Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming on. Why not you? And today I have a special guest. I mean, it's just an honor just to introduce somebody who embodies the heart of servant leadership. Recognize as lion of the year for his remarkable humanitarian work.
This brother's killing it. I mean, he has just dedicated his life to, to making a difference not just through service, but also through his words and actions as a speaker, as a coach, entrepreneur, author. I mean, he's just in, he's, he's empowered countless individuals just kind of step into their purpose and maximize their God given potential. But beyond those, those accolades, of course it's really important just to recognize him as, as a, a person who has unwavering faith and devoted follower of our Lord and Savior, who is a loving husband, who is a dedicated father and a son to wait and a son. And I mean, he just operates with integrity and grace. So I just want to welcome my brother, my King's accountability group partner, Mr. Benico. Be the Victor Johnson.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, King. I appreciate that. Big Dairy. Why not you, why not, why not you?
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Why not you, baby?
[00:01:25] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Love it, man. I'm glad you own, bro. Thank you.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: I really appreciate this.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Yeah. And I mean, we, we listen. I mean, we talk about King's Accountability Group and just what that means to so many people because we have brothers on the, on the east coast, to the west Coast. I mean, can you just like, just share like, what that's actually meant to you, being a part of a group of brothers like that?
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Well, first of all, you know, it's a community of men who are building each other up. Right. It's a safe space. We meet on Sundays virtually. You got guys coming in from Africa, from London. I don't even know how many states anymore. Maybe 10, 12 different states across the continent. And it really is a place, man, you don't get to see communities where especially again, black men, men of color, can be vulnerable, but vulnerable to a point where they're open to growth. And I have had the opportunity to be part of probably one of the first 10 guys that was on this call. I mean, I remember back in 2018 when I met Terrell Muhammad, the Presidente, El Presidente, you know, and he was helping me out. My mom, My grandmother had passed and my mom and I were, you know, really kind of stressed out. What do we do with my grandmother's estate and dealing with all of that craziness in California and San Francisco? And, you know, of course him, his wife Courtney stepped in and that thing was so smooth, man, it just, it was just seamless. And after we did the closing, we all decided to go out for lunch and kind of get to know each other even a little bit more. And yeah, that was when Terrell said, man, you need to jump on this call we have on Sunday nights at 7. Well, 7:00, their time, 9:00pm I'm in Dallas, Texas, so I would jump on. And really those calls back then felt a little different than they are now. Right. It was much more intimate. You talking about maybe six or seven guys on the call because it was Sunday night, people were family timing it up and whatever. And anyway, at that point we were. It was the first time I was in a community where people were actually asking me, well, what was your win for this week? Yeah, man, what do you mean? Right? You know, and. Oh, not even that. What are you. What do you want to be held accountable for this coming week?
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: And at that time, if a dude said, man, I got to get on my workout game, you know, I'm going to do 125 push ups every day. Cool. Record it. Send me a video. That was kind of accountability that we had at that time. And so you look fast forward, you know, what's it, seven years almost later. And yeah, it's literally seven years later. And we're a 501c3 organization. We are 60 some strong members. We have our Prince the King program. We're doing stuff every Friday in the bay, out in Richmond. We're doing suits. I mean it's just so much so this community means a lot to me and I have the honor and distinguished pleasure to serve as the treasurer and one of the executive board members. And we all about service, man. We all just want to build each other up. And I love the King's accountability group community. It's really part of my DNA now.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: Yeah, man, that's huge. I mean, because you just think about how many men are actually connected and just, just being able to just share not only the wins but also the struggles that people actually have to endure also. And how you have just a community of men who actually lift each other up. Because sometimes, man, you just think it's. I mean, it's already hard enough just for men in general just to be.
To put themselves in that place where they could be vulnerable and just share like from the heart.
Because I mean, just you have so much, so much trauma and baggage from the past where we were never taught that. Right. So now all of A sudden you want me to express myself.
Yeah.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: And you feel unsafe, right? This environment, you know, we come in there and it's almost like you can't wait to share what's going on with you because, you know, you know, I mean, we talking about stuff that we may not even feel comfortable sharing with our significant others at time or, you know, our mentors. Yeah, this community is what, it's where it's at, man. Because I'm telling you, I've even reached out, you know, for personal stuff and I'm like, I can't believe I just asked this brother that to help me out. You know what I mean? And this, you really, if you truly are about growing and personal development, King's accountability group is where it's at, right?
