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. Don't wait any longer, speed up your hiring right now with Indeed, and listeners of this show will get a seventy five dollars sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed dot com slash pod Katz thirteen. Just go to Indeed dot com slash pod Katz thirteen right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need.
My graduates from my school being forced bad drop bag drop mic drop bad drop drops.
What's going on?
Ernest?
Look at twenty six I made one of the most important decisions of my life.
That's right.
I didn't have family at the time, but I did have a life insurance policy a wise man told me, life assurance isn't about the people who die, It's about the people who live. It's one of the best ways to secure generational wealth for your family's future, and it makes perfect sense why people get life insurance, especially term coverage, which surprisingly is affordable. Why not pay a little bit each month to secure the future of the people you
love long term. If you're asking yourself that question, I want you to check out Ladder. Ladder makes it impressively fast and easy to get coverage. You just need a few minutes in a phone or a laptop to apply. Ladder's out rhythms work instantly, so you'll know right away if you're approved for coverage. No hidden fees, and you can cancel any time. And since life insurance courts more as you age, now is the time to get started. So check out Ladder to day to see if you're
instantly approved. Go to Ladder Life dot com slash e y L that's l A D d e R Life dot com slash e y L that's latter life dot com slash e y L.
You know how this works.
Don't wait, don't hesitate, secure your family future right.
Now, all right, guys, welcome back, e y L. This is a special special edition. So there's a lot of backstory behind this. Todd Johnson a k A. T J and the Millionaire Mentor. So we are at his lovely home, thank you, let's not go to home mistake. So so we're in California right now, and we were here.
A couple of weeks ago.
So shout out to our guys cheat Code and they actually he told us that there was a white party going on, the all white party, and they're like.
Yo, you should come.
Like, well, we wasn't really invited, so I don't know, but he was like no, no, I'm sure they know. He wouldn't have a problem with you coming. So I'm like, all right, the long story show. We came, and I didn't know what to expect. It's like it's a party that we're all white.
Whatever, show up.
So we show up and it's like the best house I've ever seen in my life. And I'm like, where are.
We at right now?
Like waiting for Lebron James to come out of side, And as I'm walking out, I see a Ferrari, which I come to find out, is like worth like a million point.
Two million something like that one point two millions.
That that Parri is not the other. You know, there's two other cars here.
So when I when I came in TJ, it was, you know, a bunch of people around and he was given like.
Ted talk about the car, right, go it into the details of the car.
So it was it was it was his birthday gift for himself, right, and he gave a speech and so it was a whole I'm trying to paint the picture.
It was like a whole vibe going on, and I'm like, where am I at right now? And then lo and behold who do we see on the other side? Kick a wi.
So if you watch Eyl you're loyal, you know that she's somebody that we interviewed early on a couple of years ago. She had a unique business where she franchised stretching studios, and we put her.
On the episode was Dope.
She talked about the process of franchising, how to be a franchise or so I saw her and I'm like, this is interesting because she lives in Jersey. So you know, I went to go talk to her after and I'm like, hey, what's up. She's like, you know, there's a backstory to this. I'm like, what's the backstory? So there's a sticker on the Ferrari that says keek A, why Stretch Studios. So, come to find out, TJ, you know, watched ey l
episode with Kika. I guess he was impressed and ended up becoming an investor in her company.
And now you're a business partner.
That's right, that's right.
So that was a full surface, full circus moment for me. And I'm like, okay, we got an interview, tej A just off for the household, gave you instant credibility in my book. But then that story and then actually just getting to know you, you know, just a wealth of information. So this is going to be a legendary episode. I'm sure a lot of information, a lot of gym. So first and FuMO, thank you for having us.
Man appreciate you guys coming man, It's awesome. It was a surprised to see you guys, you know a little bit over. I saw you guys, and I saw you with Kika, and I was like, wait, they like Keika must have invited them, And so the story I got to tell you the story about like Kika, right, So you know, so I coach. I hope people I help entrepreneurs grow their business, and so I do one on
one thing and we do some group coaching stuff. And so at the time, I was really interested in enfranchising because I just thought it was a good opportunity for people to come up and build a business and I'd have to go through the struggles of starting from scratch. So, you know, I was just in the middle of that. I was just thinking about that and like studying some stuff.
And then I got this message from Kika. Right. I didn't know Kika, but I got this message from her, and it was like so I saw the message and then I sent a message back and she sort of said something ambiguous. I was like, okay, cool. So I went and looked and I saw the interview that you did with her, right, and I was impressed by her. Right. She was authentic, she was smart, you know, you know, she was straightforward, you know everything. And then I thought
she had a good business and assisted stretching. Hadn't heard of it, and I thought, you know, we started doing some research. So I started doing some research trying to figure all this out. And then I asked Kika. I said, Kika Why did you send me this message? How did you find me? She said, I sent the message by mistake.
I was sending it to a different teacher different so so so it's like this happened chance that I saw, you know, her message.
I knew who you guys were because you got are killing it, you know, doing all that, you know, great content interviewing entrepreneurs. So obviously you know, like check you guys out. But specifically I saw this episode and that episode got me to talk to Kika, and then we started talking right away, and then you know, uh, there was all types of synergy connected made the investment in the business, and now we work day every day, you know,
at building that business. So so I'm excited about that business. But we got him together. We came together because of you guys.
Yeah, you know.
And when I saw the logo on the car, yep, I said, the next car, we shall have a cigarette.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it. I love it.
So let's get into this. It's a lot of things I want to talk about.
But you were in the tech space at first, right, So you started off as a computer programmer.
But yeah, yeah, so so I basically from seventeen years old, got out of high school, went in the military, and started going to school a night, and went to school night to study computer science and uh and I, you know, took a lot of programming classes and all that sort of stuff and was getting out of the military, and and uh yeah, so I got out in the military, you know, and uh, you know, I had this early out sort of situation where you can get out early, and so it gave me a chance to like test
the waters, to go out and go, you know, I'm gonna get out. So when I figured I was going to get out, I went and started interviewing with people. And while I was in the military, I figured out that I couldn't become a general. I went in and listed. You know, that's not the.
You got to go to like school to become a general.
Yeah, and it's also very political. You got to go to the right schools, you to use more air force air force, and you have to have U war experience and all this sort of stuff, and you know, so it's very political things. So you can't like just progress and get in as an E one and then become like an officer and become a general. Even if you can switch over and become an officer. You're not going to progress up to become general. So once I figured that out, I was mad. It was like, I can't
get to the top, you know. So what I did is I figured out what the top guy I made in the military, and I went out and interviewed and I asked for that salary, right, which was ridiculous at the time, but I asked for that salary because I still had a job. And when everybody told me no, I was like, well, what do I need to do
to make that kind of money? And they would say, well, you need to have done this type of coding, you need to have written this kind of program and been successful anything down, right, And then I updated my resume and I created what I call a Ford looking resume, and then that became my roadmap. Right. So I went back. I started doing all that stuff to get that experience.
