The Power of Authenticity

The power of authenticity. Hey, Polk County, we're back for another episode of the Elevate Polk podcast, and we're live to our audience on Mevo. Hoping you're having a wonderful week. My name is Chrissanne Long, and I am here again with my co-host Nate Kendrick, who always helps us tell the unique and personal stories of entrepreneurs in Polk County, Florida. How are you doing How you doing today, Nate?

I'm doing well, Chrissanne. I love the intro now.

The intro's a little bit more me, right?

Yeah, yeah, I like it. It's good.

That intro was like really, really dated and old. So now we've got a little fresh start. We've got these amazing guests— excuse me— amazing guests with us today, Tia Crockett and Eddie Crockett.

Hey.

They are with Authentic You Empowerment. So let's just start with Tia. Introduce yourselves and then we'll get into the story.

All right. Tia Crockett. I call myself the VIP coach, Vision, Identity, and Purpose. We love what we're doing here in Polk County and abroad. Mommy, a wife, um, and just a lover of community. And so that's, that's me in a nutshell.

I think that's what brought us together. Like, I felt like you were speaking to me the first day that I met you, and I'm thinking, okay, this person is saying things that have been in my soul, and I've actually said in other situations, who is she? And so I'm so excited that you're here. And what I loved when I met you, Eddie, was how much you lift her up. Right? That was my impression. I'm like, this man loves his wife, admires her, respects her, and just like, she is truly a queen in the way that you represented and introduced her. So kudos to you for being that man. Right?

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. We work very hard to make sure her queendom is known.

Thy queendom come.

Exactly. I love it. I love it. So, um, we are— I want to talk first, I want to tell everybody kind of how we met. So can you talk about the, um, the Black— what was it, the Black Economics event that was at Catapult a couple months ago now?

Yeah.

And just how that started, who those people are, if it's still going on and people can connect to that kind of, you know, movement, great. If it's just— if it was a one-time thing, then we can, you know, pack that up a little bit. But go ahead.

So with, uh, the event that we all met at, it was Black Economics. And so essentially what we're creating is an opportunity for people to get information, which lines up with our brand as Authentic You Empowerment, um, exceptionally because the whole point of what we're doing is to help people start where they are to get where they dream. So Black Economics is an ongoing situation and what it's creating is a network of business owners, professionals that can kind of lean on each other for support, resources, ideas, that kind of thing. Just, you know, Even with alluding to the Black Economics name, right? There's no prejudice or bias, that kind of thing. It's just there's been a, that side of the community just needs to be built. And so what we're doing is just providing that opportunity. And so we've partnered up with Prince Hickson, Thomas Williams III, and Stacey Woods for us to, not Stacey Woods, Prince's fiancée Stacey, for us to be able to do and initiate that effort to get people more information. So it's pretty cool. And the point of what we were doing there was just bringing the authenticity piece to it, you know, for Tia to do her thing. And for me, of course, all things money, #Bro Finance, for those who don't know.

All right.

And what we do is we just, we just help people. That's a big thing for us. And that's, that's what Black Economics is all about, helping people get information they need to go next level.

And it is ongoing.

It is ongoing.

That's what I want to know.

Yes. Yep. Ongoing. Yep. So you'll see events roll out. You can search the hashtag Black Economics on Facebook. On Instagram as well. And you'll see some of the new marketing style videos, reviews from the last event, pictures. And if you need to contact anybody, all those links and things are available for you to just kind of reach out and get information about what's going on next.

I love it. I love it. And Nate, since you weren't there, I just want to kind of paint this picture because I was there excited and sitting in the back row at the beginning. And then Eddie comes up and introduces himself and kind of tells everybody, all right, y'all, like, network, right? I'm like, okay, get up. I got a network. I can't just sit here. I didn't come here just to sit. So I get up and Tia's sitting in the very front row, front seat. And I introduced myself to her and to a couple of other ladies that are in the front row. And, you know, I will tell you, in a group of people that you don't know, it's a very uncomfortable feeling to go shake hands and say, hello, this is who I am.

Especially with corona and all that stuff.

Yeah. And so what I will just tell you kind of what was going on in my mind. It was like, all right, I'm just going to go through the motions. Right? I don't know if these people are going to like me. I don't know if I'm going to be received well, but I'm just going to go do it. Right? And lo and behold, this smiling face and then the other people that were there. And I'm like, OK, I feel welcome. But there was that moment for me that felt a little bit like, ooh, but I got to do it.

Right?

I want to just tell you, thank you for welcoming me and for being the people that you are because it's, and I can, I understand it. So I wasn't the only white person in the room, right? For the majority of people. I mean, there were, there were Black people in the room and I'm calling it out being, you know, who I am authentically.

Let's go.

So, but that doesn't scare me. It's just, it's not about a fear thing. It's more of about an acceptance thing. Will you accept me in this room with people? And yes, the answer was absolutely yes. And I know that that's a reverse thing. So you've come to a networking event of ours, the Bridge Local Community, and hopefully you felt that way reciprocated.

Absolutely.

Okay, good. I wanted to set that stage a little bit because I think that's some raw stuff right there.

But that's the thing about networking events is like networking event is an event that gives you a reason to just totally walk up to strangers and start talking about who— I mean, let's be truthful. People want to talk about themselves. Okay. And so that gives you a reason. To walk up and be able to actually advertise for yourself or advocate for whatever you're an advocate for. It gives you a reason. Now you're not all weird, you know.

Right, right, right. We're here for this purpose. Right. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. And then being in a room where the idea is for everyone to come up, which I think is, you know, the precedence for us to have these events and have these conversations because there's been a lack of that throughout, you know, whatever histories and stuff. So I guess we need an opportunity for everybody to realize that, bro, we're all in the same playing field. We just all need to kind of work together, right? Assuming abundance, right? Assuming that there's enough to go around, assuming that we're all wanting to work together and live the best life possible. Like, why not work together? Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Many hands make light work. Yeah, we all can do more when we work together.

So, and I think when you said, um, kind of the Black economics movement or the direction, you know, we're trying to lift that side of the community up, um, I think the plight of economics individually, personal wealth and just creating your own abundance is universal.

Yes.

Right?

Yes.

And so I want to lean into that side of the community, but I also want to say I struggle.

Wow.

Right? I struggle too. And I think if we were able to get to the heart of the matter, there isn't anybody who doesn't struggle.

Correct.

Right? And so, I want to help in any way that I can to help you with the movement, but I also want to always try to come back to, it's not just us, y'all.

Correct.

