Founder & Owner Operator Of Blind Shade LLC & Observ Network: Javon Ingram AKA The Observe Boss – S2E26 (#54)

S2E27 – Javon Ingram – powered by Happy Scribe

Over here. All right, the levels of some good, your video is good. All right. All right, three, two, one, welcome. Welcome back to Boston podcast. On today’s show, I have one of my old school classmates from college that’s a solo partner entrepreneur. And the funny thing is he just had like a whole episode of his podcast talking about the differences between entrepreneur and solar panel. But without further ado, Magavern, introduce yourself to everyone.

What’s up, everybody, I’m glad to be on the show. Thanks for having me. I’m John Ingram. You know, we go way back from from college days now. You know, we’re both entrepreneurs.

I have a few businesses, which is pro commercial accessories, which is a construction accessories company, and recently followed in your footsteps a little bit and started my observe network.

So let’s go back a little bit. So, I mean, originally you were we were in college together for graphic design. So that was like your first jump off degree. So let’s talk about how did you go from being a graphic designer to doing pro installations to create the observe network?

Oh, wow. It was a crazy, crazy ride and it actually has to do a lot of when we were in college and some of the things that were promised to us that I never received when we went to when we started at school, you know, and I got in there and I spoke to a counselor and yeah, we we have a name.

Was it a ninety two percent placement rate straight out of college and me being a sucker.

I was I totally believe it, you know, and and then, you know, we were going to get out of school and they say, congratulations, Yvonne, we finally got you a job. I’m like, okay, great advertising agency.

And my starting with it said, no, it’s going to be a Kinko’s for twelve dollars an hour.

I said, Wait, wait, what now? I’m in debt to you for all this money you promised.

You said you get me a job, but I was thinking something, you know, entry level, but a little higher up there.

And they were like, no, you got to start here. So around that time, things start to dwindle off. And I had a mentor, another entrepreneur that was like, you know what? Till you find a job and what you’re doing, come work with me in the window treatment business. I was like, OK, great.

Like, well, I’ll be doing install. And I was like, well, I’ve never installed a window treatment before and it’s time to learn. At that time I was making about thirty dollars for installing an entire house. I tell I tell some of my employees that now that are starting and they crack up laughing, saying they would never work for that type of money. But the thing was the value of the information. If I didn’t take that job, then I wouldn’t have the business that I have now.

Because I didn’t know anything about the field, I was introduced to it and I was willing to extend myself a little bit and, you know, use me, but don’t abuse me. Let me make sure I get something out of the deal. So that knowledge was worth all the money in the world. So then I started doing the installations. At that time, the Web business had dwindled off for me because. And the graphic design has dwindled off for me because I wasn’t getting into the agencies in which I wanted to get into.

And as far as the business goes, I was still getting my feet wet in business and I was struggling, reaching my audience, the audience that I went to, the top dollar audience that would pay.

I was getting more clientele that was like, well, I can get it online, you know, I could drive myself or DIY and establishing the value of it and differentiating the two when so many things were coming out at the time, you know, at that time they were starting to give everything away.

Hosting companies were starting to give away websites, and a lot of people were outsourcing it and doing things and. Graphic design went. Corporate, in a sense, you get what I’m saying, you’re more than anybody else. I get it because I’m in that space stuff.

It’s funny because I remember when you were going through that like that transition and like you think it’s like all your clients, you started, like, sending them to me. It was like, OK, I’m like I’m not saying you were tired of them, but you were just like, OK, I’m not doing this anymore. Parsimonious. So glad you brought that up so well.

Go, then. Yeah, those things where. OK. It is not administrative problems, the U.S. is one of these things. Oh, yeah, and it became a point where I gave up. I gave up, I think it was.

It was really mean more than anything else, I wanted to change. I feel like I didn’t get what I want to get out of the graphic design and some of the things I was doing. It wasn’t panning out the way I wanted to. So I did an assessment. I like to assess myself every three to four years, like fully assess myself. And it wasn’t going the way I wanted to. And at first I was bummed about it. I was really bummed.

But then I learned how to fail.

With lessons, you get what I’m saying with the lessons that you get from and the business, the business acumen grew in next space because actually when things was really rough for me, I would actually my car broke down.

I would walk five miles in each direction talking to every business about graphic design and what I can do from what I can offer their business as social media was progressing at that time as well.

And it worked. It worked for quite some time. But it taught me, of course, sales. It taught me how to have my soft skills, how to eliminate objections when it comes to sales.

So it opened an entire new spectrum for me. So when I stepped into the window treatment fully for myself, I was ready to go because window treatments when I first started, I didn’t start commercially. I started residentially. That’s in home sales. So you likability has to be all the way up. People have to really like you because there’ll be somebody who can beat your price. But if they can’t match how someone feels about you when you step out of their door, that sale is yours.

Yeah, I could definitely be cynical. I remember back in college, you know. The environment that we kind of grew up in, you kind of like we tell it how it is. So imagine you’re in a classroom and you’re hearing like teachers saying certain things that I remember you to is like arguing with teachers all the time. It was it was funny that I was in a room with you and I remember was like doing portfolio you was talking about like a logo and you guys were going at it.

So to hear that you took you took like less of a defense and you went to more office and it you’ve you’ve tailored it to where now you could deliver the package and sell it without having to go head to head with somebody is definitely interesting journey.

And is a skill that I had to learn because coming from New York and I come from a West Indian background, and if anybody knows the West Indian background, everything is extremely direct.

So it’s not I can’t say I learned soft skills at home, but I got learned. I learned it from getting knocked around in business.

And like you said, and before I would go head to head and sometimes it was abrasive and unnecessary. I needed to learn how to balance what I’m saying. Do you want to be right or do you want to get the W? You know what I mean? Do you want to do you do you want a resolution or you just want to be right there?

So I had to get rid of that. I’m right to learn. Well, the customer’s right or I can see another perspective. And being in the business field and needing to get on on the same page with my customer created another mindset for me. I’m glad you brought that up because I thought about that the other day, like I had a little trouble in school, but it was like it was like jailhouse rules.

It was like you were shagging teachers. But it was it was definitely it was a hilarious time. But see, you grew out of that is definitely a blessing as well. So, I mean, just going back into that topic.

Right. So what’s the worst experience you had? You said he was beating the street, walking five miles. So, I mean, you coming in cold turkey like you’re coming into someone’s business, they’re thinking you’re probably going to buy something and then you’re like, no, I’m not buying. So I’m trying to sell you something. What’s the worst experience you’ve had knocking on doors like that? Well, it was when my car had broke down and I needed I still needed to get out there and where I was living the bus schedule, it didn’t make sense to really get on a bus.