So then a year later I got out. I still didn't quite get the money I wanted, you know, but I started programming and all that sort of stuff and working and doing all the stuff. But that gave me the foundational stuff I needed to get the skill that I was able to use to build my company.
So at that point you're just finding the skills, listening skills, and then knocking them off because I read at one point you started building computers. Yeah, which is not a typical thing that people to do. So back in the day at what time period is just late nineties or.
So, it was like, uh, so I got out of the military and like, uh like ninety one ninety two, So.
What was it time I've got a military making at that point, So.
Like a six thousand all that's how they made a whole lot of like it got a lot of benefits, but that's what they made. So I was like eighty six thousand eighty nine. It was like eighty six eighty nine. So when I got out, I was like, that's what I want to make, you know, And people thought I was crazy, you know for asking for that, But it taught me a lot because you know, the ask for it. It didn't cost you anything to ask for it, you know, And then you can find out what you need to
do to get there. People are going to tell you know, you don't qualify, Well, you can't stop there if I don't qualify. Now what does it take for me to qualify? And so that was That was a huge key to me having a path to getting the skills that I need to build, because that was a huge that was really important to me as building skills, you know, because if I built skills, it didn't matter what kind of job I had. If I built skills, then I was going to be safe. I was going to be good.
What did that level of ambition come from? That's something that was taught to you. You watch somebody like maybe your parents or somebody that just instilled that.
Where did that come from?
You know?
I think my mom was My mom always was ambitious from a standpoint of you're supposed to win, You're supposed to be successful, you're supposed to win, even though she wasn't necessarily all that commercially successful. Right she was fourteen years old when she got pregnant with me and my dad. You know, I remember meeting my dad on the street. My dad was a his passion was boxing, so he's
a professional boxer, but not a successful boxer. So, you know, not being a successful boxer you don't make a lot of money. But I think just the environment that I grew up in, you know, it was a lot of in the South. I grew up in the South, and there was a lot of racism during the time that I grew up, and for me, I just wanted to beat you know, everybody around me that said I couldn't do it, you know. So, you know, so the white kids, I wanted to beat him. I mean, that was the
bottom line. I wanted to beat them. And so I think that spurred my competitive spirit and the fact that my mom, you know, you know, she was we kind of grew up together, right, you know, she's fourteen, you know, so we kind of grew up together a little bit, you know, and wanting to help her out and make sure her life was easier, you know. So that also spurred you know, ambition in me. I think way in the South Columbia, Columbia, South Carolinia. Yeah.
So all right, so you learn computer skills, you become a computer program Yep. There's a lot of people that have computer skills, but there's not a lot of people that have computer skills that become entrepreneurs.
I noticed.
I don't know why, but it doesn't really happen a lot. Sometimes it happens, but not a lot. How did you transition to becoming a CEO and actually, you know, running a company.
Yeah, so I think. So I work for this company, and I remember getting passed over for a job, and it didn't make sense when I got passed over, because I was so big on gaining skills that I would go to work at So I had a job where I worked from three to eleven at night, So I would go in at ten in the morning and work from ten in the morning until three and other departments, and I would gain skills in those other departments, and
then I would go work in my department. Right. I was volunteering at other things, right, and so and people aren't. People don't want to do that, which doesn't make sense to me because we'll go to school and pay to go to school, but we won't volunteer to get skills. And that doesn't make sense to me. Right. But for me, I was always on, let me get the skills because you can never take that away from me. Right. So I did that, and then I started using those skills
to improve my department. And do you know, do do things in our department that other people couldn't do or didn't want to do. Right. So there was a particular system that existed that wasn't really doing well, didn't give us the results that we wanted. We paid a lot of money for it, and I volunteered to take over the system. So I volunteered to take over the system, and I would just spend a lot of time running this thing, and then I would start getting good results
out of the system. So at some point there was a promotion announced. So at the time there was a promotion announced, everybody gathered around. Everybody the old TJ you know, congratulations bro, blah blah blah blah. And then Mike ends up getting the promotion. I was devastated, right, everybody like when the when the promotion was an now, they were like, oh you know that kind of thing, you know, yeah, And so at that time I was like, man, I was like disappointed. So I called my mentor told him.
He laughed at me, right, and he was like, well, sounds like it's time for you to go, you know. And so he started put my name out in different places. And when he did that, you know, I started get calls, you know. And so I got a call from what we call the Beltway bandit around DC, right where it was a government contractor kind of thing, and it was
kind of a sweatshop. You go, you work all these stupid hours, and then I got a job at I think Fanny mayor Freddy Mack or something like that, a really good, solid company where you had sort of a nine to five. You go work and you know, you do your thing. So I went and worked at the sweatshop, and I wanted to compete with those guys. So I worked at the sweatshop, worked all these hours, and as a result of doing that, I learned to be very
competitive in this particular tool. And with that the company went in a different direction with their tools. They got sold to Wang, and I ended up going off and building a company supporting that tool. So that's how I started. You know, it was based on my knowledge of this one particular technology, and I just leveraged that to say, hey, look,
you know, let me help you do this. And I think the biggest thing that I did that was a benefit was I didn't become like a lot of times people start a business right and they think because they're getting paid as an independent contractor, they're in business for themselves, and that wasn't That's not what I did. What I did is I would go in I would start a business, and I would say, I got these other people that can help me, do you know that do this work?
Even though I only had one other person that I would hire, you know, to do this stuff. So so I didn't get caught up in doing the work all the time. I would always hire someone and teach them to do the work. And that helped me build a business as opposed to just being an independent contractor.
So let's let's let's talk about that for a little bit. So you really were an independent contractor, but you was contracting somebody else. Yeah, yeah, so instead of you actually doing the work, you would take less money to hire somebody else, and that the theory is just free up your time and allows you to grow the business absolutely.
And you're training that person and the skills.
I would train that person, and even though it was a very proprietary thing and that person had no skills and I was better at that particular thing than this person, I would always tell the customer, this guy.
Is the expert.
He's really really good, right, So he would come alongside me smile and grin and you know, and then we would go back to the hotel at night, and then I'd be doing the work and showing him how to do it. And I did that onesie tuessies, and then you know, we got some momentum going and I could hire more people.
This is a prime example of one of the things I've heard you say before about smart work and hard work.
Yeah.
People think, oh, we just have to work smart, not hard, yeah, to get ahead. Yeah, but this story shows an example of both.
Yeah, right now, you.
Did the hard work, yeah yeah, and then you did the smart work, like I'm gonna you're gonna come in and I'm gonna hire.
You and just smile and he's done.
Is that something that you learned from the internship and the volunteering, combined with obviously now with the government contract and job.
