Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Virgil Revish.
I'm a native of Petersburg, butnow I live in Chesterfield.
I've been living inChesterfield for about 24 years
now, and so I've been working inthe school system, I'd say for
about 40-some years working withyouth.
But what I found out this year,what my niche was, it was the
(00:20):
sixth graders.
The reason I say sixth gradersis because that's the beginning
of their lives, sixth graders.
The reason I say sixth gradersis because that's the beginning
of their lives.
By beginning of their lives,just like, they have to know how
to have a plan in place, and sowhen I speak with them, I ask
them, I say what do you want todo?
That's the first thing I'masking.
So you want to go to school,you want to go in the workforce.
(00:41):
So someone want to go to school, someone want to go in the
workforce.
So what I say?
You need the three p's first.
What are the three p's?
The three p's are playing thepreparation of your plan in the
last stage is presentation.
But what happened?
They added another one.
That other one that I add,that's the plus one p.
(01:02):
That plus one p is add, that'sthe plus one P.
That plus one P is patience,and so we all need patience.
So anyone can use that plan.
Anybody need not know how toprepare their plan.
And then the last stage ispresent.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
Take me back a little bit.
What originally drew you toeducation and community
mentorship?
Give me a quick, kind of likeoverview of your journey from
teaching junior high to yourcontinuing education and
consulting work.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Really my father.
He was an advocate of education.
My father had a fifth gradeeducation and it was seven of us
and, just like, all of us wentto college and my father worked
civil service.
And what I noticed about myfather, he was my mentor.
By being my mentor he showed totalk to us about responsibility
(01:57):
, leadership, accountability,those types of things.
And when I started noticingwhat my father was doing, how he
was raising us he worked thecivil service I'm going to go
back to that and we had twoweeks for vacation in the
summertime.
My father drove a dump truck andI saw during that time, when I
(02:21):
was young, how my father wastaking care of us, plus my
mother.
She was at home, she preparedthe meals, kept the house clean,
and my father, you know, hewent to work.
But all of us were successful,all of us had good educations
(02:42):
and you know it trinned from myfather you know it's trending
from a father I saw he was mymentor, he was my light and so
he was.
I just, you know, just followedthat.
And what really got me intoeducation?
Just like my football coach, Iwas a football player and I got
(03:05):
two scholarships but, I, didn'tgo to those schools because at
the time those schools didn'thave good athletic programs.
So I went to Virginia State,went there for about three,
three and a half years and Iwould have went four years.
But my football coach, he wasassistant principal down at
Peabody Junior High School.
That's the same school Igraduated from.
It was a high school then andmy class was the last class to
graduate from Peabody High.
(03:26):
So I taught there from 75, 76.
So during that time I tookadvantage of the GI Bill.
So I went into the military.
I had signed up a year before Iwent in.
You call that, what do you callit?
You call it delayed entrance.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
And so I went in a year after that.
So I did three and a half years.
Then, after three and a halfyears, I moved to Fairfax and so
I worked in the school systemup there.
That's when I met Ms BonnieCooper.
She was the director of SACC,that's school-age child care,
and so I did that for about fouryears.
(04:04):
And then I moved back down toPetersburg.
I worked at the wastewatertreatment plant.
So I did that for about a yearand a half.
I re-injured my back and so Icame out on workman's comp.
And so, coming out on workman'scomp, I started looking at some
more things.
And so back in this was 87.
(04:26):
When it came out 89, I put mysocial security paperwork in.
That was approved back in 1989.
And so from there, 93, 93, afriend at Petersburg High School
whose name was Larry Brown.
He said man, I have a program.
(04:48):
He said I see how you work withyouth.
And he said we'd like for youto start this program.
It was called School Watch.
And what happened?
I said let me look at thepaperwork and I said I'll bring
it back next week, coming up.
I looked at the paperwork.
I said man, I think I like theprogram.
And so what I did?
I was the area coordinator atthe time and so by being an area
(05:13):
coordinator I start talking toother folks so they can be
volunteers coming in for thehelp with the program.
So we had military helping usout, we had retired school
teachers, we had people that'sin the community.
So we had a lot.
I had about at least about 100to 150 volunteers working.