But I have to get off every stop to stop at the next shopping center or business avenue area.

So I would get to walking.

The worst experience I had, what was the most embarrassing anyway, is I was walking down the street and, you know, it’s a busy street.

So all the business owners are driving past me as I’m walking to their establishment. And I walked into this one like it was an insurance company.

And she said, well. She was very honest. And she said, you’re sweating.

I said, yes, ma’am, I actually walked here, I actually walked here and she was like, Yeah, we saw you on the road, you know, the guy with a full with a full three piece suit on and a laptop walking this far on this road.

It was it was kind of like an industrial area. And, you know, that’s usually a little bit away from everyone. So it was a long walk. As she said to me, well, if you don’t have a vehicle, if you don’t and you have to walk here, you look a little sketchy.

I’m like, well, ma’am, my car broke down. This is one of the reasons why I’m walking here, etc..

So I went into this whole speech. She like what I had to say, but she was messing with me a little bit. So she’s like, all right, come back for the check tomorrow. But if you don’t get here by nine o’clock, the deal is off and Andrew.

I walked into the building at nine 04 and sees it now. At this time, I know I’m late. So, you know, I was running right here and I messed up my good shoes and I’m there and now I’m in, if I may.

OK, OK. I’m just gonna tell I’m sorry. I’m not a fool. I don’t think she’s gonna think it’s a big deal, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. She said, let this be a lesson to you, young man.

Deadlines, the deadlines. I’m not doing it, and I walked out of the devastated. First, how angry at her as a natural response, like, oh, it was only four minutes, but by the time that long walk home, I was like, you know what, it’s my fault. I committed long time and a schedule. No matter my personal situation, you have to honor your commitments. And what I learned that day, that kick in the pants she gave me that day, I kept to it.

And it’s helped me to become more successful in the businesses that I do.

Yeah, I mean, I love a story that’s a hell of a story. Yeah, and even in that time I got one of those other story. I discovered the power of me. And what I mean by that is I thought I could do business.

I thought I can you know, you look cocky, you coming out and thought I knew something, you know what I mean?

But life was kicking me in the pants and I didn’t come from entrepreneurs.

Everybody was saying, I mean, just go get a job with some benefits.

But I was like, no, I don’t want that. And everybody’s looking at me like, what? What’s wrong with you? And I’m like, why would you go that way?

I can do this.

And it became a struggle where even talking to some people, they look like they’re like, all right, once he once he fails, he’ll come to reality family members to like, you know, like once let’s let him drown a little bit like the water getting his nose once the water gets in his nose. He can come here. I can I can get him started the next job at the bank or wherever you get what I’m saying. So. I was defiant like you, like you said, I was under fire, like this is going to work.

Now, everything was going wrong for me. Like I told you, the car went out. I had a part time job that went away. I was doing taxes for I think it was all black and that went away. And the struggle was just it was just crazy and. I was at my last my rent was due I mean, this is this is maybe 20 years ago that my rent was due. Nothing was working for me. And I said to myself, and in three days, I’m not only Kahless, I’m homeless.

What am I going to do? I said, you know what, this has to work, I’m not coming home today without fifteen hundred dollars.

I’m not coming home if I don’t get it, and I said that to myself. So I put my laptop on my back, started walking another five miles a day. And I. Was discouraged at first, but the more I started to walk and the more I got into my this is going to work, I’m going to make this work, I’m going to make this work. I looked at a business. It was a a. A child play center with the inflatables, the slides and all that kind of stuff, I said this is perfect.

I’m not going to leave here until I get twelve hundred dollars from this person that owns this company.

No meeting. No, no. I just walked right in there, called. And I spoke to him. What I said resonated with them. I showed them what can be achieved and they went with it.

I walked out of there with exactly what I said I was going to walk out of there with. And I looked at the check and I I literally trembled a little bit.

I was like, wow. Do you mean I could speak what’s happening in my life into existence so I could do this one time I keep doing this?

Oh damn right, I can keep digging into my life and keep pushing forward and change in my reality. I think that’s when I learned there’s no fate but what we make. We have to make it for ourselves. It’s important that you bring that up because, I mean, in the past couple episodes that you’re like maybe the third or fourth person is kind of indirectly brought up, like the secret or the laws of attraction. And and I think a lot of people think it’s B.S., But the reality is that it’s real.

If you apply the actions, you apply the actions. You stepped out, you walked out, you got the nod, you came back. You walk them down five miles in that five mile journey. You were like focusing on the results, not focusing on what happened the day before. So when you got to know your confidence level through the damn roof, your delivery was probably flawless. You probably wasn’t sweating. You see them saying and then you gave them the results that they probably were looking for, but they didn’t know how to find it.

And then you walked out with the DanceSport pointed out exactly what you were going and thinking about. So, I mean, that comments to kind of where you were to where you are right now. So in in in the journey. Right. Like, what is your business structures like?

I mean, are you more of LLC s corporate sector? How is your. Because you got multiple businesses. How they structured. Correct.

Now that’s another thing that I had to learn that there’s three phases to.

To money, and that was that was a big thing for me and I got through listening to people online, there is earning money, there’s multiplying money and there’s protecting money.

So what I had to learn is your business structure is what protects your money. I was one of the biggest protectors of the money that you bring in.

So initially I was an LLC. And I was doing I was attached to my personal my personal information, and then I had to learn that’s not the best way to do it.

The business has to be independent of, you know, my business journey has been trial and error and kind of learning on the fly.

And then I started to learn about holding companies escort’s putting things together under one umbrella, especially when you have multiple businesses.

It’s the best bet. So when I started to do was develop a holding company. I put the businesses under those and keep myself as the chairman of the whole company, and I actually work in the businesses as well. So it’s basically under one umbrella that branches out into different aspects of business.

And it allows me to kind of synergize them and they can work together and make money together.

Yeah, I mean, that’s that’s insightful information. And I think a lot of people think it’s just OK to start with an LLC. And it is I must say, I’m a NOC. I rather have an LLC that have nothing at all.

The lease you get nothing, correct? Yeah, you get a little bit. But once you understand how to move money and manipulate money between EZCORP, see Korps and LLC and having umbrella companies and holding companies, the structures are completely different. And that’s why I like the billionaires, all the billionaires, because they structure it and they move money around. So they beat taxes at different times of the year and just people understanding their philosophy. Once you get on that journey, you’ve got to structure your things correctly.

So. Check and see when that journey started for me, I did I didn’t know all these things, the people, the business level, my business network level was get you an LLC. That’s where you start. And that’s what everybody was telling me.

And then I had to go ahead to file separate paperwork to get higher up ESADE doing the S corp.

