If You Want to Succeed - Faith Alone Wouldn’t Cut It!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, there are some people who get after it because their belief and confidence in themselves is just so high. And then there are those who just need that extra push, someone to lean on until their confidence is elevated. Then they have that faith. And if you're that latter person, listen, stay tuned because my guest today will inspire you. And sometimes that's all we need. But if you're that first person who already has it, hey, listen, you can always learn from somebody else. We don't have it. All right? But anyway, faith is about action. And my guest, Dr. Joe Cannon, is an entrepreneur, pastor, financial literacy coach, and most importantly, a servant leader with that knack for turning vision into reality. So let's just say from the start that Dr. Joe Cannon knew he was not built for that nine to five grind. You see, while most high school students were figuring out how to avoid homework, he was busy cutting hair and building his empire one fade at a time. That's right. That side hustle that he. That he started turned into a full fledged barbershop. Then seven more. So he had a total of eight barbershops. Listen, just when things were looking as sharp as that lineup he was cutting, COVID 19 threw him a curveball. And like any great leader, rather than being defeated, Dr. Joe Cannon pivoted, using his teaching skills to educate people across the nation on financial literacy, just further solidifying his mission to serve others. So in this conversation here, Dr. Joe Cannon gets real about how his faith actually fuels his leadership. Like, he juggles ministry and entrepreneurship without losing his mind, because that sometimes happens when you just have a lot going on. But he also talked about while serving others is that secret sauce to success, because his resilience actually helped him turn setbacks into comebacks. And trust me, you're just gonna. You're gonna want to hear this, so just buckle up, because this conversation right here is packed with wisdom, faith, and a good dose of inspiration. So let's get into it. By the way, this conversation is already in progress. Let's go. You're doing so much. Just. I mean, you. You start your barber shop years ago, and now you got, like, multiple locations, you teaching financial literacy. I mean, y'all all over the globe, from the east coast to the west Coast. But more importantly, man, you serving. You serving also, man. But yes. How did all this all. How did this come together? [00:02:36] Speaker B: But all of it are one in particular. [00:02:39] Speaker A: I mean, like, wait, when you. When you were. When you were a youngster. Yes. Did you ever. Did you ever know that you were going to be an entrepreneur? Did you have like that, that, that entrepreneurial spirit? [00:02:48] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. When I was young, I was about, I'll say, about nine years old. I never forget you used to have those Olympic Sales Clubs magazines come to the house and they had these items in there if you want it. You got to go out and sell so many items. And so I would go door to door with my neighbors and asking them to buy certain things. Cause I knew if I get to Zoom, I could get all those items that was in that Olympic sales club book. And the feeling of getting my prize felt good, you know, and so I think that was the start of it. And then me selling, trying to get, making some money and things like that, not going to the drug route, but I used to be selling candy at school and all kind of stuff, you know, and saving my money up. And so I always had the entrepreneurial spirit. I started working at 15 years old at Blockbuster and I did some construction work. I coach kids, I worked at FedEx, did security guard. But every job I had, I only kept it for about three to five months. Yes, I worked at 7up. I just realized, you know, I couldn't work for nobody. I didn't like the fact of being told, go over here or do this when you finish your job now you got to go and do this. I just like, man, working ain't for me. And so I, I quit and went to barber college and the rest has been history. [00:04:08] Speaker A: Man, when you said, when you mentioned those magazines. I remember those magazines back in the day. I remember those. Yeah. But, you know, I remember my first, my first job. I was in the. I was in the eighth grade and I had a paper out and I was like. And I did it because of, you know, the money initially, because I just wanted some money. And, you know, just kind of growing up in a single family household, money was scarce. And so it was like, if you want something, you need to go out and hustle and get it. And so I just remember, you know, just having to get up, like at, you know, 4:00 in the morning, folding newspapers, putting it in my bag, throwing a bag on the handlebars on my bike and just getting it come on. And I had to do that every day before school. But, you know, you just. [00:04:57] Speaker B: That, yeah, it's definitely, definitely not going to just come to you, you know, that's another thing. My parents had me in the yard early, so I used to do. I used to lawnmower and weed, eat trim hedges and all that kind of stuff. So once I started Driving my. My mom and them had a van. So I start putting my lawnmower in the van, and I would go to hot people houses and cut grass for 50, $60 and. And make money that way as well. So, again, always had that entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial spirit. I tell people I'm a service entrepreneur. You know, when it involves service, you could pretty much count me in. [00:05:29] Speaker A: There you go. [00:05:32] Speaker B: Yep. And it entwined with all the things that I have going on now. You know, everything that I have going on right now is the foundation of it is around service. [00:05:43] Speaker A: Yeah, it is. [00:05:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:45] Speaker A: What made you go the. The barber route? [00:05:48] Speaker B: Well, I started cutting hair at 15 years old when I was in Oakland at going to Frick Junior High School, which is a. Of course, at that time, junior high wasn't middle school, but you couldn't go to Frick with a bad haircut. And so I started cutting my own hair because I didn't want my uncle and them cutting it or whatever. So I started cutting my own hair, and pretty soon it was so good, people was asking me who cut my hair, and it went from there, you know, I said I did. Then it got to the point of me charging $5 for haircuts, and it went from there. But I never had the dream of being a barber, per se, in a barbershop, because in my mind, I'm like, I'm a mover and a shaker. I can't be stuck behind one chair all day. [00:06:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:29] Speaker B: I just didn't see it. I was like, man, I can't. And so I didn't want to be a barber. I had dreams of being. Making it to the NFL, getting a lot of money and going that route, paying my mom house and all that kind of stuff. That was my dreams and goals. But. But not barbering. [00:06:45] Speaker A: Yep. [00:06:47] Speaker B: And so. And so anyhow, I'd be cutting in the backyard at my mama house, and she say, boy, you need to go to barber college. I'm like, man, I ain't about to go to barber school. I ain't about to be no barber. [00:06:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. [00:06:58] Speaker B: That was my response, you know? Yep. [00:07:02] Speaker A: I just remember those days also, man. Just me and the boys cut our own hair, you know, just cut. Cutting each other's hair for free. Nobody. Nobody didn't want to pay the. The barber price. So we were like, man, why don't you cut my hair? I cut your hair. We hook it up. Even though we had those jacked up. We had those jacked up face, you know, we're just like, we we