EYL #127 Single Mom Buys Water Plant

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All right, guys, welcome back e y L. So this is exciting. This is gonna be an exciting conversation for a few different reasons. The industry that we haven't covered yet, and also it kind of ties back to the early stages of e y before we had EEL so we'll explain the story. But first and foremost, Paul McCarthy an entrepreneur out of Queens Queens please get the money, Queens, get the money Brooklyn.

Correction, I love Queens, however, has raised me.

Okay, okay, be connection.

So this is interesting because so Paula owns a water plant.

Is that?

Yeah, I'm a water manufacturer.

A water manufacturer. We'll explain the whole story. But she was teaching financial literacy originally before you did that. Yes, And it was crazy because you said, like, you know, just going on Instagram while financial literacy, you saw me teaching financial literacy at the same time.

Yes, and I followed you. Then I following.

We'll get into that.

I was so engulfed in what you were doing.

Okay, I couldn't.

I couldn't do what I needed to do because I was like comparing what I was doing to what you were doing.

Blockout, block out the noise.

Yeah, I appreciate that. I am.

All those those those hot summer days paid off.

I appreciate that.

So, so it's an interesting story where she she found a water plant in upstate New York, and she purchased the water plant, and now she has a water company. So it's an interesting dynamic because you're talking about, like, you know, natural resources, and it's not something that people think about a lot. And even when they do think bout natural resources, most of the time it's like oil or gold, gas, but it's not something like water, which is the most essential part of life we need every day.

It's essential. You need water. You don't need gas to live, right, but you need water to live.

Absolutely, there's no life for that water, and it's a scarcity of it. There's a scarcity of it, which makes it even better.

It's a trillion dollar industry.

Yes, it is a trillion dollar industry.

Let's not brush over that.

So it's crazy somebody in this space is an entrepreneur. That's actually you know in that in that space.

This is rare.

I mean, we've done over one hundred and twenty five episodes and we've never even in my mind, I've never even thought of this as an industry. So to hear that there's somebody that looks like us, it's from neighborhoods that we come from, and that's in a space. This is a This is a pleasure and honor to be honest with you.

For sure weout further Ado. Thank you for joining us.

Appreciate it, No, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be on the platform. I think what you guys are doing it's just amazing. You have provided a platform where and a seat at a table where we would not ordinarily have and you are bringing information to not just young people because initially it was young people, but to our community. And with that access we are I think like we're doing amazing things right, so people can now plan for and plan to build generational well through

I appreciate it. So let's let's get into it, all right. So let's start at the financial literacy stage then and moved to the water. So how did you start in the career of teaching financial literacy?

All right? So twenty seventeen September, my twin boys were going into high school. With that I went to the school and I was like, you know, I need to get them into a mentorship program. The school told me they had no mentorship programs. I went on a rant and I started to tell them, you know about the prison to jail pipeline, and I'm like, this is why our kids can compete. If they can't compete locally, how are they going to compete globally? And I just went

At this time, you were actually practicing. You were a nurse.

I'm a nurse by profession, so it was on my days off that I was doing these financial literacy class excuse me. So I would do my three hours, try to do my three hour shifts, and then do my classes around my shift.

Yeah.

And the reason I'm bringing it up because I just had this conversation the other day with a dear friend of mine and I'm like, the next time I talked to you, I want to hear about what you created. And even though you've had a full time career. Like you said, you're a single mom, it's still find a time to create. You saw that there was a need and you said, I have to make the time to create, and creating change your life.

I really want to.

They want to.

But I did it again. I fell into it right. So I came back, we did the workshops. Other schools found out about what I was doing in the building and what I thought was going to be a class about just financial literacy, my first class actually was about the transition. It was more about the power of thought. I read Think and Grow Rich, and I started reading these books and I started bringing those elements into the classroom.

Yeah, that thing we had the same with that commis.

It was like we were working inside of a system that we knew didn't.

Really help or prepare.

There are kids for anything that we could see that was substantial long term, and so are we complicit in the failure? And so it was like, all right, well, that's the reason we did the summer program. It was because we know that the kids need this, it's not being taught, and so we'll build out from there. The only problem was that we were in this one place, and I knew that the kids in the inner city needed it too, and so it was like, how do we scale it?

And so when you started with one program, how did it go from one school to the next. It was at the vendor license piece, so.

No other schools, so you know how they're breaking up all the schools like four and more and ones. We had four school in the one building and it went from like one school to two thousand kids in this one school. Other schools heard about what we were doing, and I went to this other school was a private school, and more affluent schools throughout the City and I went to this one school and their eighth graders were going to Morocco for their senior trip. And I'm like, yeah,

This is January twenty.

