March 28, 2025 • 61 mins
What does the journey from military service to mental health entrepreneurship look like? In this revealing conversation, Navy veteran Marcus Norman takes us through his remarkable path from Caribbean roots to owning multiple businesses across diverse industries.
Marcus shares the invaluable gift his father gave him - not money or property, but the ability to think critically through any situation. This skill has allowed him to navigate entrepreneurial waters from real estate and ATMs to cannabis and now mental health services. His perspective challenges conventional wisdom about business ownership: "Everyone talks about entrepreneurship, but no one ever thinks of the endpoint. Successful people know when to get in and they know when to get out."
We explore the profound decision to sell his real estate holdings to purchase a mental health franchise - a strategic move that expanded his impact from serving a handful of property locations to reaching across entire communities. This shift wasn't merely financial but mission-driven, addressing the growing mental health crisis exacerbated by the pandemic.
The discussion doesn't shy away from hard truths about healthcare disparities. Marcus reveals disturbing insights about how medical professionals are sometimes trained to perceive pain tolerance differently based on race, and how financial barriers and stigma create additional obstacles to mental healthcare access, particularly for communities of color.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, Marcus offers clear guideposts: understand how a business generates revenue, evaluate whether the leadership team's expertise aligns with the industry, and assess if you're receiving appropriate value for your investment. His practical advice that research time should correlate with financial investment respects entrepreneurs at every level.
Ultimately, Marcus leaves us with a powerful call to action that transcends business: "It's not your fault if you were born into difficult circumstances. It is your fault if you stay there." Ready to change your circumstances and perhaps create impact through entrepreneurship? This conversation might be your first step.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Everyone talks about owning a business.
Entrepreneurship is the wayright, but no one ever thinks of
the end point, and one of thethings that you see successful
people do is they know when toget in and they know when to get
out.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
All right, welcome to another edition of the Journey
to Freedom program, our Journeyto Freedom podcast.
I am Dr B, I am your host andexcited about another episode.
You know, marcus, I don't knowif you know this, but in 2024,
my goal was to interview 100Black men that are doing some
things in our country that areexciting, and so we got to 105
(00:51):
episodes this year.
We've already done 15.
Just some amazing people, whichtoday you folks will absolutely
hear from the best of the best,and one of the things, some of
the themes that have come out oflast year, is one that, at
least for most of the black men,I used to think oh, this is
(01:11):
just a silly thing that wesometimes wanna see somebody in
the space that we're trying toevolve in, that looks like us,
because we spent so many yearsnot seeing people.
I think we got athletics takencare of, think we got the music
industry taken care of, but insome of the other spaces we're
still not seeing a lot of folks.
(01:32):
And I said, well, that's notimportant to me, right?
And then I ended up going tothis whole podcast started
because I went to a.
It was a trust leadershipconference in Minnesota.
Four or 500 people that werethere.
It just enjoyed it tremendously, got some great information
about how to lead with trust.
Can you only 30 folks of colorin the room and I'm counting
(01:54):
right, like it's not important,I'm actually counting how many
folks are in the room that lookslike me and they're wondering
why we're not getting some ofthis information that is so
vitally important.
Because it seems like ourculture doesn't do a whole lot
when it comes to, you know,trusting.
You know I think a lot of ushave learned how to trust, but I
(02:16):
think sometimes we don't trustourselves.
We don't trust our women, wedon't trust, you know, our other
, each other, we don't trustsome of the, some of the other
cultures that are out there.
What a great place for us tokind of start with building that
trust and doing some of thatstuff.
So I'm going to take 15 men toAlabama at the end of this month
(02:36):
and we're going to go through awhole civil rights victory tour
and kind of understand thegiants of the shoulders of the
giants that we stood on and allthe things that they went
through.
That take away some of ourexcuses as to why we don't
succeed.
The other thing I think thispodcast does that.
It takes away some of theexcuses.
Whether I've talked to agentleman who had fathers that
(03:00):
were, you know, that were inprison, or you know single moms,
or I had an attorney who robbeda bank, we just been having a
fun time, you know, and now he'sa successful minister and you
just go, wow.
There's so many people from allover the country who are doing
some amazing things, and todayis not no exception Today.
(03:21):
We have Marcus on today, andwhat's incredible about Marcus
is that he's a business owner,he's an entrepreneur, he is
working and only in the spacethat sometimes you don't see a
lot of black people in themental health industry and
helping folks that need to learnwhat it is that may be the
(03:48):
trauma that has happened to themand be able to focus on how do
I move forward, kind of like wedo in this podcast, but on a
different level, on a level thatincreases our ability to be
successful or happy or have joy.
You know, I think success is oneof those things that we get to
determine for ourselves whatthat means.
(04:09):
But success also leaves clues.
Success isn't, you know,sitting home watching TV,
wishing your life was better.
Success is going out there andliving within purpose.
You know, I spend my timesaying you know, how do I help
people, especially men now, asI've created Journey to Freedom,
become a person they need to bein order to do what God put
(04:29):
them on the search to do.
And when we do that, what Ifound, marcus, you know I'll
hear from you on this, but Ihaven't met anybody who isn't
willing to serve others thatgets to live in purpose.
And so it's so fun to see whatthat service is like and how we
can serve others, and there's somany ways to do it.
(04:49):
It's not, you know, you have togo out there at a soup kitchen
and you know, get a ladle andput soup in a bowl for the
homeless.
And what I was talking to ourlast guest about was, you know,
some of us need to createbusinesses and need to create
wealth in order to serve others,because it's really hard to
serve others sometimes when youdon't have any means to be able
(05:11):
to do it.
And so if we can help thatthrough the people that we hire,
if we can do that through thepeople that we work with, if we
can do that with the people andthe money that we make so that
we can give, I think that's away to serve others so.
Marcus, thank you for being ontoday thank you for spending an
hour with me.
Uh, and, being one of our year,I think you're number 16 in
(05:33):
2025 already, so we're flyingthrough.
I thought I was only going todo 100, but no, after I heard
100, I got to do way more,because there's so many great
stories out there, so I'd lovefor you to start with your story
.
Uh, start you.
I'd love for you to start withyour story.
I can tell everybody.
You can start from your mama'swomb up to now or somewhere in
between, and then it's soimportant that we get to see.
(05:56):
Like I said, what others havedone so that we can feel like,
hey man, if Marcus can do it, Ican do it.
And we both know that you knowthe especially in the industry.
He's in right.
He said well, I don't really.
I got hold on my secretsbecause I don't want anybody to
be in the mental health space.
There's plenty of room in themental health space.
(06:18):
A lot of people to be in.
I promise you that, because weall, instead of being we'll talk
about health a little bit butinstead of being this black man
who's scared to go get help whenI need it, I hope that you will
say wait a minute, if there's aplace for me to go, and maybe I
can even get a therapist thatlooks and understands me then
(06:41):
we're gonna be in a good space.
So, marcus, glad to tell yourstory and then we'll chop it up
right after that.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
No, that's fine.
Thank you for the introductionand sharing your history and
sharing why you started.
It's so important to see otherslike you said, others that look
like you, doing the things andbeing in the spaces that you
want to do.
So I thank you, brother, fortaking the step and doing what
you do to give back in this way,because it's necessary.
(07:07):
There's a huge need for it, andso for me.
You know, my start came fromthe Virgin Islands.
I'm originally born and raisedon a small island called St
Croix in the Virgin Islands, USVirgin Islands, and made my way
here via the United Statesmilitary.
I'm a Navy veteran.
I served in, served my countryfor eight years and then got out
(07:33):
of the military because Irealized that it was time for me
to do something else and comingfrom.
But you don't quite know whatthat something else is right.
A lot of times when you and Ithink it's almost a form of PTSD
A lot of times when youencounter a veteran, you, they,
(07:55):
they describe themselves by whatthey did or who they use, and
they, they make that theirpersonality.
Well, I used to be a masterchief, I used to be a gunner's
mate.
I used to do this.
I used to do these things.
I've been to this part of theworld because of who I used to
(08:15):
be.
And to me that's a form of PTSD.
And when I got out I realizedthe military is something I did.
It's not who I am, and so incoming out, I had to learn who
Marcus was.
I had to cut my hair, I had totry different styles, I put
color in my hair, I tried spikes, I tried the Mohawk, because,
(08:38):
coming straight out of highschool from the Virgin Islands,
where I was under my parents'stewardship, and then being
autonomous in the, you know,somewhat autonomous, mostly
autonomous to make decisions,good or bad or indifferent,
without, you know, guidance fromfamily, but from other leaders,
(08:58):
and so that that kind of theleadership and the skill
building and what I did in theNavy is paramount to who I am.
But that continuous developmentand relearning what Marcus wants
to do in the world came afterthe military.
And that was a turning pointfor me because I had to, like I
(09:21):
said, I had to rediscover myselfand find out what my purpose
was.
And I've been all over theworld.
I've been to Guam, I've flownthrough Hawaii, flown through
Japan, I've been to East coast,west coast, been to Seattle,
washington, um Virginia, groton,connecticut, um Kings Bay,
georgia.
(09:41):
So I've been, I've been someunique places, um, and you know
it, it, it.
It humbles me now to see whereI've been and where I am today,
because I've always in at thecore of it.
Like you said in in yourconversation, your introduction,
(10:01):
earlier, most successful peopleare serve, are serving they
have a people are serving theyhave a heart for service.
They have a heart for giving.
They have a heart for others.
No one goes broke giving bygiving right.
You can't give away too much,and so you don't hear about that
, and so that really, especiallyin this phase of my life, is
(10:25):
really at the core front.
And I I've dug a little deeperand I asked myself I try to ask
myself every day if I died today, what would people write on my
tombstone?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
about me yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Right, because it doesn't matter.
People don't remember what yousay.
People always remember how youmade them feel, because feelings
last longer than what you say.
People will forget.
You know that that that cussout at the at the barbecue,
right, people will forget whatyou say, but they'll never
forget.
Every time I see that guy I'mpissed off.
So you want to make sure thatif you die today, today, what
(11:03):
they will put on your headstoneis something you want people to
remember you for yeah, and Ilive by that today, and so I've
had different experiences invarious businesses.
Um, because when I got out, Ihad to work a nine to five, but
I realized early on that a nineto five wasn't cutting it.
Your employer, my employer, ouremployer, isn't going to pay
(11:27):
you the kind of wages andcompensation that you probably
deserve, and I learned thatbusiness was a different path
and, to me at the time, a betterpath to impact and creating
impact in the world.
I don't want to be a part of ofof of something.
I want to start it, I want todo it, I want to be the initiate
(11:49):
, I want to, I want to pave theway in the in, the in, in a path
that not too many has traveled.
I have businesses in the ATMbusiness, I own a portfolio of
(12:12):
ATMs, a portfolio of real estate, and dove into the cannabis
space a couple years ago andI've been doing that for some
time.
And then, like, like yourself,I'm podcasting, and now my
latest venture is mental healthand I purchased a mental health
franchise.
(12:32):
So that's kind of a 3000 footview of Marcus in the beginning.
The Caribbean, the youngCaribbean Islander, you know,
hanging out, going to school andsmoking ganja every day.
You know, hanging out, going toschool and smoking ganja every
day.
I'm kidding, I didn't smokeganja in that Caribbean culture.