Of course, when the money became enough for me to put myself on salary because at first I was just commingling funds left and right, left, right, left and right, and then having a right tax accountant tell you, hey, you’re going to have to separate these things so that you can get you can have your business more structured and then learning, of course, about business credit and personal credit and the difference between the two and how it’s not wise to exhaust your personal credit like you because you can’t use it the same way just because of utilization.

When you have business credit you’re using utilization doesn’t really matter as much. But of course, because you’re expected to use your business, expected to utilize it when it comes to personal credit, it’s the exact opposite. The more utilization, the worse the numbers become. So I think it was just a learning game for me and putting all the different pieces together.

So with all the different pieces, I mean, what systems do you have in place to manage and juggle all these different things? I have become very disciplined on. My time. Time management is pretty much everything, because when you when you don’t manage your time, so many things get left off.

And I don’t have a big staff. I have there’s a few people that work with me. I try to delegate some things, but I still like a little bit of control. And to be honest of what’s happening and the product that’s being delivered to the customer or.

So what I do is I discipline myself, I work on this for three hours, I work on this for three hours, and I work on this for two hours and juggle in between the two. Sometimes I move the schedule around. But right now I have about three businesses and I like to plan what I do in those businesses, honestly, two years in advance. Some of the things that are coming out now that I’m doing, I’ve been thinking about for quite some time and researching and formulating an idea of how to put it together.

So management of time is pretty much the most important thing that I do.

Oh, OK, so let’s define your three business structures, right? I mean, you have the installation’s, right? And that’s one. The other one now is the new observe network. And so what’s your third business model? Well, it’s actually it’s actually broken into three, so. Blind L.L.C. is a residential window treatment, commercial, residential and commercial company, so basically that was the first business that I started with, but it’s mainly for residential and it only handles window treatments.

But as I got as I advanced in the window treatment business, I noticed that there were a broad spectrum of other things that I can get into in the commercial aspect of window treatments and accessories. So what I did was I started pro commercial accessories that actually handles installation and furnishing of other items such as a.D.A grab bars for people in wheelchairs, the bathroom accessories, the bathroom partitions. We hang up huge projection screens.

So the little things that you will go into a hospital or or an office space and use, but don’t think much of it is what my company stepped into as an expansion from Blind LLC that you got your. Of course.

Yeah, because there was so much so many other things other than window treatments. So I was looking to expand the business because the window treatment lane is very competitive and we’re all getting pretty much the same price for the product.

So because we’re getting that you’re branding your sales is what sells the product, puts you ahead of everyone else, but if you can add additional pieces to that or you can handle you can become a one stop shop for a lot of other things, especially in the commercial space. It works better for you.

Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. I mean, the business savvy is understanding that that’s a whole outside of what you were doing and being able to add it on, because lots of people will add on additional services, but they won’t do the research or they won’t have the things to support it. And it’s not usually associated. If I’m selling cars, I’m not going to be selling snowboards. Right. If I’m selling cars, I may sell tires, I may sell window tanning because they’re all relative to the one product.

So for you to go into an office and say, hey, I’m going to do your blinds, and while we’re really doing your blinds, I see you remodeling your bathrooms or you’re doing something else over here. We have the accessories to fill in. It’s a win win situation. So, yeah. So this is Dove a little bit more into like the observe network. So, I mean, you used you were saying that, you know, you follow in my footsteps a little bit and you kind of took the bull by the horns and you created this network.

So let’s talk about like, what’s this network really about and what platforms are you on and what kind of media are you going to be distributing? Well, yes, I definitely follow in your footsteps because you gave me the courage to do it like I already had these businesses going, but this is something that always kind of called me.

I love information.

And I felt like one of the reasons why I started the Observer Network is because I am unhappy with the information I’m seeing. And it was actually 20, 20 that snapped me into it and said, hey, you go ahead, go forward and give it. Thing a shot because Mason has disseminated on the news, people are getting bad business advice, they’re not getting appropriate data, is getting skewed data, or they’re giving you one side of the picture and not giving you the entire Martin.

You do? Yeah, so you were saying that it didn’t give you the other side of the market? Yes. Signal Shapir. They have got to love you got to love tech. Yeah, exactly. So let’s pick back up where you left off. You’re saying that the information in the market.

Yes, the information is skewed or one sided. I feel like everything is being.

Politicized and weaponized, and they’re using information as a tool to divide rather than to uplift, and I think especially with entrepeneurs, information is vital. Information is so vital, especially small business owners. Information is vital. I mean, if you look at Warren Buffett, he says he makes his money off of the information that he gets. He has better information than everybody else. He analyzes that information and makes his decision based on that.

But if we’re getting doctored information or just a piece of the puzzle, we had a tremendous disadvantage in the business market and competing with other people.

So that’s what I observe network is geared towards observe news anyway, it is giving people information and let them make their own decision. I try not to interject my opinion too much.

I kind of just give them the data. But sometimes it’s hard not to do so.

Yeah, and I think with that, I mean, I think and I was definitely happy that when you could I remember you called me a couple of times you actually some questions. And I was like, OK, I was like, he’s blind, he’s blind. And I’m like, it’s coming. It’s coming. So then when you dropped it, I was like, OK, OK, I see him. So I was like, OK, let’s let’s just talk about I.

In that model, right, like what’s the next step for this network? I mean, you just started it, but like you said, you plan two years out. You’re a big plantinga. So for right now, you’re doing informational. What’s the long term goal, a long term vision of of your network.

Well, the long term vision I am creating in my own platform and inviting others on it, I’m just the spear, the tip of the spear. I am concerned about what’s happening on platforms and people being de platform for the type of information that they’re giving and.

I’ve noticed with stepping into this space, and this is one of the things I have been covering lately, is if you are an influence or somebody who operates online and you use these free platforms, your audience is not really yours.

They’re loaning 80. So it is imperative for influence of influencers and entrepreneurs that are in the digital space to follow their their subscribers, their customers, to their actual websites and to their actual email or subscriber list, because you can build platforms really easy.

We saw it in the early 2000s when we were when everybody was doing the Google optimizations. And then Google changed the panda. And people that spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to get to the front page of Google dropped off and dissipated.

The same thing is happening with a lot of these platforms. They are Chatel banning people, the platform, the monetizing people, and they have the right to do that because those platforms are free to you. And but they control how many people you reach. They control it when new notifications come up. So I think it’s imperative for people to have their own platform. So as far as I’m going with Observe Network, I want to create a platform that people can subscribe to that is free and uncensored.

So observe news is the first part of it, but there’ll be other shows as well with other personalities as well on the show, and eventually my plan is to slowly pull off of the other platforms and have one standalone platform and invite other companies and entities to come on and be on the platform and have their own voice and have their own controlled subscribers.

