EYL #105 Player’s Ball feat. Mychel ”Snoop” Dillard

Coach, the energy out there felt different. What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratches from the California Lottery players. Everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off field play that made the difference on the field.

Hey, little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now, coach, one more question play than New Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco forty nine ers and Los Angeles Rams scratchers from the California Lottery. A little play can make your day. Peace made responsibily. Must be eighteen years or older to purchase late or claim.

All right, guys, welcome back eyl Atlanta.

Secondician, second home. Man.

This is definitely a second home for us. Anytime that we in the A is a blessing. So first and foremost, shout out to the good city of Atlanta. We got this is our second biggest market, but it feels like home for us.

So you know, I saw somebody's that put us in as an Atlanta based podcast.

Yeah, that was that was crazy. That was okay, Like, yo, tag the Atlanta based podcast. Somebody was like earn your lisha I'm like, I appreciate it, but so yeah, today we got that. We got a definitely exciting episode. One of Atlanta's legends, A legend in the town, A legend in the town. Michelle Snoop Dillard. Her story is mind boggling. I actually did some some reading on his very very interesting story. And she's a serial entrepreneur. We're gonna talk

Now, there's so many, man, I mean, we're gonna get into it, but this is so many. Like I said before, if we had a meme like what a serial entrepreneur is, like, this is the living embodyment of it. And the story is just so crazy.

By way of Detroit, we gotta shout, yeah, that's a fact.

So in Tennessee plays a part. But we're gonna get into all that because it's a long list. Ya.

So, restaurant, tour, nail salon owner. She's also a teacher. She actually I just found out, used to be in the financial services.

Industry financial advisor.

Financial advisor, so she has a bad background and investments, insurance, retirement stuff like.

That, real estate license.

Yeah, for sure.

You had your own publications.

Yeah, for sure. And we're actually in her establishment right now. Members Only is one of one of her establishments. She has a couple others, Crave Restaurant, Escobar Atlanta, Escobar South Side, uh Remedy Salon Suites, Nails Salon, and now we're members only Crave, Crave shout out to Yeah, I said Crave. And one of our business partners, to Change, might have heard of him. True, you might have heard of him. Shout out to Change. Shout out to Change. So, yeah,

Oh, thank you for having me.

It's always, you know, humbling to even be looked at his interview.

I appreciate that.

No, So let's let's start at the beginning, because, like I said, your story is interesting. It's like you just wasn't born into being an entrepreneur. You had some adversity and then you actually went to one of the best colleges in America at a young age. And then you, like I said, worked in the financial industry. So can you talk about your story and like how did you get into the the business world?

And you think we got enough time?

You know, we don't.

So just a little bit about me, as you guys said, you know, I'm from Detroit, Michigan.

I grew up in Detroit.

I kind of came from I came from a family of hustlers. My dad was a big trump, big time drug dealer. My mom, her family, she kind of came from a lot of adversity. Her mother and sister was murdered when she was fourteen. So just grew up pretty quickly, met my dad at a young age, had me and my brothers, and of course being in the type of environment you know, where your father is selling drugs, of course,

I don't put her in the third grade.

But you know, she's only you know such and said, I think I was like eight at the time, you know what I'm saying. So anyway, started school young, ended up getting pregnant the first time I had sex when I was in high school.

So I had my.

Daughter extremely young, got pregnant when I was fourteen, had her when I was fifteen, had kind of just Kevin as a secret you know from my whole family. Was really just you know, a terrified kid. The family had already been through so much, and it was just kind of like one of them little lifetime things child where you know, I'm holding the shit in not telling nobody. So once my mom ended up finding out, she was

Shout out to my daughter. She actually works for my company too.

She's goes to Georgia State Dean's List student. Uh, definitely one of the parts of you know, my life that I'm extremely proud of. You know, everything definitely happens for a reason. But that was kind of like the start to you know, the adversity you know, for me. But even after that, you know, I ended up going to Vanderbilt University at the age of sixteen. Shout out to VU Commodoes.

We can't let that go. That's one of the best business schools like in the country.

It is it is.

I actually mean I had a great experience at Vanderbilt. I originally did not want to go, you know, just just kind of growing up in Nashville.

I always wanted to get back to Detroit, which is.

Where the roots was, which is where the majority of our family was. We were the only ones that were in Nashville. You know, nobody else came there. They everybody thought it was slow, as so did me and my brothers, and so all three of us, you know, just always as soon as we were able to, wanted to leave, you know, Nashville, Tennessee. But you know, at the time, you know, I had just you know, had gotten pregnant, you know, my mom didn't know about it and all

You know, they're.

Always like, man, I'm like now, you know, They're like, oh, man, I knew you was gonna be like super successful and.

Stuff like that, and I'm like, how to class? Like how you pick that up? You know what I mean?

So cause I was literally, I literally like grew up on the college campus. You know, you just imagine I had never even as a high school student. I remember hanging out with friends like maybe twice, you know what I mean out of the whole four years of going to school.

And you know, like I played basketball.

So I got you heard about that somes.

So I got some socialization there. But I wasn't like your typical you know, definitely not like how I am now. I'm a very social person, so you know, somebody would expect like in high school, I was always hanging out or had a bunch of friends, and I did right then, but once I went home, you know, that was pretty much it. I wasn't like the type that was going to the movies, going to the mall, skating rings and

I pretty much kind of wild it out, you know.

I started DJing, getting into throwing parties, messing with girls. I mean, you name it, you name it. I was doing it, you know what I'm saying. And so the education part was honestly the back burner for me, and I really, you know a lot of times I look back on that now that I'm so thirsty for knowledge because being an entrepreneur, you know, I have to teach myself things.

You know, I have to get my own training, and.

You know, make sure I'm watching YouTube and different podcasts and you know, going to seminars and different things of that nature, because you know, I'm the boss and I have a lot of people up under me.

So even if somebody think I'm doing something wrong, ain't.

Not gonna tell me, you know what I'm saying. So, and I ain't gonna tell them if I don't quite know what I'm doing, you know what I mean. So, but I definitely, you know, do wish that I would have taken advantage, especially going to a college as prestigious as Vanderbilt. You know where there's so much to learn, so many different courses and things of that nature. But I guess it just kind of all worked out the way that they did because I think that kind of

So but anyways, I graduated from Vanderbilt at twenty.

