1 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:11,400 Welcome to Disruption now. 2 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:13,320 I'm your host. The moderator, Rob Richardson. 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,360 With me is Larry Brinker with the Brinker Group, 4 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:21,080 and he is responsible for I believe over $4 billion in construction projects. 5 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:23,400 And we're going to go to us to talk to him about his journey 6 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,280 and how he's navigated having obviously a lot of success. 7 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,320 And but we really want to get to the heart of the lessons along the way 8 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:33,320 because we believe in the beauty of the struggle. 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:37,080 We believe in the disruption, the disruption lies that in the journey 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:38,160 it lies in the struggle. 11 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:40,920 So, Larry, welcome to the show. Thank you. 12 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:43,120 It's a pleasure to be here. 13 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:45,920 Yeah. So you are from Detroit, Michigan. 14 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:47,400 Are you live there? 15 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,880 Yes. So a weird question to start with, but. 16 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:53,480 Yes, I'm going to laugh for. 17 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:56,760 So I was born and raised in Pontiac, Michigan, which ironically 18 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,800 was the home of the Pontiac Silverdome for many years, 19 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,760 where the Lions played prior to moving to Detroit. 20 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,840 With that being said, yes, I am a 21 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,920 Pontiac, you know, born and raised 22 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,800 person, and currently my business is in Detroit. 23 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,760 The Lions don't necessarily drank the Kool-Aid, but. 24 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:25,600 They're not as bad. 25 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:27,280 You know, you don't play you're not play with. 26 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:29,120 I don't claim them. I don't claim. 27 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:31,920 So who do you play like? This is a very important question. 28 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:33,880 Oh, man. You know. 29 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,560 Look, I stayed a Bengals fan even through the hard times. 30 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:37,880 There was. 31 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:38,600 It is very 32 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,840 like the Bengals and the Lions had a very similar history until recently. 33 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:43,600 But so it's. 34 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,920 Yeah, so I understand how you feel actually. 35 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,040 So what I would say with the Lions is 36 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,280 the fact that like they're winning now, which is great. 37 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:57,200 I love the grit. 38 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:58,920 I love what they represent. 39 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,720 It's just, I mean, years of weekly letdowns. 40 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:04,440 You just have to let it go. Sometimes 41 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:07,440 I am slowly getting 42 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:12,240 back onto the bandwagon, but overall, it's great for the city. 43 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,960 It's unbelievable to see how much a city gets behind a team. 44 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,760 I mean, we went, oh, in 16 one year and every game was still sold out. 45 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,640 So I'm back. On the benefit of it. 46 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:24,520 All right. 47 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:24,840 All right. 48 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,320 You're back on the bandwagon. So let's talk. 49 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,360 I really think you learn a lot about people when you 50 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,000 when you get to be like one of their defining moments. 51 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,680 So I'm curious to hear your defining moment, 52 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,400 like a moment you had where it was 53 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:44,640 a really tough moment. 54 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,800 It could be a moment that was transformational, 55 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:53,480 but it's a moment that you saw that you had to figure out a way forward 56 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,960 or there wasn't or was going to be, you know, complete failure or was just 57 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,600 it was it wasn't going to be something that you accept. 58 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,400 Walk us through what that moment was for you. 59 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,880 Yeah, I feel like I have several. 60 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,320 But okay, What's the first one that comes to mind? 61 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,640 The one that comes to mind for me is like, 62 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:17,680 excuse me is Kobe noted the fact that 63 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:21,000 I unfortunately, 64 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,640 I was one of the first 65 people in the state of Michigan with Kobe. 65 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:26,160 Right. Which was, well. 66 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:27,200 Super scary. 67 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:28,360 That how you want to make history. 68 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:30,160 But go ahead. Yeah. No, not at all. 69 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:34,960 And it it was like the first week of March. 70 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,160 And what happened was I ended up becoming very sick, 71 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:44,240 spent a couple of days in the hospital, and from there I was fortunate to recover, 72 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,440 although I had some friends who at the same time called it 73 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,280 that didn't didn't 74 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:52,920 really survive it, which was unfortunate. 75 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:57,240 But after coming out of COVID, it made me look at things 76 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:01,080 a bit differently as it related to our company. 77 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,560 And a lot of it was really navigating through 78 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:09,840 how do we continue to operate a company while keeping people safe 79 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:10,680 at the same time? 80 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,040 And is the difference in construction safety? 81 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,560 When you think about, hey, we never want to go go home every day 82 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:18,480 same way that came. 83 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,800 But when you think about COVID, we were looking at literally 84 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,240 the idea that 85 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,280 myself, my father, any of our key employees in over our staff 86 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:33,640 period, could tomorrow get sick and not be here. 87 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:35,360 Excuse me. 88 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:37,920 And so with that being said, 89 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,960 the defining moment for us was 90 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:45,480 was do we continue operating our company as we always have, Right? 