The Past, Present, & Future

Leaning into the lessons learned from past experiences builds character. Whether good or bad it’s important to view them as something you gained instead of what you lost and in turn it will propel you to the next level. In this week’s episode and season 1 finale we get a peak into Ray’s experience as a young Marine and how his challenges shaped him into the man he is today.

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Episode Transcript

Ray Mayfield (00:04):
Welcome to the Frontrunner Podcast with your
hosts Ray Mayfield and TiaraJones to engineers more from
coworkers to in laws. And nowbusiness partners, creating a
safe space to be open and honestabout what it really takes to
start and 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
in new and seasonedentrepreneurs on how to endure
the marathon entrepreneurship.

Ray Mayfield (00:38):
Everybody razor, A, this is here. And welcome to
another fantastic episode of thefront runner podcast. You know,
let's get the fun started. Let'sdo so to tell us what are we
talking about today?

Tiara Jones (00:51):
leaning into you know, experiences from all areas
of your life that can benefityour business.

Ray Mayfield (00:58):
I like it. I like it. I like it. So is it sorry,
it's our last episode for theseason. It is oh man. I'm out
that season while one seasondown and we made it we did it
made it without a hitch a fewhiccups here and there. But
thanks to your hard work, theywere able to pull it off. So
teamwork. Congratulations.
Congratulations.
Congratulations. So leaning intoyour experience from all areas

(01:22):
of your life to for yourbusiness. That's a that's a
pretty interesting subject.
Yeah, cuz

Tiara Jones (01:28):
I mean, if you think about it this way, going
into entrepreneurship, we maysay sometimes, you know, I can
never do that, or I'm not cutout for that. But you are
because I mean, we think life ishard. We've already done hard
things. So you're capable ofmore than what you think. So if
you think about, you know, a jobthat, you know, you were
offered, yeah, they gave you ajob description, but nine times

(01:52):
out of 10, there's somethingyou're going to end up doing
that wasn't in that description,it's something new, you know,
that you may not have anyexperiences in and you're gonna
have to try to figure it out.
Just like an entrepreneurship,you don't know everything, but
you have to figure it out. Likeyou think about marketing, you
have to promote yourself toscholarships to colleges, to
different employers, the sameway you're going to promote your

(02:13):
expertise or your products andthings that you do in your
business. I mean, thinking aboutjuggling multiple things at one
time. You know, if you're aparent, you're juggling your
nine to five, your kids, youknow, if you're married, you're
juggling all of that you thinkabout being in school, sometimes
when you're working, and you'rein school, juggling multiple
classes, like we've jugglemultiple things, you know, at

(02:36):
one time, so this whole thing ofstarting your business and doing
your nine to five year, it'sgonna be tough, but you've done
it before, it's just in adifferent, you know, context.
So, you know, we've been scaredto jump into new experience
before. We know with everythingthat we do, if whether it's, you
know, like going back to highschool, you're trying out for,
you know, sport, or somethinglike that, you know, it's, it's

(03:00):
a little like, oh, I don't knowabout this, but I'm gonna try it
out is the same, you know, typeof thing. And so you just have
to think about how you've usedyour just your experiences in
the past and what you've done,to push through things that you
maybe didn't expect, and usethat same, you know, that same

(03:20):
courage, that same wisdom, thatsame willpower to push through
the things thatentrepreneurship, so it's maybe
a different context, but it's,it's the same qualities, same
characteristics is that you needto get through it. And so you
just have to look at it, youknow, in that light look, so
instead of saying, No, I'm notcut out for this, no, I can't do

(03:43):
this. Just reflect back to whatyou've gone through and what
you've were able to accomplishin the past and how you can use,
you know, that samedetermination to get through
starting your own business.

Ray Mayfield (03:59):
I like it. I like it, man. That's, that's, that's
a that's a lot, man. So, youknow, I'm sure you know, we both
have some very unique anddynamic backgrounds, right. And
I think a lot of the things wesay you're all all you are is a
combination of your experiences.
Right. And I think they'veshaped my experience
specifically for me shaped me ina pretty unique manner. Um, you

(04:20):
know, we won't get too much intoit. He really wants to get into
a young offseason, I'll tell youI've seen I saw like, for people
who don't know, like, I'm, I'm,I'm a pretty guarded person.
There's, there's pieces of methat I'll let people see. It's
like an iceberg, right? You onlysee 10% You may see 5% of Ray,

(04:41):
but only a few people get to seemore than that. And my wife is
probably the one who seen all ofme I think. Um, so you know, my
experiences are are in my in mymind are no different than
others is how I react to thoseexperiences is what shaped me.
You know what I mean? Like my,my grown up in a military

(05:04):
family, um, you know, there wasdisciplinary structure, there
was consequences for youractions. All my friends, my
school nos, they don't punish mealong with my brother quite
often, most of the time just fornot doing what we were supposed
to in school. But that's a wholenother subject, whether you
learn from that stuff. And somelessons are learned later in
life, I was fortunate enough tohave an older brother, you know,

(05:25):
who I saw, there's some good andbad things that I learn. I
learned from my, my dad told mesomething. So graduated from
high school made the decision tojoin the Marine Corps. And, you
know, we're the night before Ileft for boot camp, you know, I
was hanging out with somefriends, you know, just just
having a good time seeing themoff, and I went home and my dad

(05:45):
was in the living room. And he,you wanted to watch full metal
jacket with me know, before Ileft for those who haven't seen
Full Metal Jacket. So it's amovie about the Marine Corps
boot camp and the experiences ofthose, those Marines and Vietnam
great movie. So we're watchingit, and we're talking, he's
like, Hey, man, like, you know,all boot camp is a game. He's

(06:06):
like, he's like, he's just agame. So think of it as a game.
And you'll be just fine. And itworked. They worked very well
for me to boot camp. I was ableto graduate as an undergraduate.
But while there, I think theMarine Corps really, boot camp
does a lot of things to people.
A good friend of mine, LloydLloyd, Brett, shout him out. He

(06:28):
says the military makes you morewho you are. And I think that's
true. If you're not a goodperson, that's going to make you
worse, you know, if you want tostrive to be better to change
your circumstances, because youdon't want to go back to where
you were, you're going tosucceed and do just fine. For
me, I chose the latter, right, Iwanted to be better than what I
was when I went in. I wasn't abad kid. You know, I was, I was

(06:48):
a kid though. I lived the lifeand, you know, boot camp did a
few things for me. That thatthat comment from my dad, it's a
game, you know, listen, tolisten to what they say and not
how they say it. That that'skind of like one of my monitors,
I hold that close my heartbecause that applies and
everything right? You know, Ithink there's a lot of people
now I'm in this environment,we're very emotionally to react

(07:12):
to things without thinking aboutthe context of what's being
said, we more or less listen tothe message in house delivered,
instead of listening, what we'rebeing told to the message,
right. So that that gave me theability to, you know, listen to
people saying why they'rescreaming and spitting in my
face. Just doing what they'retelling me to do in boot camp,
because that's just theenvironment when you know, so

(07:34):
that's one thing that Iexperienced that sticks out to
me, um, you know, and thenthrough through my experience in
the Marine Corps, one thing I,they be into discipline in
multiple facets right. Now, youknow, I, there's things that we
experienced in boot camp thatprobably shouldn't be thought
about. And there's things thatwe, we experience that we can be

(07:55):
talked about. And one thing,think of it like this, right, so
we went to boot camp in ParrisIsland, South Carolina, um, I
think I left in March, March of98, and graduated in June of 98.
Right, so three month period,and, you know, it's hot, it gets
pretty hot, it was cold, we gotthere, but it's hot by the time
I graduated, right? So so one,one experience that I remember,