Right From a very relaxedupbringing to now, you know a
(12:55):
businessman, and there's not toomany entrepreneurs at least
there weren't too manyentrepreneurs that influenced me
growing up, and so business wassomething I had to discover on
my own, and I've been learningever since, and so that's the
3,000 foot view of then Marcusto now Marcus, and so that's who
(13:17):
I am.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So you graduated high school, or what equivalent to
high school In the islands, andthen you came, went to the
straight into the military yessir, and then you learn whatever
you learn in the military.
so you get out eight years islonger than a lot of people do
so and you're there, uh, andthen you get out and go.
Okay, now, what am I supposedto do, right, if you go, if you
(13:41):
try all these different thingsbecause we're all searching for
what brings us happiness and joy, during that time your identity
was shaped, who Marcus is, andfor some people, our identity is
shaped because of other peopleand other influences and people
that are around us.
What do you think are the kindof the greatest contributors to
(14:01):
the identity that you now holdas who Marcus is?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Some of the big, great question, um, some of the
biggest contributors to whoMarcus is is, first and foremost
, my father.
Um, I was raised and grew upprimarily with my father, and so
he has been the first and mostimpactful person in my life.
He was the start of it and thecatalyst to a lot of the
(14:30):
thoughts that I have and theperspectives that I have today,
and so one of the things that Itell people about my father is
to give a basic point my dad isstill alive to this day, but my
dad, he didn't give me aninheritance, he didn't leave me
money, he didn't leave me richesor wealth or a business, but
one of the things he did wasgive me the ability to
(14:53):
critically think throughproblems, and I think that's
what's lacking in some people isthe ability to take something,
break it down to its finestparts.
The ability to take something,break it down to its finest
parts, its simplest parts, towhere you can understand it and
then rebuild it in your own way,and so that has paid dividends
(15:21):
throughout my military careerand throughout my adult years.
As I go through life, I'venever again I named various
industries real estate, cannabis, business, atms, now mental
health.
None of those industries arerelated, right, and so what I've
never held myself back from.
Typically, you see, people kindof stay in one lane.
Because my father impacted meto critically think I've never
(15:44):
stayed in one lane, I don't haveto and I've never been limited
in that way.
I can enter a space, I can bethrown out in the middle of the
woods and thrive and survive,and that's because I was able to
critically think.
So I'll say that, right, themilitary does its due.
But that was the first andstill prevalent and the most
(16:06):
impactful thing to me today thatI still use to this day.
Because your ability tocritically think, to walk into a
room and assess what'shappening in this room in order
to make an educated decision onwhether are you going to be the
leader in that space?
Are you going to be the leaderin that space?
Are you going to be a learnerin that space?
(16:27):
Are you going to sit down andbe quiet?
And you realize the people inthe room may be smarter than you
.
So it's wise for someone whoacknowledges their capacity and
the room that they're in tohumble themselves and say I'm
going to just listen and learn.
And not everyone can make thatconnection.
(16:47):
Some people just barge into aroom and assume that they're the
leader because of X, y and Z,but that's not always the case
and that's not always a markerfor good leadership or good
business.
You want to be able to assessevery space and the people you
interact with, becauseeverybody's different, people
are different, spaces aredifferent, and so critically
(17:08):
thinking really has beenimpactful in all facets of my
life so, as I'm thinking aboutyour story and, and you said,
you've been in different spacesthat aren't related, and whether
it's your pursuit of purpose oryour pursuit of excellence, or
your pursuit of service, why,help me understand in those
(17:31):
different industries, what madeyou decide I need to switch,
like why didn't you want to todig more into real estate
because you know a lot of peoplecan be successful and they love
it to death in real estate?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Or why did you not buy another thousand ATMs and
have your life be pretty much anATM machine?
What made you pursue whereyou're at now?
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Great question, great question.
What made me pursue where I amnow is everyone talks about
starting a business, owning abusiness, entrepreneurship is
the way Right, but no one everthinks of the end point, and one
of the things that you seesuccessful people do is they
know when to get in and theyknow when to get out, know when
(18:29):
to get out.
And so I'll give you a greatexample.
I owned real estate before Iowned this mental health
franchise and bought into it,and so one of the things people
do is, like you said, they buyreal estate and they buy, buy,
buy, buy, buy, buy, and that'sall I'm going to do.
That's very one dimensional.
Well, if you have a coupleproperties that are worth
$300,000, and here's anotherbusiness that, at its current
(18:54):
valuation, is worth $500,000 andhas a higher yield and less
inventory right, because yourproperty, the real estate, the
tangible real estate, isinventory right, that's a
physical thing that you cantouch, whereas I can own a
franchise virtually and have lowinventory or virtually no
(19:20):
inventory almost, and that isyielding $500,000.
So that was the question I hadto ask myself, right, and most
people don't think thatsometimes, in business, leveling
up is still business, and so ifI liquidate this asset to buy
(19:46):
into this newer asset that'shigher yielding, then that's.
I'm still in business, I'm stillmoving.
But the problem is we want tohold on to stuff, we want to
hoard stuff, and that's not how.
That's not necessarily.
That's not the path that wasdestined for me.
That is a path, right, you canjust do your one lane and do
(20:08):
real estate and real estate only, and that's fine.
But what you'll find is thereare other avenues, other
vehicles, and you should keep anopen mind to other things and
don't let the one thing hold youback from looking into another
space.
And so that was my path.
My path is I'm going to level upand think about the end.
(20:31):
I'm going to sell a real estate, or some of the real estate, so
that I can buy into somethingbigger and I can create impact
on a bigger scale.
Because if I own fiveproperties, I can only impact
the location of where thoseproperties are and that's it,
whereas virtually now I cancover a whole zip code or
(20:54):
several zip codes or severalcities in a state.
So now my reach is bigger andnow I'm able to create a bigger
impact and help more people,because my practice is now
virtual and expanding andgrowing, and clients are finding
me from all over the world.
I'm being introduced to newpeople, new, new youths, new
(21:15):
teenagers, new adults that havesome of the most horrendous
problems that we're facing insociety did it and I can help
them, and so that's why it'sleveling up, thinking about the
end.
Sorry, I'll end with this.
There was a major real estatefirm here that has now almost
(21:37):
fell off the map, because whenshe built this real estate
empire and she was big, she wason the news, she was on the
radio, she was everywhere, andshe built it to the point where
now she's ready to sell and soshe's listing her business for
sale.
She had locations in NorthCarolina, she had locations in
Washington DC and she hadseveral locations in Virginia,
(21:59):
and she's ready to sell thepractice, the real estate
business.
Well, she found a buyer and thebuyer says well, your name's
everywhere, your name is on thedoor, your name and face is on
the pamphlets.
We can't buy this businessbecause everything you've bought
, everything has your face on itand I can't buy into this
(22:19):
because it's your face.
And when you leave, whathappens, then it's your face.
And when you leave, whathappens?
Then.
So she spends millions ofdollars revamping everything
brochures, tv ads, commercialsrevamp millions to rebrand it
and change the name.
Well, guess what?
She did all of that and thenlost the buyer anyway.
(22:41):
All of that, and then lost thebuyer anyway, and she went from
this huge, huge real estateempire to you.
Don't even hear about heranymore.
She's still there if you lookfor her.
But she didn't think about theend.
No one keeps the end in mind.
What is the end play in this?
Why am I doing this?
There has to be an end, becauselife is not infinite for you
(23:05):
and me.
So what's the end game?
And so that's how I think Iwant to end that train of
thought and leave your audiencewith that train of thought.
Think about the end when youget into something.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Yeah Well and I love leveling up, I mean that makes
so much sense that hey, okay, Igot five properties.
Well, five properties areserving five families,
especially if they're singlefamily residents right.
I guess if they're apartmentcomplexes they could serve more.
But then you think okay, notonly can.
I level up but I can serve andmake impact on more people.
(23:40):
And then you think of, I think,the most successful people that
I've interviewed, the mostsuccessful people that I know,
the most successful people I seefind what the problem is and
find ways to solve it.
You know, and so there is a hugeproblem in our country if we
want to move into, like health,and you know not only how big is
(24:00):
the health industry physicalhealth, you know where we try to
stay alive, but then we'rereally finding out even more
about the mental health side ofthings.
And so you don't have to be andthis is a great for you guys
that are watching Marcus doesn'thave to be a therapist or a
doctor to impact in the mentalhealth space.
(24:24):
Right, he has to be able togive an avenue for being able to
.
Maybe you can talk about whatyou see in the mental health
space that is so needed thatyou're able to provide because
you're doing services like this.
What's happening with ourcountry?
What's happening with ourawareness, even and you know us
(24:45):
even as black men not willing togo to the doctor or go see
people when we need to, maybekind of help us understand this
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, great, great question.
So what we're dealing with is,I think COVID accelerated a lot
of things, and it acceleratedthe lack of concern and care
that we were placing on not onlyour kids, but adults as well as
families as well.
(25:13):
Covid exposed what was alreadylingering, and so we've been
dealing with a mental healthproblem for years, as well as
fighting against what youmentioned the stereotype of
Black men and women not wantingto go to the doctors or the
dentist and having a real, real,real, innate fear of, you know,
(25:38):
practitioners.
One of the things that one ofthe therapists I work with
shared with me is they areactually trained, and doctors
are actually trained thatAfrican-Americans are have a
higher pain tolerance than theirCaucasian counterparts.
(26:01):
This is taught to doctors, andso doctors who are now
practicing and out in the fieldhave a misconception, a
conception about you, a beliefsystem about you, that you can
tolerate more pain.
So instead of, hey, you'recoming to me with a, with a pain
(26:23):
or sore, um, I'm going to waitand see, because you're
African-American and I've beentrained that you can tolerate
more pain, instead of justgiving you and helping you deal
with the pain at the lowestpoint before it gets into
something major.
And so, just like mental health, I think there is a
(26:45):
misconception that people arejust going to figure it out weak
if you go to a therapist.
So that's one side of the coin.
The other side is finance.
Right, how do you pay formental health services?
(27:07):
Because practitioners and Ican't speak for the United
States, but I can speak for myarea practitioners are
ridiculous.
The competition, the individualpractitioner that is out there
charges higher fees that arejust out of this world, and they
(27:28):
make it so unaffordable, sounencouraging, to seek you out
professionally that that'sdisheartening.
So now there's the stigma andthe stereotype that one has to
deal with with even thinkingabout seeing a practitioner.
But the other side of the coinis how can I financially afford
(27:52):
this practitioner?
Right and so, and, and theworld is evolving and we're
trying right.
This recently happened to me,where I went to go see my
medical provider and it was mydentist, and they did all this
work on my teeth and correctedsome things, and then, after
(28:16):
they did the work, a month later, realized that they don't
accept my insurance, and so nowI'm looking at a bill that is 10
times what I expected to payand the work is already done.
And so imagine that in atherapist space where you go see
a therapist who has no concept,because these therapists that
(28:41):
I'm seeing here, they're nottrained on insurance or billing
or any of this they're comingout of school ready to talk to
you about what's going on andthe traumas and the issues that
you've been facing, but theyhave no comprehension of the
backstory, of how to help you,not just mentally, but make sure
(29:04):
I take care of you financially,because that's going to stress
you out.
If I sat there and talked toyou for 60 minutes and then I
send you a bill for $200, you'vejust reinitiated the stress and
now I probably more times ninetimes out of ten I have to
cancel services.
I can't afford you and youdidn't tell me in advance of the
session that my insurancelapsed, my policy canceled or my
(29:31):
co-pay is something outrageousthat I didn't plan for.
After the fact, not before, andthat's not okay.
That's before and that's notokay.
That's not acceptable, that'snot okay and just I had, and I
really applaud this.
