never get done.
And so you do have to buildin an actual economic model.
And we're working on tryingto make that economic model
where I say, Hey, stop paying.
Average small business is paying, youknow, Google and Facebook and Amazon.

(01:02:48):
$1,500 in total a month.
To do all this marketing that, uh, youknow, for Instagram boosts and doesn't
really, you know, account to much.
They have no way of showing if it works.
And Loca now has a wayto show that it works.
You are able to connect directly withyour local customers and, and give
them something and they're happy.
'cause now they're earning cash,which is lowering their prices

(01:03:10):
to support local businesses.
And so, so that's really my most recentambition is to try to bring that, not just
to this country, but around the world.
I think it's gonna be a, a greatapp as you travel, you'll be able
to find lots of things to do in lotsof different communities and, you
know, it's gonna be exclusive tojust those local, small businesses.
And a great way for them no longerto have to have a PhD in marketing

(01:03:32):
to try to reach local customers.
They can easily, youknow, let it run itself.
And, uh, you know, still be able toconnect and you as a customer now
have a way to connect to a smallbusiness without having this whole
anxiety that seems to be, uh, youknow, troubling this new generation.
Uh, they can easily interface with it justfrom their phone and, uh, you know, help

(01:03:54):
really, uh, grow those small business.
So that's, that's whereI'd say that's what I see.
I really want to grow that, thathas, uh, become my new passion.
Ambition is to really help, uh, uh, youknow, thriving young entrepreneurs trying
to, you know, get outta their community.
Yeah.
And I think that is, uh, perfect tiewith our whole discussion because it
goes back to the root and heart of, um,what I was saying, if I had to label, you

(01:04:18):
know, your journey is about community.
And so, you know, comingto, I like it loca.
And then not only, you know, youwent from, I guess helping from
a, it's a, I guess you wouldsay a ripple effect, right?
Helping your small, your family toyour small community, to uh, you know,
uh, the wider state to the country.

(01:04:39):
And now.
Globally.
Um, and, and, and not only that,bringing what you saw as your life
experience with, uh, your family.
As you, you know, mentioned youhave multiple, um, siblings that are
entrepreneurs, so you understand alldifferent types of, uh, businesses and,
um, difficulties and, uh, perspectivesand uh, you know, bringing that together

(01:05:04):
now in an application that, you know,helps people around the world and not
get, uh, bogged down by, um, the red tape.
Um.
You know, that's, that's astounding.
I don't know if you've, you, you probablysaw that, uh, coming and so, um, yeah.

(01:05:24):
So I think it was wonderful to gothrough your journey and understand,
um, you know, why you have now created,um, loca and, um, what brought you to.
All of this, um, uh, um, youknow, understanding of community
for your own experiences and alsounderstanding, um, what's going

(01:05:46):
on out here in this crazy world.
That sounds so much nicer when you say it.
So Well, thank you Joefor your time and insight.
To learn more about Loca andJoe Edgar, go to loca us.
If you have a passion for an Unservedcommunity, a social justice problem,
or wanna change minds contact project,good work at Project, good Work to

(01:06:08):
start your project of Change today,subscribe to our mailing list at Project
good.work/subscribe to get our episodesand blog articles sent to you each month.
To our listeners, thanks fortuning in to Project Good, where
we're focused on what matters.