I mean, we're all in this whole thing together.

Yep. Yep. And that's a big part of what we're doing. And so even with the marketing that we're rolling out for the curriculum that backs our financial literacy piece, it's called How Money Works. And so we, we take time to teach people how money works. And so we, we emphasize that, yeah, that is the financial literacy. It's a, it's a global economic crisis. It's the number one economic crisis, and that number one doesn't apply to a certain group of folks. And even though there are certain folks that have never had as much of a shot as other folks, it still said that, listen, everyone needs a fair shot at bettering themselves, economic upcoming, and all that stuff. So yeah, it's a big deal. It's a big deal, and I hear your heart on that. That's cool.

And the curriculum is very diverse. Even the artwork inside of our curriculum is like everybody. You can find anybody in the artwork. Of this curriculum.

That's awesome.

So it's kind of like when you open this book, you're going to see people from every part of the world represented inside of this book. And I think that for a long time, just speaking to the Black economics piece of Authentic U Empowerment, for a long time, people have been fighting for equality. And I think we have surpassed that mindset, and now we're looking at equity.

Yeah.

It's the equity for me.

For me too.

And so now, even though we have these— everybody has these roles and everybody has their struggles. And it's like once we start embracing and not discouraging or discounting or dismissing each other's struggles, then what starts to happen is that our experiences can finally merge and become— we can finally start to lift each other up. It's not a, you know, Well, if you think you got it bad, it's just a building from what is evident, right? What is evident. And then we start to kind of dig into it and it's going to be uncomfortable before it is comfortable.

Correct.

For sure. For sure. For me, it's an and and not an or.

Always. Always. And that's what it's always been.

And.

Yeah. It's always been that.

So I want to kind of go back a little bit. When you guys were first coming up with this concept, where did it come from? How did you get inspired to start pursuing this?

So, I mean, Tia and I have always— well, just kind of getting into our story, we've been best friends since '97. I mean, we go back a long ways. And not to kind of take you through that much of a journey, but I'd say that one of the things that's been an ongoing thread throughout our relationship is to always tell each other the truth. And the cool thing about being able to tell the truth is that you gotta start with yourself first. And so becoming authentic, knowing who we are and being comfortable in our own skin has kind of been something that's ingrained in us as we've grown. And of course, you know, you go through your bouts with your personality and your mindset and all that kind of stuff. But as far as the business side and Authentic You Empowerment, we just decided that we've always been stronger together. And so when we built this company or as we're building this company, we just decided to take what she's been doing Uh, for most of her life, which is helping people move forward, giving people strategy ideas and combining that with what I've been doing most of my life, which is money, finance teaching.

Mm-hmm.

And said, you know what, let's merge that. And we found all the ways that we can do that together so that we fit hand in the glove to help people get where they are. And so both of us having that passion to help people wanna go next level for everybody who wants that. 'Cause everybody doesn't want that.

Right.

Yeah.

Right. Some people like where they are.

Yeah.

And that's okay. And we can't, force people out of their decision, 'cause that's weird.

Absolutely.

We're not dictators.

Yeah.

But for anyone who says, you know what, I want more out of life, I want to go next level within myself. And then everything that comes with that. Yeah. 'Cause one of the things that we teach people often is that success and your financial whatever comes with the best version of you.

Mm-hmm.

And so a lot of times we start with mindset and that's the conversation always. It's like, 'cause your thinking shapes who, what you say, what you say shapes your world. Your world shapes who you are, like all that stuff, that stuff comes out. And so when you ask the question, how did we get here, or how do we come up with this idea, we just literally said, let's incorporate who we are.

Yeah, it's like the evolution of us really, you know what I'm saying?

It's been a cool thing.

So, and helping people, helping people to get into the right mindset so that they can accomplish what they were actually put on the earth to do.

Yes.

Um, a lot of people think that they want it But then when they see what it takes to create it or release it, that work involved, it scares the heck out of some people.

And so equity, right?

Right. So it's like, it's all about, okay, it's a mindset shift. It's always from the inside out. So I'm just kind of seeing what it took for us because we believe in, we believe that there are such things as generational curses or generational habits. And so breaking those habits and breaking those curses is really breaking those mindsets, breaking those things that have been that you've been made up of without even thinking. We're on autopilot a lot of times in life. And so knowing that people are made up in that way and starting to speak to them, people don't even notice the things that they subscribe to or believe until you show them the limiting beliefs, until you start to show them the false narratives. And then they have to make a decision to do what I call flip your script. You have to flip your script. Like the script has been going this way, but it's been benefiting you in some kind of a way to be stuck, right? Something about being stuck has been benefiting you, right?

Usually that's the benefit.

That's the major way. Correct.

Yeah.

Or, and then on top of that, if you've made up a narrative that is a horrible narrative or you didn't make it up, but now you get pity for that narrative or now you get paid for the narrative or whatever it may be. Now you have to flip your script and look at the other side of it. And how does it look to work your way out of that?

Wow.

You know, and I just always have this, picture of, you know how when the rocket launches and it has to break through the actual atmosphere of the Earth and you see the tiles burning off the side? In my mind, that's what it looks like to break through our limiting beliefs, our limiting— our mindset. To actually break through that, it takes some force and some momentum and consistency. So that's kind of like having that type of mindset and then looking at people and then being moved with compassion to want people to experience that.

Yeah.

Like, and then so that pushes us to not stop because we want people to experience that breakthrough.

Yeah. Oh man. And, and then you're there kind of supporting that along the way.

Yeah.

And, and the— I want to shout out a friend of mine. I don't know if you guys know him. Eric Robinson. Are you familiar with him? He's an Auburndale guy.

Name sounds familiar, but I can't call his face right now.

He's currently, and has been for several years, the basketball coach at Auburndale High School. But he played basketball with my brother. I played basketball growing up, and so I would, I would I was 4 years younger, I think, than Eric, but he shared something this morning that I think is worth kind of bringing into this conversation. So he's going to the gym, there's 3 white dudes standing outside just having a conversation, and for whatever reason, God put on his heart to introduce himself. He didn't know any of them, and he just introduced himself and said, "Hey, I just wanted to say good morning, and I thought that since we don't know each other, maybe we should introduce ourselves because we come to the same gym and we can be friends." And then one of them were like, Wow, thank you for doing that. I needed you to do that. Like, and so now they're friends, right? And it's that flipping that script because, you know, Black dude walking into a gym, there's white dudes sitting there. Oh, we don't talk to each other. We're just going to avoid the conversation. And Eddie's flipping that, or Eric is flipping that script. And I'm just like, that's what we need to do.