There's a lot of parentsstepping up and they're pushing
(29:54):
for their children and pushingfor their kids to get into
therapy and I really, reallyadmire the parents that step
forward and do this.
But when I talk to thoseparents and I listen to those
parents I also hear how beatdown and tired and exhausted
they are.
And I'm not looking for extramoney, but just like on an
(30:16):
airplane, you have to put youroxygen mask on first before you
help others.
And we're not doing well.
We're not doing well as asociety, we're not doing well as
a culture and we oftenespecially young mothers and all
the mothers in between they putothers first instead of
(30:38):
themselves.
And I try to talk to thosewomen and say, listen, you have
to take care of you.
You can't, you cannot.
You're doing a great job byputting your daughter or your
son getting them with apractitioner, a therapist, who
can help them deal with theirstuff.
But you have some stuff thatyou need to work through to be
(31:02):
not only better for them butbetter for you.
And they push it off.
They brush it off I'll dealwith that later, I'll deal with
that some other time as iftomorrow is guaranteed right,
and so it's sad.
One of the things I learned thatwas unique in this space is
(31:23):
that in my state I can't speakfor everyone's state, but in my
state, a 14-year-old and oldercan seek out a therapist and
receive counseling and therapywithout a consenting adult.
Now, I said the word seek out.
(31:43):
I, as a practitioner, I as abusiness owner, still have to
connect and contact and speak toan adult, but I don't have to
disclose anything to that parentabout what is discussed in that
therapeutic session.
So a child.
And it was the most incrediblething and I didn't realize it
(32:05):
until after I had alreadyscheduled this young lady.
But this client, this younggirl, reached out, found our
website, called us, scheduled anappointment, provided her
insurance card, took a pictureback in front, received the
intake form, the intake formthat you have to fill out to say
(32:25):
what you're dealing with,what's going on, how can we help
you.
She filled out the intake form,everything, and then, at the
end of it, the tail end.
I asked her what's your age?
And she's 14.
I didn't know my socialsecurity number until I was out
of the house.
Yeah, no exactly this young ladysought out therapy because she
(32:47):
knew she needed to speak to aprofessional on her own.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
We live in this world .
That is not, and we think, asparents, that we can handle all
these things.
But when I was a kid, thebiggest thing I was concerned
about is when the street lightcame on, I had to be home.
That's what I was thinkingabout.
We had a phone in the house.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
It was on the wall that everybody picked up.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
It wasn't in our hands, we didn't have social
media, that we were trying todeal with everybody who's
willing to say anything about meat that age because they can
hide behind a computer.
And then we think as parents wecan handle.
And I can remember, like when Ithink of a therapist, when you
know that was unheard of for anychild to ever need one.
But my therapist for me in manycases was my family, the family
(33:38):
that I got to hang with.
My grandpa, you know, owned adairy and you know he would.
You know, when I spent summersat his house, I would get on the
tractor with him and we wouldtalk all day as we were going
back and forth on the tractor,right because I had access to a
family member that could deal.
But I don't know how many adultstoday have, are capable or have
(33:58):
the capacity to deal with someof this stuff that happens on
social media or therelationships these kids are
having, or what they're seeingon television and trying to
solve world problems.
Right, because I had no ideawhat was going on in Israel when
I was 14 years old.
Right, but every kid todaywho's 14 years old knows
(34:20):
everything that's going on inthe whole world and then they're
trying to deal with thosethings.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
On that point right.
So one, the family ecosystemhas changed.
You have kids that are grown,married adults have their own
kids and want to come back hometo have the family help and
assist them with child raisingright Rearing their
grandchildren.
The parents don't want toparticipate.
(34:46):
Grandparents are done.
They're fed up.
They're like I did mine.
It's time for you to do yours.
Don't be calling me.
They want nothing to do, likethe days of old, to assist with
upbringing and the familydynamic.
So the family dynamic is brokenand it's divided and separated.
You also have the other flipside of the coin, where kids
(35:07):
don't want to come home and takecare of their parents.
They leave the nest and they goso far away that coming home is
not even advantageous to comehome and deal with an aging
parent.
So now you have an aging parentwho relies on government
assistance and governmentprograms and government aid and
everything to take care of them,because none of the family
dynamic is there that wasoriginally there around your
(35:29):
time and my time, and so that'sbroken.
And you're right.
You're so right, it's reallybad.
And you're right, you're soright, it's really bad.
And also, too, it's important tohave friends that hold space
for you.
It's absolutely important tohave those core friends that if
you say a word, they will dropeverything and make time for you
(35:51):
.
It's also important to, as thatfriend, to recognize where your
limit is at and say listenbrother, listen sister, I'll
always hold space for you, butwhat you're dealing with right
now is out of my depth and so weneed to stop.
We need to have healthyrelationships, friendships where
(36:15):
your friend will be there foryou and hold space for you but
also acknowledge that they havea limit and instead of saying,
hey, you're dealing with a lot,let me take you out to drink,
let me take you out for somesmokes, let's go get some weed,
a bag of weed, because those aregateways, right?
We need the kind of friends thatwill say listen, man, what
(36:36):
you're dealing with right now isintense and I really am not
able to help you.
Let me pay for your first threetherapy sessions at this
therapist company that I knowabout.
Let me pay for your first threesessions.
If you want to leave, it's allon me, bro, I got you no matter
what the cost, but I want to getyou help.
But that's the kind ofrelationship.
(36:57):
So the family dynamic needs tochange and the individual we
need to recognize.
We can hold space for peopleand we should hold space for
people, but realize where yourlimit is and then say hey, let
me get you some help.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Well, the stigma is that if I go there, somehow I'm
crazy or somehow I'm less thanI'm, you know, less than I
couldn't do it, especially as ablack man.
Right, I'm not as good assomebody else is because I need
to work through some things thatare going on, and I think
that's maybe starting to changea little bit, but I do see that
(37:32):
a lot.
I mean, I think that therapysession is the barbershop, where
we talk about athletes andeverywhere else, but we don't
really talk about, hey, mywife's getting ready to leave me
, or I don't have any money andI don't know what to do.
And everybody's counting on me,not just my immediate family,
but my extended family, is allyou know.
I've been taking care of themfor so long and they think I'm
(37:53):
gonna, and they have all thispressure on them to be able to
perform, and then, well, I can'tgo see somebody because what
will they think of me?
so you know, do you see thatstarting to change a little bit,
or is it still a fight to beable to get folks in to see
people?
Speaker 1 (38:10):
it's.
I think it's changing people.
The the projection for mentalhealth services is up and to the
right.
So there's that there's a hugeneed for mental health and it's
growing Services and it'sgrowing.
And the other side, there issome change, but it's not enough
.
And it's not enough because,again, the professionals that
(38:36):
are coming into the space.
I sought out some therapyservices here in my area and the
professionals are running lateto the sessions.
They're showing up and they'reperforming sessions while
they're grocery shopping Right,so they got their phone doing a
therapeutic session with you ontheir phone and they're at the
grocery store shopping, or theworst one, they're in bed right,
(39:00):
they're in bed.
They're laid up, bonnet onnightgown on or the camera's off
, right, and so that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
That's a huge problem .
When you have someone on edge,the last thing you need is to
not show up and to not show upin your best self for them.
And I don't even call that mycompetition, because I don't
allow that in this practice.
(39:36):
I don't allow that at all.
If I discover that a clienttells me that you showed up to
their session with a bonnet onand your nightgown on, your
pajamas on, and you, you can'twork.
I can't work with you.
People need you to show up as aprofessional.
(40:01):
You are, and so there is change, but it needs to be a huge
change.
It needs to be a huge overhaulof the professional side and
where and how people can acquireservices.
And I don't want to saygovernment intervention, because
government intervention can bea bad thing.
Too much governmentintervention can be a bad thing.
So I don't want to say it needsto be on a government level,
(40:23):
but there needs to be a resource, a one stop shop, like podcasts
, like yourself, like whatyou're doing, right, you know,
companies need to reach out.
The age of NBC and CNBC.
The media, the traditionalmedia, is dying, yeah,
absolutely.
And so the age of influencersis significant.
(40:44):
I think it happened a couplemonths ago.
Cnbc had released a majorbreaking news article and it
only got 250,000 views.
And then an influencer releasedthe same article and it got 2.2
million views.
So what you're doing and thereneeds to be some kind of
(41:05):
connection, that relationshipbetween an influencer and people
that you trust and people thatare trusted within your
community that relationshipneeds to thicken and not get
thinner, because that is how youreach the masses and let people
know what's available to them.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Wow, well, and I can see where.
Maybe it's the people who don'thave the money or the means or
the funds that have to deal with.
Well, you know, I guess myinsurance will only pay for
three therapies at this clinicor whatever it is, and then you
end up with somebody who theyhired that is going to be in the
(41:44):
bed with the boner or something.
So I can't imagine the personwho's paying premium dollar
getting that kind of service andbeing okay with it, like you or
me.
If we showed up for, you know,a therapy session and my guy was
at the, if my guy was at thegrocery store shopping for
groceries and I'm trying to havea conversation with him, I'd be
like, dude, we're going to,we're going to stop this session
(42:07):
right now, and then I'll eithercome back to you because I know
it was a fluke and you knowyour baby needed milk and you
must have to get formula orsomething, and it was, you know,
emergency you know your babyneeded milk, and you must have
to get formula or something.
And it was, you know, emergency,it was a one-off right, or
we're just I'll find somebodyelse.
You know, because you paid forit, you get what I love to do,
(42:27):
because I know we're talkingabout the therapy side, but I'd
love to spend some time talkingabout the business side and
maybe talk about finances andmoney.
And you know I have a lot ofpeople that are saying, well, I
want to get into something thatI can feel good that I'm in it,
but I also want to know that Ican make some money in it and
you know that it could bepurposeful.
(42:47):
And so maybe you know, talk alittle bit about.
You know your thought processof what it takes to become a
person who is able to buy abusiness.
What are some of the like?
Do you have to be willing to gothrough failures and what are
the?
risks of doing it.
Because I think some people say, well, I'm just going to go buy
something and it's going to run.
You know, I know you and I bothknow it don't work like that.
(43:10):
But that's how some people youknow, even in real estate, right
, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna goflip right and then, without
doing the research and withoutfiguring out what it's all about
, kind of talk to us about thatbusiness mindset you have to
have and that risk tolerance.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Absolutely so great question.
The things that stick out to mewhen evaluating any business
first and foremost is do youunderstand the business right?
Do you understand how thisbusiness makes money?
That's the Kevin O'Leary SharkTank 101, right?
The 101 level is understandinghow this business makes money.
(43:49):
If you have no idea how thisbusiness generates $500,000 a
year, you should not evenconsider buying that business.
And so that's number one,forgive me, and one of the
things I consider whenever I buyinto a business or franchise.
(44:10):
And number two is, for me, the,the what am I getting for my
investment?
And so I'll touch on thecannabis business that I
franchise, that I bought into.
And so the cannabis franchiseit's a mobile kiosk vending
(44:32):
machine with blockchaintechnology that has age
verification technology,patented to not accidentally
dispense to minors.
And so you've taken somethingvery old school, which is a
vending machine, and you'vemodernized it to the 21st
century and the teenage consumer, the young consumer, that 21
(44:56):
plus consumer, because you'veadded touchscreens and digital,
a digital footprint.
It's searchable on Google andyou've merged two industries
that typically couldn't havecome together before.
And when I bought that business, one of the things I had to
consider, you have to consider,is the leaders, and so when I
(45:17):
bought into that business, Ilooked at the team surrounding
that business and so that's thesecond part.
