Fearless Fridays - Hidden Battles

Ladies and gentlemen and gentlemen, gentlemen, welcome to Fearless Friday with your hosts Vanessa Lindsey and Sydney Johnson, empowering to live fearlessly through authentic conversations that inspire purpose In action. I'm your resident DJ, DJ Woody Wood, and I hope you enjoy. That music always gets me, just jamming.

I love that beat. Now I want to give a shout out to DJ Woody Wood, our kid warrior up there in the PA, um, Pennsylvania avenues. He's, uh, he's really taking care of us and everything. Yes, yes. Hello everybody, this is Sidney Johnson along with my super co-host, Vannessa Lindsey.

Today I am so excited, Vanessa, and I am so excited. I'm excited, Sidney. What you doing over there drinking Coke?

And think about Vanessa, guys, she stays excited, which keeps me pumped up because I'm always excited.

All right, when my feet— you know, I used to always say this and I still kind of say it today— when my feet hit the floor, the angels are like, uh-oh, she's awake, let's go. You know how you in a ring and you have to tag out and tag in? They're like, whoosh, okay, I can take that one.

You gotta tap out and tag in. Tap out, tap in. That's the name of the game.

'Cause she ain't gonna stop talking. She ain't gonna stop going. She always got something. So that's why angels are around.

You know what it is? I always say, you know, you hear it quite often, everything. It's not like it's something new, but we say pivot, you know?

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It's pivot.

So it's important to pivot. where you're at and on the dime sometimes. Sometimes you stop tap dancing, people. Let me tell you that right now, especially in our category. Don't tap dance for nobody.

No.

And I love it that you said pivot. Just pivot.

Pivot. And I love it that you say pivot because everybody, we are doing a small little pivot. We are Fearless Fridays, Hidden Battles. We decided that we're going to at least once a month, one Friday a month, and it may be 2 or 3, that we're going to pivot a little bit and we're going to give a special shout out, a special spotlight, and a special session just for baby boomers and Gen X. Because you're talking about pivoting. We talked— we were just up here talking about pivoting, how much pivoting they have to be. They've been— we've been here for a long time and we've been through the internet. Yeah, we've been through so much.

We've been up in these streets, as we say.

Yes. And we got a lot more to see and a lot more to do. And so there's, there's so much going on and there's so much to unpack. With Gen Z and the baby boomers. So we decided we're going to have some time to unpack some of this information that we have to share, because guess what? We have earned the right to share it because we are there. We are there.

Truly earned the right.

That's right.

That's right. And you know what, guys? Let me tell you this right here. The caveat on top of that, you earned the right, is to give yourself permission to be all that you want to be and all that you can be.

Mm-hmm.

At certain times of life, and I would tell you, and that's where I'm at, no excuses. Just do it.

Just do it.

You know, everybody can't go. You keep it moving. Everybody can't pivot when you pivot, you know, but everybody has control of their own life. And, you know, this as a word of encouragement, do you.

That's right. That's right. And sometimes As we get older, I think it's kind of, we're kind of afraid to do us, right? Because things are changing and happening so fast. And then we were never really told that it's okay to be you. It was always told that we need to be somebody else or we had to be somebody else.

We need to be somebody else. We have to match up to whoever, whenever, whatever the current vibe or situation was. And we consistently always trying to match that or achieve that or You know, it'll get a date and time. They said the older you get, the more— the less you care, you know?

Right.

I wouldn't say the less that you care, it's the less energy that you give the things that have absolutely nothing to do with your own self-progression, your, your own relaxation. Because sometimes it's not all about going out and doing, doing, doing. I mean, for the most part, I'll say I've done that my whole entire life. I done, I done put in what we call the work. And if you have placed in the work, give yourself permission not to do the work.

Right. Or the play.

That's work of its own.

That's right.

Because how many of us can say that we've been in a place where we really didn't have to do anything, just exist?

Yes.

And it's okay to do that. You know, it's called a tranquil moment, if you will, you know.

And sometimes, is it okay and is it comfortable? I mean, there is so much to unpack, Sydney. There's so much. But there's one topic I wanted to— This is going to be a lot longer than we anticipate just talking about the baby boomers.

Yeah, let's do this thing.

So let's— I would love to talk about one thing really that's really important that I think that, um, we should discuss today. And it's a big elephant, it's a big fear that I think a lot of baby boomers and Gen X has. And not only fears, uncertainty, or the not know-how. So I am going to just throw it out there because it causes a lot of different Emotions in people. And that is what's happening now is AI, right?

Yeah.

Let's unpack some of that AI stuff around, you know, being older and getting taken advantage of because of AI, what AI looks like, how AI can help us, what AI also— and, and dispelling some of those myths, because I know that you are an AI specialist buff, connoisseur. You are the man when it comes to AI and knowing AI. Because I know you have AI working for you while you sleep.

Oh, most definitely. You know, I deploy that in every which way I can. And let me tell you something right now, no matter where you are in the AI game, somebody at the top, somebody just trying to figure it all out, everybody is consistently trying to figure out how to incorporate in their life Because most people, I mean, if you got a cell phone, a smartphone, or anything that you interacting with humankind outside of a face-to-face conversation, you're already dealing with AI anyway. You're already utilizing it. And for the most part, in my walk for the last, really, I think it started hitting the street right at the beginning of the pandemic, at the pandemic.

Mm-hmm.

I was in it from the very scratch and trying to, like everybody else, trying to figure it out. And for the most part, I'm still trying to figure it all out. So I wouldn't even say I'm at any particular top of the game. I just use a lot. I just learned how to move into the space of ownership as opposed to just utilization. So, um—

Is there a top of the game when you think about it? Because I know AI changes every day. Every day something is changing constantly, rapidly, and it's so much overwhelming. And it could be overwhelming for the older people. It's overwhelming for the young people because I watch them on the internet. But older people, it's like, it's going too fast. I can't keep up with that. Oh, that's the devil. That's all that stuff. It's horrible.

Well, we use terms like that when we don't understand something. We're quick to— for that matter, I remember, um, back in the day, I'm not going to call where I was at, but I was sitting inside the pews and that's what was being, um, shouted out. Hey, Miss Kathy, how you doing? What was being shouted out was, um, and that's when barcodes first came out and people would— people put the devil in the barcode.

Hmm.

It wasn't, it wasn't the next generation and the uplift. Um, it was the barcode situation. Hey, if you want to come live, you got the link right there. Please go live with us. You'll be joined right into the room. Check your visuals because you will be live. Just click on that link. And if you got questions for us today, if you just want to join the conversation, if you want to talk about your hidden battle from where you came from and what took place in your life, we are here to talk about it. You know, this is an open mic session right here. You know, this is not blocked off. This is for anybody want to join. I did put the link out, not only my social media, I also put it out. And, um, um, um, you know, you from the Ville if— so you people out there, uh, if you want to come on live, just click on it, come on outside there.

Yeah.

And let's talk about it. We're talking about, um, AI, the elephant inside the room, our next steps, um, the key category of people, or Gen Xs and baby boomers, you know? Yes. Um, go ahead.

No, no, go ahead.

Let's go back to my— I can go no further than my own household.

Okay.

Okay. My mom, my mom, bless her heart, right? Strong, powerful sister, my love. Listen, she's back in school. She called me. She says, I'm going back to school. I'm going to be taking XYZ course, man. I just went up there and praised her and everything like this because I want her to be alive. I want her to be out that way, cognitive, into the grain of what she is, you know what I'm saying? So she's doing that right now. She's going to school back inside Fayetteville, North Carolina. And because it keeps that cognition going, it keeps that purpose going, keeps that blend going. It keeps you into the fight. She's going on 80 years old and she's still pivoting. She's still reinventing herself.

That's right. That's right.

That's right. And this is what brought about this conversation today. She may call me, say, Sidney, the printer ain't working. What should I do? And it's hard to give those instructions when you're on the phone. So we have to call somebody to get somebody to go in and subjugate or whatever case like this, right? But staying in the fight, you know, old is a— mostly is a fraction of the mind as well. I mean, you may have ailments and stuff like this or whatever's going on, but I think more younger people have more ailments than we got.

Right, because I think we move more a little bit. We're starting to move more. We're starting to be more active than the young people because they're like this.

