It is time to get solar powered. This is the solar powered podcast. I am Ryan Hall from Royal Hearts Coaching, royalheartscoaching.com, life and relationship coaching for kings. Now, I want to take you guys back just a couple episodes to episode 10, where the guest and I, Melissa, we spoke a little bit about just what it means to well, to be scared in this job market. I mean, with 26,000,000 new people filing for unemployment, including me, by the way, it's a very scary time.
It's a very worrisome time and it's a very anxiety provoking time. But we spoke also about some of the innovators that are gonna come out of this. Some of the innovators in business, some of these innovators in technology, some of the innovations that are gonna come out of this, with, of course, innovation being the mother of invention. And my guest on this episode is is one of those innovators. It's a man who was a very good friend of mine.
His name is Ian Cholery, and Ian is a Ian is a is a father, husband, as I said, a dear friend, but he's also an innovator. And, it was a very enlightening conversation that I had with him earlier today, and I pray that you guys get the same value out of listening to this conversation that I did out of having the conversation. And one thing I want you guys to remember as you listen to this is that there is always room to bring your heart into business, into into innovation.
There's always room to bring your heart, and I believe you'll hear Ian's big heart in this conversation. So let's go down to the Cayman Islands and speak to my dear friend, Ian Jollery. Let's go down to the Cayman Islands where we're gonna be speaking to my Caribbean brother from a different mother, my dear friend Ian Cholery. Welcome to solar powered podcast, my friend. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's it's it's pretty nice to be on here.
It's long overdue, I would say. I would definitely agree with that. I would definitely agree with that, and we'll we'll we'll get into our relationship just in a, in a little bit here. But first, as I always ask people who come on my show, who is Ian Charlery? Oh, what a question. Wow. Who is Ian Chivalry? I like to start, babe. What can I say? I mean, I guess depends on who you ask. Ian Chivalry could be a whole lot of different things, you know.
And, and maybe I can't promise that I could be the same person, tomorrow because I'm constantly evolving. So, Ian Showery is a first, you know, friend, a husband, you know, a father. Just a regular guy, somebody with a, I guess you would say not a straight line, You know? Not a straight line of growing up. It wasn't just, you know, one straight shot, which to me made it a lot more fun. So I'm just, you know, some people call me boss. I don't like that. I I really don't.
I I try to just be on the on a one level with everybody. But when you are the leader of a company, this is kinda just how it goes. You know, like, people you you're you're not really in charge of something. As much as you might think that you're in charge of some things that you're not in charge of, especially if you, you know, if you want things to grow in this, assisted organic way. I'll I'll just say it like that. Yeah. I feel you. I feel you. Yeah. No. That makes a lot of sense.
The buck stops with you, The buck stops with me. Yes. And that's a good thing and, obviously, and a bad thing. Yeah. It's, there's definitely a blessing and a curse, in that, because, we'll certainly get into, you know, sort of your faith in here and your, you know, kind of your leadership, especially down in the islands. But yeah. No. It's definitely a blessing and a curse, I would say, because as long as I've known you and we haven't known each other long.
I mean, we've been friends, what, about 4 years or so? About 4, 5 years, something like that? 4, 5 years, and, you know, 4, 5 holy shit. Woah, dude. 4, 5 years already. Yeah. Yeah. It adds up. This is crazy. Wow. Times Time is just Dude, time flies when you live halfway across the world. No, man. Time flies when you're just, like, you know, when you're in it.
You know, we've both been in it in different perspectives, you know, different circumstances, but, you know, we actually live unlike other people. Some people don't live. Some people just exist. You know? So you you know, earlier you said that you're, you're one of the the 20 something million people that filed for unemployment, you know. And I know you you've been dealing with this battle for a for a while now.
You know, like, if people could just know, how much courage you exhibit on a day to day basis, you know, like, the things that you have to climb from. You know, it's not because you putting yourself there. It's not like you're sabotaging yourself. You're just kinda, like, saying, you know what? Just just you know, I don't know if you're supposed to curse on this thing, but, you know, I'm gonna keep it PG all the same. Try at least. You know?
But your, you know, your your experience is, like, you know, how do you say, you know, fall fall down 7 times, get up 8. Yep. You know, like, you're the embodiment of that. You know? Like, I remember basketball, do do Dwayne Wade ran a campaign about that. You know, you could join his campaign. You know? Like, fall down 7 times, get up 8. You just keep going, man. And to me, you know, like, you know, that's an inspiration. So, yeah, who wouldn't wanna be friends with that kind of person?