And like that, I mean that's in president of Solf, right, like you're saying to yourself, like just now, like I really didn't play attention to the academics part, but like you graduated with a degree.

And I mean, when I tell you I was bad man, Like I my GPA was not the highest. I probably graduated with like a two point seven gpa.

Like that's good enough to get just ski.

It up out of that thing. You know what I'm saying.

I went to summer school, had to go to summer school every single summer, wanted to go to summer school every single summer because I loved being on campus and you know, doing what I wanted to do in.

Partying and all of that stuff.

There's not probably not one black student that went to Vanderbilt doing those four years that I was there.

That don't know who I was.

But yeah, so after that, like I said, I was twenty when I graduated. I wasn't even old enough to have a drink. When I went to college, I didn't even have my driver's license. My friends taught me how to drive. I literally got my driver's license the week after I graduated from from college. But and so after that, and so then I also got my daughter as well. So you know, it's like, now it was time to be a mother and decide what I was gonna do, and you.

Know, all of these different things.

And so immediately after that, my great grandmother she had always you know, kind of talked about and you know, her financial advisor.

You know, and she was always the one.

In the family who had, you know, the most money, and you know, she was always talking about her assets and kicking people out the wheel and who she was going to lead this to and lead that to. And so this financial advisor was somebody she kind of put on the pedestal. And so I kind of said to myself, but maybe that's something, you know that I.

Should get into.

You know, my degree was in economics, and so you know, I was just like, Okay, let me check that out and so, you know, to be a financial advisor, you have to get your Series seven sixty six licenses and your life and health insurance licenses. And so during the time that I was studying for those licenses, I ended up working at a very popular club in Nashville that was owned by It was just like kind of one guy, his name was Moe, who owned a lot of the you know, lounges.

And clubs there.

And so I kind of said to myself, I said, I said self, I said, you know, you should work in this, you know, this club lounge environment, because you're never going to be in an environment like this ever. Again a little did I know that I would end up owning you know, several of them myself, decades going down the line or whatnot. But anyway, so I worked there, and I just felt like I was always you know, going to Vanderbilt. You know, you think that you're going

To graduate school except for me.

You know.

They they all had kind of come from two parent households and their lives were planned out, you know what I mean. They knew coming into their freshman year that I'm going to law school after this. You know, I'm going to doctor at school after this, or I'm going to get my PhD. Or whatever the case may be. So for me, you know, I had already had a child, and you know that I didn't grow up like that, So it was just like just for me, graduating from Vanderbilt was kind of.

Enough, you know what I'm saying.

So anyways, ended up once I ended up working there, once I got my licenses, I transitioned into this corporate lifestyle and uh was basically, you know, had to dress up, wear suit to work every day.

I'll never forget. I hate I HAE got my nose pierced in college. And the guy was the white guy.

In the name of the company it was American Express Financial Advisors.

So they were super uppity.

And so I remember the very first day, you know, I walked in and you know, I'm thinking, I'm looking good and I'm in my you know, I was, I was dressed real feminine back then, you know.

So I'm in a little.

Nice little blazer skirt and stuff, and you know, he walk in and you know, he's.

Like and immediately made me.

Take that thing out I don't.

And so so anyways, I did end up enjoying that experience because it taught me a lot. It taught me a lot about finances, It taught me a lot about the stock market. It taught me the importance in saving a lot of like the basic financial principles that I used to this day. That that has helped me get to where it is that I am. And I was very successful in doing it, you know. So they that was kind of a career that was more so independence.

And so I was becoming very successful at that.

But they ended up closing that particular office in Nashville, and so when they did that, we had the opportunity to either stay to either stay with the company moved somewhere else, or to open up your own, you know, office. And so at the time I was also working on getting I had started invested in real estate, and so there was a guy, a black guy that I'm really close with to this day. He was probably about I mean, if I was twenty one at the time, he was

And so anyway that that's your first deal.

That was my very first deal, and so that gave me a nice chunk of money. I ended up, you know, furthering myself into that. And then so I was doing a financial advice and I was doing a real estate. This is around two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, where you know, you got this stock market crash where those are like kind of two of the worst industries

And it it kind of brought out a lot.

Of that college you know, that college snoop if you and Yo and so her and I. At the time, you know, so I was making money, I was doing well, and so I said to myself, you know, I need to, like the three people that I spend the most time with, I should be making money with them. And so, of course the main one was her. She was modeling and different things of that nature. And so I said, you know, I was like, you know, we should do a calendar together.

And let me tell you, that was hard to find.

I'm like, to Nashville.

We got some people in Nashville. Yeah, yeah, shout our voice and the Huskies.

Oh yeah, yeah, Clinton, Yeah, Clinton, those are That's that's our feeling. But yeah, so I was like, you know, we should do this calendar and so we did. I'm the type of person that like, if I can dream it, I can make it come true, you know what I'm saying.

And so we did this calendar.

We called it, uh we named the Wet Dimes and the Key, and so the models were called the Wet Dimes. And so first I formed a model management company and I had all of the girls that were in the calendar signed to my management company.

And then so we did this calendar.

We produced it, and you know, I think we our first batch was maybe like five thousand calendars, and so the calendar came out nice and everything, and so then it was like, okay, well.

How much would you say? How much it was on the calendar? Forty dollars?

Yeah.

And then now we also did it behind the scenes DVDs. So we got really wild while we were calendar. Always a lot of alcohol around and a few other things, and so we filmed everything that was happening, and so we also had the DVD. I think the DVD was twenty five and so then it was just like, okay, well, how do we get this off the ground. You know, we gotta now, we gotta sell them, you know what I mean. I invested all this money into this calendar.

How much was the investment into the calendar?

And so I would say I probably spent about seven thousand dollars into this project. Now, mind you, I was still a financial advisor in real estate, but at this time, child, I'm no longer interested.

In This is now snoo This is full blown stoop.

