August 4, 2021 • 25 mins
Going from being on the fence to taking that first step to start your own business is a challenge within itself that cannot be avoided. Tune in to hear how to get through it by shaping your thought process.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ray Mayfield (00:04):
Welcome to the front runner podcast with your
hosts Ray Mayfield, and TiaraJones, two engineers were from
coworkers to in laws, and nowbusiness partners, creating a
safe space to be open and honestabout what it really takes to
start or run a business.
Tiara Jones (00:17):
We know it's easier said than done. But you were
built for this and you are notalone. Join us each week to hear
stories, lessons learned andstrategies from trusted advisors
and new and seasonedentrepreneurs on how to endure
the marathon entrepreneurship.
Ray Mayfield (00:39):
Peace, y'all. This is Ray
Tiara Jones (00:40):
Hey this is Tiara.
Ray Mayfield (00:42):
Thank you guys, for joining us today, we got a
pretty interesting topic todiscuss will be guys ready to
dive in and give us some goodfeedback. All right, so T, what
do you got to talk about today?
Tiara Jones (00:53):
So let's chat about you know, first taking that
first step and becoming anentrepreneur and you know,
really coming to grips with thefact that you want to become an
entrepreneur, because I thinkthat that's the first moment
where you're like, Okay, am Igonna do this? Am I not gonna do
this? Because I was pretty muchwhere I was when we started,
like, right, brought it up? AndI was like, I don't know, yeah,
we can, but I had a lot ofthings going in my mind. And I
(01:17):
really wanted to do somethingthat, you know, I've really
been, you know, cut out to do.
And so I got started to thinkabout everything that I've kind
of done in my lifetime with, youknow, being a BK PK and
being in church all the time,and then getting to the point
where we ended up, you know,starting our own church. And so
it wasn't just about, you know,going through the motions of
(01:40):
going to church and things likethat, but really building
something up of your own andreally making it like building a
community really building arelationship with, you know,
with people that you care about,or whatever, I was just like,
Okay, well, I was able to dothat, I guess, is kind of
similar, and we can make thiswork. And so I was like, well,
you don't know unless you tryit. But we kind of jumped into
(02:00):
it. So I'm sure I'm not the onlyone. I don't know what Ray's
were whar were your thoughts?
Would you know for kind of firststarting,
Ray Mayfield (02:06):
oh, I was I was excited. I knew. I knew this is
so what I've always wanted to doto, you know, have my own thing.
You know, I mean, I've alwayswanted to have my own company, I
always wanted to, you know, beinvolved in making the world a
better place to a degree. Soyeah, I was excited. that
opportunity to do with you wasunexpected. But when it
(02:26):
presented itself, I had no nodoubts, man, you're smart, you
know, you're creative. Thatthings that I don't necessarily
take serious, you take serious,and it's made out, that's a
great balance, when you go putit together.
But I will say this, for thosewho have business partners, I
think it's effective. And what Istruggle with was communicating
(02:47):
with Tiara initially right. Andeven some to this day, you know,
I have to understand my businesspartners needs and feed it, it's
almost like a it's almost like arelationship. You know, you have
to understand this person whoyou're operating, doing business
with for it to be successful,you need to feed their needs,
specifically so that way theycan stay engaged, stay motivated
(03:07):
in the process to right, soSome friends of mine and I
started business, I think backin 2010 2011 timeframe. 12. And
(03:29):
we had an awesome opportunity towork in some government
contracting sector. And when wewhen we were getting into the
day before we were going to whatthe government calls a purchase
order with a sole source youwill contract and stroke a check
sequesteration hit 2013 thatsequesteration hit and the
(03:50):
customers funds got cut, boom,nothing happened. So you know, I
got to the point I got to thatclimax and was led down so the
second time around, I wanted totake my time getting there so
there was no disappointment. Ididn't communicate that properly
what's here so I apologize but
Tiara Jones (04:10):
because I think well you know, first starting
out such as us both having twodifferent kind of mindsets when
it came to you know, starting abusiness and our approach to it
was different. You know, atfirst I had to you know, really
sit with myself and be like, youknow, is this really for me? Is
this something I want to put myall into it because if I decide
I'm going to do something I'mgoing all in and I think that's
kind of where
Ray Mayfield (04:29):
Everybody's going for the ride
Tiara Jones (04:30):
exactly. That's gotta wear when we first started
was just like oh, cuz I went allin I'm like, Okay, we got to do
this. We got to do that. And hewas like, Okay, let's just
relax. I'm gonna get this done.
ButIt's kind of like, you know, the
(05:00):
buzz words and the shinyobjects, but you got to make
sure that it's what you know isright for you and what God
wants. And don't let that youthe hesitation of the all the
different unknowns and what canbe uncomfortable to you to then
make that put you in thebusiness position where no, it's
not for me, if that's what God'stelling you to do. So just that
thing really was starting out,that's something that you're
(05:23):
thinking about, take time toreally think about, you know,
and pray about is this really,for me is this where God wants
me to go, being honest withyourself in your different
personality characteristics andhow that's kind of play of fact
in your business, whether youhave a partner or not, I think
that still plays an importantrole. And so you know, really be
be prepared to push through kindof the unforeseen circumstances
(05:49):
when things come up, because itdefinitely happened in a lot of
ways with us, there was a lot ofdisappointment in the beginning.