Yes.

And we need to celebrate it. We need to call it out. We need to not be uncomfortable calling it out. And we need to say, this is okay. It might be uncomfortable.

Yeah.

But you're gonna walk in there and you're gonna walk out going, "Oh, that was great.

I'm so glad I did that." And I mean, every relationship starts that way. And even like, you know, I say this to guys and business owners all the time, like that first experience may be rough or may be uncomfortable. Once you're on the other side of it, like you usually get your most pops of the grease when you're learning how to cook when you get started.

Yeah.

But after a while it's like, "Oh, I'm good. I don't never get chicken grease pops 'cause me and this chicken, we know what to do.

Like we got this figured out." Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I'm curious because it's really resonating with me a lot of the stuff that you're saying because, you know, especially I'm just going to call it what it is in the Black community. There's a lot of the self-fulfilling prophecy, the woes is me, and kind of getting past that. What were role models or individuals in your life that taught you this mindset, or was this all self-taught?

Great question.

Ladies first.

That sounds— my 8-year-old son, self-taught. When you say I ask him questions all the time because he's How are you so wise? And he's like, mm, self-taught. I'm like, who taught you that? But so shout out to Benjamin.

Shout out. Shout out. Shout out.

But for me, what happened for me is the role models. I'm the kind of person that a lot of things are not taught, they are caught. And so for me, when I was growing up in school, in the little bit of Black history that they did teach us, you're going to find out about Rosa Parks, you're going to find out about Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman, that's about it. That's all they're going to give you. But looking at those people and starting to kind of explore for myself, I started looking at the fact that the story, I started flipping it from this being a woe is me story. And I started looking at it as, okay, these are like battle stories. These are really real things. They're not things that people are making up. They're not things that are not happening. They're not things that are irrelevant because the truth of the matter is there's a lot of things that is, they are systemic. They're systemic. And so to break systems, it takes a lot of fortitude. And so now when you're dealing with, let's just say, the Black community, and they tell these stories over and over again on loop, this is— we talk about PTSD, we talk about that as far as war. Well, there has been a war, you know what I'm saying? And I remember back in the '80s when the war against drugs, right? And all of those types of things were going on. But I also remember that back in the '80s when there was was crack brought into the Black community, like intentionally.

Wow.

You know? And so I remember living right here in Lakeland, and I remember paddy wagons. I come from the hood, the all the way in the hood. And I remember paddy wagons coming through and snatching up the, you know, they were really little Black boys off of the corner selling drugs. They were little boys, you know, they were teenagers. So they getting snatched up and then they'll come back different. And then they still continued to do it, but now they were. And so like the culture, if people could take themselves and put themselves in the actual culture, it's like a movie. It's like something you never imagined, but it's real life. And so when I look at the stories, I'm like, there needs to be therapy. In the Black community, a lot of times therapy is not popular because we use the church for everything. And so therefore, like, those are the therapists. The pastor don't know what he doing. He's not a therapist. He knows how to pray for you and preach.

You know? Right.

And so now they need— therapy, because here we are in this place where you have PTSD, but nobody has called it that. When you're— when you are worried about things that other people don't have to worry about 24/7, it's kind of like this, the, the pandemic that we're in right now, right? I was, um, you know, not to get all churchy or whatever, but in prayer, and I'll just like start sensing that in one year we experienced about 5 years worth of stress. Yeah, because who stresses 24/7 about every single move that you make. That's not normal. But some people have been living like that for centuries, you know. And so to break that mindset, it's going to take a little bit of compassion and work. And I know it seems like a long time and like it should be over by now, and some people would really like to say, "Just get over it." And not just white people, Black people sometimes look at people and say, "Just get over it." But the truth of the matter is Like, when's the last time you looked at a soldier with PTSD and said, "Just get over it"?

Yeah.

Yeah, 'cause that'd be considered rude to say that. So, yeah. And I would say also, to your question, Nate, about who inspired us or what inspiration we pulled on, I mean, sometimes you gotta look at it from a perspective of doing your best to find what you need based off what you didn't have.

Yes.

So fathering was like that for me. Like, I oftentimes think I'm a better father because I know what I didn't have growing up. Wow. 'Cause my dad wasn't there. And that's a choice.

Yeah.

Because you have to say, all right, I won't allow the absence of a father to make me bitter. I gotta be better. 'Cause if not, you recycle the narrative.

Yeah.

So then kind of getting to the point of, we had to find examples, because if an example wasn't there, when you've made a decision to have different from what you've seen, you got to go find it.

Yeah, actively.

Yes. And hopefully, you know, depending on your experiences and your area and your market of folks, that doesn't lend itself to any danger, and you can have an honest search, a safe search for whatever it is. And I, you know, graciously, so grateful that my search was safe. So I found examples to go lean on. And so, and then my mom just being who she was, she was raising two Black boys and you know, I caught it a little faster than my brother. And so my mom, instead of, 'cause sports was a big thing. Like everybody played sports and I grew up in a neighborhood where you was gonna go D1 basketball, D1 football. And I was like, I don't like running. Like I'll hit you all day, but I'm not running up and down this field. Like y'all can have it. Okay.

Yeah.

So then she heard me singing in the shower one day. And so music was my grace. And that's how I paid for school. And that got me into spaces to even morph to the businessman that I am today. Because literally we'd go sing in these private parties and these, these events where literally we were hearing conversations among guys who were upset that they only made half a million dollars that month.

Mm-hmm.

You know what I'm saying? And then I go home to a single mom who's trying to figure out what to do with 50 grand a year.

Mm-hmm.

So now I'm like, okay, that's different. Like this man mad 'cause he made half a million dollars in 30 days. My mama's stressed. 'cause she tried to figure out how am I gonna stretch $4,000 a month? And I'm like, Mom, the median income, and it's funny 'cause you know, 13, like, Mom, well most of the people around us, they ain't making but $30,000.

He's always known the numbers, okay? We were just laughing about that on the way in here. We pulled up and this was like a real estate company right next door. And he's like, oh, I remember those signs from when I was a teenager. I was like—

100 years they've been in business.

That's what I'm telling her.

But I was like, who was looking for real estate signs as a teenager?

She a hater, man. She a hater. Eddie.

Eddie was looking for real estate signs.

You're a hater, and that's your problem.

You pay attention to what you wanna pay attention to instead of paying attention A lot of things didn't matter.

Who cares about it?

But anyway.

He's answering his calling, right?