91 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:49,400 Or do we really look at how we can be 92 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,000 transformative and flexible to make sure that we're keeping people safe, 93 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,520 but we're putting our our our people first and foremost. 94 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,320 And so from that perspective, it was one of those things 95 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,960 where we were one of the first companies to shut down. 96 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:06,520 That was a decision that I made early on. 97 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,160 I was actually still in the hospital at that point when I made that call. 98 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:12,320 But not just that, but 99 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,600 I would say we 100 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,520 were one of the first companies prior to knowing if there would be help 101 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:20,160 from the government 102 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,960 or anything else to say, hey, we were going to keep everyone on payroll. 103 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:28,360 We wanted to keep everybody at home safe and whatever losses 104 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,640 we incurred, we were willing to 105 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:36,320 to accept that just based on the fact of how close it hit us. 106 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:39,320 And so a defining moment from that 107 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,640 perspective was really 108 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,880 not necessarily 109 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:47,760 taking what I would say is the easy route. 110 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:52,480 And then also being one of the first to make a decision like that, which is 111 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,640 during those times of cold, it was really something that we had never faced. 112 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:01,120 So the fact that we were talking about shutting down a construction company, 113 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,400 telling our clients that we were shutting down our job sites, 114 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,720 those were not easy conversations. How'd that go? 115 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:12,040 I mean, it's it's it became an easier conversation, I imagine, when 116 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,320 when when the government followed with that decision. 117 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:18,240 But you made that decision before it. 118 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:19,840 It was mainstream. 119 00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:22,560 How did you walk through a conversation like that with clients? 120 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:23,200 Like that? 121 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,320 Seems like a hard conversation. 122 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:26,800 Yeah, so 123 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:31,480 I can joke about it now, but the week leading up to me 124 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:36,080 testing positive, I actually had meetings with, I would say 125 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:39,080 70% of my clients. 126 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:41,400 Are there in person. In person. 127 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,000 So they did so well. They didn't get COVID, 128 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,200 but it was a situation where they were pretty worried. 129 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:52,040 So they started shutting down their offices due to the exposure. 130 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,560 So it hit home a bit different for them as well. 131 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,840 But it was still a different conversation 132 00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:02,440 when you talk about their own offices compared to their dollars. 133 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,000 Right? So yeah. Exactly. 134 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,440 Right. And so. 135 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,240 That's when you really get to see people's 136 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,520 principles, not when people what they had real. 137 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:12,080 Values. 138 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:16,080 And real values, like when you have to actually sacrifice something for real. 139 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:17,200 Absolutely. 140 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,920 Those are your values, not what you say your values are, 141 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:22,480 but what you're willing to sacrifice shows your values. 142 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:23,760 Absolutely. 143 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:25,920 So for the most part, it went over well. 144 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:30,080 It was it was so fluid and so fast moving. 145 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,920 By the time some of our clients had an opportunity to even digest it. 146 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,320 I mean, we were a couple of days past the conversation 147 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,080 and things had progressed even more so 148 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,440 fortunately, it went well. 149 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:50,600 I feel like from that perspective we definitely saved save some lives. 150 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:55,080 Most likely we have about 500 people that work for us on a daily basis. 151 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:56,760 Well, and 152 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,960 and when you look at our current numbers as a company, we're pretty proud 153 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:06,560 that through that that that hardest time from March through, say, 154 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,800 June, July we were pretty low 155 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,320 in terms of positive cases. 156 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:15,160 Did it make you feel better about your mortality? 157 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,720 A little bit more. I know it did for. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. 158 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:20,320 So so I have to tell you. 159 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:22,880 But but finish that point too, and end up after you're done with that. 160 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:24,840 Go ahead. You're finished. Yeah. So. 161 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:26,240 Oh, no, no, no. 162 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,960 So I have to tell you, I'm 43. 163 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,000 I was 40 at the time. 164 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:32,960 Excuse me. And 165 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:38,880 and up until that point, I never thought about my own mortality. 166 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,640 Right? Yeah. We usually don't. Write. 167 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:46,600 And it wasn't until I went to the hospital and I was. 168 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:49,760 Excuse me, I was locked in a 169 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:54,840 a and isolation room with no human contact whatsoever. 170 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,720 I had a nurse come check on me once every 4 to 5 hours, 171 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,640 and I was in the hospital for two and a half days. 172 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:07,200 And it's not until you're in that room by yourself 173 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:09,920 and you really don't know what's going on. 174 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,120 People are coming in when they do come in, terribly afraid 175 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:18,440 that it makes you start to look at things differently, say, wow, like, 176 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,360 I mean, this is not only serious, but 177 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,480 the fact that you don't have your family to support you, 178 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:27,720 you don't have your friends, 179 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,440 you don't have human contact which which which by itself goes a long way. 180 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:33,240 Yeah, 181 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:37,960 really made me think about 182 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:39,200 my own mortality. 