You know? This is this is what I try to tell people, man. This is what I try to tell people. Hey. They had me tell them now, so maybe they you know, I'm not really anybody myself still, but, you know, but that's kinda how we do it. We kinda just we're not here about to sing. You know, we don't we don't we could practice probably singing about ourselves a little bit more still. Yeah. Yeah. No. We can, yeah.
As the great poet says, we can practice sounding our barbaric yops over the rooftops of the world. I I agree with whoever that was. Yeah. We can definitely benefit. Exactly. Well, first of all, what's your story? You know, how would how did you get to have such an entrepreneurial spirit? How did I get to this is not something that I've thought about much. How did I get to have such an entrepreneurial spirit? Oh, well, okay.
One thing comes to mind, and it's not the thing the entire thing, but it's part. And I think that's just how life works. I don't think it's a one thing ever, really. You know, Ollie is not for me. But that one thing that comes to mind is, you know, I remember being a kid, 12, 13, from time I hit about those ages, you know, my, which would have been my stepdad. Right? So my stepdad, now, he'd been in our lives for maybe 3 years, 4 years, something like that.
So maybe by the time I was 12, maybe it would have been, like, 3 years or so maybe. I'm not sure. Right? It's a little big right now. But he would say to me, he said, Ian, what are you doing with your life? You know, there are kids. You know? There are people like your age that are running corporation. You know? What are you doing with your life? And he said that to me every single year. You know, I could remember hearing that. I heard it so much.
I know I heard it so much that I feel like I heard it all the time. You know? And I and and I and I, that stayed in the back of my head. And as my parents were immigrants in the Cayman Islands, because I was born in Saint Lucia, that's where I grew up. And, you know, having as a young boy experienced living with my mother, my mother being a single black woman, you know, she has to find work. Her education is not great, and she's doing everything that she can. She is showing up.
She is the definition of showing up. You know what I mean? Like, she is the definition of showing up. So I give her 100%, like, you know, like, props in showing me, like, oh, no. No. No. It's real out there, so my parents were always working. And so, to wrap it up, essentially, I saw my parents working all the time. I wanted to have an important job. From time I was a kid, you know, I think before 10, I wanted to be a lawyer, because I just watched a lot of Matlock, Murder, She Wrote. I got it.
Some of the kids may not even remember, though. Those you don't even you're in a different world. But Matlock, Murder, She Wrote, those are old school, like, law, center, like, you know, courtroom. They're, like, detective investigation. I was never really interested in being a police officer. I was interested in getting close to the law. I love law. Right? And I have 11 years of law enforcement to the people who don't know.
You know, I used to be a police officer for 8 years, and I, and I have some other years of law enforcement and, like, more business oriented law enforcement. But, but, yeah, entrepreneurship was the thing. It just represented freedom to me. Freedom. Like, honestly, from the outside looking in, I didn't care about doing the hard work because that was my life's mission. I feel like I was called here to run my own business and own several businesses, and, you know, I feel like that is my calling.
I'm doing exactly what so I can own a cleaning business and execute, you know, without, sorry. I'm kinda lost on words here, but I can own a cleaning business, and and I can own a wellness business, you know, and I can own a security business, and I can own a ho own a ho I can own anything because I believe I can do anything. You know? So the entrepreneurship that all in all of that drive started from my parents, from my mother, seeing my mother as a single woman doing things.
We lived in a little one, you know, a little one room. You know, it's just me and her one room, and, you know, we bounced up we bounced around to different families and their places or whatever, but she was consistently doing. You know? Totally. Totally. Yeah. And and I've got I've gotten to know your mother just a little bit. That's a really powerful woman right there. Marina, that's a really powerful woman right there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
She is like she just represents to me, a lot of my fascination with stoicism. My mother represents it because stoicism to me represents a lot of resilience. Right? And my mother represents my my mother is the epitome of resilience. Despite having to travel 13 miles every day on foot to school, climb up the mountain, get back home, start working in the farm with my grand with my, with her great our grandfather and my great grandfather, and just keep repeating that.