(08:20):
in which I really learned thetrue meaning of discipline was,
you know, we would we would dothings get in trouble as a
platoon. You wouldn't listen,you weren't marching, right? You
won't do your drill, right. Andagility orders at different
methods of punishing you, whenthey chose to do with us is one
day was a Marcus at the tall,uncut grass, and we mark time
marks mean, you're just marchingin place, and they told us a
whole new standard position ofattention. And probably every

(08:40):
safely in the state of SouthCarolina was in that grass and
came up and just started chewingon our skin. And we couldn't do
anything. You know, you couldn'tmove, you can kill them. And I
was being built to the pointwhere I was literally shaking.
But you can't move. And youknow, that doesn't mean I mean,
to me, to me, that's a mindaltering experience, to where

(09:03):
you learn to value what truthdiscipline actually means.
Because in their minds and howthey translate it is movement,
it can move in a can equalgetting killed in a combat
situation. And that's how theMarine Corps prepares you. The
Marine Corps prepares you to bea warrior, right? There's
nothing more nothing less like,the Marine Corps has internal

(09:24):
internal conflicts with, youknow, a pOH, which is a person
of the grunts and grunts,wingers and people who are in
the wing. So there's all thoseinternal clicks, but on that on
a larger scale, right, everyMarine is a warrior, right? You
are going to you are beingturned into a weapon to go into
combat and do something to savethe person next to you and make

(09:45):
sure you come back home alive.
And I think that's the you knowthat that form of discipline
doesn't come. I don't think Idon't think I would be able to
achieve such a form ofdiscipline in another avenue of
life, like if I didn't go to theMarine Corps. So for that, I
appreciate that experience,right. So, you know, my dad's
great talks, to the experiencein boot camp, you know, even
even having the opportunity tolead to become a leader at a

(10:09):
very young age and record,because like, you know, when for
those who are Marines, weunderstand, right? You know,
from day one, you're in chargeof somebody, like, you know, if
your E two e ones, you know,you're responsible for every
day. And the Marine Corps reallyputs values in teaching the
young marines and how to beleaders. And to a degree, you
know, that that can bestressful, right? I mean,

(10:30):
there's, there's a, there's, youknow, you got to tell your
friends what to do. But that'ssomething you have to look past,
right, you have to look past,you know, we're homies, and
we're hanging out during theevening hours, but at work, you
gotta respect me, those arethings you work through, and
they shape you, and they teachyou how to be, you know, have a
phenomenal leader, in a regardwhere you can, you know, have
those frank discussions withsomebody who's doing something

(10:52):
inappropriately, and thenthey're mature enough to see
what you're saying, but you haveto be mature and how you're
communicating it to that way,when you guys go back and see
each other in the barracks,you're not going to be in a
fistfight. And, you know, it'sthis is just it is what it is.
So, you know, leadershipprinciples are key and
essential, I think, to anyonewho wants to become an
entrepreneur. Because even ifyou're just an army one as

(11:14):
optional, right, you know, thereare going to be two people that
you come in contact with thatadmire what you're doing, and
you're going to have to sharesome wisdom with them to a
degree on how you got to whereyou are. So, you know, those are
also some pretty critical,that's also pretty critical to
the ability to communicate andcommunicate effectively, is
another tool, you know, thatthat we're taught pretty clearly

(11:37):
in the Marine Corps through,whether it's, you know, through
through boot camp to orpresentations at leadership,
academies, corporate courses,core staff Academy, things like
that, you know, we're, we're putin a position to be more than
two leaders at every step of theway. So, you know, I think
that's, that's value added to,and then you're in charge of
teams, right? Whether that's asmall fire team of four people
or a squad of 13 or an entireplatoon that's platoon sergeant.

(12:00):
I know those just echelons andlevels to it. Right. And
everybody is wrong, right?
Everybody is not fit to beleader. Right. I think that's
there's there's a such thing ascalled a natural born leader.
And I think those are thosepeople are rare in the world. I
think they're even more rare inthe times we're living in. But
that's a that's a podcast,something from that day. From so

(12:23):
yeah, I'm kind of I'm sorry,just kind of rambling because
I'm, I'm freestyling here. Solet's, let's fast forward a
little bit. So things are reallyreally really shaky. Mmm hmm. My
combat experience I think thepoint Iraq
in oh four or five and particlesix, really change me

(12:45):
significantly. As far as myperception of the world in my
reaction to things, you know, ohfour, you know, deploy with the
with the battalion of Marineswho saw a significant amount of
contact, you know, to to shatterwarlords. You know, we, we, we

(13:06):
did, we did some good stuff outthere some cool things and great
experiences. All of them I won'tget into there are emotional, I
did develop some PTSD of beingout there. I think, you know, I
don't I don't know too manypeople that go to war and come
home completely the same. Ithink when I came home in 2004,
my mentality was still set towar. It's funny, right? Because

(13:27):
at the day we got back, we werebused from the airport, back to
campus union with our families.
And I got off the bus. And thefirst person I saw was my master
guns, a mass gun. I said, Hey,man, welcome back. Thank you. He
said, You ready to go back threemonths, like, sure. It's just,
it's just, it's just a, I thinkthere's a to me, there was a
comfort in being in Iraq, itfelt more comfortable to be in

(13:48):
here in America. And only a fewpeople will probably understand
what I mean by that. I mean, youknow, I felt protected, you
know, having a weapon on me atall times, you know, sleeping
with a weapon. You know, when Icame home, I was waking up in
the moonlight look, for my straplooking for my mind my infor
house I got when I was not gonnaget in trouble. It's just you
can't turn some things off. So,my mentality was was was a bit

(14:10):
war. And, you know, as aconsequence of that, you know, I
think I partially became analcoholic. Um, you know, I did
drink a little bit. I don'tthink it was excessive, but I
did drink. And I think one thingthat saved me was going back to
Iraq, because no telling how farI know down a down that path I
would have went. So you know,that was a form of numbness to

(14:33):
being back in the States. Youknow, I did miss the conflict.
Of course, you lost you losefriends there in the you know,
the harsh reality of that is,you know, you you have probably
a little time to mourn beforeyou have to get back in your
mind back into the fight. So youknow, you could come back and
other guys who with you can comeback. And that's something that,
you know, you're really nottaught to cope with, right so

(14:57):
for me my coping mechanism wasto get back to Iraq as fast as I
could. So I went back again,with the, with at the division
level, this time and had theopportunity to leave the
division level and to go, youknow, integrate or live with the
Iraqi military. And that, byfar, I think was the most eye
opening experience to me.

(15:17):
Because, you know, we're livingon the base with Iraqi soldier
and you're exposed to so much oftheir culture, you know, why
they do things the way they doit, you know, their philosophy
on marriage, their spiritualphilosophy, I learned a lot
about, you know, the Muslimculture. And a lot of them knew
way more about Christianitynodded. Me. And as a Christian
at the time, I was a Christian,I was I had been saved, but I

(15:40):
wasn't walking my Christianwalk. You know, I'm saying that,
like, I'm doing it now. Right?
So they're impressed me how muchthey educated me on what the
Bible said. And I was like, Man,I need to step my game up. And a
lot of a lot of conversationswith the guys were talking about
religion, their beliefs, youknow, why did you think how do
you have seven wives and 21kids, man, that's crazy. And you
just, you know, you just get tolearn these things about these
guys who, you know, probablytwo, three years ago that, you

(16:02):
know, were trying to kill eachother, you know, and now they're
there. They're in the military.
And in, you know, not all thoseguys have good intentions, some
guys don't. But, you know, my,my intent. At that point, I knew
I was going out in Marine Corps.
And my XO came to me my BotanicsOh, can you be your company X?
Or can you be saving? Like, Iwant to submit you for me said,

(16:22):
Marine Corps commissioned thatlist of programs when you're
enlisted. And they, you know,you request into the cars for
four years, and you come back asan officer. And you know, you
you finish out your career as aslong as you can and the officer
corps? And I said, No, because Iwas burned out. I was mentally
fatigue, going back to Iraq atthree Muslim was the worst, the
worst mental decision I made.

