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Executive Retail Leadership | CEO | "Techpreneur" feat. Kevin Lloyd Part 1
92 Plays1 year ago
Today’s Guest is Kevin Lloyd, a former Executive Leader in Retail and current “Tech-pre-neur”, who has built a tech and entrepreneur ecosystem that brings together the Black community in Central Ohio. He has over 20 years of Executive Leadership at Retail outlets like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target, Old Navy and Sears. Additionally, he is the Co-Founder and CEO of MYLE (Make Your Life Entertaining), an Entertainment Software and Data Analytics company that provides curated content based on the user's location. His vision is to become the world's most renowned entertainment marketplace and they’ve set a mission to expose at least 25,000 socio-economically challenged youth to entertainment, the arts, & travel. He’s also the COO of Color Coded Labs, an education course that empowers people of color with tech courses AND after they graduate, connects them to innovative companies dedicated to diversity. Finally, he is the Co-Founder of ColumbusBlack.com, the premier online source of news, events, and entertainment for the Black community in Columbus, Ohio. It has acquired more than 250,000 unique visitors, 500,000 visits, and exceeded 10 million hits.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinlloydtheleader/
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Try to envision this. A circular ladder, right, that is going upward into the sky, up toward heaven. What's up world? Have you ever wondered, what does my friend or cousin or partner actually do at work? If so, welcome to Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast, where you can learn about careers and trades.
00:00:28
Speaker
Each episode I interview guests from different professions and dive into the arcs of jobs held, the education and training received, the skills and experiences acquired, of course how much you can earn, and the intrinsic fulfillment that motivates them.
00:00:46
Speaker
So for anyone interested in hearing the first-hand experience of a specific career, these conversations are your launching path. Today's guest is Kevin Lloyd, an executive leader with retail, an entrepreneur, and a newly minted term, a techpreneur. He has built a tech and entrepreneur ecosystem that brings together the black community in Central Ohio. Now allow me a minute to run through some of his contributions.
00:01:16
Speaker
First, he is the co-founder and CEO of MILE, which stands for Make Your Life Entertaining. And it's an entertainment software and data analytics company that provides curated content based on the user's location.
00:01:33
Speaker
His vision is to become the world's most renowned entertainment marketplace, and they've set a mission to expose at least 25,000 socioeconomically challenged youth to entertainment, the arts, and travel. Second, he's the COO of Color Coded Labs, an education course that empowers people of color with tech resources, and after they graduate, connects them to innovative companies dedicated to diversity.
00:02:04
Speaker
Additionally, he's the co-founder of
Kevin Lloyd's Journey from Spanish Harlem
00:02:06
Speaker
ColumbusBlack.com, the premier online source of news, events, and entertainment for the Black community in Columbus, Ohio. It has acquired over 250,000 unique visitors, 500,000 visits, and exceeded 10 million hits. And even after all of this, I still haven't mentioned that he has over 20 years of executive leadership at retail outlets like Dick's Sporting Goods, Target, and Old Navy.
00:02:34
Speaker
Woo! My brother, you are dynamic and an inspiration. And thank you for taking time out to share your journey today. Welcome to the show, Kevin. Brandon, I appreciate the opportunity to be here on the show. Thank you so much for the opportunity. And I must say, I love, I love, I love the title. Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast, man. That's dope.
00:02:56
Speaker
All right. I appreciate it. Now, in my intro, I gave a little bit of introduction about some of the work you've done and a little bit about who you are. But in your own words, could you explain your career and your inspiration and who you are to the audience? Yeah, so by the way, I thought you did a really, really great job. So thank you for that. But my name is Kevin Lloyd, as he mentioned.
00:03:18
Speaker
I would say serial entrepreneur based out of Columbus, Ohio now, but born and raised in New York City in Spanish Harlem. And then had the opportunity and blessed by mother Tuskegee to be accepted in which I was able to earn my degree in accounting.
00:03:35
Speaker
And then that led to me getting into corporate America, excuse me, into corporate America. And then 25 years as a retail executive, 10 relocations amongst that time, a lot of experiences, small towns, big cities, you name it. Um, many relationships built around the country in an obviously two time entrepreneur leading into the, uh, pandemic and came out a four time entrepreneur.
00:04:00
Speaker
So I look forward to sharing more about each of those endeavors in those ventures in the learnings there along the way. But that gives you a high level overview of who I am and my background and things like that. A father of two beautiful daughters, married for 20 years, and just out here really trying to make a difference and build a legacy to have a positive impact on the lives of others.