So you’re talking about your own platform. Obviously, we have Netflix, we have Hulu, and on Hulu, Hulu has an opportunity for you to create your own channel on Hulu. Right. So you talked about more so using something that already has a few million people, or are you talking about creating your own version of Hulu or your own version or like Forbes’? My own version, I would call it closer to. I think I would call it closer to Hulu than force to where people can sign on, they have I’ll be on the platform.

A lot of the shows that are connected to me will be on the platform. But I want to set up a system where. People can have their own on their own at it goes directly to them, their own funding, the framework itself is what they would be paying me for. But after they pay for the framework and the updates, that platform is theirs. This describers is theirs, is is do as you will with with it from there.

And I feel like these other platforms, that’s not the case. So I want to be where no one can shadowman you for something. You say the freedom of speech is there. You can say what you want when you want and let the market let the people decide if what you’re saying is true for one or or has any merit or not. Rather than Big Brother sitting in an office saying, oh, I don’t want you to hear that. No, we’re going this way.

I want you to go this way. And if you don’t go this way, we’re going to shut you down.

Well, that’s definitely interesting. So on your journey, right? I mean, we talked about college a little bit. We talked about, you know, growing up in New York, we always hear about the 20 years it takes someone to become successful, but it’s always perceived to be something that happened overnight. How long have you been on your journey to success? I have been an entrepreneur for about 20 years now, and I’ve been working and developing myself because we’re one of the main things that you have to do.

I met a entrepreneur and the first thing he told me is going to be he told me that you are going to be one of the most talented, unsuccessful people I’ve ever met. Now, I’m trying to impress this guy, right, because he has everything that I want. So he’s like the poster and he says to me, I see you do this, you do that. You do this, you do that, you do this. But you’re a jack of all trades, master of none.

You do everything OK. You kind of have to you’re going to have to focus on one thing, develop it and move to the next and let the other thing feed off. You’re going to have to develop yourself. Before you can develop a business, you have to develop your character before you can develop a business.

Yeah, you used to become an entrepreneur, before you actually have an entrepreneur. Eventually, your mind has to be in that space. I mean, unless you line everything up, it’ll start to work for you. So once I kind of soak that in, it helped me. Yeah, I mean, ever since he lost the light on. No. So what’s one thing you want?

Your finest people in my life? Definitely. Definitely. So what’s the one thing you would want to do differently if you could do it all over again?

If I could do it all over again, I would. In fact, the tour all over again, that’s that that’s an interesting thing, because if I change anything, then I’m not who I am and I like who I’m becoming. I like the trajectory I’m on, but. If I could change. Anything. Oh, you know, I wouldn’t change anything. The point is, is what may I tell you? The harsh criticism, the those people kicking me out of the office is what made me so I can’t say some of the some of the negative things that have happened.

I’ve been the best thing that ever happened to me because they shaped me. Your victories don’t really shape you. They make you feel good in the moment. But it’s your failures that shape you and shape your mentality. Like I gave you the story of when I went into that office to to do the website.

I came up with that check and I discovered the power of me. I still do that to this day. I have a client of mine that I walked into. I had no appointment.

I heard about the company, I worked right in there for the first three times I went, he didn’t see me. I just sat in his office, I sat in his waiting area and his secretary gave me an excuse until the fourth time that I went there. And he’s like, Are you the AT&T guy trying to sell me?

AT&T is like, no, I have a commercial accessories company and it’s an installation company and I want to do business with you.

He’s like, I thought you were the AT&T guy, that’s this easy gate. He brought me into the office and then I spoke to him and told him what we can do and how we can work together and how. He’s been a viable source companies, a large company to a viable source of revenue for my company for years now. So it’s a determination and some of the failures that may be kicking me out of the office be going through through that other project, it pushed me into the person that I am that they take no take no for an answer.

Don’t take no for an answer.

So which would you hustle that you’ve always had the hustle?

I mean, that’s one of the things I think that you and I, we’ve always had that commonality, and that’s why we’ve been friends as long as we have, because, you know, it’s always about who your circle and who’s pushing you, whether you talk to them every day. You don’t talk to them every day, but you see what they’re doing. And you like that. That’s that’s that’s fire, you know, say fire under me to kind of keep moving forward.

Right. So exactly.

So you come from an entrepreneurial family. I mean, that hustle has to come generically from somewhere. Man Like where did it come from? You know, I get that all the time, well, my family, my family, you know, I’m first born in America of my mother and father are Jamaican.

And I think some of that hustle comes from the island culture because, you know, they go at it. They always used to make these jokes about Jamaicans having 30 jobs.

Exactly. So I think that that I got that from from them.

And in my grandfather, my grandfather was a very disciplined man. And my early years I lived my mother lived with their parents.

And my my grandfather was a person that after six a.m., there’s no almost sleeping in his house.

That’s laziness. He would tell me school was a luxury for him when he was coming up, he had to buy time. He was old enough to pick up a plow. He needed to farm in the mornings and then walk 10 miles to school. That was that was his that was his luxury to be able to go to school.

And I’m like grandpas. I don’t even you I don’t want to go to school.

But he gave me a sense of discipline because he would make me sign my name over and over and over and over and over again. He’s like, Yvonne, I work at a bank if I see a sloppy signature.

I can tell whether this person is means what they say and if they’ll keep their word, your signature is everything. So he drilled me on certain things and he created a level of discipline and in me early on.

So you’re telling me come. I’m thinking like, so your grandfather is going to look back and be like only five miles. That’s it. You walking five miles. Why are you sweating? He’s looking at you. I walk 10 miles. That’s all was five. He would laugh at that story, he would say, that’s it, because you like you know, it’s Alex. So you say good bye bye.

Good for you. That’s funny, man.

But. Yeah, but as far as entrepreneurs know, there’s not a lot of entrepreneurs in my family, but they’re very disciplined, hardworking people, and I think that that helps me both boost my understanding of business.

And I take the same approach.

Yeah. So, I mean, it doesn’t have a commonality that you and I share. I mean, obviously my parents are from the islands as well. I’m from Trinidad. So, you know, in the island culture, its family is pretty much everything not to say in the US soil is not. But just in the small islands, it’s kind of like, you know, your aunts and uncles, everybody is all in one unit to a certain extent.

So how do you juggle your work life with your family life? Well, I think that’s the that’s the hardest part for me, because I get I don’t see you as much anymore, a lot, but it takes a lot a lot of hours and a lot of isolation to be able to to think on the level that I have to to be able to achieve what I’m trying to achieve. So I isolate myself a lot. But as soon as I can, I call everybody and try to jump back in and everybody’s like, you know what you mean, but.