Twenties, twenty twenty. Wow, January twenty twenty. In the middle of our pilot program, COVID hits and we have do you know our program stops is at a hall. So I'm home working as a case manager, doing nursing from my kitchen table, hating every minute of it, but making the most money I've made in nursing as well. Really, yeah, sitting home, I was not in the midst of everything else.

Well what water were they selling?

It was selling Poland spring.

But like to supermarkets, Like where they're getting.

From, We've got it from DJs. I gave them sixteen hundred dollars, had access to a church van because now I'm friends with this pastor. I paid one hundred dollars a week for the church van. And they started selling palettes of water like BJ's knew them as the New York water boys. They would let them in. Lines were down the block. People couldn't get water. We were getting palace so BJ.

So the grocery stores couldn't get it cheaper than what BJS was on it for.

They couldn't get water right.

It was like the this is like the first three weeks of COVID.

This is like COVID period because we did this well into May.

Yeah, so I got you. So they start this business.

They come up with the idea we get the sixteen hundred to get the DJ's water. At this time, they're making home so they're.

Doing home deliveries local bodegas and then they get the contract.

How are they funding the people?

Like pretty much word of mouth. We did a couple of Facebook ads. I paid for that and they that's how they initially started getting people. And then people were just calling us for water. But then as we got water in the trucks. I also rented a truck. After the van thing, we needed a bigger vehicle, so I got a truck. I rented a truck that was in the neighborhood and we would just stop at the local bodegas. Not we they would because that wasn't my thing, but

Yeah, right, that's one hundred percent. Yeah profit margins, Yeah, that I guess. The people how come the store only just thing go to BJ's themselves. They just didn't have enough time, time access.

They couldn't get in. If you remember the lines, so everyone has to stand on the line.

They let your sons in priority.

Because because we were buying so much water. I went in there, spoke to the managers.

And worked out the deal.

Yeah I'm getting flash bands. I remember how it was.

It was a scarcity toilet paper.

That was the first thing exactly.

Then you had to wait, like I remember my mom wanted to go to Sam's and it was I told like, you got to go at six and there's no other time.

And I don't know, if you didn't live in New York, you might not fully appreciate how bad it was like at that time in Marshall April, Like I remember going to the grocery store and it felt like doomsday because it was like, well not even that, but you had to wait like ten feet and you had to wear masks gloves, and it was like it was going it was like a movie and it was like they could only let twenty people in the grocery store at the time.

And it was bad.

Like it was just like I don't our cloud over the whole New York like at that time.

So that's interesting.

It was continuent in real life, it was. It was that's crazy. So you worked out a deal with the manager. You got in probably like early like what.

We did.

We were see now it makes sense, this is Brooklyn.

Yes, you know. What happened was they were letting them wait online, but we were purchasing that. You know when you can buy it on on online and then just go and pick up. So we were doing that so you didn't have to wait on the lines if you were pre ordering, right, So I would buy hundreds of cases from different phones and different accounts. So we would set up a bunch of accounts and he would pick up one hundred pallets, he would pick up a hundred pallets,

Thanks, that's coming up.

They're twins. They're gonna be twenty one on the thirty first.

The New York Quarterboys a little different.

Atlanta water Yeah, oh no, Atlanta Water Boys with that situation, that's a whole different, a little bit different, a lot a lot. I got a chill.

Thought one hundred percent markup was crazy.

Yeah, Atlanta Water boys like twenty and not get a bottle.

At different ATM different. That's a different story.

It's a little different.

So you're doing this and you're not doing this hand in hand like on Fordham Road, like you actually got a system in place where you're selling cases of water, like Frank Lucius, like you're on the bundle.

Exactly what we did. Once they did that when they went to the Supermarket Association, what they did. Was was like, look, we have water, you don't have water. We can sell it to you at it like even a dollar market, but we can bring you hundreds of cases a day because we had those relationships, right, so we would go out to.

So supermarket the same. So what's the thing with that context?

So yeah, we did. So I'm yes, So I support everything that they do. I'm supporting everything that they're doing, right, So it's my money, it's it's there. They're doing the labor pretty much, right, but I'm helping them while they're doing it. So I call the supermarket Association. I'm calling everybody and trying to figure this out.

So what is the supermarket Association? I even know that that existed.

Yeah, supermarket associations a couple of things that I just learned too, Like supermarket association, like they all belong to Like you know, I had a neighborhood Watch or neighborhoods association where you have all the supermarkets belonging to one even like a union. Okay, right, so they belonged to

Master p jeans and he told us that. Shout out the rap snacks, they told us. And that's the first time I heard that. Where you have to actually pay to be in a grocery store.

I didn't know that.

And the location inside of it, right, So you could be in the out thirteen way in the back, or you could have some of these snacks right at the register.

For thirty five thousand dollars and upwards?

Is that what it is at the register?

Upwards?

Wow?

If you want to have a space on a shelf, is about like say, if you go down like a water aisle. I said about thirty five thousand dollars.

Wow.