And you know, really preparingyourself to be disappointed
knowing that things are notgoing to go your way things are,
you know, things are going tochange, and just being able to
accept that change and beingable to, you know, pivot in a
sense, or be accepting of otherdoors that are going to open
(06:11):
even it's not the doors that youparticularly want it,
Ray Mayfield (06:15):
Facts, Facts, a think um, you know, it's
interesting, right? Um,you know, as entrepreneur, I
think we all want to, you know,you want to make sure you have
things planned out, but don't Mything is, you know, don't plan
yourself into not reallystarting and taking action,
right, that first step. And Ithink, you know, it's, there's,
there's a few i's and T's youhave to get dotted upfront,
(06:37):
we're looking at, you know,state certifications, things of
that nature, you know, thoseare, those are the essentials,
right? But you know, you don'twant to plan to the point, you
never start and you don't wantto procrastinate to the point
start, right, Kobi Kobi said,you know, rest, rest at the end
and not in the middle. But youdon't want to rest in the
beginning, either, you know, me,so you got to put some action
forward, you know, to, to movethe ball forward, you know,
(07:00):
start building out your vision,you know, whenever whatever
you're developing, and what yourintentions are, you know, just
don't be afraid. And don't behesitant to the point where you
never do anything,
Tiara Jones (07:09):
right, and then look at the fact that mean, you
can be an entrepreneur or anintrapreneur. And maybe you're
at the place in your careerwhere you have different ideas
and things that you want todevelop and what you're already
working in. And it may be bestfor you to just, you know, go to
whoever you're working with thecompany you're working for, and
be like, hey, like, would yougive me a little bit of creative
freedom to kind of go in thislane and sometimes that's the
(07:31):
route versus going the full out,you know, entrepreneur route.
And so there's different optionsout there for you to move
forward with, you know, your Godgiven gifts and passions and
things that you want to do. Andso just take a moment when you
first kind of make thatdecision, or you're making the
decisions to just reallyunderstand what you're getting
yourself out to.
into, rather
Ray Mayfield (07:52):
without a doubt, man, put yourself in a position
to win, right? So, you know, youdefinitely want to do things,
um, you know, at your speed atyour comfort level. My business
partners communicating in youknow, divide, conquer, you know,
there's methods, many methods tothat madness, right. But you
know, just apply yourself pray,you know, and, and stay true to
(08:14):
your original concept as bestyou can, right? You know, you
started your company with avision, you know, you had an end
game in mind, you know, do thebest you can just stick that in
end vision to motivate yourselfto keep moving towards it until
you achieve it, and I get it,you know, you're you're, you're
watching this you're started maychange your shift in the middle,
you may hit a wall, or you know,someone may drop something that
(08:37):
you're gonna do before you'regoing to do it. Don't Don't let
that stop your creative flow.
You know, just keep providingright? My sister put a post up
on Instagram, what up MoMo, sheput a post on Instagram a couple
months ago, to the effect of notshe was she was in a process
(08:58):
that was up there as someone didthe same thing and dropped it.
And my thing to her was this,you know, is something that God
gave you is for you, by nomatter how they tried to
replicate it or do it, it's foryou is your thing to do. So just
remember that in for all theentrepreneurs out there, man,
like, if God put some of yourheart, do it, and someone else
did it already. Do it anyway,because it's for you, it's for
(09:19):
you to get something out of itand for you to give something to
someone else from it.
Tiara Jones (09:24):
Absolutely. And you got to remove yourself from the
noise, the noise of what yournew business should be or what
it shouldn't be. Because youknow, everyone talks about you
know, when you're starting as anentrepreneur, just go ahead and
just get an LLC, an LLC isn'tfor everyone. There's many
different business structuresand things out there and so you
know, don't you know couldn'tput yourself in a box just by
(09:45):
what you see on social media orby what others are telling you
to do. When you first start abusiness because depending on
what Ray said you know what yourvision is for your company that
may not be the best route. Youmay want to go more of the, you
know, the startup route or youwant to look
get different investors andthings like that. And in that
sense, and LLC may not be foryou. And so just, you know,
really think about, you knowwhat it is that you want to do,
(10:09):
and not what everyone else isdoing. Or just try hard. No,
it's easier, you know, said thandone. But try to just break away
from the noise in your chart,literally chart your own path of
what you're doing and don't feelintimidated by those out there
saying you have to charge this,you have to do that. You sit
(10:30):
down, and you know, have youradvisors have, you know, your
Winner's Circle, they can, youknow, help you and advise you
give you like solid knowledgeand wisdom on kind of what you
need, in order to succeed foryour vision, because that is
unique to you, everybody'sbusiness is unique to them, and
how they do it behind thescenes, you know, their back end
systems, and then how theypresent themselves, you know, to
(10:52):
the pilot to their customers, totheir clients. And so, don't let
that, you know, stop you or getyou going down a path that
you're going to, you may end upyou know, regretting later on,
because you know that that's notreally where you want it to go.
But you had that, you know, aconstant pressure on you from
friends from, you know, socialmedia, or, you know, whatever,
(11:13):
just take yourself away from it.
And, you know, start looking atwhat you want to do, and then
reach out to people to help you.
I mean, there's a lot ofresources out there, you know,
to help you out to figure outkind of what's the best, you
know, route to take. And thatreally goes into you to really
do your research in thebeginning. And I know with, you
know, funding and things likethat, it's kind of takes money
to make money type of thing. Butwhen you're first starting, you
(11:35):
can do your research with, youknow, podcasts that are out
there different books and thingslike that, talking to other
entrepreneurs that have startedand things like that, and kind
of getting that realistic viewto get you going. So you know,
you really want to takeadvantage of those, you know,
relatively free resources thatare out there that kind of
jumpstart you into what you'redoing. And then get you prepared
to start really making thatmaking those first kind of
(11:58):
monetary investments into yourbusiness.