(05:34):
We also had the police officersbecause they gave us training
how to defend ourselves, youknow.
And so you know the program wasvery successful during that
time, got a letter from BillClinton when he was the
president, got a letter fromGovernor Gilmore when he was the
governor, and so you know theyliked the program and so we say
(05:58):
we're going to startimplementing some things within
the school.
Fast forward my program VisionGoing to the Next Level.
Two have received scholarshipsfrom my program.
The first one he had about onemore year before he received his
PhD.
He also has a group home.
(06:18):
The second individual he justgraduated from Virginia State.
He had four professional teamslooking at him but he got
injured last year so he'srehabilitating his right now but
I'm pretty sure he'll probablyget an offer but he's getting
ready to go back and continuehis education, also to work on
(06:39):
his master's.
Oh wow.
But what I'll be doing?
I'll be going around talking tofamilies, talking to students,
you know, about continuingeducation, seeing what they want
to do, where they want to go.
And then you know my program.
It really works because I havea lot of media coverage behind
me that's written about it andthey say it's very successful,
this program Vision Going to theNext Level.
(07:02):
My second book is called If youLook Up, you Can Get Up.
If you Look Up, you Can Get Up.
That's the program itself.
It starts from the ninth gradeuntil they graduate from high
school.
I have a guideline form forthat, but they have to put the
work in themselves.
Anyone can go through thisprogram, but they have to work
(07:25):
it.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And it's very successful.
Awesome, yeah.
As an author and mentor, how doyou use your books to inspire
adults engaged in continuingeducation programs?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Well, some of the parents don't really know.
And so what I do?
I just go down and just tellthem the basics.
He said my child or my daughterwants to do this or want to do
that.
I said do they know?
Are they going to school?
They say yes.
I said what school are theygoing to?
And so they tell me the school.
(08:00):
I said the first thing, youneed to know what the
requirements, what the schoolsare looking for, because the
schools are looking for numbersnow SAT scores, act scores and
GPA.
Now, if you meet thoserequirements, I tell them.
I said now pick five schoolsthat you're interested in and
(08:20):
see if you can qualify for thoseschools interested in, and see
if you can qualify for thoseschools.
And so they do that.
And so the first young man whogot the scholarship his dad used
to take him every summer downto Virginia Beach, but this
particular year, after hestarted working on his program,
(08:43):
he started just doing what hehad to do.
But you know, he put his planin place.
I saw where he was improving, Isaw where he was maturing and
he really wanted to do that.
And so he's my role model rightthere.
He's my role model because I'mvery excited for him.
(09:04):
I'm very proud of him because Isaw him from Asia.
It was about when I first methim.
He was about 12 or 13 when Ifirst met him, and so he's doing
very well now.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That's amazing.
Yeah.
What unique challenges do adultlearners face in continuing
education and how does yourconsulting work help to address
those?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Well, there's a lot just like they don't know.
Just like the second young manwhom I was working with yeah,
good, gpa, but he hadn't donehis test and I said you know,
you have one more year, man.
I said I'll be taking that test.
He said no.
So I went and talked to hisguidance counselor.
(09:50):
When he talked to his guidancecounselor, I said what's the
next date for the next test?
So what she did?
She looked that up and shesigned him up for the next date.
He matched the test.
His academics is very good.
He just didn't know how to getto that next level.
Okay, and so what I did?
(10:10):
I'm sorry, oh it's okay.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
You're a busy man.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So what I did?
I just helped him get to thatnext level.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
How does your experience as aspeaker influence the way you
design or support thesecontinuing education initiatives
?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I try to be a role model.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Just like I say, practice what you preach.
And just like they see me, I'malways the same, every day.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yes, Just like when I first met you, I'm still the
same.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're the same, like , just like when I first met you
I'm still the same, you're thesame.
You have a nice smile, thankyou.
And then you know, um, by justsaying all of that, it's how you
carry yourself and people willwill accept you more.
You know, you don't have to be,phony, yeah, be for real and
all you for real with them, theycan accept it.
And then you know, be for realwhen all you real with them,
they can accept it.
And then you know that's how Iget through.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, I love that advice.
I totally agree.
Your book Vision Going to theNext Level offers a lot of
practical guidance.