You have to look at the peoplein the industry and look at who
they are and look at what theydo and how they make this thing
move and how they drive thismachine forward.
This thing move and how theydrive this machine forward.
(45:40):
The CEO of the franchise has amaster's degree in cybersecurity
with a, with a civil, a civiland electrical engineering
background, so that fits withwhat he's trying to do.
There's a.
There's another company that'strying to take over the social
media space.
It's called Fanbase, and I waslooking at that company to
(46:04):
invest in.
But again, I looked at the CEOof that company and his
background is music.
He's a social media.
He's starting a social mediabusiness that doesn't hold you
back.
The algorithm doesn't hold youback, it doesn't restrict you,
(46:26):
it doesn't limit you and allowseverybody to make money quote,
unquote, right, and so that'sgreat and that sounds good, but
your background is music.
You've worked with top musicprofessionals and producing
music and artists in the musicbusiness and I can see some
(46:48):
relation to social media there,but your background is music.
So that was why I didn't invest, because you're not from this
industry.
The second part is yourcompetition is meta, I know
(47:09):
You're going to go up againstthe company that's your
competition and you're trying toknock them out, a company
that's worth billions.
You're going to try and competewith them with millions, and
you're supposedly going to dowhat right.
And so those are the thingsthat I look at in the business.
And so, buying into a mentalhealth space, you want to know
(47:32):
what you're going to get foryour money.
You want to vet the company,make sure you understand how you
make money and if it doesn'tmake sense, don't, don't pass
gold, do not collect $200.
And you want to look at thesupport that you're going to get
for your money and you want tomake sure that the support
equals the level of of franchisefee and royalties that you're
(47:52):
going to pay, right.
And then for me, buying into afranchise, which is this above
all significance, is um, can Irun this business autonomously
one day, without me having tophysically step in?
And so a lot of people jump onthe Chick-fil-A franchise
because it's a $10,000investment or or investment.
(48:16):
But Chick-fil-A, in thebeginning at least, doesn't
allow you to not be involved inthe business.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Yeah, you got to be there.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
You got to be there, you got to show up, you got to
run things, you got to hire,you're involved.
And if that's not appealing toyou, you should not buy into any
business that you're going tohave to run the day to day.
And so those are three of thethings that I consider when
investing in a business.
Do I understanding how it makesmoney, understanding the
(48:48):
leaders to make sure that theyalign with the space?
And then, lastly, is is itworth the money?
Am I getting an equal return onmy money for what I'm paying
for?
Because you're getting, you'resupposed to get some proven
professionals that are going tohelp you and guide you and make
(49:08):
sure you don't fail.
So, there's a safety net there,but if you don't follow the
other two steps, that safety netdoesn't matter, because if
you're not in the space youcan't catch me.
But what am I getting for mymoney?
What am I getting for myinvestment and so the business
operations?
What is the system that I'll beusing?
(49:29):
What is the software?
How easy is it to use?
How difficult is it to use?
How does that integrate with mybank account?
How does the company operate?
Do I have to physically own anoffice or can I operate
virtually?
Understanding the deeperportions of value and what do I
(49:49):
get for my investment is huge.
Business is not hard.
It just takes time and a lot ofpractice.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
And I've had years of practice.
Yeah, you have these guys whowill.
You know my experience with it.
I was a landscaper and I wasreally good at being a
landscaper.
So I'm going to open up alandscaping business.
Well, what do you know aboutbusiness and what are you going
to like your personaldevelopment portion of whatever
you buy, whatever you get into,has to be great.
(50:22):
I think you have to have greatmentors and you have to have
people that can help you alongthe way Just because you're good
at something.
Michael Jordan is a very goodbasketball player, probably one
of the best that ever lived.
I don't know how good of acoach he is.
He can't coach things that onlyhe could do Right.
His talent was one thing, butwe have so many people who do
(50:45):
that.
You know.
I can remember my wife wantingto start an embroidery business.
She loves to sew and she'sgreat at making bags and can
even sell bags.
But that doesn't mean she'sready for a business where we go
, buy $50,000, $100,000 worth ofequipment and then go now, what
Well have you thought about?
(51:05):
Like, how many machines do youhave to have?
You know, how many clients doyou have to have to make those
machines profitable?
And you know, I think so manypeople don't go through that
research phase of it, orespecially like on the franchise
.
I mean there's so manyfranchises that will call you or
say, if you got this investment, well, we'll show you it's
(51:26):
cookie cutter.
But if you hate the business andyou, they want you to be there,
like if you like, you saidchick-fil-a, you don't, you
don't want you.
All you want is the money thatchick-fil-a brings.
But you don't want to deal withthe whole bunch.
You hate kids, you hateteenagers, you hate.
You know it's going to be along road.
(51:47):
You know how long in your mind,like before you buy a business.
How long is that researchprocess?
I know it's probably differentfor every business, but there's
got to be like a minimum of likehow much time you spend before
you jump right in, Unlesssomething just jumps on you.
You've already been doing it,but your first one.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
So time to me is equivalent to the investment.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
OK.
Speaker 1 (52:12):
A couple thousand dollars that's that's not a
whole lot of time required.
Thousand dollars that's that'snot a whole lot of time required
.
Real estate Real estate took,you know, several months, right,
based off availability and howmuch free time that you were
willing to commit to it, right.
And then, excuse me, afranchise with employees and
(52:35):
staff and contractors and CPAsand bookkeepers and, you know,
assistants and a team that tookalmost a year of research, only
because it was the first one andthe investment was significant,
yeah, and so it deserves that.
It deserves that right, thatamount of time, that amount of
(52:58):
due diligence.
And to me, even with, you know,an eight-month runway of
research, that was still, in myopinion, fast, because there
were some other things pressingme forward to accelerate and
move the time horizon soonerthan I would have liked, but we
(53:19):
press forward and move forwardwith it, and so, when it comes
to business, you really have todedicate the amount of time,
that of your investment, and sothat differs from person to
person.
Prime example, and this is thebest example I could think of If
you have a thousand dollars andyou have a job that pays you
(53:41):
$10 an hour, you and you'veamassed a thousand dollars.
That's a lot of of effort onyour part.
So a thousand dollars becauseyou only get paid $10 an hour,
that it takes you a long timeand a lot of sweat and a lot of
tears and a lot of long nightsand a lot of shifts and a lot of
(54:01):
early mornings to acquire thatVersus.
For others, that's one paycheck, and so you have to assess
personally what this is worthfor you.
Yeah, right, that amount ofmoney, and are you willing to
part with it?
And for someone who makes $10 anhour, that's really difficult,
(54:23):
right.
I don't want to be insensitiveto hard the hard worker and
people watching your show, um,and so you.
But you really have to reallyshift your mind and say this
took me a long time, so that hasto be taken care of when I
research this business to investthis money, because it really
took me a long time to get this,and so that has an impact on
(54:48):
how much research you give toany business that you want to
buy into and invest in.
When I researched the ATMbusiness, it took me a month,
right, and I remember the younglady it took me a month Right,
and I remember the young lady Iwas dating at the time.
I had a conversation with her.
Today, the next month, 30 days,less than 30 days later, I had
my first ATM delivered, shipped,programmed and installed.
(55:11):
That's an investment, but itdidn't take me that long because
the investment was worth it.
To me and for some people,$2,000 is a tax refund.
A single mom I don't even knowI haven't talked to my CPA yet,
but I think the tax credit forkids I think you're getting what
(55:33):
$1,000 per child this year.
So invest that.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
Yeah, yeah, that's not money that you, you expect,
and so many people you knowthink about the.
Well, I can't wait so I can gospend.
You know that that's why oureconomy is where it is, because
when we get all that stimulusmoney in 2020, you know how long
?
You know, I heard somebody tellme about like a trickle up
there and he said that we thatmoney within five years, all
(56:00):
that stimulus money, trickled upto the top 1% because everybody
who got the check spent itinstead of investing it.
Speaker 1 (56:08):
Right, In their business.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
It's that whole mindset of of what that, what
that means to be able to investin a business and you think of I
love your ATM, you know,acknowledge it because, hey, you
know that wasn't.
If that business fails becauseI'm sure you've had some that
fails you're okay with theinvestment you put into it
because the reward is so greatthat can come from it.
But a person who works so hardfor whatever that investment is,
(56:34):
all they're thinking about isthe time that I spent trying to
gain this money.
If I lose it, then I'm going tohave to in their mindset, right
do all that over again in orderto create that amount of money.
And if it took them 10 years toraise that money, they're
thinking this is a, this is allor nothing right now.
(56:54):
And so the research, because Idon't have another 10 years to
make this money back ifsomething happens, right, so
awesome.
So yeah, man, we've beentalking for like 56 minutes.
It's been amazing.
What have I not asked you?
That you want to make sure thatthe audiences that listen to
this know about and that youwant to get to?
(57:16):
Is there some things that youwould want them to know?
Please let us know.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
So I'd like to leave your audience with this that
there's information out there.
We're still in the informationage and you don't have to live
with the circumstances you're in.
It's not your fault if you wereborn into difficult
circumstances.
It is your fault if you staythere.
(57:44):
So if you don't like yoursituation, you don't like your
circumstances, you don't likewhere you are in life, change,
change it.
You can change.
You're not a tree.
You're not rooted in.
You can change it today, and soyou know.
(58:05):
Great podcasts like this isputting out quality content for
viewers to gain free access to.
Right.
This is this doesn't cost youanything and it's knowledge to
expand your mind, hopefully evenjust a little bit, and they
don't cost you nothing.
And and and put down the phoneand stop watching these.
(58:25):
I don't watch sports.
I don't.
I don't watch basketballfootball none of it.
Why would I watch someone who'salready making millions?
And so I tell my, my partnersand everyone that knows me.
I tell them I will watch sportswhen I own the team, right, but
I'm not making no money.
They're making money for mewatching why?
(58:45):
Why am I wasting time on theKardashians?
Why am I wasting time on allthese people who are already
highly successful.
Put it down.
Find great podcasts like this.
Find great podcasts like mine.
It's a gentleman-style podcastGod, family, finance, self.
Look for the big microphone.
We're putting out greatinformation to change the
(59:07):
narrative and change yourtomorrow to make it a little
better.
Speaker 2 (59:11):
Thank you for that.
And what a great analogy.
If you're listening to this,that means you want to make a
difference in your life.
That means that you want tomake a difference in your life.
That means that you want tomake a change.
Somebody sent you here becauseyou can, and I encourage you to
find those associations, findthose people.
Reach out to people that yousee.
So many people want to serveothers, so many people want to
(59:33):
help you if you're willing to doit.
People want to help you ifyou're willing to do it.
But we don't want to spend awhole bunch of time with these
people who are wanting to say,hey, make me a millionaire.
Why I watch all of my.
You know my reels on facebookand tick tock and you know and
I'm not saying that stuff's notentertaining, because it may be,
I don't know, because I don'twatch, like you know, just reels
(59:55):
of people.
I don't do it, that's not atime for that, you know.
But if you truly want to watch,I get, you know, just real as
the people.
I don't do it, that's not atime for that, you know.
But if you truly want to make adifference, you know, I would
say hit, subscribe, hit, youknow, the notification button,
because I I promise you with theinterviews that I'm doing it.
No wonder, if you are a blackman, or even you know a person
of color saying I need to seesomebody who looks like me doing
the thing, you will find ithere.
(01:00:16):
But, more importantly than that,because it doesn't matter what
race you are, what color you are, what you're doing, the
principles, laws and conceptsthat we've been talking about
today are across the board.