I think it was just being hungry, right, just being hungry. You're going to find a way, right, and you're going to find a way. And for me, it was, you know, like, first their safety, right, let me make sure I have a have the skills that's going to take care of me no matter what happens. Right, So that was part of it. And then you want to be successful and you don't know what that means, you know, but you know it means that you had to make a lot
of money. You know, if you make a lot of money, then you know everything else to take care of your self. And so when people say work smart not hard, I believe that you got to do both. I don't believe that, you you know, I think all the people that are grinding, you know, like killing it, they're doing both. They're working really really hard and they're working smart, you know. So I don't think it's either or, But I don't know
where I learned it from. I think it's just a matter of just wanting to be successful and wanting to win. And so it's kind of like you build a game plan to win, right, So what's the game plan to win? You build it way up here, and you know that you're going to be able to beat this guy if you if you over build the plan, you know what I mean. So I think that's what I did.
So when when did they really start to scale? For you business?
The technology business? The technology business, early on, it was to be one person, two people, three people. And I didn't even get paid right for a long time, because I would always because you was.
Paying them and just for clarity. So this is actually like computer programming. You were like companies would pay you to help with the infrastructure.
System and integration shoff, Yeah, so we modify uh system and integrate it, right, So it would be really big companies. I think my big my first customers like Nationwide Insurance, you know, big customers, Nationwide Insurance. I had some little customers before that, but I learned a lesson because with the little customers, I would work, but then I wouldn't invoice, you know, because that wasn't my strength, you know, doing the paperwork. I hated that. So I would work, do
all this work, but I wouldn't invoice them. And then by the time I got to invoice in them, somebody's left the company. You know, I didn't have a good agreement in place, right, Yeah, you know that, you know. So, so I think my first big company was Nationwide Insurance. And then I bought on a couple of people, and then I forget who the second one was. But I would get a little company, little I would get these
contracts and bring on people. And then I think once I got around you know eight the you know eight people, ten people, I was making like decent money, right because I was even way back then you charged like one hundred and fifty dollars an hour for everyone, and then you make sure everybody had a six figure salary, you know, so that's fifty bucks, so you're still making one hundred bucks, you know, that kind of thing. So I think by the time I got to that point, I could hire
more people, like salespeople and things like that. And once I hired salespeople, I was able to scale, you know, faster.
To sales people. Was actually marketing your services to companies. Yeah, I was going to ask you, how did you how did you attract companies to just at the begin a cope on.
No, In the beginning, what I would do is instead of going to the customer directly, I would go to a bigger company and subcontract to them, right, So I would subcontract to the people that was I had the primary contract with Nationwide or Chase or IBM or whomever. So I would go to those people that already had an agreement and a relationship, and then I would go in and help solve a problem for them. And so it was easy because you know, they needed people like us,
you know, you know, they needed the technical skills. So I would go find those people and then at some point I began to market directly to the companies myself.
So I said, so all right, so it's like.
Nationwide is using x Y and Z Computer Services to handle that that technique. So instead of you going to Nationwide, you went to x Y and Z computer Services and like, look I can help you guys, yep, and then they and then learning that system. At some point in time you do get a contact with Nationwide which allows you to go directly to Nationwide.
Yeah, at the point, yeah, at some point you'd be able to go directly Nationwide if you know your contract, you know, if you had the non competes and stuff, as long as you honored that stuff, you know, or it gave you the ability to create create revenue that allowed you to hire other people to go get other gigs, you know what I mean. Even if you didn't go back to Nationwide, you can go other places, you know.
So that was my strategy initially. It's like we were kind of invisible to everybody for a long time because we would go in and we would price Waterhouse. We would have their card, Delloye, we'd have their card, you know, and we just had to have a bunch of cards with my name on it, you know, you know, because those were the people I was I was marketing to because there was a lot fewer of them and they already had that. So it was easy, right because I could go to you and be like, hey, look you
can help you make money. Right by bringing us in, there was a win for them.
So as you're scaling it and you've got it to a point now you're making money, I'm thinking now, when you started the business, was it indivision like I want to get it to this point and then perhaps move on from it.
If you did another one.
So what was that point and was that the initial thought when he started?
So when I initially started my business. I so at some point when I started my business, I had this weird conversation with someone, right they it was this company that wanted me to come work for them, and the guy did a whole lot of work to try to convince me that I couldn't build a business, right, So, you know, I remember him and his partner taking me to dinner and going, hey, look, you don't want to do all this invoice and you don't want to build a sales team, you don't want to do all these
things and you're not going to be good at that. You're a technical guy, you know. So so I remember having dinner with them, right, I can't say the name, I can say the name Black. He motivated me right so much. And so what we did is we had dinner and they were telling me that they want me to come work for them and give up my dream of building a business. And I wasn't willing to do that, you know. So we're having this nice dinner at stay Over Steak and then they were like, come on, man,
everybody has a number. So he was like, you know, push over like a piece of paper, that whole thing, right, push over a piece of paper, just write down your number, you know. And they wouldn't let it go. So I finally, on the paper wrote down what it would take for me to work for them and not to build company. So I wrote down a million dollars, right, and then I slid it back to them, and it was like
just like this. It was like two guys at dinner and they're looking at me, and they looked at the paper million dollars and then they looked at each other and they laughed and I didn't, right, I laugh And then they were like, and then they became my enemy, right, and I wanted to beat them, right, And I just wanted to beat them. That's all I thought about every single day. And the only problem is I wish their
company was like one hundred million dollars. That their company was probably only about a thirty million dollar company or something. And so for me, I remembers being at a conference together and I was on a big jumbus tron and I was getting these awards, you know, and it was clear that I was my company was more recognized than their company, and we had, you know, more clout in the space, and I knew we were bigger than them. And at that point, it was like somebody burst the balloon, right,
because all the air was out of myself. I didn't have any other target. So I went through a period of years where I was like ship, you know, I beat those guys, you know, and I didn't have a good target. So uh so, yeah, I twirled around for a little bit and then I had to get back on track at some point. But that was my target, and that was my motivation for a long time. I wanted to beat you know, uh Rose in Black.
You know, I see the comic team here. You wanted to beat the kids? You want to? Yeah?
Yeah, So at what point do you start playing an exit strategy to sell your company?
So that's the thing. So, like, literally, I didn't have an exit strategy, right. I didn't have a mentor. I didn't have a coach that could, you know, coach me around that stuff. I had a coach around sales and different things, but not in terms of business and what I should do, what I should look for. In fact, with my exit of Intact Technology, I left too late.
I should have left a lot earlier, right, because I would have had more freedom to go off and build the things that I'm building now and I've built, right, So I didn't have an exit strategy. I just at some point, you know, got sort of tired going, all right, you know, I'm in this company. I'm not sure I like it anymore. You know, I don't like what I'm doing because it's like I didn't have anybody to be you know, so what am I here doing?
You know?
And then you felt I felt like I was solving the same problems over and over again. And so at some point, retroactively, I had to create an exit strategy. You know, kind of figure out, Okay, what am I going to do now?