Now this is full of blown snoop. This is two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine. Ain't nobody trying to invest with me? People are losing their houses like that. Also, at the time, I had also owned six investment properties that's probably about twenty three, you know, and I own the house that I was living as a really nice house on the golf course. So I had definitely, you know, made a small success for myself that I would end up losing everything.

Very shortly thereafter.

So we did this calendar, and so then it was like, okay, now we have to push it. So then I decided, okay, well what we'll do is I'll start We'll start promoting nights at different venues and I'll have the wet Nimes hosts, the girls always bring everybody to the party, and then I'll have them in there selling the calendars, and so that's what we did, and that was how I became a promoter and started to get into the hospitality industry and see the behind the scenes of the hospitality industry.

It was called the G Spot. I actually have it tattooed on my neck.

Yeah.

That was how I lost all of my money because number one, you know, the club, we just we didn't do it right. I didn't know anything about doing venues at the time. The people that I was working with for kind of crooks, apparently they didn't know anything yet.

So like when you say you didn't do it right, because we haven't really covered the night life yet, like we interviewed, shout out to Kenny Burns.

That's our.

Yeah, you know, but as far as we have an interviewed a club owner, Yeah, I don't think.

I didn't have like the right licenses a license. Yeah, we pretty much. I just opened up the door.

On some ghetto like we're open.

Initially that was like the dream, right, It was like, yo, I want to get into this life. Yes, right, So like now the wet dimes that the club thing. Did that become a tour or like because I was trying that out?

We did? We did.

We went to various cities and went to Birmingham, we came here to Atlanta, so we also went to other places.

And what we would do is put up to.

The strip clubs like in the parking lots and stuff like that and get the calendars off. And I would always take my girlfriend and maybe a couple of other models. I used to these models come to my house three days a week. They had to work out. Some of them lived with us.

I mean those was the days. Yeah.

So anyways, ended up doing my first spot with some people that just you know, were not good business people. I didn't have good business practices. At the same time, myself wasn't as familiar with you know, the licenses and the requirements and things of that nature that were required to be legally open.

And Asheville at the.

Time was not a city either that promoted black businesses, especially not the way that Atlanta does. So I ended up losing my entire investment and that spot was shut down within about two months.

About how much money we lost.

I lost forty thousand dollars also at the same time.

So remember I was telling you I had all these little rental properties and stuff. Well, a lot of the people that were in those rental properties they couldn't pay their rent and things of that nature. So I had like one last property and I ended up turning that into a spot called the Kitty Cabin.

I don't know if y'all read about that.

I did not.

I did not, But I actually did that with my homegirl.

She don't mind if I talk about it, but her name is Brooklyn Tanker. She was on that reality show, her whole family, the Tankards.

On one VH one. But we did that together, and.

That was a spot where we would have like girls dance and kind of do a few other things. And so that's why I got shut down. The time door was kicked in, and so it was a lot man it was a lot that I went through. And so after that, you know, both of my sources of income was shut down. Of course, the lady I was dealing with was gone by the enshall. I'm dried up, I ain't got no money, that isn't going right.

And so exactly.

And so at that point it was kind of like, you know, what am I going to do? And so, you know, to be honest with you, I kind of went back to something that I knew they kind of helped me get through different times, which was, you know, being in the streets myself selling drugs things of that nature. And once I had kind of hustled up on a little bit of money, I had met some guys that had an idea, had kind of put me on an idea, which was these mugshot newspapers that were very popular at

And so my story is so long, this is, this is this is the face it.

So came up with face It with a guy that I was associates with at the time.

He was from Detroit.

And when I tell you, a lot of people from Detroit are crooks, and I.

Can say that because I.

Am from Detroit, and you know, a lot of them are just super slick. And so anyway, this guy we had got this little paper off the ground, didn't take us no time to get it going, and I mean he was so excited. He had never had his own business before. And when I tell you, the MF just started stealing out the gate.

I mean like it was just like, could not trust him.

Because what we did was we would have somebody put the publication together, it would come out, and then you have to go to the stores and collect your money. So of course, like if I'm not right there with him, you know, he doesn't necessarily have to be honest. Then he started changing the banking password and information and stuff like that, and so almost immediately I was just like, you know what.

You can have this.

You know, I'm not no amount of money is you know my piece? I'm not about to be fighting with you daily. You know, at first I kind of came to him with tears in my eyes, like, you know, like dude, please don't do this, Like this can be a big business together, you know, like I have a daughter to feed. You know, I was only when they had kids at the time. I'm like, I got a daughter to feed. Like, you know, I'm really putting in a lot.

Are you the business business mind behind these ventures? Because I'm thinking like this right, so, like you're the one creating the LLC everything. So even a publication, that's something that we've never spoke about before. How what's the process of even doing that? Like what's the startup course to even do it?

It's not a really big startup costs.

You know, the main thing that you're going to pay for outside of setting up the business, it's going to be actually having a publication printed. So that's you know, really your main costs. You know, I would say we probably got that in mind. You I pay for all of it because I was the one in the money with the money. I was in the streets, you know what I'm saying. So I think we probably get that going with maybe just like five thousand dollars. So I left,

I done it.

Not South Florida, North Florida. I'm sorry, Tallahassee, Saint Petersburg.

Caught up different from from face It.

Yeah, it's the same idea, but it's a different publication because remember I let old boy.

You can have it, Okay, gotcha?

So I had an audition.

So I ended up having five different editions, and then ended up moving here to Atlanta, Georgia, and doing it here in Atlanta as well, changing.

And so and so.

Anyways, it was doing okay, but it just it never made me a lot of money.

You know. I never made more.

Than like sixty thousand dollars a year, you know, doing this paper. But I also really didn't have to do much, you know, I maybe worked two or three days, you know, out of the week. And so how I ended up getting out of that is there was a white guy that was up under me that I had. It's kind of the face of the company, you know, because you got these funky jewelry towns and stuff. You know what I'm saying. That there's gonna be some stores that he can get in that they won't let me.

And you know what I'm saying.

So he basically ended up turning on me. You know, he wanted to do a paper hisself. You know, I never knew it, but there was something he had wanted me to.

Change the name of mine too.

I guess he thought that it would make it more commercial, you know. And so long story short, there was one week. It was after I moved here, and there was just one week where like all of my employees quit on me.