00:04:25
Speaker
Awesome. Much respect, much respect. And you know, the first thing I'd love to dive into is your time growing up in Spanish Harlem. I myself actually worked there. I used to sell baby formula to Metropolitan Hospital, the nurseries in Nick Hughes. I called on pediatricians and obstetricians in East Harlem.
00:04:44
Speaker
So I know that community pretty well from that angle. What about Spanish Harlem growing up there made it special for you? What traits do you think you learned that you're carrying on today from that unique community?
00:04:57
Speaker
You know, first of all, I have to say, man, it's very rare that someone is able to say that they know that space in places where it's not to mention the name when you said metropolitan. So I was born a metropolitan hospital. Oh, wow. OK. So for you to be able to say that clearly once again, you know, there's some synergies here and some kindred spirits. So with that, yeah, man. So Spanish Harlem for me, first of all, obviously extremely diverse and very culturally based.
00:05:26
Speaker
And, you know, the foundation for me was growing up in a, in an environment and you got to keep in mind when I grew up in Spanish Harlem as well. Right. It was in the middle of the crack epidemic. So as we think about the opioid situation and crisis that we have going on now, this was what I dealt with in the eighties growing up. And so overcoming adversity, you know, growing up in a challenging environment, my mom raised us by ourselves. Unfortunately, my father was killed trying to raise or make money, earning money, working.
00:05:55
Speaker
Um, for his family and to support his family. And, uh, so my mom raised me and my three older sisters. And so, you know, tough environment and, uh, economically challenging, uh, situations, right. And I dealt with, unfortunately, a lot of issues and just was blessed to learn how to deal with all of those challenges.
00:06:16
Speaker
and how to be flexible, how to overcome challenges, and how to be resilient. That resiliency that was founded, that foundation that was established as I grew up in that environment is what allows me to overcome so many challenges today as an entrepreneur.
00:06:33
Speaker
And you all will see how the dots actually connect and how the fabric was built there and how it still relied upon today.
Influences of Faith, Education, and Leadership Training
00:06:40
Speaker
And then in addition to that, just faith-based. So my mom fortunately had us in church as a youth. And that allowed me to keep that foundation and have that spiritual connection as well. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of an idea of how growing up in such a culturally diverse environment that also had as challenges really, really built who I am today.
00:07:02
Speaker
respect and respect to your mom and instilling, um, instilling discipline, even in a tough environment. So respect to your mom for growing, um, for, for raising you and the family. Thank you. Yeah. Now you went to college at Tuskegee, uh, you know, HBCUs aren't the most popular up in New York. How did you learn about Tuskegee? What drew you to it? How did you get down there? Yeah, there you go. So you just opened it up. So I was blessed enough as well.
00:07:30
Speaker
to be a part of an Upward Bound program, right? So many that may listen to this or are familiar with or have been through an Upward Bound program. I was blessed to be a part of one at Boys Harbor, which is now Boys and Girls Harbor on 104th Street and Fifth Avenue.
00:07:46
Speaker
And as a part of the upper bound program and the talent search program at the time, we used to go on these different trips during the summer and get exposed to colleges and universities around the country. And Crystal Floyd was executive director of the program and she had all of the different banners from all the different universities, the HBCUs, excuse me, in that facility. So we were literally entrenched in
00:08:11
Speaker
culture, but then also higher education and clearly HBCUs. So that exposure is literally what put me on a trajectory. I had no idea about HBCUs as I was growing up as a young man. And then that is what exposed me and then going to some of those campuses and doing some tours that literally did it for us.
00:08:33
Speaker
That's awesome. And I know while you were down at Tuskegee, you were part of the Air Force ROTC and you also joined CAPPA. I guess as you became an adult, what principles or philosophies did the ROTC and CAPPA teach you that have prepared you for manhood and the family you're raising and the businesses you're building?
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah, so let me start with this. So one of the things that also intrigued me to go to Tuskegee University, out of all the other colleges and universities I looked at, was that I, at that time, wanted to become a fighter pilot. And there was a four-star Brigadier General by the name of Chappy James Jr.
00:09:13
Speaker
from Tuskegee right so this is what really like got me interested in going to Tuskegee when I learned about him and what he had done and all the successful missions and It that just like intrigued me so I ended up going to Tuskegee
00:09:28
Speaker
And that was a big part of it. So I started out as an aerospace engineering student, and I ended up in Air Force ROTC. So even though my path changed over time, that was one of the reasons why I did it. And then what I took away from Air Force ROTC, and then obviously becoming a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated, gamma epsilon chapter, doing, I was initiated at school in 91. So I got to make sure. Respect. Respect.
