How To Build An Empire From Zero: My $100M Business Secret

Hey everybody, Toby Potter here, the Unshakeable Investor. And today, and today only, we have the amazing, the one and only Juma from Kenya here in the office in Dallas, or McKinney, Texas. So I wanted to take this moment in time to visit with Mr. Juma, Dr. Juma, and Kind of figure out what the hell are you doing in Dallas, Texas, my friend?

It's time to be here.

What the hell, man? You're right, it's heaven. So welcome, welcome to my office. Welcome to McKinney, Texas. Yeah, it's been, uh, it's been 24 hours, a little over 24 hours since you landed. Yeah, sure. We took you all over Texas, but we haven't taken him to the High Five. He wants to go see The Dallas High Five. Why, I have no idea, but we'll see what we can figure out. Uh, we're going to take a picture and put it on this board and say there it is. But, uh, how are you?

Well, I'm excellent. I feel excited to be here. Well, at the Empire, we have just always been hearing about this Empire. It was a quest for me because I realized that, uh, this Empire represents greatness.

Thank you, thank you.

I felt— I feel honored especially to, to be in this office and of course to interact with you. In life, we always must stand on the shoulders of others to become, and I know that, uh, with the global influence you're having, I've read some of the resourceful materials that you have. And, uh, I really came to learn, and I'm learning.

Are you learning?

Oh, I'm learning.

You sit here and listen to me on the phone talking to— we talked to, uh, 20, 24 people this morning on the Ignite program. Yeah, the, the program that was established to, uh, create daily discipline spiritually, mentally, physically. Um, you listened to that call.

Yeah.

You listened to me have additional calls since then.

Yeah.

And you said you're sitting here learning. What are you learning?

Oh my goodness, I'm learning so many things. First of all, I'm learning about you. Of course, uh, you see, you can never buy a product before you buy the, the representation of the product, the person. Yeah, exactly. I have to buy into you before I buy what you offer. And really, your discipline alone from the time you wake up, I've been very observant. Oh, with your family, what you do, you are, you are very objective and very intentional in what you are doing, what you're offering. And I love the excellency in all aspects. So I've learned when I also sit here and listen how you attend to your clients and also how you relate to your staff. I feel challenged. There's so much to learn from how you, your relationship is, and I believe your relationship is capital.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Well, let's tell the audience real quick. Let's back the bus up and tell the audience how you and I met. How did we meet?

Well, in the village, in the village down there in Kenya, when you came together with Dr. Brenda and the entire team, with your dear wife, the, the queen, Angie, and of course with John and Kenya Mester. You did amazing work for the missionary work and you touched the community during the outreach program and of course ministering to us in the church. Yeah, yeah, the, the Kanan City where we are in Nguni Heights in Kenya.

Yeah, well, and I will tell you and I'll tell the audience, I said it there on stage, I went thinking that I was going to go there, inspire the villagers, and light a fire in them, get them all pumped up, and really, really light a fire in the village of God and all this. And on the last day when I left, I said, you know, I didn't do nothing. You guys lit a fire back in me. Being here in that community, being there in that village, seeing the passion, seeing the love, seeing the community rally, that lit a fire back inside me saying, this is more we need to do. This is so, you know, I thought I was going to do something when I was there. But you did. No, no, no, the village did it to me. The village people did it to me.

Well, I don't know, but you did because we haven't recovered. Possibly that's why some of us have to pay the price to come and say, that man whom God used to touch our lives, what, what is there that he left. Yeah, so whatever you left, I've come to collect.

He comes here to collect it. Yeah, but so, and it is such an honor for you to come in. You called us a few weeks ago and said you were coming. Yeah, we've got our event in Kansas City next— this week. Yes, I forget it's already this week, and you and I are gonna go up there on stage. We're on stage with some amazing people.

Oh yes. Oh yes.

Amazing.

Legends.

Legends. Legends. Not Legion. Legends. Legends. Yeah. Legends. You're right. Legends of the industry. Clyde Rivers, Dr. Clyde Rivers, Dr. Reuben West, Anthony Trucks. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And, you know, for me, I'm in awe. It's like, it's like going to Hollywood and seeing all the big actors and all the big people, and to say that I get to share that stage with them is such an honor and such a privilege.

Absolutely.