They're like this inside their stuff. You know, we're doing it also. So this inside your phone doesn't mix all the way well at certain milestones in your life. You need to get out there, get yourself moving, and do the best you can do, you know. In fact, I'm even coming out with a whole series of this fitness for people in these particular categories. And it's basically done with flexology or what I call the gorilla movement. You know what I'm saying?

Mm-hmm.

Being able to get from the ground up. And, and my, you know, Kathy would definitely have something to say about that because even her recent visit to Africa last year, she saw the elderly '80s, I mean, '70s, '80s, and '90s. They ain't need nobody come and get them up.

Right.

No, they was hopping and popping because why? Their lifestyle gives that derivative of movement. And I challenged one of the partners that I have. I said, hey, why don't you— so when was the last time you've been on the floor? He couldn't even remember. I said, just try it one time and then see how well you get it. See what muscles that you really need to use for that purpose.

That's what—

that's the elephant in the room of AI.

Absolutely. And we're supposed to be— and I think us in America, we— it's worse for us because we're not— we sit in these chairs and we sit with our feet high up off the ground, so we just get up. But we really should be sitting lower.

We always sit.

Yes. And we should be sitting lower to the ground so we can push ourselves to raise ourselves up.

Right.

But we sit where we're comfortable. It's like the squatting position, the Indian position, being Indian style, being on the floor. And I think we need to be doing a little bit more of that. Exercising those legs, those bodies.

That's right.

And then to our mind. So let me ask you a question, Sidney. So you have someone who's a senior and they're like, you know what, I, I, I don't, I don't know anything about AI. It scares me. I don't know what to do. What would be the first thing that you would recommend to them? Because I know that's something that I hear a lot. I hear that a lot. I ain't messing with that AI.

I don't know what to do. To get past that mental block.

To get past that mental block.

The first thing that I advocate to get past the mental block of learning anything, specifically AI, Mm-hmm. Is the first thing I ask somebody, do you normally have conversations with people? Are you on the phone? And they gonna say, yeah, I have conversations. I'm on the phone. Well, that's your starting point for dealing with anything AI. It's as simple being able to have a conversation with whoever.

Mm-hmm.

But now you're having a conversation with AI.

Yes.

And you'll find enthusiastically because The AI is literally going to answer you while it's still trying to learn the conversation, right? So if you can have a conversation, then you can learn AI. No different right now with me and Vanessa having a conversation right now. You could do the same thing with AI. And then the next thing is, is how to articulate a conversation, which is no different than how you articulate, how you address your specific audiences. I mean, when you go to, um, let's say you out at an event and they're asking you to speak, what's the first thing you do? You got to know your audience.

You do.

You have to know your audience. So if you know your audience, you address your tongue, your tone, your Q&A, you address the topic, everything based upon your audience. There's no difference with AI. And this is how I train most of my people, and specifically even the senior people. But when I do my classes, even with Africa, right, I have a forum strictly with Africa. And all the derivatives, all the, all the, or you say the products that I created deals with the lowest common denominator to get them to walk it out. And the lowest common denominator when I give my classes to people that's overseas is the bot that's inside your app called WhatsApp. Facebook owns it. Most Americans don't use it. It's usually a global product that everybody overseas uses. If you're an American with overseas friends, I know that's what you're using, WhatsApp, right? Um, so in WhatsApp it has a bot just like Facebook, like Meta does.

Okay, so let's, let's, so we gonna, we gonna roll you back a little bit because you saying some words, I understand them. But the people that are maybe scared of AI and stuff, you're like, what's WhatsApp? What's a bot, right? It's like, what's a bot?

WhatsApp is just an app. Like, don't go no further than your phone.

Okay.

And you're trying to do anything on your cell phone. You're doing it now with a smartphone. You have apps. So pull up your phone. That's an app. You can download an app called WhatsApp.

That's okay.

What's— and then app. I mean, I could put it into the room.

And so, so WhatsApp is like a, um, like a conversation or like almost like a Facebook app almost, but it's on your phone and you could communicate 2 ways with someone else. But then they also can call you and you can exchange pictures and things along that line, right? Or even, um, it could go as small as being like your messenger. A lot of people, we still, we text each other, right? So WhatsApp is like a text app, but you can text outside of the country and you can speak with people on it. And it's people use it more like out of the country as maybe their call.

It's a global telephone. It's a global telephone when it comes down to it. Okay.

Okay.

So the reason why I pivot towards that specific app is because on it, and anybody that's overseas with the most cheapest iPhone or the most cheapest smartphone from China, et cetera, that's usually what's filtered throughout a lot of the foreign national countries, much less a Samsung, anything like this, right? They all have WhatsApp. I don't know that one, that one African associate of mine or friend who don't have that. It's a global thing that I use it. And in fact, the person that introduced it to me, WhatsApp, I was in my last combat tour in Kuwait. And my Kenyan friend who lived in the United Kingdom introduced it to me. And it's just been on my phone and been with me ever since then. It's a global platform.

But is there a price to it? Is there a price to it?

The price to it? No, WhatsApp is free.

It's free. Okay.

So it's free. So if you're in a foreign country using it, you already know what I'm talking about because you're utilizing it right now. Anyway, I utilize that as the base platform to teach them, to start teaching about AI, much less all the deliverables that I literally give them for that particular class.

And I think WhatsApp would be a good tool because we know a lot of seniors A lot of baby boomers. I don't know what to call us. I'm gonna call us, I'm gonna call us Baby X. Baby boomers and Gen X.

Look, y'all, she called us Baby Xs out here, folks.

Baby Xs.

So, yeah. It's funny because my mom, my mom, she'll call me quick and she'll remind us. She says, oh, you're a senior citizen.

Yep. I know we've talked about the elderly people.

In fact, when I first turned 50, she purposely took me to church to the senior citizens group. They introduced me as a senior citizen, as I said. I just laughed.

It is funny because you're like—

I felt every bit of a spring chicken. I never even co-located with that, and primarily still don't because, you know, keep it moving. But for the sake of housekeeping, in order, archery, architect, um, what we call, um, um, um, the mitochondria and the— or the Papa line, whatever, we can go with that particular flow. You know, but I'm more than— I'm more confident enough I could smoke most of the young ones out that way.

Right.

And just about majority of any athletic event. I mean, I'm very confident, very confident and competent inside that area. So bring it if you want a smoke session.

Let me know. He said bring it, bring it. That's right. And you don't feel it. Did you ever think— and I'm gonna go back to the WhatsApp in a minute— but did you ever think when you were younger, you seen somebody, they were like, oh yeah, my 50s and my 60s, you're like, oh, they're And now you're at that age, you're like, oh my gosh, they were so young. You know, I don't—

they were so young.

But you know what? They were young, but they acted old to me. They acted very old. It's like, why do you guys—

It's just a different conversation. That's what it was.

Yeah.

I mean, all the, all the wisdom that we try to dispel upon people today is only because of what we witnessed and what we went through. And a lot of times we subject our— we subject people to our own window of viewpoint. And fears. I mean, that leads into the hidden battles.

Yes.

For that's it. That's why we do this show, folks, for people to be able to come live, communicate with us, and talk about their hidden battles of where they came from to the prosperity or to the lightness of where they at right now. Um, so we're open to talk about it again, guys. If you want to go into the comments section and come live with us, do not be afraid. Just hit that button. It says studio.restream. If you hit that button, you will come directly into the room with us if you want to be a part of the conversation, right? I'm just going to warn you that you live, so therefore, you know, you say check your background, check your hair, check it out. I mean, I ain't even worried about what you're looking like. That's your business, you know what I'm saying? But, uh, just know where you at so you can at least be heard. And, um, you can always, I guess, mute, mute your thing. But if you want to come live— but we want to see you, so if you want to come live, come to live right now, you know.

Yes.

I was about to bring on some of my friends because they was calling from Africa and I'm trying to get things going. Some of my people are going into a prayer vigil right now, so shout out to the ministry teams out there who was going into the overnight prayer vigil. They will be inside the church sleeping, waking up, and praying throughout the whole night. So, um, hey, that's a beautiful thing. They even shot me the picture of the church from the, from a bird's eye view. It's incredible. It's like they're, like they're megachurch. I loved it. And it's in the middle of nowhere. And I mean nowhere. And I mean literally nowhere, um, in terms of what we consider somewhere, you know what I'm saying? But I love that. So yeah.

