Navigating Business Through These Tumultuous Times

Welcome to our Brothers in Conversation podcast, powered by Jesse and Shondell. Shondell, you are from Bed Stuy do or Die Brooklyn.

That little town?

That's a little town that's nothing like Hawthorne, Nevada, population 5,000 cats and dogs. Let me. Let me hear your best voice. What. What do you got for me?

I don't have the best voice. It's just me.

Shondell, do me a favor. Let me hear your best guy imperson.

Oh, boy. My best guy impersonation.

Impersonation.

Is this the words? Let me see if I got this right. The disclaimer is, the views and opinions of Guy Martin are not necessarily those of Martin Harris Construction.

There was a time, and it's not too far in the distant past, where I would be asked to do speaking engagements. The very first slide was disclaimer.

Well, I love it, Sean Dale pulled that off pretty good, didn't he?

He did. He did. You know, I tell people all the time, I graduated Western high school in 1987 and never went to college. So when you ask me things about economics, it's more redden economics than it is kind of a glorious collision of everything I've witnessed, not so much of what I've read or ran on spreadsheets.

I'm gonna. I'm gonna have to get me some guy time so I can learn some of those unique colloquialisms that you're using.

It's funny.

There's.

There's actually a collection around here in our office of guy isms.

Okay, okay, okay, Guy. Okay, Guy. Stop right there. You are going to have to come on this. You're going to have to come back on the program because I never knew that. Guess what? We have shondellisms and just talk isms. We're going to do a program called Guy isms. Shondell isms and jestalkisms.

Absolutely.

And by the way, we're gonna say it.

I'll share. I'll share a good one with you. No matter how right you are, you're always more wrong than me.

We guys, we have got to come back together because I've got. I'm not gonna name them all, but I've got, like 56 Chest Hawkisms. Shonda's got to have at least 50 or 100 Shondellisms. I know. So that's.

There are some that come out of Shondale that are truly profound. And, you know, here's the scary part is I'm 51 years old. I don't even need to go Right.

You're right.

I know what dad's been through.

I know what the family's been through, the whole thing. I mean.

I like it. I like it. Well, team, this was. This was a little green room. We let people see us as we're playing around. I'll go ahead and get it started. Let me just read off our cues here. This, actually, the title of this program today is Navigating business through these Tumultuous Times. Navigating business through these tumultuous times. It's June 18, 2020, episode number 28, as you guys have heard, with us playing around in our green room, special guest is Guy Martin, president of Martin Harris Construction. We're going to learn more about that in a second. So first off, welcome, Guy, to this presentation with Shondell and I. This podcast is something that Shondell and I have gotten very fond of and good at, and it's nice to have you here on the program. What say you, sir?

Thank you very much. I'm humbled to be here. It's a great program that you guys put together, and I am always a fan of it. I see it on Facebook. I watch it on Facebook Live when I get a minute. And you guys have always hit on some edgy and sensitive and then some fun topics. I mean, the whole conversation is all over the map. And that's what I love.

You know, I love what you just said to Guy and what I'd like to do. Shonda, let's do our very best with Guy because he's a good. He's a good player. Let's do our best to create the best volley when we can. Shondell and I tend to be storytellers. We're not going to tell long stories today. We're going to shorten our story, and let's toss the ball back and forth to one another. I think that's what gets viewers and people listening excited when they hear a rhythm going back and forth between the three of us. You guys agree?

I can. I can tell you, Jess, you know, one of the things that Guy and I do extremely well is we have the same conversations that Lisa started this podcast on is if Lisa could sit down and listen to Guy and Shondell, she probably would have started. Brother, brother, and brothers in conversation. This is gonna be the day. Brother, brother, and brother.

Before we jump in, I do have to shut my door real quick. Just the road.

Okay, go for it.