183 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,520 I mean, those nights that I were, that those two nights 184 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:46,800 I was in the hospital, I mean, I spent all night, both nights 185 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,560 praying just a if for some reason I'm not here tomorrow, 186 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,200 that hopefully I've done 187 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,160 all of the things that I needed to do while I was here 188 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,640 to make make sure that I was in a good place. 189 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:06,360 So, yeah, as a 40 year old, those are tough thoughts 190 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,080 and tough and tough experience is 191 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,960 that most times we don't have to face until we get older, right? 192 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:15,840 Yeah. 193 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,720 So did it did it make you approach anything differently 194 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,680 in terms of how you do business or your personal life? 195 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,240 Like to talk about that? Like what? 196 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,040 How did that make you changed in terms of your day to day 197 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,160 execution practices or just personal limitations? 198 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,800 Yeah. So from a business perspective, 199 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:38,640 I put more 200 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:42,960 of a focus on work life balance first and foremost, right? 201 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:44,440 Because 202 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:47,520 no matter how much money you make, 203 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:52,400 how much success you have, right, the only thing you leave this earth with 204 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:56,160 is you're leaving people with the memories 205 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:00,720 that you have had with that person or those people. 206 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:05,880 And it made me think that we oftentimes spend so much time 207 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:10,080 worrying about work or stressing about things we can't control. 208 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:15,600 And always on this constant chase for achievement and success, 209 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,720 which is great, but at the end of the day, the most precious thing you have 210 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:20,680 is your time. 211 00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:24,200 You can't sell it, you can't trade it, can't buy it, right? 212 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,360 It's the most precious commodity. 213 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,200 And it made me think more about the work life balance for my employees. 214 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,160 Like I try to do everything possible 215 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:35,280 to make sure that they understand that I support them. 216 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,560 If there's events they have with their children 217 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:42,680 or their family that takes away from from work. 218 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:45,600 I understand. 219 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,800 My whole thing is, hey, you have a job to do as long as you get it done. 220 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:52,000 I'm okay with that. 221 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:54,640 But I've. Never I've never I've never as you. Catch imagine levels. 222 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:55,440 How do you do that? 223 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:59,400 Like, but like, how have you found the balance with work life balance? 224 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,120 Seriously? Like what are practical things you do? 225 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,360 I haven't found this balance yet, so I'm asking where is the body then? 226 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,680 Like because you've obviously had success. 227 00:12:07,680 --> 00:12:09,680 For me, obviously that was very intentional. 228 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:11,720 It was very intentional. 229 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,600 It used to be where I would kind of have 230 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,600 a little bit of guilt when I would go on vacations 231 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,000 or I would travel or just decompress 232 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:27,360 my role as CEO and president. 233 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:29,880 I can never just turn it off. Right. Exactly. 234 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:32,880 Like I can think back to I was in the Maldives one 235 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:38,360 time for my 40th, actually, and I was there for two weeks. 236 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,960 And literally I was answering emails and taking calls for days. 237 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:42,880 Right. 238 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:47,280 But what I've learned to do, though, is really be more intentional 239 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:51,120 on on what what what brings me joy. 240 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,040 And doing that and for me is travel 241 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,600 where I feel at this point I can be present with my company. 242 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:03,880 I've done a great job of of establishing an executive team 243 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,560 that makes sure that from our strategic vision to 244 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:12,240 our daily task are executed in a way where it gives me 245 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,920 more time that I can still do things that I like to do. 246 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,080 But also it allows me to have a pulse 247 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,520 on the company still and pulls Colgate right? 248 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:23,840 Like now we're on Zoom. 249 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:28,120 There's so much you can do and not necessarily be in the office 250 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:33,800 every day and still get your work done and be successful. 251 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:36,920 So for me, the work life balance has been more 252 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:41,000 just the intentionality of of getting up and going. 253 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:43,440 Because when I come back, I'm rejuvenated. 254 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:44,680 I'm ready to go. 255 00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:46,600 Yeah, but yeah. 256 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,680 So do you have any habits that you do that keep you grounded, are 257 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:54,520 motivated, are streamlined, that that are really important for you as an example? 258 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:55,160 Yeah. 259 00:13:55,320 --> 00:14:01,440 I would say for me it's the values of my family. 260 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:02,480 So it's right. 261 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,880 So what happened? So let's talk about that. So you still, 262 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:07,040 you know, 263 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:11,080 at at a funeral I heard this statement and I repeated it at my sister's funeral, 264 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,400 as well as my grandmother, as well as at my grandmother's funeral. 