My Business, My Brand, My Story

My league, but has how the knowledge you want?

My league, but has how the knowledge you need myligue. But yet they have out of books that the whole wild world one of read Malague bos.

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's BOOKSHEF bringing a world together with books, culture and community. HOI, my name is Malik, your host of Malik's BOOKSHEF. Historically, this is the eightieth episode, a milestone. Twenty more and I'll be at one hundred. WHOA. But for today this is the eightieth and I have a subject that I want to talk about about the three things that bring about division. I want to talk about that those three things that just bring about, you know, confusion,

But these are three things.

That are very important that sometimes you gotta talk about instead of walking away from Because they elevans in the room anyway, they caused the vision and I thought I did a I thought I would do a segment to discuss those three things. The other thing on this eightyth episode I'm gonna be talking about is an interview that I did downtown at the La convention center. There was a business business meeting this weekend and I was invited to talk about business success for gold Daddy. So it

So that this is the first for me.

I've been to schools, I've been to talk to kids, but I'm talking to adults, professional adults, adults seeking professional advice. So in hey, listen, that was the first for me. So I enjoyed it and I'm gonna air my assers. Then the other segment that I have on this episode is I was able to interview, and you know, I either do a book review or interviews, sometimes both, and in this case, I did an interview with doctor Gail.

James, who wrote a book called From the.

Pit to the Pilace. She talks about trauma, self sabotage. She used her own personal spiritual journey through her trials and tribulations and her success stories. She offers an adultly to help others reach a level of success. As she said, from the Pit to the Pilace. So that's what I'm a feature on this episode number eighty. So hey, I hope you enjoy I know I did, so stay tuned. Welcome to Malik's Book Show, bringing a world together with books,

From pain to a purpose.

So hey always say, the author can tell you more about their book than I can.

Welcome, Welcome, welcome.

So let's tell my audience about this wonderful, timely book only thing. I know you're dealing with some trauma. Maybe it can help my audience.

Yes, So my book it's about childhood trauma, but not only childhood trauma, childhood sexual abuse. And then it let me down making decisions that was not very good, which led me into domestic violence. So it was trauma on top of trauma, or what I chose to do instead of sitting stackling and stuck in the trauma, what's get on my healing journey? And on that path to healing,

I'm trying.

I'm trying.

I'm trying.

But you know, the whole goal of the book is letting people know that no matter what it is, you can survive it. As long as you're breeding, there is still hope that you can make it.

And so that is what it's about.

Boy, that's you know.

I always say this, as long as you don't have a period on your life, you got a chance to change and so you so basically this is a testimony of your growth and what you experienced, and you offer this as an anecdote for others.

Is that what I'm hearing?

Yes, exactly, because in the book also have some self help tips on how to get out of the pit, because a lot of times you get stagnant and you get stuck and you miss your moment. And if you miss your moment, your moment becomes a memory.

So if you can.

Get yourself out of that rut and that that complaining and that pity party, then you can write from it and become a better version of yourself, because that's what we're trying to do, not be better, but be better.

You know, you dropping a lot of what I call sound bites in here.

You know the first time, you know, when you first addressed the first question, you know, you had a sound bite, and then this one you just with that bitter.

Yeah, you gotta be better, not bitter, because a lot of times we're better.

We stay stagnant, We complain, we fuss. Everything we talk about is negative.

We gotta get out the negative, get out the toxicity, and rise to the positive. How can I make positive out of this situation?

And that helps you be better?

When you sit there and complain and wiler in it, that makes you be bitter. So we wanna be better, so we can be a better version of ourselves, actually the best version of ourselves, and so you can let go of the bitterness comes with forgiveness, not only forgiving others, but forgiving yourself for those things that you blame yourself for that you think you may have done. Yes, the sham, the abandonment, the rejection, all of that low self esteem,

Just intimate relationships.

Someone comes in your life and you're like I got you, I got you, and you're like, yeah, right, no, because the person that was supposed to love you the most, that father, that mother, that sister and brother, they hurts you. And now you bleeding on people that didn't coot you. You know, hurt people, hurt people, so that healing if necessary necessary because if you don't heal, you're gonna bleed on people that didn't cut you.

Because hurt people, hurt people, hurt people, hurt people.

Look another sound bite.

Hurt people, hurt people.

It's like the hate that produce the hate.