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Absolutely. Because I think the day and age of telling somebody just to suck it up is, is over. You know.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: We can't do that. Mental health is important, for real.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: There's too much at stake also. It's too much at stake when you think about your health and your well being and how many other people are actually impacted by the decisions and your actions that you make on a daily basis. So it's truly necessary just to be in a position where you're operating in a healthy state or at least taking some type of active steps to actually get yourself to a place of just healing.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: So, yeah, really being honest with yourself about what, what you need, what, what you're feeling, sometimes that's all it takes. You know, I mentor a lot of kids and had this 16 year old, you know, he's like, you know, so and so can't help me. You don't know who. All they know that can help me. Right. So just to say, I'm not going to share it because they can't help me, you really are hurting yourself even more because, you know, God sends these angels through a lot of people, brother. And so, but we got to know that you having that challenge. And so it's definitely the time for us to be more comfortable sharing our challenges.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: Absolutely. And so just when you think about everything that you've had to go through, all the challenges that you've had to endure just in life, have you ever thought like, okay, I'm about to, or have you just ever thought that you would be in a place that you were in last year with just everything that you've done and would that actually. Because it's like one event leads to another event or winning your life and then you just start to gain momentum. And so, I mean, you You. You teach and you speak. And have you ever, like, thought that, man, this is about to be my life? I'm have. I'm a. I'm gonna be an author. I'm gonna be g. Have my own speaking coaching program.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: You know, it was. It's weird that you asked that question. D. It's like my wife and I moved from Atlanta back in 20. Well, I took a job from Atlanta to Austin, Texas in 2013. And that was a critical, critical defining moment in my life because I went from basically my salary doubled, we sold a house in Atlanta, and I'd already been working on, like, my credit and all these things. So when we got our proceeds from selling that house and I'm in this new job in a new state making double, cleared out whatever was left. So I showed up in Texas like I was a brand new guy. Like, I wasn't even the same guy from three months before financially, and that was critical. And I said, man, how do I make sure I don't go back to that type of, you know, pillar to post? And, you know, I've had successes before then, but I had just. This was a big change for me. And at that point, I would definitely not be able to see what's happened in my life here more recently. I was a corporate guy on that corporate, you know, jaunt to. To go to the top.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: And I was. That was actually a move to. From being a normal operations guy into the director level of. Of, you know, my career running call centers and things like that. And so I was in a happy space. And say, maybe a year later, my wife and I, we bought this beautiful house down there. You know, my kids were all off to college or doing whatever they were doing, and so it was really just me and my wife. Empty nesters.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: She's in her mid-30s. At the time, I was like 41. And I was like, you know what?
I'm sitting there on a Saturday, beautiful day, and it just hit me like, is this it?
And I'm like, why do I feel like that? It feels like there's something else. Like, this can't be it. I have way too much living to do. And so anyway, fast forward. I ended up.
The lady who got me the job to Austin ended up moving to Dallas. And so a year and a half, and then she ends up selling me the house. She became a realtor. Like, it was all this stuff happening. I'm like, this lady's like an angel. And then we ended up moving to Dallas, and my grandmother passed in 2017. And in 2018, we sold her house, which is, again, how I met Terrell. And I took an inheritance at that point. And to be a good steward of my grandmother's money, I was like, well, I gotta build this rental property portfolio. And I started doing that. And because I was on such a. You see how I roll, D? It's like, once I'm locked in, man, get the heck out the way, because I'm rolling, baby. And that's what was happening. And my sisters back in Atlanta were like, what in the world are you doing out there? I bought two houses on one day on my lunch break. One day.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: Are you serious?
[00:10:37] Speaker B: It's crazy.
It was crazy. I mean. And I went back to work, so it was like. So anyway, to answer your question more directly, I didn't see it. But when that happened, I kind of started seeing, well, I could really be a person who can influence other people to help them, but I didn't see it happening the way that it has happened. And I'm so thankful. And we could dig in more. But bottom line is, I literally woke up today and I was riding to the office and I said, I really love my life, you know? Yeah, we'd all love to make more money and do all these things, but if I could roll like this.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: But, you know, whatever long you want me to. God, I'm happy with this because I'm serving. I'm able to help people, and it's just a beautiful thing. So I did not see this coming. But I'm so excited about what's happening next, brother.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: That's good. That's good. Because I think you said what the thing you talking about two houses during lunchtime.