Ray Mayfield (12:00):
Yea without a doubt without doubt you do. Save
yourself where you can, youknow, and then where you can't,
you know, put yourself in aposition to get it. Don't break
your back trying do it or breakyour company trying to do
without a doubt.
Tiara Jones (12:11):
Right? Yeah. And I think when you kind of work with
others, you can work out kind ofa bartering system in the
beginning to work it out. It'snot always kind of money
exchange, but there's differentthings that, you know, people in
your circle can help you with.
And so keep that in mind.
There's untraditional ways toget something done doesn't
always have to be a monetarytransaction.
Ray Mayfield (12:32):
Absolute true Time, time is money to right. So
you know, there's all types ofways to give and get. And then
you know, for yourself to belike when if as you move to your
entrepreneur journey, like takenote, you know, take note of the
things you go through. Andremember that for the next
person, you come in contact toman, you know, always each one,
teach one, right? So always beprepared to share your story
(12:53):
with someone else. You know, younever know who you meet an
elevator, I have the mostinteresting conversations in the
most random places with the mostPlay hard, work hard play hard,
(13:53):
same concept. So just beprepared for those highs and
lows, man, I think like, youknow, for me, because I fly by
the seat of my pants, I thinklike I've been I've been in
situations where I've been incombat and been shot at. I've
been in situations where I'vebeen in America I've been shot
at and it's it's, it's for me,I'm more fluid, right? It's
(14:15):
like, I read this book shout outto my boy Larry Brooks. I read
this book by Bruce Leed calledBe Like Water and it's just like
that, right? Be like water, bemaneuverable. Be fluid enough to
flow. I'd say water can fill theglass right and water can fill
the lake. So it's consistentsays Be like water to be able to
flow with the emotions of theentrepreneur, and then continue
(14:36):
to put yourself in a positionwhere you'd be able to help
others to
Tiara Jones (14:42):
Yeah, and that was a learning experience for me
because that is not kind of howI've lived my life I have
been in those types ofsituations. It's so like when we
were first starting out, we hadkind of a plan like you know we
started in May, and we were likeby the fall all this is going to
happen.
And so like that whole summer,like I was getting all this
(15:02):
stuff done ready, you know, theprepare for this to all these
doors begin to open and you knowcontracts and things that come
through in the fall. And Ray waskind of like, okay, you can go
ahead and do all that but likeI've been on this rope before,
so in a sense, he kind of let mejust kind of go down the road.
Ray Mayfield (15:17):
Well I did tell you I said look T is that
Listen, I've been, I've beenthrough this before. With this
certain person, I know thingscan happen. And then when they
can fall out, I and my thing is,and this is me, right. And this
is this is a lesson for the menout there or the husbands out
there. This is how this myphilosophy to not fighting with
my wife. I say something once innot say something, but I give
(15:40):
advice once and if you continueto do it, then you're going to
have to find out with with whenthe wall hits or when you hit
the wall. God forbid it happens,but sometimes it does. And that
that was your productivity, yourTiara. Tiara and I have a very
umher sister, sorry, her sister.
Unknown (16:03):
We there was friction with us, right? I was I was a
new guy or an assistant. We'rewe're best bestest friends. And
here comes Ray, and a breakupthe dynamic duo, I just added to
it. But you know, so we have a,I'm very careful, always very
careful how I communicate withyou. Because I don't want to
argue with you. I don't want tofight with you. And that's just
(16:24):
me, right? I'm older. Now. I amthe old boy, I had no, I had no,
I had no interest in squabblingwith people who are not six feet
tall. So, you know. But, uh, soso like, I'm always very careful
how I communicate with you. Um,but I have to be, I have to
break that habit though. Andjust like, Look, man, sit down
(16:46):
this
Tiara Jones (16:48):
way, you know, when the time came and stuff just
fell through, you know, I washit with, you know, this hard
wall of disappointment and awake up call. And so, you know,
it really set me back cuz I'm,like, we've invested in this,
like I was trying to I was inthe mindset of, you know, stay
ready, so you got to get readytype of thing. And sometimes
(17:08):
that works. And sometimes thatdoesn't, it's, you know, to a
degree or whatever. And now Itake slightly a different
approach, especially when itcomes to me now.
That's, not to that degreewhen it really comes to like
with the, you know, thefinancial investments and things
like that I have more of asystem that I go through as I
(17:28):
kind of want to feel safe. So wedon't put all this money into
something that's going to end upfalling through and we're gonna,
you know, have to end up prettymuch taken a hit. And so, you
know, hitting that that wallthen knowing like, okay, we put
all this work in and we wentdown this phase versus, you
know, going down the more, youknow, private route with helping
(17:49):
other entrepreneurs and thingslike that first, because we
thought all of this was going tocome up and then it didn't. And
so it took me some time, it'sbeen a while, but I'll be
completely transparent took timeto kind of get over that. For
sure. Okay, now I have to kindof, I kept thinking in my head,
I had to switch gears, butreally, it was it was kind of
doing the same things at oncebecause they were going to
(18:10):
eventually end up feeding intoeach other. And so that was a
learning experience, you know,for me and so, you know, first
starting out, if you're not likeRay in have been in combat
there's gonna be that thatdisappointment, but you can you
can work through it, you can getthrough it. You know, God has
seen all of this. And so He'sgot you. He had me,
Ray Mayfield (18:34):
Tiara, you sound pretty facetious. When you're
saying that by the wayListen, I went out what I didn't
say that. It's not it's not it'snot.
Tiara Jones (18:41):
I gotta give you a hard time.