And I think you had said something to where you mentioned I'm trying to remember you said so much. You've been dropping so many bombs. You know, I'm just enlightened because you know it's all about you know, you're passing on and transmitting this information to try to elevate, to change the consciousness and mindset of others who suffer from a lot of trauma. This self sabotagic that we talk about here. It's huge because I always say we our own worst enemy. Well, we sabotage our own success, our

I got five kids, and I see them.

I said, man, why do you self sabotage yourself?

We didn't give you every ding.

You you ain't been without food, shelter, clothing. I've done everything under the sun to give you what you need to win, because you can in this country.

But yet you're sabotaging yourself.

You don't want to be successful, you don't want You wanna eat beans your whole life?

Or do you wanna eat steak sop?

Talk about that self sabotaging.

That self sabotage. You know most of us do it. The relationships.

We get into a relationship and we look in for something the person can't give, or we we we we anything. I want that business, but before I get the business, I'm talking negative. Naw, I'm not gonna get that. That ain't gonna happen for me. You know what, They're not gonna prove me for the loan. They're not you self sabotaging. You don't know until you try, and because your mindset is that you're not gonna get it.

You spoke life into that thing.

Your perspective has to change where your what your mind sets is what actually happens.

Because you are your thoughts.

Your behaviors exhibit what you're thinking. So you have to walk in those situations and say, you know what, I'm gonna put my best foot forward.

I'm gonna win. Victory is mine.

I'm gonna do it. But we go in and we go in in the mindset, oh, I'm not gonna get it. You get into a new relationship the last person hurts you, and this person has done anything to you, and you, oh, I'm just waiting for the shoe too drop. He's doing too good. He's doing too good. I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop here and that nothing. You don't sabotaged it. You went for the chulter drop. He's not the old person, he's the new person. So we have to speak life and speak what we want. When you

Will talk, will talk?

See.

I always say this, why do you why do we love the devil? Because he gives us nothing and the people around you to give you everything. You are the hardest on the people that love you, that give everything to you, that want to see you win. But the person that don't do nothing for you, don't give you nothing.

You love them, you bid over backwards.

To be there for them.

So I always you know why you talk to Let me tell you why people, I.

Said, because they give you nothing, but knock it down deeper.

People don't.

People don't appreciate nothing unless it's tied to a cost.

If I give it to you, you just got it. It's good and you got it.

You don't.

I'm not important because I just give it to you.

But if you go down the road and you have to spend one hundred and fifty dollars to get it, you're gonna appreciate it because you had to work and earn that one hundred and fifty dollars to get it. People do not appreciate anything unless it costs them something. It has to cost something. If it costs you something, you're gonna appreciate it. Your son drive your car, he's not gonna take.

Good care of it. But when he got his, he gonna shine it up.

Yeah, yeah, real, what they're gonna do because yet what it's his continw and.

He put his money in there. This is my car.

Yeah, but this is my daddy car. I don't have to worry about it. It get wrecked, you're gonna fix it. But this is my cot now, so I'm gonna shine it up. I'm gonna drive carefully. Yeah, that's how it is, unless it's tied to some kind of financials.

Get on some kind of work.

If you ain't got no blood square equity in something, you usually just walk away.

You walk away.

Because I did home loans and the people we were doing one hundred percent finance, people didn't invest any money basically loans. You got the right fight o and the income. You know that we qualified you. You got the loan when he was doing one hundred percent finance. But the people who invested five percent ten percent in their home wanted to hold on to that home. The person who got it for one hundred percent financing when it got rough, we just want to walk away.

That's nothing.

They ain't losing nothing. You got to tie it to a work.

And that goes into self esteem because a lot of us don't.

Give ourselves credit for where we are.

You know, I talk about a diamond and the pressing and the pressure that has to go into making a diamond, what it is to cut the carrote.

You know, we don't look at that.

You know, from pain to purpose, there's an in between part, and that part is the process. None of us want to go through the process, but we want to get to purpose. You can't do that unless you go through pain and process. You don't just get the purpose.

You don't just jump from air to purpose. It don't work that way.

So you know, it goes into your self worth, knowing that you're worthy, knowing that you're enough, because if you don't love you, how you gonna expect somebody else to love you.

Absolutely, love, start at home, love, start with self.

You know.

That's why we specialize in children books that they have representation because in books that talk about you know, girl get up and win every day, our courageous woman to Alicia Barry, you know who helped publish your book, right, So you know, so it's very important that we lift each other up, you know, because together we can do more.

I wish most people would think. I wish most people would drive that because.