(16:45):
And, you know, halfway throughmy deployment, I got burned out,
and I needed to change thescenery. So that's when I moved
to go integrate going live withIraqi soldier where they call
them AT T Mobile integratedtraining team. And our primary
purpose was to train the Iraqimilitary to be proficient on
their own patrol tactics,communication, tactics,
logistics, basic living, thingsof that nature. So as a radio

(17:07):
operator, I was responsible forhelping them you know, with
their communication standards,it was a small team of 11
Marines, probably about maybetwo 300 Iraqi soldiers right on
their feet. The first day, wewent down to meet him such a
funny experience, man.
I don't think I can say thelocation where I was, I don't
know if I can or can't, but I'mjust gonna say, so we're in
Iraq, and in Anbar province, andwe were living on so we were on

(17:32):
in a tent city in a maininstallation, and they will live
in like in another structurethat's right outside the the
main installation was still onthe confines of the base, if
that makes sense. So we go we wedrive down and I drove my, my,
our mob was the equivalent mybattalion commander at the time
I was his driver alone. It wasthree or four buttons for us in

(17:52):
the vehicle. So you know, we'removing to down to go meet the
Iraqi soldiers. And at the time,it's probably like 12 them
information. And I'm justlooking at it like man like this
is it? No, like this? This isit. This is gonna be a very
interesting experience. I waslike, Man, I gotta use a
bathroom. So you know, it had Iwas like trying to find a porta
Johns. At one point John downhere. At the time, they probably

(18:12):
had 200 Iraqi soldiers going 12information so I get to the
portage on open the door. Andman there was there's probably a
million flies and they're justfecal matter everywhere. And it
flies just hit me in the face.
For example, yes, like window,no, what is this? What is this
place off? I volunteer to cometo this makes no diagnosis. But
I had to take a step back andremember there's cultural

(18:35):
differences between how we dothings in America whereas how to
do things over there. You know,so it's just that was another
eye opening experience for mebut it made me want to learn
more about how they do things inAmerica they do I think I've
benefited from a greatly I haveI probably have, um, you know,
man cheese, I probably havemaybe 15 tapes, I bought a
camcorder. And I recorded myselfthere with the guys interacting

(19:00):
with them hanging out in theirtents at night drinking tea,
listen, you know, listening tomusic, watching them dance, and
it was good to have like 15 Ineed to get saved converted to
DVD because they'll make for agreat show one day, but I think
it was such an eye openingexperience during that time. So
another defining moment duringthat short stint of my life that
defined me was you know, we theelections were coming up I think

(19:23):
it's 2005 2005 to fall October16 electoral covenant we had to
go out in our unit wasresponsible for escorting Iraqi
soldiers off base so they canperform security so the citizens
could come you know vote withoutthe threat of b&q Think about
that everyone here in Americaright? Like I know we have

(19:44):
issues with our elections rightbut no must want to kill us on
the way to the ballotingstation. You know I mean almost
killing us based on who we votefor. You know, they're verbally
is one thing, but like literallytry to assassinate you and your
entire family is remarkable whenyou think about it. So You know,
we're setting up security. Andyou know, we were out we had a
scout there overnight, I think Istayed up 24 hours straight up,

(20:06):
I set up 70 7070 hours straightwhile we were out there. The
first day set up second dayelection. And then there's a day
afterwards where you tear downand move back back on base. So
the first night we got there toset up, we set everything up
during the day at night. No, mybattalion commander is a good
man. He said, Hey, man, like,you guys need rest, like, you
know, they're there. They'reembedded here. There's an army

(20:28):
unit co located with this. We'regonna go back to the base, I got
to knock out some work. And sojust come on. So two vehicles,
six of us, go back. Eight of usgo back to our little compound.
He's like, Hey, man, like youguys get rest on there. You're
tired. It's been it's been along day. Got it. Thanks, sir.
So you know, you had a couplehours sleep. Get up, back off
the base. Every time before wedid it moving out. Always pray,

(20:49):
like I would always pray to ourvehicles. I would say a prayer
for everybody, you know, beforewe maneuvered just just for some
covering, right. So we wereleaving based on the comment. I
forgot to say my prayer. So Istarted praying while we were
driving and kitchenette, as soonas I said, Amen, allow pop. And
I was like, Oh, so you know, youspeed the vehicle up? Yeah,
we're crossing the bridge. Sospeed up, you get over the

(21:11):
bridge. And I was like, man,like, you know, I think that
was, I was in an ID attempt. Butwe weren't sure. By two o'clock
in the morning. I wanted to getthe vehicle and go and go check.
Because I could have swore I sawtrigger man, and his little
shack off to our left and rightabout our my nine o'clock. And
I'm talking I was like, Nah,like, we're going to push back.

(21:31):
Everybody safe, it's nighttime,let's let's get the bleep out of
here and get back to where we'resafe, we can get you the unit to
come out in the next day to yourD unit went out. And they said
what happened was there's aseven, five or seven foot
Russian missile that was wiredas an improvised explosive
device, but it was wiredincorrectly. So the pot was a
blasting cap. But the roundeddetonate, with a round was

(21:54):
located that was almost like upunderneath the barely underneath
the passionate side door. Youthink about that we're talking
about a five or seven foot longmissile wire is the ID that was
done that was wired incorrectly,right. And the blast gap is
detonated without the withoutthe Ordnance of cell phone off
outer thigh. Like we all wouldhave been probably decimated in

(22:17):
that vehicle. You know, we hadan up armored Humvee for those
who know, you know, up armorsprotect you, but to a degree, I
mean, it's huge away from thecameras of ease. So you know,
but in with that experience,different music affirmed my
faith and God's ability abilityto protect me when I call on him
to do that, right. Because Ifeel like you know, had I had

(22:38):
not been, you know, obedient towhat he had told me to do the
entire time I praying before wego out the wire understand the
other, you know, maybe maybesomething worse would have
happened, you know what I mean?
So, that experience reallyshaped me and changed my
perspective a little bit on whata true relationship it'll be.
It's a guy really means. So youknow, that that was very eye

(23:02):
opening to me. And, you know,everybody has their beliefs and
feelings, right? Some peoplethink like, oh, well, you know,
it just didn't wire around. Oh,they wired it wrong. So that's
why you made it. Okay, maybethat's the case. Or maybe you
guys said Not right now. Yeah,different plan for me. And
that's what I believe happenednot just for me, but everybody
in that vehicle. So you know,you live that experience. There

(23:25):
are times where I've been hit byIEDs and in times where other
people on patrol with me may hitwith IDs and but you know, do it
all you know, do it all you knowyou come back and those
experience like I said thoseexperiences shape you mentally
more than anything else right somentally I thought I was okay.