So you said you left too late, and so can you explain that a little bit Because of timing is key, especially in business and acquisitions and things like that. How did you know that it was too late? Was it something that to be like, you know what I should have left?
Then?
Yeah? Well, well, you know, you you probably want to sell. You know, a lot of times you you can probably sell your business before you think you can, right. You think you've got to have everything in order and all, you know, and and that's not true. Right, So that's one So I should have started to educate myself on that process, part to excuse me, part to me doing it. Uh, you want to do it when you're not tired, right, you know, because what happens is the entrepreneurial journey. You're
going to get tired at some point of that. And just as an entrepreneur, a lot of times you're moving around.
You know, you're like I like this, I get And entrepreneurs have their talented people, so they can do a lot of different things, right, And one of the problems with entrepreneurs you'll I know, you guys have you know, you deal with so many different entrepreneurs put their hands in so many different things, you know, and it's hard to really maximize a particular opportunity if you're doing that, and so, and that was the case with me. I was like, Oh, let me go off and build this
construction business. Let me go off and build this other thing, and so, as opposed to just amplifying what I was already doing in this one company and selling it a little bit before I wanted to. Right So, if i'd have done that, I think I could have made even more money on the exit, and not only make more money on the exit, it would have been probably a
more pleasant process. Right by the time I exited the company, I felt like I was fighting every single day for like two and a half years, you know, of going through the exit process, you know. So so it took a lot out of you, right because you're you know, you're like holding on to your life or this thing. Whereas when you're you know, kind of at this point where you still have the energy and the company still
has the momentum. The company still had great momentum when I left, but I didn't have the energy for the company anymore. Right, So, by the time I left, I was like, man, I'm ready to go, you know, and so and you give up leverage at that point. If you're if you're still willing to run the company for five more years, you haven't given up leverage, you know. But if you're in a place where you're ready to go, you know, you're giving up a lot of levels.
And you said sale process for two years, So I imagine you at least you're going to work every day life.
Well, for me, I moved to the Dominican Republic, and I would go back and forth from DC and the Dominican Republic, and I invest in the hotel. There's a restaurant. I started collecting property and stuff like that and doing other things, and I installed a president and a chief operating officer and all those things. So it was for the last at least seven years of my my tenure, and intact I was hands I was pretty much hands off.
I signed checks, you know, I had checks uber to me bro like, you know, you're in a bad place where you got the checks uber to go to the office. I didn't have an office in my in the new space. I didn't even you know, it was I didn't even care first I did. So. Yeah. So so I think the lesson for me now is I know the entrepreneurial journey a little bit more because I've gone from from founder to exit. You know, I've done it a couple of times, and so I can recognize the journey a
little bit better. So having said that, like if I'm coaching an entrepreneur, I say, bro, you know, package this thing up, be ready to sell it. You know, uh, get some realistic numbers. When I say realistic, realistic is a bad word when you talk entrepreneurs. But understand the value of your business and what causes the value to go up and down. You know.
So as far as selling a business, we've been getting educated. It's like, depending on what industry you are, the multiples of that. But tech, they said, is like multiples go through the roof.
It can, Yeah, it can. It depends like in my space, if you have like like privileged contracts or government contracts or contracts that are hard to get, or you have proprietary software, you know things. You know, so there's certain things that causes that that multiple to go up. And you know, as an entrepreneur, a lot of times we're just trying to what are we trying to do. We're
trying to make the math work. We're trying to make all the stuff work, and there's something left over at the bottle, and we're trying to make that number bigger. And whereas, uh, if we were also focused on the multiple and what causes that multiple to go up and and all that sort of stuff. There's so much we don't know about selling a business and how to sell a business and how to prepare for it that it impacts how we run the business, you know.
So what's one thing that people should know as far as you just said something that was profound, like it affects how we run the business because I'm assuming what you mean by that is like, if we knew what it takes to sell a business, we would be running businesses differently because we'd be running it with the anticipation of selling it. So what are some mistakes that people make because they're not thinking about selling or it is not prepared to sell it.
Yeah, So there's there's a number of things, but like one of them is you know, the you know, just running your business, uh, you know, more efficiently so that you're looking at abadah, you know, So like sometimes people have staff, you know, on their team that's not helping them, right, So you know, let's let's just take a number one hundred thousand dollars, right, but if you're multiple is ten,
that person costs you a million dollars. So if that persons on your payroll when you're trying to sell your business, that's a million dollars, you know what I mean. So you know you're going to think about that that, you know, being wasteful in terms of the people on your team a little bit differently, you know. So you know, so you have to be efficient. So sometimes it's like, you know, I got this person on my favor role, I got this person on my payroll, but it's okay, it doesn't
matter because they're close to me, they're family. I'm taking care of them. But when you're selling your business, whatever that number is, times, whatever that multiple is, you know, that's that's what that's what you're going to miss. You know.
As an example, that's a pretty that's a really great example because somethinking now, especially if you're building a tech company and evaluation is maybe twenty x person thousand, So.
Now you got to convince somebody that that person's really not necessary on your team and you have to you know, that's something that you're going to deduct, you know, yeah.
Yeah, No, just being more efficient, Yeah.
That's one, Yeah, being more efficient. Also the other thing is coming up with you know, intellectual property that causes your your multiple to go higher, right, coming up with programs or systems or things that you know, you know, make it more. We have a supplement company, right, so, uh, and that's based on you know, creating products as science
based and and and so science and outcome based. Right, so we want to make sure, but we want to make sure that some of that stuff is proprietary that somebody else can't just go do that, right, So having proprietary formulas and things like that is going to help our business sell more in terms of the multiple.
Later because everybody can't do it.
But yeah, you can't do it. How are you going to produce that? You can't produce it? You don't know what it is. You know, it's a secret, it's special, you know kind of thing.
So what was the journey after you sold your company?
Well, when I sold my company again, like I was already uh, you know, mentally gone, you know from my company and me and my business partner JJ, we had already started another company at least ten years earlier, you know, and so and that company was already making, you know, in terms of revenue or income or BottomLine, you know, a lot of money, you know, and so uh so, and a part of me was when I built the tech company, I was always concerned that because I was absentee,
you know, at the at the end, that something may happen, right, something may happened and I lose the company or lose control or something like that. So I was then hell
bent on building another company that replaced this income. So by the time I sold that company, right, I was prepared to, you know, to not get anything from it because we were already making so much money in the other businesses that we built and so so it was just honestly, it was like, you know, it was you know, I think we had some few conversations between me and you know, the guys I ended up selling it to. You know, I had a bunch of few conversations, and
I was like kind of done with the thing. And I remember saying, guys, they didn't call me anymore. I'm done, you know with this whole negotiation. It was really intense, and I remember going to the airport and saying, I don't even care, Ernest, what's up.