And one week, you know.

So it was like Monday, the graphic designer Tuesday, a couple of the managers Wednesday, the people that lay the paper out Thursday, the people that delivered the paper and didn come Friday.

You know, this manager he quits.

So you leave Tennessee to come to Atlanta. Within the week, everybody in Tennessee has left you.

Now within a week, I would say this was probably, I believe within like the first.

Six months of me being here.

So then I go there that following week to see what's going on. You know, of course I have no staff at this point, so I have to go and do everything myself and also see like, wow, all these people in Clinton, what's going on. I going to the first store, and of course I see a mine ain't even on the shelf. No more, they done took mine off the shelf. I don't know what he didn tell now, but it's another new paper with this same name that

I wasn't about to move there. I didn't.

I was starting to grow to really become in love with the city of Atlanta and wanting to kind of get into some different things here and so, and especially like I said, I wasn't even making more than like fifty five or sixty thousand dollars a year.

So I ended up letting him have it.

And after that I ended up starting my party bus company with the girl that I was dating at the time.

We started a party bus company together.

It was super successful, but I hated it, just like I hated I didn't like that paper because I was somebody who had been arrested in different things of that nature myself. So I never even like felt comfortable telling people what I did for a living, because you know, it's just like I could be in this ship myself.

You could on the cover of the papers. I'm listening to the story, right, and even when I was reading the story, I'm like, you face betrayal once, right and still recovered, came back. You faced it again and still came back. Like what what was it that inside of you? That was just like, you know what, I gotta keep going because like I can imagine that too.

You know what I'm saying, what you're gonna do, lay down and die, you know what I mean? Like you know cause if you quit, then you know you know where you're gonna end that, you know what I mean. So it's just like you have no choice but to keep going. And I had always been inspired by just different people successful stories. There used to be a show back in the day call behind the music that I.

Just it's okay, yeah, we know that.

And so all of these super successful people that you know, everybody is inspired by, they have a story. Everybody that is successful has been through these things.

You know.

Nobody just has this perfect story, you know, unless you know you are genetically and blessed. Genetically blessed. And what I mean by that is, you know, you're born into being Michael Jackson's kids, or born into being Beyonce's kids or something like that. But you know the rest of us have had to really work to get where we are. And you know, you're gonna go through some things, you know what I'm saying, And I feel like the more that you go through it prepares you for the level

You know what I'm saying.

I've had people that work for me to try to get my trade secrets, you know what I'm saying, And know that you know, they're just gonna try to open up their own restaurants, stealing reservations lists and menus, different things of that nature.

You know what I'm saying.

So those things continue to happen now now as often, you know, because I truly have like a great team around me now, you know what I'm saying.

But that type of stuff is just a part of the game.

You know. In my younger years, it didn't feel well and I took some hits, and you know, I was discouraged and probably kind of went through some lightweight depressions and stuff like that, because after that newspaper thing, I really did not know what I was gonna do. I was in that same girlfriend's boutique. My daughter was outside selling bottled waters. I was inside selling five dollars smoothies. And now I have a restaurant on that same street

Know, lounge or something like that.

So with that party bus company, I just started saving as much money as I possibly could.

I went one whole year and I never.

Bought a new nothing, a new shirt, a new pair of pants, a new pair of shoes.

I mean, I felt totally poor.

You know how much did you say?

I had a whole different Virginia.

Probably that first year, I probably saved about forty thousand dollars, and so I had that. I stayed glueding to that party bus business for about two years. I used to drive the buses myself on the weekiands gave up a lot of weekends to do that got to the point

It was one of really one of the.

First real after hours you know here in the city of Atlanta. And so I did Huka Hidaway. And while I did Huka Hideaway, I got a lot of success there, and I decided I wanted to do another location. I ended up doing Posh Ultra Lounge and making experienced a similar situation of backstabbers and things you knows nature uh huh again. But at the same time, I also was looking for a spot here in Atlanta. So I was

Shehall Dillard.

I'm like yeah, And this was only maybe like my second or third time even going out out the country.

So I'm just like, what is this about?

So anyway, it takes me to the back, tells me there's a warrant from o arrest in Nashville, Tennessee. And so he's like, you know, do you know what this can be about? And I'm just like no, not at all. I'm like, I mean, I did used to live in Nashville, Tennessee.

You know, and he was just like, you know, well, you know.

Unfortunately that when they don't really want another lounge, you know, in that location. He was like, you know, but there's another location right down the street. He was like, you know, it's not really right there, you know, right by that other stuff that you wanted to be at. But he was like, you know, it's right down the street. It's a nice location. He was like, you know, and it's actually owned by a popular rapper. You know that's you know,

Partners with you. And I was just like, I'm like, wait a minute, now, you know what I'm saying. I know that. And so I was just like, well, who is it?

Cause you know, to me, just because you say it's a popular rapper, it doesn't mean I want to do business with him, because you know, some people aren't smart, they aren't good business people whatever.

And so I'm like who is it? And he was like two chains? And I was like okay.

You know, because when I had moved here, I really liked his music and I felt like he was intelligent, you know what I mean.

So I was just like, okay, how much the sounded that.

This is the phone call from jail.

I'm in jail, and so that's crazy.

Shortly thereafter, it's time for me to go back up to my little cell, and I remember telling my salemate, who I'm cool with to this day, I was just like Grandma's to open up a spot with two And I know she probably didn't believe me because I'm Marvin's doing one of them, that I own a spot card the Hook Highway and all this, and you know, people be lying in.

Jail, you know what I'm saying.

So anyways, I ended up being extra dighted. They picked me up like a couple of days later, give me to Nashville. Once I get to Nashville, all of the charges are mysteriously jobed dropped. So I just sat in this jail cell for two and a half weeks for nothing, after riding a paddy wagon like this, chained up at my arms and my to the floorboard and right and

It was maybe a thousand square feet.

So they had a little kitchen that like, you know, was using deep fryers, you know, to cook.

They didn't even have a real kitchen or nothing.