And sometimes she won't be able to get to school. When she gets to school, she doesn't have enough money to get books. So she doesn't have books, and the kids don't wanna share with her. My look at my mom now. You know what I mean? Like, my mom my mom's come from so far, and, you know, and, as a proud son, I can say that I don't remember the last time she worked. You know, she I think she's not been working for 10 it probably be 10 plus years.
It's probably more than that than my dad's in the market. You know what I mean? I I'm very proud of that. I don't have that connection with a lot of family. So Yeah. You know? Yeah. No. It's really it it's a really powerful testimony to just what it means to as you have told me many many times, what it means to just stay on the court, to keep playing, to keep, you know, to keep moving forward, to just stay on the court. Yes. So important. So so underrated. Just stay.
Just man, what sense is it for you to go into the crowds and entertain the people there with the things that they may be saying about your, critique that they may have about your performance or lack thereof. Don't can't you come up with enough judgments about yourself on your own? Absolutely. It's like, you know, it's like the guy, and I I know you're a big basketball fan, and we're definitely gonna talk a little Kobe Bryant here.
Okay. But Okay. But I know that, just the people Feel like I'm back in Alabama here, hearing that rooster in the background, but but just the people who would sit in the stands and who would heckle the players, who would just yell at the players, you can't do that. You can't do that. Meanwhile, you've never laced up, you've never gotten out on the floor, and you damn sure never stepped on the floor in front of guys like Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant and all the big stars in the NBA.
Can you talk to that? No. Yeah. Exactly. And and and there there's obviously different levels of that. Right? So truthfully, consider that, the time that you and this is the way I how I know that there are different levels of it. I have to get here. Right? I would never really want to care about what people said. I don't because at the end of the day, you know, it's like Jay z said it, you know, like, everyone everyone I know has said it. What you eat don't make me shit. So Exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. Why am I so concerned about you? You know, you get what I'm saying? Like, I mean, I need to take care of my star player myself. You know? So it it has been an interesting experience. You know? Like, sometimes just kinda seeing a lot of what's going on, you know, to a testament to what you just said. So yeah. Yeah. And yeah.
I mean, again, it's just a really it's a really powerful and knowing your history, it's a really powerful testimony to just, as I said, just staying on the court and never, you know, and just insisting on getting back on the horse when you get kicked off. Scott Williams said it. You you get on that horse, you better ride it. You know, it's like and that's the honest truth. Listen, man. We said it. Don't why what's the sense in quarter chicken?
You know you know, some people half ass, what was the sense in quarter chicken? If you're gonna do it, you gotta do it. Yeah. Shout out to our mutual friend, Emily, on that one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Shout out, Emily. Yeah. You know, but it's like you could be a lot of people caught a cheek. And, like, you know, some folks don't have a problem with, with procrastination and and the likes. You know, I do. I do. I still do. And I execute on a very high level. I would say so. You know?
But I also do know that I like to I like to make every day better. You know? So and I like to do whatever it is that I'm doing. I like to really do it. You know what I mean? Like, I I I like to step my foot into so if I'm breaking, I'm breaking. You know? And, like, if I'm taking a rest, I I wanna take a rest. I don't wanna semi take a rest. You know? I wanna define what what that means to me, and I'm with the executor. Exactly. Sometimes it's sitting under a tree. If it yeah.
Sitting under a tree in silence, you don't have your phone out and constantly checking it all the time. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Now, one of the things that I have always, you know, one of the things that I've always admired about you is just your ability to to to really buy into really buy into these philosophies and be able to make them work for your life. I know you mentioned you've recently gotten me into this, just into stoicism.
You know, like a lot of the like a lot of the old ancient ancient philosophers, Marcus Aurelius, people like that, there are really a lot of really a lot of, a lot of brilliance and stuff like that, but there's also a lot of brilliance in just being able to walk into a room and know that you're gonna own that room, that you're gonna be able to, as as the great David Goggin says, be able to take somebody's soul.
And I know this, like, I know that another one of the philosophies that you, that that you really take a lot of stock in and you really believe in was that mamba mentality that Kobe Bryant, god rest his soul, really implemented in his life. Kinda talk a little bit about just aside from being a basketball fan, not just being a basketball fan, what did he mean to you? What did his like, that philosophy mean to you and the man and the entrepreneur that you've become?