If you're willing to put in theenergy and the effort, uh, you
can own businesses.
You can, you know, make moremoney than you've ever made in
your life before.
You can, you know, if there'smental health issues that you
(01:00:37):
believe hey, I just got to getrid of this thing that keeps
coming back, you have somebodythat you can reach out to.
And so, again, marcus, thankyou for being on today.
Thank you for spending yourtime with us.
I know your time is valuableand I appreciate that you're
willing to do that with us, forus and around us as we move
forward.
And so thank you, guys, foranother edition of the Journey
(01:01:00):
to Freedom podcast.
We look forward to seeing you.
Don't forget you are God'sgreatest gift.
He loves you, if you allow himto.
And we'll look forward totalking to you on the next one.
You guys have an amazing,awesome day.
Thank you, marcus, you.
Everyone talks about owning a business.
Entrepreneurship is the wayright, but no one ever thinks of
the end point, and one of thethings that you see successful
people do is they know when toget in and they know when to get
out.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
All right, welcome to another edition of the Journey
to Freedom program, our Journeyto Freedom podcast.
I am Dr B, I am your host andexcited about another episode.
You know, marcus, I don't knowif you know this, but in 2024,
my goal was to interview 100Black men that are doing some
things in our country that areexciting, and so we got to 105
(00:51):
episodes this year.
We've already done 15.
Just some amazing people, whichtoday you folks will absolutely
hear from the best of the best,and one of the things, some of
the themes that have come out oflast year, is one that, at
least for most of the black men,I used to think oh, this is
(01:11):
just a silly thing that wesometimes wanna see somebody in
the space that we're trying toevolve in, that looks like us,
because we spent so many yearsnot seeing people.
I think we got athletics takencare of, think we got the music
industry taken care of, but insome of the other spaces we're
still not seeing a lot of folks.
(01:32):
And I said, well, that's notimportant to me, right?
And then I ended up going tothis whole podcast started
because I went to a.
It was a trust leadershipconference in Minnesota.
Four or 500 people that werethere.
It just enjoyed it tremendously, got some great information
about how to lead with trust.
Can you only 30 folks of colorin the room and I'm counting
(01:54):
right, like it's not important,I'm actually counting how many
folks are in the room that lookslike me and they're wondering
why we're not getting some ofthis information that is so
vitally important.
Because it seems like ourculture doesn't do a whole lot
when it comes to, you know,trusting.
You know I think a lot of ushave learned how to trust, but I
(02:16):
think sometimes we don't trustourselves.
We don't trust our women, wedon't trust, you know, our other
, each other, we don't trustsome of the, some of the other
cultures that are out there.
What a great place for us tokind of start with building that
trust and doing some of thatstuff.
So I'm going to take 15 men toAlabama at the end of this month
(02:36):
and we're going to go through awhole civil rights victory tour
and kind of understand thegiants of the shoulders of the
giants that we stood on and allthe things that they went
through.
That take away some of ourexcuses as to why we don't
succeed.
The other thing I think thispodcast does that.
It takes away some of theexcuses.
Whether I've talked to agentleman who had fathers that
(03:00):
were, you know, that were inprison, or you know single moms,
or I had an attorney who robbeda bank, we just been having a
fun time, you know, and now he'sa successful minister and you
just go, wow.
There's so many people from allover the country who are doing
some amazing things, and todayis not no exception Today.
(03:21):
We have Marcus on today, andwhat's incredible about Marcus
is that he's a business owner,he's an entrepreneur, he is
working and only in the spacethat sometimes you don't see a
lot of black people in themental health industry and
helping folks that need to learnwhat it is that may be the
(03:48):
trauma that has happened to themand be able to focus on how do
I move forward, kind of like wedo in this podcast, but on a
different level, on a level thatincreases our ability to be
successful or happy or have joy.
You know, I think success is oneof those things that we get to
determine for ourselves whatthat means.
(04:09):
But success also leaves clues.
Success isn't, you know,sitting home watching TV,
wishing your life was better.
Success is going out there andliving within purpose.
You know, I spend my timesaying you know, how do I help
people, especially men now, asI've created Journey to Freedom,
become a person they need to bein order to do what God put
(04:29):
them on the search to do.
And when we do that, what Ifound, marcus, you know I'll
hear from you on this, but Ihaven't met anybody who isn't
willing to serve others thatgets to live in purpose.
And so it's so fun to see whatthat service is like and how we
can serve others, and there's somany ways to do it.
(04:49):
It's not, you know, you have togo out there at a soup kitchen
and you know, get a ladle andput soup in a bowl for the
homeless.
And what I was talking to ourlast guest about was, you know,
some of us need to createbusinesses and need to create
wealth in order to serve others,because it's really hard to
serve others sometimes when youdon't have any means to be able
(05:11):
to do it.
And so if we can help thatthrough the people that we hire,
if we can do that through thepeople that we work with, if we
can do that with the people andthe money that we make so that
we can give, I think that's away to serve others so.
Marcus, thank you for being ontoday thank you for spending an
hour with me.
Uh, and, being one of our year,I think you're number 16 in
(05:33):
2025 already, so we're flyingthrough.
I thought I was only going todo 100, but no, after I heard
100, I got to do way more,because there's so many great
stories out there, so I'd lovefor you to start with your story
.
Uh, start you.
I'd love for you to start withyour story.
I can tell everybody.
You can start from your mama'swomb up to now or somewhere in
between, and then it's soimportant that we get to see.
(05:56):
Like I said, what others havedone so that we can feel like,
hey man, if Marcus can do it, Ican do it.
And we both know that you knowthe especially in the industry.
He's in right.
He said well, I don't really.
I got hold on my secretsbecause I don't want anybody to
be in the mental health space.
There's plenty of room in themental health space.
(06:18):
A lot of people to be in.
I promise you that, because weall, instead of being we'll talk
about health a little bit butinstead of being this black man
who's scared to go get help whenI need it, I hope that you will
say wait a minute, if there's aplace for me to go, and maybe I
can even get a therapist thatlooks and understands me then
(06:41):
we're gonna be in a good space.
So, marcus, glad to tell yourstory and then we'll chop it up
right after that.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
No, that's fine.
Thank you for the introductionand sharing your history and
sharing why you started.
It's so important to see otherslike you said, others that look
like you, doing the things andbeing in the spaces that you
want to do.
So I thank you, brother, fortaking the step and doing what
you do to give back in this way,because it's necessary.
(07:07):
There's a huge need for it, andso for me.
You know, my start came fromthe Virgin Islands.
I'm originally born and raisedon a small island called St
Croix in the Virgin Islands, USVirgin Islands, and made my way
here via the United Statesmilitary.
I'm a Navy veteran.
I served in, served my countryfor eight years and then got out
(07:33):
of the military because Irealized that it was time for me
to do something else and comingfrom.
But you don't quite know whatthat something else is right.
A lot of times when you and Ithink it's almost a form of PTSD
A lot of times when youencounter a veteran, you, they,
(07:55):
they describe themselves by whatthey did or who they use, and
they, they make that theirpersonality.
Well, I used to be a masterchief, I used to be a gunner's
mate.
I used to do this.
I used to do these things.
I've been to this part of theworld because of who I used to
(08:15):
be.
And to me that's a form of PTSD.
And when I got out I realizedthe military is something I did.
It's not who I am, and so incoming out, I had to learn who
Marcus was.
I had to cut my hair, I had totry different styles, I put
color in my hair, I tried spikes, I tried the Mohawk, because,
(08:38):
coming straight out of highschool from the Virgin Islands,
where I was under my parents'stewardship, and then being
autonomous in the, you know,somewhat autonomous, mostly
autonomous to make decisions,good or bad or indifferent,
without, you know, guidance fromfamily, but from other leaders,
(08:58):
and so that that kind of theleadership and the skill
building and what I did in theNavy is paramount to who I am.
But that continuous developmentand relearning what Marcus wants
to do in the world came afterthe military.
And that was a turning pointfor me because I had to, like I
(09:21):
said, I had to rediscover myselfand find out what my purpose
was.
And I've been all over theworld.
I've been to Guam, I've flownthrough Hawaii, flown through
Japan, I've been to East coast,west coast, been to Seattle,
washington, um Virginia, groton,connecticut, um Kings Bay,
georgia.
(09:41):
So I've been, I've been someunique places, um, and you know
it, it, it.
It humbles me now to see whereI've been and where I am today,
because I've always in at thecore of it.
Like you said in in yourconversation, your introduction,
(10:01):
earlier, most successful peopleare serve, are serving they
have a people are serving theyhave a heart for service.
They have a heart for giving.
They have a heart for others.
No one goes broke giving bygiving right.
You can't give away too much,and so you don't hear about that
, and so that really, especiallyin this phase of my life, is
(10:25):
really at the core front.
And I I've dug a little deeperand I asked myself I try to ask
myself every day if I died today, what would people write on my
tombstone?
Speaker 2 (10:39):
about me yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Right, because it doesn't matter.
People don't remember what yousay.
People always remember how youmade them feel, because feelings
last longer than what you say.
People will forget.
You know that that that cussout at the at the barbecue,
right, people will forget whatyou say, but they'll never
forget.
Every time I see that guy I'mpissed off.
So you want to make sure thatif you die today, today, what
(11:03):
they will put on your headstoneis something you want people to
remember you for yeah, and Ilive by that today, and so I've
had different experiences invarious businesses.
Um, because when I got out, Ihad to work a nine to five, but
I realized early on that a nineto five wasn't cutting it.
Your employer, my employer, ouremployer, isn't going to pay
(11:27):
you the kind of wages andcompensation that you probably
deserve, and I learned thatbusiness was a different path
and, to me at the time, a betterpath to impact and creating
impact in the world.
I don't want to be a part of ofof of something.
I want to start it, I want todo it, I want to be the initiate
(11:49):
, I want to, I want to pave theway in the in, the in, in a path
that not too many has traveled.
I have businesses in the ATMbusiness, I own a portfolio of
(12:12):
ATMs, a portfolio of real estate, and dove into the cannabis
space a couple years ago andI've been doing that for some
time.
And then, like, like yourself,I'm podcasting, and now my
latest venture is mental healthand I purchased a mental health
franchise.
(12:32):
So that's kind of a 3000 footview of Marcus in the beginning.
The Caribbean, the youngCaribbean Islander, you know,
hanging out, going to school andsmoking ganja every day.
You know, hanging out, going toschool and smoking ganja every
day.
I'm kidding, I didn't smokeganja in that Caribbean culture.
Right From a very relaxedupbringing to now, you know a
(12:55):
businessman, and there's not toomany entrepreneurs at least
there weren't too manyentrepreneurs that influenced me
growing up, and so business wassomething I had to discover on
my own, and I've been learningever since, and so that's the
3,000 foot view of then Marcusto now Marcus, and so that's who
(13:17):
I am.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So you graduated high school, or what equivalent to
high school In the islands, andthen you came, went to the
straight into the military yessir, and then you learn whatever
you learn in the military.
so you get out eight years islonger than a lot of people do
so and you're there, uh, andthen you get out and go.
Okay, now, what am I supposedto do, right, if you go, if you
(13:41):
try all these different thingsbecause we're all searching for
what brings us happiness and joy, during that time your identity
was shaped, who Marcus is, andfor some people, our identity is
shaped because of other peopleand other influences and people
that are around us.
What do you think are the kindof the greatest contributors to
(14:01):
the identity that you now holdas who Marcus is?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Some of the big, great question, um, some of the
biggest contributors to whoMarcus is is, first and foremost
, my father.