You ever walk into a small business and everything just works like the checkout is fast, there are seats of 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 business with confidence, all from one simple system. If you're a business owner or even just thinking about launching something soon, Square is hands down one of the best tools out there to help you start, run and grow. It's not just about payments, it's about giving you time back so you can focus
on what matters most ready. To see how Square can transform your business, visit Square dot com backslash, go backslash eyl to learn more that Square dot com backslash, go backslash eyl. Don't wait, don't hesitate, Let's Square handle the back end so you can keep pushing your vision forward.
This episode is brought to you by P Bank. A lot of people think podcasts about work are boring, and sure, they definitely can be, But understanding a professional's routine shows us how they achieve their success little by little, day after day. It's like banking with P and C Bank. It might seem boring to save, plan and make calculated decisions with your bank, but keeping your money boring is what helps you live or more happily fulfilled life. P
and C Bank Brilliantly Boring since eighteen sixty five. Brilliantly Boring since eighteen sixty five is a service mark of the PNC Financial Service Group, Inc. P and C Bank National Association Member FDIC.
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 off of.
Now, Coach one more question play than you. Los Angeles Chargers San Francisco forty nine ers and Los Angeles ram scratchers from the California Lottery. A little play can make your day peacely responsible. It must be eighteen years or older to purchase plate or claim.
Yeah, I'll just run this thing whatever, right, And I remember getting this text and said x amount had been wired to my account, and I think, you know, this whole big release was like and I think, yeah, I think I just cried. You know, I think I cried. Man. I was like, this is like crazy, you know, it was so cool. I hadn't designed anything, you know, but they knew I was so done because of the few conversations that were we began to have that they were like,
let's get this man his money. Yeah, yeah, because he might blow this whole thing up. And I had to leverage to blow the whole thing up because you know, we were making too million dollars a month and another company, you know, so I was good, you know, I was okay.
So you were ready to walk away because you already had yeah, because you already I.
Had leverage, right, yeah. And so a part of the process was I had lost leverage because I wasn't seeing our customers, I wasn't in front of our employees, most of the employees. I wasn't in front of anybody anymore and didn't want to be. So I had lost leverage, right, and the folks that were buying the company knew that. And so we went through this whole health process of the you know, selling the company, and at some point I had to go, you know what, I actually don't
need it. You know, I'll still be good. It would be nice to never have to think about working again. But but I'm okay, you know. And so when I so, you got to keep leverage, you know, in terms of business, right, and.
So I have to look at the wire and it's tears of joy because of what's being lifted up your shoulder. Yes, it's the move now, you know where I have a business with my partner. Let's double down and just try to make this thing grow, or let's be innovative and create something else again.
I think I took a little bit of a you know, some mental break, right, and then it was like I think I started going, you know, I do short tank, you know, TJ South, you know, and start looking for companies to buy and invest in and things like that, and so and a lot of I do spend time doing that, and I say no more often than I don't. Kick as an example where I didn't say no, right, But you know, I looked at a deal just yesterday
May before. That's a really interesting deal. But but I'm careful because I got to make sure that my team can support whatever I say. Guys, let's let's let's take this on and do it. So the marketing team, the guys that write content or write copy, the guys that write, uh, you know that that do the content, guys that do email marketing, the guys that you know, strategy, all that stuff. I got to make sure that we are on point, can do move the work and if I want to
make the investment right. So so I still look at a lot of deals. I just say no to most of them.
What do you I mean, since you say no to them most of them, what is it that you're looking for to make you say yes?
I'm looking for something that we could scale, you know, something that like with with KICKA, we're able to put together a plan and go, we can make this a nine figure you know thing right, we can make this a nine figure business if we you know, make the investment and do the work right, we can, we can, we can do that right and I got to and
we can see a path to that. So if we do something and it's going to make you know, you know a few millions, obviously, I'm not going to do that right because we have other opportunities that are are much greater. So so one the CEO or the founder who's that person, right, because you're investing in people and the ideas and then their ability to execute. One of the things about KICKA she's fast, she gets everything done super fast. She does what she says she's going to do.
Most people aren't that way. So so you're looking for something. So some things are so early that it's going to take you know, three or four years before you get to revenue, you know, profit, And so I'm not really looking for that right now. You know, maybe later, but not right now. So something that we're saying, oh, this makes money, but it needs X, Y and Z, and we can fill in those gaps. And that makes sense to me.
You spoke about your supplement company and business part of JJJ can talk about can talk about that situation?
Yeah, JJ is a rock star, you know, so JJ is one of the most prolific authors in you know, nonfiction offer authors like in the last ten twenty years, right or of the she's the top ten or twenty authors ten years.
I'm going to go because otherwise she start throwing. Yeah. So, in fact, we just did a whole auction last week with JJ, and so it's like speed dating, right. So we go off and we talked to all these these publishers and the nice thing is is like right now for publishing, there's been better times for publishing in terms of advances and stuff. But we did this whole speed dating thing and it's really cool because when you're sitting next to JJ and you're doing it, they're pitching you.
You're not pitching them, you know.
And so just today we got a pretty big offer for one of her books, to create a book. But she's the author of ten Day Green Smoothie Clans, which is has a cult following, so millions and millions of books in at least twenty one different countries. It was on the New York Times list for fifty four weeks in a row. You know, she's on doctors a lot, and she's uh, you know, we call her a Michael Jordan of execution because she just gets stuff done, you know. Yeah,
so she's she's yeah, it's funny. She's my ex wife, she's my best friend, she's my business partner, and so it's a weird combination of those things, you know.
So obviously is part of team you spoke about some of you said you have to go over if the team would be able to execute the vision of your investment.
Who are these team members?
Like, how many teams, How do people make up the team, and what are some of the roles.
That you have.
So we have a couple of content guys that are like people that do video, photo, social media stuff. We have a sales guide person that does co calling and you know that kind of thing. We have a person that does email marketing. We have two people that do that kind of thing for different brands. We have you know, people that do graphics stuff and put that stuff together. We have the strategy guys. We have ad buyers. I'm sure I'm missing some folks, but yeah, we have support
group in the Dominican Republic. So for any of our products, whenever someone buys something from us, they have an issue or whatever. We have a team of four people in the Dominican Republic that answers all their questions. We have, you know, for the J. J. Smith brand, we have a Facebook group of about eight hundred and fifty eight hundred and sixty thousand people, so we have twelve ambassadors that help answer every question in that group. So yeah, we have a number of people on our team that
makes up our marketing team. So essentially that's what we are as a marketing team. We just have brands that sit on top of them.
So let's talk about this because, like I said, it's interested you were married, you're not married, but you're still business partners.
How has that worked out?
And can you talk about that dynamic because like I said, it's a very unique situation.
Yeah, yeah, it is very unique.
Man.
We uh so, JJ and I met at a job interview Intact Technology, right, She we met at a job interview so many years ago. She came in.
I was like, damn, So so we met and I think she thought I was like, you know, and so uh, we talked, We talked.