had. [00:07:21] Speaker B: Them bowl cuts that, that. That blunt. That blunt line in there. [00:07:30] Speaker A: But we saved a ton of money cutting each other's hair, though. [00:07:33] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. [00:07:35] Speaker A: But now how. How is like just your. Your faith and your vision as a pastor, entrepreneur, and leader across, you know, just these different industries, how has that impact show impacted your life? [00:07:47] Speaker B: It impacted a whole lot. I mean, because that's the foundation I always. One of my favorite scriptures is Psalms 1, and Psalms 1 says, Bless is a man that walketh not in the way of the ungodly. Nor standeth in the seat of the scarf or nor sitteth in this. Nor. Nor standing in the seat of the scarfle. Nor. Look, I can't even remember it now, but never said in the city of scar, but delights is in the law of Lord. And do it. He meditate both day and night. Right. And the Bible says that he should be planted like a tree by a river of water. That tree will always have something to pull from because it's right by the water. And then it says that whatever he do, it shall prosper. Whatever he touch shall prosper. And so with my faith in God and knowing that and lining my life up with the ways of God, not saying I'm perfect because I make mistakes. Right. But for the most part, this lining up everything I'm doing, putting God first, uh, God kept blessing everything I start touching. And so as I kept touching it and kept keeping God first, it just kept on developing one after another. [00:08:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:52] Speaker B: You know, from the barber shops, from the financial business, from real estate, everything I got involved in just start paying off. [00:09:01] Speaker A: Yeah. And I like that. The. I like that passage and then how you just talked about how everything that you start touching. Because I think there's. There's that misunderstanding where people who believe, they feel like sometimes all they have to do is just read a scripture and then pray without taking any type of action. And so when you think about just that mindset, how. How important is just having that mindset of, okay, God, God has given me this vision. Now I must take some action to carry out this vision. Otherwise nothing's going to happen. I just can't be waiting. [00:09:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that. That's. That part is very important because the Bible says faith without works is dead. You know, you can't just say you have faith and don't put forth the works. The works that you put forth show the faith that you have. And so if I'm gonna have faith that I'm gonna open up this shop, if I'm gonna have faith that I'm gonna get shops every other soul year. I gotta put some work behind what I'm doing to work towards that faith. And then when you see the vision come real, it does nothing but boost your faith up even more because, you see it became real. The thing is, a lot of times, like, I started off with one shop in the year 2002. Right. 2003, I believe. But in 2007, got another shop. 2009, got another shop. 2013, got another shop and kept on going. Right. And so some clients would come and say, man, are you. How does feel? Are you. How did it feel? Are you surprised or this and that? No, I'm not surprised. I was excited when I got the vision. [00:10:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:37] Speaker B: Instead of it. When it came. So my. I was more excited about what I knew was coming, but. [00:10:44] Speaker A: And. [00:10:45] Speaker B: But when it came, I was excited, but I was even way more excited when I already seen the vision type thing. [00:10:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:50] Speaker B: So keeping my faith kept. Kept. Keep on. Keep on stepping and knowing that it's gonna work out. And then when it worked out, it does nothing but strengthen my faith for the next vision. [00:10:58] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, when it comes to, like, scripture and stuff, I know it's really important just to know it for yourself so you can always have something to reflect on and go back to. And I know, like, one of my favorite ones is it comes from Hebrews 12, where it talks about discipline. Discipline could be painful in the beginning, but however, it produces a harvest of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. [00:11:25] Speaker B: And. [00:11:25] Speaker A: And so it's like you gotta put in that work. You just think about, like, any type of athlete and then that mindset that they have and the sacrifices that. That you end up having to make just to get to where it is that you want to be. Sometimes it's not going to be easy, but it's definitely a place where we have to rely on God. And like, what. When you think about your sacrifices just with your own personal. Whether it's like money or just time. Yeah. How did you. How did you manage that? With my. [00:11:56] Speaker B: It was sacrifice as far as time. [00:11:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Time. [00:11:58] Speaker B: Yeah, Time and money, I would say with time. Sports talk. Sports taught me a lot. You know, played football since I was 8 years old, all the way through, so all the way to college. You know, I even got a scholarship through playing football. But the discipline of being in that practice and working hard, being a starter on the team, I mean, that kind of discipline set in and the teamwork and everything, being a team captain and everything. So a Lot of things that I learned from playing sports I just carried on into business or carried on in my life, you know. And so that's where that discipline came in. So then that time was set aside specifically for working out. That time was set aside specifically for practice. So the same thing in life now that discipline taught me that with all what I have going on, set aside some time off my calendar for this, set aside some time for that, right? Because if it ain't on my calendar, a lot of time I'll miss it, you know. So like this today is on my calendar, right. Even this is around Christmas, right. So I gotta, I got some things on my calendar and if I don't see it, I may not do it. So I got to put it on my calendar and roll with it. The money factor, what was the thing about the money? [00:13:12] Speaker A: Just, I mean, as far as like sacrificing money or. Yeah, I mean just. Okay. I think that, you know, you just. It cost. It cost. [00:13:19] Speaker B: Oh yeah, yeah, Definitely, definitely, definitely. So. So when I went to. When I was at my barbershop in, in the city of Fremont, when I first got there, I wasn't owning the shop, right. I was working for a guy. But haircuts at that time was about 12 a cut and 15 a cut. Today they about 40 and 60 a cut. Right. And so during that time I would cut hair and my discipline was this. When I get home, I stayed at my parents house. At that time I was 20 years old, I believe. But when I get home, all my $20, $50 bills and hundred dollar bills I will put aside in a safe or somewhere, right. Never touch it. But I will only keep my tens, my fives and my ones in my pocket to start my next day off. [00:14:07] Speaker A: Got it. [00:14:07] Speaker B: Then when I go to the shop, make more money, I have more change. But then them 20s and 50s from that day I put back in my safe. And I never would count the money. I just stuff it. Boom. Right. And so a year go by and the guy that owns the shop said he want to sell the shop and I asked him how much and he said 15,000. So I went home and I counted up my money and I had 15,000. [00:14:32] Speaker A: Are you serious? [00:14:36] Speaker B: Yep. And so I sacrificed all I had. [00:14:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:39] Speaker B: And bought that shop in Fremont and end up getting as many as eight