Did you? I'm just thinking, like, some people are just afraid to pull a trigger on one, but you did, too. Like, were there any type of, like, doubt or did you have those type of emotions of doubt or fear? Or did you. Like, you know what? I need to make this happen right now, asap, because I know there's a difference between healthy risk and not healthy risk.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Right? Absolutely.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Great question. Because I know somebody's watching, they'll be like, oh, I could go do that too. But hold up, hold up. Yeah, it was definitely calculated risk. Right? And at the time, I was. I paid for some mentoring, you know, for. From an organization, and they were all about buy and hold, teaching you how to buy property and hold on to them as rental investment properties. And at a certain level, you could invest, and they basically will do the. A lot of the due diligence for you. Now, you need to still do it, but you take the knowledge that they've taught you, and then they got their experts kind of, you know, putting together some deals for you, and they're like, okay, here are the numbers. And. And so I was able to look at that, and then I did my own independent research, and, you know, the numbers worked. And literally both of the properties were. Well, one was in Atlanta, and one was in San Antonio, and I lived in Dallas. And I was able to. A mobile notary came to me, met me at the house at lunch. She had one package. At 12 we signed, and at 1245, we started signing the next one. And now we held them. Properties. I literally just sold both of them last year, and we've made our money four times over on those with the rents and everything, and the numbers went up. I just decided to deploy that money into something else. And, yeah, it worked out for me. It doesn't always work out. I've had a couple deals that didn't. But in that situation, I was. I had the cash, I had the knowledge, and I definitely had the. The eagerness to make it work. I was gonna make it work even if the numbers was jacked up, but was gonna make that work. So better know that.
Yes, sir, that's right.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: But one of the key things that you. That you said to me was taking the time to actually learn and invest, because I know a lot of times people may want. But they don't want to take the time to. To learn and invest in themselves. And next thing you know, a week has gone by, a month has gone by, a year has gone by, and you still in that same place, meanwhile, where you could have been your future self is like, I'm so disappointed, because we could have. And next thing you know, you missed the opportunity, and now you have some type of regret and some. Some other emotions, some. Some painful. Whatever it is that you're dealing with. But, I mean, can you just, like, share, like, how important it is just to invest in yourself? Because when you do that, now, all of a sudden, other people see you grinding and hustling. They were like, okay, I want to invest some more time. And I. I mean, I see Vic over here doing his thing. I'm about to show him some shortcuts.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: Yeah, right, exactly. Well, you said the key word D is like opportunity cost, and opportunity cost is those opportunities that you did not get to realize because you sat on the sidelines or you didn't get the knowledge that you needed to be able to capitalize on something. And the saddest part about opportunity cost is most of the time you don't even know how big of the opportunity you really walked away or you missed out on because you over here focusing on a distraction or something, that's not really the level that you need to be. And over here, this thing just keep growing and bubbling and you had opportunity to be part of that when it was still something kind of small. And definitely the education piece. You know, I've decided that for every single day that I'm on this planet for the rest of my life, I have to learn something new before I go to bed. Yeah, I have to.
[00:15:43] Speaker A: Oh, that's just.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: If you're not, you're sitting dormant and it's like money sitting in the bank is the. The cost of, you know, inflation and everything else is higher than the cost of what you get in interest on your savings account, even on a high yield. Right. So it's just, you have to be learning. And I put myself in positions to be successful and maybe even sometimes to a fault. I expect everything to work out for me.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Everything is going to work out for me. My wife is counter to that, which is great because with the real estate stuff, I'm like, oh, no, it's going to work either way. Hold on, let me look at the numbers. You know, atc, she's a. She is definitely high C, you know, very cautious and stable. So for her, it's got to be a system. And if we deviating from our system, I need time to thoroughly understand why are we deviating and what are the outcomes and what's going to happen here. And I'm like, we ain't got that kind of time, baby. We have found a way to have a happy medium.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Where I can present opportunities. And, you know, we have a system now where if we are doing an investment, look, you got a good 24 hours, maybe 48 to. To run your numbers and do what you do. Because again, the opportunity cost, if we don't jump on it, somebody else will see it and they'll take advantage of it. So anyway, I hope that answers the question that, you know, you just got to be after it. And that resilience in me is what makes me want to continue to learn and do my due diligence so that I'm putting my family in a better position down the line.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: That's right. Because I feel like if you're not constantly learning, man, all you're going to do is Just remain stagnant. You're not going to grow, you're not going to evolve whatsoever. And you're still going to, even though you might be taking some type of action, doing things, if you're not staying up on current events or, or the latest.