I ended up like canceling all my meetings and stuff. So we just kept talking. And then after that, she says, look, are we're going to date? Are we're going to work together? You know, she was just straight up. I was like, you know, we decided we were gonna date. So she went to work for booz Allen. And she was working for booz Allen. I think she must have worked there for a week or something. And so, so she's working for booz Alan. They wanted to have her to go
to England. She was into Washington, DC area because she was coming down from New York back to the DC area, and they wanted her to go to England. And she was like, I don't think So I met this dude. And so, by the way, when we met, I was helping her look for an apartment, right, So I was helping her look for an apartment. I said, why am I helping you look for apartment? Just moving with me? I think this was day one. This is day one, right, So that's a card, right right, right? So I remember
she said no, So she quit the stop. She didn't even tell me. And then she says, I'm going to work for you. And I said, well, there's a problem because I can't afford you, right, Because we hadn't got to that part. She made one hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year, and that was like seventeen years years ago kind of thing, right, and I was like, you know, I can't afford you. You know, she said, I work
for free, what you know. So that lasted about two weeks because I had to tell her what to do, and youre telling her what to do, she was gonna have to get paid, you know. So, uh see, I ended up having her, and she ended up getting equity in the company. So when we exited, she also was paid, you know, from from that exit. So it was a wee thing. So so, yeah, so she was worked in
the company. She ran services, you know, all of that, like all the people that went out and did work got it was a billable And at some point she came to me and uh and some so so so that that so we were like hanging out for about four years living together, and then we got married and that lasted for about two days. You know, the lasted for about eight months, I think, and then she like you know, came home. She's like, I'm moving, you know. So she moves about a mile away, and we continue
to be friends and stuff. Right, It's like she moved the mile away like day before my birthday or something. And then yeah, and then A little bit later, she turned to me and she said, look, I wrote this book, right, she got weirds. I hadn't seen it for a while, but she's writing a book. So I came to the apartment. She had this book, a manuscript, and she gave it to me and she said, read this. I said, what is it? She said, wrote book. I was like, you're
not an author. She said, well I am now. And then I said, okay, let me take it and I'll read it. She's like, no, this is the only copy. This is it. You got to read it. I'll read slow. So I'm like sitting there and she's like one time.
Yeah.
So I'm sitting there like reading. She's sitting there watching me as I read this thing. Right. So after I read this book, so we go the whole time I read this book, and then she says, I need you to help me sell it. I said, I don't know, should buy selling the book? She said, well, you're the best businessman I know, so you know I knew you would say that. So she gave me a whole other stack of things to read right, to study how to
sell books and stuff. And then that was the birth of the JJ Smith brand and so we're like, Okay, we're gonna sell this. So we started building her brand, you know. And yeah, and now has been millions of books, millions and millions and millions of all that we were
looking at. Just in our supplement company, we looked yesterday, the day before and we have three hundred thousand unique people that have bought supplements from us, three hundred thousand and so yeah, so we've done a whole lot together. So we built that, we built this and at this point, even with Kika, she's my partner in that, but she completely trusts me in terms of my ability to vet out of business and to go we're investing in this, you know kind of thing, and.
It's like, obviously all the guidance, the JJ and you offer the guidance Kio.
I'm sure there's plenty of other entrepreneurs that you're offered. Guys.
So when you were creating businesses and there was mistakes, did you have in your mind always that you know it, I'm going to help the next person not make these mistakes.
And is that how we got Inopportuit?
Yeah? So so in Hot Pursuit came about as a result of us working together with Jay did it was like, you know what, I ought to be helping people build stuff, because I was anyway, you know, it just wasn't doing it formally. And so I mean because at the end of the day, even when you look at intact, it's like you're helping, coaching, mentor entrepreneurs and putting them in place to run things. Even in in you know, car washing business that I built, even in the construction business
that I built. You know, I wasn't out swinging a hammer. I don't know anything about that, you know. So you're always mentoring coaching people. So that's a big part of what where that came from was let me, let me figure out how to do this faster, because every time
you do it, you do it a little bit faster. And so I don't know that it was like this intentional thing, like man, I'm just going to help this guy, because I think sometimes people say that it's kind of disingenuous, right, It's like, you know, I'll hear people talking about they're coaching people in four X, they're coaching people in this It's like, why are you doing this if they make X amount of money? Well, they just want to help
that person, Like man, that's okay. Yeah, sure, you know it doesn't make sense sometimes, you know, But for me, you know, I have a program where I do this partner for a day and people come in and we just sit down, we just go through the whole business. I act like I'm the partner because I act as though if I'm buying this business, how would I scale it? And with that experience, I'm able to help people navigate certain things that I've already feeled at, you know, or learned to do. Well.
You know this as well. What's your philosophy in real estate?
I know you got a lot of doors on the East Coast and then the hotel and the Dominican Republic. I want to ask about that. How did you get into real estate? What's your philosophy?
Yeah, so so in Dominican Republic. I invested in the hotel and the Dominican Republic in that sense, you know, didn't turn out great. I have a property in the Luxury Collection at the Dominican Republic, which is a hotel, and I just own you know, some property there. Uh my. I look at real estate as a way to to to manage taxes. So it's huge tax thing is a
way to bound leverage. Right, So with real estate you get to bound leverage and you get to you know, depreciate stuff, and so there's a lot of tax benefit. So if you're making money, you're going to have to be in real estate, right. I think that you know, you know, I think you you you buy real estate as an asset, which means you use it to make money. You know, where you live is not an asset, you know, and you can lease that, you can rent that, you
don't have to buy that, you know kind of thing. So, but you use it to diverse about your portfolio, use it to manage your taxes, and you use it to create passive ways to make money. Now there's a path that says people like I'm going to go out and I'm a real estate guy, and that's what I'm doing. I have one hundred and almost one hundred and sixty keys, you know, in terms of real estate. But I don't consider myself a real estate guy, you know, even though I have a lot of real estate.
You know, so you green card don't had a similar type of philosophy, and a lot it goes against a lot of people that you know, middle class grow up thinking like you know, work your whole life in a home, and that's your biggest asset. But you don't think like a residential home is an asset. No, No, it's not bringing you any money.
It's not making money, so it's not an asset. It's you know, and and it's only an asset when you sell it, then it's a it's an asset if you know a lot of you know people, you know, I did a YouTube piece on one of one of the real estate things and you see the comments like, you know, I can buy this in I don't know, South Dakota, or I can buy this in wherever right for whatever amount of money and it's never going to appreciate value. You're going to buy it. So how much of an
asset is that? Or I'll be able to pay it down and then you can borrow against it, so there's some value in that. So I'm not knocking anybody for that. It's just that's great, But that's not the way to go fast wealth or or or or exponential wealth. So you talk about your meaning your your your own home.
One of the things you talked about is getting the keys to having real will, So you kind of talked about it obviously maybe real estate is part of it.