barbershops. [00:14:45] Speaker A: Wow. [00:14:46] Speaker B: So what if I didn't take that money? [00:14:48] Speaker A: Right? Right. [00:14:49] Speaker B: How many barbers would have missed out on being barbers? How many of my business partners wouldn't have became business owners, had I not sacrificed that. 15,000. [00:14:59] Speaker A: Yeah, straight. [00:15:01] Speaker B: Created a legacy, definitely. [00:15:03] Speaker A: Yep, sure did. And you implemented a smooth system in there also, just by taking all the twenties, fifties, and hundreds. Yeah. Putting them away and not even worrying about it. [00:15:15] Speaker B: And that's another thing, too. As I kept going, I kept that same discipline. So when I had kids, I mean, I ended up getting. Having three kids and getting into foster care and things. And so every year, you got Christmas coming around, and you know that, right? So as a barber, I. I start saving a hundred dollars every Friday, and that would be my Christmas money. So keeping that discipline. [00:15:37] Speaker A: Right, Right. [00:15:37] Speaker B: That's four or five hundred dollars a month. By the time Christmas come, you got thousands. And you probably ain't gonna even use it all, but you, you, you. You not hurting, you know? [00:15:48] Speaker A: That's right. That's right, man. [00:15:50] Speaker B: Discipline goes a long way. I remember one what he said. He. He used to ride with me, one of my first business partners. Right. And when he get to my mom house with me, it be mail. Listen, first thing he always seen me do is grab all my mail and I open my mail. Whatever was junk, I throw away, but whatever with bills, I get my checkbook and I write the check right then, and I put it right back in the mail. So he like, you go send. He like, you go send that already. I said, yeah, I got. I don't like bills. I'm gonna send them right back. [00:16:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:24] Speaker B: You know, and that's just part of the discipline, you know? [00:16:27] Speaker A: Right. That's smooth. Hold on, let me take a note on that one. [00:16:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't let mail stack up, man. [00:16:37] Speaker A: Right. Yeah. I can't stand it either. I can't stand it either. I'll just open it up and. Okay, let me put that. Okay, let me just take care of this real quick and put it in the shredder and get to go. Yeah, yeah. So with being able, I mean, all the stuff you got going on, you know, as a pastor, the barbershops, and then the financial literacy and also building that business up. How, how do you, like, manage your. Your time and your responsibilities or just prioritizing the. The time to allocate to each one because you got a family also. [00:17:13] Speaker B: Hey, that's this, that's the, that's secret ingredient, you know, that's the secret recipe. Now, but again, discipline, right? Discipline system, right? Have a system for me, for me and, and, and how it's done. I only cahir one day a week now. So this is my week. Monday, Tuesday, I'm working the Financial business tough. [00:17:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:44] Speaker B: But also I work out in the morning, Monday, Tuesday mornings. Right. And I'll work on my Bible study questions on Monday to have it ready for Wednesday. Right. Wednesday come along. You know, I have Bible study that and, and Wednesday I'm either working my business financially or sometime I do go into the shop on Wednesday at one of my shops in the bay and I do that like every other week. Right. Thursday I'm at the barbershop from 5:30 in the morning till 12pm so it very short and then the rest of the day is mine. So I either do more financial business helping families and go from there. Friday is all free. So Friday I kind of start preparing preparation for the message on Sunday. [00:18:30] Speaker A: Right. [00:18:31] Speaker B: Then Saturday come along. If I didn't do it Friday, I do it Saturday. But if I did do it Friday, I'm still touching it up a little bit on Saturday. [00:18:39] Speaker A: There you go. [00:18:39] Speaker B: And then Sunday come now it's time to preach and we start over and I do the same thing. [00:18:45] Speaker A: Same thing, huh? [00:18:46] Speaker B: I got something on me right now. I seen on Facebook it says consistency is key. [00:18:55] Speaker A: Oh yeah, I see it. [00:18:56] Speaker B: Probably seen it on Facebook. I had to grab that because that's what it is. It's, it's about being consistent. [00:19:01] Speaker A: Uhhuh. [00:19:02] Speaker B: Yep. Consistency. Having consistency with what you do. So discipline, working my calendar, sticking to my system, you know. [00:19:09] Speaker A: Right. And that's good, man. And I think one of the main things I heard when I ordered that just kind of came to mind as you were talking was preparation. Because if you ain't, if you're not prepared, you're not going to be able to execute. But it's all, I mean, but all of it, you know, it plays. They all have their own individual roles as far as like the consistency, the discipline. But man, just being prepared because you just never know when it's going to be your time to get called or something. I just remember you sharing a story. That was it last weekend when I saw you at the, the, the Toys for Tots. You out there, you know, you cutting somebody, you know, cutting the kids hair for free. But then you said you had to preach the next day because somebody else couldn't do it. But it's like if you're not prepared, man, you can't get up in there, you can't, you can't play, you can't participate. [00:19:58] Speaker B: Exactly. And that's the thing. I probably have over of course, 500 sermons or however written. Right. I've been preaching 20, 18 years now even I've been pastor in the last eight years. But by having messages written out, sometimes you can go back and kind of tweak some, but sometimes God don't allow you, and you got to get a whole new, brand new message. So it'd be. It does work like that. And the thing with the preparation, like you're saying, I like to, like, like, if I know something coming next week on Saturday and I have something to do Saturday and I. And I know it's a event or however, I got to work on having that message done before Saturday evening. All right, so now I'm go prepare and make sure I try to get it done on Thursday or Friday so I can have my Saturday free. [00:20:46] Speaker A: That's right. [00:20:47] Speaker B: So all that is in the preparation, you know, so if it's Friday and somebody say, can you come here tomorrow? And I ain't did the message, I'm gonna be like, well, I gotta study first. It all depends on if I finish the message, you know? [00:20:58] Speaker A: Yep, yep. And you just said something as far as, like, you know, you can have something planned or prepared, but if God says, look, this ain't. You got to do something else. How. How are you in that. That position or that mindset? Because I think that's, you know, a lot of people having that have a hard time just being able to. To discern and listen. [00:21:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:19] Speaker A: How. How do you put yourself in that position to be all right, God, I. I hear you. Even though. [00:21:28] Speaker B: Oh, man, listen, man. I mean, some. A preacher only preached what he lived. Right. And I feel like we guinea pigs sometimes. [00:21:35] Speaker A: Yes. [00:21:35] Speaker B: You know, and they'll hit you with a ton of bricks. Like some of the messages that I preach to, some. Some of the things go. That of course, we go through. Right. So I preach the message called it's not meant to be done alone. [00:21:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:45] Speaker B: You can't have it both ways. It's not up to you. You know, no matter how much you try, it ain't up to you, you know, So a lot of times we preach, and we preach to