But it all started with Dr. Brenda Ringwood.

Yes.

Who said— we met with her and then she brought me to the Village.

Yes.

Said, hey, I want you to come speak here. And I said, absolutely, I'd be glad to. But then this— this— you've become my family. I've become your family.

Yes.

You're here. You're staying at my house. And we made you mow the yard last night, put you on the tractor mower. It's really exciting. And so it's been a good time. So, um, in coming here though, in all seriousness, yes, what is it you want to obtain? What is it you hope that when you go back to Kenya, what are you going to take back to Kenya that you got from the trip here?

Well, number one, uh, I'm a very passionate person when it comes to knowledge because, uh, from the biblical perspective, the Bible says that you know not and you understand not, and so you end up in darkness. Darkness meaning to, you know, meaning several things. Meaning ignorance or meaning problems. In other words, anytime you're ignorant, you have already attracted a problem because you have no capacity to handle the problem, right? So you realize that nobody is a monopoly, a monopoly on any knowledge in life. And coming from the background in Africa, a family that is very humble, uh, with all that I do believe we face in Africa One, African problems are not insoluble. There is a solution somewhere, and for us to get a solution somewhere, we must be open-minded and we must also allow to learn. So I came to learn specifically when it comes to investment. I know you are a voice, I know you're an authority, and I know you have, uh, listening, you, you very disruptive in our conventional understanding on investment, because— and even of life, because there's a way people have been programmed to think, right? From school, from also family setting, we are taught don't do this, don't go here until you're here. But you see, when I look at your— allow me call it modus operandi— the way you operate, you operate in faith. At the same, same time, you disrupt that which we really know.

Right.

And that attracted me. I said, well, there are good teachers and good teachers will always explain, but there are greater teachers. Great teachers demonstrate. So we have investors, uh, who can explain to you a few facts and whatever, but there are those who demonstrate. Until you are able to also walk in their footsteps. And that's what I passionately, you know, felt I should meet Toby, sit with him, ask him some few secrets. And this morning when you were in the call, yeah, you talked about 4 powerful Tobyisms.

Tobyisms, yep.

Yes. And I asked you after that Could this be the secret?

It is, it is.

So I'm coming here with secret.

Yes.

Perhaps on top of the secret, I just want you to, to show me how practical it's going to be, because there is a principle and there's the specifics such that with that 4 secrets you shared, I want to go and help my community.

And, and I love it. I love it. And we're going to take all that to the community. Sure. We're going to rise up a new revival in the community, a revival that will, uh, change a nation. Yes, yes, 100%.

Yes.

And you know, when we talk about, uh, demonstrating what I do, what I preach, you know, you're right, there's so many people out there that are so amazing on the stand, on the, on the stage, but when it comes time to demonstrating the action, yes, they're not as powerful. True. And it, it scares me that we have that many voices in the world misleading society.

Yes.

Misleading because they say this is what you should do and this is how you should do it, but they have no clue.

Yes.

And so I think it's extremely important that we demonstrate what we preach. We demonstrate the products, the programs, the process so that people can see it happening. Not just assume it'll happen, but see that it happens. And you're right. I've always demonstrated on how we do things, how we teach things. And it is unconventional. I've never been conventional. I've never been that guy that said, well, this is how the whole world's doing it, so I must do it the same way. In fact, I'm just the opposite. If the whole world's doing it like this, They don't need me to jump in that boat. They need me to create another boat, go this direction, because this direction is being missed. These people, it's just like Christopher Columbus, you know, if he hadn't taken off and, you know, they said, oh, the world is flat, the world is flat. If you go far enough west, you'll fall off. He said, well, I'll fall off. And he found, you know, South America and he found all these other trading industries and he helped ignite a whole new culture, a whole new country.

Yes.

And so we have to be unconventional. That's true. Conventional people to me are lazy. Conventional people are non-risk takers. Don't get me wrong, they're very non-risk takers, but they're not moving the needle. And I like to move the needle in a society. I like to move the needle. I like to impact the environment around me. And this is what we're going to do. So I'm going to grab this book that I wrote for you.

Yes.

If I can find it here. Yeah, there it is. So I wrote this book called Unshakeable Shepherds.

Yes.

Igniting revival, restoring civility, and guarding the heart of Kenya.

My country.