Well, you know, for anybody who knows me, well, they'll tell you they already know that, you know, Kobe Bryant is like a big played a big role. You know, they know that whenever they think about Kobe Bryant, they think about me. Right? Yeah. I know I know that when when he passed, you were the first person I thought of. Yeah. My phone, you know, you would have thought it was somebody I was close to me.
My phone was just, like, people calling and calling and messaging and calling and messaging and messaging. And, yeah, it was, you know, it was, yeah. That that definitely is still rough, you know, but, what Kobe Bryant meant to me, I could just tell you some of the things because I I won't be able to cover all of that, and I don't know if you have that much time. You know, we'll never stop. But some of the things that come to mind, is that I could just remember.
I remember as a little boy growing up, being in love with with basketball, is Kobe Bryant starts my infatuation with basketball. I remember when the first time I picked up a basketball. Right? I was living in Saint Lucia. We used to play on this terrible, terrible rip. Right? But that's where we picked it up. And I remember trying to watch basketball before, and I did. You know, I did obviously watch Michael Jordan on who hasn't, who didn't. And, you know, then this kid comes in.
Because, see, I'm growing too. So this is 96. Right? I am, what, 12 years or something like that. I don't even right? I can't remember. But all I know is this kid comes in, and he's different from everyone else. There have been other ones that are kinda like him, but nobody like him. You know? And I see his work ethic, and I want him to win so bad. I want him to I want him to be as good as he is in my mind. Right? And he's he's I see him.
I follow him along his journey, and he's, he's estranged from his parents. Right? So I always felt like I've been estranged from my parents. Right? He's an international man. I'll say that about anybody that's lived in 2 to 3 k and p places. Right? That definition is made up to fit me, to cover me. Right? So I see myself as an international man. Having lived in Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, where I live now, and, the States, obviously.
And, you know, it's like seeing as a kid growing up, seeing these remember, these things are not just gonna show up, you know. You have to follow the person to really start to understand, and this information is not ready and available back in the nineties. I need people to understand that. It's not like how it is now. How would you know? Right. You actually had to work. You had to work to know. You know? So I worked. And I and some things we aligned on, some things we didn't align on.
Like, Kobe, like, different things than me. We like steak and potatoes. I never really liked steak and potatoes. Now I love steak and potatoes. It ain't got nothing to do with him, but when he liked it, he that's what he ate before he again, he had his little ritual that he went through and whatnot.
But, you know, but the things that, that really made him you know, some of the things that I can remember that I can call off the top of my head that really made him, like, you know, be that person to me is that he was willing to be estranged from his parents. Right? So he wasn't breaking down as a result of that. He was he was following the stories the story philosophy that says, I'm our. It is what it is, man. You make the best of it. Right? He was a stone cold killer.
On the court, he did not care. As a matter of fact, the thing that I liked about him the most was his that cockiness that he brought and that confidence because that when I saw him and I saw that cockiness and I saw him look at other basketball players and, you know, I could just I'm just gonna tell you the story. Right? So there's this game. There's this game. Right? I can remember this, and this is, like, making me light up now.
So he says, he you know, they're in this game, and it's like the 4th quarter, and this is against the Brooklyn Nets, I believe. And it's Gerald Wallace, and it's Steven Jackson, and it's Kobe Bryant. They're on opposing teams. Right? Gerald and Steven are on one team. Kobe's on, obviously, the only team. Right? And right. I'm gonna leave I I yeah. Quick time out. Quick time out. Gerald Wallace, product of the University of Alabama. Continue. Okay. Okay. Alright.
Okay. So so here, you know, so here, you know so so here these guys are, you know, and then, the game's on the line and, you know, they're like, oh, Kobe's old now, you know, they're you know, everybody's talking smack. So the game's on the line. Kobe Bryant is at the free throw line, and, you know, these guys are like, I bet you don't make it. And Kobe has that look on his face. See, I'm a Kobe fan, so I know the look.
So he has this look on his face, and he gives him this look like, are you stupid? Like, I'm not gonna make this. So then he starts talking shit. And and, like I said, is it okay to curse her? Shit. Yeah. Yeah. Let's let's let's not go overboard. I'm not Joe Rogan. Yeah. Of course. Alright. Right? So so he starts talking he starts talking a lot of trash to the guys. And the guys is like, well, let's bet. Let's put money on it that you don't make it. And he's like, what?