265 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,200 You know, the days are long, but the years are short. 266 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:19,880 And so. Right. 267 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:22,880 But so it's very I think 268 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,560 it takes some very intentional work to be present 269 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:32,160 and intentional day in and day out and not let the years go by. 270 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:36,520 What is it that you do to be intentional then, with your family to keep those? 271 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,040 Do you have any like habits that roots you in that. 272 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,680 Sort of excuse me, I would say 273 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,960 I don't necessarily think I have any habits that route me in 274 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,760 to that more than it is 275 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,600 me never forgetting where my family comes from. 276 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:54,760 Right? Right. 277 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,200 And so I say that because 278 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,720 my mother is one of nine, my father is one of ten. 279 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:03,120 So I grew up with a ton of. 280 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:04,480 So you're not married. You're not. Married. 281 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:06,600 Cousins, Divorce. Divorce. 282 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:07,480 Okay, Yeah, that's that. 283 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:09,640 That's so you're you're talking about your you're you're you're 284 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:11,520 the infrastructure 285 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,880 you come from from your family and you have a strong family background. 286 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:15,280 Got it. Okay. Yeah. 287 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,640 And so my mother comes from. 288 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:19,720 You have kids? 289 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,880 I have two boys. Okay, boys. Yep. Yeah. 290 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:27,120 And so just coming from a large family like that, we always really 291 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:29,880 were super close. Right? 292 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:33,800 But when you think about the story of my grandfather, my father's father, 293 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:39,360 my grandparents migrated from Tupelo, Mississippi, during the Jim Crow era. 294 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,760 You have to go to Michigan to have an opportunity to work, right? 295 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,320 So my grandfather worked in the factory. 296 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,920 My grandparents had 297 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:50,720 middle school 298 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,000 or lower high school educations 299 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,720 and raised ten kids off of a factory salary right. 300 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,800 And my father tells the story that 301 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:07,920 we that they never had much money, but they were rich and love. 302 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,320 They were always rich in love. Right. 303 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:15,560 And me growing up as the grandchild, I got a chance to see that right. 304 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:21,000 And so the success that we've had in our business has been amazing. 305 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,640 But for myself and my father, we're still 306 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:29,160 two guys that grew up in this family that didn't have much. 307 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,160 My father stories no different. 308 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,560 My mother and father were high school sweethearts, 309 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,520 went to prom together and all that stuff went off to school 310 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,560 and my mother got pregnant with me their sophomore year, 311 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,080 so my father had to drop out of school and figure out a career 312 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,760 and decided he wanted to become a carpenter and. 313 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:53,040 My father a laborer. So we have a lot in common. 314 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:54,000 Yeah. Yeah. 315 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:58,440 And so basically went through apprenticeship 316 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,600 school, became an apprentice, and then he went on to be a. 317 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:04,240 Journeyman. 318 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,920 And a foreman after that, and 319 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,200 after about eight or nine years, decided he wanted to create his own company. 320 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,800 And and that is such an awesome story. 321 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:17,440 You know, I want to read so part of what I do also in 322 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:20,640 with the Labors International Union and Muscle, 323 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:25,560 my father has had a similar experience and he's he's not an exact executive 324 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:26,840 with the Labor International Union. 325 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:29,760 But what I think is so important about what you said 326 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,800 is I think a lot of black businesses almost say it straight. 327 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:37,160 What we get wrong is that they try to skip the process. 328 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:38,240 Absolutely. 329 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:41,120 There is no shortcut like your father, what you just went through. 330 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:44,880 Like I know so many people typically in construction, right. 331 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:48,480 Is this a central problem that I see with black owned company? 332 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:50,240 I'm just being straight up, right. I agree. 333 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:51,280 Some of us go straight to it. 334 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:53,480 We like, okay, we just want to get straight 335 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:55,440 to being getting the $10 million contract. 336 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:59,160 And what they do is they shortcut it, letting somebody else be the lead. 337 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:02,080 And they don't build the they don't build the skill set, 338 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:04,240 they don't build the infrastructure. 339 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,160 They don't build the knowledge capability and the business acumen 340 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:09,080 of what it takes to build a business. 341 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,960 And then when the contracts go away, as they always do, 342 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:14,480 because they're just going to use you for that. 343 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:16,800 You're quite. Right. 344 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:17,400 All right. 345 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,040 So your father, I just this is very important, right? 346 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:22,680 He went through and actually got because we we get 347 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:25,920 criticism like, you know, whether you're nonunion no matter what. 348 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,480 Like we I believe in union, obviously, but no matter what you need training. 349 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,280 You need to understand what you're doing. 