Okay, you shut your door. While I'm gonna go do a little bit of a read of Guy, those that are watching and listening, so they get a little bit of back. Give me one second. Let me put some of these reminders down out of the way. So just a little backdrop. Martin Harris Construction was founded by Frank Martin in December 1970. Let me back up. I'm going to do that over because my voice wanted to stutter. Martin Harris Construction was founded by Frank Martin in December 1976 and was licensed by the Nevada State contractors board in February 1977. Since then, MHC has expanded throughout the Southwest and currently operates in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, and Utah. Wow, that's powerful. Our corporate office is located in Las Vegas, Nevada. So that is pretty powerful. I did not know that Martin Harris was in all those other places.

Yes. Let me add. Let me add some flavor to that. Frank Martin is one of the people who I believe has transcended relationships in Las Vegas. And Guy can talk more about this, but Frank is a person who walks the walk and talks the talk. And what I appreciate is how he embraced me into the family. And we go on a men's retreat every year because one of the first conversations that Guy and I really, really got engaged in was about our family, about our faith, about our love for our family and a love for our country. So I want people to understand, like, the one thing that is amazing about a Guy like Frank Martin is how he's instilled those values into Guy. Guy and my father instilled those values into me. I've learned more about Las Vegas and the history and the history of his family. And he's learned a lot from me about Brooklyn. And guess what? We probably both have really, really helped each other to grow as men. So that's one important thing that I wanted to put out there.

You know, that's good. And, Guy, I want you to weigh in on what Shondale said in a second. But that's very invaluable information. But I think the thing that really stands out, that I love, that I think people would love to hear, was the connection that you and Shondell have made. Guy goes well beyond even what he said. There's a vibration, there's an energy level that I've been around. The two of you only once in the same room at the same time, and you guys can have a conversation with one another without saying any words.

Yeah, you know, Shondell is so. I've been in the room with Shondell, many people, just the same way, and he has a lot of that same dialogue with. With the room Right. I mean, there's some people that walk in and they sit next to or on the side of the people they were there with. One of the neat things about Shondell is that his spirit enters room.

Yes.

And he sits with the room.

I agree.

It doesn't matter where you are in the room. Front row, center row, back row, hiding in the corner, late, walking in. Whichever it is, he fills the room. And that's a lot like my father. My father's. You know, I wrote I'm gonna keep a couple of notes so I don't miss some things. The part about talking about. And it's tough because you don't know the diversity of the group that's listening.

That's right. That's right.

So just trying to extract from all of these great examples what the catalyst or what the trigger event is. Right. The trigger event is that when Shondell walks in, he equally wants to help everyone in the room.

Right, right.

When. When you. When. When. When I walk in the room, my hope is that everyone in the room is changed when I walk out. And. And change is not always good. It's not always special. It's not always bottle rockets shooting in the air and the aha Moments that we all have. It's not that.

No. It's mostly. It's mostly unco. Sometimes change is just. You know what?

I'm going to hang out in this room that I really didn't want to come here for, and holy crap, they made me smile twice.

Right.

I didn't plan on doing that.

Right, right.

I was told to show up here. And, you know, some of the forums that Shondell and I interact in are more structured, where people are sent there, not choosing to be there. And, you know, when you walk in that room where the host is, the room is filled with the host spirit.

Yes.

What you end up with is you can't sit there and not be touched.

Oh, my God, I love the guy. What you just said is super powerful. And you know what? You're backing your convictions up. I learned from Shondell and Lisa that for you, what you live by is building people before projects.

Yes, sir.

Building people before projects. I absolutely love that. So this piece that you just shared with, it's so true. I was in. I got this opportunity, and again, super short story. I'll leave tons of it out, but I want to relate to you where you're at, and I want the people to hear something, hear and see something visual to what Guy just said. Shawn. Del, check this out. So I got this speaking gig a number of years ago to go to Fargo, North Dakota. Okay. And it was for seeds Farmer S e E D S Seeds. And it was 27 seed farmers in a full day workshop. One person and a man from Las Vegas that looks like me, with seed farmers from Fargo, North Dakota. I was praying to God, please give me something to relate to these people. Let them relate to me. And I talked to God a number of times. Once I got the engagement, and God didn't answer. Me all the time preparing for that. And I landed. No answer. I said, God, I'm going to set up the room now. No answer. I said, God, the room's set up. They're going to be coming in. No answer. And when they lined up and the very first person I went to, it came to me, memorize their names, call them by their names. So every single person, 27 of them, I shook their hands, told them my name and asked their name, even though they were right behind, they could hear my name. And when the program started, I started with the program that I designed. And I say, bob, you know, we had a brief conversation. How do you feel about what I just said? And I would make another point and I'd say, tom, you know, you look like you could figure. So anyway, I went through the whole name. So I was speckling the names, and on the first break, guy comes up to me and says, you know something? I went to this event one time and this guy called it the story.