Ray Mayfield (18:43):
But it's not a glory thing is that, you know,
like I said, Man, all we are, isa combination of our
experiences, right? And I thinklike, you know, for me, it's
like, yo, I've, I've in theMarines, I've pushed my smile
myself mentally and physicallyto the point where I broke
myself, you know, I'm sayinglike, I've, I think I've pushed
myself to my limits on onmultiple occasions. So it's
(19:07):
like, as a as a get older, youknow, your energy depleted to do
things you used to do, and youcan't go as hard as it used to
go. And there's, there's a,there's a 10 year gap between
here and I so it's like, youknow, there's, there's, there's
a difference in our philosophy,views and opinions. But I look
at myself now is in now morethan I did when we started as
I'm here to not just help, youknow, the people become a
(19:29):
concept but to help Tiara to soyou know, like, um, you know, I
don't I don't know, at all, butI think I'm a pretty smart guy.
And if I have an opportunity togive game yeah, you know, I'll
definitely be more vocal. So,you know, your, your vessel
doesn't empty. And then we hit awall, you know, I mean,
Tiara Jones (19:46):
yeah, we did, because, you know, with me if I
had to accept that,accept what he was trying to
tell me because I was to thepoint well, I don't need you to
tell me that because then youget back to, you know, him being
my brother in law. I'd be like,yeah, I've done this too. Like
(20:14):
Oh, you know, but really got tothe point where I had to be
like, okay to your, you reallyneed to understand you know
where he's coming from, becausethere's a lot of things that he
can teach you, and you can teachhim and so you need to be open
for this two way street ofcommunication. And I think, you
know, I think it was kind of,you know, God wanted us to hit
that wall so that we could breakit apart and kind of start all
(20:35):
over, he did kind of start allover, you know, in a sense, and
how we went forwad, you know,with the business, and I think
that helped with us doing, youknow, starting the front runner
live and doing what that andjust being, you know, more
relaxed than me not having allthe things planned out. Because
even in the back of my mind, Iwas like, this gives me anxiety
that we're an hour in and wedon't even know what we're going
(20:56):
to be talking about.
Ray Mayfield (20:57):
Know, there have been times where I don't know if
there was, I think there may be10, we can come up with some. So
we just went live in this andjust say, hey, in the comments
we want to talk about, so yeah,but that's but I'm cool. I'm,
it's like improv to me. So it'slike, you know, it's cool, man,
I get it. Oh, no doubt. Butagain, you know, there's Yin and
Yang, right? There's for youknow, there's just polar
opposites. And then there'sopposites that attract for a
(21:18):
reason, right? So I think Ithink this is good. Because if I
was, you know, if I was in abusiness with a person like me,
I don't know how well it'd be,if you weren't a business
person, like you, man, that'd bea volcano waiting to happen. So
I was like, you know, this iswhat it is, this is what it is.
Tiara Jones (21:33):
Yeah, that's what I say, like, remove yourself from
the noise, I'm talking fromexperience, because that whole
thing of me wanting to haveeverything planned out, have
everything outlined, and all ofthat, that came from me, you
know, being a part of programsand things like that, and them
saying, Oh, you can't go live,you can't do this, unless you
have this iron down. Unless youknow what you're talking about,
you need to have a content planand Dota and all those things,
(21:55):
in a sense, it's good, but thenyou also just really need to be
who you are, and who Me and Rayare like, this is us. And so it
was like, either I was going tobe stressed out, trying to put
myself into this box of whatother businesses you know, do on
social media starting out, andyou know, how they create their
content, or I was just gonna letit flow, like Ray just kept
(22:17):
insisting and just go with theflow and just being us. And then
like, after, you know, we gotstarted, I saw, like, people are
gonna, you know, support us, butjust because of who we are, or
whatever, right. And soa whole bunch of things I've
(22:48):
learned in this two years ofstarting the business.
But those are two, that's two ofthe biggest things that you
know, continue to come up andGod will do a flashback real
quick and be like, you rememberwhen you did that last time and
how that worked out? Get youstraight?
Ray Mayfield (23:05):
Yeah, facts, I think. Yes. That that's pretty
that's pretty cool, man. Like,it's like, you know, don't don't
let people get you off yourpath, man. And there's a there's
a Chinese proverb. I read in oneof one of one of the multitude
of books I read this year, I'mtrying to read 100 books here.
Y'all pray for me.
(23:32):
But there's a Chinese proverbwith a book I read recently, I
can't remember the name of thebook of but what it said, it's
Warrior of The Light. And itsaid
what it say it said a man whowas doing it shouldn't a man who
is not doing it should notinterrupt the man that is, and I
think that's that's prettysignificant. approach. So, you
(23:53):
know, as people come and try totell, you know, you should do
this, you should do that. Like,is it come from a place of, hey,
when I did this, this is how Iexperienced it. And the
conversation that happened likethat, that's all okay to stay
true to your path. Like youknow, like, you know, you know,
who's in your corner to helpyou. And sometimes you find out
who's in your corner tonighthelp you um, you know, it could
(24:14):
be the same person so, you know,Stay Stay sharp stay prayed up,
you know, ask God fordiscernment. I'm asking to bring
around the right the rightpeople around it's going to help
you grow. And some of thatgrowth may come from pain that's
part of growing like my kneeskilled me growing up as a kid
water drain knees tight was cuzI was rolling. So I was like,
you know, you, you think of thatperspective, right? There's
going to be the ups and downs.
But when you come out of the lowpart, you should come up sharper
(24:37):
and rejuvenated with a with anew
spirit of you know, new rewardabout your new experience about
you to be you know, sharpeningwell before you know when you
were down there, low point. Sojust just keep that in mind and
stay focused this because theend is not over. So you're going
to continue to evolve as yougrow. Alright. So that being
(24:59):
said,You know, we appreciate you guys
joining us today. I look forwardto the next episode. You know
you guys stay cool out there andTiara
Tiara Jones (25:07):
Peace stay solid pace
Welcome to the front runner podcast with your
hosts Ray Mayfield, and TiaraJones, two engineers were from
coworkers to in laws, and nowbusiness partners, creating a
safe space to be open and honestabout what it really takes to
start or run a business.