What it's some keys for people to attain real wealth.
Yeah, leverage and skills. So skills, I think people have to have high paying skills, talent, something that they can that the world season's value, not just your mom, you know the world season's value. Right, So there's commercially valuable. Uh,
and then you apply leverage to it. So so for me, if I'm just a technologist, right coding, I make good money, but the leverage comes from me being able to say, let me sell services and I can either make a product that I can sell over and over and over again. That's leverage, or I have services that I can have these other people do. Now I've added leverage to it.
And I think some people so sometimes people aren't entrepreneurial, right, Entrepreneurs find a way to add levers to whatever it is that they're gifted at or talented at or whatever. So I think that is you know, you know, obviously investments, you know, in real estate is just one of those, but it can be a it can be a skill too, write like where people go, oh, I know how to pick properties and know how to like you know, GC,
I know how to do all these things. You know, I have a buddy named Tom that I partner with and that's his thing. He's a developer and he's really good at that, you know. But yeah, I think high paying skills leverage is the path for most people.
Yeah, so let's say the first one, because I think it was a great quote self. People all the time, if you want to have a job in the future, find skill that can't be automated.
So you said that high paying skill. There's a difference between that and a high paying job. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So high paying job is you have this situation, somebody's paying you for this situation. I can hire my cousin, my nephew, my niece, you know, and pay them well because I like them or it's a cool situation. But they can't replicate that somewhere else easily, right, And that's a high paying job, right. And I'm obviously, you know, like I'm magnifying that the fact that they're family and
I'm giving them a job. And I feel like a high paying job is something someone gave you, right, whereas a high paying skill, you're solving a problem for people, right. And because you're solving that problem for people, you solve that problem for this person, this person, this person or this person, and they're all going to pay you the same kind of money because you're solving that problem that is is it is not easy to solve. So that's a high paying skill.
So what made you get into YouTube? And what what what value do you find social media? YouTube? How's that working out?
Zero man?
You know?
So YouTube is a couple of things, right. It's a platform to kind of share certain things that I love, right, and I love business, I love cars, you know, And so as I was building the in Hot Pursuit TJ Millionaire mentor brand, you know, it was it's light because I can go on and say the same things, right, But unless you show certain things where people go they want to see the end results, they want to see hear the process, and they're not going to listen to
you until you show that you're credible. Right. So if I show you know, you know, eight million dollars worth the cars, ten million dollars with the cars, whatever it is, then people go, oh, this guy you know knows what he's talking about. But all at least listen, you know, I think with you it was like we put the logo on the car. We got ten leads for a franchises, you know, whereas you know, okay, cool, you know, there's
there's some more credibility in this thing. But but it was this thing that you know it, look, I'm passionate about cards, I'm passionate about racing and all that. So it was a way to share some of that, right Otherwise I keep it bottled up, and JJ was.
Like, show your card to this.
To that, I was like, you know, you know, as opposed to getting up and just talking about you got. The thing that's amazing about you guys is you guys do none of that you get on his facts business listen, it down to talking about, hey, entrepreneur, what do you have to say? What do you have to teach?
Teach us?
You know, And so kudos to you guys, cause you guys don't have to have any of that sauce to do what you do, which is hard.
Yeah.
Sure, And that's one of the things that we was, well, we was real conscious about early on, was like I respect the lifestyle marketing, but I felt like our pathway was more just education and it's something that's worked and it's something that you know, it's kind of easy to keep up because all we have to do is provide information. We don't have to provide lifestyle. So you might not want to provide lifestyle that day, or you might be you know what I'm saying, You might just have a
day we just want to chill. But if people kind of know you for that, you always got to stay on brand, right.
They can't they can't catch it at the supermarket if you're not doing doing.
No.
I mean that's I mean, kudos, man, that's awesome because you know, like and I think in that you got to be patient right, just through it and build up and you know, in terms of the way you guys have done it, which is awesome.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
We would be remissed if we didn't metter this. That's that at the Amazing White All White party, you called us. You called me over there. I said you gotta come see so I said, you said you gotta come taste my tequila.
Yeah, how did you get into the tequila business?
Let's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so tequila man. So I'm just like, so it's funny because I'm not a heavy drinker, but when I drink, I drink tequila right, and I drink it straight. So as a result of drinking tequila straight, you know, you end up buying the tequila that's smoother, you know, and more refined. So one thing about tequila that most people don't know, like the aequila, tequila is made from a gave plant, right, and so gave takes four to seven years to mature before you can harvest
it and make tequila. Even like white tequila that ain't you know that that might not be very refined or very smooth. So let's say it's not four years, it five years, right. So for me always like that really super smooth stuff, you know, which you know might be a five year tequila. So that's ten years to make that tequila, right. So I always liked the craftsmanship of tequila right and the process of doing it. And you know, I don't drink a lot, so I'll drink the tequila slow,
chill with it. And so I started doing tequila talks Todd, right, So I would do tequila dogs with Todd and so I would do that and people liked it, you know, and that just amplified the fact that you know, this dude likes tequila, and so I decided as a part of you know, I've always said, but there's not the right tequila's out there. So I wanted to go down and go to a Listo Mexico and figure it out. And so that's what I did. I went down and
started figuring it out. And then I was like this kind of as a hobby, really there's something as a little boutiquish sort of thing. And then when I was down there, one of somebody knows me is partner with someone who's a billionaire, and he was like, hey, TJ is doing this tequila thing. You know, Hey TJ, let's talk about this. You know, maybe we can do something together.
That was like wait a minute. You know, I was just playing, you know, making something really cool, like small, and now you know I have this this this person who's interested in putting it in all of their restaurants and and you know they own a sports team, and it was like cool, you know, let me you know, kind of pursue that. You know. So that's how that started. You know, it is really out of just a passion a love for tequila, really good tequila though, you know.
Yeah yeah, so yeah, so that's that's how I started.
Man, so what's the plans you're showing it online.
I'm still developing. So still developing right now. So you know, I partner, I found someone to partner with that that has a great history and in making tequila and cultivating agave and so so now I'm trying to figure out, you know, my specific flavor profile and so that's a little bit of a process. So so yeah, and so right now it's like we're designing a bottle and all that, and so it's a little early stages of it.
Yeah, and then when you have house parties, you can always have a drinking choice.
Yes, yeah, yeah.
It only makes sense. So what's what's next for you? What's what's on your vision board for the next five to ten years.
Yeah, the next couple of years. I mean, we're we're building out the supplement company. We're growing Kika. You know, we have a marketing company where we market we work differently. We instead of like charging your fee, we do it for equity, right, and so that's sort of the relationship there. So those are the three, you know, entities that I'm really really you know involved in. So I mean I will continue to invest in real estate, you know, but
in terms of business. Those are the things that that that that I'm focused on is building out those and those are big. You know, you just got to focus and be successful in those things.