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:17:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Can you imagine doing this interview? You come to my house, you got to fly to my house. You got your little tape recorder, your microphone, a headset. All right, let's go ahead and record, brother. Somebody decided that this was a better way to do that. And what if you were so stubborn and nah, nah, this way is the best way to do it. And yeah, you could now you missed out. It take you a year to get through five interviews where now in a week you didn't knocked out five interviews. So that's what opportunity cost is. If you like afraid of change, then you are missing out on growth.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So when it comes to like just growth in general and we already, I mean you talked about, you know, your wife, how she compliments you when it comes to, to cag and, and you mentioned it earlier when you were talking about, you know, some of these 16 year olds that you're actually talking to and mentoring. How does, how does CAG is, you know, is when it comes to like just the, the level of brothers. I mean, because you have different people at different levels, but we all bring something to the table. How important is just, you know, being around these guys, but also finding somebody that you can actually connect with that can actually help you and this community.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: Is awesome because again, we've already mentioned it's, it's guys from all over the world on this call. So that means on a day they have experienced something completely different than you. The way the roads operate, the way, you know, the economy is, the weather. So they have so many different things to bring to the table. For example, Saturday we did our second Prince to King suit up event here in the Dallas area. And these were kids that I mentored last year. But we were able to get the support of King's accountability group to get the suits. And since the suits came after the guys had gotten out of school and I was done mentoring that batch of kids and they off to high school and everything, I decided let me reach back out to the district and see if they can help me locate the high school that these boys are at. Long story short, we had about seven of the King's accountability group guys in Texas come up to Dallas or that, you know, already live in Dallas or they came up to Dallas and so we all understand the principles of cag, which is accountability, you know, being able to, you know, support each other, personal development and all of these type of things. And we were teaching these kids about basically looking the part, how to step into a room to attract respect to yourself. And it starts, you know, in some cases, and especially in a professional environment, having a suit on, at least looking professional. But how boring would that have been for Vic Johnson to sit there for three hours talking to these kids about how they need to dress? Right. Right. You know, so now I got, you know, DLO Derek Lomax.
Not a very outspoken guy.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: And he says, man, Vic, I told you I wasn't gonna speak more than two minutes. And one thing he said was just so powerful with the time he used. He said, look, guys, I hate wearing suits. I'm in a suit today, but I had to wear this suit. And then he put up this other suit. He's an executive chef at Bob's Steakhouse in San Antonio. And he's like, if I didn't wear this suit, I would never have got to this suit. Which I love wearing this suit. Right. And it just. Yeah, that message hits different than me telling you, hey, it's important to dress this way. So CAG bringing all these different diasporas of men from different cultures, different experiences, different challenges that they've overcame.
It just makes it much more beautiful. And so imagine having that at your fingertips that in the chat. You know what? I got a challenge. I'm gonna just drop this question in the chat. And having 65 men of that caliber of different levels chime in. Hey, hey, I. I saw your question. Maybe think of this, or. I know this guy that can help you with this. Give him a call and tell him, I told you to call. That's the. It's like a board of advisors right? At your disposal. And it's just a beautiful thing, man. Some of these guys are some real heavy. It's some multi millionaires in our group, and it's folks that are just regular guys, but there's no less power in any of us. And that's the beauty of it. Everybody strips the titles.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Just come in and support each other to build each other up.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: Beautiful thing, man.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: It is. It is.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: Because, I mean, there are so many different people. I mean, just with. Whether it's businesses and. I mean, how many people got. Just doing real estate, and then you have people in finances.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: DLO out there just doing this thing. Then you got Doc.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Doc came up and you know, his energy, he had a different journey. You know, he had a lot of setbacks.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: And he's overcoming. So again, you got different voices. And some of these kids, they look at Doc like, man, you remind me of my dad or my uncle that was out there doing this, that, and the third. And if he telling me to do that, okay, I need to listen. That's what I'm saying, man. It's just we have to continue to hear different voices sometime for us to get it.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. So all out of all the things that you've done, I mean, just. Just thinking of like last year, that is. That is led up to where you are now. What do you think? What do you think was the. I guess had the biggest impact on you to actually catapult you to. To. To where you are today?
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Collaborations.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Collaborations, huh?
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Collaborations, yeah. You can't do any of this on your own. You can do it on your own. It's a much longer journey, and I've done it like that for a long time. Last year I made. So I. I hired a admin to kind of help me out. I would call her virtual, but she's here in Dallas and she'll come to certain events, but most of the time she's doing stuff behind the scenes for me to help me out and doing outreach and things. And so first of all, that was the first move. I'll take that back.
About two years ago at this time, I brought on Kimberly to help me out. What Kimberly did was she was able to become.