Ernest, What's up? If you ever walk into a small business and everything just works, Like the checkout is fast, the receipts are digital, tipping is a breeze, and you're out the door before the line even builds. Odds are they're using Square. We love supporting businesses that run on Square because it just feels seamless, whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor at a pop up market or even one of our merch partners. Square makes it easy for them to take payments, manage inventory, and run their

You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy? Just use Indeed stops struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites. With Indeed sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have forty five percent more applications than non sponsored jobs. Don't

I'm like, if you think it's too small. If you think it's not you know, commercial enough, you know that. I so I just thought of my hand, well, I'm gonna just show them the numbers because we was.

Moving at the trap.

Jump.

And so anyway he comes in and we had just immediately have a connection. A lot of people kind of say that like we acted like he actually caused me twin but like a lot of people kind of say that we acted like and stuff like that.

We immediately had a connection.

And it was like he was trying to sell hisself to me, like, yeah, so I got these rappers at the time, Fresh rest in Peace, he was alive, you know, young Dolf, a couple of other people.

He was just like, yeah, I got this going on, that going on. You know, me and you together, you know we're gonna And.

So he basically just felt like, yeah, if you can do forty some thousand a week at this little.

Spot, ain't no telling what.

So you was doing forty thousand a week out the hookah lounge after hookah, how how was you doing?

That?

Was liquor or liquor and food and we were staying up on the six o'clock in the morning.

We used to I mean it used to be like a street block party every single week.

But what's I mean? This is the I feel like this is the the mecca of black business, right, But what is that process like to even get a lounge? Like? What are the things that somebody has to do in order to even the first thing that you need to do.

Is number one, you want to find a dope location. You know what I'm saying that I'm gonna have good parking that you don't have to put a lot into depending upon your budget.

You know.

Secondly, you have to get a building permit to even do whatever construction or whatever you're gonna need to do. You've got to get your liquor license. You've got to get your food permit. You have to get a business license, putting your menu together, staffing funding, you know, all of those things. So it's a lot that comes into it. And Who Can hide Away is where I really learned the tricks of the trade. I would say, who Can

You know what we have going on.

But we just came in and just really worked well together. The trust is there, the respect is there. And I had the time to be able to really learn the restaurant industry, to learn how to put a good team together, to learn how to value people. Just learning so many things, you know what I mean, and taking a lot of the things that I had learned, a lot of mistakes that I had learned in some of those former businesses, you know, and put those into what I have today.

Number One, the area.

Had a lot of crime. There was a lot of crime in that area. It got to the point we were just getting such big crowds of people. It kind of scared me, you know what I'm saying, especially in that crime infested area.

The spot was really small.

I had already talked him into doing this spot members only, which I knew I wanted to be after hours as well, and I felt like would replaced that on more of an upscale level. And just you know, sometimes you have to know when the gig is up and when it's time to walk away from something, you know what I'm saying.

So but yeah, so let me ask you this.

So we in the day and age of COVID nineteen, which you're a serial entrepreneur, but all your business is are brick and mortar. Atlanta is different from everywhere else in the country because it's still open and nowhere else is really open. It's kind of amazing if you think

And that is exactly what's happening. We're you know, I probably travel every two weeks, you know, so during this I've been to Cabo, I've been to Toulone, I've been to I just got back yesterday from a trip from La and Vegas, and there's no city right now like Atlanta.

You know, you wouldn't even think we was going through a pandemic here. Yeah, see nothing, y'all have my mask, but yeah, you know it.

It makes Atlanta a hot spot. Like I get a bunch of friends coming in from Philly tomorrow. So it was crazy because when we shut down, you know, I was of course very scared and nervous. You know, I had never been in a situation where my businesses could shut down from anything other than you know, lack of whatever on my behalf, you know what I'm saying. So to just be told that and then you don't know when you can open a Union. It just was a

Miami currently has a curfew now they got to go to bed at eight pm.

Really, that's crazy.

Yeah, So it's people in Atlanta are extremely blessed. You're seeing people buying g wagons every other day, you know, are jugging, they getting these.

People, They're getting these fraudulent SBA Long. Yes, the fact stimulating this city.

You know, I think Atlanta is going to be one of the only cities that's not gonna, you know, have any you know issues, you know, come next year, because a lot of these cities are going to be broke, you know, next year because a lot of these cities, like one of the reasons why Governor Kemp said that he opened the state up is because we have so many business owners here, and the business owners here pay so many so much in taxes, you know, like I have to pay back all of the taxes from everything

Us twice, you know what I mean.

So for restaurants and lounges not to be open, and that's where a lot of the money is coming from, to pay the roles, to pay the teachers, you know what I mean, and things of that nature. You know, that's really going to hurt a lot of these other cities.

So it is, really, it is.

It's just amazing that like this one little city in the country. Now I think Houston is also similar, but not as many people are traveling to Houston, you know what I mean, because Atlanta is already a place that a lot of people be wanting to come to anyway, you know what I mean. And then so just the fact that we're open like this, and then you have so many choices of rest staurants and lounges and things

I feel like when when people watch the news and they see Texas the numbers going up, it kind of like, we're not going to go to Houston. I have a question about this though, because this is a unique place. Members only. It's here, but above us is Remedy Sweet Salon.

Remedy Salon se Sweets.

So when you were looking for a property, were you looking for a multi level or a mixed use property to have this vision come to.

Similar I was only looking for Remedy Salon Sweets just to do on my own. I just felt that was an easy business model. You're basically like a landlord with that. So I have twenty two suites up there, and you know, you've got stylists, estheticians, last texts, different things of that nature, and they rent out their own suite and they pain rent, you know, once a week. And so I was only

You know you may like this. And you know I came down here and saw this, and I was just like this might be cool.

You know.

I hadn't done another lounge in like two years.

And so that was how I so a couple of questions. The nail salon business is a really big business and it's been a lot of sweet sweets.

Yeah, so it's different. So like how it's set up is like because I obviously I have a wife and a daughter. Is like, there's a bunch of suites that have different businesses inside that pay you rent, should have their business, the landlord, a bunch of businesses.

But it's sor right, But it's what exactly is is nail salon.

Is a barbers slash texts instetisician just everything.

Have a barber shopping there.

The last how big? How big is the space as.

Big as this spot is the exact same spot this spot, so about thirty four hundred square.