How do you see those principleshelping?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
continuing education, students overcome obstacles?
Well, a lot.
Just like I've started my thirdbook that's on bullying.
Now bullying you have to beprepared for that, because you
have three types of bullying.
But you know where bullyingstarts from.
It starts from home, yeah, andjust like you may not seem like
it's bullying, but it startsfrom home.
And just like you may not seemlike it's bullying, but it
(11:44):
starts from home.
But then you have to surroundyourself around people who's
going to influence you, who'sgoing to make things better for
you, and you know what.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, no, I agree, I think it does start at home, and
that's something I haven'theard spoken about until like a
few years ago, but Iwholeheartedly agree with that.
In mentoring individualspursuing lifelong learning, what
mindset shifts do you find aremost important for success?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Mindset you have to be.
You have to focus, be focused,yes, and once you're focused,
you have a clear mind.
You can see things much betterwhen you have a clear mind and
you can focus on what you wantto do.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, I agree.
How do you integrate yourconsulting insights into your
speaking engagements focused oneducation and personal
development?
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's like when I go out and speak, I just don't
speak.
I have interaction also.
Yeah, because by havinginteraction they can understand
what you're doing and then theycan understand some things, what
they need to do for themselvesalso, just like it's not just me
, but they learn it as well asI'm learning.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
We learn from each other, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yeah, if there's one story that sticks out to you,
besides the ones that you'vekind of hit on about mentees, is
there one that is particularlyemotionally affecting to you or
that really made an impact onwhy you do what you do?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
What really made an impact was the first individual.
I saw how he enjoyed football,how he wanted to play when he
didn't play, when he couldn'tplay.
It was a rude awakening for him.
So what he did?
He prepared himself for thatnext year, and so the year that
(13:46):
he couldn't play he had a 1.79GPA Really Wow, and that's why
he couldn't play.
Then another thing he got histhing fenced up together.
Everyone's calling you today hegot himself together and he
(14:09):
knew what he wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, awesome.
And you know, um, you know whathe wanted to do.
Yeah, awesome.
What would you say?
The future of the future ofyour career looks like.
Like.
What do you have in mind?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
okay, I said the future is opening up because my
book is on tour right now.
Wow, it's on international tour.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And which book is this out of the three?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Vision.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Okay, Vision.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
If you look up and they was chosen to be on this
tour my books.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Wow, congratulations.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
So what happened with that tour is September 10th
through September 14th I may begoing to the Philippines.
Wow, they gave me the redcarpet, so I'm just finalizing
things right now.
And also my two books.
They've also been listed in thecolleges, also been listed in
(15:05):
the schools also.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's amazing.
You're going to have so muchimpact too.
I thought that feels really,really good.
What would you say?
The most fulfilling part ofwhat you do is Like what?
What keeps you going every day?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Seeing a kid get to the next level.
If I didn't get to that nextlevel, they put the work in so
they have earned it and so thatrewards me.
When I see them put the work in, come and ask me questions what
I need to do next, then if Idon't know the question, I get
the answer for them and I bringit back to them.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, that's incredible.
Well, is there anything that Ididn't touch on that you wanted
to kind of talk about?
You've done so much and you'vespoken so much about everything,
but is there anything you wantto dig into in particular?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
I just enjoy what I do, and you know I really
haven't really gotten paid likeI should be getting paid, but
you know things are picking upnow though.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Things are picking up now, touring the Philippines
red carpet, and I hear thatphone ringing too, so that's
always good.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Just like it's selling a lot overseas, and so
I'm just amazed about that, andI'm glad people are picking the
information up.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
And if they have any kind of information, they can
give me a call, or even justthey can email me.
Yeah, and that's great thatyou're so accessible too, that
if anyone needs anything, youmake yourself open to just
answering their questions andreally helping each person get
to a successful point, just asyou had that journey to success
and you had, you know, wonderfulmentors and wonderful parents
along the way.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
My father, you know, I just admired him and so I said
, if I wanted to do this, I haveto be a stand-up person, I have
to be a light for them.
Yeah, then I have to lead it.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, and so many kids and adults don't have that.
They don't have that fatherfigure.
They don't have that fatherfigure.
They don't have that mentorship.