00:09:54
Speaker
And so the thing is, if you said, Hey, what did you take away from being a part of both of those amazing entities was the leadership, right? Leadership and teamwork. Okay. So, you know, we, we come on to this earth by ourselves, but we can't do it alone. Right. So it's one of the things that, that was, you know, instilled in me was the, the leader, like take over the leaders, take on the leadership role.
00:10:20
Speaker
and help to achieve whatever it may need to be and step up as a leader. And then, you know, becoming a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, literally that's exactly what you end up doing, right? You bring the yard to life, right? You provide activities, you do social and community-based activities to give back or pay forward to our communities, especially our youth. And those are the things that we're still doing.
00:10:42
Speaker
As I end up talking about the businesses a little bit later, what you're going to see is some of the foundations of what we do today is based off of what was instilled years, actually decades ago. Okay. So yeah. So thanks for asking. Of course, of course. Now you got to Tuskegee. Did you say that you started off studying being
Career Transition and Mentorship
00:11:03
Speaker
an aeronautic engineer? Was that the first academic path you were going down?
00:11:08
Speaker
Yeah, aerospace engineering was the path that I was going down. I mean, I loved planes and that, I mean, so that just like pulled me in. And then obviously once you get there and you learn, oh, you don't have to go through AE as we would call it in order to be a pilot. And it was like, okay. So, and then for me, like everything, you know, things click differently for different folks. And I'll be frank with you, there was some of our engineering courses I literally struggled with.
00:11:33
Speaker
It literally positioned me a little bit differently. I ended up getting a degree. I earned a degree in accounting. So I've always loved numbers and math. And that's come naturally to me. But there were some challenges on the other side. So I ended up making an adjustment, which a lot of us do. And that was more aligned with my interests and my passions. And I was able to apply that knowledge as I became a retail executive and then obviously a business owner and entrepreneur. So everything happened for a reason.
00:12:03
Speaker
Exactly. Awesome. So and as you were making that transition from AE to accounting, was there an influential teacher down there? I mean, who was your favorite professor while you were there?
00:12:16
Speaker
Oh man. Um, you know, uh, one of our Dean, so Dr. Sara, I would say was one of my favorites. Um, just really, uh, you know, one of the things that's unique about now, I would have to say, you know, there were a number that, let me just say it this way. When you go to an HBCU, there's something special about the environment.
00:12:38
Speaker
Okay, so that's why like, okay, one person comes to mind, but then it's like, whoa, hold up, there's others, right? So it's because the way that you're treated and supported is more like a family than a number, right? So there are people who really care and show genuinely that they care about you, your education, your overall wellbeing.
00:12:59
Speaker
And on the business side, I would say Dr. Sauer was one of those people who really showed that even though we were supported, I would say really by all of the administrators. So it varied. But yeah, there's definitely, I would say there were a number of
00:13:19
Speaker
I would say elders to a degree, whether on the administrative side or on the Air Force ROTC side that instilled certain things into us or into me, I would say that helped to guide my pathway. Okay. So yeah, absolutely. That's a big part of what I would say that that lends to after that, after getting out of Tuskegee is the importance of mentorship.
00:13:44
Speaker
And having people that you can go to help lead and guide you and help you along the way. Got it. Got a great message. So how did you decide to go into retail leadership with an accounting background?
00:14:00
Speaker
And I guess I love that you have this corporate experience that's giving you a foundation to then help build into entrepreneurship. I know a lot of people want to just jump straight into entrepreneurship and may not fully see the value of what corporate can actually offer your life or prepare you to make you even a stronger entrepreneur. So what got you into retail leadership or going into corporate America first? Why did you choose to do that?
00:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, so for me, I really didn't have the entrepreneurial bug coming out of school. And at that time, the traditional pathway was to get your education and then go get a job, right? Get benefits and then grow into a career. So for me, being an accounting major, I initially interviewed with a number of the accounting firms. And then what happened was Sears had
00:14:57
Speaker
in accounting and internal audit department and they were looking for people for that role and I had applied. After they saw my information or viewed my information, they thought that I would be a better fit on the retail side. I ended up going down this process of
00:15:15
Speaker
of a fast track. They had a fast track executive program at Sears at the time and I was one of 4,000 candidates from that season or that semester that was actually hired and that started my retail career, right. So, that wasn't the intent. I never thought about retail for a second
00:15:37
Speaker
But I'm glad that the opportunity presented itself. It was another blessing. A lot of us look at retail and I just, I have to drop the seed. A lot of people looked at retail as, you know, standing behind a cash register or low paying wage jobs.