ourselves, too. It's a double, right? [00:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:56] Speaker B: And so sometimes it just hits you like a ton of bricks. Like the other day, for since I knew Christmas was coming a couple years ago, I preached the message called the gift that keeps on giving. [00:22:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:08] Speaker B: Right. And so all week I'm thinking I'm gonna preach that again this right Saturday come, and he just says, the gift. That's it. [00:22:20] Speaker A: That's it. [00:22:21] Speaker B: So. So I. I wrote a whole. End up writing a whole new message. Right. But for the last eight years, I've been preaching out of John 3:16 on Christmas service. I mean, Sunday, the Sunday before Christmas, been John 3:16, but different messages. [00:22:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:36] Speaker B: You know, but you just, You, You. You know it when you know it. [00:22:39] Speaker A: Right? [00:22:39] Speaker B: So I don't worry about it no more. I just be going about my day and he'll give. Give me the message, and I'm like, wow. Because if he don't give it to you, you're going to be struggling, trying to prepare if you. If you kind of trying to force one. [00:22:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. [00:22:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:55] Speaker A: And I've been there myself just when it comes to just, you know, just. Just writing, because that's just a space where I'm like, in right now as far as just writing. And I seem like a lot of stuff that I've been writing is stuff that I'm actually experiencing going through or. Or seeing others go through and just having that communication where we're actually talking about it. I was like, man, this is. This is some good stuff right here. This is some good stuff, right? [00:23:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:22] Speaker B: You know, a lot of people ask me that too, with me writing, because, you know, Arthur wrote a couple of books, and they were like, how you got time to write, you know, But I would brainstorm. I would put little ideas on my notes on my phone. Then when it's time to write, I go over them, over them notes that I put, and I just elaborate more on it. When I travel on an airplane, if I got three, four hours or whatever on the plane, I spend that time writing in my book. [00:23:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:48] Speaker B: You know, and, hey, the book get finished when it get finished. But that's right, writing it, like, even now. I'm writing a book now, but it's taking time, you know? [00:23:56] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And just that right there, the. The whole airplane and just traveling, it seemed like those are some of the best times that I could just, like, get some reading in. Get some writing in. And so it made me think about it. It made me think about a. A question to ask you. It. It's okay. There's. There's a difference between isolation where you just, like, isolated and from. From everything else. And. And that could. That could be bad because now you're putting yourself in a position where you're just alone and you're in your. You're separating yourself from other people. But then you have solitude. And solitude is like, okay, I'm about to use this time to, you know, rest or just be productive or just kind of talk with God. Can you, like, talk A little bit about like the, like just some of the things that you've actually seen or maybe experienced between people who are isolating themselves. Compared to being in that position of just solitude. [00:25:04] Speaker B: Compared to being in the position of solitude where they. Using that isolation time. [00:25:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:09] Speaker B: To. To work or to meditate. [00:25:11] Speaker A: Did. To meditate and just like just kind of work on self. [00:25:15] Speaker B: Because I mean, when I'm thinking about it, like when you're on an airplane, it's almost like you forced to be isolated. You know, you. You kind of forced to be like, what I'm gonna do, either sleep or I'm productive with my time and I'm gonna read a book, get more knowledge. [00:25:30] Speaker A: I'm. [00:25:30] Speaker B: I'll go catch up on the things that I've been not doing. That's a good time to do that. Now the other part of it, when you not on a plane and all that kind of stuff and it's all chaotic going on around. How do you get to that isolation point? That's that point of the meditation. That. Best time, best, Best time for me be in the morning. [00:25:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:50] Speaker B: You know that five in the morning when everybody's sleep and everything and it's peaceful. And now you meditating or you reading and things like that. But that's only. That's. That's the part where it's. You have to take the step to get that to happen. Besides being on a plane where, where I. Like I said, it's kind of forced isolation. [00:26:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:13] Speaker B: Compared to you taking that time. [00:26:16] Speaker A: That's right. [00:26:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:26:18] Speaker A: But, but. [00:26:18] Speaker B: And that goes with, with, with how God sometimes deal with us. I mean, if you got to get the isolation time, some, some people take that to hear from him. So we ain't taking it on our own. I'm gonna sit you down somewhere to make you focus on me. Especially when you chosen. When he choose you for something, you know? [00:26:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And I know sometimes that people. It's like you got to get sick in order to get to that place. Yeah. Actually just be alone and just. And just kind of take care of business. Whether it's just reading or just being in a place where you just need to slow down because you're on the go, go, go some so much and you're not even really accomplishing anything. But it's like, boom, about to slow your butt down. [00:27:01] Speaker B: A pastor friend of mine told me, always be in a position to hear from God. [00:27:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:06] Speaker B: You know, every week you gotta preach. So you always got to be in position to hear from God. And It'd be amazing. I mean, some of the things that come, like. Like my hip been bothering me, right? [00:27:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:16] Speaker B: For a week now. I mean, it's better now. But, you know, there's a story in the Bible when Jacob wrestled with God and his hip was out of place. Right. And God changed his name to Israel. So the other day with my hip hurting, God gave me a message to preach for New Year's Eve. [00:27:35] Speaker A: Wow. [00:27:35] Speaker B: That message is called, God is getting ready to change my name. God is getting ready to change my name because my hip was bothering me. So now developing the story of Jacob with the hip and everything. Right. But what is your hip issue? What are you wrestling with God with? [00:27:55] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:56] Speaker B: Wrestling. You're going through something because God is getting ready to change your name. [00:28:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:02] Speaker B: So that's how it works. You know, I'll be just always having my eye open and he'll speak to me. [00:28:09] Speaker A: Right now, man, when you just. When you ask that question right now, I was like, man, what are some of the things you wrestling with do? I started thinking about myself, right? And it's like really, like just kind of getting to a place where, okay, you know, God has called you to do something, even though you don't know what it looks like, it's because it's going to take you to take some bold steps. But the thing is just to remember is that he's