So I just think it's soincredible that you're able to
be that mentor for so manypeople.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So thank you for what you do.
Oh, absolutely.
When you put Christ first,nothing can bother you.
Then You're going to go throughprocesses.
Everybody has a process.
Everybody's process isdifferent.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
And so you know you go through your process, you
pray on it and then some ofthese things that's beginning to
come forth now.
I had prayed about these thingsand what God had done for me
two years previous he did thistwo years before Show me, I'll
be on big stages, money here,money there.
(17:47):
But you know it's not about themoney, but you know it's good
to have it Absolutely.
But you know he had showed thistwo years ago.
But you know what he did.
He says it's a process that youneed to go through.
He said you haven't done thisprocess.
You know what that process was.
I've been married twice.
My first marriage I wasn'tthere because I was in the
(18:08):
military and I was up inNorthern Virginia.
I told my ex-brother, my wifeat the time, then I said y'all
come back down here toPetersburg and I said I'm going
to call you guys up once I getsituated up there.
And so when I got situated Iwas going through some hardship
and stuff.
And so I went through aseparation.
(18:29):
And going through thatseparation it was kind of, you
know, it was a damper, but itwas a rude awakening too, and so
that was part of my process andwhat I'm trying to get at about
the process, the reason I addedprocess, the patience, the
reason I added that one.
I said I'm going to test yourpatience.
That's what he did.
(18:50):
And so I said I don't want todo it this time.
And so I said what he gave meto do.
It was hard and it's still hard, but you know what I'm getting
through it.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, you got to persevere.
It's such an important qualityfor people to have and for
people to build, so that'samazing.
I'm getting through it though.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
But you know what?
Everybody have a process, andthen you have to recognize your
process also.
Yes, and once you recognizeyour process and you give it to
my daddy upstairs, he's going totake care of it for you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Is there anything else you wanted to add or
anything you wanted to talkabout?
Speaker 1 (19:29):
that I didn't hit on.
I'm good right now.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, well, it was such a pleasure talking to you
and having you on the show.
Yeah, thank you for sittingdown with me today.
Virgil, it's not a problem.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I.
My name is Virgil Revish.
I'm a native of Petersburg, butnow I live in Chesterfield.
I've been living inChesterfield for about 24 years
now, and so I've been working inthe school system, I'd say for
about 40-some years working withyouth.
But what I found out this year,what my niche was, it was the
(00:20):
sixth graders.
The reason I say sixth gradersis because that's the beginning
of their lives, sixth graders.
The reason I say sixth gradersis because that's the beginning
of their lives.
By beginning of their lives,just like, they have to know how
to have a plan in place, and sowhen I speak with them, I ask
them, I say what do you want todo?
That's the first thing I'masking.
So you want to go to school,you want to go in the workforce.
(00:41):
So someone want to go to school, someone want to go in the
workforce.
So what I say?
You need the three p's first.
What are the three p's?
The three p's are playing thepreparation of your plan in the
last stage is presentation.
But what happened?
They added another one.
That other one that I add,that's the plus one p.
(01:02):
That plus one p is add, that'sthe plus one P.
That plus one P is patience,and so we all need patience.
So anyone can use that plan.
Anybody need not know how toprepare their plan.
And then the last stage ispresent.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, absolutely.
Take me back a little bit.
What originally drew you toeducation and community
mentorship?
Give me a quick, kind of likeoverview of your journey from
teaching junior high to yourcontinuing education and
consulting work.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Really my father.
He was an advocate of education.
My father had a fifth gradeeducation and it was seven of us
and, just like, all of us wentto college and my father worked
civil service.
And what I noticed about myfather, he was my mentor.
By being my mentor he showed totalk to us about responsibility
(01:57):
, leadership, accountability,those types of things.
And when I started noticingwhat my father was doing, how he
was raising us he worked thecivil service I'm going to go
back to that and we had twoweeks for vacation in the
summertime.
My father drove a dump truck andI saw during that time, when I
(02:21):
was young, how my father wastaking care of us, plus my
mother.
She was at home, she preparedthe meals, kept the house clean,
and my father, you know, hewent to work.
But all of us were successful,all of us had good educations
(02:42):
and you know it trinned from myfather you know it's trending
from a father I saw he was mymentor, he was my light and so
he was.