Your country. Yes. Because I was there.

Yes.

I saw what I saw.

Yes.

I felt what I felt. I came back and I wrote a book.

Wow. So within that short time, you've already produced this book?

Yeah. Dr. Brenda and I were talking one day, and I said, you know, we need to take action.

Yes.

She said, okay. And so I told her, I said, I have to go write a book. And I went upstairs and I wrote this book. And it— I wrote it.

This book is powerful.

And I rewrote it, and then I modified it, and then I added the images because I like, I like the pictures. I like people to see what the story is about. And then I published it. And you know, I think if we take this back to Kenya— yes, this book This philosophy, this strategy, and this philosophy, we can change a nation.

Absolutely.

And this book was inspired by your book. What? Yeah. By The Art of Civility.

Yes.

Teaching people how to get along. Teaching people that war is in the past, that we all live here. We all share the same ground. We all share the same villages, supermarkets. We don't have to fight for power. True, right?

Yes.

We can rise to power. Yeah, but we don't have to fight for it. We don't have to kill for it. We create civility, we create culture, we create a society and a community, and we raise the whole community with us.

Yes.

We raise the whole environment with us.

Yes.

We raise the whole, um, congressional structure, the, the governmental structure to a better mindset.

True.

To give back to the people so that the people can create and grow. See, if your government understood the power of the people, they would stop looking at themselves here and the people here.

Yes. And actually, that is now where the problem is, that even when you have been elevated in a position, you fail to serve the people.

That's right.

You begin to oppress the people and you feel like The people should serve everyone, you know, in civility. Everyone has value.

Everyone. But see, the— and I don't mean to cut you off, but the people is why we have government.

True.

Without the people, you have no government. You have nothing to govern. Sure. If without the community, without the people, there's no need for a government. So the government needs to understand and recognize why they're there, their purpose and calling. It's to serve the people. So through your book, I inspired that because we have to—

that's great—

we have to go back to the foundation, yes, of humanity.

Yes, sir.

We have to go back to the evolution of humanity, the creation from God, and, and it has to start. And once we can get the church empowered, then the government will concede.

That's true, because the church carries superior principles that God himself has established, and the church is the entity that God himself identifies himself with, right? And therefore the church has to rise up. And I love what you have written in this particular book, though I've not finished reading it all, but you have such a message that, you know, resonates with the need of the church. And that's not just in Kenya, the entire body of Christ. Yes, you speak to the shepherd because until the leader is healed— there's somewhere you have mentioned because most of the ministers of the gospel are feeding the flock out of exhaustion, right? Starvation.

Yeah.

What are you going to do if at all you are already oppressed yourself? Right, you will not heal the land, you will not heal the people. So I love, I love what, what, what, what is, what, you know, what is in this book.

Good, I appreciate it.

I have a question.

Sure, fire away.

Touching Investment.

All right, I—

because you are a voice, zero money, yeah, zero partners, yeah. And zero what? Yeah, I heard you speak. How can you manage to raise an empire from a zero budget, zero partners, to be a global solution center like this?

Well, I have to back that up. I have one partner.

Yes, God. God.

God. And with God, all things are possible. And see, I believe that people say that, people say it all the time, but nobody truly lives it. Now, Billy Graham lived it. There are people, don't get me wrong, there are people that live it. Yes, but the majority of people say it, but they don't live it. And so I believe it to the extent, like we talked this morning, that no matter what, as long as I am following his will, As long as I believe that I'm doing good by his people, he is my CEO. He is my, my rock. He is to ensure and guarantee that I can't fail.

Yes.

Now, he may wipe this stuff out tomorrow, but if he does, it's for a purpose. Sure. And I'm OK with that. He's done it once. He's done it twice. He's done it before. And I've never worried. Did I like it? No. Because I didn't understand it, but I can look back today and say, makes sense now. I know, I know the plans I have for you, to prosper you, not to harm you, has to resonate in my life. Not just in my mouth, not just in my mind, but it has to resonate in my life. So that if he says, hey, guess what, we're done here, we got to start over here now, and we're going to start back at zero.

Wow.

Then I'm like, all right.

So that courage to start from zero can only be given by God.

It's— it is, in my opinion, and there's gonna be a lot of people watching say I have lost my mind. Yes, but I don't care. It is the only way to ensure success. It's the only way to know that. See, we talk about that. I'm glad you brought this up, man.