always right there with you, especially if he's actually giving you something to do. He's right there with you. He ain't going to let you fail. You might go through some hardships or whatever, some struggles, and you go through the fire a little bit. But, man, what happens when we get out that fire? [00:28:44] Speaker B: Your goat. [00:28:45] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:28:46] Speaker B: You know, I wrestle with the call to answer for preaching, of course, and I went through fire. I mean, you, you. Because when we wrestle with God, it's because you feeling like, I ain't gonna be. To have no fun. All my people doing this. I won't be able to do that no more. You know, and so you trying to get it all in real quick before you answer, you know, and then that whole wrestling moment now is you going to jail with you getting speed tickets, is you getting diseases, is you getting this to you, like, man, because you've been chosen and you've been wrestling, you know, you're trying to change your name this man. [00:29:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Can you. Can you share, like, a time where you actually. Like a. I guess like a specific moment where you just had to. To. To dig in deep and, and because you were just viewed being tested, you know, I know we all resilient people, but like, huh, how are you actually able to like, just learn from whatever it was that you were going through and just, you know, incorporate that faith and overcome it? [00:29:49] Speaker B: Hey, I'm in that moment now. But no, God always comes. I see. And again, having a spiritual eye open, I seen something the other day on Facebook. It was like a story of the devil and Jesus. And the devil was saying, can I. Can I tempt him with financial hardship? Yes. Can I tempt him with lust? Yes. Can I take this from him? Yes. Can I do this to him? Yes. And it was like. And it was at the end, the answer basically was why? And Jesus said, because he's my son. [00:30:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:26] Speaker B: Like in other words, I know he ain't got know he gonna make it through. [00:30:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:29] Speaker B: You know, so go on and do all what you want to do to him, but he go make it through, cuz he's my son. No matter how far out he gets, I'm gonna rail him back in. In the end, he go come to his senses. In the end, he think he getting somewhere. I make it away this time. No, come on back here, you know. [00:30:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:46] Speaker B: Yeah. So I remember a time when I had, when it went, when, as I mentioned before, having eight barbershops and having two rental properties, Covid happened and I had to close all eight barbershops. Me and my partners had to close down the shops because we wasn't considered essential. [00:31:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:07] Speaker B: We had two rental properties, my wife and I and my renters stopped paying rent and we couldn't evict them. Now you got about 13, $15,000 worth of money, bills. What you gonna do? Yeah, and that's just a household that ain't counting your leases at the shops and all that kind of stuff. Right. So what you go do? Yeah, and that was a point right there. Like, wow. [00:31:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:29] Speaker B: And then that's what. [00:31:31] Speaker A: That's a straight joke moment right there, brother. [00:31:36] Speaker B: Right. And so then a friend of mine had already told me about this business, financial business, and that made me take it that much more serious. [00:31:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:46] Speaker B: And I took that business serious and four months later made a great amount of money. My first 12 months made over six figures, right. And yeah, kept going, man. And now four years later, here I am, financial guy. And now the barbershops. We have four of them left now, but I only could hear one day a week. Now, as I mentioned, you know, God opened up this door when all love was closing. But it had to come from the steadfast faith. You know, Whereas he said, don't get weary and well doing, but you should reap your reward if you faint. Not. [00:32:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:23] Speaker B: And he says that it's impossible to please him without faith. [00:32:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:27] Speaker B: But he's a rewarder to those that diligently seek him. So I'm gonna reward you for your faith. [00:32:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:32] Speaker B: You know. [00:32:33] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And, and speaking on that, I mean, I want, I want to like tap into that, like that whole financial piece also. But do you think, because I know a lot of times, okay, we. Some, you know, people are just in a place of. They already have like a level of comfort, so they don't take things as seriously or they just might have that, that, that, I guess, that mindset, that entrepreneurial spirit. [00:33:00] Speaker B: Right. [00:33:01] Speaker A: Spirit to actually see and to attack because you have to, and you have to be a go getter as an entrepreneur. You just can't be waiting on things. But do you think that at that time you were kind of like in a place of like desperation where you like, okay, it's like sink or swim time. Our backs are against the wall. We don't have no choice. Yeah. [00:33:20] Speaker B: That's how I feel. I. They locked me up in my garage. We couldn't go nowhere. And so I told, I said that too. I said, you cannot lock up an entrepreneur. You go think of something. [00:33:32] Speaker A: Right? [00:33:32] Speaker B: Figure it out. And that's. And that's. And that's what it is. You know, like you said, though, so many people are, are with the mindset of work mentality. A lot of people want to be told what to do. They want that comfort zone. I just go punch a clock from nine to five. I know I'm getting a check coming. And they just rather stay in that rat race of that and only to retire with nothing or only to retire and got to go back to work later because they didn't do anything else, you know, but that's how we were raised and trained to do. Go to school, get a good education, get a job, get you a 401k and just live life. But entrepreneur, go break those barriers. I ain't going to college. [00:34:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:08] Speaker B: I'm gonna start this. [00:34:09] Speaker A: That's right. [00:34:09] Speaker B: You know? [00:34:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:11] Speaker B: I don't need a 401k. I'm gonna save my own money in this. [00:34:14] Speaker A: That's right. [00:34:14] Speaker B: I'm gonna invest in real estate, you know, and, and when you break that barrel and become that entrepreneur, you'd be like, wow, I was tripping when I was working. [00:34:21] Speaker A: So. [00:34:22] Speaker B: And then you look at Everybody else, like, y'all tripping. You could break out of that. See, a lot of people feel like I need a job with benefits. You know, the hospital and all that kind of. You could get your own benefits. I got my own benefits and it ain't much on a monthly. I got Kaiser, you know, go to Kaiser, me and my whole family, so. [00:34:40] Speaker A: Right. [00:34:41] Speaker B: But it's just when you. You don't think it can be done right. Yes. [00:34:45] Speaker A: And speaking of that, I mean, like, I know a lot of people kind of like what you were just talking about is, you know, as far as like just kind of growing up, you've been taught this old method and you know, just get you some security. And then when you put yourself in that position, you end up having to work. Was it, you know, 30 plus years? [00:35:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:01] Speaker A: And