Isolation has been good for me. So you’ve been isolated to to to a point to where your family is saying that, hey, they’re not seeing you anymore, right. Or you’re also you’re married as well. So what is your morning routine look like?

So you tell me you think you wake up pretty early. What’s your habits every single morning? See, the good thing about being married, my wife was very disciplined as well, so, you know, she she she she understands what I have to do and she does it as well. She’s she’s a workout queen, as I call it. She likes to work out. She works out six days a week. She wakes up at five o’clock in the morning to go work out before she goes to work.

So she lives a very disciplined life as well. So when she gets up, she inspires me to get up even when I’m tired, when I hear that door slams, she’s like, I’m going to the gym bag. I get up and start my day from there. So I usually start my day from about six o’clock in the morning. And I may work until seven or eight o’clock, sometimes even later on.

But I try to balance it, we have our date nights twice a week, and we we worked it out now with another character, a woman that didn’t understand the vision that I have.

It might have been a little bit more difficult, but like I said, she’s a very successful and driven person herself. So she likes the hustle.

I mean, it’s funny. I mean, the chemistry of your other half is a dynamic factor to your success. And I think a lot of people don’t realize a lot of times when you see somebody that’s highly successful, they’re kind of like I always compare them to their the Steve Jobs bill behind every Steve Jobs. There’s a Wasner somewhere. Right. And the wise is usually the other spouse, whether it’s male or female, whether it’s the wife or husband.

There is somebody else supporting that person that’s in front the camera. And if you don’t have that right chemistry, you have that right support like that’s going to be part of your failure in the long run, whether you like it or not. Correct, and see, my wife is a televise this type of person, so that’s always been beneficial to me as well, because I’m a person, I’m a go getter. I’ll keep going if you get what I’m saying.

Oh, yeah, and sometimes she’s like, Whoa! You need to rethink this thing. Stop beating your head against this wall. You need to go around the wall like, you know, sometimes you need to stop when there’s resistance.

I hear people say, never quit, never give up, never give up. But sometimes you need to quit and then you need to learn when to revisit. You get what I’m saying. Sometimes you need to stop because your approach is wrong. Sometimes you need to look another way. But if you’re so busy in the fight. Mike Tyson said it. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth room. Everybody has a strategy as they’re going to rule.

Exactly.

And what makes a good fighter is the ability to think and adjust. Why are you taking those punches? You got to be under the pressure, so she helps me get the exact. So how do you take those punches and tells me you need to turn this way? So in addition to your morning routines, I’ve been on this podcast for a period of time and I’ve asked people what books they’re reading. So by doing that, I decided to create a book club.

So this year, you know, the book club is launching.

So I’m going to ask you what books have helped you get to where you are and what books would you recommend and what books are you currently reading right now?

You know what, I don’t have a whole lot of time to read, so what I do is audio books. I do a lot of audio books. I might be doing maybe eight a month with audio books.

I have the audio subscription. So when I’m driving or any downtime, I like to feed my mind with good information. I’ve had a variety of books. The richest man in Babylon was a really good one for. I know if you heard of that one. Oh yeah. All the Robert Green book.

Exactly how like Robert Greene’s books, The 48 Laws of Power is OK. But I really like the mystery book about humility and learning from other people and staying in your lane and understanding your lane and growing from there. So I like mastery. The laws of attraction. Of course I liked. The five second rule. About doing things that you don’t want to do. But in the first five seconds, when your body rejects it, if you push forward, you can get over the hump.

So those were some some pretty big bucks for me. So you brought up a couple of books that I’ve read, every one of the books that that you’re talking about. I think the 40 Lhasa’s is one of those books that’s like timeless is always synonymous with jail. Right. It’s always been some people in jail read it for that long and they take over the Damjan because they read the book. But have you read the I think it’s the nine of the 50 law that 50 Cent co-wrote with Robert.

Have you read that one? Correct, I’m on my third 50 cent book, I like his books for some reason, they’re pretty good. It definitely he’s not grimy, but he’s very studious with his definitions and it’s characterizing of what should be done in business. I definitely see your point. I love 50 books as well. And your fifth your five second rule like that book is one of the books that I’ve made recommendations for in the past, like 12 months repeatedly.

Could it just it makes sense. Like you said with your wife, she wakes up at five o’clock. You may be hesitant to get up and you count to five and you’re like, well, shit, I’ve got to get up. I got no choice but to get up. And that five seconds is only five because your waist and after that, you’re on the move. Now on the move. Exactly, Nancy. One of the things I like even bringing back the 50 Cent is there’s a level of viciousness that you have to have in business if you don’t have somewhat of a predator mindset when I mean by that is the strength and will try to capitalize on situations and push yourself forward.

If you’re passive in business, you won’t make it.

So that’s one of the reasons why I like him. But when you were saying about. The discipline, yeah, the five second rule, it has helped me a lot because sometimes I don’t want to do something you don’t feel like doing it. You might make a million excuses because your body isn’t is in self-preservation mode.

So anything that you deem taxing or or that will cause any type of pain, your body, your mind will create a scenario for you to reject it and.

Pushing past that barrier has helped me a lot. There’s helped me a lot. So I don’t start when I’m tired, I start when I’m done. As has definitely room. So what do you see yourself in 20 years now? In 20 years from now, I have a plan to retire, semi retire anyway.

I don’t see myself living in the US at that time, I think I’ll be bouncing back and forth from different countries. I’ve always wanted to live abroad and I see the business, especially the media business, growing to a point where it’s a national network and from their international. Well. So that’s my plan to to grow the observer network to the point where it’s a media conglomerate, a global media conglomerate.

I know people don’t like the word conglomerate anymore, big business, but that’s that’s one of the main things where people get in business they want to grow.

Well, yeah. I mean, how far do you want to grow? As much as possible. That should be everyone’s answer. Do you want to get in as strong as possible?

How wealthy do you want to be? As well as wealthy as I possibly can.

Yeah, well, in a time frame that you have to deliver to people say. Correct, I’m leery of people that say I just want to be comfortable. I always feel like comfort is where people go to die, that’s permanent, this kind of death bed is a death bed of your dreams and aspirations, your growth. That’s a death bed right there, because once you’re comfortable, there’s no there’s no dreams. There’s no aspirations to push you forward.

There’s no fire. You’re OK.

Yeah. Yeah. Or, you know, when I fire, I mean, so so slow down. So we with ourselves moving technically, you’re still if you’re still you’re dead. So I definitely understand that.

Yeah. That’s a good way of putting it. So comfort is not something I’m looking for. I’m looking for I’m constantly putting myself and the businesses under new forms of pressure, like I said, expanding with new products, stepping into the new arenas, facing new challenges. And it helps me to continue to grow. If I am addicted to anything, I would say I’m addicted to growth. That’s very important to me more than money or that even the businesses themselves, the growth, the journey is what really makes you.