And you bring up a good point with them being in Africa, right? Way out of nowhere. And I'm gonna take it back to the West Africa. What's that? The West Africa. the WhatsApp for a second, because we know we travel as seniors, like to travel a lot, and sometimes we travel— phone service, or sometimes we don't want to pay the fees. You can use WhatsApp, right? And you could communicate. So I would suggest you having it on your phone. Whoever's back in the United States have that WhatsApp on their phone, and you could still communicate with each other, right? Yeah. Because it's all over the world, and people that's in other countries that really can't afford a lot of the internet or a lot of the phone service, they can use that WhatsApp.

Exactly. They can use their 2G, 3G and keep it moving.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I mean, actually, everybody in the world right now is at least 3 to 4G. They've— in most places also, they have went into the 5G. So it's all there regardless. Anyway, I try to use lowest common denominators when I'm teaching so that way no one feels like they're out of the space, they're out of the room. Hey, you in the room with us. This is Fearless Friday Live. Join the conversation. We are communicating today about the elephant in the room called AI and wherever you at in your life, how to start applying it. And I am Sidney Eugene Johnson. That's what my mama called me. Okay. You know, you give me a shout out.

You know, you're old when you use all 3 of your names when you introduce yourself.

Let me tell you this right here. I've been doing that for a long time. I was young.

You was an old soul, Sidney. You're an old soul.

I'm an old soul, okay? With youth antics, if you will.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So, you know, I can do some deliverables, you know, as we go along.

I wanted to say, I'm trying— waiting to see who's the most bravest soul out there who just want to at least jump online with us. Kathy Lee Pear, I see you out there. You know, Joshua Pear's minister, pastor type, you know, chaplain type. Pear, it's good to see you guys and everything. Cynthia Gray, oh my God. So listen, like, let me tell you about the, uh, the Blanton family slash Gray family, right, who's popping up on Facebook right now. The Blantons, right, God bless all of them. I love their mother and father. They grew up on the same block that I grew up on. And, uh, one of the, one of the brothers, right, um, he went out there— Mark, he went out there to South Africa And started literally his own tribe and business. I kid you not. Mark Blanton, that's the guy we want to get online live when we can, right?

Mm-hmm.

Hey Cynthia, if you want to come live with us, why don't you go ahead and give us a shout out on the family side? Go ahead and hit that studio button. Join us live. Tell us where you at. What's going on? Cynthia, Michelle, Victoria, all those right there are the siblings of Mark Blanton. And they all circulate nothing around but South Africa right now. Mark started his first business over that way by bringing— this is mind-blowing, and I remember this in details— by bringing the first Black Barbie doll to South Africa as a package deal with Mattel. Let me say that again and say it slow.

Wow.

Mark Blanton bought the first Black Barbie doll, solidified contract with Mattel to South Africa, stood it up inside the mall.

Wow.

And they went bonkers over it, right? So he penetrated the market there. And since then it's been growing. Mark runs— Mark, let me give you a shout out, Mark. Mark runs, um, what is called The Real South Africa, right? Let me see if I can pin that up inside there because we want to protocol him. The Real South Africa tourist business. This is, this is real. The Real South Africa. I'm going to put it inside the chat room.

Okay.

We can bring some attention to them.

Yeah. Okay.

I'm gonna bring inside the chat room to Mark Blanton.

We can, we can add a, um, what is it called?

The Real South Africa. I'm putting it inside right now. The Real South. Hold up.

I'm gonna put on the ticker. So the Real South African Tourism.

The Real South Africa. Hold on. So let me put out Africa Tours, right? And then I'm going to put his link out there too. I just bought it out there. Guys, give Mark Blanton a shout out and his family and the team. Like his sister lives right up the street from me and, and, um, and matter of fact, she's down in set. Victoria sitting right there in set.

That's not the one. Oh really? Okay, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely. So The Real South Africa is an extremely incredible tourist company. Um, it's high-end tours. Mark knows the whole landscape, him and his beautiful wife. They got the whole territory down pat, everything from the safaris all the way across. Listen, this is key to the real estate market. So let's talk about this Gen X guy right here, Mark Blanton, right?

Okay.

Started off in the military at 14 years. He, he turned back around and flipped the script and went Secret Service. He spent most of his time up under the Biden administration, and then he outed out of the Secret Service because he had a vision and desire. His wife, Dr. Blanton, she was a physio. She packaged up everything. I think they sold the business. They went to South Africa and they've been there since. So if you check out The Real South Africa, you will see something that is mind-blowing. He's taking in clients. He has a large following, a lot of people that tracks with him. That is definitely a Gen X guy that you definitely want to know. And for those of us who are doing our tours or going back and forth to Africa, um, this now puts you in the driver's seat to seat yourself in Africa.

I love South Africa.

Have real estate, okay? Have partnerships and create that bridge from the East to the West. Get out of the United States, folks. Trust me, get out of the United States. Don't be afraid. People said, well, aren't you? Don't you have a fear of XYZ? I said, man, I live in Oakland. If you ain't worried about what's going on down in the streets of Oakland, I mean literally every weekend, every day of the week.

Hey, leave my hometown alone. Hey, knock it off.

Hey, I'm trying to tell you.

I know it.

I live in the middle of it. I know what's popping out.

I know it ain't no joke.

In these streets.

Okay. Ain't no joke. But we can't live in fear. We can't live here.

You can't live in fear. We are ignorant in any way to even live that particular lifestyle.

Black people are the most—

get up and go—

Christian people in the world, but the scariest.

The scariest people.

Scariest people. But we are so Christian, we so believe in this, and scared of everything. It's like, stop being afraid. Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid. Just get up and go.

Get out there and get up, go and live faith. Because we don't— we can't live— we can't live in total fear. And so now is the time for us to get it done. And so that's one of the reasons why I'm like, I missed the— I missed so much in my years. I seen Facebook come and go. I'm gonna get into that Facebook. Miss Facebook. Oh, I seen the internet. Oh, I seen this. All these different things have come and I passed it up. Oh, I should have bought stock in this. Oh, I should have bought stock in that. I hate I didn't get that, you know. So how many times have we passed things up? And me and my girlfriend, we said we missed— we missed all of those, but We're not going to miss AI. AI is a great opportunity.

Listen, this is, this is literally the great equalizer. If you've never seen it before, this is what's popping up inside here.

Okay.

The great equalizer is most definitely people who are always communicating about the, you know, the race tickets or whatever, whatever your reason it is not to pivot and get involved. Listen, I'm here as a living witness. To get involved, create your own window, be profitable in this area. I created my own spaces in several different industries. I started off in the security industry when I was the director of security at Twitch and downtown corporate Amazon, right? Pivot out of that space completely, went full-blown AI. And, um, because I saw it coming.

Mm-hmm.

Let me tell you this, right? I started utilizing every tool metrics that I can. To produce all the products that I need as I built in the security apparatus, investigations, and God knows, you know, beyond imagination stuff that you had to get involved with, right? But it put a lot of fear in people's heart because they see you taking over their jobs.

Oh yeah.

At that moment, I knew I got to pivot 100% into it so I could do my transition because me going to a lateral life, I want cloud-based living. I want cloud-based money, stuff that I could do from anywhere in any particular atmosphere as you're seeing right now and not being stuck with just labor intensive or having to go out there and prove your— all that kind of stuff that don't work for most of us. So what does it take to start? What your limitations are.

What does it take to like— so, um, so say I'm retiring or I'm, I'm tired of— I want to quit my job and I want to transition to something new. And I hear this cloud-based because I know this is my last 25% of my life and I want to get out there and travel and, and, but I still need to make money. How can I do that using AI?

Okay, no problem. I'll tell you this right here. Just get involved. Now, where are you at in your life right now? Let's say we take strictly, hey Michelle, that's one of the Blantons also. Hey man, you know I love you guys, man. Let me tell you something. Let me go back to Michelle and I'm gonna, and I'm gonna get to it.

But because, okay, let's put a pin on that. Let's put a pin in that. He got, we gotta remember that But that for Sidney, he was talking about the AIP coming back.