Didn't need the accent. When I tell Shondell's story, I don't throw in some player from Brooklyn.

Wait a minute. Tom's just a dude. Come on, please, let me. Let me just do one accent. I know it won't be a pretty guy guy. Let me just do the one I won't do. I won't do the second one. I won't do the second one. But let me give me to the first one.

Thank you very much. Because the second accent, probably it was ended by a spit into a bar or something.

You're such a smarty pants. Hold on, let me get this first one out. He said, you know, I've come to a lot of events like this. I tried to clean it up a little bit, guys, little less accent. And he says, and he says, and, and. And the speaker there was supposed to remember everybody's names. And he. He called off 200 names. And every time he came to me and called me, he would call me Jeff. But my name ain't Jeff. My name is Jed. You know, we ain't wearing no name tags. You come in here, and I hear you calling us by our names. He goes, I came. I am so glad that I'm here now. This makes me feel so special that you know all of our names, and we ain't even wearing no name tags. And you know what? That event was powerful just because of your piece. Building people before projects. I wanted to connect and build with those people before I left them with any message. So tell me what you think about that, Shondal Denley. Poor guy had to drop his head because he couldn't handle that accent the whole time.

First of all, I wanted to know, what's the Hawthorne accent? That's the one I want to hear. I want to hear the Hawthorne, Nevada.

Okay, Hear it here. Wait a second.

Wait a second. There are no boundaries to Hawthorne, Nevada.

You know what, Guy? You're such a smarty pants. Again. Since. Since. Since. Guy called out nobody. Just a quick. I'll give you a quick brief of a Hawthorne accent. In Hawthorne, Nevada, we speak with a vernacular much like this, so we're understood.

How's that? That's exactly right. Hoping somebody will come take me out of it.

You know what? Just so. Just so you know, Guy, people. Hawthorne people are on this call right now. They're listening to. You know, they might find you if you. If you tell on them, like.

I promise a really easy person to.

To.

To. To find. And I'll take you to the one McDonald's they have in their town there.

Oh, and you know What? That one McDonald's they have in the town wasn't there when I was a kid. It came after I. I left y.

And you know what? Martin Harris probably built it.

Yeah, we did. Did some work at a geothermal farm out there. And. And right after it opened, we were out at Tuscaroo or out for a client building a geothermal farm, and we did support it. Wow.

Wow. But team. So let's talk about this. You have some key points there, Guy, and I want to get right into this, you know, navigating business through these tumultuous times. Yes. The truth of the matter is, these are tumultuous times, but this is the first time in our lives that we've had tumultuous times. What say you about that? What do you want to share about that, Guy?

So, in my experience, what we're experiencing right now is like a great equalizer. Right? It's touching, everybody.

Good point.

The size of your bank account does not insulate you from this?

No.

The number of people you have in your company doesn't insulate you from this. The number of people you have in your household doesn't insulate you from this. Candidly, it's much the inverse of that. The bigger your bank account, the more scared you are.

Wow.

You have this history. Right. The more people that work in your company, the more worried you are.

Yes.

And, you know, it's our company, and here's the best example of the universe. Our company consumes $50 million a month of work.

Okay.

So think about that.

That's big.

For us to sustain life, I have to be able to go out and team here. Has to be able to go out and find and replace that work every month.

Wow.

We're going into month three, I think now, of complete uncertainty.

Yes.