No, don’t do the journey and you get straight. Have you ever heard of the Jewish proverb about the lobster? And so it’s it’s a Jewish proverb that says lobsters only change their shells and grow into shells when they’re under pressure. So as they begin to grow and they become under pressure is when they change. So so he was like, think about growth the same way for for for people in general. If you’re not under pressure, how are you going to grow?

Much like a lobster of the lobster doesn’t feel any pressure. It will stay stagnant and it won’t continue to grow and it won’t change its shell to another shell. So it’s the same thing with humans. If you don’t feel pressure to a certain extent, if you don’t have deadlines, if you don’t have goals, you don’t have things to achieve or something else to achieve, you become still water. And, you know, stagnant water is like water.

You can’t drink, but moving water you can write. So just understand the differences between those things.

It’s something that that you just brought to to work the focal point that I think people need to listen to and hear to. Yes, because it’s very important to put yourself in difficult situations, like even in my company, we take on projects that we’ve never done before we let. Of course, we know that we’ve never done them before, but we instill confidence in our customers that we can handle the project and then we go from there and even in my personal life to put pressure on myself to do different things and try different ventures.

I hear a lot of people say to me that, hey, you know, when you walk in on certain things, keep it quiet, you know what I mean? Work, work in silence.

I like that to a point, but to be honest, I like to put it out there.

I like to put dates out there. I’m going to do this at this time and let it be known. Now, if I fail, if I take the embarrassment. But if I don’t put it out there, in my opinion, if you don’t set a goal for you to reach.

Because I’m competitive, so I got to compete with myself. All right, you said you had this on Tuesday and it needs to be done by Tuesday. If you don’t put that out there, if you’re not willing to risk failing to succeed.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

So what apps or tool do you use in your business that you would not be able to do what you do without. There is a lot of estimating software that is extremely important to the commercial accessories company, and there is like there call plants with blubbing, there’s a lot of apps that help us look at blueprints and be able to take measurements and dictate what’s happening.

On a project or a new and upcoming projects very easily, because if you’ve ever seen blueprints like 60 pages and they’re huge and you have to be able to find what you need and be able to get the correct information from it very quickly. So that’s one of the most important tools that we have, is the estimating software for the commercial accessories company and then we use other platforms to find the bids. That’s another important aspect of it, too, which would be something like Plan Hub, where you can go on there, you pay a subscription and they actually find and put together all the bids that are happening in your area in a geographical and geographical area.

So you can put in one hundred and fifty miles, two hundred miles an election on all the projects, who’s running the projects, who are bidding on the projects and what they need from you.

And it’s a great way to get your reputation out there if you’re in the commercial space for people to know that you exist. Because even if you don’t get the bids, because they’re going to they’re going to get three or four bidders on every project. But if you don’t get the bid, they know about you next time and they’ll send that information to you. So as far as the window treatment, the commercial accessories, those are the most valuable. So as far as.

So, look, I’m just thinking about something that you just said, right, so and it kind of off topic. Off topic. So kind of you like your networking, your networking group, your networking model.

I would think that you would probably talk to builders, developers, real estate agents, interior designers. Is that pretty much like your core network of people that you’re talking to to get these deals? Yes, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Interior designers, real estate, real estate people, brokers, yes, construction companies is where these deals come from because a lot of times in the commercial space.

There’s owners and there’s the general contractor, and then there is the subcontractors, which I would fall under. So you can’t really get directly to the owners, but you can get, of course, to the next person in line, which would be the architect through the architectural firms. The general contractor is the one who releases the bid because they are bidding directly to the owner. That’s who actually gets the direct bids. The sub bids where I would fall on that goes directly to the general contractor and he will make the decision of which ones he used because he’s also bidding for control of the project itself.

So your general contractor is your project manager. And I submit my bid to the project manager and the project manager puts the final number to get the whole thing together. He puts that together and then we submit it to the owner and the owner will have multiple general contractors that is trying to use. So everybody is bidding to get on this project. So. So anyway, so it’s funny that you just sit back and I’m thinking visually in my head.

So just to kind of talk in graphic design terminology. Right. Which you for a second here. So essentially the owner is the CEO, right?

The contractor is the is the creative director. You’re the art director and you’re delegating geographic design. Yeah, that’s it, that’s that’s the hierarchy right there. Exactly. And it actually applies to a lot of different types of businesses that you caught that. But that’s the that’s how it’s done. And as far as the subcontractor, I would submit my bid to every project manager gets that bidding on the project.

So when it goes to the owner, I’m included in each bid. But I’m not the only person doing that. I’m competing with everyone else in my space. But it’s a great business. And I and I appreciate the construction industry is very hardworking, very detailed, and we’re building a Latin America now, so it’s a good thing.

Got it. So if I’m coming out of high school, right.

And I’m graduating and I’m in college or I’m graduate from college or maybe I’m 45, I’m 60 years old and I’m leaving corporate America, what words of wisdom would you give to me as an entrepreneur starting out?

What things would you tell me? First thing I would say is know your terrain because you’re going to war. No, you’re Terrane. We all are geniuses in areas, we all have pockets of intelligence, their overall people with high IQ and there are people that have pockets of intelligence in certain areas.

I think people should always start in those areas. I think that you start there and you branch out. Because your business acumen has to grow. With your knowledge of your niece. So if you already have knowledge in a certain area and there’s a market for it, go that way. And I would also tell people stay away from misinformation. I think that follow your passion that everyone keeps saying is misinformation. I think you should follow your mind and bring your passion, which you bring passion to what you’re doing.

You don’t you don’t do because of your passion. And that is a recipe for failure, if you like, if you’re passionate about was it organic art, that does not mean you need to start a business in it. The market has to be there for it. I’ve heard people, you know, I’ve talked to people. Oh, yeah, I had a dream and I started this or, you know, my cousin was doing it, so I decided to do it or or, you know, I hear a lot of different reasons why people start businesses or I just really like it.

That’s not enough. There has to be a market for it and you have to be able to adapt to what’s happening. And you should start with something that you do know or you’re familiar with or have a network with and build your business acumen, because once your business acumen gets to a certain point, you can step into any other field. But if that business acumen is not where it needs to be, you don’t understand business language. You don’t have the ingredients to make a good cake.

You just make a mess.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely appreciate that. I mean, and if you really think about what you just said in comparison to any successful and I’m not talking about Millionaire, I’m talking about like billionaire daimio trillionaire success. Jeff Bezos an example of that. Right. He kind of started off selling books and now Amazon sells kitchen sinks.

Right. They sell them everything and then everyone must have the same thing.