350 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:36,960 And and so there is merit in training and training yourself in the workforce. 351 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:41,720 And people want to jump out without any level of necessary expertise. 352 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:44,800 And what they do this is obviously it's across the board, 353 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,880 but I've seen this appeal so much, right? 354 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,880 Yeah, that I just think it is worth pointing out that 355 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:53,360 there's no skip in the process. 356 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:54,640 Everybody looks at 357 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:58,000 social media and says that, you know, that people think this stuff is instant. 358 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:02,000 You're comparing yourself to to another person journey 359 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,920 that you probably don't know the details of it. 360 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,320 So I just I just think it's a great point. 361 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:07,000 Yeah. 362 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,240 And so what's interesting is he started the first company 363 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,560 and then he got an opportunity, which was 364 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,400 the first company that he did was drywall and metals. 365 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,720 The second company that he got an opportunity to create 366 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,520 was a general contracting construction management company. 367 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:28,680 And then after that, he ended up creating a glass and glazing company 368 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,520 and then a carpenter and 369 00:19:34,120 --> 00:19:36,840 excuse me, carpet and flooring company. 370 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:40,280 And then we acquired our electrical company in 2011. 371 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:41,240 Yeah. 372 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:42,840 And it was all based on 373 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,880 just the opportunities, but to do it the right way, like you said. 374 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,040 So he took the risk. 375 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,720 He didn't have a minority partner 376 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,760 who was bankrolling the operation and really made. 377 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,120 Him and. Was in the. Money. Exactly. 378 00:19:57,120 --> 00:19:58,760 Because most devastated will start. 379 00:19:58,760 --> 00:19:59,760 Right, Right, right. 380 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:01,920 It is a front for the first times. Right? 381 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:03,480 That was a front. Right. 382 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,520 And so it's funny when you say you can't cheat the process, right? 383 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,440 Because even my own journey, although I didn't have the same journey 384 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:15,600 as my father, I went to college for what I'm doing now. So 385 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,480 University of Michigan. 386 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:21,560 So an environmental engineering. 387 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:24,120 Electrical engineering as my dad speaks. 388 00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:24,720 All right. 389 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:25,440 Yeah. 390 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:27,840 And so when I was done, though, 391 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:31,320 and I worked for the company, I started entry level 392 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,440 and I literally have held at least 393 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,400 80% of the job roles in our business. 394 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:42,720 And not just that, but when my father felt it was time to train me for leadership, 395 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:48,200 he ended up bringing in a guy who had recently sold his construction 396 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:50,800 company to an international company, 397 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,960 and he brought him in as president. 398 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,120 It was a four year program from day one. 399 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:58,160 We knew it would be a four year program. 400 00:20:58,160 --> 00:20:58,720 Yeah, we. 401 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,440 Brought him in to train me and then 402 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,320 Jim CO had over 40 403 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,160 to 50 years of experience at that point. 404 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:12,960 And so a year one, I was a fly on the wall, I was in meetings. 405 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,720 I was. Yeah. Didn't know which way was up 406 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:18,320 and I was meeting your father. 407 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:20,360 My father would get along, Yeah. Yeah. 408 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:22,840 So I met, I met his contacts. 409 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:27,200 I was building my own contacts, but I was in meetings just understanding 410 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:31,920 the dynamics of leadership In a year or two, started 411 00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:35,440 to get a little bit more comfortable understanding certain things 412 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,680 still, and I am like, in step with them shoulder to shoulder. 413 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:41,960 We're in meetings together, we're planning together. 414 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,000 And by year three, I really was was, 415 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:49,920 was beginning to feel very comfortable where at that point 416 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:54,160 he would ask me, hey, here's a situation we have, what would you do? 417 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:55,800 What do you want to do? 418 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:57,960 And he would have me answer. 419 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,560 And if I was off base, he would walk me through why I was off base. 420 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,240 But it helped me 421 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:09,240 get an opportunity to have the cognitive thinking needed for leadership, 422 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:14,240 but have a backstop where it was a where it was a free flowing, 423 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,160 comfortable environment for me to learn and do so. 424 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:20,160 And then 425 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,720 also, man, it was tough. 426 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:24,040 I mean, it was many nights 427 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:28,320 I was up to three or four in the morning reviewing 300 page contracts. 428 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:32,640 You have to to like put my own notes to and comments 429 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,520 to come back and sit with him that next morning at 8 a.m.. 430 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,720 So walking through my cat, my comments 431 00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:44,880 to see if I was correct, if I was off base and he would walk me through 432 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,480 if it was something I missed or something I looked at differently. 433 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,240 But it taught me so much during those three years. 434 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:56,720 And then the fourth year was really at a point where he was like, Hey, I'm here. 435 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:58,520 I'm a figurehead. 