Tiara Jones (00:17):
We know it's easier said than done. But you were
built for this and you are notalone. Join us each week to hear
stories, lessons learned andstrategies from trusted advisors
and new and seasonedentrepreneurs on how to endure
the marathon entrepreneurship.
Ray Mayfield (00:39):
Peace, y'all. This is Ray
Tiara Jones (00:40):
Hey this is Tiara.
Ray Mayfield (00:42):
Thank you guys, for joining us today, we got a
pretty interesting topic todiscuss will be guys ready to
dive in and give us some goodfeedback. All right, so T, what
do you got to talk about today?
Tiara Jones (00:53):
So let's chat about you know, first taking that
first step and becoming anentrepreneur and you know,
really coming to grips with thefact that you want to become an
entrepreneur, because I thinkthat that's the first moment
where you're like, Okay, am Igonna do this? Am I not gonna do
this? Because I was pretty muchwhere I was when we started,
like, right, brought it up? AndI was like, I don't know, yeah,
we can, but I had a lot ofthings going in my mind. And I
(01:17):
really wanted to do somethingthat, you know, I've really
been, you know, cut out to do.
And so I got started to thinkabout everything that I've kind
of done in my lifetime with, youknow, being a BK PK and
being in church all the time,and then getting to the point
where we ended up, you know,starting our own church. And so
it wasn't just about, you know,going through the motions of
(01:40):
going to church and things likethat, but really building
something up of your own andreally making it like building a
community really building arelationship with, you know,
with people that you care about,or whatever, I was just like,
Okay, well, I was able to dothat, I guess, is kind of
similar, and we can make thiswork. And so I was like, well,
you don't know unless you tryit. But we kind of jumped into
(02:00):
it. So I'm sure I'm not the onlyone. I don't know what Ray's
were whar were your thoughts?
Would you know for kind of firststarting,
Ray Mayfield (02:06):
oh, I was I was excited. I knew. I knew this is
so what I've always wanted to doto, you know, have my own thing.
You know, I mean, I've alwayswanted to have my own company, I
always wanted to, you know, beinvolved in making the world a
better place to a degree. Soyeah, I was excited. that
opportunity to do with you wasunexpected. But when it
(02:26):
presented itself, I had no nodoubts, man, you're smart, you
know, you're creative. Thatthings that I don't necessarily
take serious, you take serious,and it's made out, that's a
great balance, when you go putit together.
But I will say this, for thosewho have business partners, I
think it's effective. And what Istruggle with was communicating
(02:47):
with Tiara initially right. Andeven some to this day, you know,
I have to understand my businesspartners needs and feed it, it's
almost like a it's almost like arelationship. You know, you have
to understand this person whoyou're operating, doing business
with for it to be successful,you need to feed their needs,
specifically so that way theycan stay engaged, stay motivated
(03:07):
in the process to right, soSome friends of mine and I
started business, I think backin 2010 2011 timeframe. 12. And
(03:29):
we had an awesome opportunity towork in some government
contracting sector. And when wewhen we were getting into the
day before we were going to whatthe government calls a purchase
order with a sole source youwill contract and stroke a check
sequesteration hit 2013 thatsequesteration hit and the
(03:50):
customers funds got cut, boom,nothing happened. So you know, I
got to the point I got to thatclimax and was led down so the
second time around, I wanted totake my time getting there so
there was no disappointment. Ididn't communicate that properly
what's here so I apologize but
Tiara Jones (04:10):
because I think well you know, first starting
out such as us both having twodifferent kind of mindsets when
it came to you know, starting abusiness and our approach to it
was different. You know, atfirst I had to you know, really
sit with myself and be like, youknow, is this really for me? Is
this something I want to put myall into it because if I decide
I'm going to do something I'mgoing all in and I think that's
kind of where
Ray Mayfield (04:29):
Everybody's going for the ride
Tiara Jones (04:30):
exactly. That's gotta wear when we first started
was just like oh, cuz I went allin I'm like, Okay, we got to do
this. We got to do that. And hewas like, Okay, let's just
relax. I'm gonna get this done.
ButIt's kind of like, you know, the
(05:00):
buzz words and the shinyobjects, but you got to make
sure that it's what you know isright for you and what God
wants. And don't let that youthe hesitation of the all the
different unknowns and what canbe uncomfortable to you to then
make that put you in thebusiness position where no, it's
not for me, if that's what God'stelling you to do. So just that
thing really was starting out,that's something that you're
(05:23):
thinking about, take time toreally think about, you know,
and pray about is this really,for me is this where God wants
me to go, being honest withyourself in your different
personality characteristics andhow that's kind of play of fact
in your business, whether youhave a partner or not, I think
that still plays an importantrole. And so you know, really be
be prepared to push through kindof the unforeseen circumstances
(05:49):
when things come up, because itdefinitely happened in a lot of
ways with us, there was a lot ofdisappointment in the beginning.