I just, you know, just followedthat.
And what really got me intoeducation?
Just like my football coach, Iwas a football player and I got
(03:05):
two scholarships but, I, didn'tgo to those schools because at
the time those schools didn'thave good athletic programs.
So I went to Virginia State,went there for about three,
three and a half years and Iwould have went four years.
But my football coach, he wasassistant principal down at
Peabody Junior High School.
That's the same school Igraduated from.
It was a high school then andmy class was the last class to
graduate from Peabody High.
(03:26):
So I taught there from 75, 76.
So during that time I tookadvantage of the GI Bill.
So I went into the military.
I had signed up a year before Iwent in.
You call that, what do you callit?
You call it delayed entrance.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
And so I went in a year after that.
So I did three and a half years.
Then, after three and a halfyears, I moved to Fairfax and so
I worked in the school systemup there.
That's when I met Ms BonnieCooper.
She was the director of SACC,that's school-age child care,
and so I did that for about fouryears.
(04:04):
And then I moved back down toPetersburg.
I worked at the wastewatertreatment plant.
So I did that for about a yearand a half.
I re-injured my back and so Icame out on workman's comp.
And so, coming out on workman'scomp, I started looking at some
more things.
And so back in this was 87.
(04:26):
When it came out 89, I put mysocial security paperwork in.
That was approved back in 1989.
And so from there, 93, 93, afriend at Petersburg High School
whose name was Larry Brown.
He said man, I have a program.
(04:48):
He said I see how you work withyouth.
And he said we'd like for youto start this program.
It was called School Watch.
And what happened?
I said let me look at thepaperwork and I said I'll bring
it back next week, coming up.
I looked at the paperwork.
I said man, I think I like theprogram.
And so what I did?
I was the area coordinator atthe time and so by being an area
(05:13):
coordinator I start talking toother folks so they can be
volunteers coming in for thehelp with the program.
So we had military helping usout, we had retired school
teachers, we had people that'sin the community.
So we had a lot.
I had about at least about 100to 150 volunteers working.
(05:34):
We also had the police officersbecause they gave us training
how to defend ourselves, youknow.
And so you know the program wasvery successful during that
time, got a letter from BillClinton when he was the
president, got a letter fromGovernor Gilmore when he was the
governor, and so you know theyliked the program and so we say
(05:58):
we're going to startimplementing some things within
the school.
Fast forward my program VisionGoing to the Next Level.
Two have received scholarshipsfrom my program.
The first one he had about onemore year before he received his
PhD.
He also has a group home.
(06:18):
The second individual he justgraduated from Virginia State.
He had four professional teamslooking at him but he got
injured last year so he'srehabilitating his right now but
I'm pretty sure he'll probablyget an offer but he's getting
ready to go back and continuehis education, also to work on
(06:39):
his master's.
Oh wow.
But what I'll be doing?
I'll be going around talking tofamilies, talking to students,
you know, about continuingeducation, seeing what they want
to do, where they want to go.
And then you know my program.
It really works because I havea lot of media coverage behind
me that's written about it andthey say it's very successful,
this program Vision Going to theNext Level.
(07:02):
My second book is called If youLook Up, you Can Get Up.
If you Look Up, you Can Get Up.
That's the program itself.
It starts from the ninth gradeuntil they graduate from high
school.
I have a guideline form forthat, but they have to put the
work in themselves.
Anyone can go through thisprogram, but they have to work
(07:25):
it.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And it's very successful.
Awesome, yeah.
As an author and mentor, how doyou use your books to inspire
adults engaged in continuingeducation programs?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Well, some of the parents don't really know.
And so what I do?
I just go down and just tellthem the basics.
He said my child or my daughterwants to do this or want to do
that.
I said do they know?
Are they going to school?
They say yes.
I said what school are theygoing to?
And so they tell me the school.
(08:00):
I said the first thing, youneed to know what the
requirements, what the schoolsare looking for, because the
schools are looking for numbersnow SAT scores, act scores and
GPA.
Now, if you meet thoserequirements, I tell them.
I said now pick five schoolsthat you're interested in and
(08:20):
see if you can qualify for thoseschools interested in, and see
if you can qualify for thoseschools.