That's what I'm talking about.

Get it up. So then looking at the fact that the music was something that helped me get into different spaces. So then creating an opportunity for me to see different things and find different examples. And most of those examples, you know, they were money focused. They were A-type personalities. Wasn't a lot of relationship-minded it, people in those spaces. But, you know, I tell people often that you have to take information, advice, and some relationships like fish. You say fish? Like, yeah, you gotta eat the meat and leave the bones. 'Cause if you choke on that bone, that's good, right? You know what I'm saying? It's gonna kill you.

Yeah.

But that don't mean the protein in the fish won't get you where you need to go. And so for me, that was the thing. Like, it was like, I gotta— we gotta figure out What's the good that we can draw from this? And we gotta leave the bad because if you don't do that early on, every experience is gonna have the opportunity to choke you.

Yeah. And we definitely learned a lot of what to do by watching what not to do.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, and we helped each other with that early on.

That non-example thing.

Exactly.

Is huge. And what an amazing, like, example that you are to help people see, hey, I had the same examples you had, but I turned that script. I twisted it into something, a narrative that was going to get me Let me out instead of hold me hostage or keep me here.

And that was a struggle for both of us early on because we thought it was bad to not have the most horrible of stories. Like, we met a challenge where we were literally almost ostracized because, oh, you ain't been through nothing.

Right.

You don't have nothing to share. But it's like, bro, like, the mental work, the stress, like, we still had to go through the same type stuff to get where we're going to go. And it's so funny because— because some of the same fingers that were pointing and said, "You ain't been through nothing," now look to us to say, "How can I get out of?" And you were there to save me come out of, had you paid attention. But I digress on that conversation.

Haters gonna hate, but when they're ready to love, you better be ready to love them back.

Right, right, right.

That's definitely a much deeper conversation.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. And so sometimes it lends itself to that based off who we talking to, what the goal is, and how much time we got that day.

Right, right. For sure, for sure. Well, I just— so let's, let's kind of talk about the business that you're in.

All right.

So it's, it's a unique business because there's not like a brick and mortar. I mean, you have a bit, you have a building and you have an office. But when I, when we talk to entrepreneurs on the show and generally just people that come and network and whatnot, you're a motivational coach, you're a speaker, you get paid to speak, you get paid to coach. You're in that same space with her kind of building that business together. So who are your role models for building that business? I mean, there's nobody in Lakeland, there's nobody in Polk County, right?

So look, I can just say that when I went to college, this is my story, I'm sticking to it. When I went to college, first of all, like first generation, you know, degree, first one to go to college kind of a thing in that part of my family. And so when I went to college, I literally walked in the office and I was like, just show me the The major that's going to turn me into Oprah. You know, just where in the catalog is the Oprah major? You know what I'm saying? Be Oprah. And it's because I knew I was interested in journalism. I knew I was interested in—

I got a BA in Oprah. —in speaking.

I knew that I was interested in making that type of impact, right? And so we had to pick and choose because also I believe that a lot of what we are called to do, anybody, when I say we, I mean humans, what we're individually called to do is to put our part into the puzzle. You know what I'm saying? So you might have a piece that looks like somebody else, but don't be discouraged that it isn't exactly like somebody else's piece because what use are you if you're doing exactly the same thing as somebody else? So to kind of like pick a little bit from here and a little bit from there, you know, Lisa Nichols and like Miles Monroe and just picking these different pieces from different people and just saying, oh, I like that piece. I like that piece. And because it resonates with you and cultivating all of it. Because when you said and not or, those are like my favorite words is and this and that.

And we've never had that conversation, right? Never. It's just as you're talking, I'm hearing it, I'm feeling it and I'm saying it. And then you're like, well, yeah, that's it. That's what I said. That's it.

That's exactly what it is. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, um, as far as names to throw out there, I mean, I had a lot of mentors growing up that I just, I just looked to and I never even got to talk to these guys. But like, I'll say the barbershop was amazing. Mm-hmm. Because you'd hear people say stupid stuff and you like, nah, I ain't doing that. But you see, see guys coming there that were doing big business and although you question their integrity as far as their ability as a businessman to navigate, it's like, yeah, okay, I could get with that. So a lot of, A lot of times. And then we had pretty good examples for pastors back then. And then—

You sat in the office with your aunt.

Exactly. And that's another, man, listen. So yeah, just— The people, the experience. The experience. Yeah. And so then kind of when I got with it, big names that kind of helped inspire me, like Steve Harvey early on was a big name. Watching Will Smith come through. Of course, preacher-wise, T.D. Jakes. And then like, but these days now I'm really into like Darius Daniels Michael Todd. So there are other names, but then we've read like the normal self-help stuff. Well, it's not normal, I'm sorry. But like, you know, you're Thinking Grow Rich. Yeah. Oh yeah. You're Robert Kiyosaki and you're Dexter Whitaker and like all these other ones. But like it's, yeah. Yeah. So you just—

'Cause your mentors don't have to be breathing the same air as you. Exactly.

I was gonna say sometimes you gotta pull on the guys you don't know to, to get where you wanna go.

It's a book sometimes. And when I bring up that he was in the, you know, sitting with his aunt, his aunt was, was a receptionist, right? She was a receptionist. And so she— 'cause you're a product of your environment. And so even though he may have been being raised one way, he kept being put in these rooms. And so he's sitting in the room with his aunt and the former mayor, Gal Fields, that she worked for him. She was his receptionist for years. So he would get out of school and have to go sit in the office and watch business being conducted.

Literally across the street, sat there and watched like 7-figure conversations happen all the time. So I'm in the other room not knowing what I'm hearing, But like I could just recap, you know what I'm saying? Like just get in the atmosphere. Yeah. So it just, yeah, yeah, it was cool. It was cool. And just my mom and my aunt, you know, 'cause then even thinking about back then, of course stuff being a lot safer, different time growing up, the '80s and '90s. But knowing that mom had to work, so it was like, go sit with your auntie. 'Cause school was across the street from where she worked. So just that whole community piece, like Tia was alluding to earlier, having that, from that tribe to kind of help move the kids.

Yeah, and now we definitely know the importance of getting our children into the room. Correct. Because we have two boys.