I just get excited about my people because you really got to understand, these are folks that I grew up with when we ain't had nothing but the school bus to get to school with. You know what I'm saying? And then the parents, I love their parents, always have the sweetest spirit, treat me like their own son. And I love that. I love that. I miss all that right there. But one of the other sisters jump online also is Michelle. Guys, tell your brother Mark I'm giving him some shouts out. You guys need to be coming live with us. Uh, we can set a date and a time so we could talk about the real South Africa, what's taking place down inside, inside Africa and all the territories, all the way down to my Zulu tribe people.

Hey!

And that leads all the way up into, um, um, Zambia, um, Zimbabwe— I mean Zimbabwe— all the way up to the UK where my people went to. I even had a business In South Africa, and I go there as well, but not now. I had a business in South Africa and we was making some really good money. Um, and it's important doing insurance and stuff like this.

Yes. And I hope they do come on the show because it's really important because there is a mass exodus. We know people are exiting out of the United States.

Yeah, let's do the mass exodus. You guys listen, I'm the tribe leader. Yeah. Um, in fact, I'm going— I'm dipping back into Kenya, um, later on this year. That's my home outside of being inside the United States. I'm leading a mission there. That's another conversation for another time, but I'm leading a mission going inside there this December. Anybody want to come? And we can always pivot to South Africa, go back into the Gambia, etc., etc., etc. Look, it's gateway exodus out of this place right now, right? And I'm not saying go to Africa to stay Africa. I'm saying go Africa, know yourself within thy— know thyself within thy continent. Build your build your capabilities inside there. Now let's pivot back with that that anchor right there, Vanessa. Let's pivot back to what you were saying. How do you transition to AI?

Okay, but wait a minute. Now I want to pivot back to Africa.

Okay, okay.

You got me stuck on Africa for a minute because I'm gonna blend. There was something I wanted to say. Dang it! And I forgot what I wanted to say. Crap! That's that's not old age. That was I was so engaged.

Erica Patrick online. Oh my God! Oh my big sister Regina Ford online. And me and her had Lester. Lester, I love you. See my whole block coming online.

Okay, today is a today is a reunion with Sydney online. Everybody, it's a Sydney's family reunion.

Welcome. Look, this is my people, people. This is folks know me when I had an afro. Uh huh. You know, carrying little lunchboxes to school, duck down and slash out the Oakdale Elementary School. Come on, people.

Come on, everybody.

Matter of fact, even My big sister Regina, she was even communicating with me about, because she thought of pivoting, looking at going into Ghana. You know what I'm saying? People are looking for reasons to go. They just got to have the footsteps. And guys, I got the secret sauce. I got the formula.

Yes. And it reduces some of that fear because we want to go and the fear of going over there and what's it going to be like. And so you have people that are exiting out of here and then they have the people who want to, but they don't know what it's going to be like. So I love it that you mentioned The, uh, real Africa tourism, because people can connect with someone that's born and bred here.

Yeah, we're definitely not the trademark on that.

Yes.

Exactly.

Yes.

And he named it just right, The Real South Africa, because he's giving you literally— I'm not kidding with you— he's giving you the umpteen best at the highest of levels of a crossover. Because a lot of the crowds that's going over that way are usually people in our age bracket that may have a little money. Now, I ain't gonna lie, you're gonna have to have some funds, right? So let's not play that. But, you know, I'm sure it's a foot in the place even if you just got your Social Security check. And listen, the Europeans can— let me tell you about the Europeans. They are not crazy. Most of their retirements is nothing like it is in the South United States.

No.

And me being the witness at the 8 African countries, I would tell you they have exited all of Europe and they living up on the beaches taking up space With their little broke-off pension pay, right? I believe the average American get paid most of them just out of Social Security when it comes to retirement. So if they quote unquote can do it, please America, get off your hind parts as my partner used to say and go make it pop and make it happen right there.

And spend your money.

Look, spend it.

Look, you talking about saving. I'm talking about spending your money. I tell my kids. I'm not leaving you a dime. I'm gonna leave you insurance, property. I'm— insurance. I'm gonna leave you property. But this, this hard cash earned money, I'm spending every dime of it while I'm here. I am going to enjoy it and have me some experiences.

Hold up, Regina. I didn't even— Regina, hold on. Talk about she's going back to Ghana for a 3rd trip in December. Listen, when she first talked to me, and it must have been some years ago at that point in time, for me to see that you talking about you went 3 times. I feel some kind of way, Regina.

Okay. Regina, you get ready to cut out the family.

I did not know that you had went.

Regina getting ready to get cut off.

That's the point though, right? People are making moves quietly. It ain't everybody's daggone business. And look, I got some partners of mine that really dug deep in the dirt. I got, and this is the babies that literally, that I would say, My own legacy in Africa has produced, and I just found out this, no joke, not even a full 2 weeks ago. So I have partners in Africa. Some work for the UN. They're African, period, right? Different nations. I'm not going to call out names and everything, right? But my partners know who they are, right? They have turned back around and I linked them up with some of my Americans, and my Americans and them have been cultivating throughout all these years together. To a degree and the point, my man told me that he had already dispensed over 200 people just from my introduction and melting that pot together. And out of that, he had put me directly on the phone with people that has been birthed from my initial place. You never know who effect that you're going to have on somebody's life. And I was sitting on the phone doing WhatsApp. With an American ex-military that evacuated and went there buying property in the territories I was talking about. I mean, I was calling off the neighborhoods, you know, with the listen listen where the sheep are at, where the cows turn. I can tell you about all that right there. He done bought up all property out there in Kitengela, and you know that's a major pivoting point in Kenya if you know where that's at. You know what I'm saying? It's going to take you to Tanzania. It's going to take you. Um, a little bit of everybody else, Coggiato, everything else, right? Down Mombasa Road, past, um, Metalango, you know, past the CBD, all— I mean, come on, we can get all into it, right? And, um, bottom line is, Regina, I'm so proud of you. You guys gonna make me cry. I didn't— I'm starting to add up just who's from our block that's in Africa or doing the rotations right now. And guys, the people that you see, you know, right now on the Facebook doing the chat They've already been there, done that. Reach out to them. Reach out to my big sisters right there, Cynthia and Regina. Reach out to them right now. Reach out to my direct sister Michelle, you know what I'm saying? Um, Harold, I know you've been abroad somewhere. I don't know where. Listen, welcome to the family. I can tell you about Harold Patrick. I remember when he was first trying to join the Army and I get a phone call. I was an 18-year-old kid, 17, 18 years old, getting a phone call from, um, some, um, some guy doing a background investigation. I'm from, um, From, um, intelligence. So I'm not sure what all he did in this career, but I know he's successful with his beautiful family. Guys, I love you guys. Thank you for joining. This is Fearless Friday Live. We're talking about hidden battles and pivoting points in your life, primarily with AI, but we're skipping around the world right now. Hey, that's healthy for us, so let's keep it moving.

But even when you talk about the healthy for us, it's, it's just listening to you talking to your friends, seeing your friends. That's healthy. You know, sometimes we, as we get older, we get away from all of our childhood friends, or they're no longer here. We've moved to different countries, we've moved to different places. And so to see you having a mini reunion right here online, and that's another good reason why to be online too, right? Because it, it, it's closed the gap between us and our families and our friends, right? And so, right, so this is another good reason Sydney's just showing is like We're afraid of the internet. We're afraid that— we're afraid of a lot of different things. And we have this— this is a normal thing right now, right? It became normal when, uh, during COVID And so this is really a normal thing for us to be online connecting with friends and family. So, um, that's right.

South Africa's on his list. South— I mean, Harold, listen, Harold grew right up down the Monty Harold on Goodyear Drive in New Holly Hills in the lake, if you will. All those signs we've been looking at, right? Harold lived 1, 2, 3, not even 4 houses from the Blanton house. So that's literally his brothers and sisters living in South Africa. So Harold, I don't know if you knew that or not.

Yes.