Um, I was raised and grew upprimarily with my father, and so
he has been the first and mostimpactful person in my life.
He was the start of it and thecatalyst to a lot of the
(14:30):
thoughts that I have and theperspectives that I have today,
and so one of the things that Itell people about my father is
to give a basic point my dad isstill alive to this day, but my
dad, he didn't give me aninheritance, he didn't leave me
money, he didn't leave me richesor wealth or a business, but
one of the things he did wasgive me the ability to
(14:53):
critically think throughproblems, and I think that's
what's lacking in some people isthe ability to take something,
break it down to its finestparts.
The ability to take something,break it down to its finest
parts, its simplest parts, towhere you can understand it and
then rebuild it in your own way,and so that has paid dividends
(15:21):
throughout my military careerand throughout my adult years.
As I go through life, I'venever again I named various
industries real estate, cannabis, business, atms, now mental
health.
None of those industries arerelated, right, and so what I've
never held myself back from.
Typically, you see, people kindof stay in one lane.
Because my father impacted meto critically think I've never
(15:44):
stayed in one lane, I don't haveto and I've never been limited
in that way.
I can enter a space, I can bethrown out in the middle of the
woods and thrive and survive,and that's because I was able to
critically think.
So I'll say that, right, themilitary does its due.
But that was the first andstill prevalent and the most
(16:06):
impactful thing to me today thatI still use to this day.
Because your ability tocritically think, to walk into a
room and assess what'shappening in this room in order
to make an educated decision onwhether are you going to be the
leader in that space?
Are you going to be the leaderin that space?
Are you going to be a learnerin that space?
(16:27):
Are you going to sit down andbe quiet?
And you realize the people inthe room may be smarter than you
.
So it's wise for someone whoacknowledges their capacity and
the room that they're in tohumble themselves and say I'm
going to just listen and learn.
And not everyone can make thatconnection.
(16:47):
Some people just barge into aroom and assume that they're the
leader because of X, y and Z,but that's not always the case
and that's not always a markerfor good leadership or good
business.
You want to be able to assessevery space and the people you
interact with, becauseeverybody's different, people
are different, spaces aredifferent, and so critically
(17:08):
thinking really has beenimpactful in all facets of my
life so, as I'm thinking aboutyour story and, and you said,
you've been in different spacesthat aren't related, and whether
it's your pursuit of purpose oryour pursuit of excellence, or
your pursuit of service, why,help me understand in those
(17:31):
different industries, what madeyou decide I need to switch,
like why didn't you want to todig more into real estate
because you know a lot of peoplecan be successful and they love
it to death in real estate?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Or why did you not buy another thousand ATMs and
have your life be pretty much anATM machine?
What made you pursue whereyou're at now?
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Great question, great question.
What made me pursue where I amnow is everyone talks about
starting a business, owning abusiness, entrepreneurship is
the way Right, but no one everthinks of the end point, and one
of the things that you seesuccessful people do is they
know when to get in and theyknow when to get out, know when
(18:29):
to get out.
And so I'll give you a greatexample.
I owned real estate before Iowned this mental health
franchise and bought into it,and so one of the things people
do is, like you said, they buyreal estate and they buy, buy,
buy, buy, buy, buy, and that'sall I'm going to do.
That's very one dimensional.
Well, if you have a coupleproperties that are worth
$300,000, and here's anotherbusiness that, at its current
(18:54):
valuation, is worth $500,000 andhas a higher yield and less
inventory right, because yourproperty, the real estate, the
tangible real estate, isinventory right, that's a
physical thing that you cantouch, whereas I can own a
franchise virtually and have lowinventory or virtually no
(19:20):
inventory almost, and that isyielding $500,000.
So that was the question I hadto ask myself, right, and most
people don't think thatsometimes, in business, leveling
up is still business, and so ifI liquidate this asset to buy
(19:46):
into this newer asset that'shigher yielding, then that's.
I'm still in business, I'm stillmoving.
But the problem is we want tohold on to stuff, we want to
hoard stuff, and that's not how.
That's not necessarily.
That's not the path that wasdestined for me.
That is a path, right, you canjust do your one lane and do
(20:08):
real estate and real estate only, and that's fine.
But what you'll find is thereare other avenues, other
vehicles, and you should keep anopen mind to other things and
don't let the one thing hold youback from looking into another
space.
And so that was my path.
My path is I'm going to level upand think about the end.
(20:31):
I'm going to sell a real estate, or some of the real estate, so
that I can buy into somethingbigger and I can create impact
on a bigger scale.
Because if I own fiveproperties, I can only impact
the location of where thoseproperties are and that's it,
whereas virtually now I cancover a whole zip code or
(20:54):
several zip codes or severalcities in a state.
So now my reach is bigger andnow I'm able to create a bigger
impact and help more people,because my practice is now
virtual and expanding andgrowing, and clients are finding
me from all over the world.
I'm being introduced to newpeople, new, new youths, new
(21:15):
teenagers, new adults that havesome of the most horrendous
problems that we're facing insociety did it and I can help
them, and so that's why it'sleveling up, thinking about the
end.
Sorry, I'll end with this.
There was a major real estatefirm here that has now almost
(21:37):
fell off the map, because whenshe built this real estate
empire and she was big, she wason the news, she was on the
radio, she was everywhere, andshe built it to the point where
now she's ready to sell and soshe's listing her business for
sale.
She had locations in NorthCarolina, she had locations in
Washington DC and she hadseveral locations in Virginia,
(21:59):
and she's ready to sell thepractice, the real estate
business.
Well, she found a buyer and thebuyer says well, your name's
everywhere, your name is on thedoor, your name and face is on
the pamphlets.
We can't buy this businessbecause everything you've bought
, everything has your face on itand I can't buy into this
(22:19):
because it's your face.
And when you leave, whathappens, then it's your face.
And when you leave, whathappens?
Then.
So she spends millions ofdollars revamping everything
brochures, tv ads, commercialsrevamp millions to rebrand it
and change the name.
Well, guess what?
She did all of that and thenlost the buyer anyway.
(22:41):
All of that, and then lost thebuyer anyway, and she went from
this huge, huge real estateempire to you.
Don't even hear about heranymore.
She's still there if you lookfor her.
But she didn't think about theend.
No one keeps the end in mind.
What is the end play in this?
Why am I doing this?
There has to be an end, becauselife is not infinite for you
(23:05):
and me.
So what's the end game?
And so that's how I think Iwant to end that train of
thought and leave your audiencewith that train of thought.
Think about the end when youget into something.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Yeah Well and I love leveling up, I mean that makes
so much sense that hey, okay, Igot five properties.
Well, five properties areserving five families,
especially if they're singlefamily residents right.
I guess if they're apartmentcomplexes they could serve more.
But then you think okay, notonly can.
I level up but I can serve andmake impact on more people.
(23:40):
And then you think of, I think,the most successful people that
I've interviewed, the mostsuccessful people that I know,
the most successful people I seefind what the problem is and
find ways to solve it.
You know, and so there is a hugeproblem in our country if we
want to move into, like health,and you know not only how big is
(24:00):
the health industry physicalhealth, you know where we try to
stay alive, but then we'rereally finding out even more
about the mental health side ofthings.
And so you don't have to be andthis is a great for you guys
that are watching Marcus doesn'thave to be a therapist or a
doctor to impact in the mentalhealth space.
(24:24):
Right, he has to be able togive an avenue for being able to
.
Maybe you can talk about whatyou see in the mental health
space that is so needed thatyou're able to provide because
you're doing services like this.
What's happening with ourcountry?
What's happening with ourawareness, even and you know us
(24:45):
even as black men not willing togo to the doctor or go see
people when we need to, maybekind of help us understand this
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, great, great question.
So what we're dealing with is,I think COVID accelerated a lot
of things, and it acceleratedthe lack of concern and care
that we were placing on not onlyour kids, but adults as well as
families as well.
(25:13):
Covid exposed what was alreadylingering, and so we've been
dealing with a mental healthproblem for years, as well as
fighting against what youmentioned the stereotype of
Black men and women not wantingto go to the doctors or the
dentist and having a real, real,real, innate fear of, you know,
(25:38):
practitioners.
One of the things that one ofthe therapists I work with
shared with me is they areactually trained, and doctors
are actually trained thatAfrican-Americans are have a
higher pain tolerance than theirCaucasian counterparts.
(26:01):
This is taught to doctors, andso doctors who are now
practicing and out in the fieldhave a misconception, a
conception about you, a beliefsystem about you, that you can
tolerate more pain.
So instead of, hey, you'recoming to me with a, with a pain
(26:23):
or sore, um, I'm going to waitand see, because you're
African-American and I've beentrained that you can tolerate
more pain, instead of justgiving you and helping you deal
with the pain at the lowestpoint before it gets into
something major.
And so, just like mental health, I think there is a
(26:45):
misconception that people arejust going to figure it out weak
if you go to a therapist.
So that's one side of the coin.
The other side is finance.
Right, how do you pay formental health services?
(27:07):
Because practitioners and Ican't speak for the United
States, but I can speak for myarea practitioners are
ridiculous.
The competition, the individualpractitioner that is out there
charges higher fees that arejust out of this world, and they
(27:28):
make it so unaffordable, sounencouraging, to seek you out
professionally that that'sdisheartening.
So now there's the stigma andthe stereotype that one has to
deal with with even thinkingabout seeing a practitioner.
But the other side of the coinis how can I financially afford
(27:52):
this practitioner?
Right and so, and, and theworld is evolving and we're
trying right.
This recently happened to me,where I went to go see my
medical provider and it was mydentist, and they did all this
work on my teeth and correctedsome things, and then, after
(28:16):
they did the work, a month later, realized that they don't
accept my insurance, and so nowI'm looking at a bill that is 10
times what I expected to payand the work is already done.
And so imagine that in atherapist space where you go see
a therapist who has no concept,because these therapists that
(28:41):
I'm seeing here, they're nottrained on insurance or billing
or any of this they're comingout of school ready to talk to
you about what's going on andthe traumas and the issues that
you've been facing, but theyhave no comprehension of the
backstory, of how to help you,not just mentally, but make sure
(29:04):
I take care of you financially,because that's going to stress
you out.
If I sat there and talked toyou for 60 minutes and then I
send you a bill for $200, you'vejust reinitiated the stress and
now I probably more times ninetimes out of ten I have to
cancel services.
I can't afford you and youdidn't tell me in advance of the
session that my insurancelapsed, my policy canceled or my
(29:31):
co-pay is something outrageousthat I didn't plan for.
After the fact, not before, andthat's not okay.
That's before and that's notokay.
That's not acceptable, that'snot okay and just I had, and I
really applaud this.
There's a lot of parentsstepping up and they're pushing
(29:54):
for their children and pushingfor their kids to get into
therapy and I really, reallyadmire the parents that step
forward and do this.
But when I talk to thoseparents and I listen to those
parents I also hear how beatdown and tired and exhausted
they are.
And I'm not looking for extramoney, but just like on an
(30:16):
airplane, you have to put youroxygen mask on first before you
help others.
And we're not doing well.
We're not doing well as asociety, we're not doing well as
a culture and we oftenespecially young mothers and all
the mothers in between they putothers first instead of
(30:38):
themselves.
And I try to talk to thosewomen and say, listen, you have
to take care of you.
You can't, you cannot.
You're doing a great job byputting your daughter or your
son getting them with apractitioner, a therapist, who
can help them deal with theirstuff.
But you have some stuff thatyou need to work through to be
(31:02):
not only better for them butbetter for you.