I love that they were there and they were so polite and they were like looking you in the eye, you know. But, but, you know, it's so— it's funny, there's a couple of people in our network, Diane Kaplan and Brittany Welchel, um, that there was like this dissonance with Okay, when I would say to them, hey, come to the, come to the networking event, she's like, are you serious? You want me to bring my baby? And I'm like, that's part of your life. I mean, we can't just like compartmentalize ourselves and say I'm an entrepreneur when I network, but when I go home I'm a mom. No, like, this is all, this is all of it, and it's messy sometimes, but it's necessary. Correct. And so I convinced them, and they're like, are you serious? Like, they would text me, are you sure? Are you sure? You're sure? You're sure? And I'm like, I'm sure, bring the baby. And you know, so that to me is like, I wish that we could do more of that because I know sometimes parents like will exclude themselves from some work that they're going to do in the networking field because they're afraid of bringing their kids. Or I'm like, no, come on, this is family.

We all— it's the Instagram, it's the Instagram generation, right? And so I can't bring my kids because that doesn't look glamorous. That looks like I'm struggling. That looks like I don't have a nanny and a butler. That's what that looks like. Because we— everybody entrepreneurs, let me tell you something, you're not really even getting paid for like the first 3 years or so. So they want you to look all glamorous on the internet and just like make it look, make it look fancy, make it look like it's working.

Building Better Businesses, a live virtual meeting with Donald Miller and the Polk County business community. Hey, Polk County business You're invited to join me on June 16th at 4:00 PM Eastern time to meet Don Miller, the man behind StoryBrand, Business Made Simple, and a whole lot more. Join us for this unique opportunity to be connected with the business leaders in our community and one of the greatest thought leaders of the current day. He's on a mission to help entrepreneurs succeed, and he has some great ideas on how we might do just that in our little neck of the woods. In this meeting, we'll get the chance to hear from Don about his most recent book, book, Business Made Simple, and the vision he has for making mission-critical resources available for entrepreneurs around the world to guide them as they build better businesses. We hope you'll be there to hear from Don and to connect with more than 100 other local business leaders right here in Polk County, Florida. Whether you're starting a business right now or you've been in business for decades, we'd love to have you join us for this unique opportunity to speak with Don Miller live. You know, and I'll speak to that too. I, um, when we started our business, so I was at the bottom of the bottom of the bottom, lost my job, trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life.

Come on, somebody know the story.

Stressing out because I didn't want to be 30-something years old and needing my mom to bail me out. Oh my God. But lucky that I had a mom in case I needed it. You're talking, you're talking freaking out about the fact that I don't know anything about running a business, starting a business, but Craig said we could. I said, okay, I'll give it a year. Let's see what happens. So in that space of time, I had been divorced, and then the third year of my lease of my Saturn SUV had ended. And so I had to go turn in this car that I was driving around, making it look like I had something that I didn't have. And then the lease was up and I had no credit, no job, and I had no way to get one to get a new car. So literally go over to Joseph Motors. And we know Joseph. We know Joseph.

Everybody knows Joseph. Shout out to Joseph.

No, this is a funny story. Funny story. So Philip Joseph was there that day. I'm trying to buy a car. Sweet, kind, loving man that he is, right? I start talking to him. I start having a conversation. He finds out that I speak Spanish. He says, do you want a job? What? Do you want to come sell cars for me at Joseph Motors? And I'm like, yeah, I'll come sell cars. I mean, my Spanish is a little bit, but I can sell, you know, because that's where I was. Yeah. So I actually went to work for 2 days at Joseph Motors. And then they're like, well, we really don't have a sales position yet ready for you, so it's probably not going to work. It was just one of those days in the life, right? But I had this Kia— no, what was it? It was an Elantra. What is it? Who makes an Elantra? Hyundai. Hyundai. A Hyundai Elantra. Gold. Crap. Okay. Piece of crap. And I'm starting my business and I'm literally driving up dressed up for my networking events and doing all this stuff, parking as far as I possibly can away from anything so nobody knows. That's why she's so skinny because she walks. She's walking a lot. So yeah, I mean, that's the reality, right? But then there were times that people saw me getting out of my car. I couldn't hide it. It was what it was. Correct. So then I just stepped into it. Yeah. And I'm like, you know what? That's who I am. Yeah. I am struggling. We're all struggling. I'm not going to lie. And hey, because I'm struggling, why don't you help me out a little bit? That's right. Give me an opportunity. And some of that kind of started happening.

Because no one knows to help you. Correct. If you look like you have it all together all the time.

One of my old mentors, like he literally, and that was his play, he would say, I'm bringing my kids intentionally to this meeting so people say I gotta feed the kids. So that would, that helped him close business. That was his thing. So I was like, whatever it takes, whatever it takes. You gotta get it done. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep.

There's a, there's a scrappiness to entrepreneurship though. I think, you know, 'cause like you said, the, the Insta glam, the, you know, has to be glamorous, has to be popular. I feel like, and I talk to Chrissanne about this all the time, entrepreneurship is more popular than ever now. And so everybody's flexing and saying, oh, I'm, the next person that's going to make $1 million on their Instagram. And again, then it negates the help that they may need down the road. Correct. Because they're not saying, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm new to the game. Right. I have no idea how this works. And so they're pushing back people that could potentially help them. And it's okay to not know and to go in a room and say, hey, this is my first time.

It's facts. You don't know.

And there's grace to it. There's grace to it. It's like, hey, man, they're showing up with their kids or whatever. It's—

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There was a thread I shared, um, in the Bridge Local forum yesterday. It's gotten a lot of comments, but it was like, under what circumstances do you help another business owner who needs help when you have to take time away from your business to help them? Right? Yeah. Like, what are the circumstances? And I love some of the answers. And you know, there's generosity everywhere. Mm-hmm. Right? Yes. Everyone is generous. Now, in our words, we can be very generous. When our actions, sometimes that doesn't always back up. But what I loved were the people who said, um, that A, you need boundaries. Yeah. And B, you need to understand what they need, or they need to ask for help. Correct. Right? Because that's the hardest part in entrepreneurship, I think, is, is getting to a point where you can say, hey, I need help, or I'm going to hire a coach to help me through a thing that I don't know how to do because A, they know how to do it and I don't. And so let me hire them. And that's the part I think from a Polk County standpoint, and I can't speak to anywhere else, but I hope it's not unique to Polk County, but I feel like here we are in this space with so many experts, so many people with skills, experience, knowledge, willingness to help, and no one is raising their hand and saying, hey, let me, can I ask you for some help?