436 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:00,480 You make the calls, right? I'm not. 437 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:01,440 And if you're wrong, I'm 438 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,440 not going to even going to tell you you're wrong, 439 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,000 but I'm not going to let you get too far off base. 440 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:10,760 But if I have to take the heat, I'll take the heat and so by year. 441 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:12,000 Go ahead. 442 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,720 What point in the relationship, because I've had this with my father, too, 443 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:16,040 but what point in the relationship 444 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:17,560 did it? 445 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,800 Maybe the dynamic change because obviously he's a mentor mentee 446 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,560 father figure, but then it comes a point where you also, I'm 447 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:26,840 sure, bring different ideas, different concepts. 448 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,680 Oh, you can you can push back on them. 449 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,160 Yeah. Like how to get to that. Tell me that dynamic. 450 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:33,840 So it's not there yet. You're still not there. 451 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:35,880 I'm not there, you know. So. 452 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,880 So, so year four was at the point where. 453 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,160 I was like, You're not there. You guys are still on. Okay. 454 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:41,880 Yeah. 455 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:48,200 So year four, we're still like, I'm still training, making decisions for 456 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:53,000 the company under the guise of my mentor who was brought in to train me. 457 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:53,920 Right. 458 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,720 And so by the end of year four, I was like, okay, 459 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,400 I'm charged up, ready to go, Let's do this. 460 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,800 And so when it was time to make the transition, when my mentor retired 461 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:09,720 and I assumed the the position at the time a president, 462 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,320 it wasn't like I had a deer in the headlights. 463 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:14,080 Sure. 464 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:16,360 And I was like, all right, I know what I want to do. 465 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:17,680 I have a plan. 466 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:22,920 And our like my first year I saved our company almost $650,000 467 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,640 by just renegotiating some of our contract 468 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:31,080 with a few of our employees that were just bad contracts. 469 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:31,320 Right. 470 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:35,480 And it gave the the employees more money to take home. 471 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,760 But it saved us money on our side as well. 472 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:42,360 And so 473 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:48,400 so then that led into the transition from me being the understudy 474 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,160 to now the leader right now having to interface 475 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,480 directly with my father as the leader of the company. 476 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:55,400 Right, Right. 477 00:24:55,400 --> 00:25:00,640 And what I love about my father is he's never been a guy that's been overbearing. 478 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,760 Oftentimes when you think about those transitions from G1 or G2. 479 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:05,640 Yeah, it's tough. 480 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:07,840 Extremely tough, tough man. 481 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:09,560 The best thing that happened to me 482 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:14,160 was my father going out to hire someone to train me so we could maintain 483 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:17,200 our father son relationship, which is amazing. 484 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:20,440 But then it allowed me 485 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,880 to do all of the stuff that I needed to do behind the curtain. 486 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:28,200 So when I was in this role, he could respect me differently and not 487 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:33,040 look at me just as a son, but know that I was ready for the task at hand. 488 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:34,160 And so 489 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,160 as so as we progressed through that, 490 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:44,080 it was very soon thereafter that I started challenging 491 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,600 some of the status quo processes or things that the company had. 492 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:49,920 But that's the case. 493 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:51,000 What happened there? 494 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,240 Like what was that had to be some challenge there. 495 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,680 But people were, you know, are used to a certain way. 496 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,680 And how did that work out? Like how did you go? 497 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,520 So to my father's credit, it was 498 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,880 excuse me, it was a very easy actually. 499 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,360 Okay. So I remember vividly. 500 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:12,120 He did a good job, 501 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:13,800 I guess, is that you kind of ask the question 502 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:15,000 because that for years in between 503 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,720 kind of helps provide some buffer versus being like an immediate thing 504 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:22,200 and kind of like a culture shock your father properly so, 505 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,120 and you also properly took the instruction 506 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:26,320 because people that you could to say like, I'm ready to go. 507 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:30,360 But but I really respect the fact that the generational wealth 508 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:33,800 building and the ability to keep it that legacy, part of what 509 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,640 we also should not be ashamed of as black people is our story 510 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:38,560 is not a poverty story. 511 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,560 It's not like, Oh, right. 512 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,680 I feel as if sometimes we are shamed in certain rooms, 513 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:48,120 if we've had any success or any opportunities handed 514 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,800 or I guess provided by 515 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,960 our father and our parents and I think is like, that's the point. 516 00:26:56,120 --> 00:26:59,560 Like, that's what we are aiming for literally. 517 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:02,720 So it is the point. 518 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,920 It is what most cultures do. 519 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:07,160 Yeah, right. 520 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,240 Only we say to each other for it, this is what I'm 521 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,000 like it. Yeah. Yeah. 522 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:16,440 And I think for me over the last two or three years 523 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,280 I've been unapologetic about this should be right. 