EXPERIENCE 117 | Samson Jagoras and Darius Bell - Clearly Acquired & Pain to Profits Podcast - Funding & Equipping the Next Generation of Business Leaders

Sampson Gigs was a division one football player at cu, and soon became an early stage and key leader and eventually minority partner in Mad Wire slash Marketing 360. He used his experience in that journey to power his own ventures and understanding with many venture sense. Darius Bell came to No Sampson while he was a standout employee at Mawi and is a lifelong student of brand and marketing. Together. Sampson and Darius have created the Pain to Profits podcast and are building a business education and brokerage platform for the next generation. Clearly acquired. Their mission is to simplify business valuation and acquisition and skills development to allow a generation of independent business owners to transition to the next phase of life. They've got an event coming up in a few weeks after this podcast publishes the Sales and Lead summit on June 9th, which will be linked in the episode description. Both of these men have inspiring journeys of overcoming obstacles, and we share a conversation that's both philosophical and practical marketing trends, business and demographic opportunities, fear, love, pain, and addiction. It's all in this one, so please tune in and enjoy my conversation with Sampson Juris and Darius Bell. Welcome back to the Local Experience Podcast. I'm here today with Sampson s Yes. Right. Pretty close. Nailed it. And Darius Bell, uh, they are the, um, founder and CEO and chief marketing officer, respectively of clearly acquired, um, also the creative talent, I guess, behind the Paying to Profits podcast and all of the newsletters and events. I'm sure we'll talk about your upcoming event in June. Yep. And so, um, let's just start by saying, Samson, what you been up to lately? Well, man, a lot. I feel like, uh, what I've been up to is we are on a mission to just change the way that businesses get bought and sold for the lower middle market. And so, you know, coming from the world of marketing and technology, that's where Darius and I know each other. Mm-hmm. We, uh, we're part of a local company here called Mawi. Sure. If you guys are from Northern Colorado. So I ran strategy there for nine years and, um, learned a lot about small businesses as well as marketing and technology. And so I've been doing private equity for the past couple years. Uh, I hit up Darius because once upon a time when we were working with 25,000 small business accounts, we had this. Conversation in around how anybody can start a business, but, uh, very few people are successful at it, right? Yeah. The majority of businesses fill in the first two years, and so less than 4% of businesses ever make it to a million dollars in top line revenue. Is that right? And so I called Darius and said, Hey man, I got this idea for a couple different things. One this podcast where we can bring on entrepreneurs and actually share the wisdom in and around what it takes to go from pain of starting up to, to profits, right? Yeah. And so there's, therein lies the name of the podcast, uh, that's evolved into a newsletter, an events platform. You know, as entrepreneurs, we do a really terrible job of walking together and learning from each other. And we're heads down, plus speak for yourself. Yeah. Local think tank guy, whatever. But you know, we did a really hard time. We, but it is, it's a lonely place. It's lonely and you're grinding constantly and um, and you sometimes aren't spending enough time leveling up and the market changes quick. Right. Especially in the world of marketing and technology and what's evolving around us as we kind of. Exit out of the last a hundred year cycle, baby boomers are stepping down from the helm and millennials are stepping up as the largest segment of the workforce. And yeah. And the largest segment that's starting businesses and buying businesses. So, long story short, that's, you know, evolved into clearly acquired.com, where we're building a, you know, finance, embedded tech solution and marketplace to help buyers and sellers come together by way of talent and technology. So we got, currently, we got nine going on, 10 m and a advisors on our team. We're in a sprint towards our mvp. We're aggregating public business listings from across the web. Wow. And we're pulling those into our database to make a better sourcing solution on the buy side. And obviously, you know, buying, selling business is a, a collaborative experience. Sure. But none of the platforms or the ecosystems actually support that. And so that's what our goal is, is to do that. Interesting. Mm-hmm. It seems like you spend a lot more time on your strategy than I have, not just self disparage. Well, it's also, I mean, I think, you know, what you see it's like evolved very quickly in the last probably 30, 60 days. But, you know, we've been grounded on this for yeah. Six, seven months, right? Yeah. Yeah. So what's the, uh, the, the quote, if you got 10 hours to chop down a tree, spend nine sharpening the ax. Mm-hmm. And so that's, uh, something we definitely subscribe to and that's lessons learned, right? From, you know, getting your, your key, your teeth kicked in a couple times. This is an entrepreneur, this isn't the first rodeo. Right. So I want to jump over to the Darius. Darius, what. Was this a, uh, a concept that you just immediately were ready to be like, yes, I wanna be a part of it, or Yeah. Like tell me about your reaction. Yeah, absolutely. Um, I mean, again, he mentioned at first we were talking about, he came, Hey, I have this idea. I heard the idea, I understood the idea. I see the idea. Let's sit down and put our heads together. Yeah, I'm in. You know, so it it was that simple. Yeah. Uh, yeah. It, yeah, it wasn't complicated for me on my end. Uh, he's a dear friend and I trust him and I know the way he thinks, uh, and vets things and, you know, if there's something he's gonna pursue, he thinks about it from multi directions, you know, so it's not just some like, Hey, I have this idea. Let, let's, I have this idea, let's go. And, you know, no, it's like he thinks about it. Yeah. And so, um, and, and we, he creates a space for me to think about it with him. And so that's what we do. And so, if I understand it right, painted profits, uh, is like, to some extent a, a marketing base camp for what ultimately will be kind of a, a, an integrated marketplace with access to capital and consulting mm-hmm. For a business exchange. Yeah. That's kind of the getting there. Yeah. It's close terminology might change, but yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's associated and the people who we serve through clearly acquired, um, They will find value in what we're doing with paying the profits. Yeah. Yeah. And so are you also, I I think, I sense that the size of businesses that are ready for acquisition is maybe gonna be getting smaller than it has been in the past or something. Or, or I mean, or not necessarily. I mean, I think there's a lot of the, the segment that we play in is what we would call the sme, the small to medium size enterprise to the lower middle market. So one to 5 million would be like the small to medium size. Yeah. Yeah. Anything south of a million would be considered a main street business. Yep. And so those come with our own struggles to sell. Right? Like, so think about like a dance studio doing$200,000 a year. You got a very specific owner operator who wants to buy the business, you're geographically constrained. Right? Versus if we're taking a$22 million year top line business that's electrical contractor guy's, you know, 65 years old, 70 years old, and ready to retire, and, uh, a guy from say Denver wants to come up and get market share in northern Colorado, he can buy that business for 12 and a half million. Right. So how do we help that guy, uh, finance that deal, put that deal together, help that owner exit, understand it's there. Exactly. Right. So, you know, coming from the world of, of real estate private equity, which is what I've had been doing for quite a while, you know, we drive down the street and everybody sees the same building. They see the same piece of dirt. Everybody's chasing the same opportunity. Nice silent sneeze. Impressive. Perfected it over the years, he might have given himself an aneurysm. Don't we? Don't do that around here. Oh. But, um, but yeah, so the, uh, you know, so helping the, helping the lower middle market and, and creating a more efficient part of that market, anything from like a million to 50 million is pretty inefficient at the moment. Mm-hmm. And so that's the goal. Got'em. Dude, it's allergy season. It has been terrible. It might have some Benadryl in there. Uh, no, I'm really gonna be out. Right. Benadryl, I shot at tequila and a couple betters. But, you know, one of the things about Darius, um, and one of, I guess one of my skillsets is write people right seat. Right? And so Darius is just very skilled, knowledgeable, passionate about the world of marketing strategy content. And he can see kind of around the corner on how things are changing. Mm. And so very proactively, you know, we've been building a, a strategy, uh, that's rooted in brand and content. And so, you know, that's why I reached out to him initially is because he just understands that. Yeah. But we also align on our core values, you know, of, of what we believe, right? We believe that, um, you know, everything that we do belongs to the Lord and to God. And so we align on that message. We believe that, you know, God wants us to be entrepreneurs and, and to make more impact and add value to the marketplace. And, uh, we can have a lot more impact from. The market than we can ever from a stage on Sunday. And so, um, you know, we we're gonna influence 10,000 people in our life whether we like it or not. Hmm. And, uh, and we just choose the, share, the, what we feel is the good news to the marketplace. Yeah. Because we feel like it's missing. And so, so are you, are you, uh, overtly, uh, Christian organization, front facing or more behind the scenes? I've never really seen those things. It's two different things. Right. It's just the way that I operate, right. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's just the way that I am. Right. Uh, I mean, uh, our, it's, it's in our core values right? Of, you know, entrepreneurialism is a gift from God. People are the creator of pro creators of prosperity. Right. And so, um, yeah, that's interesting too because it's like, well, you're a Christian business. Well, well, what's an atheist business? Yeah. What's that mean? Right. Right. What's a Buddhist business? Right. You know, um, what does that mean? Yeah. I don't, I don't understand. It's just, it, it helps dictate what our, how our moral compass and our business ethics role. Right. I had a, a customer tell me one time, um, actually he saw my necklace and he is like, oh, are you a Christian, Curtis? Which I suppose shame on me for him knowing me for over two years and not knowing that. Not knowing that. Um, and, uh, and I said, you know, yeah, I, I'm not a, a super evangelist, but I have been for, you know, 10 years plus now or whatever. And he is like, well, you know, I, um, I don't, I know a lot of Christians, but one thing I do know about business is that if somebody says, you can trust me, I'm a Christian. I cannot trust that person. Well, yeah. Just cuz you put it on your card doesn't mean Yeah. And so I, I appreciate your notion of, you know, walk it as much as you talk it or more. I think if you, I think if you have to say it, you're probably doing it wrong. Um, that was an old Margaret Thatcher quote when the, uh, when I think, uh, the BBC or NPR or whatever quit Twitter, uh, Margaret Thatcher said back in the day, um, being a lady is a lot like being powerful. If you have to tell people that you are, then you are not. Yep, that's right. Yeah. Oh, man. That, that can go many directions. Yeah, that's true. So yeah. So, but yeah, so we, I think, you know, when you, when you go to form a partnership, and I've experienced the, the, the negative end of not having a core value alignment with a partner and Yeah. What that looks like. And it's, it's tough, you know, but one of the things that is, is rooted in what we believe is just extreme personal accountability in every way, shape, or form. Mm-hmm. And so you need that, right? You need that trust to be able to say, Hey, the lane, as it relates to marketing, I'm very strategic and I have a lot of knowledge and expertise. Mm-hmm. But I can't simultaneously be the guy that's building the brand, leading the sales team. Right. You know, organizing all the people, handling legal contracts, raising money, doing all that stuff, and simultaneously be the guy that's waking up and going to sleep thinking about how we're gonna generate lethal. Right. So tell me about this, uh, group of m and a consultants or whatever that are attached, or