And they push it off.
They brush it off I'll dealwith that later, I'll deal with
that some other time as iftomorrow is guaranteed right,
and so it's sad.
One of the things I learned thatwas unique in this space is
(31:23):
that in my state I can't speakfor everyone's state, but in my
state, a 14-year-old and oldercan seek out a therapist and
receive counseling and therapywithout a consenting adult.
Now, I said the word seek out.
(31:43):
I, as a practitioner, I as abusiness owner, still have to
connect and contact and speak toan adult, but I don't have to
disclose anything to that parentabout what is discussed in that
therapeutic session.
So a child.
And it was the most incrediblething and I didn't realize it
(32:05):
until after I had alreadyscheduled this young lady.
But this client, this younggirl, reached out, found our
website, called us, scheduled anappointment, provided her
insurance card, took a pictureback in front, received the
intake form, the intake formthat you have to fill out to say
(32:25):
what you're dealing with,what's going on, how can we help
you.
She filled out the intake form,everything, and then, at the
end of it, the tail end.
I asked her what's your age?
And she's 14.
I didn't know my socialsecurity number until I was out
of the house.
Yeah, no exactly this young ladysought out therapy because she
(32:47):
knew she needed to speak to aprofessional on her own.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
We live in this world .
That is not, and we think, asparents, that we can handle all
these things.
But when I was a kid, thebiggest thing I was concerned
about is when the street lightcame on, I had to be home.
That's what I was thinkingabout.
We had a phone in the house.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
It was on the wall that everybody picked up.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
It wasn't in our hands, we didn't have social
media, that we were trying todeal with everybody who's
willing to say anything about meat that age because they can
hide behind a computer.
And then we think as parents wecan handle.
And I can remember, like when Ithink of a therapist, when you
know that was unheard of for anychild to ever need one.
But my therapist for me in manycases was my family, the family
(33:38):
that I got to hang with.
My grandpa, you know, owned adairy and you know he would.
You know, when I spent summersat his house, I would get on the
tractor with him and we wouldtalk all day as we were going
back and forth on the tractor,right because I had access to a
family member that could deal.
But I don't know how many adultstoday have, are capable or have
(33:58):
the capacity to deal with someof this stuff that happens on
social media or therelationships these kids are
having, or what they're seeingon television and trying to
solve world problems.
Right, because I had no ideawhat was going on in Israel when
I was 14 years old.
Right, but every kid todaywho's 14 years old knows
(34:20):
everything that's going on inthe whole world and then they're
trying to deal with thosethings.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
On that point right.
So one, the family ecosystemhas changed.
You have kids that are grown,married adults have their own
kids and want to come back hometo have the family help and
assist them with child raisingright Rearing their
grandchildren.
The parents don't want toparticipate.
(34:46):
Grandparents are done.
They're fed up.
They're like I did mine.
It's time for you to do yours.
Don't be calling me.
They want nothing to do, likethe days of old, to assist with
upbringing and the familydynamic.
So the family dynamic is brokenand it's divided and separated.
You also have the other flipside of the coin, where kids
(35:07):
don't want to come home and takecare of their parents.
They leave the nest and they goso far away that coming home is
not even advantageous to comehome and deal with an aging
parent.
So now you have an aging parentwho relies on government
assistance and governmentprograms and government aid and
everything to take care of them,because none of the family
dynamic is there that wasoriginally there around your
(35:29):
time and my time, and so that'sbroken.
And you're right.
You're so right, it's reallybad.
And you're right, you're soright, it's really bad.
And also, too, it's important tohave friends that hold space
for you.
It's absolutely important tohave those core friends that if
you say a word, they will dropeverything and make time for you
(35:51):
.
It's also important to, as thatfriend, to recognize where your
limit is at and say listenbrother, listen sister, I'll
always hold space for you, butwhat you're dealing with right
now is out of my depth and so weneed to stop.
We need to have healthyrelationships, friendships where
(36:15):
your friend will be there foryou and hold space for you but
also acknowledge that they havea limit and instead of saying,
hey, you're dealing with a lot,let me take you out to drink,
let me take you out for somesmokes, let's go get some weed,
a bag of weed, because those aregateways, right?
We need the kind of friends thatwill say listen, man, what
(36:36):
you're dealing with right now isintense and I really am not
able to help you.
Let me pay for your first threetherapy sessions at this
therapist company that I knowabout.
Let me pay for your first threesessions.
If you want to leave, it's allon me, bro, I got you no matter
what the cost, but I want to getyou help.
But that's the kind ofrelationship.
(36:57):
So the family dynamic needs tochange and the individual we
need to recognize.
We can hold space for peopleand we should hold space for
people, but realize where yourlimit is and then say hey, let
me get you some help.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Well, the stigma is that if I go there, somehow I'm
crazy or somehow I'm less thanI'm, you know, less than I
couldn't do it, especially as ablack man.
Right, I'm not as good assomebody else is because I need
to work through some things thatare going on, and I think
that's maybe starting to changea little bit, but I do see that
(37:32):
a lot.
I mean, I think that therapysession is the barbershop, where
we talk about athletes andeverywhere else, but we don't
really talk about, hey, mywife's getting ready to leave me
, or I don't have any money andI don't know what to do.
And everybody's counting on me,not just my immediate family,
but my extended family, is allyou know.
I've been taking care of themfor so long and they think I'm
(37:53):
gonna, and they have all thispressure on them to be able to
perform, and then, well, I can'tgo see somebody because what
will they think of me?
so you know, do you see thatstarting to change a little bit,
or is it still a fight to beable to get folks in to see
people?
Speaker 1 (38:10):
it's.
I think it's changing people.
The the projection for mentalhealth services is up and to the
right.
So there's that there's a hugeneed for mental health and it's
growing Services and it'sgrowing.
And the other side, there issome change, but it's not enough
.
And it's not enough because,again, the professionals that
(38:36):
are coming into the space.
I sought out some therapyservices here in my area and the
professionals are running lateto the sessions.
They're showing up and they'reperforming sessions while
they're grocery shopping Right,so they got their phone doing a
therapeutic session with you ontheir phone and they're at the
grocery store shopping, or theworst one, they're in bed right,
(39:00):
they're in bed.
They're laid up, bonnet onnightgown on or the camera's off
, right, and so that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
That's a huge problem .
When you have someone on edge,the last thing you need is to
not show up and to not show upin your best self for them.
And I don't even call that mycompetition, because I don't
allow that in this practice.
(39:36):
I don't allow that at all.
If I discover that a clienttells me that you showed up to
their session with a bonnet onand your nightgown on, your
pajamas on, and you, you can'twork.
I can't work with you.
People need you to show up as aprofessional.
(40:01):
You are, and so there is change, but it needs to be a huge
change.
It needs to be a huge overhaulof the professional side and
where and how people can acquireservices.
And I don't want to saygovernment intervention, because
government intervention can bea bad thing.
Too much governmentintervention can be a bad thing.
So I don't want to say it needsto be on a government level,
(40:23):
but there needs to be a resource, a one stop shop, like podcasts
, like yourself, like whatyou're doing, right, you know,
companies need to reach out.
The age of NBC and CNBC.
The media, the traditionalmedia, is dying, yeah,
absolutely.
And so the age of influencersis significant.
(40:44):
I think it happened a couplemonths ago.
Cnbc had released a majorbreaking news article and it
only got 250,000 views.
And then an influencer releasedthe same article and it got 2.2
million views.
So what you're doing and thereneeds to be some kind of
(41:05):
connection, that relationshipbetween an influencer and people
that you trust and people thatare trusted within your
community that relationshipneeds to thicken and not get
thinner, because that is how youreach the masses and let people
know what's available to them.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Wow, well, and I can see where.
Maybe it's the people who don'thave the money or the means or
the funds that have to deal with.
Well, you know, I guess myinsurance will only pay for
three therapies at this clinicor whatever it is, and then you
end up with somebody who theyhired that is going to be in the
(41:44):
bed with the boner or something.
So I can't imagine the personwho's paying premium dollar
getting that kind of service andbeing okay with it, like you or
me.
If we showed up for, you know,a therapy session and my guy was
at the, if my guy was at thegrocery store shopping for
groceries and I'm trying to havea conversation with him, I'd be
like, dude, we're going to,we're going to stop this session
(42:07):
right now, and then I'll eithercome back to you because I know
it was a fluke and you knowyour baby needed milk and you
must have to get formula orsomething, and it was, you know,
emergency you know your babyneeded milk, and you must have
to get formula or something.
And it was, you know, emergency,it was a one-off right, or
we're just I'll find somebodyelse.
You know, because you paid forit, you get what I love to do,
(42:27):
because I know we're talkingabout the therapy side, but I'd
love to spend some time talkingabout the business side and
maybe talk about finances andmoney.
And you know I have a lot ofpeople that are saying, well, I
want to get into something thatI can feel good that I'm in it,
but I also want to know that Ican make some money in it and
you know that it could bepurposeful.
(42:47):
And so maybe you know, talk alittle bit about.
You know your thought processof what it takes to become a
person who is able to buy abusiness.
What are some of the like?
Do you have to be willing to gothrough failures and what are
the?
risks of doing it.
Because I think some people say, well, I'm just going to go buy
something and it's going to run.
You know, I know you and I bothknow it don't work like that.
(43:10):
But that's how some people youknow, even in real estate, right
, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna goflip right and then, without
doing the research and withoutfiguring out what it's all about
, kind of talk to us about thatbusiness mindset you have to
have and that risk tolerance.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Absolutely so great question.
The things that stick out to mewhen evaluating any business
first and foremost is do youunderstand the business right?
Do you understand how thisbusiness makes money?
That's the Kevin O'Leary SharkTank 101, right?
The 101 level is understandinghow this business makes money.
(43:49):
If you have no idea how thisbusiness generates $500,000 a
year, you should not evenconsider buying that business.
And so that's number one,forgive me, and one of the
things I consider whenever I buyinto a business or franchise.
(44:10):
And number two is, for me, the,the what am I getting for my
investment?
And so I'll touch on thecannabis business that I
franchise, that I bought into.
And so the cannabis franchiseit's a mobile kiosk vending
(44:32):
machine with blockchaintechnology that has age
verification technology,patented to not accidentally
dispense to minors.
And so you've taken somethingvery old school, which is a
vending machine, and you'vemodernized it to the 21st
century and the teenage consumer, the young consumer, that 21
(44:56):
plus consumer, because you'veadded touchscreens and digital,
a digital footprint.
It's searchable on Google andyou've merged two industries
that typically couldn't havecome together before.
And when I bought that business, one of the things I had to
consider, you have to consider,is the leaders, and so when I
(45:17):
bought into that business, Ilooked at the team surrounding
that business and so that's thesecond part.
You have to look at the peoplein the industry and look at who
they are and look at what theydo and how they make this thing
move and how they drive thismachine forward.
This thing move and how theydrive this machine forward.
(45:40):
The CEO of the franchise has amaster's degree in cybersecurity
with a, with a civil, a civiland electrical engineering
background, so that fits withwhat he's trying to do.
There's a.
There's another company that'strying to take over the social
media space.
It's called Fanbase, and I waslooking at that company to
(46:04):
invest in.
But again, I looked at the CEOof that company and his
background is music.
He's a social media.
He's starting a social mediabusiness that doesn't hold you
back.
The algorithm doesn't hold youback, it doesn't restrict you,
(46:26):
it doesn't limit you and allowseverybody to make money quote,
unquote, right, and so that'sgreat and that sounds good, but
your background is music.