you know, once you retire, what you're gonna get, you're gonna get that handshake. You might get a pen or whatever, you know, thank you for your years of service. Right. In. In pensions, that stuff is like fading away. I mean, I'm thankful I gotta. I got a pension in place. But at the same time, I'm kind of like, you know, I'm like, what? How can I just like be in this place where I could just leverage everything that God has gifted me with, talent wise, gift wise, that he's putting my spirit to kind of just take out there. Well, I don't have to be relying on nobody else. Right. Because yeah. Like you're saying it's like, okay, this Christmas, I gotta work Christmas. [00:35:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:44] Speaker A: Because I'm working for somebody else. But you, you work for yourself. [00:35:49] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Yeah. I mean, I could travel when I want. [00:35:53] Speaker A: Right, Right. [00:35:54] Speaker B: Only thing be giving me, even on that traveling is I got to be back by Sunday to preach. [00:35:59] Speaker A: Right. [00:35:59] Speaker B: You know, unless I have. So that be that. But other than that could switch my days around, you know. So like this week I'm cutting tomorrow instead of Thursday because it's Christmas Eve. I. You know, so, yeah, now I'll be off Thursday, Friday and Saturday before I preach. So I got about three days to prepare the message. [00:36:17] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, so how are you actually sharing like the financial literacy with people? Like, what are some of the main things that you actually see people struggle with the most and getting them to think of other options outside of what they've been taught? [00:36:37] Speaker B: Co part I mean, I think people struggle with the most is believing in themsel with it or. I mean, because when I share things, they so in enlightened about it and they on Fire. And they want it. And then after they say they want it and they go through and all of a sudden this happened, this came up. I ain't got this, you know, or something happened or somebody. But what it is, sometimes they let people get in their ear and talk to them, but they didn't see what you saw. [00:37:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:01] Speaker B: You know, and so now you know, and now you ain't moving forward with what you seen that you knew was good for you. You know, the other thing is that it's so sad too, that as us as African Americans, I mean, just lacking the financial literacy. If you look at the net worth of a black family in America, on average, yeah. $24,000, you know, compared to a white family, 190, 000 is their average net worth. Right. But we wanted the biggest consumers. We just don't know how to save. And then it's kind of tough because a lot of us don't trust us. [00:37:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:40] Speaker B: And so I'm sharing some great stuff with you. I got to do my research. Let me go do this, you know, and that and, and where you go do your research at. [00:37:50] Speaker A: Right. [00:37:50] Speaker B: And so I tell people I have a, all these barbershops, I got a gang of five stars. Right. But we got some one star sometime. So it all depends on what review you see. And then sometime too, we all have independent barbers. So one barber mess up a cut, it's going to give the whole name, the whole barbershop, the bad name. [00:38:10] Speaker A: Right. [00:38:11] Speaker B: And it's the same thing in anything. So in the financial world, you have some agents that give the industry a bad name, they do the wrong policies, you know. [00:38:18] Speaker A: Right. Yeah. [00:38:18] Speaker B: Yes. Yep. Other thing is, one more thing in the financial world is that sometime, I mean, just think of this. I'm a life insurance agent, right. Life, health, accident. I get you a policy, and you get a policy for $500,000. [00:38:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:34] Speaker B: And your payment is $55 a month. But then you go across something, a hardship or something happened and you let the policy go. Instead of letting a dinner a month go or something, or a couple, one out a couple months, that 55 gets you 500,000 over here. [00:38:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:51] Speaker B: You know, and so that, that part be like, wow, you just threw away $500,000. [00:38:57] Speaker A: Yeah, priorities. Right, Priorities. Or, or just chasing, chasing after the win. Chasing some, some material possession that's not even going to yield you any kind of return whatsoever. [00:39:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Like when I see my money come, my mom account monthly, I just look at it and say, okay, you know, wow. Like, like like at least it's going to something, right? [00:39:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:39:22] Speaker B: Generational wealth, legacy planning. Some people don't want to leave nothing behind for nobody, though, too. [00:39:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's interesting because I was reading that book by James E. Hughes, Family wealth, and he talked about, you know, legacy building and what you actually have to do. And so I think one of the interesting things that stuck out to me was how he talked about you have to train people and your family and get them to a point where they're actually invested in the company business, where they're actually learning. So if you have like some kind of policy or whatever it is, everybody has an active role into in this family business. But I mean, the cold part is what he talked about. He's like some of these people, these. Some of these families that I'm working with, you know, they, you know, first of all, he ain't working with nobody whose net worth is less than 250. 250 mil. And so if you got somebody that you working with and their family or their kids are just like, they out there, they don't. They have. They have no interest whatsoever, but they gonna want that money when it's time. That inheritance, it's like somebody win a lottery ticket who ain't got no, no, no financial discipline. [00:40:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:32] Speaker A: That. I see why so many people give to philanthropists. They just give their money out or give their money away. [00:40:39] Speaker B: One way you can do it is get that living trust and put your trust as a beneficiary and then have stipulations on that money for that wayward child. You can't touch it until you do this. [00:40:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:53] Speaker B: You know, or you got this amount of time to touch it or it's going to go over to this. [00:40:58] Speaker A: Right. [00:40:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:00] Speaker A: And that's, I mean, that's important right there. Just that trust, having that trust. And that's another component right there that many people aren't aware of. I mean, they hear of them, but they don't know much about them. [00:41:11] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we do the living trust as well. I got. I'm working with some people now. That's getting some in. [00:41:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:18] Speaker B: Yep, yep. Living trust rollovers, all of it. Full, full financial services, credit, repair. [00:41:26] Speaker A: Yep, yep. And so when you, when you think about, like the event that we had or that we were both at the, The Toys for Tots that was sponsored by Salesian's Boys and Girls Club, you had many people like the vendors out there with, you know, you got ryan Jesus with P2K. You had Shani from, From Melanin, her organization that kind of helped. Everybody just had a, a piece of it. And then you had your booth set up. Yeah, well, you had the financial literacy part, but you also had the, the