But your people online right now already set up shopping, housing in South Africa. So hey, You know, and if you want to go with me to Kenya, hey, shouts out to all my Kenya family. Love you guys. Uh, we popping out that way. I'm leaving out in December running a mission, and the mission is called the— I run this, uh, something that was embedded in my heart over 20 years ago. I even called the pastor from 20 years ago to get her blessing about the direction that I want to go in, in terms of the Damascus Road experience. that we did in the rice paddies of South Carolina 20 years ago. But now listen to this right here, right? 20 years later, I'm launching that campaign. It's called the Damascus Road Experience. The trial of Saul, the triumph of Paul. Let me say it again, the Damascus Road Experience. And right now I put together the website. You can go to damascusroad.africa and you see me putting everything together. I ain't gonna put it out there yet because I still got some work to do on it. But you're welcome to join me if you want to get out. And this is a men's mission and a women's mission as well, right? We call the women's mission Women of Damascus, and we are going into the Maasai Mara where we'll be out there with the warriors of the Maasai nation. And we're going to be joining with the bishop who personally invited me, and we'll be doing ministries up under the trees. So this is a real, real mission, talking to the people of the actual nation. If you want to go, here it is right now. Boom. But Harold, get up with your family. Get up with the Blantons. You see them online right now. Click on them. Start the conversation. And let's start rotating everybody we can to South Africa. Look no further than our own homie from Spring Lake, North Carolina, Mark Blanton, and get it going. This is critical right now.

And if he has a tour coming up where he's taking a group of people and some people can come join the tour with him, When he's taking them over there, make people feel a little bit more comfortable.

Let's get it going, folks.

Yeah.

Let's not even play around with it. In the meantime, also, let's set up shop there. So let's pivot back to how do you start AI? How do you—

I'm gonna leave it up to you. I'm not even gonna comment because as soon as I start commenting, you go back to Africa. So I'm gonna sit here and let you—

Well, I'm trying to get back to you about Africa so we can stay on Africa all day long now.

What's going on with Africa and AI?

No, I ain't playing around with you. I am not playing around when it comes to Africa.

Yeah.

Because it's meant too much to me. It's, um, um, you know, I've been helping run the missions back and forth there for the last, um, I think 4 years now or something to that particular spot. And even beyond that right there, I've always gotten filtered phone calls and given up sources and resources, how to get on the ground, how to navigate. Um, but the people that are fresh off the boat coming back, those are folks you should be hitting up. Hit up my sister Regina Ford. You see her in the comments. Ask her about Ghana, her experience. Look, this is a retired nurse, okay? This is a seasoned sister with immense knowledge, unfair checks. And, um, you know, you need to get out there and do your thing. You need to be clicking on these people right now. If you see them online right now, you need to be clicking on them, asking them 50 million questions. If you need to pivot back to me, most definitely I'm here giving you shouts out. Let's do the thing.

Yes. So if you're watching this, uh, a recording of this, hit up Sidney and he can give you the, some information on how to connect people in Africa.

Just hit me up. Look, I, I am not a gatekeeper. My formula for Africa, I'm gonna tell you the secret sauce. You gotta open up your own gateways to monetize what you're doing.

And so we're talking about how do you monetize? That's what I'm gonna ask you. How can you monetize in Africa? I've had some people go over to Africa. And they just failed and they had to come back because they could not survive overnight.

Well, I would tell you this.

So what are some of the monetization things that you do?

I don't think nobody fails because you, if you had not gone, you wouldn't know how to pivot on your way back if you decide. But I'm gonna tell you the number one thing you really need to have going for you. If you're going to be doing a sustainment operation, you have to have already embedded a source Income, right?

You can't go over there broke. Don't go over there broke.

Don't go broke now. Now you may go over to visit for a little brokenness, right? Get over there in the sand, the dirt, breathe the air, you know, kiss the ground. Um, but what are some of the things that they do? Go to the typical places like the Door of No Return, sitting in, um, Senegal. I've been there. Or go to, um, Kuta Kente's home, um, village, um, um, um, um, Kandilai and, and, um, all these other places out there, um, in Gambia, if you will. Um, that's a good start point right there. Um, get into, um, get up— oh my God, get up with Dr. Lisa Aubrey. Dr. Lisa Aubrey. Okay, Aubrey, right?

Mhm.

Um, a professor at, um, Um, um, Arizona State University. Let me say it again. Dr. Lisa Aubrey, shouts out to her. She wrote me and her ran ops over there in, um, Europe doing classes. A long while. Shouts out to my girl. Um, um, oh my God, it skipped my mind real quick and everything. I come back to that right there. But Dr. Lisa Aubrey, right? Get with her. She's online. She wrote many books. She's done the slave ship manifestos.

Okay, so go ahead. But the question I had, because Sydney, Sydney shouts out everybody today. Today is a shout out.

I was giving you a shout out.

Everybody's Sydney.

Okay, so the question is, how can—

if someone, you're leaving the United States, you're leaving Europe or whatever, and you don't have a retirement but you want to go over there, what are some ways that people can go over there that you know of? And I know we'll talk more about it when we get people on from Africa. But what are some things that they could do to sustain themselves, types of businesses they could start and things they could do to sustain themselves while they're over in Africa?

Because— Okay, so let me help you out with that right there. Again, you first want to break your ice by going all the way. And when you first go, you don't necessarily want to go over there already fessed up to start spending money. That ain't what you want, or try to set up business. My strongest advice is to go and learn the territory Get yourself broken into the sand, the dirt, the soil. Bleed a little bit. Pray a lot. Build your social base where there's not them, it's you. Because a lot of the thing is we going over to see them or them. No, you need to get on the side like Regina did.

So what do you mean about see themselves and, and, um, not them but you? What do you mean by that?

I mean, know thyself of where you're going and where you're at. So therefore, it's not that place no more, it's your place. Again, shouts out to the great—

How would someone sustain themselves when they're over there? I'm moving to Africa.

I'm gonna track you on all that. I'm gonna track you, right?

I mean, do they—

the first thing you want to do is get over that way to know who you are in that territory. And I don't care what country you go to, I'm not going to validate one specific country.

Right.

I'm saying get to where you want to go, where your heart's desire, right? Get on the ground and see if that's going to be you.

Right.

But while you're there and before you get there, contact a legal attorney. Now I'm going to teach you some secret stall stuff.

Okay.

But you got it. You're going to have to hit me up to ask about some of the stuff right here. There is a way to already get people who are vetted In Africa. And that's a network system.

Mm-hmm.

If you want to know more about that, just let me know and I get with you on that. But I will teach you that point. You get over that way and you can already get you an attorney that can teach you about, um, how to do what is called, um, um, um, land purchases or business standup without being in a compromising position. Like, oh, I need to have to go marry somebody. Oh, I need to have to go do XYZ. Now, it ain't the category everybody in. You can go over there on business and you could do a soft approach business. You don't have to turn back around and do the $100,000. I'm coming in as this ticket. First, go know yourself in the country that you want to go to. Get briefed by real vetted attorneys, not some shyster, because they can see you coming. And trust me, they're there too, right?

Everywhere.

Look at your source income that you have now. that you can bring there. Some source income may be retirement. Some source income may be that you are a, um, that you are an at-home business person. Um, and I would say start in the career field that you already have. Start in the category of intelligence that you already possess.

So would you say that they're doing it all? So when, if they go over there with the experience that they have, would they be doing it more virtually? Or do you find that some people are going over there, And they're able to really start off drinking more.

It's very— Now, I will tell you this right here. Um, if you need to know about the virtual side, you want to transition before you go and, and already have a virtual footprint. But say you ain't got none of that. Get on the plane, ain't nobody business. Get on the ground, meet people, shake hands, build family there, know who is who, and find yourself in there. So you can know in your heart that you're already comfortable with what you are doing and what you want. Look, look no further than the Blanton family.

That's a big move.

Look no different than the Blanton family. The person that went to South Africa, stuck a flag in the dirt, was Mark. Mark didn't pop up in South Africa. He had been going back and forth pulling missions there when he was in the US government. So we had a— he had a heads up. He used to have heads up on the intelligence side. But that's why we need to talk to him, because what goes for one country, the goose, goes for the rest of the country, the gander, in their own local lowest common denominator politics.

So, so I hear you saying that you don't recommend— because you see people online and they're, they're romancing Africa and they're like, you know what, I'm just going to get up and I'm going to move because I'm living— I'm leaving here. And they get up and they just move over to Africa and they're there now. They're like, crap, I'm here now.

I know people are doing that right now. Yes. Ain't no—

and, and that could be kind of scary because, like, I'm moving to another country because I'm leaving here because I'm scared, right? So I'm moving over there, and then when I get over there and I, I had— there's nothing. I don't, I don't know anybody. I don't have nothing. I found a real reasonable place to stay, but I can only sustain myself for so long because I don't have that Social Security. They might not be—

So do it in spurts. Do it like we do in the U.S. military. First, you always— we do, we go what is called an advance team. That just simply means, no, first we send out a scout. So look, I got the blueprint on that, folks.