And so they do that.
And so the first young man whogot the scholarship his dad used
to take him every summer downto Virginia Beach, but this
particular year, after hestarted working on his program,
(08:43):
he started just doing what hehad to do.
But you know, he put his planin place.
I saw where he was improving, Isaw where he was maturing and
he really wanted to do that.
And so he's my role model rightthere.
He's my role model because I'mvery excited for him.
(09:04):
I'm very proud of him because Isaw him from Asia.
It was about when I first methim.
He was about 12 or 13 when Ifirst met him, and so he's doing
very well now.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That's amazing.
Yeah.
What unique challenges do adultlearners face in continuing
education and how does yourconsulting work help to address
those?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Well, there's a lot just like they don't know.
Just like the second young manwhom I was working with yeah,
good, gpa, but he hadn't donehis test and I said you know,
you have one more year, man.
I said I'll be taking that test.
He said no.
So I went and talked to hisguidance counselor.
(09:50):
When he talked to his guidancecounselor, I said what's the
next date for the next test?
So what she did?
She looked that up and shesigned him up for the next date.
He matched the test.
His academics is very good.
He just didn't know how to getto that next level.
Okay, and so what I did?
(10:10):
I'm sorry, oh it's okay.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
You're a busy man.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
So what I did?
I just helped him get to thatnext level.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
How does your experience as aspeaker influence the way you
design or support thesecontinuing education initiatives
?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I try to be a role model.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Just like I say, practice what you preach.
And just like they see me, I'malways the same, every day.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yes, Just like when I first met you, I'm still the
same.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're the same, like , just like when I first met you
I'm still the same, you're thesame.
You have a nice smile, thankyou.
And then you know, um, by justsaying all of that, it's how you
carry yourself and people willwill accept you more.
You know, you don't have to be,phony, yeah, be for real and
all you for real with them, theycan accept it.
And then you know, be for realwhen all you real with them,
they can accept it.
And then you know that's how Iget through.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, I love that advice.
I totally agree.
Your book Vision Going to theNext Level offers a lot of
practical guidance.
How do you see those principleshelping?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
continuing education, students overcome obstacles?
Well, a lot.
Just like I've started my thirdbook that's on bullying.
Now bullying you have to beprepared for that, because you
have three types of bullying.
But you know where bullyingstarts from.
It starts from home, yeah, andjust like you may not seem like
it's bullying, but it startsfrom home.
And just like you may not seemlike it's bullying, but it
(11:44):
starts from home.
But then you have to surroundyourself around people who's
going to influence you, who'sgoing to make things better for
you, and you know what.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, no, I agree, I think it does start at home, and
that's something I haven'theard spoken about until like a
few years ago, but Iwholeheartedly agree with that.
In mentoring individualspursuing lifelong learning, what
mindset shifts do you find aremost important for success?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Mindset you have to be.
You have to focus, be focused,yes, and once you're focused,
you have a clear mind.
You can see things much betterwhen you have a clear mind and
you can focus on what you wantto do.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, I agree.
How do you integrate yourconsulting insights into your
speaking engagements focused oneducation and personal
development?
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's like when I go out and speak, I just don't
speak.
I have interaction also.
Yeah, because by havinginteraction they can understand
what you're doing and then theycan understand some things, what
they need to do for themselvesalso, just like it's not just me
, but they learn it as well asI'm learning.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
We learn from each other, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yeah, if there's one story that sticks out to you,
besides the ones that you'vekind of hit on about mentees, is
there one that is particularlyemotionally affecting to you or
that really made an impact onwhy you do what you do?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
What really made an impact was the first individual.
I saw how he enjoyed football,how he wanted to play when he
didn't play, when he couldn'tplay.
It was a rude awakening for him.
So what he did?
He prepared himself for thatnext year, and so the year that
(13:46):
he couldn't play he had a 1.79GPA Really Wow, and that's why
he couldn't play.
Then another thing he got histhing fenced up together.
Everyone's calling you today hegot himself together and he
(14:09):
knew what he wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, awesome.
And you know, um, you know whathe wanted to do.
Yeah, awesome.
What would you say?
The future of the future ofyour career looks like.
Like.