(23:46):
Mitchell my younger daughterlike you know, whoop no big deal
here and there put it inperspective a little bit there
my back to my first appointmentbefore we came home they were
they had this auto viewing calllike a so the green zone right
the Green Zone is only placewhere there's no real quote
unquote war happening so likehe's still slew officers on base

(24:06):
and all that and all that we'vebeen fighting like, you know,
we're down in the what was whatwas known as a Triangle of
Death. We did the initialinvasion of Volusia patrols to
Fallujah. And then you know backdown to the triangle and then we
left we saw and there was a lotof instance where we received
their indirect fire like doorslam and guys are grabbing each
other about the you know, hitthe hit the deck because you

(24:27):
don't know if it's it soundslike a mortar coming in but just
a door slammed shut. So youknow, yeah, that's those are
Sonic clear signs of PTSD. Butin the moment you don't realize
that right? So we get to thegreenzone like Hey, guys, you
know you guys gonna be here fora week or two before you go
home. This is kind of a mentalbreak for you guys to detox from
your combat high or whatever,like add cool man sounds good to

(24:49):
me. So you know me a few friendsheard that they had a pool on
the main site, but you know, Iwanted to go buy a computer. I
wanted to buy a laptop while Iwas there. Don't ask me why I'm
getting really lucky to bought alaptop back home who wants to
buy more crap to go home with? Ido. So I'm like Alright, cool.
Let's let's go to the main sitego to the PX, we get to the PX.

(25:10):
And that was a doozy because wewere actually walking off off
base in the city of Baghdaddidn't realize it. And then some
you know, us contractor came byand picked us up and gave us a
ride to the PX and anythingcould happen is out there. But
again, we just don't we didn'tknow we you know, we didn't
realize it they let us walkright out right out the gate
taking them on base and weweren't No, no, there. We get to

(25:30):
the PX buy, we buy we need tobuy and then someone's like,
Hey, man, you know there's apool and there's pool over here.
Y'all don't go to a pool. Solike yeah, sure, man. We know we
got you know, Marine Corps wetypically have called PT shorts
underneath our, our trousers sothey can they can serve as swim
trunks. So you know, we werelike walking to the pool. And
then as always, was by and we'relike, yeah, good morning. Sounds

(25:52):
like you don't salute me. Andwe're like, yeah, we're worried
like, this ain't war this isthis the Green Zone. There's no
war here. Like okay, so yousalute them. And then someone
started jackhammering TTTTthinking thing hit the ground.
All of us started making motionsthat load are enforced. Because
we think we're being shot from ajackhammer, right? I mean, this

(26:13):
this is how like, this is how,you know, think about this,
like, you know, is four of us.
And we just hit the ground,grabbing each other, making sure
we're good about the load up andsiding on this guy who's
jackhammer, and he just drops ajackhammer and puts his hands
up, and I'm like, Ah, sorry,man. Oops.
Oops, my bad. Megan's cool. Havea good time. Go back. There,
right. So the second time, therewas no green zone, what they did

(26:36):
the second time was like, Okay,you can go home, but you have to
stay on your installation fortwo weeks, two weekends before
you can go anywhere. And thenthey had these classes we would
go to every day, about you know,if you're married, you have to
you can't come back and justdemand your wife does things
that she used to do, becauseshe'd been running the house
whole time, the whole year, youguys have been going, you know,
you can't you know, no, youcan't slap your girlfriend

(26:58):
around, it's not cool. You know,you're gonna have PTSD, you're
gonna have these moments gethelp, you know, don't be
physically abusive. That's whatthat's what I took most of the
training to be about. None ofthat applied to me because I
wasn't married. So like, I willKuang all these problems, right?
Got the Marine Corps, probablytwo months after getting home.
And then I sunk it to a level ofdepression. I was like, man,

(27:21):
like, I miss I miss Iraq, I missbeing with my Marines. You know,
I miss making sure buy is safe.
And that and I was like, man,like, This is crazy. And I felt
a little bit of depression. Andthen there's PTSD involved in
there. And then there's, youknow, you you are, you put a
barrier around yourself, and youjust be pull yourself away from
everybody. I stayed with my momat the time, and I wanted the
smallest bedroom in the house.

(27:45):
It's almost like a jail cell. Ijust wanted to be in a small two
bedroom house. I didn't wantanybody near me. You know, my
twin my mum again, like, hey,you know, when you come into the
room, you got to make loudnoises, please don't try to be
quiet because I'm going to jumpup. And I don't, I definitely do
not want to do anything crazy.
You know, and it happened onceshe tipped over in Rome. And I
jumped up she said, I'm justgetting iron. It's like Sorry,
man. And when that happened, Iknew I had to get out of here

(28:06):
because it just it just, I justwasn't I wasn't normal Ray, I
was different. Um, so I startedgoing to the VA, um, to file a
claim my back was all jacked upa few other things wrong with
me. And it's doing that like,well, you need some PTSD
counseling. Yeah, didn't wasn'tmy thing. It didn't really work.
And then the first day when Iwas in there, I was in it with

(28:27):
Vietnam vets, and Desert Stormvets. So I'm thinking like, Man,
I just came home. But these guysbeen dealing with this for 3030
years, some of them you know,going back to Vietnam. 40 years,
my madness is crazy. Like, youknow, this doesn't make any
sense. And I hear their stories.
I'm like, No, I got I got totalk about their stories are far
more crazy than mine. So I'mlike, why don't need this is not

(28:49):
helping me. So I stopped going.
And then like, I kept sinkinginto crazier, not crazy, but
like a lower place with with thePTSD in the direction it was
taking me. I didn't want to bearound anybody. You know, I
wasn't drinking drink has neverreally been my strong suit. You
know, so it's like, you know, Iget I get very sick. From from
from from drinking. So I tendnot to do a lot. So, um, you

(29:11):
know, I'll just take it to alower place, you know, putting a
hedge of protection around me asbeing very sharp with people who
probably wanted to love me andwanted me to be around, but I'll
put on a fake smile. You know,I'm good. Everything is cool.
But I knew I was battlinginternally. And then one day I
was driving. I was visible, BoydNando. I was driving back home
from his house and I can smelllike it's my burning trash. And

(29:33):
it kind of took me back to Iraq.
And I'm like, grab the wheel andlike swerving like Oh, I got to
get in the middle of the highwaymiddle lane. As you're driving
over there, it's a two waystreet. You drive down the
middle lane. You pushing peopleout of your way as you're moving
right, oncoming oncomingvehicles for you know, suicide
bomb, the drivers, VPC, SVB,IDs, all that all that good

(29:54):
stuff, right? You stay in themiddle of the road. If it goes
off your host, it's not showingthe impact of vehicle and it is
a push vehicle. moving vehiclesout of the way in case someone's
driving a suicide vehicle. So Ijust moved to the middle lane
I'm getting people hit me hornsand flashing lights, my man like
so I had I had to wake up amoment. I was like, Doc, can you
help me help you. But what I didis, instead of going to talk to

(30:20):
a professional, I had alegitimate spiritual journey
with myself. And I really pickedup on meditation, and prayer.
And I'll tell you now like thosethings cured, cured me of the
ailments that I dealt with,don't get me wrong, I'm behind
by no means am I over here,because we think if you have
PTSD, there's always thosetriggers, right?