He's got the scouts. You heard all the scouts. You heard the Blants on all the scouts, right? You heard he got the scouts. Okay.

So the scouts is where you need to start off at. Scout yourself. If you need to know further details, get no further than who's already in my feeds right now. Talk to the Blants. Okay. Talk to Regina Fords. Get over that way. Right. Get over that way and learn. Um, like, like Cynthia was saying, that's a big mistake if you're trying to go the whole kitchen sink and all that stuff. You do a scout version of it and do it several times. And even if you're in a rush—

Oh, that plane ride though. That's a long plane ride. That's like, oh, you know, you—

and when you go, yeah, but the plane ride is enough to rethink your thing and get you some rest when you get there.

And don't go for 7 days. You need— when you fly all that way over there, you need to be staying at least Listen, listen, that—

my mission's gonna last— my mission going into Kenya is gonna last about 8 to 9 days, but I have to snapshot that for those I know who's working. They got to get there, do their mission, and come back. But for me and one of my partners, we gonna be there for 30 days. Listen, and that's too short, to be honest with you.

It really is.

I'm only doing that so I can get my butt back, you know what I'm saying? Other than that, I go to Africa Man, you might as well count me lost.

Mm-hmm.

Sydney gone, gone, gone. You know what I'm saying? When I'm doing my rotations like that. And guys, this year coming up right here, I'm going to hit about 2 or 3 more times. We're not joking. You know, we're not joking. You know, wheels up, you know, boots on the ground, as we say, right? Shouts out to the Q, right? Boots on the ground. Let's do what we got to get done. But again, go there, scout it out. The next phase is do your advance party. That might just be you and one other person. But in the middle of all that right there, do legal. Know your State Department derivatives because you can, um, contact the State Department and the embassy in that territory and get your details so that way you be on their direct text feed. Let me say it again. You go into whatever country, get inside their text feed for the intelligence report, and let the State Department know that you are there. And this is what your itinerary and plan is.

Okay.

I mean, for the most part, right? So that way, if something go wrong, you get notified before it start popping off and you know how to relocate yourself. Because there's things that happen in any country. You know, I'm in a country called Oakland. You don't think I'm on an intelligence report? Oakland is a tough country.

As you guys can know, don't let nobody play around with you. Don't play around with you.

I know what's popping before it pop. And I'm already navigating. So, you know, if I'm doing it here, I'm doing it everywhere I go. And I move like a ghost. I don't let everybody know what direction I'm going into. After I've been there, I'm probably gone. So if you see a picture of me in Africa, you can best believe I've already pivoted. I'm a ghost in the wind. You know what I'm saying? Ninja, ninja. Huh, huh.

Cindy got me cracking up today. I'm telling you.

The other thing is source your own intelligence reports. And how do you do intelligence report? Use what is called human intelligence. People don't even have to know that they are your sources, but you tap into a number of the human intelligence. Let me tell you a prime human intelligence to have in any country. The people that run the transportation piece, because they're everywhere and know everybody. If you know that guy that sits in your neighborhood and they're everywhere that has a boda boda, as we call in Kenya, Hey, those your partners, your best friends.

What's a boda boda? Is that like a motorbike?

It's a motorbike. You jump on.

Okay.

Couple of pili pili, a little couple of dollars, whatever, dimes, whatever, right? But those your key intelligence people. I done ran major investigations just using boda boda before. Ain't even stepped into the territory. Pinpointed stuff I needed to know. So this is some of my freebies that I'm giving out to you. the network international systems to vet industries and people that's already there. And then you got ChatGPT or open source, um, whatever to actually give you real-time deliverables upon market-based situation. One of my friends, bless him, he's out there in Spring Lake, A&B Barber. Shouts out to Chris Smith, right? I've always told him for years, start your own barbershop over there, sponsor a barbershop. Build a barbershop there on that territory, and you could be in the U.S. all day long. You ain't even got to leave. You go over there to get boots on the ground, right? I got organic farmers. Shouts out to my people sitting over there in Uganda. I got two organic farmers there. One helped me used to actually build organic farming for the rescue girls that we have in in Kenya and at the rescue school. Lender. She built from scratch. I was in class with her while I'm sitting behind my desk in America, and they literally from dirt building out, turning over the soil, building the makeshift ponds, everything. So you start where you at. Me, since I'm transitioned, all AI things, of course, that's my major agenda. I'm, I'm, I'm training people in AI and I'm building my schoolhouses there and subjugated in that particular point.

Right?

So that's what the pop— that's what's going on with that part.

Okay, okay. So anything else on Africa we need to know, or any other country? Like you said, when we're leaving this country, because even though we, we focus a lot on Africa, people are leaving and they want to travel and they want to go places in other countries. I love to travel. I love to go to other countries. I've been to so many other countries and there's so many more I want to go to. But times have changed and it's not the same as it was before traveling in the past. Do you have any suggestions, any, anything else you want to talk about as far as the travel is concerned before we get back to AI? That's like before we get back to AI.

Look, to me it's almost all the same because the key thing is how you survive and where you're going. So my key survival point is start transitioning into areas that you can actually operate in. Because you have real goods, stuff that you have to sell directly. A lot of Americans want to go over that way. They want to package products and they want to ship it back to the States. That's fine too. But that's a lot of, um, that's a lot of sourcing and XYZ. That's not my route. My route is going to be simply all cloud-based products and doing things in the cloud-based products and stuff like this. Right. So, you know, figure out what you're—

Yeah.

It don't matter where you at.

Where you at.

I mean, I could bounce from Africa to Europe like I used to go back and forth like that and sustain myself. And, um, in a global position, borderless crossing, if you will, right? And, um, sustain myself because I'm all cloud-based now because I made that pivot and I put in the work for that pivot in time. Whereas one contract could sustain me months. I mean, literally months.

Yes. And that's what I'd like to— we are going to get deeper into that too. Because one of the things I know we're talking about is if people are leaving this country and people, they may have been working a job, they may want to— they're afraid of AI, but they need to learn how to use AI. Because actually going into these other countries, some of the countries that you're going to, you can't set up a business, you can't work. Because some countries do not allow you for a while until after you've maybe have you been, been in their country, be a citizen of their country. They're not like America in that when you— soon as you step here, you can get a job. Matter of fact, we're gonna roll out the red carpet for you, right? So some of the things that you need to learn how to do is to utilize the AI, the resources. And I know it's scary, but like Sydney mentioned, if you have a skill here that you're doing in the United States, like say for instance a counselor— so if you're a counselor, you've been doing counseling or whatever in the United States, you could take that online and go to any country And be in that country and you can still provide these services. But some of the things that you are, if you're a teacher, you can teach online. But some of the things you're going to need to know whether you want to is how to utilize AI, so not to be afraid of it. And so one of the things Sidney does is he teaches you step by step how to utilize AI. I'm, I'm gonna be a sidekick. I love AI too. And that's how Sidney and I met. We met over AI, right? We met.

Yeah, we was in the same training together of AI. And that's how we got it. And then in the room, you start configuring who's who.

Mm-hmm.

Now I will tell you, it wasn't— it was some of us in the room, not a lot of us in the room. And then we started realizing who really does what. Some people just learning from dead scratch. Some of us had some spillover effect into it, but we started identifying with each other. And that's how me and Vannessa met each other, reached out to each other and start building our own networking systems that we have even going on today.

And so our goal is to help our more seasoned baby exes. That's baby exes, our baby exes, our baby exes. And so that's our mission, that's our goal too, is to, to help you do it. You know, it's not like, okay, we got it, we know how, we know how challenging it is, we know being in the room with people of diverse ages, people making It's just moving fast, right? And it's like, wait a minute, did you catch that? Did you catch that? Because they have grown up. Instead of a baby bottle, they had the cell phone, right? They said, we don't need no baby bottle, we got a cell phone.

So a whole cell phone, right? Right.

We were sucking on pacifiers.

They're like, they had a pacifier in their mouth and a cell phone the other one.

That's right.