But when you. When you peel that onion back, regardless of the company in the industry and stuff, I think as the leader and sometimes I use kind of interchange, the word leader and entrepreneur.

Yes.

Because I think a lot of times in small business, the entrepreneur thinks they have to be the leader.

Right.

And sometimes they're not good at it.

That's right.

And so that moment of honesty where you all of a sudden the light bulb comes on and goes, you know, maybe I'm not the right person to lead my company through this program. I'm the entrepreneur. I still am working within my gift. I still love what I do. I still love the service. We still love everybody we do it for. But, you know, hey, I may not be the strongest leader to lead through this. And having the courage to reach out and have that aha moment.

Right.

And ask for help. Right.

Nice. That's funny.

Life and business are a lot alike.

Oh, tons.

And there is a stark contrast between strength and courage. Okay. And Shondell's heard me say this a hundred times. This is a guy is. You can jot down or it'll be recorded. But the difference between strength and courage is being able to take a punch and then ask somebody to help you get up.

Wow.

Wow.

That's big.

Strong is taking a punch, right? Yeah. Being courageous is knowing when you're too beat up to get up on your own.

I love what you just said, guy. I never equated being courageous with asking for help. And so I'm glad you brought that in. One of the most. One of the biggest. The most difficult thing that I have that I had struggled with. I am not struggling with it anymore. Over the full. The full length of my working career, starting working at age 10, setting pins at the bowling alley in Hawthorne, Nevada. Okay. And that's closed now. But. But from that, from that job all the way up to what I currently do, as you say, as an entrepreneur and a leader, the most difficult thing for me to learn, and I had to learn it from. I learned it the hard way, and I had to learn it from Lisa Farrell. And it took her 10 years to get me to learn it. To ask for help.

Yep.

But you know what's important, Jess and Guy. The one thing you have to do, and guy, and I've talked about this many times, is you have to surround yourself with great people.

Yes.

And you can't feel threatened by those people around you. I think, you know, that's one of the challenges that we have as humans, is we have this ego where we want to be the smartest person in the room. But for me, I'm the opposite. I want people who are much smarter than I am. And what that means is you have to have the humility to understand that, you know, people. People are going to be smarter than you in many different ways. Right. And so that gives you the opportunity to grow. So if you do take a punch in one area, your corner man can come in. That's why a fighter has all those guys in the corner. He has all those guys. He has a great cut man. He has a guy who's, you know, yelling and screaming at him that, you know, keep fighting, get up, do this. And then you got, you know, you got the doctor, you got all these people in the corner because they are there to support you. But they are. They have a specialty that in a gift that you might not have.

No, you're 100%. You're 100% right. Shaundell and Guy, check it out. Shaundell's right. But I think there's a litter of people that are affected with not asking for help or not wanting to ask for help. And my story was a little different. You're right. I think there's a lot of people out there like you. What you said, Shondell, mine was that I did not want to put anybody out by asking for help, but how do I know I'm putting you out? Why am I deciding that for you? How do I. How is it that there may be people that are looking to want to help me in certain circumstances, but I wasn't allowing it because I didn't want to put them out. I was making that decision for them. What are your thoughts about that, Guy?

Well, you know, I always go back to, you know, we were Only put on this earth knowing how to love and how to breathe.

Okay?

That's it. Okay. Jealousy, anger, all the ists and isms that we're dealing with in our world, in our culture right now, they're all taught, right? So it all goes back to choices.

Yes.

You know, one of the things that always trips me up and people are asking about, how do you become humble and what, you know, what's the key to the whole thing? And, you know, it's really weird because if I just set you down in the room and I said, okay, Jess, what I need you to do is at the count of five, I want you to do humble, okay? And I wanted you to take that adjective and make it a verb. The same thing with our core values and our business, the whole thing. I want you to make our core values avert. How do you do it? Typically, the easiest way to do humble is by lifting someone else up. If you. You know, I. In some of the talks I do, and in some of the conversation I do, here we have a town hall quarterly town hall, where 20 people are randomly chosen out of a hat of the 90 that are in the office, and they get to come. Just ask me anything. No, I'm not smart enough to remember the last lie. So it's all going to be the truth.