$500,000 that I make this next shot. Right? And the guy is like, say Ben, I mean and he's looking at the guy and he takes the shot. Right? And then he's like, put some money on it. Put some f mother effing money on it. 500,000, I make this shot. Boy, y'all crazy out here. K? And he makes the shot, and he jogs on it. He's like and these guys tell that story over there. Like, this guy is he's just he's not the same. Listen.
You guys can be friends, but when you get on the court, you're not friends anymore. He wants to take your head off. He's coming to kill you. He wants he wants to sacrifice every if his parents are in the way, he will step over them. He wants to win. There's nothing else is more important than winning. So I always say that and that's where the man I I was there before the mama mentality. This grew and it became You don't leave anything on the table. That's what the mama mentality is about.
Not leaving anything on the table. Not not going like you know, I worked out, but I I'm walking home and I'm like, I feel like I could do some more. You know what I mean? And you're like, I yeah. No. That's gonna bother me. I might as well just get it out now. You know? So it's not always slow, you know, because I especially Kobe Bryant was a professional basketball player. That's what he had to do. You know? And, he made sacrifices that he couldn't be with his family as a result.
And when he retired, the whole idea was that he would spend more time with his family, and that's what he was doing. That's what he was doing when the helicopter crashed. You know, he didn't take a basketball again, but he started loving basketball again because of his daughter. She loved it. Gianna loved it so much, so he started coaching. And, obviously, she wanted to be just like her daddy, and she was just fear a very fierce competitor.
But you can even see, I I listened to stories about her and, and even where he was talking about it, and he's saying that, you know, like, she as a 13 year old would he would bring her to go up against, like, WNBA players. And he would say to them, don't go easy on her. Do not go easy on her. And he started, and, you know, she's going through and she's expecting that she could actually have some sort of advantage against this pro. You know, so she's getting frustrated and stuff, whatever.
I mean, you know, she has to work through that. And still now now she started to, find little things that she can win at. See, because that's what it is about staying on the court. It's not always a slam dunk, Ryan. It's not always like a a 3 point shot. It's not always like a fantastic amazing basket. Right. You know what I mean? Layups count too. You know, that extra effort counts. You know? Yeah. No. It's like the it it's like the base it's like the baseball player.
One of my favorite baseball players of all time was Tony Gwynn. Tony Gwynn, I think, maybe maybe in his long career, hit a 150 homers. But he's in the hall of fame right now because he knew how to hit singles. He hit doubles. He drove in a ton of runs and made, you know, and made a hell of a career for himself. Yep. Yeah. It's all about it's all about doing the little things. It's all about doing the basics better than anybody else. And that takes me to that takes me directly to, to, jiu jitsu.
You know? It's it's one of the things that jiu jitsu is jiu jitsu, like anything else, is built on the fact that if you master the basics, you know, like, you're ahead of 99% of people. Just master the basics. And so that's all we need to do. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
It's not, you know, being I I would say being an innovator is not about having those those big grandiose ideas like, we were talking about before, before we recorded here, talking about, you know, talking about people like Elon Musk, Kevin, these, you know yeah. It's a it's a crazy idea to, you know, to be able to send people to out of space or to be able to drive with all electric cars, his first, you know, his first claim to fame was creating a better way to pay people money over the Internet.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, which, ironically, that was one of my favorite ways of interacting, you know, on the Internet, considering that I lived, you know, in the islands, and the regulations is different from in the states, and you needed to having a bank account for the states would be would have been a lot harder. Okay. So the country that you're in, you can get money. And so, like, with PayPal, now I use a lot of PayPal. And PayPal was how I could do a lot more transactions.
I couldn't ever cash the money I get from PayPal to the Cayman Islands. You can't actually get that money, but you can use the money online to buy things. Yep. So thank you, Elon. You know, you really helped me. Yeah. No. He did. He did. Yeah. I mean, I I think the crazy thing, the crazy thing about I mean, the the irony, I should say, is that people send money to the Cayman Islands to launder it, and you have so much regulations keeping you from doing that. That's I find that ironic.
Yeah. The the the Cayman Islands is one of the absolute strictest freaking places to do banking. Ice I kid you not. You could not come up with a cruise ship and open a bank account, but I can go to the States and open a bank account anytime. That's insane. That's absolutely crazy to me. Yeah. You you you you would if you even insisted on even opening this bank account or because they would be literally kick you out. They would tell you, no, you can't really open a bank account like that.