You've worked with top musicprofessionals and producing
music and artists in the musicbusiness and I can see some
(46:48):
relation to social media there,but your background is music.
So that was why I didn't invest, because you're not from this
industry.
The second part is yourcompetition is meta, I know
(47:09):
You're going to go up againstthe company that's your
competition and you're trying toknock them out, a company
that's worth billions.
You're going to try and competewith them with millions, and
you're supposedly going to dowhat right.
And so those are the thingsthat I look at in the business.
And so, buying into a mentalhealth space, you want to know
(47:32):
what you're going to get foryour money.
You want to vet the company,make sure you understand how you
make money and if it doesn'tmake sense, don't, don't pass
gold, do not collect $200.
And you want to look at thesupport that you're going to get
for your money and you want tomake sure that the support
equals the level of of franchisefee and royalties that you're
(47:52):
going to pay, right.
And then for me, buying into afranchise, which is this above
all significance, is um, can Irun this business autonomously
one day, without me having tophysically step in?
And so a lot of people jump onthe Chick-fil-A franchise
because it's a $10,000investment or or investment.
(48:16):
But Chick-fil-A, in thebeginning at least, doesn't
allow you to not be involved inthe business.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
Yeah, you got to be there.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
You got to be there, you got to show up, you got to
run things, you got to hire,you're involved.
And if that's not appealing toyou, you should not buy into any
business that you're going tohave to run the day to day.
And so those are three of thethings that I consider when
investing in a business.
Do I understanding how it makesmoney, understanding the
(48:48):
leaders to make sure that theyalign with the space?
And then, lastly, is is itworth the money?
Am I getting an equal return onmy money for what I'm paying
for?
Because you're getting, you'resupposed to get some proven
professionals that are going tohelp you and guide you and make
(49:08):
sure you don't fail.
So, there's a safety net there,but if you don't follow the
other two steps, that safety netdoesn't matter, because if
you're not in the space youcan't catch me.
But what am I getting for mymoney?
What am I getting for myinvestment and so the business
operations?
What is the system that I'll beusing?
(49:29):
What is the software?
How easy is it to use?
How difficult is it to use?
How does that integrate with mybank account?
How does the company operate?
Do I have to physically own anoffice or can I operate
virtually?
Understanding the deeperportions of value and what do I
(49:49):
get for my investment is huge.
Business is not hard.
It just takes time and a lot ofpractice.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
And I've had years of practice.
Yeah, you have these guys whowill.
You know my experience with it.
I was a landscaper and I wasreally good at being a
landscaper.
So I'm going to open up alandscaping business.
Well, what do you know aboutbusiness and what are you going
to like your personaldevelopment portion of whatever
you buy, whatever you get into,has to be great.
(50:22):
I think you have to have greatmentors and you have to have
people that can help you alongthe way Just because you're good
at something.
Michael Jordan is a very goodbasketball player, probably one
of the best that ever lived.
I don't know how good of acoach he is.
He can't coach things that onlyhe could do Right.
His talent was one thing, butwe have so many people who do
(50:45):
that.
You know.
I can remember my wife wantingto start an embroidery business.
She loves to sew and she'sgreat at making bags and can
even sell bags.
But that doesn't mean she'sready for a business where we go
, buy $50,000, $100,000 worth ofequipment and then go now, what
Well have you thought about?
(51:05):
Like, how many machines do youhave to have?
You know, how many clients doyou have to have to make those
machines profitable?
And you know, I think so manypeople don't go through that
research phase of it, orespecially like on the franchise
.
I mean there's so manyfranchises that will call you or
say, if you got this investment, well, we'll show you it's
(51:26):
cookie cutter.
But if you hate the business andyou, they want you to be there,
like if you like, you saidchick-fil-a, you don't, you
don't want you.
All you want is the money thatchick-fil-a brings.
But you don't want to deal withthe whole bunch.
You hate kids, you hateteenagers, you hate.
You know it's going to be along road.
(51:47):
You know how long in your mind,like before you buy a business.
How long is that researchprocess?
I know it's probably differentfor every business, but there's
got to be like a minimum of likehow much time you spend before
you jump right in, Unlesssomething just jumps on you.
You've already been doing it,but your first one.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
So time to me is equivalent to the investment.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
OK.
Speaker 1 (52:12):
A couple thousand dollars that's that's not a
whole lot of time required.
Thousand dollars that's that'snot a whole lot of time required
.
Real estate Real estate took,you know, several months, right,
based off availability and howmuch free time that you were
willing to commit to it, right.
And then, excuse me, afranchise with employees and
(52:35):
staff and contractors and CPAsand bookkeepers and, you know,
assistants and a team that tookalmost a year of research, only
because it was the first one andthe investment was significant,
yeah, and so it deserves that.
It deserves that right, thatamount of time, that amount of
(52:58):
due diligence.
And to me, even with, you know,an eight-month runway of
research, that was still, in myopinion, fast, because there
were some other things pressingme forward to accelerate and
move the time horizon soonerthan I would have liked, but we
(53:19):
press forward and move forwardwith it, and so, when it comes
to business, you really have todedicate the amount of time,
that of your investment, and sothat differs from person to
person.
Prime example, and this is thebest example I could think of If
you have a thousand dollars andyou have a job that pays you
(53:41):
$10 an hour, you and you'veamassed a thousand dollars.
That's a lot of of effort onyour part.
So a thousand dollars becauseyou only get paid $10 an hour,
that it takes you a long timeand a lot of sweat and a lot of
tears and a lot of long nightsand a lot of shifts and a lot of
(54:01):
early mornings to acquire thatVersus.
For others, that's one paycheck, and so you have to assess
personally what this is worthfor you.
Yeah, right, that amount ofmoney, and are you willing to
part with it?
And for someone who makes $10 anhour, that's really difficult,
(54:23):
right.
I don't want to be insensitiveto hard the hard worker and
people watching your show, um,and so you.
But you really have to reallyshift your mind and say this
took me a long time, so that hasto be taken care of when I
research this business to investthis money, because it really
took me a long time to get this,and so that has an impact on
(54:48):
how much research you give toany business that you want to
buy into and invest in.
When I researched the ATMbusiness, it took me a month,
right, and I remember the younglady it took me a month Right,
and I remember the young lady Iwas dating at the time.
I had a conversation with her.
Today, the next month, 30 days,less than 30 days later, I had
my first ATM delivered, shipped,programmed and installed.
(55:11):
That's an investment, but itdidn't take me that long because
the investment was worth it.
To me and for some people,$2,000 is a tax refund.
A single mom I don't even knowI haven't talked to my CPA yet,
but I think the tax credit forkids I think you're getting what
(55:33):
$1,000 per child this year.
So invest that.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
Yeah, yeah, that's not money that you, you expect,
and so many people you knowthink about the.
Well, I can't wait so I can gospend.
You know that that's why oureconomy is where it is, because
when we get all that stimulusmoney in 2020, you know how long
?
You know, I heard somebody tellme about like a trickle up
there and he said that we thatmoney within five years, all
(56:00):
that stimulus money, trickled upto the top 1% because everybody
who got the check spent itinstead of investing it.
Speaker 1 (56:08):
Right, In their business.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
It's that whole mindset of of what that, what
that means to be able to investin a business and you think of I
love your ATM, you know,acknowledge it because, hey, you
know that wasn't.
If that business fails becauseI'm sure you've had some that
fails you're okay with theinvestment you put into it
because the reward is so greatthat can come from it.
But a person who works so hardfor whatever that investment is,
(56:34):
all they're thinking about isthe time that I spent trying to
gain this money.
If I lose it, then I'm going tohave to in their mindset, right
do all that over again in orderto create that amount of money.
And if it took them 10 years toraise that money, they're
thinking this is a, this is allor nothing right now.
(56:54):
And so the research, because Idon't have another 10 years to
make this money back ifsomething happens, right, so
awesome.
So yeah, man, we've beentalking for like 56 minutes.
It's been amazing.
What have I not asked you?
That you want to make sure thatthe audiences that listen to
this know about and that youwant to get to?
(57:16):
Is there some things that youwould want them to know?
Please let us know.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
So I'd like to leave your audience with this that
there's information out there.
We're still in the informationage and you don't have to live
with the circumstances you're in.
It's not your fault if you wereborn into difficult
circumstances.
It is your fault if you staythere.
(57:44):
So if you don't like yoursituation, you don't like your
circumstances, you don't likewhere you are in life, change,
change it.
You can change.
You're not a tree.
You're not rooted in.
You can change it today, and soyou know.
(58:05):
Great podcasts like this isputting out quality content for
viewers to gain free access to.
Right.
This is this doesn't cost youanything and it's knowledge to
expand your mind, hopefully evenjust a little bit, and they
don't cost you nothing.
And and and put down the phoneand stop watching these.
(58:25):
I don't watch sports.
I don't.
I don't watch basketballfootball none of it.
Why would I watch someone who'salready making millions?
And so I tell my, my partnersand everyone that knows me.
I tell them I will watch sportswhen I own the team, right, but
I'm not making no money.
They're making money for mewatching why?
(58:45):
Why am I wasting time on theKardashians?
Why am I wasting time on allthese people who are already
highly successful.
Put it down.
Find great podcasts like this.
Find great podcasts like mine.
It's a gentleman-style podcastGod, family, finance, self.
Look for the big microphone.
We're putting out greatinformation to change the
(59:07):
narrative and change yourtomorrow to make it a little
better.
Speaker 2 (59:11):
Thank you for that.
And what a great analogy.
If you're listening to this,that means you want to make a
difference in your life.
That means that you want tomake a difference in your life.
That means that you want tomake a change.
Somebody sent you here becauseyou can, and I encourage you to
find those associations, findthose people.
Reach out to people that yousee.
So many people want to serveothers, so many people want to
(59:33):
help you if you're willing to doit.
People want to help you ifyou're willing to do it.
But we don't want to spend awhole bunch of time with these
people who are wanting to say,hey, make me a millionaire.
Why I watch all of my.
You know my reels on facebookand tick tock and you know and
I'm not saying that stuff's notentertaining, because it may be,
I don't know, because I don'twatch, like you know, just reels
(59:55):
of people.
I don't do it, that's not atime for that, you know.
But if you truly want to watch,I get, you know, just real as
the people.
I don't do it, that's not atime for that, you know.
But if you truly want to make adifference, you know, I would
say hit, subscribe, hit, youknow, the notification button,
because I I promise you with theinterviews that I'm doing it.
No wonder, if you are a blackman, or even you know a person
of color saying I need to seesomebody who looks like me doing
the thing, you will find ithere.
(01:00:16):
But, more importantly than that,because it doesn't matter what
race you are, what color you are, what you're doing, the
principles, laws and conceptsthat we've been talking about
today are across the board.
If you're willing to put in theenergy and the effort, uh, you
can own businesses.
You can, you know, make moremoney than you've ever made in
your life before.
You can, you know, if there'smental health issues that you
(01:00:37):
believe hey, I just got to getrid of this thing that keeps
coming back, you have somebodythat you can reach out to.
And so, again, marcus, thankyou for being on today.
Thank you for spending yourtime with us.
I know your time is valuableand I appreciate that you're
willing to do that with us, forus and around us as we move
forward.
And so thank you, guys, foranother edition of the Journey
(01:01:00):
to Freedom podcast.
We look forward to seeing you.
Don't forget you are God'sgreatest gift.
He loves you, if you allow himto.
And we'll look forward totalking to you on the next one.
You guys have an amazing,awesome day.
Thank you, marcus, you.
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