Basically she doubled my output. Right. Because here I am. I created this thing. I don't have the time to make all these calls and do these outreach. Oh, I got it. I'm sitting at home all day. I got you. So now I have somebody who can make calls and emails, submit contracts for me, which is what I was doing all day. So how can you bake the bread and sell the bread and still come back and go break some more bread? You know, it's just. It's crazy. So that was the first thing. And then last year, I actually added another young lady on the sales side. But it turns out she was better at branding and marketing things. And so what she did was she helped me come up with the whole be the Victor Speaker Academy concept around January of 24. And she did some beautiful things. We redid the logo and all that stuff. And I have a niece in Atlanta, Tierra Destiny. She's. She's been mentored by Oprah Winfrey. I mean, this lady, she just released a movie Saturday. Like she's big time stuff. That's my niece and she has a publishing company. And so we had a conversation one day and I said, why don't we partner in a. In some kind of way where all of these people that are professionals, these are professional women that are doing things, you're turning them into authors and thought leaders. Well, I can turn them into speakers and help them monetize that expertise and really structure a speaking business around that and give them confidence and turn their, you know, profession into profits. You know what I mean? So that was, I said, you know, and I'll give you a cut from that. Well, the decision was very strategic because you can either get 100% of a little bit or you can get, you know, 75% of a whole lot more or whatever. Right. And she was just, I mean, the, the leads was just coming in and it wasn't even a sales process. It was just, hey, this makes sense. You say you want to speak. Come to the beat of Victor Speaker Academy.
[00:26:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: And, you know, and so that, man, we generated a lot of activity. We helped a lot of speakers and authors, and that was a big changing point. And then the last piece I'll add specifically to last year was, you know, I'm at Prosperity Bank, a bank here, a regional bank here in Texas. And in that role, I do community outreach. I'm like out and about doing, meeting a lot of people. And not that that helped my brand per se, but it did help my brand because I'm posting for the bank and just people see me, they follow me on LinkedIn and like, man, this cat is everywhere every day. But all of those things and the development through CAG just. I've just decided I was going to be another level kind of guy. Last year, read 18 books, did 75 hard, strengthen my relationship with my daughters and my granddaughter and my grandson. Yeah, you know, it just was a good year, man. And God has been blessing me the whole time. And I think he just set me up for was what he really want me to do. And I'm not even clear on what that is yet.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: I don't know, but I'm just chilling, man. I'm like, do me what you will do.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: Right? Right.
[00:27:26] Speaker B: You got it.
[00:27:28] Speaker A: And I think the main part that is just, it's just being obedient because you just never know where, where God is going to lead you to. And when he's giving you a task to do it, just do it.
Because it's not going to be comfortable every time. And sometimes, you know, he might put something on our heart to do, or he might give you an assignment. And because I know that's. That's been me where I've questioned.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: God. Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure you're talking to me? Because, I mean, you want me to do such and such, but I surely don't feel like I'm equipped. I don't feel like I'm adequate. I don't, like, I'm the. The smartest person or I'm the most eloquent speaker, but at the same time, he's like, listen, I'm the one who gave you your brain. I'm the one who gave you your mouth. I'm the one who gave you your heart. I'm the one who give. Gave you the vision or the glimpse of. So all I need for you to do is just carry it out. D. Wells. So when I be having those conversations, it's like, okay, I get it. And the thing is, you don't know how they're going to turn out, but it's just that obedience piece. Just follow through, bro.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: And that was so well said because you don't know where it's supposed to go. You have to just be obedient and don't try to figure it all out. Just take the next step that he calling you to take. You know, he gonna bless you. But you got to do the work now, right? You got to still do your part. But the whole thing is to not try to figure it all out. And I'll be honest with you, with any of the successes I've had in my life, it doesn't look like I expected it to look before I had that success. That's not the outcome I thought it was going to be. But here yet, and still I'm there, right? And I'm just. Now, I have a statement that I. I actually heard from Louise Hay, may she rest in peace. She was big on, you know, the law of attraction and things like that. And she says all the good and abundance in the universe may come to me. Basically, I am open and receptive to all the good and abundance that is available to me. And with that mindset, it doesn't matter what happens if it's a car accident or a lottery ticket, it means that something good is about to come out of that as far as I'm concerned. And. And I just continue to be obedient. And honestly, I continue to serve others. And while I'm over here focusing on helping Them God over here just dumping more on me to, you know, sending my territory out. So just got to stay obedient.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: Yeah, and you said something just, just real huge when you talked about quoting in that. In that Abundance piece. Because it made me think about gratitude and how often people express gratitude and when they express gratitude, because I know there's so many who just express gratitude when everything is going well, but they don't express gratitude when they're in the dumps, so to speak, or they're being emotionally challenged. They, you know, the, the life is, you know, life is life and right. The. The kids are acting up, the. The spouse is acting up, the career is toe up, but they're still not thanking God just for another day to actually get through it or.