And you know, really preparingyourself to be disappointed
knowing that things are notgoing to go your way things are,
you know, things are going tochange, and just being able to
accept that change and beingable to, you know, pivot in a
sense, or be accepting of otherdoors that are going to open
(06:11):
even it's not the doors that youparticularly want it,
Ray Mayfield (06:15):
Facts, Facts, a think um, you know, it's
interesting, right? Um,you know, as entrepreneur, I
think we all want to, you know,you want to make sure you have
things planned out, but don't Mything is, you know, don't plan
yourself into not reallystarting and taking action,
right, that first step. And Ithink, you know, it's, there's,
there's a few i's and T's youhave to get dotted upfront,
(06:37):
we're looking at, you know,state certifications, things of
that nature, you know, thoseare, those are the essentials,
right? But you know, you don'twant to plan to the point, you
never start and you don't wantto procrastinate to the point
start, right, Kobi Kobi said,you know, rest, rest at the end
and not in the middle. But youdon't want to rest in the
beginning, either, you know, me,so you got to put some action
forward, you know, to, to movethe ball forward, you know,
(07:00):
start building out your vision,you know, whenever whatever
you're developing, and what yourintentions are, you know, just
don't be afraid. And don't behesitant to the point where you
never do anything,
Tiara Jones (07:09):
right, and then look at the fact that mean, you
can be an entrepreneur or anintrapreneur. And maybe you're
at the place in your careerwhere you have different ideas
and things that you want todevelop and what you're already
working in. And it may be bestfor you to just, you know, go to
whoever you're working with thecompany you're working for, and
be like, hey, like, would yougive me a little bit of creative
freedom to kind of go in thislane and sometimes that's the
(07:31):
route versus going the full out,you know, entrepreneur route.
And so there's different optionsout there for you to move
forward with, you know, your Godgiven gifts and passions and
things that you want to do. Andso just take a moment when you
first kind of make thatdecision, or you're making the
decisions to just reallyunderstand what you're getting
yourself out to.
into, rather
Ray Mayfield (07:52):
without a doubt, man, put yourself in a position
to win, right? So, you know, youdefinitely want to do things,
um, you know, at your speed atyour comfort level. My business
partners communicating in youknow, divide, conquer, you know,
there's methods, many methods tothat madness, right. But you
know, just apply yourself pray,you know, and, and stay true to
(08:14):
your original concept as bestyou can, right? You know, you
started your company with avision, you know, you had an end
game in mind, you know, do thebest you can just stick that in
end vision to motivate yourselfto keep moving towards it until
you achieve it, and I get it,you know, you're you're, you're
watching this you're started maychange your shift in the middle,
you may hit a wall, or you know,someone may drop something that
(08:37):
you're gonna do before you'regoing to do it. Don't Don't let
that stop your creative flow.
You know, just keep providingright? My sister put a post up
on Instagram, what up MoMo, sheput a post on Instagram a couple
months ago, to the effect of notshe was she was in a process
(08:58):
that was up there as someone didthe same thing and dropped it.
And my thing to her was this,you know, is something that God
gave you is for you, by nomatter how they tried to
replicate it or do it, it's foryou is your thing to do. So just
remember that in for all theentrepreneurs out there, man,
like, if God put some of yourheart, do it, and someone else
did it already. Do it anyway,because it's for you, it's for
(09:19):
you to get something out of itand for you to give something to
someone else from it.
Tiara Jones (09:24):
Absolutely. And you got to remove yourself from the
noise, the noise of what yournew business should be or what
it shouldn't be. Because youknow, everyone talks about you
know, when you're starting as anentrepreneur, just go ahead and
just get an LLC, an LLC isn'tfor everyone. There's many
different business structuresand things out there and so you
know, don't you know couldn'tput yourself in a box just by
(09:45):
what you see on social media orby what others are telling you
to do. When you first start abusiness because depending on
what Ray said you know what yourvision is for your company that
may not be the best route. Youmay want to go more of the, you
know, the startup route or youwant to look
get different investors andthings like that. And in that
sense, and LLC may not be foryou. And so just, you know,
really think about, you knowwhat it is that you want to do,
(10:09):
and not what everyone else isdoing. Or just try hard. No,
it's easier, you know, said thandone. But try to just break away
from the noise in your chart,literally chart your own path of
what you're doing and don't feelintimidated by those out there
saying you have to charge this,you have to do that. You sit
(10:30):
down, and you know, have youradvisors have, you know, your
Winner's Circle, they can, youknow, help you and advise you
give you like solid knowledgeand wisdom on kind of what you
need, in order to succeed foryour vision, because that is
unique to you, everybody'sbusiness is unique to them, and
how they do it behind thescenes, you know, their back end
systems, and then how theypresent themselves, you know, to
(10:52):
the pilot to their customers, totheir clients. And so, don't let
that, you know, stop you or getyou going down a path that
you're going to, you may end upyou know, regretting later on,
because you know that that's notreally where you want it to go.
But you had that, you know, aconstant pressure on you from
friends from, you know, socialmedia, or, you know, whatever,
(11:13):
just take yourself away from it.
And, you know, start looking atwhat you want to do, and then
reach out to people to help you.
I mean, there's a lot ofresources out there, you know,
to help you out to figure outkind of what's the best, you
know, route to take. And thatreally goes into you to really
do your research in thebeginning. And I know with, you
know, funding and things likethat, it's kind of takes money
to make money type of thing. Butwhen you're first starting, you
(11:35):
can do your research with, youknow, podcasts that are out
there different books and thingslike that, talking to other
entrepreneurs that have startedand things like that, and kind
of getting that realistic viewto get you going. So you know,
you really want to takeadvantage of those, you know,
relatively free resources thatare out there that kind of
jumpstart you into what you'redoing. And then get you prepared
to start really making thatmaking those first kind of
(11:58):
monetary investments into yourbusiness.
Ray Mayfield (12:00):
Yea without a doubt without doubt you do. Save
yourself where you can, youknow, and then where you can't,
you know, put yourself in aposition to get it. Don't break
your back trying do it or breakyour company trying to do
without a doubt.