Right, So and I had to learn that I had. I learned that through water though, so I didn't even know that when we first started. They were like, yeah, they'll just carry it because it was more so they liked what the water would represent and do for the community.

Right, So you had private you So this is when you're starting a water company.

This is when once they told me yes, I was like, all right, let me start sourcing some water companies, right to do a private label water brand. I didn't have a water brand at that time. I had nothing. It was just like, all right, they'll do it, right. I had the I had the company before I had the product.

Okay, so it's like I'm not we're doing this for this company, right, let.

Me try to do it on my own because I mean even when you said the private label, the last time we heard that was Amazon. Josh Chrish out to him and it was like we would they would find products, whether it be a comb or a hairclip, and that that was private label.

But never thought whe'd you come up with the idea like water?

And that was my friend, my friend who was a pastor. He used to do water distribution in South Africa. So this was him doing it with the boys. And then in turn, I'm like, hmm, could I do this?

Like so way to get the private label. It's just this company that just sell water.

So what we did was we found this, we started calling. We went on the Department of Help and we found companies based on their quality of water. So we started calling people based on how great the water was.

Right.

Review it tells you, it tells you in the Department of Health and reviews. Right, so it tells you what kind of water, tells you what's in the water. They all have lab reporting that you have to do so you can see the content in water, right, which we don't really pay much attention to, but.

I think New York has one to It was like Greater number three. It's like the state about.

Yeah, please don't averaging tap water.

Oh man, we're going to get into tap waters, still water and all these other waters.

Yes we shall so all right, so this so let's bring this back a little bit for people. Private label and like I said, shot that Josh Wills, he's the first one that told us about this. This is important for people to understand what you're talking about. So there's companies that sell and his thing he does Amazon. So he was saying, like, you know, you just see random things like nail filers, staplers, lint rollers. It's good to

That's a different it's a different story.

But you just buying a lint roller, right, So I could just putra shav Allow lint rolling company. But there's there's a company in China that just makes lint rollers in bulk and then you privately, so you buy it and now you can just put your thing and now it's like nobody knows that you didn't make it. It's just this private label. And when he said that, it was so genius because there's like thousands of items like that where a label does not matter.

No, So like we do, we could do manufacturing right now our factory. We can do private labeling. So again we will kind of get into that too, but we can do private label water. So if you want earn your leisure water, we can do.

Derek Grace, shout out to Derek Grace. He got great essential water.

You know him, No Essential water.

Shout out to him. So all right, all right, so now how.

Do you find a company that you can get the private label for most the process for that.

So I literally just call these people up. We find their number and we're just randomly cold calling.

From the Department of from.

Healthy, Department of Health, and I'm calling their numbers on there. Right, So what's We're in the midst of COVID as well, right, So most of the water companies number one are owned by larger companies like Coca Cola owns like the Something and Aqua Fina, right, Pepsi owns smart Water. So a lot of these big companies own these smaller companies, right. So I found like some independent companies. So they do about eighty six thousand gallons of I mean eighty six

Right.

I go out there and I'm like, all right. I call her and she's like, I'm in El Salvador. She's stuck in Out Salvador. She can't come back because there's no flights coming in out in and or out in or out of the country. So she's like, call me back in May. So I'm like, all right, I'm waiting, but I'm thinking, let's call other companies because I don't know if the water tastes anything like what I'm used to, and you and I just spoke about what our standard is, right,

Where would you go?

I went Upstate New York. Okay about it's twenty minutes outside of all that.

I want to say to town, but I know I'm a batch.

Of skill and kill and kill yeah, posting kills, right. So we go out to Post and Kill and we meet the seventy nine year old and an eighty one year old and they're like, yeah, we're in the mountains, and they're like, we would love to do this, but we don't have the capacity. They don't have They have one person who comes in who volunteers to help them, and they don't have the capacity. We needed two track the trailers to support our order with us with the

What's in the water plant?

So they sold. They were selling fifty acres of land. An aquaifer is an underground lake, so to speak.

Right, Our water that grows underground.

Yeah, it doesn't worrow, but water underground right, So water water that flows underground, right, that's the word. Yeah. So what happens is we're in a valley, so the water from the tops of the mountains come down and it goes under this you know, just like these underground caves so to speak. They're underground, like you don't know they're there.

Don't blame me, blame the school system exactly. I'm just a product. So earth science.

I definitely failed the.

Visions earth science. I don't know. I was really good at science, but more anatomies. That's that's my thing.

I was body physical therapy major.

Oh yeah yeah, yeah.

So water grows they comes it comes from the mountains yep, and it comes not valley valley.

How does they go underground down down the valley.

It goes through the soil through the goes down and it's like a big reservoir. It's just a natural reservoir underground, like.

When people swim in fresh water caves.

Yep.

Exactly.