Your first love, your first passion, is a lot of them here with cars.
So we can't go.
Anywhere without the cars.
I'm not sure how many I've seen here? How many cars you have total? What's the number of the fleet?
Yeah?
How many more sports cars? Are we going to do? Were raising what we're doing?
Man, I'm racing for sure, you know, I'm racing for sure. So I'm in the I'm participating in the Florid Challenge, and the Florid Challenge is you know, it's what we call spec series, which means all the cars are the same. So it's about talent skill, you know, to to win because all the cars are the same. You know, they look they might look different in terms of livery, you know what's on the car, but all the exhaust of
breaking the tires, all that's the same. So I'm doing that series and I'm the only black guy in the Ferrari Challenge series, and so you know, I'm excited about that. Man. That's uh yeah, where's that? Yeah? So it's uh yeah. So we race the first race is in Coda Circuit of Americas, which is where they do the Grand Prix with like Lewis Hamilton and all those down there this weekend. So that's the first race in March, and then the
second race is in Daytona. The third work race I think is in New York Watkin Glenn and then we do Montreal where they do the the F one race. We're like the undercard for the F one race, and then a couple other places after that. So so there's a series where you race all these different places and depends on how you end up points. You go to the World Champion, you go to the World tamp and ship with Nah it will be we don't know because they announced it. So to either be in Asia or to be in Europe.
Who's the owners of these cars? Regular? Like yeah, Like they're not like race car drivers, like people like you like that.
Just have like what you're trying to say.
What I'm saying, I'm saying like as far as like this is people that's like really passionate.
Yeah, but they're like entrepreneurs, business people.
Yeah, they're all business people man, because it's uh, you know reality is I mean, you could probably do the series, you know, on the cheap side, about six hundred thousand dollars a year or so, but it's gonna cost you know, a million dollars a year, and million dollars a year.
You have to to pay, you have to pay.
I have some sponsorship, like you know, I have uh, some sponsorship by Ferrari Rancho Mirage. They're paying you know, certain things. So a little bit of sponsorship. You know, Hey, y'all welcome to sponsors.
That you know so so, but let me ask you this.
You're paying.
That's a lot of money to cars, a lot of money. But how's the coaraderie networking? Is it a great networking too?
It is?
It is. Last like a couple of weeks ago, I met a roth child, you know, like you know, I met a guy that's like an era of like clocks, right, you know, we went into you know, you know, check this stuff out. You know, like his garage is crazy. You know, uh, you know all types of like people that you meet. This amazing, right, Like I was telling you the guy, uh, my neighbor Sam, you know, the guys that you know, I don't know if these guys
want me telling them their stuff. But you know, all these guys you know, have done this race and so yeah, so you're you're you're doing this with some amazing entrepreneurs and and so you're building relationship with people that you otherwise wouldn't be able to build, you know, because imagine like, I mean, you're already in the club, right, You're you're already you know, Okay, you're all for right, but now you're racing, you know, and this group of people all
have this thing in common. You're all racing for this little stupid little trophy that's the only thing you get, you know. Yeah, you're just trying to win, and they're trying to win, you know, and you're doing crazy stuff to try to win, you know. So yeah, so the camaraderie that you build is amazing.
What's your favorite car?
Ferrari?
What what?
You know?
Not?
Right now? My favorite car is probably my freid GTS, which is probably the one park right out front, because it's like it's the green one that was out there, has a convertible, so it's like a dope car, you know.
So yeah, I think I took a picture in front of it.
Yeah, and the thing about them is they're all going up in value right now, you know.
So you you know, like like I try to buy cars that are special limited editions, and you know, it's pretty cool. So you ask about cars. I got two cars coming in next week, you know. Yeah, and they've all gone up and value by you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars at least each one of.
Them, even after you drive it.
Yeah, even after I drive it, because you wouldn't put many mouths on it. People can't buy can't buy a car. So because they can't buy a car, you know, they don't have an option. But yeah, yeah, so both of those cars, you know, are gonna be worth at least two hundred thousand dollars a piece more than when I bought them. And I haven't even seen it. I haven't even touched it yet. So soon as the riots, you know, and so I might switch some things out. We'll see, yeah,
some things. Yeah, man, cars are my passion have always been you know, uh, They've always been my passion, man. So so yeah.
I read the story when you got your first car fourteen years old. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty slick. Yeah, has done this research.
He's a heavy research man that I love that. Yeah, no, I mean it's a real deal man. It's interesting. Man.
I appreciate you. What would you like to tell our audience before before we wrap up?
You know, to me, entrepreneurship is it? You know? So you know everybody can't be an entrepreneur, but everybody can own their their careers, right like, you know, get the high band skills, you know, figure out a way to add leverage to it. You know, you can do more than you think you can. You know, the risk is worth it, you know, and the sky's the limit, you know. So you know that's it. But you guys they already know that because listen to you guys. So but yeah, that's that's it man.
How can they follow you social media and everything?
Yeah? TJ millionaire mentor on Instagram and uh Facebook and YouTube? You have n If you guys have any amazing business ideas and you need investment in a partner, you know, it has to be amazing, you know, you know, you know, submit it, you know, send it?
How should they send it?
M Yeah, well no, send it to uh yeah damn? Did I see right now?
But you gotta be an amazing, amazing individual. You gotta have amazing dad. You gotta be real, you know, probably got to be a part of any leisure.
Yeah, there you go, there you go, you have a chouse.
Shout to everybody on the picture got dot com. Shout out to the city of l A and shout out to this house. Shout to JAJ, Shout out to the whole family. I see the answer the dot that's here helping us out today.
And TJ. Shout to you, man, thank you incredible. You hosted us. You didn't even know what's at that time. Well you knew of us.
Yeah, you know everybody knows you.
They haven't seen you now, man, they've been sleeping on the lot, know you know, you know, I wouldn't have to say your whole name, just uy l you know, like you said.
Shout out our guys, Francis and Jay who for the invite. I heard they got you a beautiful painting.
Yeah, yeah, we're gonna connect.
They come out here for days. Yes, yeah, So shoutut to again to everybody appreciated our commun and us. I proud to pay program.
Shout out to mss B.
She's a new T five member of Patreon, which obviously gives her access to.
Y L University, the number one place for everything in the world of business and entrepreneurial efforts.
Shout out to everybody or our earners that are part of that our Facebook group, and shout out to the merch Obviously we got some more limited items that will be coming to y'all very soon. Shout out to the team that's getting done. Shout guy might be I both uh for connecting with us and put them out an amazing line. Yeah, man, you appreciate the sport.
Thank you guys for rock or that's for see you next week. Peace here.
My graduates from my school being forced bad drop drop drop drop.
Drop, Coach, The energy out there felt different. What changed for the team today?
It was the new game day scratches from the California Lottery Play is 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 the 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.
Pay responsibly. Must be eighteen years or older to purchase late or claim