00:15:52
Speaker
But as a retail executive, there's a massive opportunity for growth and for income. And unfortunately, as a culture, we miss that opportunity for significant income to be generated in roles like retail, just like in hospitality. It's the same way. You can do extremely well. There are a lot of six-figure jobs, but unfortunately, there's a perception that you can't make money in those industries and you really can make a significant amount of money and a great living.
00:16:23
Speaker
Makes sense. And I've been a salesperson. I've always been selling to retail leadership, whether they're store managers or district managers, like what you've done. And I can certainly attest to the value of those roles and working with them in the skills you can learn. So that's amazing that you had those experiences. I love to ask two questions about those experiences being in corporate American working in retail.
Challenges and Growth in Retail Leadership
00:16:49
Speaker
And I'll start with the hard one first.
00:16:51
Speaker
So what was the most difficult experience that you had while being in retail leadership? I think the most difficult for me was when I started. I unfortunately dealt with what I would consider a racial
00:17:15
Speaker
issue and there was some intentional actions that took place that made it really difficult for me to have a, I would say a great start. And if I had not had some other folks around me that were willing to one listen and give me another opportunity
00:17:32
Speaker
It could have been pretty detrimental coming out of school. And then the thing is with that, when you kind of get blindsided by that, you come out of Tuskegee University and you're used to being around your own people of your own color and race and ethnicity. And then you go into this environment and then you think that you're being supported by everyone and then come to find out everyone does not support you or want you to succeed. And I ended up in one of those environments.
00:18:00
Speaker
And it was interesting because it was literally night and day, right? I was in one environment, and it was very challenging. There was a lot of negativity. He's underperforming. He's not doing well. We don't know about him. And fortunately, I would say our counselor or the person that was over, our manager, should I say that was over the trainees, put me into another environment. And it was the exact opposite, exact opposite.
00:18:26
Speaker
It was more of a caring, nurturing, supportive environment, and I thrived exceptionally well. And then went on to have a very successful career, right? So with that same company, promoted six times in seven years, all new positions, climbed the ladder, did exceptionally well.
00:18:47
Speaker
the start was very, very rocky. So being around the right people or being in the right place at the right time can be advantageous, not being in the right environment and dealing with some people who really don't have your back can be challenging. So for me, that was probably my most difficult. And that set me up for other challenges throughout my career, where because of that, I was able to navigate differently, which once again, everything happens for a reason, but that would be the case that I would think about.
00:19:20
Speaker
You mentioned how mentorship was so critical to your success. I guess this is a perfect example of how having the right mentorship and people believing in you can totally change your trajectory. So that's amazing that you were able to find that support.
00:19:35
Speaker
You also mentioned how this type of role could be a great way to financially build a foundation, become stable, even build wealth. Could you share, would you be willing to share some of your early salaries of how much you made so that
00:19:52
Speaker
you know, people aren't always turned off from corporate America. And you can talk about how those salaries helped build the foundation for you to go into entrepreneurship. So, if you're willing to, you know, what were some of the early salaries you made on your first job? Yeah, so my first job coming out of school was $26,400.
00:20:14
Speaker
Right, to be exact. And then without going into like all the detailed numbers, I'll probably give it to you in percentages, right? So just say I mentioned six times in seven years getting promoted, right? So just imagine
00:20:30
Speaker
your salary basically tripling and quadrupling over that timeframe. That was the opportunity, and it's very rare that you could see that. I had friends who came out of school as engineers that I came out at 26, they would come out at 40, 45, 50.
00:20:50
Speaker
Um, but then if you looked at it, you know, five years, six years, seven years down the line and I'm making 20, 30,000 more than them at that time. Right. So, um, not to mention the incentive piece. So when you get into certain roles and you grow through corporate America, if you can get into a Senate based plans where, you know, there are stock options available that allows, that's the wealth generation part of.
00:21:16
Speaker
these type of roles as you go through leadership that a lot of people don't understand. And that's how wealth is really generated that gives you the ability to buy certain things, invest in certain things. And that's the part for our youth that I really want to come across as
00:21:33
Speaker
When we look at these opportunities, don't look for a job. I know we all have to start somewhere. But when you look for opportunities for you to grow your career, and I know that things are different now. When I came out of school, people stayed with companies for a long time. I remember people retiring from the companies I worked at.