booth which is cutting the kids hair, people's hairs for free. Like you said, it's 60 bucks a pop. Yeah. You just think about the, the service part of that though. Like, how do you think that's actually like just kind of contribute to your overall success? [00:42:18] Speaker B: The Bible says that I never seen the righteous forsaken or, or their children begging bread. Right? [00:42:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:24] Speaker B: Jesus said, when you give unto others, you give unto me. Don't worry about it, I'll repay you. Right. And so it's better to give than to receive. And so I look at it as, I mean, as I'm cutting those free heads and doing what we do, the blessings be right around the corner. Like one time I did something even at church, I mean, I'm paying my ties and I put my money in the church. I got home and somebody sent me $500 in my account. So it be stuff like that, right? [00:42:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:53] Speaker B: You know, and God always just make a way out of no way. But when it's the opposite, then all of a sudden deals that probably would have went through, not going through. It's kind of like favor, you know, the favor. Yeah. You start getting these deals out of nowhere as God's showing you. I'm gonna continue to bless you because you continue to bless others. [00:43:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Do you think sometimes people actually have like that, the wrong expectation though, or motives thinking that, okay, well, God said if I do such and such, he gonna bless me with this or I'm gonna get this. But it's not about. It's not about our timing. It's about God's timing. He gonna do what he wants to do. Because sometimes the motives can be wrong. [00:43:36] Speaker B: That's right. [00:43:38] Speaker A: So do you ever come across those type of people or. Oh, yeah, just when it kind of comes to tithing. Right. It's like. [00:43:47] Speaker B: I mean, not. I have a client that came into my show one time, like, man, like, I see God doing it for you. I'll be doing this, but he don't do that for me. You know, I always give to the poor. [00:43:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:59] Speaker B: Are you giving expecting it? Like, are you giving it too, to be like, man, I know I'm gonna do this because God gonna do this for me. We can't put God in the box, in a genie. [00:44:08] Speaker A: Right, Right. [00:44:09] Speaker B: But I think it's over time, you know, like, like, like Back in the day. See, I'm. I'm 45 now, so when I was in barber college, I was like 20 years old. And a lot of the people there would be like, man, how you. How God give you the money back after you pay your tithes? I said, he just do. You know, you just got to start paying your ties and it come back to you. Yeah, at first I had that wrong. My mama used to tell me, you get the money back, and I thought you write it off on taxes and get it back. And I was shocked. One year I said, what? But anyhow, I used to put $2 in church. And when I was a barber, then I. Then I started putting $20 in church, and then I just start putting more, right? And one day I was walking down the street and I found the envelope on the ground. And in that envelope, it had a. No, I found a wallet. And I was like, anybody wallet? And nobody was claiming a wallet. So I went ahead and opened. It had $800 in there. [00:45:07] Speaker A: Wow. [00:45:08] Speaker B: And it had nowhere to return it. It wasn't no ID or nothing. It just had a person, a name in there that said James on a piece of paper. But it was nowhere to return it. So I kept the money. And then I went back to barber. I said, this how you get it? Like God, you know, he always make a way. And I had my son at the time, and I needed something for his diapers and all that stuff, and here come the money. Yep. [00:45:31] Speaker A: Man. [00:45:35] Speaker B: But all that was just strengthening my faith. My faith walk, you know? [00:45:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I know, right? [00:45:42] Speaker B: One thing after another. [00:45:44] Speaker A: That's a lot too. So how. So when. When it comes to just your business, though, how do you like the business, the yo. Your ministry, even. Even home life? How do you. How do you get this stuff to like a. A place where you like this. This stuff right here has to thrive in a way that I needed to. [00:46:08] Speaker B: So it's like, hey, it's always an up and down roller coaster with like the barbershop, for instance. We are shopping. Tracy. We got. We had like, right now, I think we got about 20 people in there or 18, but we had about 22 at one point. But then you have. After you didn't develop barbers and they didn't grown in your shop, they got clientele and all that kind of stuff. Now they leave, and now they clients leave with them. [00:46:37] Speaker A: That's right. [00:46:38] Speaker B: And so now it's kind of like your shop kind of got slow again because now you got to rebuild with these new barbers and that kind of stuff. So you have that going and that's. That resilience got kick in. Like, I gotta keep on pushing and keep going, right? [00:46:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:46:53] Speaker B: And then with the home, so. So kind of lost train of thought. What was the main question on it? [00:47:01] Speaker A: Like, how do you. Like, how do you get it to a. Just a place where it's actually just to continue to thrive. Yeah, so. [00:47:08] Speaker B: So that's it. I mean, as it to keep continuing to thrive, you got to keep on promoting, got to keep on getting new. When. When the barbers leave, find a new barber and. And train that person up, you got to pass out flyers and all that kind of stuff to kind of get that going. Same thing in the financial world. Like, even now, the business I'm in, I have about 180 business partners in the financial world. And sometimes it take you to slow down to train them. And in the midst of it, your production goes down. So now you gotta hold on. I gotta put y'all aside real quick and get back on my production to get the money back up until it all flows again, you know. And so it's just a constant. I believe it's just a constant work again. [00:47:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:47:57] Speaker B: Consistency is key. Doing the same thing over and over again, right? [00:48:00] Speaker A: Yep, yep, yep. You mentioned, like when we were talking earlier, just about, you know, just the whole financial piece real quick, and you know, sometimes you could share and then these people might go to their friends, start talking to their friends about it, and then all of a sudden they have people up in their ear who don't even have the expertise, and they probably broke it in this other person that they get who's actually share whatever you share with them. And you just talk about the. The. The power of associates and environment. And here we are both part of King's accountability group. Like, how important is just being a part of a. A group of people who actually have that mindset, even though everybody might not be in the same place where you are, but everybody's positive, everybody's uplifting each other, everybody is encouraging. And you got a bunch of men who are part of this organization, and there's no competition whatsoever. One is one. That's rare. But how important is it just to be a part of an organization? Just, I mean, like, that. [00:49:10] Speaker B: That's very important. Like before, I mean, because I come from the streets of Oakland, you know, and Pierce with what they was on robbing, how to get money real fast, all that kind of stuff, right? And you always knew who you were, you know, inside you Always knew like God got something special for me, I got to keep on. But you around it all, but you just kind of know how far to go and all that kind of