Elon Musk started off on kind of the financials and then he kind of went this route. Then he was in cars and now he’s going to Mars. So it’s like, what’s the point? You have to understand business and how to sell this and how to raise equity and everything else. So I definitely think what you just said was hella fruitful going into to the next question. I mean, how could people find you like what’s what’s your web handles, your social media accounts, your URLs?

Well, you can find me on Facebook, Twitter. And Instagram at Observe Network. At Observe Network, the best place to find me, you’ve got mail. And a YouTube channel as well, observe network. All right, so this is going to the bonus round, right? So this is one of the questions that I was looking forward to here.

What your answer, because I was like I known you. I’ve been around you for a long period of time, but I have no clue what the hell you’re going to answer. Right.

So if you could spend twenty four hours with anybody dead or alive, uninterrupted for 24 hours, who would it be and why?

How many is a few people when you pick one man. We both love?

Oh man, that’s hard. Who would I spend time with? Malcolm X.

Malcolm X, I got to be honest, it would be Malcolm X, I still look at some of his old videos to this day and his delivery.

Of what needed to be said and the way he can answer a question and by answering the question, expose your intent for asking the question, because you have to remember what he was dealing with at the time was extreme racism and a disrespect for the the the black man’s IQ.

So he would be targeted questions, questions that people thought would stump him. And you could actually see their face change in the interview when he was able to answer the question articulately and expose the intent behind what they were saying. So as far as a prolific speaker, I would have to say Malcolm X..

Well, it’s funny that that, you know, of us are martial arts guys.

So I was going to say Bruce Lee. Oh, yeah, yeah. Bruce is another. Yeah. Bruce is the beast to.

It’s funny that you brought up Malcolm because I recently was watching Netflix a night in Miami. So, you know, as I’m watching, like, these documentary style movies that that are like really big now. Right. And I’m understanding that like this, Ali, there’s Malcolm, there’s Sam Cooke and there’s this Brown. And I’m like, OK, one. I didn’t even realize that all four of them were interlocked like that.

I’ve seen video of Sam Cooke and Ali. I’ve seen videos with Lee and Malcolm, but I didn’t know all four of them were like in a unit like that. So I started researching like I mean, just look at like what’s their networks looking like. Right. But, you know, birds of a feather flock together. Right. So I’m looking at a gym is like at 40 million right now. That’s like that’s a total net worth. Then I’m looking at Mike Lee and I think Ali was like 80 million or something like that.

And then I look at Sam Cooke and Sam Cooke is like, I have a whole newfound respect for Sam Cooke like that. Do if you don’t if you get a chance like you want to talk about something.

And if you look at Sam Cooke, what he did back then and he owned his record label, he understood the model of royalties or he had artists under his label that were complaining about they wrote a song, but they weren’t getting airplay. So he was like, OK, we know what, let’s sell it to these rock bands. Let’s sell it to these other groups, because we know that they’re going to get on the top of the charts.

But you as a writer, you’re going to get royalties. So imagine getting royalties and thousands versus 10 million. Will this group of people are going to take it to ten million versus your group is going to keep it at ten thousand.

So he facilitated hearing it into another genre to make it a top Boort top seller on the Billboard charts to eat on the royalties. So his network, when he when he passed away, was like the equivalent of a hundred million dollars from, like forever ago.

And then. Yeah, and then I look at it malkia, I’m OK. Malcolm is the anomaly in that equation. So you have three millionaires, right? About multimillionaire’s, like ten million dollars is like where you should be if you’re going to live off of that forever. Right. And then Malcolm, his network was one hundred and fifty thousand. I’m like, what the like how is that even. So the money but you see, that’s one of the things that was happening in that time, and I like that time better than what we are doing now as far as protesting and and speaking about injustices, because at this point.

Well, back then, the entertainers and the football stars and people that were making a certain amount of money would funnel money to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

That’s how like even Harry Belafonte, Harry Belafonte was beloved by everyone.

He wouldn’t speak on social issues, but he funded most of the movement to get that money and fund a lot of the different movements. And so did Jim Brown, Sam Cooke and a lot of other people as well.

What’s happening now?

I feel like a lot of misinformed entertainers are being pushed to the forefront to speak on things where we really need a Malcolm again, we really need a Martin again. You get what I’m saying, someone who is focused on these things. Yeah, yeah, definitely, I mean, I definitely agree with you with that, but it just blew my mind. It’s like, you know, the part of like wealth is to leave behind essential legacies for the next generation.

Like you’re building up wealth to continue to help next generation to take it and to inspire them to create their own next generations of wealth.

And they just kind of blew my mind at three or three or four of these guys were multimillionaires and obviously three or four of them have died. And the one that you point to when I was probably most influential for the cause or influential as far as rights was the one that had the least net worth, which was completely crazy. And see, that’s one of the things that this generation will have to change, where your speakers and your people that are front line in certain issues are not going to be going to be in positive light with the establishment.

And let’s be honest, we get our money from the establishment. You understand what I’m saying?

So if you’re bucking the system, if you having someone buck the system, you need to take care of them.

They said Martin Luther King died with five thousand dollars in his account. That’s a shame that somebody should be one hundred billion, whatever we could get. He should be getting the five thousand.

It’s crazy, man. So. Last question for you, right? What is what is your most significant achievement to date? My most significant achievement to date. To be honest, I’m very proud of myself, have been able to step into this podcasting arena.

Because I have had no experience with it at all, my other companies. Of course, I told you I worked for someone for quite a bit of time.

I developed myself in these industries and then just kind of slowly adapted small pieces, extra parts to it to build it up. This stepping into the podcasting and blogging and the media side of things I’ve never been into before. What I’m doing now is strictly me paying attention to other people and analyzing the terrain and learning what needs to be done.

So I’m a bit proud of myself for being able to stretch out outside my wheelhouse. Yeah, yeah.

I definitely commend you as well to it. I’m happy that, you know, I sent you that clubhouse invite and you signed up. So I think we should probably take this off podcast and take an old clubhouse. Whenever you get an opportunity to just kind of miss that space a little bit around. I think it’ll be interesting to kind of hear you and I kind of go back, back and forth just about business. It’s about strategies on clubhouse. So I look forward to continuing this podcast in that space in addition.

So I’m going to give you the microphone.

Right. This is what I usually do at the end of my podcasts. I give the person I’m interviewing the microphone so you can ask me any question that may have come up during the journey of this podcast.

Mike, you’re. Oh. One of the main things I want to ask you is you work as hard or even harder than I do.

How do you manage your day? Because when I speak to you, you have a lot going on.

So how do you manage your day to day? And I know you have a young son. How is that? How do you do everything?