I'm so glad.

See, people quit. Yes. Remember my 4 Tobyisms?

Yes. Decision.

Make a decision. Yes. Stop all the excuses. If it come, if it's going to be, it's up to me.

Yes.

And you don't quit, you can't lose. So here's what happens. Maybe people believe I made a decision. Okay. I'm forgetting the excuses and I'm out there building this, but then the stock market crashes. I lose it all.

What do they do?

They jump off the tallest building they can. They quit. They threw in the towel.

Yes.

They quit. They gave up. They go out, they bite a bullet, blow their brains out. They crash into a building, whatever reason. They can't take the pain anymore. So they end it. So that means they quit. You have to have all 4. You have to make a decision. Where do you want out of life? Where do you want to be? What do you want to achieve? Make a decision and then do it. Don't listen to the excuses that you give yourself or somebody gives you. Your wife, your husband, your family members, they'll tell you, oh, don't do that because we don't have the money. Don't do this because you're spending too much time now. Don't do it because nobody can make that work. Why would you be able to? All that noise is an excuse. You tell yourself, oh, I can't, I can't take my church, my community, my village and create a congregation of 500 people because it's just not realistic. You know what? That should be the challenge. I want 500 people in my village every Sunday morning. Therefore, if that is your vision, then you'll do everything in your power. You'll go get 4, 5, 6, 7 broke-down buses and go pick up people from the other communities. You'll hire people to to go drive and pick people up for free to get them into your church on Sunday morning. And it's not Sunday morning, it's like Saturday night. And they go home Monday morning because you guys have church all day long. I've been there. But see, whatever your vision is, you will find a way to achieve it. That's true. And you forget about the noise. Well, I don't have— we don't have, you know, so, so somebody in the village or the church will say, oh, we don't have any vehicles. I saw a vehicle sitting there parked. Round those people up and go tell. And I've seen you guys in Kenya, you can put 7 people on a motorcycle. I've seen it. So you put some, you get a car, you put 20 people in a car. So I know it can be done because of the willpower.

Yes, sir.

So you stop excuses, and then you know that if this is your vision, then it's up to you to go achieve it. You and God. You got to make sure though that it's glorifying God in all, because it doesn't matter what you want out of life. That's not what God wants. I don't care how hard you work, it won't ever happen. But then you go and you make it happen.

Yes.

And then you never quit. Oh, we went and we drove 20 villages and picked up 2 people. All right, you go next week. Now you picked up 4 people. Now you picked up 6. And it may take you a year, but you know what? Now you got 500 people packed. You know what you got to do now? You got to bust those walls out. You got to make it bigger. Do it outside, whatever you just— but see, this is the thing that people miss.

I love that.

Oh my, we don't dream big enough. Here's an example that everybody knows. In 2023, interest rates were high, real estate valuations were low, and you just— real estate was just not as favorable as everybody thought. And I told everybody, I'm gonna go buy 1,000 units. I told my brother, I told my office, I'm gonna go buy 1,000 units. I want to buy 1,000 units in the next 12 months. Now that is a high hefty goal. That's roughly about $100 million evaluation, okay? And I had so many people say, oh, you ain't gonna do that, you can't do that, that ain't gonna happen. And I never listened. Now, did I hit 1,000? No, but I hit almost 300. Because my goal was so high, even if I fell short, I still achieved greatness. Sure. Does that make sense? Mm-hmm. If a church or a pastor in Kenya says, well, you know, if we could just get 20, 30 people to come regularly, we'd be doing good. That's too small. Your vision's too small and you're limiting it to you, not to God.

Oh yeah.

That's where we mess up. Sure, that's when we fall short, when we say, I can only do this, I can only do that. You're absolutely correct, but God can do all things. So when we stop restricting ourselves and say, God, just freaking do whatever you want with me, let's go, just point me in the direction and give me the strength to have it done, he'll do it. But you better be ready.

That's a principle you share in this book about surrender.

Yes, surrender yourself to him. Surrender. Because see, most of us only surrender when things are good. Oh yes, I mean, man, we had an amazing year this year, and glory be to God, we won the football game. Glory be to God, we won this. Glory be to God. Well, where were you when you weren't winning? I didn't hear any glory be to God then. Glory be to God, because he put you through all this training, through all this learning, through all this teaching, so that you could win. That's when you should be giving him glory.