What do you have in mind?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
okay, I said the future is opening up because my
book is on tour right now.
Wow, it's on international tour.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And which book is this out of the three?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Vision.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Okay, Vision.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
If you look up and they was chosen to be on this
tour my books.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Wow, congratulations.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
So what happened with that tour is September 10th
through September 14th I may begoing to the Philippines.
Wow, they gave me the redcarpet, so I'm just finalizing
things right now.
And also my two books.
They've also been listed in thecolleges, also been listed in
(15:05):
the schools also.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's amazing.
You're going to have so muchimpact too.
I thought that feels really,really good.
What would you say?
The most fulfilling part ofwhat you do is Like what?
What keeps you going every day?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Seeing a kid get to the next level.
If I didn't get to that nextlevel, they put the work in so
they have earned it and so thatrewards me.
When I see them put the work in, come and ask me questions what
I need to do next, then if Idon't know the question, I get
the answer for them and I bringit back to them.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, that's incredible.
Well, is there anything that Ididn't touch on that you wanted
to kind of talk about?
You've done so much and you'vespoken so much about everything,
but is there anything you wantto dig into in particular?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
I just enjoy what I do, and you know I really
haven't really gotten paid likeI should be getting paid, but
you know things are picking upnow though.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Things are picking up now, touring the Philippines
red carpet, and I hear thatphone ringing too, so that's
always good.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Just like it's selling a lot overseas, and so
I'm just amazed about that, andI'm glad people are picking the
information up.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
And if they have any kind of information, they can
give me a call, or even justthey can email me.
Yeah, and that's great thatyou're so accessible too, that
if anyone needs anything, youmake yourself open to just
answering their questions andreally helping each person get
to a successful point, just asyou had that journey to success
and you had, you know, wonderfulmentors and wonderful parents
along the way.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
My father, you know, I just admired him and so I said
, if I wanted to do this, I haveto be a stand-up person, I have
to be a light for them.
Yeah, then I have to lead it.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, and so many kids and adults don't have that.
They don't have that fatherfigure.
They don't have that fatherfigure.
They don't have that mentorship.
So I just think it's soincredible that you're able to
be that mentor for so manypeople.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So thank you for what you do.
Oh, absolutely.
When you put Christ first,nothing can bother you.
Then You're going to go throughprocesses.
Everybody has a process.
Everybody's process isdifferent.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
And so you know you go through your process, you
pray on it and then some ofthese things that's beginning to
come forth now.
I had prayed about these thingsand what God had done for me
two years previous he did thistwo years before Show me, I'll
be on big stages, money here,money there.
(17:47):
But you know it's not about themoney, but you know it's good
to have it Absolutely.
But you know he had showed thistwo years ago.
But you know what he did.
He says it's a process that youneed to go through.
He said you haven't done thisprocess.
You know what that process was.
I've been married twice.
My first marriage I wasn'tthere because I was in the
(18:08):
military and I was up inNorthern Virginia.
I told my ex-brother, my wifeat the time, then I said y'all
come back down here toPetersburg and I said I'm going
to call you guys up once I getsituated up there.
And so when I got situated Iwas going through some hardship
and stuff.
And so I went through aseparation.
(18:29):
And going through thatseparation it was kind of, you
know, it was a damper, but itwas a rude awakening too, and so
that was part of my process andwhat I'm trying to get at about
the process, the reason I addedprocess, the patience, the
reason I added that one.
I said I'm going to test yourpatience.
That's what he did.
(18:50):
And so I said I don't want todo it this time.
And so I said what he gave meto do.
It was hard and it's still hard, but you know what I'm getting
through it.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, you got to persevere.
It's such an important qualityfor people to have and for
people to build, so that'samazing.
I'm getting through it though.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
But you know what?
Everybody have a process, andthen you have to recognize your
process also.
Yes, and once you recognizeyour process and you give it to
my daddy upstairs, he's going totake care of it for you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Is there anything else you wanted to add or
anything you wanted to talkabout?
Speaker 1 (19:29):
that I didn't hit on.
I'm good right now.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, well, it was such a pleasure talking to you
and having you on the show.
Yeah, thank you for sittingdown with me today.
Virgil, it's not a problem.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I.
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