Right.

And so one of the things that comes up is, is the difference between pride and ego.

Nice.

Pride requires someone else participating. Pride demands that. I'm proud of Shondell. I'm proud of Jess. And in that profession, I've humbled my own position.

Right?

So.

So humility isn't something that you look in the mirror and go, you're gonna be humble today.

Right.

It doesn't work, but I can look in the mirror and go, you know what? First four people that I touch today are gonna be changed. I'm gonna make them better. And a lot of times when you get to this point of where sincerity. Yes, sincerity is the cornerstone to the whole thing.

Yes.

It is not sincere in my ask for help. And if I'm not sincere in my offer of help, I scorn people, right? And each time I do that, it's another layer on that scar, another layer on that scar, and another layer on that scar until what happens? You can't even see and recognize the original wound. And so we're dealing with the scars that are layered on and layered on, layered on and never addressing the wound. Wow.

You know what you just said? You remind me of.

The pain comes from the wound, guys. The pain comes from the wound, not from the scar.

Wow. You know what you said? That's brilliant what you said. Paulo Coelho said it. That paraphrases what you said he said. He says the scars hurt more deeply than the sword that caused them. Yeah. Because to your point, they're not dealing with the scar. They're letting the scars get out there and tell the story. And you know, the sword is what caused it, but they moved away. They let the scars stay with them. To your point, instead of cleaning and clearing that up. Shawna, you want. You have a point. You want to take off from Guy's point there.

And you guys are right on. And this is one of the things that, you know, on our topic today. How do you deal with tumultuous times?

Right, Right.

So what did Dr. King say? The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. And you've heard me say this many times, Jess. People have to expect that there will be challenge and controversy. I don't care if it's COVID 19. I don't care if it's a hurricane. I don't care what it is. You have to expect that there will be challenges and controversy. And it's how you deal with it.

You're 100% right.

You deal with people during challenging controversy.

You're 100% right.

If you're going to have a business that survives and both of us have survived the last great recession, and I'll tell you how we survived the last great recession is because my daughter called me from Africa and said, hey, dad, you know what? I know you're going through some tough times. You know, grandpa just passed away and we have to keep this thing going. And I don't want you alone in that journey. Right. My son Thomas said the same thing. Dad, I want to help you out with the business. It is something that really, really touched me. So now it goes beyond the numbers. It goes beyond the transaction of customer. And this isn't that.

Right.

It is something that is legacy driven. So now it fuels me. You see that fuel inspiration behind you. I got inspired by a message from God through my children.

Right.

That we have to keep this going because grandpa loved this so much that we were doing something as a family that was constructive.

Right?

That was what. That's. That's all my dad cared about. You are doing something that is constructive, that is going to help your community. That is actually going to really be an inspiration to Americans. But more Importantly for my father because of where he came from. Right. He wanted black Americans to see inspiration through our family. So when people talk about how do you rebound or recover or grow your business through tumultuous times, you got to find that something that inspires you. That's something that goes beyond the transaction and goes above and beyond the money.

I like that. That's powerful. What do you think about what he just said, guy? What are your thoughts?

You know, he had on word that I have trigger words and I tell stories all the time and I speak in pictures.

Okay, I like that.

But the. The biggest thing that I would say that Shondell hit on that really burns with me and him. And I have spoke about it at length, is, are you living your legacy right? As a leader and an entrepreneur? A leader and an entrepreneur in tumultuous times? The number one advice I would give everybody that's going through all this trauma and drama, are you living your legacy right. Should never change. Now I have people walk into my office all the time. Oh, man. What happens if the economy crashes? What happens if this goes on? What happens if we're only, you know, we're 600 million this year? What happens if we're only 200 million next year? You know what I tell them? I go, I have an org chart in my bottom right hand desk drawer that tells me what our company looked like, living our best core values, living and taking care of, building people and doing amazing work for amazing clients. At 200 million, I already know what that works. That looks like I've already experienced that contraction, and I learned from it. So I don't have to worry about.