I think we're in an edge where everybody feels it's the crab.

In the bucket syndrome.

I gotta step on your head so I could get up. Why don't we collaborate? That's so much power in collaboration, if we can sit down, put our minds together. I may don't have what you have, but you may have something I need. I may have something you need. She may have something. And if we all come together, we can make a greater impact.

When you drop a.

Little stone in the water, it goes out, but with the bigger the stone, it goes ripple.

It ripples more.

So if you could imagine what happens if you drop fifty stones in the water, it goes all.

The way up by the way.

Yes, yes, And.

That's how we gotta think about it. Like, there's so much power in collaboration, but we are so afraid of someone being on top of us or being ahead of us. Why don't you just be comfortable with where God desires for you to be in this moment.

If you're where God desires you to be in this moment, you're.

Good, You're good, you're good. Well, Hey, you know, I'd like for you to tell my audience on Malice bookshelf, how can they find out more about you?

And where can they reach you.

You can find out more about me on my website at doctor Gailjems dot com or at by email doctor Gail James dot gmail dot com.

Thank you. What's your social media tag?

It's doctor Gail Jims on Facebook, on Instagram, it's doctor Gail James, and on TikTok it's doctor Gail James.

Well, thank you, thank you, thank you. This has been rushing and you had me pump, you had.

Me passionate, love it.

Thank you, Thank you.

Director of Integrated Marketing, get GoDaddy, and I've been with the company for about five years.

It's a company that I absolutely love working for because I get to work with small businesses on a daily basis.

But about your business, how you got started? And yeah, all right, hi everybody.

My name is Malik and I just want to fight Go Daddy for a fight with us on this final to day.

We got a partnership with Go Daddy.

They hosts our webs But let me tell you a little bit about Religue Books. So we at the African America Independent Books flore We have two locations in last one of the balls Frenhawn.

Moon and the others in our marquees and what they call Fox in the Wall.

Now it's called Westfield Coach City Hall, so we invite you all to CIS.

We also toured schools.

And put on book fairs and expos because children are one hundred percent of our future. So we're really targeting our youth because we want them to love themselves, to beat themselves.

So you know, we had online or part of our business, which is with go Daddy, and we've been.

Serving the Los Angeles community since nineteen ninety.

I've been the founder. I founded the company in nineteen ninety, but I do have a part. We co owners. My wife is right here, April, and you know, my biggest supporter, and believe it or not, she's the secret weapon to Malite booth. Thank you, thank you for that question.

As soon as you said that question, I thought about the twenty five thousand dollars that I lost.

In nineteen ninety because I opened up Elite Books in the area where they might eat fish, they might eat chicken.

But they showed he didn't want a book. So demographics player a major part when you open up a retail store, so you have to you know, target the right location and let me say, you won't get all the parables, but you got to do your homework. I graduated from UNC. I didn't have a degree in I had a degree in public administration, so I had a little knowledge about administration. But marketing is a great part, a major part of business. So I opened up in a market that wasn't conducive

It's a task because sometimes I.

Still like to do it. I'm more comfortable with doing it manually, but there's different ways that you know, time one thing that.

You can't get enough of is time.

So time management is very important because it's not enough days, not enough.

Hours to do all the things.

So hiring people to do some of these tasks, using technology to do some of those tasks can really give you life back.

And so that and you know, trying to find the right people.

That's the task right there byself, because sometimes you bring people on that ain't gonna enrich your business. So we have you know, it's on the job training when you become a business owner.

I still love it because I'm my own boss.

I love the challenges. I love getting up in every day and doing what I got it too to grow. I don't want to be stacked. I want to grow and continue to elevate. And so you're gonna be faced with each other and what don't care you make it stronger. The biggest challenge because you know, sheltering place, you sitting at home, your business shut down.

I'm in two malls. The malls was shut down, so.

I couldn't even get to my product. You know, they said you got twenty four hours to get what's in your store, you know, out if whatever you need because tomorrow we're locking down the mall. So that was a challenge because I'm like, okay, you know most people, we only have so much savings. You know, we got a lot of debt, but we only have so much savings

One of the things sitting I said.

Well, you know, we came up with the idea of creating a bootball bill, and with that we wanted to go be able to go to schools and go to expos and conviction and pull up and host the book fairs.

And so, you know, we come up with a lot of idea And you should always think, spend time every day meditate thinking about what can.