I've been to Mexico, you know, whole Mexico, the whole cha Na right around those those Mayan ruins. The whole entire city was built around the water sources. And if you know anything, like most civilizations were built around water sources, right, so very important. So, and you can tell a lot about the economies usually flourish around places that have really well established water sources.

Right.

So even America, our water sources started out in New York and on on on the coast, right and then right so on the port.

Here the coast lake.

Yeah, so you could tell a lot about a country based on its water source.

Right.

It's essential to everything that we're doing, right so, if and that's interesting in itself because as I got into this water space and I started to do research, that's when I found out about the scarcity of water. Because I knew nothing about water. Just like many of us, we're not talking about water. We drink it, we use it, and that's it, right. We actually abuse it and that's it.

And this is why it's like people in America have such a disconnect with the rest of the world because it's like we just like having random water slides in our rice bucket challenge, so reckless size, ice working, super soaka fier.

But there's people that's really like starving for water.

Like it's just six miles to get a bucket. It's different.

Yeah, two thirds of the world don't have access to clean drinking water. That's more than one point two billion people not having access to clean drinking water. So when I got into the space again, I didn't recognize how valuable what I had was. I thought, hey, I'm going to taste water. I keep saying this. I did not go to buy anyone's water plan. I went to taste water, and when they told me about buying the plant, I'm like, look, miss, I am a nurse. I had no money to first

How long did that process from you helping to them far from you to buy.

Was it a couple of weeks?

Cause I mean I'm thinking to myself, I'm from Queen's I'm driving an Albany that's like a three hour drive, three hour drive every week almost I mean dark Corona, So I mean it really wasn't much to do anyway.

But we're the only ones on the road.

But how long did the process take for them? Was there like a trust built with you now that you're helping and you're volunteering.

To say, you know what?

So when I went there, they offered to sell it to me the first time. They were like, look, if we love what you're doing, if you want it, we'll sell it to you. I'm like, there's no way could I could even afford this, So it wasn't a thought.

So I was just going to want to sell it for.

It was a couple of million, okay, all right, yeah, okay.

So that's right. So it's coming with the plant and the land as well.

Again, this is where you kind of gotta So when I first went there, it was fifty acres of land, an aquifer and this water plant. The minute I agreed to purchase it, and went from fifty to fifteen acres of land, the aquafer and the water plant.

So they cut back on the acres of land. They kept everything else, but they cut back on the land. Okay, they meaning the owners owners, So you agree to that.

I agreed to it because at that point, so my kids and I. We moved up there in July and I worked with them for five months for free. We literally helped. I would bottle, my kids would do all their deliveries and they had no help. So me thinking that I'm helping, it's it's like.

What's happening in Queens?

Are we still doing the supermarket deliveries out there since we moved up Are you still a nurse at the time?

Okay, we're full in.

So I'm fully in the leave of absence. Don't tell them.

I don't think it's about that.

I took a medical Uh, so I'm doing that and I'm up here and I'm helping, right, So I'm fully in. I'm doing the administrative things. My boys are doing their deliveries. And my friend who's also a pastor, moves up here with us, and I brought them him and his family again, his family, I didn't, I don't think.

I said.

His family was just got here like three days before they shut down for traveling Corona. So I got them apartment upstairs. We got an apartment, we started renting out there, and we all started going out there and helping.

Right.

So the plan was at this point, let us learn the business to see if we can do this. While we're in the process, I'm trying to get the money to start this business. So eventually I used my house as collateral to put a down payment on this property.

So you refinanced your house.

I've refinanced my house something like that. Not really, OK So I.

Took what did you do? But that was my question. How did like, did you get a bank loan?

Like nope, I did all of this without a bank loan. Okay, So this is the dope part. I went to people and I'm like, look, I was able to raise one hundred and thirty thousand dollars in two days.

From people from people, friends, friends, and family.

It's not with all friends, man, every time somebody they got friends buying, No, yeah, we got good friends.

Now, I'm just saying, like ten years.

Ago, Well it's not ten years ago.

Your oh yeah, got new friends?

No new friends.

Sorry.

I literally went out and I was able to raise one hundred and actually it was more like one fifty because I tried to keep twenty for working capital.

Did they become owners of the company just like a loan?

Yep.

I got one hundred and thirty thousand dollars in two days and I came back to them and I'm like, look, okay, I'm going to do this. I'm going to buy it from you. But at that point he changed the deal again. No, that's when he changed it to when I got.

There, he thought you was.

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He thought I was playing right. So when I came back and I'm like, okay, I could do this right now again, It's really hard for me because I'm like, they were really gracious and at the same time very I don't know, they were very vicious business people. I was I am always going in and thinking the best of people, and these were shrewd business people. And because they were older, I was pretty much like, oh, they're so nice. I think everyone's so nice, but they were

Right. So you bought the company, You didn't start a new company.