stuff. Right. So my point is you would around that type, you dim your light a little bit. Right? [00:49:39] Speaker A: Right. [00:49:39] Speaker B: Instead of shining bright, basically you. Your light is a little dim. But when you get with the right group, when you get with like minded individuals, you could shine as bright as you want to shine. [00:49:51] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:49:51] Speaker B: You know, because every is other stars that shining with you, you know, instead of, you know, some people, you think you better than everybody. Are you just better than. Nah. But when you get with the right group, we all growing together, you can shine as bright as you want to shine. So it's very important to, to have the right people around you. [00:50:10] Speaker A: Yeah, it sure is networking. [00:50:11] Speaker B: They say cash flow is king, net worth is kingdom. You know, because see what happens is the king, when he die, the cash die. But if you built a network and you. And you have your whole team that's rolling or however you die, it continues to go. [00:50:32] Speaker A: There you go, huh? [00:50:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:37] Speaker A: That's powerful right there. That's powerful. You just think about, was it Sam Walton, right? The one who created Walmart? [00:50:44] Speaker B: Uhhuh. [00:50:45] Speaker A: My man, he passed away. But I mean, but the business continues to go. [00:50:49] Speaker B: That's right. [00:50:49] Speaker A: Or you think about Col. No, I say Col. Ray. [00:50:54] Speaker B: KFC. [00:50:56] Speaker A: Ray Kroc with, with McDonald's. How you started that? McDonald's is still for us and they in like every country that you can actually think of. [00:51:04] Speaker B: I give me an oatmeal there on every other Friday. [00:51:07] Speaker A: But. [00:51:11] Speaker B: Hey, just think, he started that at like 53 years old. [00:51:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Age. Yeah. Success has no limitations. [00:51:19] Speaker B: That's right. [00:51:20] Speaker A: Yeah. So real quick, man, can you just like, can you share like just a personal story or triumph that you've actually had? [00:51:27] Speaker B: Well, I got to tell this story, I guess, because this is how I got to the, to the barbering. I had a model that I was supposed to take to get my barber license. This was really the start of my faith too. Derek. I had, I. My barber instructor kept telling us, make sure you get a model before you go take your test. So I had a model three months before. Like, I'm gonna pay you a hundred dollars to come be my model. He grew his hair out and everything, right? [00:51:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:54] Speaker B: The night before the test, I went to get him and he wasn't answering the door. [00:51:58] Speaker A: Wow. [00:51:59] Speaker B: And so a guy that was with me said, man, let's pray about it. You always say you're a man of faith. So I went ahead, prayed about it, went around Oakland asking anybody, would that be my motto? A lot of them told me, no, I got the West Toland. The guy said, man, I feel your blessing about to come on. Do you feel it? As soon as I really believe within the inside. And I said, yeah, I feel it. It was a homeless man on the corner. [00:52:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:24] Speaker B: Hey, you got some change? So I hit a U turn, pull over. I said, hey, yeah, man, you got hair on your head. I said, yeah, I'll do. I say, hey, I'm looking for a model that go with me to take my state test. And I need somebody to go, can I. Can you go with me to Fairfield? He said, yeah. I go, just buy me a six pack. All right. I said, do you got some hair on your head? He took his head off, man. Listen, he had a head full of hair on his head. [00:52:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:51] Speaker B: So then I said, you have your id? He said, yeah, I got my veteran id. He's an old vet, so. Okay. And he said, and then he said, and I have a Bible, too. [00:53:03] Speaker A: Wow. [00:53:04] Speaker B: He put out a New Testament Bible that was in his back pocket and showed me. And so he got my car, long story short, took him, got my barber license, and that was the start of my faith. That really took my faith to a whole nother level. [00:53:17] Speaker A: Wow. [00:53:17] Speaker B: And I end up writing that called the power of God, and I end up getting it. It was all in the newspapers. Matter of fact, it's in my book. This is my book right here, called don't give up on your dreams. Inspire yourself by gaining wisdom. Right? [00:53:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:53:30] Speaker B: But the story of that story. Let me see, it's right here. That homeless man in the middle. [00:53:37] Speaker A: Wow. [00:53:38] Speaker B: So everything I do, I kind of carry that with me to let people know, um, you know, what had happened and what faith looks like. [00:53:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:53:47] Speaker B: So that resilience there with me closing down the shops and then just stepping out on faith, knowing who you are. Because again, after I got my bachelor's degree from college in business management, I was trying to get a job and nobody was hiring me. And so I ended up going to 7up and getting a job at 7up. And about three, four months into it, it kind of hit me, and it was like, what are you doing here? [00:54:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep. [00:54:16] Speaker B: This ain't no future. What you gonna do? You got your bachelor's degree and people here making more money than you. [00:54:21] Speaker A: Why are you here? [00:54:22] Speaker B: Yeah, so I went to my supervisor, Derek, and I said, hey, I'm putting in my Two week notice, I quit. And then I called my cousin and I said, hey, I ain't never working for nobody again in my life. I'm done. [00:54:35] Speaker A: Wow. [00:54:35] Speaker B: I took my money, went to barber college, and the rest is history, man. [00:54:41] Speaker A: That's an inspiring story right there. [00:54:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Never look back, man. [00:54:46] Speaker A: That's what I'm talking about. But ladies and gentlemen, y'all heard it first from Dr. Joe Cannon on why not you, man? That was good stuff, brother. I appreciate you coming on. [00:54:58] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Thank you, man. Good and well. The name of the barbershops KJ's everything we do keeping Jesus the business team legacy, you know, represent God. The line of Judah, shield of faith. And we focus and determine like lions put God first in everything we do. As even the company that we with wfg, I say it stand for working for God. Right? [00:55:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. [00:55:20] Speaker B: And as you all know, I do. I have a lot of knowledge from some of the things that I am involved in. And so using my name, a play on the name, I say Joe knows credit. Joe knows God. Joe knows money. Joe knows the barber game. Joe knows real estate, whatever. Right? And you can find out a lot more on the website @joe knows llc.com. [00:55:43] Speaker A: There you go. There you go. What about Instagram? You're on Instagram. [00:55:47] Speaker B: Facebook on Instagram is Jo can underscore entrepreneur. [00:55:53] Speaker A: Okay, cool. [00:55:54] Speaker B: Underscore entrepreneur. Then Facebook is Joseph Cannon. [00:55:57] Speaker A: Got it. [00:55:58] Speaker B: That's my government name. [00:55:59] Speaker A: That's a government day. [00:56:01] Speaker B: And. And Joseph means what God shall add. [00:56:06] Speaker A: There you. [00:56:09] Speaker B: That's. Yes, God show at. [00:56:11] Speaker A: There it is. [00:56:12] Speaker B: Yeah. But thanks for having me on the show, man. Appreciate it, man. [00:56:15] Speaker A: I appreciate.