Feet Okay, So like just like there's a bunch of yeah, okay, so that's an interesting model.

Thinking they have that in New York.

Yeah, yeah they do, they do. Yeah, I was gonna say the last check thing is something that's.

Well, the last chech thing is is is a pandemic within itself. Theyre going too far with that, then theyre going to business thought mank on their eyes and all that. But even with okay, all of that stuff is still service based businesses where it's like people, especially black people, they get their nails done, they get their eyelashes done, they get their haircuts, stuff like that. And for a long time, especially the nail industry is run by people

The beauty industry is very popular here, so it was kind of like a no brainer to me. I was really just looking for like some good daytime money that would be headache for it, because doing the restaurants is very stressful. It's a lot of details. You know, it's one of the hardest industries to be in. There's a lot of people. You know, your money goes through so many hands before it gets to yours. So you've got

As you see, that's for the restaurant.

These are all for the restaurants. Only one. It's this one little Remedy Saligne, you know what I'm saying.

So I wanted something that would be some good headache free and that girl that manages Remedy Salion Suite, she rarely ever caused me, but some good little headache free money. I knew that it would be successful because like also, like I said, I do those business consultations, So I got a lot of people that I've helped do businesses and things of that nature. And so a lot of the girls that came there, they said they wanted to be there so they can kind of be around me.

Them improve their businesses.

But you know, we live in a city where in this city, you know, people are really interested in their appearance.

You know, I'm wanting to things of that next.

And salon suites have become more and more popular because people wanted to get around the salon away from the salon model. Like me, Like when I get my hair braided, the girl actually comes to my to my house. But before I was able to find somebody that would do that. I love going to a salon suite because I don't like talking to a lot of people when I go to the salon, you know, and especially now that I'm more well known, you know, people are gonna be asking me.

A bunch of questions and all of this stuff.

And then like during these times of COVID, people would rather get those services. Then in a salon swite, it's just you and that one person versus being around a bunch of people in a busy salon.

Now I'm thinking about it, like you go to one, you actually go to a salon suitek regular because Buzz has a barbershop, but.

Because you go to the barbershop on a Saturday and it's like a bunch of random people talking about non since they're lying and stuff. So me, it's just like I don't got time to be waiting, Like you know what I'm saying. Me and my barbera shout out the bubs. We got a special relationship. I go to every Thursday, nine o'clock in the morning, Give me done, and I'm out,

I think it is number one.

Like so, like mine are a little bit different, even though we have the association with chains.

Probably that the only one that that really makes a difference is that Escobar Downtown location.

But like I don't base mine off of celebrities and different things of that nature. So, like you know, you have a lot of these clubs that their main thing is they have to book artists, you know what I'm saying.

I never get into that type of stuff.

You know.

I like to provide a good vibe, a good atmosphere, in good food, you know, at my establishment.

So mine are more lounge based versus club based.

You know.

With the clubs, a lot of times they only open two three days a week, you know, and you can't afford to have no off night, you know what I'm saying. But when you up at seven days a week, you can afford for one or two nights to be slower, you know what I'm saying. So from my spots, people primarily come for the food and they come for the vibe.

Yeah, I got it. I mean, speaking of the Basketball lounge, it's like one of the craziest stories part of your stories that I thought was like, Uh, the Basketball family is trying to fight you for the name. Huh, Like what is that even about?

Crazy?

And I think that happened during the pandemic. We were on TMZ a lot. We were in the Shaved Room a lot. The moment that we decided to open up our lounge to open Escobar back up.

It was a really big deal.

Two Chains got drugged for it, you know what I mean, just like because you know, a lot of black people were kind of like, you know.

Oh, you know, they shouldn't be letting y'all open so soon, you know what I'm saying, like they trying to kill the black people. He only kimp only doing it because he wanted to kill the black people.

And then you know, we had our mayor shout out to our mayor, Keisha Lance Slots.

Who was very opposed, you know, to the businesses opening.

She actually contacted us and asked us not to open. And you know, so we had already made a decision to open, and that was on the Shaved Room. Two Chains got a lot of shade for that, and so then we decided not to open. We ended up feeding the homeless, using the restaurant to feed the homeless for a couple of weeks and then we opened back up, and so all of this stuff was just detailed, you know, on Shade Room and on TMZ, and I think that that's what got the attention of the Escobar family.

And I just think they kind of fishing for something.

Yeah, I read it. I'm like his brother, like what this is crazy?

Apparently, I ain't care. I just went to old Mansion.

The irony of it, that.

Article had came out that Friday. I was into loan that Monday at this man mansion, kicking it.

This is a general right here.

So as far as your business model, like you got a bunch of different businesses, do you look to say, Okay, I'm just I'm good at this, so let's just open more lounges, more restaurants, or like, what's your what's your strategy to like when you keep opening new businesses?

Is it kind of like just piggyback off.

I feel like I have the blueprint down and I can continue to do this, you know, as long as I pick the right locations. I just feel like it's like no stopping me, you know what I mean. Like because so like, for example, I had originally wanted to expand into like the South Florida area, and I'm glad that I didn't because now like this is a good time to like kind of like look at this pandemic and see how various cities you know, are operating. So now for me, I would expand to like a Houston

Like how to move. So I mean, prior you said or previously you said that the restaurant businesses a headache in itself, So then why over more restaurants?

Because I love it.

I make great money, really really good money, more money than I ever thought I would make in life. I make with most people make in a year in one week, you know what I'm saying. So when you're doing something like that, you can't help but to continue doing it. I continue to find good people and good help. I've turned my businesses into a full fledged company, Dealert Hospitality Group. I continue to learn how to do things properly in the right way, to avoid lawsuits and different things of

At the same So what's the deal of hospitality group? I saw the T shirt.

Yeah, so that's my hospitality group that pretty much houses all of the restaurants. So I have a corporate office. Well, shout out to my videographer. She's one of the individuals. They are my director of operations who's basically right up under me, so he manages the he so the gms, they manage.

The actual restaurant. They manage all of the.

Employees in the restaurant. My director of operations, he manages the GMS, and I managed the director of operations. Some of the gms don't even have my telephone number.