00:21:53
Speaker
they would retire with 50 years of service. I was a part of those celebrations. People don't do that as much these days. It's, hey, I'm in for a few years, if that, and I'm going on to the next one. They're trying to get the bag. So it's a situation where look at where you're going to really benefit. And one of the things I used to always share was look at where there's growth opportunities. So if you're, in this case, especially because it's very relevant, so I have a startup.
00:22:20
Speaker
So if you work for a company that happens to be a startup, but a fast growing startup, um, are a company that's already well established, but they are on a massive growth trajectory. So some of these companies and I'll give retail as an example, has 700 stores, but they have a plan to have a thousand stores in the next three years.
00:22:39
Speaker
Those are the type of companies you want to work for. If it's not retail, but it's a tech-based business and they just happen to be in AI, we know AI is about to be booming. So get involved and engage with the companies that are doing that. We know everything is done on the cloud. Work for a company that's cloud-based. So look at these different opportunities where you can grow significantly as they're growing. Because if a company is going to double, triple, quadruple,
00:23:07
Speaker
their size in the next two, three, four years. And they have the capital to do that. And that's their forecast. You're going to grow as they grow. You're going to learn as they learn. Opportunities are going to present themselves and you can do exceptionally well. So if you're open-minded to that type of growth, those type of learnings, because adversity comes with those as well, right? That means there's not always a, there's not always a clear blueprint or path to, to what's happening because you're growing so fast and you're going to new horizons.
00:23:37
Speaker
But it can be very exciting for those that like that and it can be very rewarding financially and personally and professionally
00:23:47
Speaker
Thank you for that message of how to look for the right opportunity, whether it's through growth or finding, you know, trying to build wealth. I imagine through stock options. And finally, I love that you brought up AI. We're going to come back to that because I definitely want to get your opinion of what you think is in the future or if you're even using it now. So I'm putting a pin in that. We're going to come back to that. The last question that I do want to ask about your time working in corporate America. What was your proudest achievement or accomplishment?
00:24:20
Speaker
That is a great question. Um, I would have to say just overall, the overall comprehensive, um, experiences and successes, right? To say that, Hey, at a very young age, I spent 25 years in a field in an industry.
00:24:44
Speaker
amongst that time, I mentioned I had 10 relocations. So what you could basically say is amongst those 10 relocations, that would be 10 or more, uh, promotions, right? And the learning, the growing and the impact to these different businesses, but more importantly, the lives that I touched, right? So as a leader, being able to help people grow, develop and promote people,
00:25:10
Speaker
from a diversity standpoint, being able to give people of color an opportunity to come into an industry where they could generate higher levels of income, more learnings, more opportunity for them and their families. To me, that whole piece is what I'm probably most proud of, is the whole scope of work
00:25:34
Speaker
that happened over that 25-year period and the impact that I was able to have, the relationships that I was able to establish, the personal growth overall. Respect. Respect. Thank you for answering that.
00:25:48
Speaker
Okay, so now we're going to transition a little bit and I'd love to learn more about all of the businesses that you've built. And then also I'd love for you to tie in how some of your corporate background has given you a good foundation to be successful.
00:26:07
Speaker
So I guess we could start with maybe ColumbusBlack.com. I mean, you built a website that would connect the Black community to events going on in Columbus, Ohio. What was the inspiration behind that?
Founding and Impact of ColumbusBlack.com
00:26:19
Speaker
I mean, this was started in the 90s, correct, when the Internet was still just budding and growing. What was the inspiration behind building Columbus Black?
00:26:29
Speaker
Yes, so let me start here. Actually, so it was 2005. And I say that exactly because we're about to celebrate 18 years in less than 30 days. So super excited about that. Now, what was the inspiration behind it?
00:26:44
Speaker
To be frank, I had a number of friends, right, who had engaged me about different business opportunities. Hey, what do you think about this, this, this, this? And nothing really like caught my attention or captivated me. So I ended up on a trip with some of my line brothers. Actually, we were in Dallas and we were with a friend of ours by the name of Levita Samuel.