And that's literally been one of the struggles as we've built, not, well, yeah, struggles is to help people realize that we can help you because we are one of the resources for that. Situation. Like we have so many conversations with business owners and new entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs who want to, who need help in developing a strategy that won't cause them to lose their shirt in their first year. Yeah. Or need, you know, new ideas about taxes, new ideas about how to structure your retirement within your business. Like how do you replace your health insurance so you don't have to, so you can leave your job sooner than later and still make sure that your family's completely covered. You know, how do you lay out a six-figure plan to make sure that you, your income and lifestyle don't have to sacrifice, right? Or have to be, you know, so shocked because you decided to become an entrepreneur. And it's just, it's, that's, that's the thing. Like we, we are trying to make sure that we know.

It's shame. I don't wanna come talk to you and tell you I don't know what I'm supposed to know about money. Correct. Right. That financial literacy piece. Yeah. But we don't know. Yeah. And, and we're not gonna get there. And so it's like that pride is getting in the way. Correct. We're stopping ourselves from doing the thing we know we need to do to get there. And that there's somebody there that can probably figure it out and help me. Yep. And, and gimme kind of a, at least a, a path for free upfront.

Of course. And it's, you know, and that's cuz that's funny. Like even yesterday talking to a new entrepreneur, he's getting his business rolling. He's over in Orlando and we're, we're setting up our time to talk and he's like, what do I owe you for the phone call? I'm like, what, a phone call? He said, how much you charge? I said, I appreciate your mindset, but bro, we old school. Like I ain't charging you for a conversation. Mm-hmm. We just talking. Mm-hmm. You know? And then it's like, you know, and I get it, you know, and I think that's for us, to the point about your thread the other day, my comment would have been, had I responded like I was supposed to, I would have said something to the, to the, to the effect of, hey, sometimes you got to put seed in the ground and help people realize that you're there to help them. And sometimes that takes you giving them something so that they know you don't want anything from them. Because most people can't afford me, they can't afford us, because it's been a while since we made less than $1,100 an hour. Who can pay us $1,100 an hour? Because if you ask me how much it cost to get on the phone with me, it'll be about $1,500. But I don't care about that, right? When the motive is we all come up, I want to see you win, bro, here, right? Let me help you.

Well, and that's to me what happens. Like, you were in the, in the office listening and hearing these conversations with Gow Fields and other places that you've been in, and now it's like you got lucky to be there, right? Yeah. But now you're giving that luck out. Yes, other people. Exactly. Because it's time for that to be paid back, right? And that's the way that I I think the— I mean, people will— you call it whatever you want, karma or whatever, but the truth is that's the entrepreneurial ecosystem that we're designing intentionally, and we just need to talk loud about it, right? And we need to say, come be a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem because we got you.

Yeah, we can help you. Same idea with the black economics.

Don't be skittish. Don't be hanging out here in the corner. And one of the things you said, uh, Tia, that was really like boom when you were at— when we were at that Black Economics meeting was the like, if you don't have the money, find the money. Yeah, yeah. Like get the money, go do what you got to do to get to it and make it happen and be resourceful. Because the answer is not I don't have the money, it's I don't have the will to do what it's going to take to get me to the point where I have the money. That mindset is so huge.

And I— that, that mindset is so huge. And then it's— I'm gonna go like trickle back to flip the script. So if in the Black economics. I'm gonna go back to the Black community. A lot of what was happening in the Black community, back to, to, um, let's say drug dealing in the Black community. What, what these, um, beautiful strong Black men don't understand is that you're dealing drugs, that means you are an entrepreneur. You know how to do something that a lot of people don't know how to do. You've been flipping stuff before flipping houses became popular. Like, I'm not telling you to sell drugs, but you need to flip your script on this This is what I know how to do. I know how to take products and I know how to price them and I know how to market them and I know how to advertise concerning them. I know how to push them. I own a business. I'm an influencer. I'm team no sleep. They're on the corner when everybody else is sleeping. These are attributes that are transferable skills. Wow. And so when you're sitting around looking, saying that I can't find the money, Look, T.D. Jakes said one time, he said, I can sell sand in the desert. I can sell water to the ocean. I can sell it. I can make it happen. And so if you've been doing these things, you need to stop for a minute. Look at these transferable skills. You've been doing this on even mothers who said they can't find— you— mothers are like, you're a CEO of a whole corporation. Like, how dare you think that you don't have the skills that it takes to run a corporation or to to schedule out what a day needs to look like, to delegate. Like, you do all of these things. And so when I sit with people a lot of times as a coach, I'm helping them to figure out what's in your hand. What do you actually already possess that can be flipped over? And when we talk about Polk County as it pertains to what does Polk County look like? Like, crazy enough, we work here in Polk County. We live in Polk County. We've been in Polk County. He was born in Polk County. Eddie was born here.

Right here in Lakeland. Lakeland.

Right here in Lakeland. I'm one of the home team. And so for me, I'm looking like when we get into— I do a lot of retreats. And so we are starting to do what we call VIP retreats, which is Vision, Identity, and Purpose retreats. And so families and small businesses are hiring us to come in and do retreats with their corporation to express vision, identity, and purpose. Yeah. So because a lot of times that's what needs to be shaped more so even and a lot of the business strategies and tactics that we teach, it's the mindset, right? And so now I look around and I'm doing retreats, I will look around and nobody's in the room from Polk County. I'm from Polk County, but when I look around the room, it ends up being people from, they're from St. Pete, they're from Orlando, people coming from Pittsburgh, Detroit, Texas, California. And I'm like, but I'm from Polk County and the retreat is in Polk County.

You know what I'm saying?

It's not like I'm some, even when I, and so I look around and I say, you know, Polk County, lean in, lean into the resources that are here because other people are looking at these. Polk County is so cool and it's quirky, you know, it's full of business, but it's so full of art and it's just rich. And so now lean into that because everybody else is kind of catching the wave. And when you go even to the biggest of cities now, you will find them trying to transform their downtown into what ours look like. Right. And all kind of stuff is happening and you're going to miss the wave. Yeah, it's an inside job.

And I mean that from a personal development, but a community development side of things too. If we focus on how we become better people by doing the inside work, the internal stuff we have to do, it's the same principle with the community. We have to focus inside of our community to help it grow, you know, exponentially. Correct. But what we're doing, and what, to what, to your point, is we're seeking outside experts. We're going outside. Oh, Orlando has a smarter person than Polk County. We're not even looking here to bring the people here. Here. And so you then therefore are getting your business to grow because people will listen to you. You're in your own backyard, but nobody's paying any attention. Yeah.