You know how many references, and this person has to sign it, and this has to be original, and, no, they don't they don't play games anymore. Alright. I get it. I I totally get it. Only rich people are benefiting from this money laundering thing. Yeah. Yeah. You're not there yet. I don't think I'm I don't, people citizens can't even participate in mutual funds locally. So Seriously? Yeah. Seriously. Wow. Seriously.
But and then to give you another, just another gem before we move on from this, Actually, America has more tax havens than the Cayman Islands, but that's not what they've been spinning. So we just don't we don't talk about Delaware. You know what I mean? Like, we don't talk about Delaware. We talk about everything else. I I see you. I see you. And I'd rather not get any deeper than that and if I don't have it. That's what I'm saying. You know. You know. Some things you just got to leave alone.
Yeah. Some things, it's like, it's like from the it it's like, what was the what was the book that Jerry Maguire wrote in that movie? The things are the things we think that do not say or something like that? Something like that. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Let's switch gears. I would love to talk about, I'd love to talk about this business that you have done in the Cayman Islands.
It's a it's a cleaning business, it's getting a lot of traction, especially in light of just what's been going on in the world lately. Talk a little bit about it. Most definitely. Okay. Well, you know, we've owned this business for this year, November would be 6 years, And, you know, it was a business that we had to literally bootstrap. We didn't have any outside money, so we just kinda as the business operated, in the negative that it was.
We just kinda, you know, build, you know, one little thing here and one little thing here. We just you're doing it, and you don't even realize, you know, sometimes what you're doing. So, we own a cleaning company. It is a company that offers commercial and residential janitorial services. We are a company that is focused on sustainability. Right? And, we don't have any industry leaders here for us to follow.
So we're we are essentially creating our our, own Blue Ocean for the people that are familiar with the Blue Ocean strategy. You know, for the people that are not familiar with the Blue Ocean strategy about to say say a little more about that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's it's it's essentially, the the when it comes to a business and and your understanding of markets, your red ocean is where a lot of competition occurs.
And so your business might not be different from, the other people you would consider to be competitors. So you would be competing. In a red ocean, you compete. In a blue ocean, you cannot compete because there's no blood in your water. It's just you. You're unique. You're doing what you do. Right? And so that's us. We're we're in a blue ocean. We're not competing with anyone. We're doing our thing. Our thing is different.
We would like to be ideally, we would like to be the kind of company that says, we only do this environmentally friendly kind of work, and that's what we're working towards. So there's still technology that needs to come for us to be fully, you know, viable in that sense, but we're gonna do the best that we can with what we have and with some of the technology that is to come. So, as we were talking about innovation earlier, you know, my company is a company that we love innovation. You know?
The fact that an organization can learn and adjust, that makes it so much more desirable. To me, the way that we can be innovators in this space is we most companies, cleaning companies, the cleaning in the cleaning industry is focused on chemicals. They're always trying to sell you something. You know, it's just this consumerism, and so we don't feel like that is the way to go for the environment.
We feel like that just creates more and more and more waste, and, obviously, it means that there's a market that we may not be competing in. But as I said earlier, we don't want to compete. You know, we don't want to compete. We want to be in a blue ocean, and we we think that innovation, whether it be technology or innovative ways in human resources, and being, we think that needing a running a company with love being the focus is the actual way to real sustainability.
So in the future, our hope is that we will know we will no longer use anything that considered chemicals. Right? Right now, we we're reducing those, like, drastically, you know, 40, 50. We're right now, we are able to reduce all of our chemical use to 90%. Wow. 90%. Yes. 90% right now. That is Mold. Yeah. That that's impressive. That that's impressive.
And knowing and knowing just the long ingredient list on some of these, on some of these chemicals and some of these, you know, cleaning products, that's a hell of a statement. It is. And and to show you to give you more, it is essentially the only time we have to use the times where we have to use chemicals is when we have to rewax a floor. So when we finish a floor. Right?
So you're gonna have to take all of that chemical off of the floor, and, generally, you have to use a chemical to take chemical off. Pretty much. Yeah. You know what I mean? And then you're putting down a polish, which is also a chemical. You know, that gives it that glossy shine. But we're doing this is not a this is not a what something that we can control. These are clients. Yep. You know?