It's interesting because I feel like you're a very interesting person because you have a street side, but you also have a corporate side as well. Like you went to one of the best colleges in America and you actually were financial advisor, so obviously you have business like not only just street business, but like general business. But then you know, you obviously were in the street as well for a certain period of time. So be like your

The white ones.

But that's what I'm saying. As far as like I mean, and a lot of you know, the black ones.

They really don't want to pay the money, you know what I'm saying. Like I make about eighty thousand dollars a week. I could make one hundred dollars thousand dollars a week, but guess what, I rather take that eighty and have me a life to go live.

You know what I'm saying. And I enjoy providing opportunities for other people.

So was that something that you came in the game right away with that business mindset like, Okay, I'm gonna have this structure.

Yeah.

I always knew that I wanted to once stand who could have the way one was successful. I knew that I wanted to do more, and I knew that I would need more people to help me, and so I researched that and found out what positions I would need. What's the name of them with their job description is and just as I started making more and more money, I started replacing myself in different areas because guess what, Once upon a time, I was doing all of this stuff on my own my phone.

You see, my phone ain't run.

I want since open here because that's what don't Nobody had my telephone number, so that's the only way they can reach me is that group me or email. But I was just having this conversation with my girlfriend because I had seen y'all standing outside and I was like, is that them?

I was like, why are they standing outside?

Way?

Ain't nobody helped them? And so I'm just like, it's more there, And so I was just like I was on her. I was like, I was like, dang, I wish I had more numbers. She was like, baby, you ain't getting mom got my telephone numbers.

But yeah, but if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't be able to do things like do these interviews. I wouldn't be able to do things like do business consultations. I wouldn't be able to be a mother.

To my daughter.

You know, I wouldn't be able to be in relationships and not be stressed free. But because my phone would be ringing off the hook with every issue and problem.

I think it's important to highlight, especially for black businesses, because they said, like COVID nineteen has wiped out fifty percent of black businesses across America. It's like a economic crisis and a lot of them with brick and mortars. But a reason why I think a lot of businesses fail. It's a variet of different reasons, but a lot of times there's a difference between having a hustle and having

You know, you have to have your systems in place.

And one of the things, you know, my director operations one of the things that he brought to the table. And it was funny because he was just my publicist when I first met him. There was another guy that was supposed to be my director operations that kind of stabbed me in the back and ran off and opened up his own restaurants and stuff. But he came in and kind of listened to everything I was saying and

Know what I mean.

And so that's another reason why I'm able to open up so many businesses at one time.

You know, even these I did three in one year. You know what I mean.

I did, I did Crave, I did this spot in Esco South all in the same year, you know what I mean. And then this year during a pandemic, I'm doing two remedies and Esco Seafood. And it's because not only do I have all these people on the team, but we got these systems in place.

So it's like everybody know like they already was doing stuff. I ain't even told.

Them the manual.

So you have a manual like McDonald's, like absolutely, because the people don't know that, Like you open a McDonald you just can't wing it like they got even how you fold the follow the franchise rules.

That's interesting. How many employees do you have?

I just did an interview before y'all, and I was trying to think about this. I would say, uh, maybe about three hundred.

Three hundred.

Really it's franchising something you're thinking about in the future. Yeah, good, that's all right. So I know that creating the night life or the after hours lounge was an old goal of yours. What's the new goals?

My new goals are more like personal goals.

Man.

I want to get married, I want to have more kids. I'm looking about my dream house between now and the end of this year. That's actually a really big mind of talking about that. The day he was like, you know, that's the only thing you miss and you know it's like, you know, your dream house or whatever.

So I want to do that and.

Just you know, be able to continue to like have opportunities for other people and give back, you know what I mean. I'm in a place to really be able to give back to people and not have to worry about how this is going to be paid, how this is going to be paid. And for so many years that was my life, you know what I mean, a lot of us years I couldn't really travel, you know, the way that I wanted to because I didn't have

So I mean, speaking of giving back, I know, I don't know if it has it started your own nonprofit.

Yeah, it's called Her Impact Foundation, and so we do. Like right now, we're doing a backpack drive that's going on into.

The end of the month. We've collected over one hundred.

Backpacks field with school supplies and different things that nature. I'm going to donate some laptops to some schools as well, you know, because I know that you know, now they're switching to the you know on and you know a lot of these kids, you know, they don't have their own laptop, you know what I mean, And so some of the schools are trying to provide them, and some schools have the budget for him, and some don't, especially with you know, what they've experienced, you know, with COVID.

So we do that.

We feed the homeless all the time.

We do uh Friendsgiving during Thanksgiving, we do a charity during Christmas.

For my birthday.

I actually we had to cancel it because my birthday is April third, so it was right in the midst of this. But I turned thirty five this year, so I was going to take thirty five young women upstairs and you know, pay for them to be pampered, you know, up there. And so I'm always just kind of like trying to think a little different things that I can do to give back and you know, make my impact.

That's that's like just being in Atlanta, since we're in Atlanta. I want to just speak about this afleet. It's like it's different city, like compared to anywhere else, Like we're from New York or anybody else anywhere in the country.

Know, I'm not originally from here, so I've been living here it'll be eleven years, you know, the end of this year, and I was I was just you know, extremely inspired. You know, like I never had a business that made millions of dollars, you know before I moved here, and the ones that I had at other than that newspaper company, I couldn't even get form legally because of you know, some of the racism and things of that nature, you know that I was experiencing in the city hall

You know, most of us know each other.

I got one of them group meets right now is all of the club owners and restaurant owners. You know, we came together at the beginning of this pandemic because we didn't really know how we was gonna make it. We didn't know it was gonna turn out like this. We didn't know they was gonna start giving out money like it was applicis.

You know what I'm saying.

I didn't know that, you know the city was going to open back up and that we were gonna be okay. You know, we still had this group me and help each other out, you know what I'm saying. So I think that's a big thing. You know, it's a lot of inspiration here. There's a lot of events and seminars and you know, people that are successful they put together you know, like a little different things for people other people to be able to come out and learn how

But here you got stuff like that going on all the time.

Yeah, and it's crazy.