Look, I got brand new little people, grandchildren right now that's going through those effects. You know, it's just, it's just amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah. Shouts out to my grandsons and my granddaughter in Germany. My 2 grandsons here, right? Koa and Sam. I love you guys so much. Aura sitting over there in Germany. I love you, Papa. Love you.

It is, it is. It's so funny because I'm just watching you. Hey, shout me out!

I'm telling you, like, I'm gonna shout everybody out.

Shout everybody out. But that's good though, because people need to, um, they need to be known, recognized, you know. And sometimes we don't do that enough. So I, I really appreciate that.

I mean, let's go back to like, uh, Regina Ford, right? My big sister, right? She's down in the ATL, Atlanta. Shouts out to the ATL people. Um, ex-nurse, right? Retired nurse, right?

Oh, I love nurses.

Biggest thing about that right there is that's a skill set that's globally utilized.

Yes.

I got people in Kenya right now that I call my go-to nurses, right? Uh, one is a Ward 4 nurse, right? Um, and she is amazing, but I can see where the delivery points needed over that way. I mean, guys, if, if whatever skill set you got, it's going to cross over It'll definitely cross over inside Africa, right? But you're gonna learn more than you actually giving. Right now we're talking about— Oh my gosh. The survival points.

I would tell you—

You're gonna learn more than you're giving. So don't go over there with some sort of complex about, you know, uh—

You gonna teach them something.

Don't go over there with a mzungu.

No.

Mzungu means, um, white folks, international overseas people, right? And so just 'cause you Black don't mean you don't be called mzungu. Right? No, you're Mzungu because you speak, you speak what they call the white man's language regardless. And you're from the West. So that's how you receive. I don't care how blackity black you may be. Mzungu is Mzungu.

Yes.

Yes.

And that's, you know, it's one thing I learned when I went over, I went over to South Africa, I think it was 2003. And it was a delegation of us. And it was a delegation of us across the United States of drug and alcohol counselors and stuff. And so we went over there to see what was going on. And what I knew, of course, we always go with our preconceived notions. But what I found out, that we were more of the, um, third world country when we started talking to them.

Oh, America is definitely a third world country.

It is.

It is. With first world antics.

Yes. Yes.

That's a whole nother breakoff point right there.

Oh my goodness. I was just— I was—

You don't know that till you go. Till you go.

No. I learned so much from them about treatment, about services, about, um— they don't have all— they're able to sit down and have real conversation, real healing, real support. because they don't have all these boundaries. Oh, you can't— confidentiality this, boundaries that. Oh, you can't do this.

I mean, it was amazing. We walk around over here stressed all the time.

Yes, yes.

Out of dealing with all this race nonsense warfare, psychological— somebody think they're supposed to be better than you because the color of the skin and all this garbage that America is fronting in front of everybody while the people with real money and real power are utilizing that are just subjugated tools to keep us from unionizing and building out. So again, Gateway Africa, guys.

And don't think you're going over there and that they're the third world country. They're— be open. There's a lot for you to learn. You're talking about the most creative, ingenious person. Wait a minute, where's that thing? Wait, I wish I was at—

I have to speak on that. Yeah, we don't know how to talk AI or talk Africa, but that's the top thing on my priority list.

I know, look, I don't forget. I don't stop. Yeah, I don't stop the AI. We'll get back to AI and the elder— the older people. But you, you go over there and you watch people take a piece of wood, or the Black people, and it's like, you guys are the most creative and talented. I was like, where the— how come I don't have any of that talent? But out of a piece of wood there, they done created you a, a statue right there in front of you. And I'm like, that's beautiful.

Yeah, you know, because when I went to Kunta Kinte's village, Um, um, I went to Kuta Kinte's village, um, and spent time inside there. I still have partners inside that village, and I have the artisans because he's always sending me stuff, several of them. Um, I have one main artisan that sends me all the sculptures and everything that you can even imagine, you know, um, that, um, he wants to open up market bases, you know what I'm saying? He can send directly to you. So if you want some real authentic art that came from the hometown of even Kunta Kinte, I already got his legacy people, his generational gap. They're living there right now. And I got a direct beeline straight inside there. I've been to James Island, which is shrinking because of the ocean, and that's where they shipped them off at back in the day. But that territory is being covered because it's sinking and whatnot.

Yeah.

And, you know, it's been a while since I've been there, so I don't even know what the water level is right now. But I'm out to his home front, right? Um, um, yeah, so it's all there. So yeah, the skill sets is there, right?

Mm-hmm.

And, um, look, we could plug and play you, you know, no doubt. Even, even a lot of the art that I bought back when I was in Cameroon, um, shouts out to one of my partners that was in the military with me, um, the first wife of Mount Zion off the Murchison Road across from Fayetteville State University.

You are a historian. You know you're a historian, right?

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. As I'm listening to you as you're talking, you're a historian.

Yeah. So her, I gave her a lot of my art 'cause they just got married and they was building the stuff out. She was housing some of my stuff and she asked if she can, you know, hold it. So holding came to a lifeline. And this stuff that I bought out of Cameroon. And shout out to all my Cameroon people, you know, Sanzi Vianney, right? I mean, I could tell you a lot about even that part of the world. And Lisa Aubrey, again, Lisa Aubrey, Dr. Lisa Aubrey from Arizona State University did all the slave ship manifestos and traced them back to their ports of origination.

Okay.

So even in Cameroon was one of the largest embarkation of slaves Period. Or enslave people. But they hid it all. But guys, this stuff get deep.

It gets deep.

It gets very deep.

And you wonder why. And it's more to it than what— than the eye sees that it is. It's a lot more to it. And I think a lot of it goes back to some of the spirituality and who we are as a people. And if they can cover up who we are as a people and destroy us, and do whatever they can to—

Oh, we are as a people beyond your imagination.

Beyond your imagination.

Ain't nobody going back into no box. The genie out the box.

Yeah. And they're trying to shove that genie back in.

All that could be overthrown.

Yes. And it doesn't affect us. You know what? It only affects us what we allow it to affect us. Can't put that, like you said, can't put that genie back in the box. It's out.

If anybody know how to survive, it's Black and brown. We survive all of this unconditionally.

Yeah, everything. And that's why, that's why they keep trying to do it, because they're like, there's nothing we can do, but we're not going to stop trying to stop that.

We can't do—

From being alive. Yes, we want to get rid of it. You can't. So yeah, so, uh, so, so don't be stuck in one place. Live your life, travel the world. If you're on your last quarter of your life, enjoy your last quarter of your life. This is a good time. This is a good time, a good time to be here on Earth. This is an amazing time to be here on Earth and to be alive. And so enjoy it. This is a blessing.

Amazing and choice time, most definitely.

Yes, yes. Mm-hmm.

So again, guys, this is Fearless Friday. We are talking about hidden battles, the fear of not becoming The pivoting point into Africa and how to live abroad. Me, I'm Sidney Johnson. My focus is primarily tech, how to utilize it for your vantage point to whatever level of life that you're at. And my lady, Vannessa Lindsey herself. Look, PhD toting. Insight-driven, master of many trades, but the biggest pivotal point that she has, her banner, is nonprofit agencies, how to start a nonprofit agency, and how to sustain it. And her deliverables are classes.

That's right.

That's right.

That's right. I hope you can see it.

It all comes together at the end of the day.

It all comes together at the end of the day. Because, you know, we can't, I always go back to this. I believe we came down here on earth. We came down with a purpose, and we had a calling on our life. And I see us as switchboards. And so we come down to that birth canal, and we go pop out in this room. Then we know what we're supposed to do, but then we turn into switchboards. Everybody starts plugging in who we are and what we're supposed to be. You're supposed to be a doctor. You're supposed to be a nurse. You're supposed to be a wife. You're supposed to be a mother. You're supposed to be a housekeeper. And they start plugging in all these things that they want us to do, and it starts. Drowning out our calling. It starts drowning out what we're supposed to do, so we no longer hear. All we hear is static. Oh, that was good, Cindy. That was perfect. You did that. That was right on time. And it drowns it out. So we have this purpose. And so what I, I work with people on unplugging, unplugging. You guys remember that old time, old switchboard that we used, the old phone switchboard? And you just start unplugging everybody else's calling.

Did she pull out the yellow phone, guys? She pulled that phone out.

Answer your calling. Don't put your call on mute.

Don't put it on do not disturb.

Answer your call.

No delay, no excuses, no perfect time to do nothing.