And so we're not going to when we we, because of the need to do that kind of service, then, you know, we will have essentially that 10% remaining. So Yeah. You know but we're close, man. Yeah. And you you gotta do what you gotta do. And another yeah.
And, you know, another example of this, I know a few weeks ago, the Cayman government came to you guys with a pretty big request, and, I think I think this request with the school buses really epitomizes just exactly what you're talking about, if you wanna hear a little about that. Yes. So so yeah. So we're we're talking about innovation. Right? So, you know, some couple years ago, we went to this, we went to this, trade show.
You know, we saw some we saw some things, and we did some research, and eventually we invested in some technology that, you know, would put us in a position to deal with, you know, things that people don't think about. Right? We felt the need to be able to deal with virus outbreaks. Right? To have technology that could deal with that. And along that mission, you know, here comes the government saying, hey. You know, we have students, almost 500 students returning from all over the world.
They're coming back home, and we're gonna transport them. It's a massive exercise. We want you guys to handle the, decontamination of the buses. And, you know, obviously, we jumped to that that, opportunity. And for a young company like like us, obviously, you know, we got we got some like you said, we got some traction. You know? People started to they were like, oh, what what is this? You know? Just to be just full disclosure, I've only advertised this company during, coronavirus.
Before that, no no money being spent really advertising. No. Right? And it was really, it's a gift and a curse, that approach, you know, but it's about growing organically, with assist with an with some assistance. I think I said this earlier. You know, assisted organic growth. Right? It's what Jim Collins talks about when he when he speaks about the flywheel and, you know, turning get this flywheel, turning, and then everything starts to turn, then you don't have to do that hard work anymore.
So we did that. We've been doing this hard work. Right? So for us as a company, you know, the government called us and they said, hey. We want you to take care of the decontamination. And it started off with just buses, and then it went off to all transportation vehicles. So what the government has done is the Cayman Islands government is the leading country for all British overseas territories. Right?
So the British have these territories, islands, that they still have ownership of, which Cayman Islands being one of them. Right? I think I think Bermuda, and I think there's some others. Right? So, those islands now, we are the leading island, so there's an air bridge from the Cayman Islands to the United Kingdom. Right? And just air bridge is just like the terminology. That's to say that there are gonna be planes.
Our airport is locked down completely, but they're gonna be there are planes coming in from the UK to the Cayman Islands, and the passengers on those planes will will be traveling on special transport, and those special transport needs to be decontaminated. So it was the same like how in when the Americans returned from Wuhan and were coming to America, the vehicle that they traveled on, those people, though, there was a team that was GBAC certified. GBAC is Global Bio Risk Advisory Council.
This team is certified to decontaminate transportation. The planes and the vehicles that these that pros possibly possibly infected or even asymptomatic people, you know, traveling. So we've been doing that role for the government so much so that we're starting to do it for the ambulance services now. We do it for all sorts of vehicles now. Day 1, you know, on Tuesday, we have, I think, yeah, we have more planes coming in.
So once planes are coming in, it keeps my guys busy because this is a really hard time for anybody. You know, obviously, cleaning companies are very important during the coronavirus. Right? But something to think about is if if everything is on lockdown, a lot of people are not working. You know, if people are not working, you don't need to clean. Right? Right? Really, you should still have a cleaner coming in every week because the place is not gonna look good when you get back in there. Right?
But that's that's another discussion. But, you know, because of this lockdown now, my staff have not been working. So it's been it's been really tough. You know? So last month, it was the same thing. So we paid them. We we gave gave them some money for groceries and, you know, for rent because the landlords have said, hey. If you can't pay, you need to leave, and they can't leave right now. Where are they going?
You know, you can't have people intermingling and socializing right now, so it's not the time for them to be out. You know, this is not a good time, but we're, we've just been taking care of the necessities for them, and, we hope to do the same thing this month. And, we pray that, you know, next month we can open back up, which we are already starting to open up some things, I must tell you.
The post office, one of our clients, we we do all of the post offices, the licensing departments, which is your DMVs. They are starting to open back up now. Right? So they're gonna start doing that maybe, like, Wednesday or so. So, you know, we're getting there to the point for this island. This island has led the way. Right? I wish that more people would do it this way, but Yeah. Well, well, maybe I can get this podcast to the governor of Georgia. That that would be good.