524 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,120 I've gotten that way too. I'm like, I tell people, do. 525 00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:24,240 My father helped me. Yes. Didn't do everything. No. 526 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,320 But the point of a parent is literally the only job, 527 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:32,360 I think, is to make sure your kids start from a better place than you. 528 00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:34,800 Did it have more knowledge than you did? 529 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:35,840 That's it. 530 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:36,920 That's the time. 531 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,240 And and what I say with that, Rob, is 532 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:42,000 and I just had 533 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,200 this this conversation last week. 534 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,520 It's great to have the opportunity. 535 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:47,960 Right. 536 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,920 So what my father did for me, what I'm doing for my kids, 537 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,960 is providing that opportunity. 538 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:58,160 Once you get that opportunity, you still it's still requires hard work. 539 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,120 Hard work. 540 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:02,480 You know. That's easy successful, right? 541 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,440 I mean, it's hard It's really hard to like it. 542 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:06,040 Yeah. 543 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,080 And I think people think because you had an opportunity that makes it easy. 544 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:12,160 That's what I. 545 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:14,520 Like most times. It makes it harder, right? 546 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,000 Because I can tell you, growing up through the company as I was rising 547 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,640 in my career, I was always looked at differently than the rest. 548 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,840 Of course, employees because they were waiting on me 549 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:26,560 to mess up where they were waiting on me to not work as hard. 550 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:32,080 And so I always had to be twice as good, work twice as hard, 551 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:38,040 just so I was never viewed as, Hey, this is just the son of the owner. 552 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:42,800 And kudos to your father for for also instilling that in you because, 553 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,840 you know, you could have viewed it from an entitlement point of view. 554 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:50,760 You could have that's not an uncommon thing for anybody to to do. 555 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:52,200 So that's the hard 556 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,920 part is going to be for your kids to get that because the third generation. 557 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:55,720 That's the tough. One. 558 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:57,720 That's the tough part because they've never had. 559 00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:58,560 That is the tough one. 560 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:00,600 Yeah. Because like we we sell it. 561 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:01,640 We come across similar places. 562 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:03,880 Like, I didn't grow up rich, but I wasn't poor, right? 563 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:05,440 We were middle class. 564 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,280 And then my parents started doing a little better 565 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,120 later in life. 566 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:15,840 But kids that I've always had generally like is a little bit different, right? 567 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,560 Because it's actually harder, more challenging to raise your kids if you have 568 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:21,240 it really hard 569 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:25,680 to, you know, have an Yeah, that's so but if you have a little more than most, 570 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,720 then it becomes challenging to keep your kids expectations. 571 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,640 Yeah, from not being a title like I could just take it slow with. 572 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:33,920 So yeah. 573 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:36,960 So, so for me growing up that that truly 574 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,440 was the best part of like my, 575 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,120 my like childhood was that I got a chance to see to 576 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:47,440 two sides to life, basically. 577 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:47,800 Right. Yeah. 578 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:51,240 And I say that because we grew up very much, 579 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,720 I would say lower middle class. 580 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:55,920 As my father was starting 581 00:29:55,920 --> 00:30:00,160 the business, it was oftentimes very where he wouldn't take paychecks. 582 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,600 Right. That's how it works, especially if you started off. 583 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:04,200 Yeah, I got to tech start up. 584 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,120 Believe me, that's still working. 585 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:07,520 Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. 586 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,480 And then by like I would say around the time I was seventh grade, 587 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:15,320 my parents wanted to put me into private school. 588 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:16,160 Yeah. 589 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,520 Which was the best thing that happened for me. 590 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:22,360 But I remember being a kid, I would get notices at home that 591 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,280 if my tuition wasn't paid in two weeks or a week, I couldn't come back to school. 592 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:28,520 Right? So I saw that side of it. 593 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:30,000 It wasn't until high school. 594 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,120 That you had a David Chappelle life. 595 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:33,800 Yeah, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. 596 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:35,600 You're, you know, you don't feel a difference 597 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:37,920 that you go around people that actually have money, right? 598 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:39,120 Right. 599 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:39,440 Yeah. 600 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:44,760 And so, so high school like junior high high school, private school. 601 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,920 I had my friends from the neighborhood where I lived. 602 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,440 Then I had my friends from school who were living in the suburbs. 603 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,280 And I would go to their house and they had indoor gyms and indoor 604 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:57,560 pools in their house. 605 00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,680 This was back in the nineties, right? 606 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,080 Early nineties. 607 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:04,440 But then I would come back to the neighborhood and we would try to 608 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,760 figure out how to scrub up $5 to go get some juice and cookies. 609 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:09,280 Right. 610 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,400 And so I got a chance to see both sides. 611 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,400 But what it did for me was that it normalize 612 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,760 the fact that it's okay to have nice things. 