(30:42):
But what I mean is, I literallytook myself mentally to a place
of complete peace, domeditation, right. And in the
midst of my meditation, it wasprayer that fixed my perception
of the world. And, Lord, don'tlet me sleep on a bridge, my
life has more purpose, I don'twant to be homeless, I want to I
want to be of use to the world,you bought me home for a reason,

(31:05):
this helped me find my purposeand walk in it, right. And that,
that, that, in this journeydidn't it's not overnight, like
this journey was a couple ofmonths. And it'd be to the point
where I would literally meditatefor man three, four hours in the
night, that nighttime is laythere. And if you're interested
in like, my, my, my techniquesand meditating, I'll be more

(31:25):
than happy to share with you. Sojust DM me. But like when it
when I say it altered my mind,it opened up, it opened my mind
to a different channel, right.
And it really showed me thatthere's purpose for my life is
my life to God, I wasn't, Ididn't make them off my rack to
do nothing, I didn't make themoff my rack to give up. And that
right, there was a catalyst kindof launched me into getting out

(31:46):
of Atlanta. And, you know, goingsomewhere, where I can start
walking in my purpose to fulfillwhatever, you know, whatever God
had for me. So, you know, I, I,you know, after three or four
months, I woke up, I was like,you know, this is not where I'm
supposed to be, you know, I hada job. I was working with family

(32:07):
down there. And great, greatjob, great opportunity, they
looked out for me coming homefrom the Marine Corps. But that
wasn't where I needed to be,there wasn't a healthy mentally
was not a healthy environment.
So I had to do what I had to doto get out of there. And, you
know, the follow along tomeditation and prayer is
happening, focused effort, andask God to restore my

(32:30):
discipline, because I feel likemy discipline lacked they, for
those who know me during mysecond deployment, like, you
know, I was a gym rat, you know,when because the first half,
there was no patrols, there'snothing we were doing, we were
more of a support element,anything. So I turned into a gym
rat, and you know, we be me, myboys, you know, marks like Kirby
movie in the gym, three hours,three hours every night, you
know, trying to put on the show,until the guys show what it was

(32:53):
Marcus had the guns. But anyway,so, you know, we, you know,
asked for God to get my focusand discipline back, get back in
the gym. Mentally sharper thanmyself, my brother Fernando
hooked me up with somephenomenal books. One book that
really did it was called theLost laws of success by Napoleon
Hill is 17 traits that everyperson wants to be successful,
should have and implement inyour life. And number one is a

(33:15):
definite chief aim. I had nodefinite chief aim. When I came
home, I was like, Yeah, I'mgetting in the Marine Corps, you
know, I want to get a job. Iwant to go to school. But that's
not that's, that's not a reallya purpose, right? It's what you
want to do with those things,and how you want to use those
things to shape you to be avalue to the world, right? And
that's what I lacked, right? Ididn't, I didn't have a definite
chief aim, right? Becausethere's more to life than just

(33:36):
going to school and get a job.
It's being a good citizen, beinga good neighbor, you know,
helper to those who really needit, and being able to feed
people as much as you need to befed. So you know, out of that,
you know, here I am today,right? Um, you know, that they
got the Marine Corps 2006. I'mmoving over Virginia in 2008.
And an awesome job opportunityhad no experience whatsoever.

(34:00):
But I prayed to God, the daybefore I got a call for the job,
I pray to God today before theLord, if it's meant for me, make
it make the path clear for meto, to, you know, change my
situation that I'm in right now.
And the very next day, I got acall for a job interview with

(34:21):
the government contractingcompany up in Northern Virginia.
And our question was, like, oh,nine moving up there. But then I
was like, You know what, I justprayed to God to move to shake
the ground beneath my feet in methat I'll be forced to move in a
direction where he can use me asWill and I call back and accept
the opportunity for theinterview. It went very well and
I ended up accepting the joboffer for pennies. But I felt

(34:44):
like that was my destiny that Iwas supposed to walk in. A lot
of people look at jobs thatlike, you know, it's not enough
money that's beneath me. But Ilooked at as an opportunity to
move up here to get back intothe classified workspace. Um,
because The Job directlyimpacted, you know, friends of
mine, and family members who arestill wearing a uniform,

(35:05):
overseas, you know, fighting thegood fight, right. So I looked
at as opportunity to still beinvolved and still help, right.
But added that I knew I wouldget something from it. I was
going to school, I was workingprobably 10 to 12 hours a day,
because I wanted to learn, I wasthe usually the first one there
second one there. And probablyusually one of the last ones

(35:26):
lead because I wanted to learn,I wanted to, I wanted to show
value and be of use, and itworked very well, I got several
promotions in the job to helphelp because those relationships
I established there, they helpedme get out of there to go to
other places where I willelevate me to another another
level.
everywhere I've gone, I thinkI'll just been able to continue

(35:48):
to, I don't want to say move upthe food chain, but people who I
have helped in the past havehelped me and they have put me
at a level that's far beyondwhere I thought I would be at
this moment in my life. I'll saythat. So you know, I look at it
as because I, through themeditation of prayer, allow God
to feed me to say you know, youhave more purpose than where you

(36:11):
are right now. You need tovisualize that and realize that,
and you know, anybody out therewho's doubting, you know where
you are right now, you're therefor a reason. So learn, you
know, ask God to show you. Why,why am I in the why I'm in the
situation? Why just keephappening to me? What can I do
to change it? Show me, right?
You These are consistent thingsyou need to ask what repair
because he'll give it to you andmake it plain. And, you know,

(36:33):
while what comes your way mayseem, you know, like that's not
for you to sharpen yourdiscernment, you know, mean,
like, just tell him you know,don't don't bring the things
that are not for me remove them.
Now, I've said that severaltimes. And the next day, the
next day, my life what I thoughtwas completely turned inside
out. But it was for my better,right? Remove the negative

(36:55):
things out of my life and bringonly the good and the people
that are going to help lift meup, I process them every day.
Because you know, I think it'simportant to have the right
things attached to you. So yougo in the right direction. You
know, so, you know, you know,there's a, there's a whole lot
more to the story. But I don'twant to hog, I don't want to hog
the conversation. But at the teatea, one of the uses as an

(37:16):
opportunity for me to kind ofhelp people see where I come
from how my how, you know,because I think, you know, my
mentality is a lot differentfrom a lot of other people. Um,
a no nonsense guy to a degree,but I know what I want. But
small things really don't reallyget to me as much as they would
another person big things wewant to get to mostly would
another person because Iunderstand. These are these are

(37:37):
lessons, right. And I had, I hadwhat I thought was a great
conversation with a couple daysago. And it's like, you know,
you may run into resistancewhere you get frustrated, but
look at it as, instead ofgetting fresher looking as the
opportunity to sharpen you inareas of your life where you
you're not the strongest, right?
And that to me, you know,looking at things in that
approach for me, helps me not beso emotional, my reaction.

(37:59):
Horrible things happen when wereact that emotion, right? I
mean, horrible opportunity forwhen I say that could come out
of reacting emotionally.
Instinctively, I think it'simportant to train yourself to
be disciplined in your response.
Right? And, you know, becareful, because if you ask God
to do it, he's gonna put you insituations where you have to do

(38:21):
it, right. So you really have tomake sure you're physically
mentally prepared for thosechallenges, right? I'm gonna
challenge the fights and walkedaway, you know, that guy's
pulled knives and guns on me andwalked away, even though I'm not
carry, I'll walk away. Becauseyou know, there's more to life
than just this blip on theradar, right? You know, taking a
life overseas, to make sure oneof my friends make a home is

(38:42):
different from doing here inUnited States. That's just facts
to me, but don't get it twisted.
It can happen. This is easy, youknow, I mean, but I choose, I
choose to put myself in aposition where I can just walk
away and be confident in who Iam. And not worry about any of
that. That was back not to worryabout going to jail, try to
defend myself. It's just notworth it. So you really have to

(39:05):
sharpen your mind and trainyourself to not react
emotionally, and react moreinstinctively. Right? And your
instinct your instincts can belearned, right? You can teach
yourself those instincts are Ithink that's a that's something
where we, we kind of fall shortas humans, right? Emotions just
feel better sometimes. Right?
But, you know, my grandfathertold me a long time ago, you

(39:26):
know, make decisions with youryour head and not your heart.
And at the time, like yeah,whatever, grandpa, but he's
right, you know, you makedecision with your brain and not
your heart, your heart typicallyleads you sometimes on the wrong
path. Right. But with coveringyour prayer, and, you know,
develop developing a baseline ofdiscipline, you know, your heart

(39:47):
can be just as strong as yourmind. So I think it's important
to ask that balance, you know,so, you know, with that being
said, you know, guys that's justa little a little small peek
through raise window life. Youknow, appreciate the opportunity
to I really didn't want to dothis. But, you know, thanks.
There's a lot of things I didn'tgo through. I didn't discuss
because, you know, for thisform, I think it's better to
just talk about, you know, at ahigh level, right, you know,

(40:10):
some experience that kind ofcarbon has shaped me, you know,
the, I was fortunate to have,you know, my dad, my life, my
mother in my life and get somewisdom from them growing up that
I still use to this day, mygrandfather fed me, there's
people I've come in contact withthe Marine Corps. You know,
Cuttino if you're out there,man. Love it. Appreciate you,
man. You're the first dude totalk about investing in stocks.