at least loosely attached to, uh, to the organization. What are their, what skill sets are they bringing? Are they kind of initial investors that are willing to No, they, these are, these are people who come from the profession of, you know, commercial real estate. Maybe they were business brokers in the past, or advisors in the past come from the world of private equity, MBA grads. Um, they have acumen in the space of, in and around how deals come together, how to actually value businesses. And so, you know, there's, there's some technology platforms out there that are great micro acquire, flip a, they're focused on SaaS and they're focused on websites and, and blogs. Um, but they're trying to cut the broker out. And so if you have a, let's just use an example, a trash roll off company, right? That's doing 2 million a year. Top line, they have 2 million in assets, um, and they have 500,000 in solar discretionary earnings. That's a little more complicated than say, a SaaS product, which is what's your monthly recurring revenue, right? Right. How many users do you have and what's the multiplier? What's the growth rate? That's a lot easier to value, right? And so you need good advisors to help these sellers. Facilitate the transaction. They don't know what m and a attorneys to talk to. They don't know how to size the deal to be sold. They don't know how to value it. They don't know what due diligence documents they need to get in order or how to even get their, their house in order or, or maybe that they're not even aware that they run the risk of being faced with a very heavy earnout because they haven't actually removed themselves from the day to day as much as they think they should. Is that your client ultimately is the sellers of these businesses? Yeah. Correct. And, and, and the buyers. Buyers, yes. But both. Yeah. We're, you know, in the world that's who you serve more than anything though, is getting sellers businesses ready to sell and then helping them accomplish that? Yeah, it's, it's actually both. I mean, in the world of, in the world of brokering, they would called it building a market, right? So in the world of residential real estate, that market already exists, right? So you put a house on MLS and you just go to sleep, and then you get, you get people showing up, right? Yeah, yeah. But when you go to sell a business, yeah. When you go to sell a business, right? It's like you have four different types of buyers. You have financial buyers who are just interested in buying it as an asset. You got industry buyers who are looking for an acquisition. Yep. Strategic buyers wanna expand their reach, and then owner operators, right? Mm-hmm. So how do you identify those people and build a campaign, sell a marketing campaign to go. Call, reach out and market the business. Right. And so that's an, that's like the brokering piece of it. Mm-hmm. But the rest of it is everything that comes together to get it prepared to go to, it's not as simple as just like, I'm ready to sell. I took some staging photos and I plugged it on the mls. Sure, yeah. It's a lot more complex. No. Especially when people are so integrated into their business, as oftentimes is the case. Yeah, exactly. They spent, you spent 30, 40 years growing a business. That's hard. Yeah. Selling a business is even harder. You don't even know where to start. So you guys worked together at Wire I Trust then? Yeah. Yeah, we did. I hired Darius. Oh, way back when. Yeah. We were sitting in the, what, the, the, what's the outlets? The outlets. We were talking and he was like, Hey dude, you, you should come try sales. Like, I've been talking about myself this whole time. Yep. He's a very good question asker. Yeah. Good. So I hired him and just, you know, saw the potential in him and he came in and did sales, did marketing, then moved to brand and ran the podcast at Mad Wire for a while, and then broke off on his own and was doing his own thing. Yeah. Yeah. When we reconvened. So it's, so are we talking about Mawi? What happened there and why so much talent fled and stuff? Or is that better left for another conversation? I mean, it's not necessary. I don't know if, yeah. I don't know if talent necessarily fled, but I think it's just the ebbs and flows of growing and scaling a business. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's, people can say what they, it's like, I call it like, uh, It's like the armchair quarterbacks right? Looks, looks real good from over here. But you try it. Very few people in this community can sit down and say that they scaled the business from zero to a hundred million in top plan revenue to acquisitions and 600 employees. So yeah, say what you will, but none nobody's ever been to the big show before. Fair enough. So the truth is nobody's perfect either, right? Like yeah. Yes. There's consequences in decision making and leadership that, you know, it's obvious, right? Yeah. You can just look at your own life and realize you're not that different from the person. Yeah. No, that's what I was, you know, uh, all the worst things that have ever happened to me in my life, I did it to my damn self. Yeah. You know? Uh, and maybe that's, you know, I'm probably living a blessed life if that's what you can say. Right? Like, there's a lot of people that that is not true. Yes. Some terrible things have happened to them that weren't their fault. Yep. The one thing I will say is I think very few people in life set up with bad intentions. And so yeah, here in our community, people can say what they want or think what they want, but there isn't, there aren't people in that organization still to this day, even though we're not there, that. The very few people wake up saying, I'm gonna go do ill today. Right. Egregious act upon people. Some do some mise in this. Yeah. Whether or not it happens or the outcomes are whatever people think they are. Yeah. Very few people, you know, set out every day to go do the worst. You know, I think, I think what's unique too, though, and, and this is what nobody understands about the agency model. Like we started out as a marketing agency, and so when you're sitting there and you're working with 30, 40, 50 accounts, they're all to figure out what they need. And all business owners, you're learning a lot. Total, yeah. Concentration. And you're also coming across people constantly where you're like, if this freaking guy can run a business like I can too. And so, but you walk outta there with a ton of skills because I, I would venture to say that of the people listening to this, very few of them can confidently say that they can set up a Facebook campaign, an Instagram campaign, a LinkedIn campaign, an email marketing, run up marketing automation, social media campaigns, understand how to sell right? Understand how to do all the things that build, generally build business. Pro business owners have to hire somebody. And this is why you're seeing so many. People from the marketing industry go off to be entrepreneurs. Yeah, yeah. Because they have an innate understanding of how marketing influences sales, product service growth, operations, and ultimately finance and the vision for the, for the business. And so part of, part of it is just the nature of the industry in general. People leave and Right. Don't pursue entrepreneurship. You can't be around it that much. And Well, and like using a local think tank as an example, we've got, you know, two full-time near full-time employees. One's the marketing manager, one's kind of the digital manager website, podcast producer, and like to expect one or one and a half marketing people to be able to cover all the things and be experts at all the different things. And so that's why it's tempting to hire an agency, right? Yep. But then, you know, that rep has got 30 or 40 or 50 businesses that they're trying to tap all the balloons and keep'em off the ground and whatever. Yeah. And so that's hard too. Yeah. But they do at least get concentrated knowledge. A hundred percent. You drink from the fire hose, that's for sure. Yeah. And that's part of why we went down the route while we were there of solving by way of tech. Right? Right. How do you do what everybody's seeing happen right now? Leverage AI in order to Right. Let one person be able to have more bandwidth because yeah, we don't have the infinite bandwidth. It's definitely a challenge. It's a lot. Um, to know, to do, to handle, to manage this guy know very, very well. Uh, he, no, he was, you ever met him many hats there? Sounds like. Yeah. He, he managed 40 accounts before he knows what stuff feels like. Yeah. I, I had 118. I'm pretty sure not all of'em obviously were, you know, doing it, but Yeah. You know, between like your hosting and website and Yeah. Yeah. So, so 118 accounts. Yeah. So yeah, I mean that's a lot opinions. They're, yeah, just opinions and experience. There's a difference between opinion and experience. Well, it's hard. Um, you know, do you know about Vistage? Have you been around advisory? You've heard about it. I've never been a part of it, but yeah. So Vistage has got a very similar model, but they really prefer that their chairs, what they call'em, have at least two, maybe three groups of up to 16 members. And we generally have, our facilitators do one group of 12. And one of the reasons that I think I've been able to attract such great facilitators is cuz maintaining 45 relationships in-depth. That's hard. Like, that's too much for most people unless you're doing it full-time. Right, right. And, and, and that's the thing. You don't, but you don't really want to work full-time. If you're really well qualified and you don't really need a job, why would you wanna work full-time and struggle at it? Yeah. And so I've kind of been a, had a shift of my mentality. Like that's really a, a strategic advantage for me and loco think tank cuz I don't ask our facilitators to try to have 45 relationships. Smart. You can have 10 smart. Yeah. You know, and, and really enjoy those 10 instead of really, I. Barely scratching the surface of 40. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Smart, smart. Um, and I don't know if I'm thinking about the same thing from a marketing standpoint or whatever, whatever we focus on, right? Yeah. I mean, I think it's the hardest part of, you know, scaling a business is hard and, uh, you know, you're, you're, there's a difference between growing and scaling. And so sometimes you, you need to add people in order to grow, um, but you're actually not getting more efficient. Your top line's going up. Yeah, yeah. But you're not make getting more profitable. In fact, you're just carrying more fica, you're carrying more insurance, you're carrying more things, right. That actually start to drag the bottom line. And Yeah. Sometimes it takes a while before you figure that out. And when you get to that size and scale, you have that many people. Sometimes you, yeah. It doesn't adjust easily. It doesn't adjust. It's like the ship gets bigger, but then when you realize you've made the mistake, it's like, oh man, we gotta move quick. Cuz if not, you start bleeding out the back end and so, right. You know, so it's, yeah, it's just, but candidly for me, it was the greatest experience ever because I got to grow up as an entrepreneur inside of a fast growing company. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. So, you know, you build five departments, you hire north of 400 people, you, you get a lot of experience Real quick. So let's talk about some of the, the trends. Maybe I'll get you back on the stage a little more. Darius, what are those around the corner trends in marketing? What are the things that, that you guys are doing to differentiate and get attention, but also that every small business, you know, almost, I would say over three quarters of our listeners are, yeah. Active small business owners, like what are they not doing that they need to be thinking about? You know, I, I don't, I don't generally speak on trends a whole lot just cuz they change fast and don't chase trends. But, uh, I think the one thing that people need to accept if you're in business and as it relates to marketing communications, anything that involves your message, uh, is you gotta communicate more. Hmm. Um, and by communicate more, uh, I don't necessarily mean the running of advertisement, um, not ads, but I think you have to get comfortable accepting that there are people within my organization that have thoughts and opinions and feel and they're trying and they're learning and they're developing skills. And that needs to be the form of communication. You know, so for example, one of the things we're doing with clearly, um, people will see this, that over the next year, uh, we have a, a plan in place to where I think people are gonna be like, wow, these guys are communicating a lot. A lot. Yeah. Uh, and the thing is, is because it's necessary, because what's happening on the macro stage, in my opinion, is our consumers are, are, are being driven to evaluate companies, service and product providers based on values. Hmm. More than they were seven years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Um, you have a public, you know, in a macro sense, just keep it within the states. You have people longing for trust. We have trust. Trust is at an all time low. Yeah. Across so many different sections. Just came back from the BBB torture awards, right? Mm-hmm. Uh, better Business bureau. Yeah. Yeah. So like there, you know, so these indicators of trust, the empowerment of the technology, um, you know, citizen journalism, so many different things. And so like you, you have this technology piece, you have this social, you know, philosophical sort of crisis of leadership and all these things, and all that points to is that businesses have to be willing to say, here's who we are. Here's what we think, here's what our people are up to. You know, here's what we're passionate about. Here's some real stories where we made a difference. Here's what we don't likewhatever, here's what we don't like. Here's what we, you know, we, we're not fans of this. We're fans of this. This is what John is doing. This is what SU is doing. We're, you know, do you risk, like sometimes when people communicate with me too much, I unsubscribe. See, but you're, you're thinking about, you're thinking about permission marketing, right? So if we connect, so yes, if I start emailing you without permission every single day, like, guess super annoying. But if you knew what you were signing up for, right? If you decide to connect with me and follow me on social and I post content. Yeah. Right. So here's the stat that'll blow your mind, that 90% of the people who are on social media are just consuming. Mm-hmm. 9% are engaging in the comments. And only 1% are creating. So if you want to be a top 1% producer, then you better do what the top 1% are doing. Everybody's worried about, oh, I'm gonna get judged by the 9%. But what they don't realize is people don't engage, and so they won't actually experience the results. My mom is just a lurker. She never comments. She never likes, you know, they won't experience the result though, until they show up to the meetup and all of a sudden they go, Kurt, I love your content. And you're like, this guy never likes any of the stuff that I put out. It's because they are just consuming. Yeah. Yeah. And so what marketing has evolved to over the last 10 years is everybody's looking for this shortcut hack on how they can get the quickest from point A to point B. Mm-hmm. But they're forgetting the long game. They're not making the investment in building up their brand by way of content and telling a story about what you believe and what you know. Trust is built on the back of four things. Integrity, intent, capability, and results. 90% of the research process is done before the customer ever speaks with you. So you're, there's a conversation happening about your business that you don't get to participate in, unless, of course, you're creating content. And if you're creating content, then you get to be a part of the conversation. They're not gonna gauge, they're not gonna, they're not gonna tell you it's happening, but it will affect persuasion when you get on that meeting or that call. They trust you more. Mm-hmm. Are you even gonna create content for like, the sellers of these businesses and stuff to help them potentially Businesses tough that Mark. It's discreet, right? So you gotta be discreet, but we are leveraging our employees. I'll let him talk on that a little bit. I was gonna say, um, just to go back to what Yeah, please. Sorry, I didn't mean to is I'm a scroll chaser. You know what I'm saying? When I'm saying like, communicate more, I'm not just saying like, do more, what I'm saying is, what I'm actually implying is that you're capable, humans are complex creatures, yet we're also kind of simple at the same time. Right? But let's just say this is random Podcast Inc. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, typically you should probably be working in hiring and bringing people into your organization who you do align with based on your core values. Okay. And those types of things. You shouldn't be bringing people into your organization who, um, are radically on the other side of the spectrum. That's a recipe for disaster. Okay? But the people that you bring into your organization, uh, and the people who represent your organization, they have thoughts, they have opinions, they have feelings. They're doing things, they have side hustles and projects and things that are motivating them and key relationships and all these things. Fair and all you have to do, um, to oversimplify to say, It's okay for you to share what you're doing. It's okay for you to share what you think. I'm not worried about how it's going to impact the company. I, I'm not, you know, you know, right now it, it's, uh, part of why people don't create content is cuz they have to worry about the consequences. Mm-hmm. They have to worry about, oh, that's my boss. That's my boss gonna say, yeah. You know, but if you look at, for example, like if you look at Gmail, Gmail is the byproduct of employees being let loose to do what they want to do. Gmail. Oh, really? Yeah. Yep. Google had, what do they, what do they call that? The, I, I don't remember the term, but basically they just said, Hey, you get an, a whole day to just create whatever you want. Huh. And that's where Gmail was born is really a couple engineers were like, before that Hotmail existed in Yahoo, but what's different about Gmail? But, but that's an awareness. But from the Google standpoint, that's an awareness that our people who work within our company, um, based on the kind of people that they are, based on their skillsets and their values, more than likely they like to do other things. So why won't we let them do, why, why wouldn't we support them doing other things? Hmm. Right? So why wouldn't we support something that they're passionate about? Um, Yep. We always say, you know, so that's when we say communicate more, you know, it's like you are already communicating, first of all, you're communicating with your coworkers, ah, I hate this job. My da, you know, well, you know, maybe don't go post that, but don't say the point is, you know what I'm saying? It's like you, you, technology has enabled us to communicate in ways we've never been able to, you know, you don't have to get in front of the camera, you don't have to dance on TikTok. You don't have to, you, you know, he writes 10 posts a day on LinkedIn, you know, and it is like, that's his lane. He loves, he, he just is just shining there, right? Yeah. And so, but he's not on TikTok doing this or making, you know, trying to bet nobody wants to bu you, uh, bu and more of it Yeah. Whether it's you or you or the company or some of your consultants or advisors, but the reason, your vibe attracts your tribe, right? Yeah. And so you gotta be creating content and, and small business owners are missing the mark because they're missing out on the fact that it's a recruiting tool. People wanna work for people that they know, like, and trust. Mm-hmm. It's a customer attraction tool, right? It's a brand tool. Right? If, if there's conversations happening about you, then you, that you can't be privy to, then you need to be creating content that shows up. And guess what? There's two types of businesses, those that have bad reviews, and those that will, and if you don't have any bad reviews, then you just haven't done much yet. Mm-hmm. So, The only thing you can, I don't have any bad reviews yet. You can control your reputation, right? You can get out there and control your reputation by telling the narrative and the story, because you don't, 87% of your, even if you get a few bad reviews, then it doesn't tell the story. 87% of your happy customers are willing to share good reviews about you, but nobody ever asks upset customers. You don't gotta ask them. They'll gladly go tell the world plus 20 of their friends, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. You, you look at it just from a cultural perspective, like people are longing for trust, right? Then you have the other side where people are like, I'm afraid of saying something or being a certain way because of the consequences, but it's, it one plus one equals two. So that means that in the middle of that, it's the brave individuals who are willing to just say like, Hey, here's what I think. Here's my take on this. I had this idea, I did this, that are gonna be positioned to, um, to do whatever they want to do, because the people who are saying, I'm, I'm longing for something on the trust. Hey, I see that guy over there who's doing something now. So like Tucker Carlson is what I feel like you're talking about this guy. I mean, exactly. He's perfect picture. That's why he attracted such a big following is people are like, I can trust what Tucker tells me. He's going, he's no BS man. He's gonna be on, and, and so we, we think, just to sum it all up, put a little ball on this. We think that creators mm-hmm. People who create content, We will be the winners facts in the next era of business. And those that do not will be left behind. I mean, if you guys aren't following what we, what is called are known as SM b Twitter, it's literally small business owners on Twitter who are building massive followings. Yeah. They're making more money from Twitter and then building their brand than they are from running their business. Interesting. And it's leading to acquisition opportunities. It's leading to recruiting and people want to come work for those people. It's leading to brand and trust. Are these online businesses or No, we're talking hvac. Many, uh, it's a storage facilities. Yeah. I mean, there's some, the big accounts, I've noticed a few people that have like these weird followings and even I, I've followed this YouTube channel called Srk Cycles. Oh. And he, he was a motorcycle broker up in Michigan somewhere or something like that, and just would do like road test reviews on the different bikes that he picked up on the auction or whatever. And Oh, this is my first time on the Honda Run. Yep. Its balls out, you know, and, but doing all these really good videos and now he does bikes and beards and I think he's developed basically kind of a, a YouTube influencer personality point where he doesn't wanna screw around with brokering motorcycles anymore. He doesn't, does it have to, and I'm not saying you need to go be an influencer too. I don't want to deter people from that, but I just think that. But he built such a brand, like he got his broker so big that he kind of had a brand after that. Well, you remember back in the early two thousands, right? And call it 2008, 2009, it was all about seo, search engine optimization. Right? Right. Content is the new seo. Hmm. All the algorithm algorithms are favoring the real-time content. They're favoring authority, they're favoring people who have their own original thought about what they're posting. Does podcasts help in that space? Yeah, a hundred percent. That's why you're doing it. A hundred percent. Yeah. Absolutely. But not everyone needs to create a podcast. I mean, right. Yeah. It should be authentic to you or whatever. Pick a platform and start there. You know, like, just get good. But I, I think that there, there's no way to get better at it than just to do it. Yeah, absolutely. And the future is just, I mean, he said it, if you're not creating, you're, you're left behind. And it's not even that. It's just the truth. It's just the truth. Because again, like these, so the internet, social media, all these things, technology, this technology that we are so dependent upon is built ultimately for decentralization. Mm-hmm. Sure. So what that means is you're funneling down into small groups and communities. Mm-hmm. So it's not these centralized figures anymore. Right. These big pillar institutions. Uh, so what that means is that if you want to survive, then you're gonna have to share. Yeah. Who have distinct channels? Who is my tribe? Who's my community? What are we for? Interesting. You know, like. It's just gonna be that way. Well, we talked about that trust meter kind of stuff, and the biggest institutions, right, are the ones that are trusted. The least a hundred percent business has the most trust compared to government or academia or different things. Absolutely. You got it. I mean, we can go down rabbit, you know, we were, we watched the Super Bowl and um, we were just talking about how the traditional media just missed it. Yeah. Because if they actually knew their audience, their Audi, you know, what their audience was doing at the commercial break, they were scrolling on their phone. And so if they were actually doing a better job of, of leveraging micro influencers who had their audience's attention during that time period, their money would've went probably a million times further. But they're not thinking that way because they don't understand the medium. The game has changed. And so you can keep shoving a square peg in round hole and that that's fine. But the micro influencers, like he was saying, it's about distributed. Oh, interesting. Audience. So, so, and to kind of bring it back full circle to like how we think about content in the business, These baby boomers, you know, they've been running their business since they've been at the helm since like 1983. Right? Right. And so if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Well, guess what? 1983, the internet came about 2000. The first online job came online. And so the millennial generation, who's now the largest segment of the market, who's now buying these businesses is stepping in and adding technology. Right? Brand, yeah. Marketing content, systems, processes. Hiring, recruiting, training. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I can't tell you how many times I sit down with Boomer own businesses, or at least like industries that tend to lean toward more boomers, like the trades. And it's like, oh man, I just can't find any good people. And I go, tell me about your recruiting strategy. And they're like, oh, well we, you know, we have a page on our site. I'm like, no, no, no. Right. How are you attracting them the same way you would attract a customer? Are you telling a story? Are they excited to come to work for you? Yeah. Well, and you've probably met some too, that we, we had a, a. Someone talked to us about Think Tank membership and they were trying to bring their family's business into the next level. They weren't yet managing it, but they, you know, they needed a website, they needed a Facebook page. It was, it was a trades business. Yep. And, and yet they were, they had enough long-term clients and stuff that it was actually not a financially unsuccessful business. Right. They just hadn't invested in these things that would We'll keep it that way. Yeah. What, what got you there won't keep you there. Exactly. Yeah. No, that's definitely a part of the, a part of the thing. I want to talk about the, cuz we're gonna talk about your guys' journeys and try to do that simultaneous here a little bit. Um, because I know they're separate journeys largely until Mad Wire. But, um, this summit you guys have coming up are the, what is Sales and leads. Sales and leads. Yep. Sales and leads. Summit Sales and leads. Something. Yeah. I mean, it's okay. I thought so. I was just making sure. Yeah, it's very, it's all about what we're talking about right now, right? It's about the new era of selling and, and brand building and how it's changing and how everybody's not prepared for it. Yeah. And what it means to actually build a brand, a brand's not a logo and a tagline anymore, right? It's mm-hmm. It's beyond brand. So Darius will be speaking about Beyond brand, uh, we'll talk about raw and real authenticity with Matt, she, who's a local entrepreneur. Nice. By Colorado. Nice. Yep. M and e Painting also has a leadership. Yeah. He was in POD a few months ago. Training, coaching. Yep. And then, uh, we got actually one of my other business partners in our capital group. He's still a lieutenant commander in the Navy at the highest level for explosive ordinance and defense. And he's trained in strategy in war. So he is gonna be actually be talking about leading sales teams through uncertainty and what that actually looks like and what that means. Right. And then we got Andy Neri, he is actually one of our portfolio companies. Yeah. Baseball guy. Baseball guy. Runs a game called Complete Game Cons, or runs a company called Complete Game Consulting, working specifically with benefits advisors and insurance producers on how to actually leverage content and, uh, modern day sales techniques in those niches especially, or whatever. Just in general. I mean, the stuff that he coaches is not, it's, he has a niche, but, but the business that he's building, he comes from that space, but it's relevant to everybody. And so, yeah, I mean, if you wanna level up on your sales and leads and marketing strategy then, and how do people find that? Uh, yep. Right. Find it on your website. They can, you can find it through, um, our social profiles. Okay. Um, but it's on Eventbrite, so if you happen to be on Eventbrite, our main page is on Eventbrite. You can go there and search it. Okay, cool. And it's just the pain department. So it's an in June, no, June 9th. Yeah. Friday, June 9th, half day. Okay. It's gonna be great. Entrepreneurs, salespeople, their teams food. Networking right here in Northern Colorado. All the good stuff. Yeah. It's gonna be great. Cool. You know, it's, it's interesting. As we're talking, I'll make sure this comes out. I, I'm gonna have to bump you ahead of a few people, but I'll Yeah. I'll before this. Thanks Gary. You can just drop the clip too, you know, maybe. Yeah, right. Clip. Uh, you know, it's interesting as we're we're talking about what we're just talking about, I keep, I wanna make sure I, I share this, I keep thinking about, are you familiar with, if I was to say, what's the hottest sports drink in the world right now? Do you know? What would it be? Um, not necessarily. I think there's, well that, that kill water or something like that, but it's just water. I think that is like, like the liquid death. You mean liquid death? Yeah. So it's water, but the, the hottest sports drink in the world right now is a, a drink called Prime. Oh yeah, I saw it. It's Prime a little bit. I haven't had one yet. It, it's, the creators of Prime are two young men in their late twenties, um, who between the two of them have followings of probably 40 million people. Oh, okay. And they're going to overtake Gatorade. No shit. That has millions and millions of dollars of spin in. Right. And as part of Coca-Cola company strategy, they're going to overtake. They're going, they're going, they're the now the official sports drink of the ufc. Yep. Gatorade's about to become the next blockbuster. Right. Really? Yeah. Well, it, but the point is, how did they do that? Oh, they made content. Well, they made content about whatever they felt like. Hmm. They built an audience that no liked and trust them. Their vibe attracts your tribe. Yeah. And when you have an audience, you can sell whatever you wanted to. Like that they could Oh, I have, they can make soap I have or whatever. I really, I really want to create a sports string and see if we can do this. Would you guys be before that? Right? Yeah. You got 40 million people like, yeah, we'll do it. Right. You know? Well, it's kinda like Rogan being part of on it. Right? Right. Like with Rogan's voice advertising on it. All the shit outta whatever he wants Mr. Mr. Be chocolate. Well, and it's because his audience, his audience, Rogan's audience knows how serious he takes him. Yep, yep. His values. Yep. So if he supports on it, we're gonna be on it, you know? Right, right. If he thinks Alpha Brainin is good, shit, we're gonna try it. He probably gets a higher premium than a lot of podcasts, even on a per download because his authenticity factor is higher, kind of. And that's, that's why he's winning because your vi Right. Ron r wins. Right. And so, yeah, and I don't mean to belabor it, but I think it's just important for your, your listeners being fellow entrepreneurs and business minded people to understand that, you know, we're talking about content, we're talking about all these things, but it's just, and how do you do that? Not to shift it kind of, but, but like it's online. But a lot of these companies that you guys are talking about are delivering goods and services locally. You know, they're, they're laundromats or they're, you know, they're trucking companies or they're, I'll give, I'll give you an example effect. I'll give you an example. I have, one of the businesses that I own is a private training facility. Mm-hmm. We have 16 trainers. We got 8,000 square feet, and the average boutique gym in our space probably does 400,000. We'll clear. 1.2 million. How do we do that? We barely spend any money on paid media. How do we do that? Every single one of our employees trainers has a scorecard metric to create a certain amount of content, to host a certain number of events. Yeah. And to get out in the community and do a certain amount of FaceTime in order to build their personal platform. And we communicate to them. And if they don't wanna do that, then this isn't the gym for you. We, and we communicate to them that the gym is simply a platform. You are actually the product, you're the brand. They are buying you. They're not buying us. Hmm. But we've hired you because you align with our core values. So we trust that you can go out and represent the brand well. Right. And so that's how you do it. Hmm. People are overthinking it like our average customer does at a gym. Like that person won't drive further than seven to 10 miles. So we're dominating seven to 10 miles, obviously. Yeah. Right. So you can do that as an HVAC contractor. You can do that as a plumber. You can do as a roofer. You can do it as a boutique shop. You know, it's the, the problem is, is people treat it like a. An event like, oh, I created content a couple times this week and it didn't work. Yeah. Compared to what that's like going to the gym a couple times and be like, I don't have a six pack yet. Yeah. But I don't, one, one of the things we talk about often is how there, there are no rules when it comes to creating. Like I was just thinking in my mind, this may not even be a great idea, but I'm like, if, if Loco think Tank wanted to grow, um, having more chapters with some of the, with some of the best, you know, business facilitators, there are, I take all my facilitators and I'd go walking through the neighborhoods where the business people are more likely to live and I'm connecting with families and people and telling them what we're doing. I didn't even create a piece of content. I'm just going out to show people, Hey, I'm communicating. We're here. Yeah. And you're probably gonna stumble upon five people that have built. Some significant businesses in somewhere in this state that you didn't know that you weren't gonna reach with an ad you weren't gonna reach by, you know, some other route. Yeah. Right. But the point is, like there is no rules is just go and try to help somebody go and try to encourage somebody. Go and try to educate somebody. Go and try to make someone laugh. Go and try to be curious with someone and get their input on an idea you had go and, I don't know, say, Hey, I'm learning this to, it doesn't matter. So yesterday morning I went to the, uh, good Samaritans, uh, home, just around the corner from you guys' gym there and whatnot. And, uh, I, I spoke to the men's breakfast on invitation from somebody that I met. Five years ago. Yeah. And they like loco think tank and stuff. And I'm telling this group of 25, it's independent living, so they're pretty high functioning, you know? Yeah. And, uh, strong handshakes on all of'em and stuff and tell'em about loco and this and that, and halfway into it through it, the uh, uh, guy sitting just to my right was like, oh, my son has the, the Kirk Eye Center in Loveland. And, and I was like, well, he might wanna be a member, especially if he's thinking about expansion and things like that. And he is like, he is. Yeah. I was like, oh, well, well good. You know, and I didn't, obviously, I didn't think I was gonna pull any tail from that group, you know, but I was doing it, you know, because I was invited to and I was serving and I thought it would be fun and useful. Yeah. And boom, maybe I've got a good prospect. Two guys took my cards afterward, not including him, so who knows? There you go. Yeah. And, and last thing, and then we can kind of move on. Cause we've beaten this dead horse, but I It's cool. We're so passionate. We're just so passionate about it. And Yeah. And this is, this whole pot is about helping small businesses, right? And so there's nothing, I've been in that space for over 10 years working specifically with small businesses and I'm, nobody's more passionate about that than I am, I think. And so I tell you, um, yeah, but you are the Yoda to somebody else's Luke Skywalker story. And so a lot of the content that people do try to create is very self-serving, right? And so, yeah. Hey, if you're looking to sell your home, give me a call. Right? Right, right. It's like, well, who's that for? Right? So you gotta add value to the marketplace. And that's the easiest way to avoid, you know, feeling kind of grimy when you're creating content, right? Yeah. Yeah. So don't takes the pressure off. Yeah. Don't be selfish. Add value. Here's what worked for me. Yeah. That's what we always say, right? I dig it. Yeah. Um, we're gonna take a short break and then come back and hit the, the journey a little more. Let's do it right. Sure. So this is about the time we jump in the time machine and we go back