It's just huge. It's huge to me, just expressing that gratitude not just during the good times, but on. In the bad times as well.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Absolutely, brother. Absolutely. I created a ritual for myself and, you know, you hear all this kind of stuff on people on YouTube or maybe on social media, you'll see somebody talk about this. But when I first wake up in the morning, I mean, before I'm out to bed, I'm not looking at no phone or anything. I'm just sitting there thanking God for the last 24 hours. And, and I. And I specifically want to identify 10 things that happened. It may have been a conversation I had, or maybe I was able to bless somebody with something, or maybe I just made it safely to my destinations the last 24 hours and some people didn't, you know, And I think sometimes we're thinking that gratitude has to be some massive grandiose experience that happened. I'm thankful that I have a sheet of paper right here to write on and, and that my power is on and the lights are all good and it's a temperature control room. Right. I'm just thankful for everything, man, that I have an opportunity to speak with a great, great brother like you on this. Why not you podcast? Just be thankful for that you have water still in your body, because if you didn't be dehydrated and croaked out, like, it's just. We don't realize how many things we could be grateful for. And when you start focusing on that, life gets much better for you. Much, much better for you.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: It does, doesn't it, Man?
[00:32:08] Speaker B: I'm so grateful, brother. I just, I just got the chills even thinking about it, man. I just. I just love life, man. And I, you know, it doesn't matter what it is Even when it was freezing cold. Our power went out last week in. In Dallas, and about 33,000, you know, residents didn't have power last Tuesday. And it was a cold day. And I had to do another interview with Ron G on the other side of the conversation. I'm like, oh, my God, we ain't got no power in here. And I'm riding around looking for a business that got lights on and Starbucks, anything. Everybody was out, bro. And so I pulled up into a Walmart parking lot, and I made sure my phone had been charged up already, and I did the interview in my car and put my little flashlight on so they could see me good. I was like, let's make it happen. I was grateful that I could even still do that. Yeah, that was crazy. Crazy. The little things matter so much.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: I know, I know, right?
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: I know. So that. That just. That is funny because that was just a struggle. I mean, but you. You. You adapted, you pivoted, you made whatever you had work. And so you just think about, like, any type of struggle just as a. As an entrepreneur with, you know, finding the right people, collaborating all those things, right? Just. Can you share, like, a moment where you probably felt like, man, what? I'm just. I'm overwhelmed. I might be a little discouraged. But how did you. What was your thought process and how you. How did you navigate that?
[00:33:50] Speaker B: Well, it's a couple scenarios. I kind of felt like he was going to come down this road. So let's go ahead and rip the band Aid off on this one, right? So in 2022, I had a real estate deal that did not pan out well. Bought a house at the end of 21, pulled in an investor, $40,000. We're gonna do maybe. I think I did 10%, you know, on him. It was like, hey, we'll get this back to you in six months. The formula that I had been working for, what, six, seven years, like clockwork. Good to go around this time in 2022, interest rates started changing, right? Interest rates start going up from three to four to four to five to five.
It doubled in that. Just in that six months period of time. And that changed everything about how, you know, I was doing my. My strategy. And plus, long story short, I ended up six months down the line with this property that I was supposed to be able to pull out about $85,000 in equity on and just keep collecting rents on.
Guy. The lender that was originally down, they backed out. I had to go to another lender. The new lender was like, all we're going to be able to do for you, brother, we'll give you a rate and term, which means that we'll give you a refinance on this high interest loan. We can't give you no cash out. So I'm like, but the equity that's sitting in there, I need that money, please, what can you do? And long story short, man, I ended up, you know, having to make the call to the cat, to the guys, like, hey man, we're gonna have to work something out and I'll just start throwing you money, but I don't have your money by the deadline. And what I had to do, honestly, it really set me down because I probably would have been able to prevent that, but I got so cocky and arrogant because this was like my 12th deal. I'm like, oh, I'm just keep rolling like I was. But I, I deviated from my checklist, from my systems. It's like, you know, I just kind of got sloppy with it. And because of that, I didn't do my due diligence. I probably wouldn't have did that deal. There's a lot of things happened and it put me and my wife, know, my family in a bad spot.
[00:36:07] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: So one day I'm sitting there and I'm very much overwhelmed because I don't have the money to cover tons of things that I expected to have this money to do, including the investor. And it caused me to have a conversation with God that I hadn't been honest about before. And I said, hey man, what am I really supposed to be doing?
[00:36:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:27] Speaker B: And that's when it came to me that, you know, the consistency in my life has been that I've been a educator, a communicator and a connector. How can I put those three things together in a project manager? How can I put those four things?
What am I supposed to be doing with this? And I had to humble myself and make a call to a buddy of mine who works in the banking system. Was like, hey man, if you hear about a job I really want to. These are my skill sets. Here's my resume. And long story short, I ended up getting into the banking situation. I still have my rentals at the time and everything. I still have a couple of them. But yeah, I just decided that as much as I love doing those deals, that really wasn't my calling. That's just an investment.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Right?