There you go.

Distracted by it. I can stay in the middle lane and live my legacy.

I love that. I love it. Let me ask someone. Is there. Is there a connection, guy, between living your legacy and living your purpose or calling the thing that you're very best at? Is there. Is there. Is there a connection between those two things or is that different?

So, you know, I'll say this for me. I have adult ADHD. So for me, my life is. Is. Is. Is 24 hours consecutively. I don't have a work me and a home me.

Okay?

I'm not. My brain doesn't compartmentalize like that. So for me, it's the whole thing right there. There. I have lived my pro. I'm 51 now, so probably up until the time I was 48, my dad absolutely grounded my brother and I's head that you have to work in your passion. You Have. Blah, blah, blah. Not true. Not okay.

Wow.

Great. The great and mystical philosopher of our modern day times, the comedian Steve Harvey, says that the Bible never talks about working in your passion. It says, talking your work in your gift.

Okay.

If you work in your gift.

Yes.

It's never a hard day's work ever.

Okay.

The gift is that thing in your life you're the best in the world at with the least amount of effort.

Wow. See, people need to hear that. People need to hear that because I love what you're saying. So what you're saying, Guy, is what you're saying to all of us and those folks that are listening. I hope people are chiming in where Lisa can bring us some feedback. So if you're listening or watching this, please share your thoughts with us because I love what Guy's saying because we say it this way. You want to, no matter where you're at, find a way to determine what are your very best gifts and talents. We call that. Yes, we actually call that pgt. So we created something that helps you find out what are your very best gifts and talents. And when you discover that, you know what happens? You do what? Mihaly Cszetmihalyi, who wrote the book called Flow. You get yourself in a flow. And when you're in a flow, time falls off the clock. Lisa literally has to come in and say, you need to take a break. You need to get something to eat. You need to go to the bathroom. Because I'm in such a flow when I'm creating or designing, you know, workshop or a keynote or, or, you know, you know, looking at a coaching program for a client, whatever it is, because I'm in my zone of I'm built. My legacy is being supported by me using my very best gifts and talents. And I have no sense of time when I'm doing that. Yes, it doesn't feel like work. It is work, but it doesn't feel like work. To your point, Guy.

So one of the, one of the greatest, most liberating things I had, I actually had a psychologist tell me, take 60 days. Yeah. And live your life 24 hours at a time.

Right.

Okay. Everything goes into. I have one cell phone. I don't have a personal cell phone or work cell phone. I have one phone. I have one calendar.

Right.

One calendar.

Yeah.

And what I found is it was liberating because when I work in my gift of building people doesn't change. It happens everywhere.

Yes.

I walk into the Grits Cafe over next to Sean Bell's office. And when they and I have an interaction, because I always like to be customer number one. I hope they start opening at 7:00am again. If they're listening, 8:00 is like noon in guy world.

7:00Am.

I love being cussed with number one. And I walked in there and I said, this is the one place I know if I walk in first, I'll always be number one. Why? And we just. That dialogue just opens up. Are you meeting Shondell today? No, he's too good to meet with me more than once a month. That's always the question. I mean, it's. That is that. But in that building up of people. Right? Because let's be straight. When I walk into grits, it's not just another customer. It's different.

Right.

Okay, it's different. Right. And I openly accept the fact that it's my job to make it all right. It's me. I get to boost people up. I get to fix shit.

Yeah. I love that. I love. That is so awesome to hear you say that. Well, you're practicing. You don't call it that. You have your own guy isms and so forth, but you're practicing what we call the how you leave them feeling concept. Shondell, please take it from there. What is that concept?

You know, that concept is really about how you. How people. Actually it takes a special really, really think, a thought process of caring about other people more than yourself.

Yes.

Right. So, you know, even talking about how you leave them feeling. So again, Jess, I will tell you that Ken and I, Ken Evans and I yesterday had one of the greatest meetings we would ever have with a corporation. And one of the reasons, one of the things that they've told us is, you know, when I first joined the Urban Chamber till now, it is totally different. And here's what I told Kent.