(40:31):
Before it was a cool thing todo. Um, you know, thanks for the
thanks for the plug where Appleand Google love you, man. You
know, and there's a men's namesI can drop Nando always feed me
great books and Tyler's read.
And I'm telling everybody rightnow, read man, read. Sharpen
your mind, what's in the books,there's a lot of things you deal
with in life. Everyone dealswith them. But there is this all
about how you what you'velearned about their pliers. So

(40:53):
but you can't learn that and youcan learn it by watching TV, but
just read a book man, like pickup a book, look up a topic
you're interested in RobertGreene, John Collins, you know,
look at some of these authors,man and some of these books on
self improvement and self helpand find a title that speaks to
you, and then just dive into alittle bit, see what you get out
of it, man, you know, like, it'samazing what you thought of the

(41:14):
book, how much that'll impactyou, the smallest sentence will
impact you remember you forever,I have a quotable thing in my
Google Keep that I keep it justall these little. All these
comments are these quotes frombooks are read. I'm trying to
grow that I'm trying to growexponentially, right. So that
way, it's something that I canturn into a book I printed and
passed my daughter's, you know,I mean, when they when they

(41:36):
become of age, like 10, or 11.
And little, almost like dailydevotions, they can go to read.
And it's a nugget that they cankeep that day, but apply for
every day and walk in theirlife. Right. That's how I look
at it. And, you know, I think ifgenerationally, right, that's
something that we all dotogether, will be even will be
even stronger, you know, meaninglike, our, our, I don't want to

(41:58):
call them our accountant, butour tax man, he's put me up on
great game, he's like, Yo, like,one day, your your daughter's
might marry my grandson's,right. So they have to be just
as sharp as as, as we are withthe finances. So I'm going to He
teaches me, and in turn, is myresponsibility to pass down on
him. So the same applies toeverybody else, right? Like, you

(42:20):
want to sharpen the generationbeneath you to be better than
what we were, you know, you'rein their life. So it's all their
life has a potential to begreat. But to be value added, so
that way, you know, you canensure that it happens, man, you
know, each leg each eachgeneration should be an
elevation man, you know, I mean,so, you know, maybe we'll do
more episode about here. No,

Tiara Jones (42:41):
I mean, I don't think that's necessarily shared
a lot, but just

Ray Mayfield (42:46):
a one, season two, episode one done.

Tiara Jones (42:49):
I mean, there's, I mean, there's things that have
gone through, as well,especially being a preacher's
kid, you're put in a differentkind of spotlight, where there's
people that think that youshould do things a certain way,
or you're only doing thingsbecause, you know, you're a PK.
And there's, I mean, there's allthese misconceptions, and it, it

(43:10):
made me push myself to get outof whatever they thought and it
took a while was, it was tough,because you're already
especially when, you know, we goto new churches and things,
there's always this, you know,preconceived notion about who
you are, what your family, youknow, who your family is, and
you know that, but you have tobe able to not take that, you

(43:33):
know, to heart really, and stillwalk in who you are, regardless
of who they think you should be,you know, it can be a very
vulnerable, you know, state, butit pushed me to the point where,
you know, I'm going to do thisthe way that works, you know,
for me, so I'm going to, youknow, have my walk with God, not
the way that my mom did it notthe way that my dad did it, not

(43:55):
the way that you know, mygrandparents did it. Because for
those that you know, me, I grewup in church, and everyone is a
minister, everybody's a pastor.
So it's like, all these things.
Oh, well, this is, this is yourlegacy. That's what you've been
walking in. No, no, no, that's,that's not it. And like, Well,
that's true. But my thing is,it's not going to look like it

(44:16):
did for them. So it may besomething similar, but I'm going
to do it in the way that worksfor me the way that works in a
way that I can impact my owngeneration and not the past
generations. And so, you know,walking in that and kind of
being, you know, a little morestrong willed. I was always kind
of the more strong willed childwas like, no, just because you
want me to do I'm not gonna doit just because you said you

(44:37):
want me to do it. But besidesthat point,

Ray Mayfield (44:40):
was what changed now.

Tiara Jones (44:44):
You have a says that point, you know,
entrepreneurship that helped mesee you know, what a lot of
people thought, what ourbusiness should look like,
especially on the governmentcontracting side. Oh, you have
to do it like this. Youshouldn't be having a podcast
talking about you know thisstuff and stop polluting. Quick
corrected it, whatever, youknow, we're walking in this, the

(45:04):
way that, you know, it works forus and the way that we know that
we can impact people just likeus, like, I'm not trying to do
it, like the people that did itbefore, I'm just trying to do
it, the way that you know that Iknow that God has given it to me
and not a lot of people aregoing to understand that and you
have to be okay with it. Andthat took some time for me, you
know, to realize that I got tobe okay with walking down this

(45:28):
different path that everyonethinks is the wrong way. So if
you know that God has told youthat, then he's going to, you
know, give you the wisdom andgive you deserve, if you seek
Him, you know, to get you there.
And eventually everybody elsewill catch up, and they will see
it. But you have to be able to,you know, see things for
yourself. And yes, you know,getting wisdom from others and

(45:49):
things like that, absolutely. isa necessity, but you also have
to be able to see, okay, what iswhat is for me? And how can I,
you know, walk in what God hasfor me in the way that, you
know, he wants me to walk intoit really, you know, walking in
his footsteps. So my prayer hasbeen, I don't want to walk

(46:09):
behind God, I don't want to walkahead of him, I want, you know,
side by side, like, I'm gonnaneed your help, like, you take
one step, okay, then I'll takethis step. So I already know
that I'm not gonna be able to dothis on my own. So knowing that,
you know, and walking into startinto this business, I know, I'm
going to have to seek him, Iknow, I'm going to have x have
to ask others for help, youknow, and go to that path. And

(46:30):
that's shown me like, you'renot, you're not in this alone,
like, I got you, I've alreadybeen preparing you years and
years before, because like, Iwould be even like in, you know,
elementary school that I wasalways the one that was so hard
on myself. And, you know,everything that I did, so if a
test came up anything, everybodyknew I was the one stress and

(46:51):
even as a child, I was stressingabout my Nicole tell you this
all the times, you know, mytimes tables and all that and
how I couldn't get it Oh, comehome cry, and like, I would just
beat myself up, because Ithought I just had to, you know,
be the best had to get straightA's, I had to do all this and
all that pressure that I put onmyself. And you know, from
starting at that at an earlyage, and God showed me going

(47:15):
through college, and yes, I'mpushing to be, you know, the
best that I can be. But if thatdoesn't happen, you know, I
still try my best. And so thatthat was a long learning
experience. For me, I think I'dreally didn't get to that point
until a couple years ago, I hadto get through grad school.
Sorry, sorry, to see that, yeah,but all of that prepared me for,

(47:39):
you know, the path that we'rewalking in now, you know, with
this business, and just knowingthat, if I put my best foot
forward, you know, God's gonnatake care of the rest, and I can
let go of the pressure of tryingto be, you know, perfect, and
trying to make put up thisfacade that I'm perfect. And I

(47:59):
can handle it all. And I can doit all. At Yeah. Nope. Not try
to do that anymore. And so likeit now that I sit back, and I
think about the different thingsthat I went through different
challenges and, you know,hardships that I went through
just from a child and all theway up to adulthood. It mentally

(48:19):
prepared me physically preparedme to be stronger, to take on,
you know, whatever people haveto say, like, now I'm at the
point like, okay, whatever, Idon't really care. And like, it
puts me in a place where I don'tfeel like I necessarily have to
prove myself to them, all I'mdoing, I'm proving myself to
myself, you know, and to God,like, You trusted me with this.