[00:37:19] Speaker B: Calling was to continue to communicate, educate, project manage and connect people. So the bankroll might be the victor stuff. The stuff I'm Doing with all these different boards that I'm part of, it really caused me to pivot, man. And so I was overwhelmed in that one day. I would say it was September of 2022, where it's like God just said, he snatched me down. I was like, bro, let's talk. And like we said a moment ago, I had to listen. And yeah. Completely pivoted. Completely pivoted.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Wow. And so do you think.
Because as you were talking, it just made me think about gifts and, and talents and sometimes, I mean, we, we might want to do things that look, we might be good at, but if it's not something that's. That, that actually kind of comes natural to us. Just like a gift or a talent that you, I mean, because you said your stuff is communicating, connecting with people.
[00:38:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: And I know sometimes if we're just like out of line with that kind of stuff, I don't want to say like we, we could, we could find ourselves where we actually take advantage of, of what we're actually good at. I mean, because I mean, you just think about some of these professional athletes. Look, they know they good, they talented, but if they not continuously honing in on that gift that, that's been able to, that God has given them, do you end up missing out? And some other people could get hurt because of it. Whether, I mean, it might be financial, it might be in another, another way, but that ripple effect, it spreads.
[00:38:57] Speaker B: Yeah, it definitely does. It shows up somewhere.
Talents, gifts and talents.
I think it's important that we spend a lot of time figuring that out.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: Meditating, asking other people. Again, feedback is critical. Again, another reason why our group is such a powerful group, because it gives you an opportunity to humble yourself and allow some other cats, whether they are even in your industry or not, they, they still see you. And after so many calls, you kind of start to get a feel for guys and you know, hopefully you decided to have some one on one calls with guys and connect with them outside of our weekly calls. But the big thing is to. You have to find that thing. It's so important. Otherwise you're missing your purpose.
[00:39:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:56] Speaker B: I really can't think of any other way to say it again. When I'm dealing with these young people. A lot of them obviously grew up with social media and you know, social media, one of the biggest liars that you ever gonna meet in your life. Right. You know?
[00:40:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: Especially if you follow the wrong stuff and the algorithm then locked in on you and start sending you more of that crazy crap that you really don't even be looking at. But what will happen is you'll see this young lady or this guy that's seemingly doing great, and they may be doing great or not, but you see it and like, oh, man. Oh, he's an influence. I want to be an influencer. Yeah, but you don't like talking to nobody. You don't like to meet nobody. That's not for you. That's for that person. You have to take time to figure out what it is that you're good at. And again, maybe somebody else can tell you. You know, every time I see you, you always are putting puzzles together. Are you always baking cakes or, you know, always seem to be working on your car, you know?
[00:40:56] Speaker A: Right.
[00:40:57] Speaker B: It's. It's natural. And usually, like, even my little grandson, three years old, he's always tinkering around with these little fake hammers and wrenches and stuff that his dad buys them. And he got all these excavators, you know, little kids, excavators. He riding around in the yard, and he'll get to his little tool shed and, like, he'll try something. He's like, nope, get the other tool. I'm like, okay, we got to cultivate that. We got to build that. He's. This is a future engineer we talking about here.
[00:41:25] Speaker A: Right, Right.
[00:41:27] Speaker B: But if we try to force him into being an actor or, you know, whatever, and maybe that would be something for him later. But I think it's just important that we find that talent and don't shy away from it because you see somebody else doing something, that's for them major, it ain't for you.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:41:46] Speaker B: What's for you, brother? So that's important, I think. Skills. And then the. The talent part to me is the cultivation of it, like you said, the constantly building it up, the mastery level of it, which is success is in the routine.
[00:42:01] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:42:02] Speaker B: That's the King's Accountability Group tagline. Every day, doing the research, doing the work, doing the practice. You know, I'm a speaker. I TEDx Toastmasters. But it took six, seven years of, like, literally doing speaking events no less than once a week for me to even get to the point where I was comfortable going to Toastmasters so they could refine that. Now I'm in the division championships.
[00:42:30] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:42:31] Speaker B: National speaker King. You know what I mean? So that's what I'm saying. But you got to put the work in. But there is something that is natural for you. And then once you kind of Figure out that this is something that you really enjoy doing. Go hard on it. Go hard in the paint. Find the experts. Find the ones that are already doing it and that are already at the level that you want to be at. And then don't be afraid to ask for help.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. And I know, man, I know the King's accountability Group, you know, the thing for this year is. Is trust, trust, trust. I know trust is just a huge. Because not only you gotta trust what you're hearing and trust your. The process, but being able to trust other people.