Nothing.

Answer that call and start your life.

That's right. That's right. And if your calling might be to help other people and you want to help them through starting a nonprofit, we're here to help you. If you want to learn how to write grants, because that may be part of your calling, is to write grants to help others, we're here to help you. And so that's what we do. We're all— I'm Nonprofit Transformers. We help you transform your purpose, your passion into a nonprofit that transforms the world. That's me.

Amen to that. Amen to that.

And so Cindy and I, we work together and it's like, okay, so we are like the education and the function, right? So we teach you what you should be doing and how to do it. Cindy gives you the hands-on. And to help you become visible. It's like, what, you ready to start your nonprofit? Are you ready to do XYZ? Let me help you. Let me show you how to build your website, how to use AI, how do you use all the tools so you can work smarter, not harder.

How to structure your ecosystem.

Yes. And how you can get things done faster. Because if you're a baby boomer, if you're, if you're a baby X and you got to get more stuff done in a collapsed period of time He's going to show you how to collapse that time to get more done so you could live the rest of the time that you have here on Earth having a good time playing with AI and making that money.

I would tell you this right here. Live like you're living, act like you're dying. So excavate, build, and pivot and go.

That's it. So that's us. Before we go, Sidney, you know I got to do it every time. I got to do a card with you.

Oh, oh, oh, okay.

Now, now, now I'm pulling these cards with Sidney so he can answer a question. These are How Dare You, and he has to answer whatever question that comes up. How dare you? How dare you? So when you tell me to stop, when he says stop, the card that's on top, that's gonna be his card. Hold on, here it is. All right, your question: where is the weirdest place that you have gone to the bathroom? Oh, that's easy.

Look, look, I done been to 38 different countries.

Yes, you have.

I done squatted in many different directions, in many locations, you know. The weirdest though, I would say, oh, I'll tell you, that's an easy one. Nairobi, Kenya. Downtown. And see, the problem is you're in Kenya, when you visit people, everybody wants to bring out what is called Kenya tea. Or Kenya coffee, right? So being that they said the baseline of the tea is obviously tea, but you got ginger in there, right? But they mix it with milk. Mm. So here I am, okay? And I done visit about a couple of houses in that daytime. Hey, sit down, blah, blah, blah. Would you like some Kenya tea or Kenya coffee? And this smells good. And you just like, yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Cause that smell is the actual coffee inside of it.

Mm-hmm.

And that ginger, right? But then there's the milk. So I'm downtown Nairobi. It's gotta be at least 105 degrees minimum inside the city. And I'm walking around, I have my nice leisure outfit on. And then, you know, it's that time nature come calling. And the best you could do is find one of those public places you go. And there's people there helping you out, you know, but they only give you 3 plies of toilet paper, 3 squares. And it ain't the Charmin thick stuff neither.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, hey, only thing inside there is to squat. Now, how do you squat? So anybody going to Africa with me, first thing I'm gonna tell you right now, Start doing squatting exercises daily. Get yourself together.

Mm-hmm.

It's a fitness program you're gonna have to go through just to get yourself ready. So no matter where you at, you can go ahead and call, call to the nature and not have a problem with it, especially maneuvering around your clothes without literally dropping everything off just to use the bathroom. But I made it past that. So that was the weirdest place. That was, that was the most challenging place that I ever had to deal with it. Um, weird place. I don't know, there's so many, so many of those different directions, but that was the most challenging, weird situations that I went through. And I learned from then, I stopped drinking, um, anything with milk in it, period. Not even to this day. I may drink, um, almond milk, but I'm not gonna drink nothing from nobody's cow. No ma'am, no sir.

Yes.

So that was that.

Let me ask you a question. You, so you, this is for everybody. Hopefully you're watching this, but you, if you're watching this as a repeat, you still get it. You're planning on going to Africa in December. You're inviting people to go with you and there is going to be an exercise regimen. So when is it they need, they need to get in contact with you ASAP because they need to know what that exercise regimen is and what they need to do.

Yeah, I can even give you a couple of bits right now and you can still contact me. It starts now, you know, um, especially if you're not moving weights and you're moving around a lot, you need to get out there and get used to walking.

Right.

And, um, and how to, how to move around without a bunch of creature comforts. So that way, when you in a position where you gotta make a pivot or move or situation, you done already built up your wind, your baselines, your baseline, right? What's your baseline? From your soleus to your gastrocnemius, which is your thighs, to your buttocks, to your upper back. That's your baseline for you be moving as an erect You know, situation, right? So you want to start there and then just build up your wind.

And so what would you be doing? Would you say they need to be doing squats? Would you say then that you said walk?

Squats, period. If you didn't do anything daily, do pushups, squats, and go walking, but walk with a purpose.

So not a leisurely stroll. You want to be able to—

No, not a leisurely stroll. You can start off doing your leisurely stroll, but if you do a leisurely stroll at a distance, It's still going to equate to some, um, your muscles are going to start still toning up.

Okay.

Okay.

So, so, so during that time of year in December, is that, is that the summertime in Africa? What's the weather like in December?

All right. Well, um, depends on what part of Africa you're going to be in.

I'm going to be with you. They're going to be with you.

Right. They would be in East Africa. If you would be in East Africa nonstop, period, um, December, November, December, January, February, leading into March. Those your hot seasons right there. So we're going smack dead in the beginning of their summer, and that's going to be, um, that's going to be, um, um, December timeframe. So when we get off the plane, the heat hits.

Nice.

It's probably not unbearable. If you're from North Carolina, you ain't gonna have no problem with it because North Carolina's heat palpitation zone, especially in August timeframe. In Africa, it's more like a dry heat. Right. And, um, you know, you get your sweat on, but, you know, you just drink water, plenty of water, throw some lemon inside of it, drink live water or eat live water, which would be like your fruits, apples and stuff like this. And you'll be okay.

Okay. Okay. So get in touch with Sydney so you can start getting together to get your trip prepared. If you need to make payments, this is August. Oh no, this is September. So you're leaving September?

I told them, yes.

You have a long time. Not at all. Not at all.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

It's called the Masters Road Experience. I can even put that inside the thing. Masters Road. And that'd be another conversation for me to really communicate about it. But right now, you know, if you're interested, just give me a shout out. Um, this is a work in progress, so I'm not trying to come to you perfectly, but I do have products and deliverables that I've already designed. And whatnot, just send me your email. Um, you're invited to the Damascus Road Experience. Um, and, you know, just give me a shout out, you know.

Go have a good time. And this, and like you said, this going with you would be, um, somebody that they, they've, they've seen. They may be comfortable with, get to try it out for the first time in a group. And then if you like it, come back home, get your best friend if they didn't go with you, your loved one or whatever, and say, let's, let's take this trip again, or even do another group trip and just keep going back and forth and back and forth and just take the test, test the waters. Because Africa isn't for everybody. Because if Africa was for everybody, everybody would still be there, right? So there's, so there's this—

I would tell everybody this right now, build purpose into your life if you feel some sort of level of calling. Reach out to the people that you see inside the news feeds, especially the Blanton family and Regina Ford. And, you know, just start a conversation. That's where it starts at. Everything starts with a conversation.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. All right. This has been wonderful. This has been wonderful.

Yeah, this has been pretty liberating. You know, I was hoping that someone would come live, but no one want to take the People are like, I don't want to come live.

No, they like, we want to sit, we want to listen. I don't blame them. I wouldn't have came on either.

I would have been like, it's all good. And we appreciate everybody.

Yes, yes, we appreciate you listening. We appreciate you listening now. And then for those of you who catch this on a replay, we appreciate it. We hope you've learned something today that you could take with you, that you can use into your life, that you can make that transformation that you want to make. Um, and seniors— and I don't even want to call you seniors. I want to call you— I'm gonna call you baby Xs. We're going to have some wonderful shows for you. We're going to talk real talk. And if you have something that you would want to discuss, learn about, from menopause, from the cradle to the grave, to from grandparenthood, from transitioning on into your next chapter in your life, whatever it is, we're going to talk all things about it.

And there we go, guys. She said it herself. Welcome to Fearless Friday Live. And we have been here, done that. And hey, it was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. You want to spin up that sweet music we be having?

Spin it up and we are out. We're gonna spin it up for a second and we are out.

Hey, we will be talking to you guys next week.

Yeah.