And then, you know, I would say to, uh, a challenge or something that we're overcoming, it's the fact that for us, uh, business owners here in Polk County, it's like, are we really doing the best job at making sure that we're telling people that we're here? Some people will argue obviously not because nobody knows. Or it's like, you know, what can we do to make adjustments to our efforts to make sure that people know that we're right here. So, but I totally get it. Like it's a whole—

That's a thing. We probably need to have a little consortium or a group of people coming together and figuring out how we raise the bar for the coaches and the subject matter experts that are right here in our city.

Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, there's a lot of stuff floating around and I'm excited to see it, but a lot of times it's just like that concentrated laser-focused effort behind a united goal for us to all go go in the same direction. That's something I've longed for since I got in the business in '07. It's like, we want to see, we want to see everybody win. Like, you got to see everybody win. Visibility trumps ability. Correct. Tia says it all the time because a lot of times the person who's loudest gets the most attention and reverence, and they can be wrong. They can be stupid.

Most of the time they are loud and wrong.

Most times they are.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Exactly. And, and we've We, we are sitting here being quiet. Yeah. Well, and I will also say, so what you're saying to me, that united front, I see a lot of— I'm going to just say nodes. I was drawing this on the back of a piece of paper yesterday. Nodes, like little dots over here, little dot here, little dot here, little dot here, little dot here. And there's nothing connecting those nodes to create some concentration on what we're trying to do together. Right. And so to me, it's like, all right, well, can we just all agree on what that's going to look like? Because then once we do, it doesn't matter which node you go to or talk you're gonna hear the same thing. Correct. And we all have to kind of figure out what that same message looks like or feels like so that we can promote each other. But by promoting each other, that unified voice gets louder than the squeaky wheel. Correct. Agree. That's a good point. Man, I feel this like this is fire. Yeah, it's good.

I did want to, you know, kind of speak towards this guy because I think you were leaning towards this earlier when we were talking about um, the mindset shift. But then I started thinking about ownership and shifting towards how to get it, and specifically towards the Black community. Yes, sir. How to get them to understand and have that paradigm shift of ownership and access and opportunities. Because now that in height of— and we're all very, very self-aware of it— what happened with COVID what happened with George Floyd. Yep. Now businesses cases, maybe they're doing it to pander, maybe they're doing it because they're serious. They're saying, oh, there is a lack of opportunities for Black entrepreneurs. Target said that they were going to do a certain amount of things. Yeah, for entrepreneurs. Walmart said that they were going to create opportunities. How do you, in, in this environment, open up the eyes of the individuals in the community and say there is opportunity out there and you can access it and you have opportunity to shift from just renting things things to actually building and owning things?

Yeah, it's a, it's a loaded question. And I think a lot of times it starts with, and the way where we start usually is the mindset. And, and the, the, when we talk about mindset is first of all, creating a picture. Cause you can't go until you've seen or caught a, caught a vision in some way of what can be. You usually settle for what you've seen. And so we start with the awareness and then we go into the mindset conversation. But as far as the shift. It's a lot of times it's, it's the, it's the walking people through that process because they, they've never done that before. Until you've shown some, until you've made 6 figures, like, you don't know how to do it. Until you've made 7 figures, you don't know how to do it. So that whole coaching piece is something that we've leaned on to help show people how, how to get there.

So, I mean, yeah, it's like a challenge. You got to throw it down, right? —like to answer your question, Nate, it's like, how do we get them to say, hey, I'm going to sign up and I have no idea how to start, but I'm going to because this is my time, right? This is the time to do it.

And to feel like they have the ability to, because a lot of times it's like, no, I'm going to be a football player, a basketball player, a rapper or whatever. But it's like shifting the mindset and saying, no, I can be a businessman. Exactly.

And that's the thing when I was saying about more examples of other things to see, like another picture. And so Yeah, man, I just, that's it.

For me, it's about being disruptive. You know, how do we get in here?

'Cause that's what she enjoy, messing up stuff.

I enjoy a little bit of disruption, okay? And I think it's when you go in and first of all, I feel like as the thought leaders, as the people who have the strategies, as the coaches, we have to be okay with being deemed, disruptive. Like, sometimes, um, there's good trouble that has to be had, right? She says that with this little smile on her face.

Good trouble.

Good trouble has to be had. Y'all pray for me. But, but, but I feel like, because when you go in, I— there's this sense of false humility as well that comes along with, um, country living, Polk County, right? And so there's this false humility, but if people don't get exposed exposed to a better opportunity, then they don't even know what they could be experiencing. Correct. And so, like, when we talk about the things, the good stuff that we're experiencing, you know, the table I sat at with you all, that was like energy for me. That was like, I love this. This is good. I like this. People don't even know that that exists. They don't believe, like, first of all, poverty, right? And being impoverished, it comes with its side effects. I talked about PTSD. ASD, but it comes with its side effects. And so now what comes with poverty is a closed fist. You hold on tightly to anything you think that you have. So those kind of conversations that happen at that table, we were dealing with people who have had a legacy of family business or have had the training of family business. We are literally talking about talking to people who have not ever experienced that. And so their fist is closed, it's white knuckles holding on to whatever. And so to talk to them, they're not going to sit at the table so easily and, um, just open up and tell their business and their strategy, because they don't really realize that it's more than enough. They haven't come to what my husband says, making peace with abundance. They haven't made peace with abundance. They don't know that there is abundance out there. And so what we love doing is creating these atmospheres that are conducive for openness and vulnerability. And so when we do these retreats, or even we do something called an expo because you asked, how do we get this out there? How do we— so we have this thing that we do called the Goal Getters Expo. We were doing it annually, but then, you know, here comes COVID. And we would have it like at Florida Southern. The building fits about 200 people, 250 or something like that in there. And we would set it up where we had vendors all around the room.

And we would stress local vendors so people can see who's here, right?

A lot of the vendors had come through my coaching program. So like they had come through the coaching program. And so I think the last time we did it, we had like maybe 40 vendors going around the room, something like that, and filled the middle of the room with people, filled the stage with speakers who had the content. And they came under the guise of fun and action and shopping, but the information was there. And so you have to put things out there that is palatable for people for them to be able to— it's like a bait, you know.

You have to put things out there that they want to do, put them in the atmosphere, like sitting in the office so that you can absorb it, but you're not necessarily there for that reason, right? Right.