Grow your business and your brand. You know why because out of them thoughts come ideas. Let me tell you something, when you're thinking, it's already gone because thought travels twenty four billion miles per.

Second, so you got to catch up to it, so I thought about a bootmobil. So now I gotta go to work to go get that bookmobil. See it's in the future, right, The thought was in the future. I had to just make steps to get to it. And so we created it, launched it on Black History Month, went to.

Schools and it was a hit because the kids love it, the teachers love it because you know, we want to be interactive, not just with book but we want to inspire. We want to elevate our youth because we believe children of one to percent.

Of them our future. So we got we came up with a gingo.

We got our own music video, we got our own you know, hip hop music. Find ways to brand yourself because our people, you know, culture is everything. So we're using the culture as part the brand. Like we don't want to just be any bookstore.

We want you when you coming to.

Meet get the Africa, the total African Americans parent of Pride of Joy, where we get forts to the forces. So spend time every day thinking about because look, you're on the clock when you're doing that, because that's part of growing and elevating.

Let's go, Daddy me.

Having my website in place before the pandemic allow me to blow up during the pandemic because there were certain people, you know, you was.

At home, people wanted to read.

Well, Malague Books dot Com became a tutor, a lot of people brought a lot of books a platform built out on Go Daddy.

It allowed us to blow up and I mean blow up on social moment, sorry, or on the internet.

Also, I'm gonna tell you another thing that I was able to partner with a lot of publishing companies like Random House, Half of College and.

So for them, and we host many of their authors at our bookstore. And but sometimes because the pandemic created this new technology.

Zoom we you know school on Zoom meet, all the meetings on school everybody doing that work on the zone that they developed that technology.

At an ice feed.

And so what happened is we do a lot of pre order campaigns, so we host those on go Daddy.

And so we've been able to host you know, like Virgil my Block, you know, he was the Louis Vatan designer three thousand of his book.

And they ain't she by hosts. They don't Go Daddy. Being in the right place at the right time, do.

It do help you know. Sometimes it ain't least she know. She says something on social media and it just blew up. We saw like six thousand dour book all of because we was in a position and we had go daddy.

We had the author this.

No worker because that's part of your brain, that's part of your growth. And we and we had the publisher.

And with all this working together, Malitalo goote that the publisher as well as the author.

Bone you everywhere.

I've got.

Heat up faith.

Listen, you've got to have creativity, imagination and innovation today.

So I'm saying fear is probably the number one thing while we get stagnant and get we got to get out of that box.

I said.

I jumped up because that's a legal faith challenge of fear, because that's we hold a lot of us back. Listen, anything that's different and you charge a path that's unknown, it's gonna create fear. So pay anxiety. But the only way to get do is that you've got to what travel down that road. And if you want to learn anything about anything, well, guess what you got to You got to go up be a body right, always say the people you can't you can't give advice about the game unless you're in the game.

So get in the game. Try interfears. Take the leap.

You know, I took the leap when we opened our Marquee store in the west Ville Coach City Mall. It was during the pandemic and she gave me an offer I couldn't refuse.

But I still had anxiety. I still had fair because I don't like to lose money. I like to make money. So it was a leap of faith. And I'm saying, jump out, jump off the cliff. Figure out what you got to.

Do to win, because the opportunities are never before has been like this.

You could complain about it, to be about it all right, thank you.

Underneath that, listen, I got some dry time thoughts.

I was just sitting here driving thinking about conversations I've had over a period of three weeks, and I was just thinking.

I said, man, the three things that.

Divide people and probably cause more wars and the history of humanity is religion, politics, and women.

You know.

You know, the most famous Trojan War was over a woman, but there have been other incidents in the history of humanity where women have caused war and caused the separation of families, brothers, sisters.

You know, that's why they have the Golden rule.

You know, some things are just off limits. Politics. Boy oh boy, are very passionate about.

Their beliefs politically and religiously, and they're certainly.

Possessive about their woman.

So them the three things that I was just sitting here thinking about driving that has caused so.

Much war and division.

We're coming off the pandemic, right, and so many families were separated and divided just on the vaccination.

Their political views on the vaccination, these policies, these politics man created.

I mean, there's so much division between people who are Democratic Republicans and certainly those who align themselves with Trump versus the others. That is a divisive conversation that has separated families.

Brothers, sisters as well. Man a boy oh boy.

I don't know a name, and I'm sorry in the media that's spoken more often in my lifetime than the word Trump.

Boy oh boy.