And I know you big on words and affirmations and stuff like that. Do you have a theme for this year?
Just for your. For yourself and for the. I guess for the family. Just for the. For you. Either for yourself or for the business or family.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: My theme for 2025 is take up space.
Take up space. Don't walk in the room holding your head down, shy. Make some noise. Bring your energy to the room because there's too many people trying to shut us down. And something up here that you have is some kind of energy that you have. Let the room feel it. One of my favorite quotes, I think it was Dr. Joe Cannon says it be a thermostat. When you walk in a room, if it's cold already, the energy just change. You just change the entire atmosphere. So take up space. You know, gentlemen, sit with your legs open a little bit, right? You know, stand with your shoulders out, bro. Like, let's stop shrinking in these moments. Yeah, take up space.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: That's it.
[00:44:20] Speaker B: It's okay if. Even if you're wrong, but you won't know what you got to learn from that unless people know you're even in the room. So my theme for 2025, for my kids, for my own self, my wife, and really anybody else that I've been mentoring is take up space.
[00:44:37] Speaker A: Take up space.
[00:44:38] Speaker B: That's it.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: That's it.
[00:44:42] Speaker B: That's it. Be present, be intentional.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: Like, that's right.
[00:44:44] Speaker B: Just be there and be fully there. Like right now, it doesn't matter. My phone might be buzzing. I'm right here with you, King. You know what I mean? Be in that moment and embrace it for everything that it has to offer to you. Because that's another opportunity cost if I'm sitting here with you, but I'm thinking about what's going to happen. And I got this call an hour I need to get. I have. I've stolen from this time right here that we will never, ever, ever have again. We can do more interviews, but we will never have March 10th at this time ever again in 2025. So be present and don't shrink in any moment that you're supposed to be in.
[00:45:28] Speaker A: That's right. Absolutely, man.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:33] Speaker A: This King Vic, y'all, King Big. Be the victor.
Before I let you go, I just have one more question for you, and it's just.
It's not even a question, actually, is. Can you just share some.
I don't know, Some. Some either like a word of affirmation, something tangible for somebody, or just some tips to actually help somebody just get over the hump mentally if they feel like they're just stuck or complacent in a. In the position. And they feel like they know what they want to do, but they just. They feel like they'll be going against the grain or they've been told no so many times that they don't even have that. That. That mental power to actually fight through the. Through the noise.
[00:46:23] Speaker B: For sure. So I have a.
Basically something that I came up with for a speech that I do. And first of all, we go back and listen to this recording as many times as you need to, because gratitude has to be there. You need to identify your gifts. You need to collaborate. All of this is great, great stuff for you, right? But if there's three words that I want you to remember, and that is bet, B, E, T. Bet on yourself, right? Bet. And the B is not the TV station I'm talking about. The B is belief. Like, really believe we can do way more than what we think we can. So just believe that you can do it. So that's the beef. The E. Effort. Give maximum effort in everything that you do, right? Like, don't hold back. Do it to your best possible skill set, to the mastery level. Excellence. Not perfection, but excellence. Give it everything that you have from the effort perspective. So that's the E, the T. Time.
Give it time. Allow it to cultivate itself. Allow it to. To grow into something, right? Don't be in such a rush to have it all of a sudden, because again, once you achieve that thing, so what's next? You got to go to the next level of something. So be it. Belief, effort, time. And if you can do these things in any area of your life, just believe in yourself, give maximum effort, and then just allow time to take care of the rest of that thing, man. And it's going to be all good. Keep God first and all that you do and get some good people around you. Like maybe look at your phone and take a look at the last five people you either called or texted and you need to evaluate, are they taking you up, taking you down? I'm going. Just leave it at that. You can make a decision, make some adjustments as needed.
[00:48:21] Speaker A: That's man. I appreciate your time, bro. I appreciate it, man. For those people who are listening, where can they find you? Social media, LinkedIn, all of it.
[00:48:34] Speaker B: Absolutely. So, first of all, my YouTube channel is called create your future self. So go to my create Your Future Self YouTube channel and pretty much on Inst. On LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and tick tock. Be the victor us or be the victor us as my website as well. So hit me up. Looking forward to talking to you.
[00:48:58] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. Y'all heard it first from King Vic. Mr. Victor Benico Johnson on the set.
[00:49:05] Speaker B: Let's go.
Let's go, man. D. Wells. I appreciate Wells and this. Why not you?
[00:49:14] Speaker A: You my not. That's right.
Let's.