What's that?

Change the attitude and the brand. Starting with how you leave them feeling.

Yes.

And once we thought about how do people feel when they touch the Urban Chamber, that was the first thing we thought about eight years ago, even before we hired Ken, we had to change your philosophy. And that is really the brand. The brand is how you leave them feeling. And so one of the things that I know, because we do a lot of projects together with Martin Harris, is our teams collectively go into a project saying, how will people feel after this project is completed? We don't go in, first and foremost, talking budgets and all that. Now that's a part of the process.

Don't get me wrong.

The budgets, the money, everything is Part of the process. But our major goal is how will. For the convention center, how will the end product make people feel?

Wow.

People feel when they. When this project is done. And so we. As a matter of fact, our first meeting at Guy and I, our first meeting was all about feeling.

Right.

We didn't even talk contracts. We were just like, hey, dude, I feel this way. I feel this way. You know, we cried a little. And you know what? Our teams, and they're probably watching this podcast and probably watching Facebook Live, but they laugh at us and tease us all the time because of our bromance.

Right?

It ain't even our teams now.

It's your. It's. Your other clients are accusing us. Your other clients are like, so where's your brother at?

No, that's it.

Somebody walks up and goes, where's your brother? Atel your other one.

No, that. That is so powerful. That was so powerful. Team. Let me. Let me quick do a quick switch on you because this goes back to. To Guy, too. I appreciate that, Shawn. That was awesome. As you know, we created this virtual offering called the Breakthrough Success Plan. You can see it behind me here. And we had a couple graduates recently. Say something that reminds me of what Guy just said. I didn't get permission to use her name, so I won't use her name. But she was on the Breakthrough Success Plan nine week, nine module course. And I got this from her yesterday. Said this, the Breakthrough Success Plan. I will toot your horn. Sorry. So this person was in corporate America, and corporate America is doing its figuring out. So rather than keep waiting, she decided she's going to launch into the space of being an entrepreneur. And she said this, the Breakthrough Success Plan. I will toot your horn because you were instrumental in the. In this decision. Without your Breakthrough Success Plan course, I don't think I would have ever have imagined to do something like this. It's a big leap of faith, but I'm ready and open for the opportunities and challenges to come. She got that from being on the third week of the Breakthrough Success Plan. I didn't tell her to start her own business. I didn't tell her to become an entrepreneur. She began to discover that she. By doing the purpose, gifts and talents, she believed that pgt. I told you about that. She, she. She discovered something in herself that she didn't even know was there. What say you on that one, Guy? What are your thoughts?

Well, you know, I think your environment conditions you to see your talents.

Yes.

Whoa.

Say that again. Say that again. That's huge.

Your environment conditions you to see your talents and gifts.

Wow.

You know, look, it's. It's real simple that. That basketball football coach that saw something in you that brought it out of you that you didn't know you had.

Yep.

Forever. You celebrate that person right in. In. That's all businesses. That's all entrepreneurship is. That's all. That's all building people over projects concept is okay. Is the fact that I see more of you than you see in you. And all I wanted is give you a platform and give you. And just let you run.

That is so huge.

It's. That in my mind is. Is the big thing. I, you know, you, Shawndell, you brought up Ken Evans and the Urban Chamber and you know, I'm going to take just two seconds. I'm going to throw a plug in here because Ken and Guy had a couple of moments. Pretty passionate fellowship. We come from two vastly different worlds, even further apart than Shondell and I. Ken and I struggled to find that thing that stitched us together. With Shondell and I, it was family. It was faith, family, career. And we all. We agreed on those three, and that's what slammed us together. Everything was great. Ken and I struggled. We really, really struggled. And one day, sitting in my boardroom, after we went down this path, we talked about Martin Hearst joining the Urban Chamber and all the things that Urban Chamber can bring. And I'd met with a group of people, and then we really, really struck. And one day, sitting in my boardroom after we went down this path, we talked about Martin Hearst joining the Urban Chamber and all the things that Urban Chamber can bring. And I met with a group of people, and then it just got.