00:27:04
Speaker
And Levita was one of the founders of dallasblack.com. And when Levita walked me through her business model and what she was doing, I was intrigued because I felt like we needed the exact same thing here in Columbus, Ohio. Because my family and I moved to Columbus trying to get acclimated to
00:27:26
Speaker
like the city, knowing what was going on, where things were happening. If you didn't go to certain churches or if you didn't go to certain stores and got a certain newspaper at that time, you had no idea what was going on, right? Especially new entities, but getting acclimated and getting comfortable and building the network was a challenge. Well, that's what I saw Dallas Black helping to close that gap. And I said, man, if we could do this in Columbus and literally
00:27:51
Speaker
within 30 days after coming back from meeting with her. She literally sat me down and said, this is how it works. This is the model. And if you need me, call me. And I came back in 30 days later, Columbus black.com was up and running. I have found a developer.
00:28:06
Speaker
I have flyers created. I had spoken to a pastor at the time, which is Bishop Timothy J. Clark at First Church of God. And I had talked to a number of my fraternity brothers here, got some input and some wisdom as we talk about mentorship and guidance. And they gave me the lay of the land and the market and the opportunity and what I could do. And 30 days later, man, I was on the street passing out flyers. The website was up. So I went in. I was passionate about it. And the thing about it is that
00:28:35
Speaker
It took a while because Columbus is different from an adoption perspective than Dallas is clearly. So it took a while to get it up and going where people started to appreciate the value of it. But that was the inspiration behind it to answer your question. Gotcha. And I guess the proceed money, when you're building the business, how much do you think that you invested into Columbus Black to build that?
00:29:01
Speaker
Ooh, that's a great question at that time, because as we call it now, we didn't call it that back then. I had no idea what bootstrapping was at that time, right? He just started a business. You figured it out. You came up with some money on your own. Now, the good part is it wasn't
00:29:20
Speaker
Overly expensive, but I would have to say to get the business started, it probably costs, as I go back, I can't remember, man, to be frank, but it probably cost me a few thousand dollars to get everything up and running. I mean, the website developed, the flyers printed in and getting them out on the street. All of that, probably a few thousand just to get going.
00:29:40
Speaker
But then there was a significant capital investment over the years in managing and running the business and trying to get it to even generate revenue because people didn't get the model or the value of it from the start. It took a while. I'm going to be frank with you. It took 15 years.
00:30:00
Speaker
15 out of the 18 took 15 years before we believe that there was a community-wide, and I mean amongst different ethnicities, community-wide appreciation of Columbus Black. And that was after the murder of George Floyd that people understand the value of having a platform like ColumbusBlack.com.
00:30:23
Speaker
And we saw noticeable impact, obviously revenue wise, because of that. More people wanted to advertise, more people wanted to promote, more people wanted to support or advocate, because it's like the light bulb finally went off. So there was a lot we did in the earlier years to build the brand, to get support, but it wasn't as broadly accepted as it is today.
00:30:46
Speaker
Now, on the fifth side of that, because of the tensions that we have in our country right now, we have never seen as much negativity around Columbus Black as we have in the past either. But there are so many people that are negative about the name itself, not understanding the value of what we do, not just for Black folks.
00:31:06
Speaker
but for everyone because we provide information, content, exposure, opportunities, marketing, promotion, job opportunities, you name it, but people don't see it that way. They look at a name and they either love it or they hate it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, 15 years, you know, I know most people don't think that businesses are built overnight, that it does take time, but 15 years is pretty significant. What kept you going?
00:31:35
Speaker
Well, that's an even better question, because there were times where the decision was made, and Sherry could attest to this, so that's my wife. So there were times where we were looking to literally wind down Columbus Black, and that was primarily due to the introduction of Miles. But staying consistent and continuing on is literally based off the people.
00:32:00
Speaker
There were times where things were really, really slow, but then you would go out and someone would say, I love ColumbusBlack.com. When I first moved here to the city, and I've heard this so many times, when I first moved here to the city, that was the first platform that I was introduced to, and it changed my entire outlook. I went to this event that you all hosted. I went to this event that you all hosted. Hey, by the way, I met my wife at your event.
00:32:27
Speaker
Hey, kids, that came from the relationship that was established at one of your events, right? And when people tell you that, and not just one person, when multiple people tell you that, how do you stop? Like, you're impacting people's lives and their livelihoods, and you're literally a part of the history and the fabric of a city now,
00:32:55
Speaker
How do you just stop that unless you have to, right? So then it's like, OK, how do you monetize this for it to make sense at the same time? Because it's a business, right? It's not a hobby. This is a business. And a lot has been invested. So that's what keeps you going. And that's what kept us going.
00:33:11
Speaker
Thank you for listening to Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast. This concludes part one. Check back in on Friday for part two. But before you go, we need your help to spread our message. So please subscribe, like, and rate five stars wherever you get your podcast and on LinkedIn at Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast. Thank you.