So, I mean, first of all, like to your point, before I used to do everything and everything is not what I needed to be doing. So now when you talk about doing everything, I’m doing everything with one purpose. So right now I am 100 percent, 100 percent of my focus is all into like the Boss Cage podcast and everything that’s associated to it. So I have a lot of systems, like I’m a real big system guy.

And then also, like my wife is a real big she’s an analytical thinker. She’s a treasurer of a software company. So like like we’re always working, but we’re always having these conversations about how could we systematize things. So that’s how like in this world, how I’m juggling it, because a lot of times I’ll have something. And, you know, obviously her being the treasurer, she’s really big into Excel. So over the past year or so, I really drove into Excel and understanding the formulas, understanding the structures of what Excel could really do.

So now I’ve been putting everything in Excel in from Excel prime example. What I use Excel for which most people may not use Excel for is I’ll take and this is like a jewel that I’m going to give away right now. I take bits of content, right? Whether I’m writing a book, whether I’m skipping a podcast, whether I’m talking about Post and I’ll make columns for this content and then I’ll make columns for additional information for like my book club.

I have the books, I have quotes from the authors, I have the book description. I have the rankings of the book, the reviews of the book. I have all these columns of data.

And then what I’m doing is I’m creating tabs and I’m running formulas to do variable information of these columns, to create new content for my content looks to be very fresh, but I’m scripting out all my content and his large Excel sheet and then I’m taking it and I’m fragmented over. So for Twitter, I’m saying, hey, I want you to count the characters in the cell. If the characters in a cell is longer than 250, then it shows me that, hey, this is long enough to 50 that I can go in ensuring in the original cell.

And then I could have a Facebook, then I could have an Instagram, and then I’m associating each one of these cells to images as well. So when I export out this tab, I’m important to invest V with images, the comments, everything associated to it. So it’s like I go from having one piece of content to 300, 400 pieces of content like that. That’s awesome, because I’ve looked at a lot of your stuff and your stuff is always visually amazing and well put together, even I was looking at some of your books that you have out as an author and everything is well thought out and well put together.

And and I always say me, Schnall knows how to get it done. But like you said, it’s is segmenting and having a system in place. And you’ve always been a systems guy, as far as I understand.

My next question, the merchandise. Are you designing the merchandise yourself or do you have to put together a team? So it’s a combination of both, so I originally wrote a book that had three hundred and sixty five quotes and it was a book that was going to release like a self empowerment self-improvement book.

I was like, you know, scratch that. I sort of be releasing that book as a book, as a tabletop desktop. I took all the quotes like, for example, this one, the affirmation. I am fearless. I took all those quotes and I systematized I put them into an InDesign document and I pulled in the CSV file and populated the entire document with all these quotes. So the headlines automatically flow to great. The titles automatically flow to white Ariel and they automatically force justified.

And then I exported those out. So I had three hundred sixty five designs. Like that, like that. Wow, that’s very clever. Yeah, just like that. So to your point, I mean, now I’m excited. Like I just did a graffiti piece last night just playing around. I may make one off pieces like as I like my downtown from drawing something or whatever, but like all my pieces that I have in my storefront right now, they’re all from like different quotes, different statements that I’ve been collecting in an Excel spreadsheet.

And I was just figuring out what’s the fast? Because, I mean, obviously, if you want to create these things, if you want to create one, design may take you 15 minutes an hour. Well, I’m doing three hundred sixty five of them, which just three hundred sixty five hours that I’m not willing to sit down to create this systematize.

Exactly. Wow, that’s that really shows how systems can push and propel something forward in a in a short period of time, because when I look at your branding and your merchandise is really amazing.

It’s really amazing.

I definitely appreciate that. And to think it’s I’m not even like marketing that stuff right now. I mean, it’s kind of like it’s all part of like my focus is I want to help people and understand by giving. You’re going to get in return. So that’s already sitting up there. That’s already there. So as I post a sprinkle here and there and, you know, as I get more a place like my nexus and I’m working on it like video systems and there’s a particular plug in that I have access to that allows me to create a video.

Like I could have this video on YouTube and it’ll be a little dot right here and a little dot right here. And while this video was talking, you can click on a dot and make a purchase like. That’s the next part of life. Yeah, so like this shirt would have like a little and while you watch. What’s it look that pops up? It’ll show you the product and to show you the price and why you wanted to be hit by now.

So that’s the next thing to my point. I like to create systems that I know what the benefits are. And I’m not about a short term game. I’m not the long term game. So I’m thinking about obviously you make money now. You have to live, you have to survive. But I’m thinking about once all these connections of all these dots come together. That’s when Monopoly would then expand infinitely, so I’m creating content now that I may see benefits for three years from now, I’m getting paid in the journey with two or three years from now, I may make a million dollars off my shirts.

Exactly, exactly. So it’s the process you’re trusting and putting together and putting things together, and that’s one of the most the biggest part of business is trusting the process and putting systems in place to succeed.

Yeah, definitely.

Definitely. Well, I mean, you’ve got no other questions, man. I mean this. Why you’ve got another one.

One more question for your favorite book. Wow. What’s your favorite book? Believe it or not, my favorite book of all time is Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Point blank. You know what?

I forgot all about that. That is really a good one. You know what? It’s his observations. Observations are extremely important. Paying attention to the twists and turns of life and what you can benefit from observation. Take you to the next level.

Yeah, I mean, that book is kind of like the the strategy Bible. Right. And obviously, it’s kind of like Shakespearean when you read the original version is like trying to translate Shakespeare from from like an Asian culture. But like there’s so many variables of that book and so many break that it’s kind of like the Bible. The Bible had like 35000 different versions of it, the of war to 35 different versions and rewrites and everything else to it.

But the bottom line period is it’s 13 chapters that kind of pick business strategies that are coming from war strategies. Right. Like the divide and conquer. I mean, divide and conquer is not necessarily a negative thing. It’s kind of you can look at divide and conquer as I’m dividing and conquering my time.

I don’t want to spend all this different time on one thing. So how do I divide that time up? I’m going to outsource the same principle. I’m dividing and conquering, but I’m doing it in a positive way. Correct, correct, because to be honest, that that’s the only thing that you can buy back its time, so you have to be able to rightly divide it and use it to your benefit.

Because if you’re not if you’re not, if you’re not using it for your benefit, it’ll go to your detriment.

It’s one of the other is two sides of the same coin. Yeah, it’s all energy. You’re right about that.

But I definitely appreciate you taking time out of your morning schedule, man, to get on the podcast. I mean, I’ve been wanting to get you on the show for four minutes, so I’m happy that you finally stepped up to the plate and came on the mike and burned it down.

And, you know, and I appreciate you having meetings.

That great man that’s over. And now.