If you want to create a fire and division, boy oh boy.

All you got to do is start talking about Trump. I'll tell you whether it's in the black.

Community, white community, Asian community. Boy oh boy, that.

Name has caused a lot of separation and arguments and passionate. You know, I mean, these conversations can be is just man, I try to stay away from my pot I try to start away from the politics because it don't bring nobody together.

Religion, it don't be nobody.

I think you should have your own You entitled to your own beliefs, your own opinions, and people.

Just need to learn how to respect that.

And now that could be difficult, that could be difficult, but certainly you shouldn't be hating nobody because of your political and religious beliefs.

Come on, man, this is insane. You know, this is insane.

But I blame the media for creating this kind of hostility in the environment and in our culture and in our communities and in society.

I blame the media because they're praying on you know, twenty four seven, seven days a week.

You know, they spew their opinions and narratives, and they have an agenda, absolutely have an agenda. Be under no illusion that the media is shooting straight. You know why, because they have a motive. You know, the media and the news is one of the.

Businesses that, especially the news segment of the media.

It's the only business I know where you can have no readings or the worst ratings in the programming don't change.

And I asked myself, I said, now that's not sustainable.

So why would a person continue to invest in a business that don't have an audience?

See?

Why would they continue to spend billions on programming.

By seeing it? They got the worst ratings in their history right now, and it's been going.

On for about four or five years or six years. They got the worst ratings. They are in the tank. They got shows on TV talking about nothing. They got better ratings than Seeing in And you know what's crazy, They don't change the programming. They keep the same people on there spewing the same narratives. And you would like, you'd be like, isn't an object to increase your audience.

They don't care.

They don't care because it's more important that they can continue.

To divide the people with this propa ganda that.

Comes out off these off these news networks. And that's all of them, whether it be Seeing in Fox, they all got an agenda. They all have a motive and they losing a tremendous a mind that I mean, they got shows they talk about ratings and the ratings in terms of news is nowhere because.

A lot of people don't find it credible.

So the ratings is in the tank, all right, And Fox can boast about their ratings, but hey, it ain't significant. They got a lot of shows that get way more viewers than what's critical and current and what's going on in this world. So that should tell you right there that you know, they can boast they had their chest out Fox right because they might got better ratings than you know.

Seeing in in ABC or what have you. But dumb it. But those ratings.

Once again or not what they could be. So the question is why do they continue? You know, they lose money on a lot of these news reporting stations and they don't change the program. So you say, okay, if it's profit driven, why would they keep the same program because it ain't.

About it ain't about the money.

It's about control, about control, and they want people to think a certain way no matter what. Neither none of these programmers are out here to really reunite the people and to give people violence and armony, reciprocity and to lift and elevate people.

They're all about control. That's all the expeing on here.

And the Black media is so important because we got to speak our agenda. We got to have our own agenda, because you got to have things that are important, that you value and that speak to what it is that.

We need to do as a community.

Stuff that goes on in the black community don't necessarily go on in other communities. We got the lowest education scores, don't you think we need to in terms, create an agenda to address that.

So if you're in a community and your scores like the age Can are the best, hey, you don't need no agenda too like we do because your scores are leaning Americancy.

So you gotta have a specific agenda to address the specific needs of your community. And I don't see you know.

We're doing a good enough job what I'm saying, but we have to have a voice. We have to have an agenda because we got unique issues that we have to address. There has nothing to do with anyone else. But all I'm saying is politics, religion, and women right cause a lot of division and fights and wars. All right, the golden rule should stand. Leave someone's women alone. You know what I'm saying, Leave, Do not be a be careful what you say about another man women, all right, that is very critical.

The golden rule stands.

Stay out of the politics, man, keep it to yourself going to booth, Oh how you gonna vote? But if you, if you, if you having dinner and you're sitting around the table, well I could tell you three things that you shouldn't talk about at the table.

If you want to harm me.

Don't talk about religion, don't talk about politics, and certainly don't offend nobody's women or wife.

You see what I mean, So.

Beware, beware because them are fighting, uh and devisive subjects.

All right. So I mean that's that was what was on my mind and I just needed to get it out. Those are my thoughts man.

That's how I see things time and time.

I like, I open up and I share my insights and dad is Malik's bookshef bringing the world together with books, culture and community. Thanks for listening to Malik's Bookshelf, where topics on the shelf are books, culture, and community.

Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check out my Instagram at Malak Books. See you next time.