No, about a twenty five year old Company's the name of the company, Moxie Lama's Waterworks. But when we got to the closing table, they told me that one I don't look like a CEO.

Are you white?

Yes? And two I don't look like a good representation of the brand that their family has built for the past fifty years.

Okay because you're black. Okay did they say you because you're black? I would have.

Actually, they just said, my children and I don't look like a good.

But did you actually did Actually I did it.

I was hurt because I rolled up my sleeves and I helped them.

So they flat out said, like, that's that's hard, Like that's that's kind of crazy if you think about it, Like they ain't even sugarcoated.

You don't look like you don't look like it. That's crazy.

But it was their daughter more than them.

The daughter said it.

She made it back from the top of doors just because I'm trying.

Everything changed when she came.

She came back, so she's like, what whoa what's the Oh?

No, how she get because they didn't live in travel then, so they did and June.

He came back in June.

So she came nine.

So I think, what are y'all doing? They did not want to tell tell the family that they were selling the water.

Plant to a black person, so I don't.

Even know if it had anything to do with black or white at that point. I think the family wanted to keep the water plant, but they wanted to sell. And I guess the relationship that them and I had foster and I was helping them. They were trying to sell this company for ten years, and no one could see the value in what they had because on paper it didn't make sense. On paper, it looked like a seventy nine year old and an eighty one year old were running a company. They were self employed. They were

No systems in place, that's a fact.

When you trade your time for money, your self employed systems.

Yes, save your time, save yourself time, energy.

And money, energy and money.

Right, save yourself time, energy and money, save yourself. Yourself is going to work. This is another school system.

This is this is I know yourself is gonna work.

It's one of those.

It's one of those.

It's one of those. As was like, all right, well you remember that, you remember that create system?

Yes, yes, yes, what.

But it's not correct.

I know, but it's alwayard a member.

You never heard that.

Yes, but it's saved.

It's saved you stress, time and energy.

He's a teachers, you.

Know the E B E B I L squadrant that Robert Kawasaki from Rich Dad. Yeah, so really good book. I have my kids reading in our program, like I think the cool thing to do is give them literature that they would not ordinarily read. And that's what I did in the financial literacy program. It wasn't necessarily about teaching them about money. It was about this very thing is teaching them how to manage their resources. And that's

So how did all right? So they said that they universen't a new representation. How did they get over that?

They needed my money and they took it. That's how my money was great?

But I mean, how would that call? Like you say, okay, well I'm not buying and they think, okay, we changed.

So when we were at the closing table, it's a lot. There's a lot that I don't want to like expose because it's their personal stuff. So I don't really want to get too much into that. I want to be respectful of that. But they needed the money, okay, okay, So it was just.

Something when they thought about it, it's like, you know what, it's not.

They took my money, they needed my money. They took my money. And then after they gave me a very hard time, after you took your money, how did it Why I didn't want to sign over the LLC which I paid for.

What they say, we're not given to you.

They just drunk their feet, right, they I have to wait on them, so legally they held onto those documents and I just had to wait.

And you can't even operate the business even though you have bought or but.

We were doing everything. I knew which way right. Yeah, so because technically in my clothing, the minute that I ad for it, they have to effectuate it and they're supposed to sign. So that was That was just very interesting and the hardest part of this whole thing, because what I did was foster relationship with them. It wasn't even so much. I didn't go there to buy a water plant. I didn't I didn't know that their water plant was for sale. I didn't go there for those purposes.

So, okay, so all of that's done you but so you put your house? Can you talk about that? Like, what does that mean? You put your house for collateral? Did they take your house.

Or I took a loan out?

I guess took a loan against your house and then you paid the loan back over the course of time.

Okay, yeah, so you have you have the situation. Now you're up and running.

Yep.

Okay.

Now, so we closed October first, twenty twenty and in the state of New York, I'm the first black woman to own and run a spring water bottling plant. So I'm thinking this is great. This must be, like, you know, going to be easy. He stays on contractually for six months to help us through this transition, and then he decides not even he I go to the bank and try to get a loan. I purchased this company. It's twenty five years old, and I'm thinking I should be

Yeah that was that. Do you have now, Yeah? Okay, did the bank ever give you a loan? No, we still haven't given.

So everything we've been doing. We've been doing on my on my own.

Wow.

Yeah, So all right, so what's the day to day operations of running a water water company?

Water company?

So cool thing is, so when they were in business, they were only working at five percent capacity this business. They were working on a Monday for four hours, sixteen hours a month, and they were grossing about one hundred and thirty thousand six month. Yes, but they were seventy nine and eighty one. But they were living off of the money that they were making.

What's five percent capacity? What's that the equivalent?