Tiara Jones (12:11):
Right? Yeah. And I think when you kind of work with
others, you can work out kind ofa bartering system in the
beginning to work it out. It'snot always kind of money
exchange, but there's differentthings that, you know, people in
your circle can help you with.
And so keep that in mind.
There's untraditional ways toget something done doesn't
always have to be a monetarytransaction.
Ray Mayfield (12:32):
Absolute true Time, time is money to right. So
you know, there's all types ofways to give and get. And then
you know, for yourself to belike when if as you move to your
entrepreneur journey, like takenote, you know, take note of the
things you go through. Andremember that for the next
person, you come in contact toman, you know, always each one,
teach one, right? So always beprepared to share your story
(12:53):
with someone else. You know, younever know who you meet an
elevator, I have the mostinteresting conversations in the
most random places with the mostPlay hard, work hard play hard,
(13:53):
same concept. So just beprepared for those highs and
lows, man, I think like, youknow, for me, because I fly by
the seat of my pants, I thinklike I've been I've been in
situations where I've been incombat and been shot at. I've
been in situations where I'vebeen in America I've been shot
at and it's it's, it's for me,I'm more fluid, right? It's
(14:15):
like, I read this book shout outto my boy Larry Brooks. I read
this book by Bruce Leed calledBe Like Water and it's just like
that, right? Be like water, bemaneuverable. Be fluid enough to
flow. I'd say water can fill theglass right and water can fill
the lake. So it's consistentsays Be like water to be able to
flow with the emotions of theentrepreneur, and then continue
(14:36):
to put yourself in a positionwhere you'd be able to help
others to
Tiara Jones (14:42):
Yeah, and that was a learning experience for me
because that is not kind of howI've lived my life I have
been in those types ofsituations. It's so like when we
were first starting out, we hadkind of a plan like you know we
started in May, and we were likeby the fall all this is going to
happen.
And so like that whole summer,like I was getting all this
(15:02):
stuff done ready, you know, theprepare for this to all these
doors begin to open and you knowcontracts and things that come
through in the fall. And Ray waskind of like, okay, you can go
ahead and do all that but likeI've been on this rope before,
so in a sense, he kind of let mejust kind of go down the road.
Ray Mayfield (15:17):
Well I did tell you I said look T is that
Listen, I've been, I've beenthrough this before. With this
certain person, I know thingscan happen. And then when they
can fall out, I and my thing is,and this is me, right. And this
is this is a lesson for the menout there or the husbands out
there. This is how this myphilosophy to not fighting with
my wife. I say something once innot say something, but I give
(15:40):
advice once and if you continueto do it, then you're going to
have to find out with with whenthe wall hits or when you hit
the wall. God forbid it happens,but sometimes it does. And that
that was your productivity, yourTiara. Tiara and I have a very
umher sister, sorry, her sister.
Unknown (16:03):
We there was friction with us, right? I was I was a
new guy or an assistant. We'rewe're best bestest friends. And
here comes Ray, and a breakupthe dynamic duo, I just added to
it. But you know, so we have a,I'm very careful, always very
careful how I communicate withyou. Because I don't want to
argue with you. I don't want tofight with you. And that's just
(16:24):
me, right? I'm older. Now. I amthe old boy, I had no, I had no,
I had no interest in squabblingwith people who are not six feet
tall. So, you know. But, uh, soso like, I'm always very careful
how I communicate with you. Um,but I have to be, I have to
break that habit though. Andjust like, Look, man, sit down
(16:46):
this
Tiara Jones (16:48):
way, you know, when the time came and stuff just
fell through, you know, I washit with, you know, this hard
wall of disappointment and awake up call. And so, you know,
it really set me back cuz I'm,like, we've invested in this,
like I was trying to I was inthe mindset of, you know, stay
ready, so you got to get readytype of thing. And sometimes
(17:08):
that works. And sometimes thatdoesn't, it's, you know, to a
degree or whatever. And now Itake slightly a different
approach, especially when itcomes to me now.
That's, not to that degreewhen it really comes to like
with the, you know, thefinancial investments and things
like that I have more of asystem that I go through as I
(17:28):
kind of want to feel safe. So wedon't put all this money into
something that's going to end upfalling through and we're gonna,
you know, have to end up prettymuch taken a hit. And so, you
know, hitting that that wallthen knowing like, okay, we put
all this work in and we wentdown this phase versus, you
know, going down the more, youknow, private route with helping
(17:49):
other entrepreneurs and thingslike that first, because we
thought all of this was going tocome up and then it didn't. And
so it took me some time, it'sbeen a while, but I'll be
completely transparent took timeto kind of get over that. For
sure. Okay, now I have to kindof, I kept thinking in my head,
I had to switch gears, butreally, it was it was kind of
doing the same things at oncebecause they were going to
(18:10):
eventually end up feeding intoeach other. And so that was a
learning experience, you know,for me and so, you know, first
starting out, if you're not likeRay in have been in combat
there's gonna be that thatdisappointment, but you can you
can work through it, you can getthrough it. You know, God has
seen all of this. And so He'sgot you. He had me,
Ray Mayfield (18:34):
Tiara, you sound pretty facetious. When you're
saying that by the wayListen, I went out what I didn't
say that. It's not it's not it'snot.
Tiara Jones (18:41):
I gotta give you a hard time.