Sure.

When you're facing defeat, when you're facing pain, when you're facing trials and tribulations— 1 John 1:9, right? Yes. Consider it all joy, face your trials and tribulations, for this is the way that I mold and sculpture and create you.

And I think that the propensity for us human beings to not associate God with failure, right? You get it? That is like when things are good, that's when we are seeing God.

Always, praise you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Answer my prayers. Where were you yesterday when you were mad at the world? Where was God then? Oh, he wasn't helping me out. No, he was.

He was.

He was right beside you the same then as he is now. You know, I have a poster right here, the footprints poster. I don't know, you've heard the story of the footprints? Have you ever heard that?

Possibly I'll read after this.

No, I'm gonna get it right now because this— I read this early in life, little kid read this, and it's always been a part of my life because this meant so much because we— this is how we humans Yes, I'm gonna read it. One night I dream— I dreamed a dream. As I walked along the beach with my Lord, across the dark sky flashed scenes of my life. For each scene, I noticed two steps of footprints in the sand. One belonged to me, one to my Lord. After the last scene, my life flashed before me. I looked back in the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints. This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I noticed during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why. And when I needed you the most, you would leave me. And he whispered, my precious child. I can't read this. I love you and will never leave you. Never, ever. During trials and testings, when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you. See, that's the part that we miss. That's the part we forget about. We think we're left alone. We think we're fighting this all on our own, and God has got us in his arms. Yes, and carrying us through the trials, through the tribulations. Because see, I know the plans I have for you, not to prosper you, not to harm you. And this is what that says. I read this early as a young child. I don't remember, 10, 12, 14 years old.

Thank you for reminding me.

And at that moment in time, I've never thought anything different. Never thought anything different. He's never left me. Now, has he thrown— have I made decisions that caused me to fall? Yes. But he didn't leave me on the ground. Yes, he was there ready to pick me up when I was ready to be picked up. Yes, see, that's the glory of God, is he will do whatever we ask him to do.

If he—

if we want him to leave us alone, he will. But he's standing right over there in the corner waiting for us to say, Lord, I'm ready to come back to you.

Amen.

And the minute he's right back, he doesn't say, well, you know what, young child, you didn't like me yesterday, you screamed and yelled at me. Yes, I think you need a little timeout. I think you need to just think about your actions and you think about all that you said when you were mad at me. No, he forgets it right then and there. Says, you know, let me hold you, let me carry you, let me lift you up, and now let's go do what we need to— what we need to do.

Oh, praise God!

That's the power.

And the scripture says, I'll be with you till the end of the age. In other words, God is not planning to abandon any one of us ever. No, he is with us.

Yeah.

And I listen to you, and one great thing that comes out is that all of us are scheduled to prosper and to be promoted by God.

Yes.

And you are an evidence. Your story is very touching. I've been following it, and I bless God for the level of faith that you're operating. It's very inspiring. We— my mentor has always reminded me, Juma, I told you this morning, when you rub your shoulders—

yeah, when you rub your shoulders against somebody who's on fire, yes, you'll get that fire. You're gonna get that fire.

And that's what the Bible says.

That's right.

The company Your companion. Show me who you are. Yes, I can only know you better through the company you are.

That's right, that's right.

So I'm so excited to be with Toby here, King Toby, a man on fire, man igniting the fire. I'm already rekindled in my spirit.

Oh, thank you.

And possibly now this one is for another time, but I believe that what I'm learning here is what God wanted me to. And I hope so. Yes, the light that you are beaming in my heart, in my spirit, in my mind— it's awesome. It's awesome. Uh, with the responsibility I have as a spiritual leader, with the responsibility I also have from the global, uh, uh, no, space in the consultancy when it comes to strategic partnerships, co-investment opportunities. I tend to believe that I needed this encounter with you so that it helps me to be able to connect and make the collaborations that change lives and change communities and change nations possible.

It's our job and it's our duty, it's our responsibility. If we are not changing lives, which change communities, which change nations, we have failed. We have failed. Chuma, my brother, thank you so much.

Thank you, man. Thank you, man. Appreciate your time, baby. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, guys.