So what do you have? Our factory is about twenty five thousand square feet. Yeah, we have two production lines. One production line does five gallon bottles, four gallon bottles, three gallon bottles. It's adjustable, right, that's that one line. There's another line that does one gallon bottles, your one leaders, your sixteen ounce bottles, your eight ounce bottles. So they're two production lines. They were only utilizing the five gallon bottles.

You recycle used water bottles, the water bottles. What does that mean? You recycle it to make new bottles?

No, no, no, no, So our bottles go onto a conveyor belt, they're washed, and they're reused refill. So a lot of times when you drink water from those those big jugs, they're five gallon jugs. They go through our factories, they go in through a machine and then they're sanitized and then they're all those jugs.

So you don't drink from those jugs.

So you not, We should? We should.

So when you when you get that, so you're I'm thinking, now, since those people were already and this is those customers, did you get all the customers that.

They one hundred and fifty customers? We have some really big customers. Walmart's our customer. Toyota for Ford Fish Farm. We have a fish farm, so like a lot of the fish that we consume are in our supermarkets. They're farm raised, so they're not unless you buy wild caught. Their farm raised. So we have huge, huge fish fish.

So what does Walmart buy from you?

The same tank, the same thing, like what five gallon bottles?

Five gallon, it's not labeled anything.

Yeah, they're maximam water water.

They buy your they buy your water.

The customers, do you do you have can you like if we want to do earn your leisure water, can you give us.

Absolutely could do earn your leisure water? Because what we are as a manufacturer, right, so I do have custom Like through Way Beverage is one of our customers. We simply just fill their water bottles. They come in, they bring their water bottles. They'll come with the tractor trailer, drop their truck, their their bottles off. We do the same thing. They'll come up and pick up. About I want to say about ten palette you.

The labels on?

Yeah, our machine, not me a machine, Yeah, our machine. So what happened, Well, that's for if you come in with a five gallon bottle, I would purchase the bottles for you, and our bottling company will have them pre labeled so they could be silk screen or we'll put them on. So it depends on what we're doing for you, right,

So when you at the closing table, we'll come back to this for a second because this originally started with the New York water Boys.

This originally started.

Are the New York.

Water Boys at the table? Are they owners of this as well?

Or is this mom and now my sons are working here with the potential to have equity down the road.

So this is me. I owned the factory, the water plant, and the land the business. My partner and I went in fifty to fifty on the business, but I've since bought him out, and my boys are in charge of distribution, of course, but my boys are in charge of distribution, so they're in charge of logistics and roots. So every time water goes out, that's what they're in charge of. So okay, there's still new York Waterboys the the distribution leg of our company.

So now you're sitting on water, so the water keeps re furbishing itself.

Right exact, right, Well, we have and we had a hydrology report that was done about twenty five years ago. We're kind of due for a new one that gave us a three hundred year lifespan. And we get about eighty nine million gallons of water in this aquafer that passes through every year. So we never deplete our aquifer, which is pretty interesting because most aquifers, Like again I was telling you about the different way that waters dispersed

So this is incredible.

What's the process of all right, you have the water in your spot and then it goes you have to clean the water to actually get you know, it just goes straight into a bottle.

So the water does go through an ozonation process, and it does go through you know, like the ozone layer, So it does that kills nine of bacteria and viruses. It's not a chemical actually, but there is an oznation process that happens. It goes through so the water. I just did a video on this too yesterday. I'm going to put it up. So we have a well that pumps to the actual spring. What they did was cemented, so it can be contaminated. Right, So it's actually cemented.

What is the ogenation process.

It's just the ozone is a chemical is oxygenated in ozone and it's like a gas. Nothing inside the water, So it's like a gas the water goes through. I don't know even how to know to explain it better.

I'm trying to visualize it. So it's going through a process. It went through the cold. Now it's really just because it's a pure of.

It's so purifying, right. But our water quality is a high premium. Again I found them because of the premium. The quality of the water.

Was it rated you said that you were going to taste it.

It was rated a five out of a five, right, so it's really high quality. So it's what that it means is the TDS level. It has very low TEDS total dissolve solutes, So there's a lot that's not much in the water. Naturally because of where it is, it's naturally filtrated through a sand and gravel pit. I also have a gravel pit too on my property, so it

And so from that point does it go into the bottles And so they will run it at a five percent capacity?

Ye, what is it?

What's the number when it's at I guess are you running it at one hundred percent?

Yet? Not yet? So where are we at?

So we're at we're not even nearly up to capacity. We've just been servicing our clients, right, So while we're in the position, we're rebranding because I am not going out in the world as MAXI. So we're rebranding. We need to update our machinery. There's a lot that needs to it's super antiquated.

Right, what's the what's the new name?

So it's going to be yes Water, Yes Water, y s S. So it's Youth Saving Society.

Okay.

So that was the original name for.

The Financial Literacy Courses Saving Society, So it'll be yes Water Okay.

Uh huh okay. How are people working?