Like our mutual friend Alex good Energy, so you know, him and his whole crew missed two weeks out him five hundred shots to all of those guys, and I think every week they like Neo Davis, they meet like once a weekend. They just shared different ideas And I was just telling my friendship more, I'm like, Yo, this is dope, like because like.

A lot of I just paiged five thousand dollars to do him five hundreds class next.

Month, Okay, And I'm like, I don't know, I'm still learning, still learn Yeah, but.

I got money, but he ain't spending he is he and it's coret, but.

It's no man's power. It is power in that.

And it's like, you know a lot of times, especially coming from New York, were like real cynical people where it's like.

No trust herself.

Trust.

We really got a New York state of money.

That's a fact. And even with the music, I could see, like I think that's really helped Atlanta. It's like they work together, and it's the power in that instead of just trying to be cliquish, like trying to find fault in what this person is doing, Like, we go a lot further if we move as a unit.

I feel like your legacy is being cemented like this. Your story is incredible. Tell me how it feels now that your daughter's coming of age and is she interested in running these businesses? And how proud of you to hand it down to her.

She's going to do it. I'm extremely proud of that. I'm extremely proud of her.

I'm almost about to like she had a couple of two years now, but yeah, because you know, she originally kind of wanted to do her own thing, and I didn't talk her out of it or anything like that. But she started off just having a job doing the social media and so just being around and you know, of course, like when I come home, my business had comes off. So you know, I'm not telling her about nothing.

And now she just even admires me more.

Of course, you know, she knows that I'm her mother, but you know, she realizes like who I am and what I've done in the platform that I'm one, And you know, she's proud, you know, to wear a Dealer Hospitality Group shirt that's her last name, you know what I'm saying, and to have a company that you know

Know at it already.

She's social media.

Yeah, she runs all of the social media. It doesn't run my personal I'm like.

I'm like I was on yours.

The businesses, the business businesses.

All of the business ones.

And then she's also started so she just turned twenty, but she started doing like learning, you know, some shift lead managerial things, close and open the restaurants and different things of that nature.

That's a feeling that I really wish everybody could feel at least one time, Like you know, it's just a it's a proud feeling as a parent. Like I have a son, he's nine, and you know, he played basketball, and so we rented a house in La, the whole the whole podcast crew, and we had we was in our families in La. So I'm trying to work out with him, like on his game while we're in La. He's like giving me push back, like I don't want

And our kids, I mean, they're always around each other, so like they hear that conversations like my dad is on YouTube. It's like a big deal of them. It's it's like it makes it really proud because they look at Aaron a Lisia like is this and it is like we're not working for us when.

They ask, you know, when people ask them are.

Exactly yeah, nah, Snoop. That's it's been a pleasure. Anything that you would like to make the people aware of or let them know what do you have anything going on, new business ventures, anything like that.

Like that talked about the new business ventures.

But you know, if anybody wants to find me, I'm on Instagram and who is Snoop? Like I've mentioned, I also during the pandemic, I filmed uh six different courses, three of which are free courses. I would highly recommend I literally beg people during the pandemic to invest in the stock market because a lot of the stocks were down.

As well as Dialer Hospitalitygroup dot com.

What's your what's your We didn't get a chance to talk about that is what's your st for stock investing? You have a such strategy or so, I'm a long term long term by a hole.

Yeah, I don't do a lot of the.

I'll reinvest my dividend. I also have a financial advisor.

Okay, okay, So I have quite a bit of.

Money, almost a million dollars in the stock market.

So any particular sector like tech, tech or.

One thing that I will encourage people to do, Yes, tech tech is definitely. Tech is big right now, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Test, Tesler, of course, Tesla.

Those are some of the main ones. But it's a lot of other little ones like Gap stock is good right now?

What else?

There's a there's a lot of different ones.

I've done good with a few of the airline stocks, you know what I mean. Especially for somebody like me that's going to buy and hole, not day trading, day traders.

You have people to do options. You got one of my boys.

I don't know if you guys know, Black Robin Nashville, who owns Minerva in the weekend, but.

He hit me like snoop, you do options. I made seventeen grand a day off.

Options is the way, and.

So I'm always looking for new things as well, you know what I mean. But for somebody like me that's as busy as I am, I don't have time to sit and do four rex time to sit and do day trading. I you know, sometimes have time to look up a little different stocks and stuff like that. But I utilize my financial financial advisor. But two things tips that I do want to get people before I get out of here of ways that you can save and invest. One of the ways to save that I did is

But once you do that, it's so much easier.

You know, you'll see your money continue to accumulate and kind of almost get to the point where you're kind of obsessed with it, you know what I'm saying.

So you know that's that's definitely one thing too.

On the investment side, one of the ways that I've been able to accumulate my portfolio to get as big as it has been is that I automatically invest each month, and so that's what I call paying myself first. So I make sure that it comes immediately out of my checking or savings account and goes into my investment account, and you know, you get to the point that you know, you don't even miss it, you don't even see it.

I gotta do that.

I appreciate it. Thank you for having appreciate you.

Man, choice some housekeeping night.

Yeah. Shot everybody on patreon dot com that is proud to pay program. Obviously. You know tear four and five members. You have access to e y l University, the number one online school in the world. We have our book club there that's hosted by myself. We have breaking breat sessions with our brother MG, the mortgage guy, and the group has just grown.

Man.

A lot of investment tips in there. I know we've been driving some gems in the options game. So shout everybody that's on there, and shout everybody that's supporting the merch. We are going to be dropping some some some really cool things in the very near future. Look up.

Shout out to Atlanta once again. He was doing an eighty five South show yesterday. Yeah, the bros. They had some jokes. I can't wait for that. Shout out to them, man, And yeah, once again, make sure you subscribe like comment on Apple, Spotify YouTube. All of that tele a friend to tell a friend, and yeah, we will see you guys next week.

Happy birthday to ob brother jamal Man. Happy birthday, Broth, Happy birthday Man Atlanta. That's right, we're going to turn up tonight, so we need a spot. We don't need a spot. We're going to but we talk after this.

As a fact. We see ya next week.

Peace Pease, you just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy? Just use Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other job sites. With Indeed sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have forty five percent more applications than non sponsored jobs.