Ray Mayfield (18:43):
But it's not a glory thing is that, you know,
like I said, Man, all we are, isa combination of our
experiences, right? And I thinklike, you know, for me, it's
like, yo, I've, I've in theMarines, I've pushed my smile
myself mentally and physicallyto the point where I broke
myself, you know, I'm sayinglike, I've, I think I've pushed
myself to my limits on onmultiple occasions. So it's
(19:07):
like, as a as a get older, youknow, your energy depleted to do
things you used to do, and youcan't go as hard as it used to
go. And there's, there's a,there's a 10 year gap between
here and I so it's like, youknow, there's, there's, there's
a difference in our philosophy,views and opinions. But I look
at myself now is in now morethan I did when we started as
I'm here to not just help, youknow, the people become a
(19:29):
concept but to help Tiara to soyou know, like, um, you know, I
don't I don't know, at all, butI think I'm a pretty smart guy.
And if I have an opportunity togive game yeah, you know, I'll
definitely be more vocal. So,you know, your, your vessel
doesn't empty. And then we hit awall, you know, I mean,
Tiara Jones (19:46):
yeah, we did, because, you know, with me if I
had to accept that,accept what he was trying to
tell me because I was to thepoint well, I don't need you to
tell me that because then youget back to, you know, him being
my brother in law. I'd be like,yeah, I've done this too. Like
(20:14):
Oh, you know, but really got tothe point where I had to be
like, okay to your, you reallyneed to understand you know
where he's coming from, becausethere's a lot of things that he
can teach you, and you can teachhim and so you need to be open
for this two way street ofcommunication. And I think, you
know, I think it was kind of,you know, God wanted us to hit
that wall so that we could breakit apart and kind of start all
(20:35):
over, he did kind of start allover, you know, in a sense, and
how we went forwad, you know,with the business, and I think
that helped with us doing, youknow, starting the front runner
live and doing what that andjust being, you know, more
relaxed than me not having allthe things planned out. Because
even in the back of my mind, Iwas like, this gives me anxiety
that we're an hour in and wedon't even know what we're going
(20:56):
to be talking about.
Ray Mayfield (20:57):
Know, there have been times where I don't know if
there was, I think there may be10, we can come up with some. So
we just went live in this andjust say, hey, in the comments
we want to talk about, so yeah,but that's but I'm cool. I'm,
it's like improv to me. So it'slike, you know, it's cool, man,
I get it. Oh, no doubt. Butagain, you know, there's Yin and
Yang, right? There's for youknow, there's just polar
opposites. And then there'sopposites that attract for a
(21:18):
reason, right? So I think Ithink this is good. Because if I
was, you know, if I was in abusiness with a person like me,
I don't know how well it'd be,if you weren't a business
person, like you, man, that'd bea volcano waiting to happen. So
I was like, you know, this iswhat it is, this is what it is.
Tiara Jones (21:33):
Yeah, that's what I say, like, remove yourself from
the noise, I'm talking fromexperience, because that whole
thing of me wanting to haveeverything planned out, have
everything outlined, and all ofthat, that came from me, you
know, being a part of programsand things like that, and them
saying, Oh, you can't go live,you can't do this, unless you
have this iron down. Unless youknow what you're talking about,
you need to have a content planand Dota and all those things,
(21:55):
in a sense, it's good, but thenyou also just really need to be
who you are, and who Me and Rayare like, this is us. And so it
was like, either I was going tobe stressed out, trying to put
myself into this box of whatother businesses you know, do on
social media starting out, andyou know, how they create their
content, or I was just gonna letit flow, like Ray just kept
(22:17):
insisting and just go with theflow and just being us. And then
like, after, you know, we gotstarted, I saw, like, people are
gonna, you know, support us, butjust because of who we are, or
whatever, right. And soa whole bunch of things I've
(22:48):
learned in this two years ofstarting the business.
But those are two, that's two ofthe biggest things that you
know, continue to come up andGod will do a flashback real
quick and be like, you rememberwhen you did that last time and
how that worked out? Get youstraight?
Ray Mayfield (23:05):
Yeah, facts, I think. Yes. That that's pretty
that's pretty cool, man. Like,it's like, you know, don't don't
let people get you off yourpath, man. And there's a there's
a Chinese proverb. I read in oneof one of one of the multitude
of books I read this year, I'mtrying to read 100 books here.
Y'all pray for me.
(23:32):
But there's a Chinese proverbwith a book I read recently, I
can't remember the name of thebook of but what it said, it's
Warrior of The Light. And itsaid
what it say it said a man whowas doing it shouldn't a man who
is not doing it should notinterrupt the man that is, and I
think that's that's prettysignificant. approach. So, you
(23:53):
know, as people come and try totell, you know, you should do
this, you should do that. Like,is it come from a place of, hey,
when I did this, this is how Iexperienced it. And the
conversation that happened likethat, that's all okay to stay
true to your path. Like youknow, like, you know, you know,
who's in your corner to helpyou. And sometimes you find out
who's in your corner tonighthelp you um, you know, it could
(24:14):
be the same person so, you know,Stay Stay sharp stay prayed up,
you know, ask God fordiscernment. I'm asking to bring
around the right the rightpeople around it's going to help
you grow. And some of thatgrowth may come from pain that's
part of growing like my kneeskilled me growing up as a kid
water drain knees tight was cuzI was rolling. So I was like,
you know, you, you think of thatperspective, right? There's
going to be the ups and downs.
But when you come out of the lowpart, you should come up sharper
(24:37):
and rejuvenated with a with anew
spirit of you know, new rewardabout your new experience about
you to be you know, sharpeningwell before you know when you
were down there, low point. Sojust just keep that in mind and
stay focused this because theend is not over. So you're going
to continue to evolve as yougrow. Alright. So that being
(24:59):
said,You know, we appreciate you guys
joining us today. I look forwardto the next episode. You know
you guys stay cool out there andTiara
Tiara Jones (25:07):
Peace stay solid pace
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