So this was a dope part. So we need a day laborers. And I went to a local church and I'm like, hey, I need some guys. Can you send me some guys. I get to guys and I never I didn't do a background check. I'm just like, you know, we just need DAI labors. So they come in. They actually end up being formally incarcerated guys, and they started coming in to work with us. I'm like, I didn't know that. Even I asked him to pick up some furniture from New York City, they couldn't go. He kept

That's good.

Yeah.

I'm a doer though, so even if I don't know how to do it, I'm that person who understands, like I need to put the right people in place to do Like that's just I'm the doer.

So you got two people that's working there that's actually bottling.

The water on our what it is.

Yeah, and there's machines that's actually doing they just like doing the lake workers.

Yeah yeah, yeah.

I would just saying so that the boys are distributing, what's the distribution, what's the radius of how far they're going.

With upstate New York and they go as far as Lake Georgia. Are you familiar with Lake Georgia upstate New York.

Yeah, it's the largest lake in the state.

Yeah.

So interestingly, like we supply most of Lake George, Lake George, we even have Great Adventures as one of our clients. So Lake George six Flags. Great Adventures own Great Escapes upstate New York, so we don't come down to Jersey. They own Great Escape upstate, so they're also are clients. So he had to really substanti show business. And our

So so okay, so the natural resource play, All right, let's talk about this water. There's no types of water, right, Distilled water, spring water, what's the science behind that?

Just basically the source of it? Right, So our teesing water just mean it has minerals in it, and that's usually from a lake. It has to be spring and water. For it to be spring water, it has to spring to the surface for it to be spring water. Distilled water is processed water. That means it's just boiled and they use a process of osmosis to separate your salutes, which are your solids, from your water, and then they

Different.

Purified is pretty much the same.

The best water is spring water.

No, there's no best water, right, So best water natural spring water is natural.

Natural water is better than distilled water.

Right.

So again, okay, so it's like, yeah, like the periodic table.

All the stuff is coming.

Back to cool. I remember, yeah, I don remember, I remember what you're talking about. I should have paid more attention.

I tried.

So like in Texas when people like strike oil and it's like they can get brought out by like Egxon and get like one hundreds of millions of dollars, Like can something like that happen in the water business as well?

I have been offered millions and millions of dollars for your from my factory already already.

What those But how come to other people? Were they not offered that?

That's right? So they were poland Spring tried to buy them, and so just Water tried to buy them. So some companies did try to buy them, but he didn't want to buy it out. So I'm we're one of very few independent water companies left. We have these large conglomerates that are buying up water sources and they're vaulting them. So what does that look like? December seventh, twenty twenty. Water is a commodity and it's being so traded on the Nasdaq.

That's a fact.

That is a fact, right, Yeah.

So that's something to look at. Goldman Sachs in two thousand, I want to say eighteen said that water will be the new petroleum. That's very scary too, right, So there's obviously something that they see and they know, and we're always the last to find out.

So this is a I mean it's a water story, but this is like a goban.

Yeah, so you're opposed to selling.

I am not going to sell like we come from. I'm going to move and change this narrative that we don't own anything if there is going this so water so scarce. We saw what happened in Flint, right, we saw what happened in even New Mexico. We see what happened in Africa, in northern Africa, all parts of Africa. So again I was telling you before that the largest part of the clean water source goes to our agriculture

Is you hear what they're doing. What they're taking salt watering and then turned it into drinking water.

Yep.

But again that's an amazing, amazing right, but if you look at desalination, it's super expensive, takes a long time to do, and the amount of energy that it costs to do that. It doesn't make sense because they're taking their clean water to exact so industry is the second sector. So the first sector most of our money goes to, I mean, our water goes to is agriculture. The second

I think people need to know, like how like if they can understand, like, okay, in one hundred.

Years, we're dead, like all right, So they're predicting wars are going I've heard and I'm bred and you guys can look at it. Look this up yourself. The next war will be over water because if we cannot make food to sustain ourselves, we're going to start fighting for survival.

Right.

So these are the things that we need to really look at and really take really really serious, very.

Serious crisis outside of America, Israel, Palestine, that's a major issue, and that's why they're doing that with the salt order. But that's one that they have a lot of issues obviously with that that's one of the main issues. Palestinians don't really have fresh water, and that's an issue Africa,

Feel that there was at one point where they had the Water for Life campaign and we started we start to see it and paid more attention to it, and it was like once we didn't hear about Water for Life anymore.

It was like people just kind of forgot about it. But the crisis has only gotten worse.

Ye look at California right with the drought. So these are the things that create the scarcity, so drought, pollution, population. We have the same amount of water that we did one hundred years ago, and we'll have the same amount of water one hundred years from now, right, and we continue to grow as a people, and we consume a lot. It takes fifteen thousand liters of water to make two pounds of beef, and we consume a lot of beef. So when I say, agriculture is not just growing food.