613 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:21,120 It's okay to strive for that. 614 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:25,160 So it gave me the sense of drive that, hey, 615 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:30,600 I want to not only take the opportunity that I have, but I want to grow that. 616 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,800 But also with that, there's things that I, 617 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:38,400 I like that I know that I've seen that I want to accomplish. And 618 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:40,920 and that's been one of the 619 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,720 biggest drivers for me is like, I don't like to lose. 620 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,080 I love to win. 621 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:49,080 I like to prove people wrong. 622 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,600 And ultimately everything that I'm doing is 623 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,440 for the betterment of our family as a whole. 624 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,800 So my parents, my sister, 625 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,720 my kids, my future grandkids at some point, etc., 626 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,360 but also at the same time bettering 627 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,680 the lives of people around me to where like, it's no fun 628 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:15,240 if you're the one winning and you look and everyone else is losing. 629 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:16,440 But how? 630 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:20,160 But how can I take the opportunity that I've been provided 631 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:22,600 to pull people up with me? 632 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,520 Yeah, in various ways, which is what we've done 633 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:30,080 through our core business, through our 634 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:35,400 Giving scholarships list goes on. 635 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,160 But it's just a core value and principle. 636 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,600 I want to get to some Rapidfire questions as we get ready. 637 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:42,920 Sure. Go ahead. 638 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,320 What your most what's your most important accomplishment or highlight 639 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:51,800 from both personally will say, but also for the business with breaker. 640 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:52,840 Like what is it? 641 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:53,640 Yeah. 642 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,280 Personally I would say it's just 643 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:01,960 and raising my two boys and being there for them. 644 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:04,440 Although 645 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:08,560 I'm busy to carve out that time that I still make time to make sure 646 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:13,000 that I'm out there for sports games, they're events for school, etc. 647 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:18,000 So it's just being a good father first and foremost. 648 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,840 Professionally, I would say the biggest accomplishment 649 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:24,160 has really been 650 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,840 just the fact of being able to establish my own name 651 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:31,840 recognition and respect in the market after my father. 652 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,280 Right. All right. 653 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:38,440 What advice would you give your younger self and what advice would you ignore. 654 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:43,200 That advice to give my younger self. 655 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:46,280 Be patient, be patient. 656 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:46,920 What advice would you have? 657 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:52,360 Nor ignore? 658 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:57,120 You must go on. 659 00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,520 It's okay to disrupt. 660 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:00,280 All right. 661 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:02,000 That's a good choice. All right. 662 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,800 How about how about what is what's an important truth? 663 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:06,400 You have 664 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:09,560 that very few people agree with you on. 665 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:12,640 Wow. And 666 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:16,760 I can tell you 667 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:21,680 an important truth that I have that I've been amplifying over the last year. 668 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:23,800 And I'm going to continue to amplify. 669 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,160 Can't necessarily say people disagree with me on it, 670 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:28,800 but it's the fact that one of my 671 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,600 my goals at this point is really to, 672 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,920 uh, to help people become comfortable with the uncomfortable conversations. 673 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:43,200 And I say that because, like, when you think about what we 674 00:34:43,720 --> 00:34:49,000 we face as a like, as black people, oftentimes the conversations our 675 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:54,360 our had as it relates to the history from from slavery 676 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:57,440 to Jim Crow to segregation and 677 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,760 the like, drug laws and all of the stuff that comes with it of 678 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:07,160 just just all of the stuff that has kind of been put in motion 679 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:13,280 to put us in the place that we've been in, that we are always playing catch up. 680 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:14,800 And I feel that 681 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:18,680 people are more comfortable having those uncomfortable conversations. 682 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:24,000 It will allow us to have empathy for each other in different ways. 683 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,840 That then helps to unite us as a people. 684 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:28,720 Right? Right. 685 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:31,800 Look at how divisive things are right now oftentimes 686 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:35,120 is because people don't understand the history 687 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:39,120 or where we come from or what we've done or what that person has has gone through. 688 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:44,040 And as a result, you live in this world of of like just what you know, 689 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,600 but you don't really have an opportunity to understand the next person. 690 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:49,160 Yeah. So. 691 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,640 All right, final question. 692 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:56,520 Your motto or logo that says who you are summarizes what you believe. 693 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:58,800 What would that motto be and why? 694 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:00,680 Oh, man, that's a great question. 695 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:01,000 Right? 696 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:06,200 Oh, I would 697 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:08,880 I would say 698 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:16,440 integrity, 699 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,880 respect, faith 700 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,120 and love. 701 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:23,000 All right. 702 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,160 Larry Brinker, good to have you on, man. 703 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,720 Thank you. It's been a pleasure, Rob. 704 00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:33,280 And I wish you the best with what you have going and with your podcast. 705 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:36,840 And thank you for the opportunity to be a part of it today.