(48:42):
And so, yes, I'm going to dowhat I can to make this happen
to prove to you that I'm seriousabout this, but not proving to
anyone else, because like Isaid, they'll they'll catch up
when they catch up. And so Imean, my thing is,
there's just a lot ofchallenges, just a lot of

(49:03):
successes that you've gonethrough. And even though you may
not see the benefit of them atthat time, and how they're going
to, you know, help you later on,it's always going to come back
at a time where you know, thatmuscle that you built in
whatever area is going to helpyou in another instance. And so

(49:24):
that's why I think it's just soimportant not to discount what
you've been through, but toreally use that as you know, a
building block to get to, to getyou to where you know, you want
to go. And another thing I don'tknow if you guys noticed, when
Ray was telling his story witheverything that, you know, may
have gone wrong, he always had,you know, a way to turn it back

(49:46):
around and be like, but ithelped me do this, you know,
like keeping track of, you know,yeah, this failed. This didn't
go the right way. But I was ableto come out of it, you know, on
top, or I was able to learn thisfrom it. And so it's like
keeping track of youraccomplishments and your wins.
And even if they're big ifthey're small, like, I don't
care, like you celebrateyourself, you know, you like you

(50:08):
be your own hype man and belike, I wanna, I want to thank
me well IG posts right, right.
That's what you got to do melike, I want to thank myself for
making it this far. And forstill, you know, you know,
pushing press, my, my doubts andmy fears and, and you know,
making it happen making ithappen.

Ray Mayfield (50:31):
That's awesome, man. It's off to you.

Tiara Jones (50:34):
I mean, what you just said was pretty impressive
story and that is it. I look atit interesting that you don't
think so only

Ray Mayfield (50:41):
because only because this right? I know some
guys who are life whose livesare altered far beyond anything
I can imagine, physically,mentally, and hope to have some
of those guys on here someday totell you guys how they how they
took those lessons and turn theminto into wins and how they
walked away now. So like, youknow, I look at as man, like,
what I went through was nothingcompared to some, but I'm not

(51:02):
gonna tell you, I'll tell youguys it was hell, it was hell
while I was in it. But you know,when you when you can look back
and say, Man, look where I was.
And that's a beautiful thing.

Tiara Jones (51:10):
Yeah. And I can say it's a testimony to others,
because I know he didn't want todo this and raise really not.
We're both kind of very privatepeople. But I know that it would
help others. And thank you fortaking one for the team
appreciate that pushing throughand sharing. Because I know
maybe some people might not beable to relate to, you know,

(51:31):
your experience with as a Marineand things like that. But it may
be a slightly similar story withyou know, different situation
where they see okay, he was ableto still push through all of
that. And look at him now lookwhat he's able to accomplish.
You know, he's now you know,you're now married. You got kids
raise your everybody loves rightat work. Yeah, absolutely love,

(51:52):
right. It's true. I'm a verybuddy. And just starting this,
you know, he started thisbusiness and you're still
pushing past it. Yes. We've,we've hit a lot of roadblocks.
Daily roadblocks, you know, butwe're still working through it.
Like it was right. Exactly. Justdetours. So you were able still
able to push through it. So Ithink there's there's a lot of

(52:14):
good net that I think it's goodto sometimes just come out of
your shell a little bit andshow. And so, you know, thinking
about, you know, strategic siteand what we've been able to
accomplish, we started and whatmay of 2019. With high hopes,
super high hopes I know we'vetalked about, yeah, yeah.

(52:35):
Thinking that, you know, thingswere going to be, you know,
you're hitting the ground.
Exactly, like Fall Winter 2019In it was everything but that,
okay, everything but that. Butinstead of saying like, Okay,
that didn't work out a wholebusiness away. We were like,
Okay, what, how else? Can wedivert our efforts, you know, to

(52:55):
keep going and so, you know,faults when it I think that's
when we we built our firstwebsite in house and, you know,
started to establish our

Ray Mayfield (53:05):
credit to you credit to you, man, I think
like, you out there, I thinkthat's one thing I appreciate
about you, right? Like, youknow, I looked at your we gotta
get this government contract.
And you saw it was like, Yo,there's other things we can do.
Like, what what do you mean? Andand, you know, I appreciate you
for your persistence. Um, thoseare some fun times. A lot of

Tiara Jones (53:21):
fun times. Yeah, that was up late nights, like,
frustrated. And I am not a webdeveloper. And I don't want to
be and I don't ever want tobuild another website. But we
had to make it work. It's like,you know, we were, you know,
just starting out. Yeah, we wereinvesting in our own business.
But we're we're trying to be, asyou know, financially
responsible, as we are like,Okay, let's see if we can figure

(53:42):
this out in house. Because whenwe try to go and hire other
people, they wouldn't even wantrespond or any of this. That was
pretty much gotcha saying, do ityourself. And that's how we did
it. So that was that was 20,like the end of 2019. We're
like, okay, let's just, youknow, establish our digital
presence there. And then 2020Hit y'all. And that was just
like, another blow to thestomach.

Ray Mayfield (54:03):
Your COVID Yeah, so much happened last year.

Tiara Jones (54:07):
It did a lot. And it was, in a way, it was also a
blessing in disguise thateverything didn't get up and
running, because then we wouldhave been in a whole nother
world of roadblocks. Right,exactly. And things like
navigating waters that we reallyweren't prepared for. But you
know, we took that and turned itaround. And that's when we
started, you know, the frontrunner live and we came online

(54:30):
every day days. We didn't wantto slow days. We did. So days we
did it. We still we stuck withit. And we were consistent, you
know, and just trying to, youknow, share what we knew to help
other people just like usstarting out. And what that was,
that was 2020. At the end of2020. Things start to get busy.
The world kind of startedopening up and still kind of

(54:52):
crazy. And then there came thepocket. So you're like okay, you
still want to keep this going.
But let's try this out. in youknow a lot of you know, family
things happen in the beginningof 2021 that you know took us in
a different direction things getdelayed. I wanted the podcast to
be in January. I don't think westarted the podcast to July we

(55:13):
did it. We are the 11th episode,closing out season one and then
even from there able to startthe the front runner up here or,
and you know going for it withyou know, our thing that we
always say stay solid and so andthat's even been you know, a
great experience with you know,trying out different

Ray Mayfield (55:38):
shout out the Tierra T T T T designs all this
stuff, y'all it is on theclothes. Kimmy Kimmy My bad.
Yeah, Kimmy, Kimmy, Kimmy Kimmygave us the design but like you
you take, you've taken that thatdesign and created the apparel
brand with it. So yeah, shoutout to you, man.

Tiara Jones (55:53):
Yes, it was definitely it's definitely been
a team effort and getting thisdone. And definitely shout out
to Kimmy and helping us out. Andshe has been so patient with us.
You know, she's helped us. She'sdone just about almost
everything in the business.