And so you gotta— you have to do that, you know, put it out there in a way that is palatable, like that they can— that they— something that they want to do, right? And we know that the Black community is like one of the largest consumers, Jesus, you know, one of those— we will stand in line for some Jordans, honey. We ain't running nowhere, but we gonna put on them Jordans. And so if they like to shop, then I'm going to create a shopping opportunity. Wow. But when they come here, they're going to be professionals on the stage, you know, lawyers and doctors and entrepreneurs and all of the things, right? And so that is a lot of time how you get, um, the information in front of people. It's like marketing, you know what I'm saying? Like, you have to market it in a way that is packaged for the people you're trying to reach, right?

So then when you, uh, look at answering it on a, on another layer, the relationship piece, of people diving in and creating that opportunity to let them drop the guard to say, look, I identify with the struggle, I identify with whatever. So here, now that you see somebody you can trust, right? 'Cause that's, people do business with who they like, know, and trust. So it's like, now it's like the wall's down. Let's talk about moving forward.

Yeah. It almost feels like there needs to be a simulation created so that you can not be talking about you. You can ease into the role of a person that you're in a simulation about. Exactly.

It's like, I know a guy, and I'm the guy, but I don't say, I'm asking for a friend. Exactly, that thing.

And let that be how you would learn what decisions you would make. And I know Kelvin McCree has a game that he plays. It's actually like a retreat type of game. So it's almost like, all right, let's set up a game night or a game day or something. Put that game in there with a couple of the others, the ones that are like, oh, I know how to play this game. But getting some of that activity going around because— That's dope. When we have enough of that, it's like, all right, let's set up game day in downtown on Munn Park. Set up tables, have this game being played and people walking by and going, I'm curious, I want to see what's going on. And then sitting them down and having this— it's similar to a simulation, but maybe there needs to be something else. I mean, just that box. I know that that game, because I played it as like a beta, I was a beta tester for the game. So just taking some of your stuff, connecting it so we can be intentional, like you said, intentionally focused on a unified goal because we're all here to try and do we're all swinging in our own, like, over here, right? We're sprinkling our own lawn and we're, you know, there's not enough water for us to sprinkle your lawn, but we have enough water collectively to sprinkle everybody's lawns, right? So man, this is good. We've got to start wrapping up though, because like, I know people are probably like, okay guys, wrap it up. I got to get to work. So I want to, Tia, talk about the thing you've got coming up. Is Is you want to talk about Reboot, Reload, and Relaunch? Sure. Sure. Okay. And anything else that you've got on the books that you kind of want to promote or share what's coming up?

So I wrote a book and that book is Focus on Vision: Reboot, Reload, Relaunch. And I've been having these opportunities to pop up actually on schedule for a couple podcasts and different things. And there's an event that's coming up, a virtual event. Event. I, I don't even know the date. Do you have the picture in front of you?

Uh, it is the 12th.

The 12th. Okay, so the 12th of this month, there is a— is a virtual event is being put on by HER. Um, Ramika is, is the, the leader of that group, um, HER. And we're just going to get on and talk about the book. The book is all about, um, bouncing back, bouncing back into your business, bouncing back into your purpose. Kind of wrote that out because, um, I was working on the book and then COVID hit, and I was teaching second 5th grade and 6th grade at my house. I'm not gonna get bitter and all out of control. It was bad, y'all. One day me and the kids was crying at the house one day. I'm just gonna put that out there.

I walked in, I'm like, what in the emotional is going on in this house? It was a lot.

It was a lot. And so, and then my sister ended up— my— I had a sister, she ended up passing away during this pandemic. And so that was just like, okay, I don't want to do nothing. I don't feel like moving forward, but I couldn't because of the call that's on my life pulls me. It calls me. It beckons me, right? And so that book kind of got even better during that season. So I kind of pushed it out to say, you know, what did you put on the back burner? What have you not been doing? What do you know you should be doing, but you need the strategy to get out of the rut? That's what that's all about. So that's what that event is going to be kind of speaking to. It's free. I will post it on my Facebook page, Tia Crockett. I'll post it on my Facebook page. You can click the link and just register. It's a free event. Yep.

Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I, um, we will also put it in the podcast notes and any, any links or any other things that you have, we can put that in the podcast notes as well. Yes.

So I was gonna say, we do, are doing, uh, free financial coaching. Uh, uh, we're offering complimentary initial dream sessions for anybody who wants to sit down with a licensed, uh, financial professional to have a conversation about their finances. Along with that conversation, the opportunity to go to or enroll in our How Money Works courses. It's a 5-week course where we go over the basics and the, uh, the strategies for money. And we talk about foundations, elements of money. We get into long-term ideas, protection, that's the insurance conversation. And then of course, short-term goals like your day-to-day, how to function. That gets into budgeting, credit, mortgages, like all that kind of stuff. Okay. Wow. And so, uh, we'll provide the link for you to be able to do that as well. And we are rolling out a fresh course that will be ongoing, probably starting in the middle of July. So as we finalize that schedule, schedule because we just want to get into a situation where it can be permanent. And, um, we were actually talking about rolling out live events again. And so just, just be on the lookout on the Authentic Empowerment Facebook page, Authentic Empowerment Instagram page, and you know, whatever else Tia rolls out in her awesomeness.

Yeah, you know what's funny? As you're talking and you're talking about something rolling out in July, and we've got this thing going in June, and I've got, um, a Zoom meeting with Donald Miller in June, and nice, you know, here's, here's the thing that I think is kind of worth pointing out for this conversation. Entrepreneurship doesn't get a summer vacation. Nah, bro.

Nah, bro, we working. No, we're here.

I mean, I know that a lot of the corporate kind of stuff is like, okay, well we'll reconvene, we'll have our next meeting in the fall. Nope. Nope. Kids are outta school, but we're still going.

That's when we get to talk to everybody that's on vacation.

Correct. Right, right. And that's only because we find new business partners during the summer, teachers who are like, I didn't make enough money. Well, come on over here, let me give you—

Let's talk about that. Exactly. Yeah, for sure, for sure. I, I hope that we can do this again. I also, I mentioned it before, but I always lately I've just been saying it just because I want to poke the bear. Um, y'all need to do a podcast and this studio would be perfect. We love it. So come on back. Nice. Um, but yeah, let's, let's definitely stay connected because this was great talking to you guys. Wonderful conversation. I told you they were fire. You're like, no, no, I don't know them. I'm like, oh, but you need to. So, all right, well, thanks everybody. That's a wrap. Thanks for listening to this week's show. If you'd like to help us get the word out about this podcast, check out the post on our Facebook page, share it, or better yet, comment with your favorite part of this episode. We're looking forward to learning what you loved about this conversation. And if you have any ideas for upcoming episodes and guests, we'd love to hear from you. We'll see you next week, Polk County. Boom!