And it's like, you know, people like Elon Musk talk about colonizing Mars. It may sound like he's fantasizing, but he's dead serious. And it's like for a lot of different reasons, but we're we're already destroying earth and raping its resources at a vicious rate. So either we stop or we find somewhere else to live. So he's like,

They have to pay me to just live here, be the real It's crazy until it happens. Yeah, that's a fact.

No, I'm thinking about the agriculture because even if you look in some of these the Middle American cities and states, you just see that water just running and running all day, all day, just wasting water.

But what we see is like so big business. I have been approached by these larger companies like Saratoga Water was brought up by I Wanta se Pepsi a few years ago. So we're one of very few, and like, my goal is to stay an independent, minority water source because we see what our future, well not even our future. We've seen what history has history has shown us. We're at the bottom of the totem pole. We saw that

So being that it is a commodity, yep.

Long term, do you see yourself potentially going headed into the stock organ with this?

That could be a possibility. What we're doing super so what I couldn't sleep the other night. I was like up for like two days I couldn't sleep. So something dropped into my spirit and I'm like, Okay, I'm going to do a Kickstarter campaign, but I'm going to attack a coin to it. So for every something, yeah yeah,

It's a lot.

I needed to figure out how I can raise money to keep this in our community.

Yeah, you know that's what I mean.

I'm thinking to myself, right, they give it to me for or they didn't give it to me. I got it for one point five yep, millions getting offered within four months.

That's not typical. Less less than four months yep.

Yeap upwards of twenty upwards of twenty.

Better person to me.

Love with the water, y'all, I'm out of here.

A Lisia has been earned. Gotts go horrible yourself.

I honestly feel like God has made me a servant of water and I don't know what it is. Again, from the very beginning, I do not want to be in the water business.

He just went to get I want.

To taste water. But I feel like I was positioned for such a time and I feel like I'm a small piece of a big puzzle. Right because earn your leisure.

I feel like we should do all a fundraising campaign. We gotta do something earn Alesia water, something like that too. I feel like I believe in this situation. I'm thinking of massive pied too.

I know we like with like like Harley Kennon, but I'm if somebody's offering twenty mili, now imagine the five years.

Imagine what really worse? What is that brain? They probably worth five hundred millions.

And those are the numbers that they were kind of kind of telling me. So he thought I was going to be real simple and be like, oh yes, sir, please give me a box. Sorry, no, like I understood what I understand what I have. I did it initially, right. I came into this super blind. But I think because I think of because of who I am and why I'm in this space to help people. I know why I'm here. I know what I'm supposed to do. And we don't know what the next ten years is going

That's a fact. That's a fact.

No our solution on that, because that's definitely something that's commendable. And yeah, you know, keep your eyes and your ears open because you know, they play all kinds of games. Yeah, they try to fagle a situation and take the land. Happens all the time.

They try, they try, they try.

So you do y'all live up there now?

I moved up there. I moved up there in July so I could be close to the factory. So I'm about twenty fifteen, twenty minutes away, and I'm up there every day. I drive back and forth. I come down to the city on a Thursday. I'm back up there on Sunday night. So that's that's what I need to do possible. So I understand what the company needs at this point to make it great, right, to make it

Can change your life, shine, that's the fact. Six months to change your life.

Month Corona change your lives and obviously it's just's changed yours.

That's amazing, powerful, very enjoyable conversation. So how how can the people support? How can they find out more information? How can they buy the water? What's the social media website?

All that information?

So I'm at on Instagram, I'm at Paula McCarthy that's p a U. I guess you guys will put it on there too, right p a U l l A McCarthy m c c A r t h y. I'm at Paula McCarthy and then you can, I guess from there, we'll kind of funnel everything out of our instagram. My website is Youth Saving Society, and that's pretty much our I wanted to kind of keep these kind of things too a little separate, So Yes Water will have a landing page. It'll just be where you can go and

S S y s S.

Troy House keeping it on. Yeah.

First, I want to give a huge shout to our Boyfriencis.

He called me and said, true, I just met I just heard one of the most amazing people I've ever heard speak.

Wait, he's here speak at Clubhouse.

He heard on co House and he was like, a story is so dope. You got to hear it. I said, all right, man, sure. Two days later, Jamol calls me and says, Troy.

You got I just heard the story you ever heard of your life.

You got to meet this this this young lady and I said, all right, cool, I'm gonna call it, and then Jamoal called me four days ladies like you ain't calling I'm like, I'm gonna call it. So I want to give those two gentlemen credit. H So shout out to them and shout out to everybody on patreon dot com y'all know to start product pay program. Shout to all the earners out of T five that are part of E y L University, number one place for everything

Yeah for sure, Thank you guys for rocking with us. We'll see you next week.

Peace peace, My graduates from my school being forced back drop drop drop.

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