Ray Mayfield (56:07):
Jimmy did our wedding invitations.

Tiara Jones (56:08):
She's ready. She also did the baby shower
invitation.

Ray Mayfield (56:12):
Kimmy is downloaded. So yeah, she does.
She does more she does more thanjust, you know, branding and
designing like she she does itall. So definitely, definitely
check her out.

Tiara Jones (56:20):
Definitely check her out. And so it's been a
learning experience from thethings that we've done has been
detours that I think that wewould start, you know, putting
out a pair. Oh, absolutely. Notthat I think we would ever get
into a pocket. Absolutely not.
But you know, God knew all ofthese things. And he was he's
been preparing us since we cameout of the womb, away, and

(56:41):
everything that we've gonethrough. And it's like, it's
crazy, because both of ourexperiences and how they were
able to bring us together inthis point. So with Ray, you
know, getting that job andcoming from Atlanta to here with
me come out of school thinkingthat I was going to go to John
Hopkins, you know, APL lab, andGod's like, nope, even though
that's more money, you're notgoing to take, you can take this

(57:02):
other job where Ray is and thengetting us to this point. And so
there's a lot of great stuff instore for us coming up in 2022,
which is crazy already almost at2022. And so we'll have season
two, we'll have you know, moreperil, we'll have more
opportunities, you know, toconnect with us. And so even

(57:23):
more guests. Yeah, even moreguests. Absolutely.

Ray Mayfield (57:30):
A lot of podcasts,

Tiara Jones (57:31):
absolutely.

Ray Mayfield (57:31):
I'll throw stuff in there, here and there.

Tiara Jones (57:33):
And I'm here for it. You know, like I said,
before, you know, growing up inthe church, and everything was
always like, we got to do itlike this, you got to do it like
that. And like, it was just solike stuffing, like, oh, I don't
want to like I want to justcompletely go against the grain.
And now I've kind of gotten to aplace where I can do that in a
way that's not so what do yousay? Defensive? You know, your

(57:58):
back? Exactly. I could I can,you know, do that comfortably in
a way that, you know, really,really feels right. You know,
and and I'm still in line withwhat God wants me to do. Right?
Exactly. And so, you know, we'reall about helping others helping
each other. Anything that we cando to help you, if you're on the

(58:19):
fence, starting a business,you're already in it. And you
know, you need an ear, you needsomeone to just vent to. Right,
exactly, just like us call us.
We're here to write to bemultiple, you know, things for
other entrepreneurs when itcomes to like the actual
business strategies and thingslike that, or just, you know,
dealing with the day to day, youknow, rut of being in and out of

(58:41):
it all. Exactly. We're, we'rehere for you guys. And we hope
that you will, you know, be herefor us as well as we're going
through because we're stilllearning. We don't claim to know
it all.

Ray Mayfield (58:58):
But about out loud anyway. Right, right.

Tiara Jones (59:01):
But we're gonna share what we do know. And we do
appreciate you all, you know,listening in that every week for
season one of this podcast, I donot take it lightly at all. So I
think we're up to maybe around300 downloads or something.

Ray Mayfield (59:20):
So much. Thank you so much.

Tiara Jones (59:21):
I appreciate it to have 300 people caring enough of
us that listen to us for 15 to45 minutes to an hour.

Ray Mayfield (59:28):
Exactly the whole wherever we got it will be
everybody who listeneddefinitely had something out of
it, though. Absolutely.
Absolutely. So let me ask yourquestion to you. And I guess
we'll maybe we'll wrap up theseason with this one, right.
There's one trait you think thathas helped you persevere during
an entreprenuer endeavor? Whatwould it be like one trait or
characteristic? Let me go first.

(59:54):
Yeah. For me, it's Theimportance of discipline. I
think I think that's probablyone of the most important, most
important things is theimportance of discipline. And,
and discipline is such a, youknow, it's such a powerful word
when you really apply it in youreveryday walk and principles as

(01:00:17):
a business owner, co owner, andpartner. Yeah, I think
discipline, I think I reaffirmmy commitment to be more
disciplined, you know,definitely doing this past year
as we move forward for what'scoming is going to be far
greater than where we are now,in order to be able to do the
right thing with it and expandon it. Yeah, I think discipline

(01:00:39):
is extremely important.

Tiara Jones (01:00:42):
I like it, I would have to say being resourceful.
Because I'm all about using whatyou have. And so I'll say, I'll
be quick to it's not that like,I'm cheap or anything

Ray Mayfield (01:00:55):
cheap. It's okay.

Tiara Jones (01:00:57):
Sorry. I will I will pay for anyone to be Yeah,
yeah, exactly. Sometimes I'll belike, Oh, pick on what to pay
for that,

Ray Mayfield (01:01:03):
hey, I'm not paying $5 for shipping. Y'all.

Tiara Jones (01:01:07):
Gosh, me and shipping. And it's tough. What
you know, I know, tangent. Butespecially with small businesses
like at it I have, so I have abetter appreciation for this
whole shipping thing. Becausebefore, you know what the big
businesses they can, they can doit. They can't they can, they
can either should have been. Butthese small business y'all and
looking at your margins, can'teat that shipping all the time.

(01:01:30):
And these shipping costs aregetting insane, especially with
this pandemic. So I've beenchanging my my view on you know,
on shipping. But anyways,resourcefulness kind of, you
know, taking a look at what youhave, because usually you can
start with, you know, you know,what's in your hand. And so
like, I know, Bishop talks abouta lot like, what do you have in

(01:01:52):
your hand to start in? That hashelped me a lot, because there
was a lot of things we didn'thave. And instead, there were
some times where I was like,okay, yeah, I can't do this.
Can't do that. Because we don'thave this. We don't know this
person. And God, you know, putme in my place real quick and
was like, Yeah, you don't, butyou have this, you have that,
like you've, you've learned alot over the years, you better

(01:02:13):
figure it out, like what thewhole website thing, like going
on about doing a website, he wasjust like, there's something
called Google YouTube, researchit no figure it out. And so you
are capable of doing just somuch more than you think by just
just taking a minute in, youknow, looking at what you have
around you, who you have aroundyou. And being you know, getting

(01:02:35):
rid of your pride and you know,saying okay, hey, can you help
me out with this? Or are theylike that, just be resourceful,
with what you have, oh, get youso much further. Because if you
wait for everything to fall intoplace, and the fall in the line,
and things to drop in your life,your lap, you're gonna be
waiting for a long time. Andyou're just going to be pushing
yourself back and saying, Well,no, I gotta wait for this or No,

(01:02:57):
it's not ready or this time isnot right. No, take what you
have. And just start little bylittle, even a little bit each
day a little bit each week alittle bit, you know, each
month. Take what you have. Beresourceful. And what you got to
do.

Ray Mayfield (01:03:13):
I like that brick by brick brick by brick. I like
that. I like that city. Awesome.
Jojo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, Idefinitely appreciate the
experience. Thanks to you forpushing the podcast. You know, I
think I think it's, it's valueadded. And hopefully it's
something that we're able toshare. Like we said before, that
everybody's able to getsomething out of it. So you

(01:03:35):
know, whether you're anentrepreneur or you know, in
sports or just trying to figurelife out and gentlemen tap in,
you never know what you'll hearthat, you know, maybe that one
thing you needed to move you tothe next level in life. So, you
know, season one comes to anend. Yeah, one run. We look
forward to doing again andseason two, you know, so
everybody hold down love oneanother and just be cool as you

(01:03:56):
move out there. Yeah.

Tiara Jones (01:03:59):
And as always, stay solid peace.