That's a good person to get back to because that one is a nut. That's a nut. Yeah. Yeah. That person shouldn't be in charge of other people. Your lipstick god's ears on that one, my friend. Yeah. Well, I think we're just about, I think we're just about covered it all here. I really, really thank you so much for your time here today.
And for for somebody who might be listening to this, who might be, you know, who might be kinda scared about what's going on in the world right now, who might be kind of, you know, who might be worried, who might be scared, who might be anxious about what's going on in the world right now, about, you know, about just everything, what would you tell them? What would, you know, what kind of advice, what kind of words of wisdom would you like to leave with my audience here today?
Wow. K. So you if right now, you're listening to this and you're going through this coronavirus, you know, global pandemic, and it's affected you it's affected you in the absolute worst way, what I would like for you in this moment to think about is, 1, how you can make a difference positively, you know? And sometimes, you know, it's not it doesn't mean that you have to go out and block the road or or, you know, you don't have to, you know, do something crazy.
Sometimes it's probably just who you wanna be. You wanna send some messages to a bunch of people and keep them going. You know, sometimes that's what we have to be in in some situations. You know, sometimes it's not about us. You know? And and and on the times that it is about us, we need to remember that, hey. Listen. We are the most important people in the world like you are. I am to myself. You know, so self love. You know, have some patience.
You know, realize that you've never done this before. No one has ever done this before. You know what I mean? You're not special. You know, what makes you think that you're special? Like, you know, you're the only one who's experiencing the pandemic in this way. Come on, man. Get a grip. You know? Like, this is the real life, and the truth about it is how you respond to this pandemic, you can look back and you can say, man, I had a hard time, but guess what? I survived. You know? I survived.
I did it. And I and I came out even stronger. You know? I came out stronger, and you came out stronger only because you believed that self love was the most important thing. I don't think you should focus on anything else but self love. You know? Truly love yourself. You know? Don't just say it. Truly mean it. Yeah. Truly mean it. You know? Yes. And as we say back in Alabama, that'll preach, my brother. Yes. Yes, sir. Alright. Ian, it's been a real it's been a real privilege.
Thank you so much for taking the time here today, and as soon as I can get down and visit you and your beautiful wife and your daughter down at that beautiful home of yours, I think we ought to do this again. Hey. Let me know. Let me know. We are always ready. Yeah. Here's a little bit of a backyard. Oh my goodness. Yeah. And I this is this is not on video, but this is on audio just to just to describe the audience right to the audience right now, you really live in paradise, my friend.
Yeah, man. Thank you, man. I'm blessed. I'm grateful to Alright. Very grateful. And many thanks to Ian Charlery for joining us here in the solar powered podcast, taking the time out of his busy schedule to to spend time with us here today. I am when I said at the end of the conversation that I'm really looking forward to visiting him and his, and his beautiful family. I really do mean it.
I like to joke that I want to visit him and his beautiful family before his daughter, who is not quite 4 I believe, but before his daughter goes to college. So just throwing that out there. But I think the biggest thing I took away from that conversation really two things. First of all is that there is always room for there's really always room for passion in this world. Ian told me before our conversation that he started a cleaning company, but he didn't even like cleaning his own room.
But he started a cleaning company, but his passion is not so much the work but his passion is the sustainability. His passion really is the people. And that was the most inspiring part about that was just the passion is in the people. But I think the other thing that I really wanted to take that I really took away from this conversation was the idea that there's always room There's really always room for love.
There's really always room for love and impossibility and leading from love and possibility. You know, what he's doing from his people, for his people while they're, while they're really not able to work, I think really a testament to just what kind of soul and what kind of heart that man has. And I really mean it. That is the my Caribbean brother from a different mother. So, thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Soul of Powered podcast.
It's a presentation of Royal hearts coaching for more about Royal hearts coaching. You can find me on my soon to be redesigned website at royal hearts coaching dot com, or you can also follow me on social media. You can visit Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, at Ryan Hall writes on all those places. And you can also follow me on the Good Men Project. I write about men's issues and personal development on that fine publication. And I have, I think probably close to 200 articles by this point.
So, I'm around. But that is it for the solar powered podcast until we meet again. This is Ryan Hall saying thank you so much for listening. So long for now. I love you all and go get solar powered right after you wash your hands.