to kindergarten today. Sampson, where were you in kindergarten? Kindergarten. I went to a, a little tiny Catholic school called Holy Family. Okay. And, um, and this is where, this is in, uh, Los Angeles, California. Okay. It's actually in South Pasadena, if you know where the Rose Bowl is Ish. Yeah. Yeah. Close to the Rose Bowl. So, cool. And, um, fast forward to about fourth grade. I ended up ge going outta school and homeschooling Oh. And homeschooled for my fourth grade year through my ninth grade year. Wow. And, uh, all in California still. All in California. Yep. Um, my, my parents thought that I could just get a, a better education, which they were Right. Taught me to be a self-starter. Yeah. Taught me to be a independent thinker. Um, you know, I, I always say for the love of skateboarding, I was always trying to get my school done as quickly as I possibly could so I could skate as much as I wanted to. Interesting. Okay. You know, while most kids were in school, I was getting done with school at like 12 o'clock so I could skate for four hours before. And people asking you at the park, why are you here this afternoon? Just working on my kick flip class. Okay. And how was your family dynamic, if you don't mind? Yeah. Uh, my parents were married. My parents have been married for you going 40 years now. Siblings, were they working Entrepreneurs? Entrepreneurs, yeah. Not entrepreneurs. I mean, my, my dad tried many times to start his own thing. He was a carpenter. Okay. Um, and never really broke past sole proprietorship. Yep. Um, because he's truly a craftsman. He needed somebody like me who was more business minded and sales minded to go Yeah. Get the work and facilitate the work. But he had great, great relationships. Grew up in Los Angeles. Um, my dad is a big part of my story, you know, he, when he was 13 years old, his mom died and his dad walked out. Oh, wow. And so he's been riding solo since he was 13 years old. And so, you know, he, um, did the best that he possibly could and, and is as loyal as they possibly come. And, um, Taught me about that. Right. Of just what work ethic looks like. Didn't have much to teach me on the business acumen side. I had to kind of go learn that. But between homeschooling, seeing his work ethic, you know, I learned a lot about just the grit that it takes to, to get stuff done. Yeah. When I turned, um, about 14, I found football, fell in love with football, changed my life. Uh, it was all I wanted. A good running back style, or I was a linebacker, full backer, linebacker. Okay. Fullback. Yep. Linebacker, fullback. And so I went to, uh, all, you know, great high school football player. Ended up going to the, uh, Western New Mexico University, which is a D two. Headed into my sophomore season, I decided that I wasn't happy. Took the walk on at cu and thankfully a year later got put back on scholarship. Oh, wow. And so I ended up switching to fullback when I got to CU you and got to play under, uh, Gary Barnett and then Dan Hawkins. Oh. And then, uh, I probably didn't see play football there, probably. Yeah. Yeah. I've watched a few games here and there. Yeah. Usually I'm cheering against CU at whatever. Um, before we get too far into your journey, can we shift it over to Darius? Uh, when you were a kindergartner, where were you at? Um, I don't, what, what age is kindergarten? Five or six. Like five or six? Yeah, five mostly. Uh, so yeah, tell me what, what was your family dynamic? Uh, kindergarten. I don't know. The school I was at, I feel like I, I can't remember because you moved around a lot. Your family did, or? I, I did move around a, a, a decent amount, um, family dynamic. Uh, Unstable, dysfunctional, sorry. And where were you? It was fine. Part of the, I was in Buffalo, New York. Okay. So I'm originally from Buffalo, New York. All right. Um, and I, I lived in Buffalo, New York until I was a sophomore in high school. Okay. And I moved out of Buffalo because, uh, my mother passed away my freshman year of high school and, and didn't know my pops and Wow. And my mom through, I think God's grace, uh, made a deal with my brother that basically said, you, I'm dying. Uh, I didn't know this, but she said, yeah, you know, I'm dying. His brother's older, I guess. Yeah. So, so it's a, it is part of a, a, a, I wanna hear the rest of that. I'm dying. Well, it's interesting, and I think about it when we're talking about like life stories. I'm like, eh, I don't know if I've thought about like, how much I want to divulge about like, yeah. Some of those, let's share what you wanna share. Um, honestly, um, just, but I think that's part of what, I mean, Sampson just shared about his dad and his story, and that's part of what makes you really dynamic, is that self-sufficiency to you. Yeah. So, uh, yeah. Well being, yes. So my parents, uh, both of my parents were, uh, they, they battled substance abuse, uh, like many parents in the inner city and the eighties and nineties. Uh, two thousands. Two thousands today, thousand tens. Now it's the kids. Right. Um, but so parents were, oh, no. You know, I mean, it's just real, it's just life. You know what I mean? Like, What are you, you just you and your brother? No. So, so, so my sibling breakdown works out like this. Uh, I have, so I have siblings from both of my parents, but I'm the only one from the both of them. Okay. Uh, and I have a si two siblings from my mother who are both 25 years older than me. Oh. And so my mom had me when she was like 40 years old. 41. Wow. Yeah. Uh, with my father. And then he had two other daughters, my sisters with another woman. Yeah. Um, and so, uh, yeah. So anyways, a little bit dysfunctional just based on when you're an addict, you're unstable. Yeah. What can you like? Nothing stable. Therefore, uh, if you have dependent, which me and my siblings and other people were, you don't, you know, you don't have stability. So, uh, for me, like I said, I was in Buffalo until my sophomore year and then I moved to Minneapolis to live with my older brother. Hmm. And, uh, was there for a little bit of time. And then I took a trip back to Buffalo. He had gotten there somehow. So he was in the military. Okay. And, and throughout the years, he just had a, a desire to get out of Buffalo. Um, Buffalo can be, it's, it's like you're a typical inner city, impoverished area where those type of areas tend to be, uh, they tend to suck you in. Yeah. Yeah. Keep you there. You don't have options. Like, you know, even North Dakota, even though it was, yeah, it doesn't matter. It's rural, but it sucks you in, you know, nobody really thinks that they can leave there and be successful somewhere else. Really. Yeah. Where there is lack, you typically lack the, you think you lack option options, right? Yeah. So it doesn't matter if it's North Dakota or you know, north Bronx or North Michigan, whatever. Right. Eastern, east Bronx, it doesn't matter. Right? Yeah. West Denver. Yeah. It doesn't matter. Black, white, whatever. Right. It's just part of, it's econo. It's what comes by way of economics. Yeah. And, and culture and stuff. And so anyways, uh, moved to Minnesota and then my brother moved us to a place called Farmington, Minnesota, which down southwest, right down south of Minneapolis. Yeah. Uh, but it's Farmington Farmington's, national farm, farm town, farming town. There's a pork processing plant and a bunch of soybean farmers and whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And it was cool. It was, it was, uh, it was a bit of a culture shock. Oh sure. But my best friend, two of my best friends to this day, two of my oldest dearest friends, uh, They came by way of my time in that place. Yeah. Yeah. And I lived in Worthington for a little while, which was probably about 150 miles. Mm-hmm. West of Farmington. Yep. So, so didn't know it so long. Right. Totally. Yeah. And so, you know, that was, that was life. And then I fancy myself going to a little community college to, you know, follow a girl and try to play some sports and, um, what was your sport? Uh, basketball. Yeah. Um, and then, uh, he's also a golden gloves boxer. Don't, oh, is that right? So you don't want to tussle after this? I have no interest in tussling at all. I will run away before I try to fight somebody. Yeah. Uh, yeah. I will have nothing to do with that. Hmm. But, uh, fighting is unforgiving, but at that time, yeah. Anyway. You did. Yeah. And so, yeah. And so I went, went to college, but my, my story gets a little messy in college, so my parents were addict, so I stayed away from drugs. Yeah. And alcohol. Yeah. In college, I tried drugs and alcohol and it sent me into an absolute spiral. Mm. Um, and, uh, I didn't pick my, I didn't come out of that spiral until 2012 when I got saved. Mm. And started walking with Jesus. When, when did you start the spiral? Uh, that would be 2000 and. Uh, eight. Oh, wow. Uh, 2008. And so 2007, technically because by that fall, 2007. Wow. So, uh, so 2000, so five years of just being unstable party lifestyle and whatever, unstable, were you still a college student this time? No. No. I, I ruined that opportunity very quickly. Mm-hmm. Um, I wasn't prepared for, I wasn't prepared to be in that environment. I wasn't prepared for the autonomy. Yeah. You know, everyone wants, a lot of people want autonomy, but autonomy. Autonomy means the word actually means self law. And you can desire autonomy, but if you don't Yeah. That's not freedom. That's not just like spread it everywhere. Yeah. It's not freedom. And what it actually requires is judgment. You need judgment. Yeah. In order to have a law, you need be able to have some judicial people that can handle that. Right. So mm-hmm. You're gonna be a law unto yourself. You need to be virtuous. You need to accurately be, have discernment and do all these things. I wasn't prepared for that. Hmm. Um, I wasn't prepared for that. So messed up my, my life got derailed and Jesus came and put it back on track. I want to come back to the faith journey a little bit, um, but I think it might be served to like, actually let's just stay here for a minute. That's good. Like, tell me about what, what your circumstances were, who found you, uh, other than Jesus was some, was there an encourager or somebody that believed in you when you didn't believe in yourself? Yeah. I called him my brother. His name's Adam. Okay. Um, So I met him my first day in Farmington. Oh. So check this out. So I get to Farmington High School, I get to Farmington, uh, middle school at the time. It's, it's technically, so what happened is I got put back a grade, even though I was in high school, I was a sophomore in New York. When I got to Minnesota, I got put back in the middle school and their middle school went through ninth grade. Yeah. Even though in high, in New York, high school starts in ninth grade. Right. Same as where I'm from. Right. And so, but I go into the civics classroom. I'm in Mr. Hoy's Civics classroom. I got this big old fro. Right. And it's the only fro in town, I'm pretty sure. No, no, no. Not at all. No. Okay, gotcha. Um, it's funny, people don't realize there's, there's more black people here than people think. And Fort Collins people are always like, there's only like four black people. I'm like, well, maybe 40. Uh uh, there's probably even 400 or something. Something really. But Exactly. I just, but the town I lived in Worthington, it was all, uh, Hispanics obviously. Yeah. But also then there was a lot of migrants from, uh, Laos and different mm-hmm. Things. The, the, the, what's that people group that not, not the lay oceans as much, the monks. Yeah. A lot OFMs. But then there, there wasn't, in Worthington there wasn't hardly any black s in Minneapolis there's a lot of Mung Mung people. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, so anyway, wasn't that much that rare in Farmington. Cause it was close to close to Minneapolis. I imagine. So it's Well Farmington definitely know black people. Right. That's what I was talking about. Yeah. So sitting there actually, well you're saying you had this big Afro. I'm sitting here in class, I'm in the front row and I'm sitting in the civics class and I'm like, Man, this is kind of weird, you know, like awkward nervous. And this dude taps me on my shoulder behind me and he says, uh, Hey man, you don't need to be so nervous. I'm black too. And I turn around and this dude's like blonde hair, blue eyes. And I look at him and I'm like, what do you mean? And he's like, yeah, man. My family's all from Mississippi, man. We got black people in our family. I'm I'm black man, don't worry. And, uh, he's trying to make you, that's been my guy since this day. And then, then I got another guy named Derek. Uh, they, they've been my, like, my oldest dearest friends, but they didn't drift into the same, um, Kenneth Spiral or you moved away or whatever. Yeah. So not him. Uh, so Adam, not so much. Uh, actually they both, they both had a little bit of a while outside, but, um, nonetheless things got messy when I got to college. Uh, just know, like there's nothing in terms of a story. There was, uh, it, I don't think, no specific, no crash car finally came to Jesus. Whatever happened. No, no, no. So until I got to college, uh, I was, I stayed pretty low key. Uh, and then I went wild in college, uh, took my first puff of a joint and the rest was history. And then from there was other things and Captain Morgan and everything else you can think of. Oh, yeah. And funny, I'm a, became a fan of Coors Light, and I can't stand Coors Light today. Um, but, um, yeah, so I, I, I came to know, I, I guess, I don't know where you want me to go with it, but, uh, yeah, I was just wondering about the circumstances, like. Um, a lot of people times people say they had to hit rock bottom first or Yeah. Whatever. Did somebody just invite you to church? No. And it changed your life, or like, no. So, um, I was trying to keep this brief cuz there's a lot of details in, in, in. So I came to Fort Collins in May of 2012. Oh. I came to Fort Collins because I had a dream about Adam and I, and, and I woke up from that dream to a message from Adam. Hmm. That was a deeply personal message and I didn't know God and didn't have faith and I took that as a sign. Hmm. And I was like, I'm going wherever he is. So I got here in May of 2012. Yeah. Between May and 2012 and November of 2012 is when really, um, things kind of came to faith set. Yeah. The foundation was set. Well, I, I began to look for truth. Truth, yeah. Truth became essential because I was desperate for life and peace and hope and it all culminated with Jesus being the only one who can offer me those things. Because if you look at every other worldview of religion out there, they all put the pressure on you. Yeah. To be the good person to denounce this, to stop doing this. Mm-hmm. And Jesus is the only one that says, yeah, I agree. You can't do, what do you think? That was the same dent that first got in my armor when I was in Fort Collins as a young man. About the same age probably. Um, so, so that landed you here. We're gonna shift back to Samson so we don't have too much, uh Yeah, please. Air time. But I do want to come back to that story. He's got a way crazier story than I hate that. I hate to, I I love hearing it. Cause there's, there's always little things I learned about with you, so. Yeah. Well, you can come, you can share it more next time you're on if you want to. I'm working a book. No, I'm just kidding, Sam. Um, yeah, tell me, so you went to New Mexico, Western New Mexico or something. Oh, then you transferred to cu Yeah, Western New Mexico. That's where we jumped off. Little tiny town full back at CU then? Yes. Got a re scholarshiped again. Yeah. Silver City, New Mexico, tiny town. Not a lot going on there. Yeah. Uh, then, uh, for example, my biggest class was like 50 people. My, my first class at, um, CU was 350 people. Sure. You know, and they're talking about you talk to the, to the ga. I'm like, what the heck is the, what's a graduate assistant? I don't know what that is. You know? Right. Where do they hang out? I have no idea. So, um, but yeah, I, uh, Part, part of why Colorado had family in Colorado. Okay. And, uh, I kind of knew Colorado football and then I had a girlfriend that I was dating from high school, long distance since she was here. So it was like Gotcha. University of Utah or Colorado. So chose Colorado to see if that would work out. Yeah. Got here, fell in love with it. Lived in a little tiny apartment comp, uh, uh, off campus. No car. No phone. Took the bus every day, would wake up at four in the morning to go run in the field so nobody could see me. Train eight top top Ramen and still had to make the team. Right. So I transferred with no guarantee, basically. Sure, sure. Show up. Seven people at my tryout. Three of us made the team, uh, the other two guys quit by the end of spring ball. Yeah. I was the last man standing. So, um, needless to say, it didn't work out with my girlfriend, uh, cuz she was a sorority girl of going, she was a pifi and, uh, mom and dad were paying for her to go to school. And so we had probably some different priorities, you know. Yeah. All values, man. Yeah. It was, all the kids that flunked out in my college experience had parents paying for it. Yeah. You know, the kids that maybe screwed up a little bit and then buckled down and decided to change, uh, they were paying it for themselves. Exactly. Right. Getting engaged. She, she was in, she was incredible. Don't get me wrong, I just didn't see there being like a future and I'm like, Hey, either gotta get back on scholarship or I'm going back to junior college. Right, right. Mm-hmm. And so hunker down. Well, you know, on the other side of everything that scares you. Um, are probably is everything that you've ever wanted. So yeah, six months later the obstacle is the way you got it. Six months later, I, uh, go to a wedding from one of my teammates, uh, back in New Mexico. He lived in Loveland, Colorado. Hmm. And, uh, he was a super senior. He had a couple red shirts and injuries. So he was graduating when I left and he was getting married to the woman that he met in New Mexico. Mm. And at his wedding I met his sister for the first time. Oh. And so there's a running, that's your wife now, I guess. Yep. That's a running joke cuz I always knew you had sisters. I just didn't know you had sisters, you know, like really good looking sisters. And so we hit it off and, um, the rest is history. We were 20 years old. I mean, uh, we've been together for 18, married for 14 this June. Awesome. Let's go dude. It was like one of those moments out of, um, movie. What's movie's? The wife's name? Her name's Casey. And, uh, what was it about you that let Casey give you uh, the time of day? I was persistent. She, she knew ex, she knew exactly where I stood the moment I saw her. I was not shy about it at all. It was right. Yeah. I was like white on rice, man. I was like, I wanted to just. Know her, you know, and when we hit it off, we connect her brother, she always saw her brother's friends as like stupid jocks. Yeah. And so I was a jock, but I also was raised on a heavy dose of punk rock music and skateboarding and yeah, we, we connected on a lot of music and stuff, homeschooled and probably had smarter parents than most of the teachers that teach a lot of people's kids and all that. Yeah. So, um, yeah, so we just, we hit it off on a lot of things in art, music, and Cool. And that was it, man. The rest is history. And so that Awesome. Totally changed my trajectory in life and thought I was gonna go be an orthopedic surgeon. Oh wow. Didn't have the grades for that. Fair playing, you know, playing, people don't realize you played D one football. It's like working in 80 hours a week. I thought they had people taking your test for you and shit like that. Well, no. Yeah. No, no. I just, not at your level. I decided not to take Native American studies and Right. I decided to go get a degree in physiology, um, communications. Yeah. So, but um, but yeah, I, by the time I got to my senior year, I didn't really have any interest of trying to continue to play. So I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do next. Yeah. Yeah. And that's when I got the opportunity to go trade features in commodities. So, oh. Way graduated on a Friday with the Green Human Physiology and walked into a features and commodities brokerage on a Monday, three months later as a newly crown broker. And the Dow Jones fell 777 points to set off the economic housing crisis. Perfect. So I get baptized in the deep end. Um, and then, um, that's how Mawi was born. Mawi was kind of formed around that. That company. So JB and Joe Kellogg were, they were involved with that before we were all trading together. Oh, is that right? 2008 hit. It's the perfect opportunity to start a business in the middle of the session. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So they broke off and were a little tiny room where they would reverse solicit other marketing and web website design companies until they figured it out and we were still running the brokerage firm. Interesting. Yeah. And then the brokerage firm was feeding the Yeah. Feeding that business. And then the rest is history. So I've had some really enjoyable conversations with both JB and Joe and, uh, was trying to schedule one the podcast a while back, uh, probably like a year and a half ago now, and then lost the handle, so, oh, yeah. J JB would be a great one. I don Dunno, don't about Joe, Joe probably wouldn't go, you know, I spit twice shy. He's like a very jovial guy. Oh, he's, he's super jovial guy. Yeah. But he, he like, you know, it's, uh, get up, go to work, go home, hang out with his family. Yeah. Why the hell would I wanna spend two hours? He's like, that's for the young guys. Yeah. You know? Fair enough. Well, JB if you're listening, yeah. Uh, let's get you booked up in June. Um, I'll make it happen. I'll make the intro. Fair enough. So you were there right from the very foundation of Yeah. Of MADD wear. Were you an owner of that or, yeah, I'm a, I'm a minority. You were right from the start almost. Yeah. Yeah. I had to come in. But you still are even, yeah, I had to come in and earn it, obviously. Right. So, because you know how many money? Well, a little bit yet, a little bit different path. But, um, but yeah, it was an incredible journey and, um, cool. Yeah. So yeah, we talked a lot about what you've learned in that space and stuff, and so we're getting close to this same time. You joined med wear, you're not. Or how, how long behind that were you or, I didn't. What year was that? I didn't join until 2017. Oh, 17. So what were you doing from like 2017, fall of 12 to 17? What were you up to? Technically, my, my first day was January 1st, 2018. Ah, let's go. Um, but I got the job before that and, um, so your question was, what was I doing before? Yeah. What was he up to? You moved to Fort Collins got saved in the fall of 12. Yeah. I, I got saved and I was trying to figure out what just happened and who am I? Yeah. You know, so, okay. So it's interesting cuz my, I think personally, I think my life is a testimony to God's grace. Mm-hmm. Like, to me, I feel like I have no qualifications to be in this room, to be frank. Like, I, I really do. Like, that's the way I, I think about it. Like, I have no qualification. We, we'd be at Mad Wire and people would be like, so where school would you go to? And I'd be like, dude, I high school flipped out of jc I'm from community college. I, I barely got outta high school. You went to the manna school. Hard knocks. Yeah. I, I barely got outta high school. I really did, brother. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, a lot of the most, you know, successful people I know have a high school diploma. So, well, so and so for me, and so for me, like I spent, um, So I worked at, uh, I've, I've been, I was in, in hospitality. I worked as a, a bartender or a restaurant manager. Okay. That's all I was doing. And then, um, I Your favorite among the bars and restaurants that you worked at town Yeah. And in town. The ones where you worked at Oh, easily. Cafe Vinno. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, it was, it was unique and it, and it, it, it was my first introduction to, oh, these are professional people. Right. You know, there's, there's an attitude that tends to be in the restaurant space I'm transitioning. It's like, well, well, uh, maybe you should actually think about this like a professional. Yeah. And you would see some other things. And so, so anyways, uh, what happens is, I, so I did use to box and I, one of my good friends, his name is Seth, he says to me, dude, you gotta come to this place, uh, and work out with me. And I'm like, sure. He's like, it's boxing. I'm super critical of anything that's like boxing related workout, just cuz Oh, is this Joe's place? Yeah. Yeah. And so I go and I hit the bag and I, well I meet Joe and we work out for the first time. And, and then, uh, Joe's like, yay man. Uh, he wants to talk to me cuz he can see that like, I know you could box, you actually know how to punch the bag. Yeah. And so, and so then what happened is I, I ended up becoming, uh, just joining his team and, and, and helping him support the best way I could in building by classes and everything. And then that led me to one Saturday. Um, I'm helping him run a bootcamp in, uh, Loveland for this gym called Pursuit. Okay. And, and they're people that they put a boot serving. And so we ended up doing this bootcamp, we're doing boxing and fitness and, but afterwards I'm sitting there talking to this guy. Mm. And um, and at the time I'm working, I'm doing, I'm working with Joe, but I'm also at a company called, um, Lamar Advertising. Mm-hmm. Lamar advertising, and I'm working in the operations and slowly trying to get into the sales and stuff. Right, right. Um, you're paying your dues ultimately, you know, and you had a talent spotter in the house. You're just do it. You're just trying to, you know, that's my superpower. Yeah. You just, you, you're, you're aspiring to other things, but you don't necessarily know how to get there. Yeah. Um, but I do, I did know, I, I'm, I'm pretty convinced of one thing, like if you, um, aspire to lead a certain quality of life, you should treat people in a way that mimics that. Hmm. Yeah. Like, you should do that. That would be if you don't got anything else going for you Yeah. You should treat people in that way. Yeah. And so, um, longer story short, boom, I get connected into Mad Wire, and that starts really the journey of transitioning into corporate world. Yeah. Um, well, and just even learning about marketing and Yeah. Actually getting hands up, sales, all that kinda stuff. The funny thing is though, like, to go back to my, my story. I personally think, uh, I have a knack for advertising. Hmm. And, and, and messaging. But here's why I think I have it, because when you, I think the black community in America mm-hmm. Is arguably the most marketed too community in America. Hmm. And I say that because if you look at the way the dollar circulates in the black community amongst other communities, it circulates the least. So that means the dollar made of like multiplier is going slower. So that means the dollars that are made by the people in that community leave the community fastest. Mm-hmm. But what do they go to consumer goods. Mm-hmm. Right? How do they know about them? Marketing. Right. And so I inevitably had a knack for I think what was like, good messaging, good ideas, good lines of communication. Yeah. I mean, we, we tend to be, if you look at the Black American tends to be pretty creative and, and very expressive. Are you stereotyping right now? Oh, totally. It's kidding. Get away with though. Totally. Um, I'll, I'll, I'll add to the stereotype, but you are legit poetic. You are good with words. Um, you are a musician too, so Yeah. How did you get so smart and well spoken? Like did you do some learning outside of your college or high school experiences and things or? No, I, uh, taught myself, but here's how I taught myself. Uh, I would watch soap operas. I would watch Seinfeld and Frazier. Yeah. And I would read books. Yeah. And so I learned. I guess what you could maybe call something that mimics, uh, proper form of communication or a baseline form. Yeah. Yeah. Um, by way of watching Yeah. Those who communicated differently than me. Yeah. Yeah. My, my exchange student that we have right now, Hey Manuel, if you listen, um, but she's from Brazil and she's the only one of her friends that speaks fluent English. And she got it from Gossip Girl. Yeah. Oh wow. And different things like she, and then to learn written English, she would watch German Netflix with subtitles. Genius. Yeah. And so, and nobody told her to do this. She just like, she smart, decided that she wanted to learn English and that seemed like a good hack. Yeah. Gossip girl. Absolutely. They're so dramatic in how they communicate Right. And reflections and stuff. Well, I think sometimes she brings a little extra drama to the conversation, but she, she is a 17 year old girl, so, you know, that might just be natural. Um, that's really interesting. Yeah. That, so that, so if, if I was just about gonna say that, but if we dropped you in Buffalo in the neighborhood where you grew up Yeah. And let you sit there for three weeks, would you come back talking differently? I don't think so. You do? So No, I don't think so. Um, I would, in talking to the people there, there would be certain things that would probably naturally happen by way of in talking to them or whatever. For sure. Uh, but no, you're really well spoken. Like honestly, don't, something I've learned about you from the start. Don't. And when did we meet? Cause we minute, because we met at. I think either at my church or at when they, our church tried to spin a church off with Jeremy. I'm not, I'm not sure or something. I feel like that's, I'm not sure either. Must not have been that special. N no, maybe not. Probably not. Um, uh, Kurt was like, Kurt was like, Hey, you're one of the like 40 black guys on Fourt Collins. Yeah. I was like, I was like, actually 400 just to get Well, I'd only have really two other, what I could call friends. And so, you know, if I can get three out of 40, oh yeah. Shoot, that's, I got like a 7% ratio. That's bad average. Yeah. Dude, I will say one thing and, and I did have a couple people that actually cared enough to try to challenge me intellectually. My aunt, my Aunt Shirley. Okay. Um, she was a principal for school. Uh, at one point she challenged me. Uh, I had my other aunt, her name is Vanessa. Um, she would, she didn't really challenge me, but she would just be like, how's school going? And you know, I didn't have any answer for it. At least she cared. Yeah, yeah. That those are, but, but those are two people I can think of that I guess in some aspects were a very positive force in terms of intelligence. Yeah. To think about it. And then, and then my mom, um, one memory that I actually have about my mother, uh, did my mom. So I don't know. I, I can't say I know my mom. Yeah. But I can say, dude, my mom did not take mess from people, dude. Like, she didn't take mess. And so, and so, um, she placed a very, an emphasis. Even though the interactions were few with her and I. Mm-hmm. Yeah. When we had interactions, she placed an emphasis on how I communicated with her in those interactions. Hmm. True. So I got in, I got in big trouble one time because I called her man, you know how you'd be like, man, get outta, you should have seen what happened because she said, I'm not a man. Yeah. And words matter. And truth is real. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Were you, did you raise yourself a lot? Kinda, I mean, you went, you, you skirt past. I think I survived dysfunctional. I think I survived myself. I don't think I raised myself. Hmm. Uh, I, I honestly, I think the raising part of Darius began when I became a Christian. And I'm, and I don't mean to just be this super yeah. Religious guy, but I'm, no, I'm serious. Like I didn't, how. I felt you spent most of your prior time. Not I spent enough all the way my, I spent most of my life feeling invisible. Right. And not really knowing, you know, and so there was no output, you know. But can, can I, can I edify you real quick, bro? But that's one of the things that makes you a great husband and dad. Yeah. The way that you love your kids and your family is the byproduct of what you went through. You know what I mean? So, yeah, for sure. I would agree with that. It's tremendous to watch you as a, as a husband and a father. And tell me about that, cuz we're chron lodging here and you've had a wife for some years and you've got a eight years. Eight years and you've got a couple small We have four children. Four. Four children. Three. Three and one on the way. But I kind of just four should we shift out of uh, cuz I think we, we get into madd wear, we learned some things. Yeah. Then we jumped into where here. Yeah. Let's talk about, uh, that love story just a little bit. Where did you meet your, you gotta tell him the story. Which one? Just about her dad. Oh yeah. Just like, get away from my daughter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, so what happens is, uh, I become a Christian. Okay. And I end up attending this men's breakfast one time. Okay. And there I meet a guy who will become my brother-in-law. Uh, but what happens is he invites me and Adam over Adam can't make it. I go, I meet my wife, her name is Celia. And, um, long story short, I, I become friends of Celia and her family and I get the bright idea one day and I'm like, Hey, We've had enough interactions where I, I know there's something here and I say, uh, hey, can I talk to your dad? Cuz her dad was traveling quite a bit. He's teaching, going around teaching the Bible. Mm-hmm. And I said, Hey, can I, can I talk to your dad about pursuing you? And by the way, I knew I was different in Christ because of Christ. I, who I never said spoke like that. Can I pursue you? But, uh, but uh okay. Older, she's like, yo girl, you want pursued? Yeah. Um, but anyways, so I, she's like, yeah. So I go and I'm like, Hey, I would love to know if I could talk to your daughter and this is at their house. And it just went bad. And he was just like, get out. Basically. Not rude. Yeah. But he was just like, it's time for you to go. Interesting. But here's the beauty of it, what he wanted to do in that moment, immediately, the second I expressed interest in his daughter was he wanted to ensure that I had not been manipulative towards his daughter. Hmm. And I love it. And, and he's like one of my, he, yeah, I call him dad. Yeah. He is my dad. And, um, it's, it's strange man. It's, it's an interesting story because like he kicked me out and I couldn't talk to my wife. And I remember it was such an emotional time be, I'm like, Sitting in my room with candles lit, crying and stuff. Like, I can't see her and I miss her. And, um, but well, all he wanted to do was make sure that he just wanted chicken in with her first. He wanted to make sure I was, I had not hurt his daughter in any capacity. And he took the, the out. I mean, it's better than beating around the bush. Like No. Yeah. Get out. Yeah. All right. We gotta go. I heard you gotta go. You're right. And so what happens is we ended up meeting, but here's the thing that I asked him, which I, I just, I I love this man so much. We ended up meeting, so we kind of dated, basically. We basically dated, we went on a few dates, him and I. Oh yeah. And, and I, dead serious. We was, we was sit in the alley cat. Yeah, that's cool. We would sit in the alley cat and hang out on a little coffee dinner. Well, and pricey probably maybe even had gotten to know a little bit about your history and background and stuff like that. Yeah, well, you know, whatever. Well, I came to him and I said, Hey, um, I know you're her father. I know you're her father, but could you be the role of a brother to me? Cause I don't want to mess this up. Hmm. I don't want to do that. My life was riddled with that behind me. Yeah. And so it got a little awkward. We had to work through our dating and then we ended up, then we ended up, uh, con, you know, then he ended up giving me permission and. Uh, I walked with my wife for about a year and a half before we got married. Yeah. Um, and we would've got married sooner, but her sister had some health issues and the family had to go through that and I had to go through that with her. Yeah. Yeah. And so wasn't time. Yeah. So that's how I met her. Awesome. And we got married in 2015. And, uh, you said you've been with your wife, uh, for 18 years. Married. 14. And how many smalls you got around there? We two. Simpson, you got two, nine and 11. Nine 11. Two little girls Del Lot of love and Kennedy Summer. So we, uh, I don't know if I didn't prepare you guys probably, but we always do a one word description of your children on this show. Who would like to go first and, uh, give'em a name and a description. You can talk a little bit more and elaborate. One, one word description. One word. Hyphens are okay. If you need it. Hyphens are okay. Yeah. Um, man. Okay. That's interesting. I'll go with, uh, Delilah Love. Okay. She's actually named after her, her dad and her mom. Right. Sampson and Delilah. And, uh, her mother is a Valentine baby. Born in Loveland, Colorado. So that's where Delilah loves come from. It's fun. Delilah Love is a, uh, she is a, an artistic empath. Interesting. A little more emotional. Yeah. She, she wears it on her sleeve. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, She, um, yeah, she just loves art and she's an incredible swimmer. My, my my staff person, Alicia, who you paid a nice compliment to on the newsletter just today. Yeah. Uh, we were sitting in the Better Business Bureau luncheon and there was some of the new business awards and a couple of them were visibly nervous and stuff like that. And Alicia's like, I'm so, like, like seeing them so uncomfortable kind of makes me uncomfortable. And I think I, I think I benefited Alicia in saying, you know, yes. And like, this is a moment that's a step along the ways to them being less uncomfortable. Yep. Next time. Yep. You know, and so just value that. That's perfect. I mean, so my daughter is the one that, um, you know, she'll get nervous enough that she'll just not want to do something cuz she needs to know what it's like. Right. Yeah. So example was, she was, um, she's getting ready for her first swim meet and she's natural swimmer. She's built like a swimmer, long legs, long arms, long to, so put her in the water. She looks like she's been professionally trained. She's just got it right. And so it's her very first swim meet. It's the day before. And she's been like, daddy, I don't want to go. I just want to stop swimming. And I go, okay, so if you stop swimming, then you're gonna, if you ever want to do it again, you're gonna pay for it. Daddy's not gonna pay for it anymore. You're gonna have to figure it out. And she goes, and she finally does it. And she, she wins like a bunch of first places and she was like sold on her. So we're always talking to her that, hey, nervousness and excitement mm-hmm. Feel exactly the same way. They only differ by one thing, the thoughts that you're telling yourself. Mm-hmm. If you're nervous, you're thinking about everything that could go wrong. And if you're excited. You're thinking about everything you go, right. Yeah. And so that's how I work with my little emotional creature. Ooh, cool. My younger one, Kennedy Summer. Yep. Who? Um, she, I just love the name. I want the way we spell the name. Delilah is with a y We don't spell like the traditional biblical church. Sure. Well that's good, Casey. And then we got my Just Delilah's, not necessarily like a superhero with a Bible. Yeah, that's true. The other, other spelling, this one will be, we love the name Lila. Right. We went the Lila. That's actually my, my wife's, uh, grandmother's name was Lila. Yeah. So we love that name. So Kennedy, I wanted all my girls have wives in their name. Yeah. And then summer, she's a summer baby. My wife and I met in the summer, so Summer of Love. Right. So that's where the middle names come from. So Kennedy's, uh, one word, she's charismatic. Ooh. She's will do her. Well, she's a lot like her dad. She can make friends with anybody. Yeah. Never been a stranger. Nope. Fair enough. Wow. Yeah. That's awesome. Dude. His daughters are up. Wonderful to be around. That's cool. Yeah. Um, so we have Lily. Okay. Lily Marie. Okay. Uh, I think the word that I would use to describe her, I would say brilliant. Ooh. Um, uh, Sawyer, my second daughter. Uh, Her middle name is Rose. And, and would say, what's that a treasurer would say, and I would say to describe her, I would say, I want to use either rambunctious mm-hmm. Or sensitive. Hmm. Because she's like this combination of brave, but she's extremely sensitive. Hmm. So she will get wild, but she is sensitive. Yeah. And I don't know if, if rambunctious is the word that meshes those two. I think we can use that hyphen here. Rambunctious sensitive. Okay. Uh, and then, and then Theodore Innocent. Um, oh, that's pretty. He, he shares my middle name and um, you know, I think my son is an imitator right now. Hmm. The word I would say is imitator because he, well then do good stuff. Well, that's actually been the, the most revelatory thing about being a father to a son. Yeah. Yeah. Um, is more than my other two children who actually had more access. Uh, he mimics everything than I do. Yeah. Yeah. And he picks up on things that I didn't even realize that he, that he picked up on One time he came in my office and he, um, he did something with the microphone that I had in a way that mimicked what I was doing. And I never thought he saw me doing that with the microphone. Right. And I was like, whoa. No, he's watching everything. He's watching everything. And he wants to be in there with me. How old is he? He's, uh, just turned two. Okay. And he wants to be in the room with me when I'm working. Yeah. He wants, he wants to do everything that I'm doing. Like, if any, that's pretty honoring and, uh, awkward and threatening in a little little ways too. Right. It's deep man. It's deep pressure. But it's a, it's a privilege though, like to have children like, and you know, so those are aren't my children. I thought you said you had four. Yeah, we got one coming. Oh, one on the way. So the word would be unknown. Yeah. Yeah. And expected when excited. Uh, in the fall. Early fall. Awesome. Congratulations. Appreciate it. Yeah. Um, when I say family, uh, like outside of, um, you know, your immediate homes and things, like, I just, I heard you talking, telling your, you know, calling your father-in-law, dad. Yeah. Um, and stuff. So let's, let's stay with you for a moment, Darius. What's kind of the bigger word family mean to you in, in today's space? Are you still close with your brother? Is he still around? Uh, your sisters? My sisters, uh, two, two of the, three of my sisters I have a solid relationship with. Uh, but I would say I don't, it's hard to say what family means. I think family is, uh, I, I just see it defined in actions, to be honest. Like I have Hmm. There, there are, there's a, there are two men that I call my brothers that I don't share DNA with them. Right, right. But they would lay down their lives for me. Yeah. And I would lay down my lives for them. Yeah. My life. I don't have more than one life, my life Yeah. For them. Um, so I don't know, I don't know the right wording, but it's, it's equated to those who Yeah. How they treat you well, and what I think I'm hearing, you know, Jesus talked about that too, right. Like, these are my brothers, you know? Yeah. And, and whatever. And so I think that choice of who you want to really be around is a great blessing too. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Love is a verb. It's a verb. That's it's action verb even. Yeah. It's not this weird noun and that's like floating around ready to sweep you up. Yep. I like that. Samson, anything to add on that topic? General. I mean, he, yeah. I mean, to me family is just priority, you know, it's mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love my family so much. Yeah. Dude. Dude. This man, this man prioritizes his family. So, you know, as busy as I am, um, I love my family. My wife especially is just, We could lose everything tomorrow. And she would, you know, sleep in a, under a bridge in a car with me. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's, it's cool. And she's, um, we've just grown up so much together. Yeah. So, yeah, dude, it's great. You know, let me tell you something about, about Sampson. Um, uh, you know, I have a privilege of being around entrepreneurs, uh, and he's, he's one of the rare ones who I Yeah, I see you do excellent in, in business and, and things like that, but it's only matched by your desire to be excellent with your family. And there aren't a lot of to be, I'm telling you, there's more, there's, there's less men than you think that really Yeah. The people that might say that, that really prioritize it, that say that, but it's different. I agree. And it's different when I'm like, dude, what are you doing? Oh, I'm just here with, you know, I'm doing this with my, my family. Yeah. Oh, yeah, dude, I don't do this after a certain time. You know, like, like, so, like fair. He, he lives it, you know? Uh, my hobby is work and my business, and then my family. That's about it. Yeah. Where do you think, where do you, does that, did that come from seeing it modeled maybe in, in your dad and then seeing it in, even in modeled in Joe? Um, or where did you get that? Um, I'm not letting this go. I don't know, man. That's a good question. I, I, um, I just knew my whole life I wanted to be married and have a family. That was never a question. I can't say that. Um, The, my, my family dynamic was like super amazing. Right. You know, um, yeah. There's some rough spots. Nobody's perfect, but yeah. But, so I, one of the things we didn't talk about is I was an only child for 12 years. Mm-hmm. And then my little brother was born same parents. Long stop between trains. Yeah. Yeah. And then I have a little sister who's 14 years younger than me. And so, um, you're the way older brother. Yeah. I was like the cool uncle. Right. You know? Right, totally. And, uh, so when I left to go, I was 18, I left the house and my brother and sister were six and eight respectively. Yeah. And so, um, yeah, it was interesting. So we, we just started becoming friends when they were in their, you know, twenties basically. By the time they finally, yeah. I'm 10 years older than my youngest brother and you know, that same thing, like, I left for college when he was still just a little punk ass. So we've only really gotten to know each other, you know, the last 10, 15 years or whatever. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. But yeah. Yeah, man, I just always wanted to have a family. He's still a little punk ass in case he's listening. Joe. I, yeah, I got one of those two Jake kitchens. Um, so, um, you know, we touched on faith a fair bit, especially in your story, Darius. Uh, you mentioned your background a little bit, Sampson, but do you wanna expound on, on what faith is in your space? You know, I was raised, um, Catholic. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I guess I always knew, I knew of the story of who Jesus was. I knew God and definitely believe in, um, a creator and a higher power. And, um, And then when I hit my twenties, you know, I was no saint in college either. Yeah. And definitely struggled to, I really wrestled actually with religion. Hmm. Um, and I thought I was wrestling religion instead of faith. I thought I was wrestling with faith cuz I didn't understand the difference between the two. Yeah. And so I spent a lot of my twenties really just questioning a lot of things. And so, you know, I ended up kind of coming full circle with, Hey, you know what? I believe that there's a crater I, I can't, there's no way I can look up at the universe and look in the entire world. Right. And logically say that like a bunch of people who all kind of looked similar, just randomly all evolved outta nowhere and just popped up on different continents. I can't, I can't come to grips with that. Yeah. And I'm somebody who's, you know, deeply trained in, in science. Right. Like, I have a degree in physiology, I have a master's in sports nutrition. Sure. I spend a lot of time thinking through those things. And I think the two things can exist, uh, simultaneously. I think that more that science goes along, it actually proves the case. Oh yeah. For fine tuning. And some of the best Christian thinkers I know are like scientists and Yeah. One book that I'm reading right now by Eric Matis is called His Atheism Dead. It's an incredible book. You haven't read it. Interesting. No, I need to read it. I'll write it down. Uh, it's, but it's all about just talking through the science that actually makes a stronger case for a creator than it does deny it. So agreed. Mm-hmm. Um, so I was able to come to terms with that and then kind of like floated in and outta church and never really, and then when I turned 30 years old, I had a quarter life crisis. Okay. Woke up and legitimately had a panic attack. The first time I experienced that heart attack that I was gonna die, um, had anxiety for the first time, depression for the first time in my life. Hmm. And so you get to that place pretty quick. You start to just, you start looking at the rest of your life and thinking, man, there's a lot of things that I wanted to do that I haven't done. Mm-hmm. And a lot of things that I probably need to get right in my life and including, you know, fix the relationship with my parents and, you know, make sure that I'm walking the path a little bit, uh, tighter than I probably was. And so, yeah. Um, yeah. So that moment was a big shift for me. And then I found myself in church cuz I didn't know where else to turn in back at Catholic Church or, no, I actually in Foundations, uh, which is a non-dominant Yeah. That's your home church. Yes. So I've been to lots of events there and stuff. Yeah. So I, and then from there, I just started my journey and honestly the biggest shift was actually reading the Bible. Mm. Um, yeah. And walking through it and even what took me to the next level was actually I, I'm in a men's group and we meet every single Tuesday, same time, same place. All men with families, all men who've struggle with the same things that every everybody else does. Yeah. All men struggle with all entrepreneurs. Right. Especially Yeah. And you know, that's what we do. We just walk through the work together and actually study it and question it and, and challenge it and, and think about it and dwell on it. And um, yeah. That has been the number one thing that has helped me. That was a huge, sorry to No, you're good. In my, in my own personal, cause I was 25 ish before, you know, I went to church to humor my wife, kind of, yeah. My now wife. Um, but I was being worked on for quite a while and part of it was that difference in grace that you mentioned earlier, Darius, and, and that notion, I like to, I like to tease that I'm a Christian because I need more grace than most people. You know, some people can really live that righteous life, but that ain't me, I guess. Well, I think it's a fine balance, right? It's so, I, you know, there's, there's something to be said for truth. Right. You know? Totally. Yeah. But it's something to be said for grace and you need both, you know? Totally. I think, I think one of the things I wrestled with, with just being raised Catholic is I, I just never felt like I was qualified. Yeah. Um, and I, I couldn't get in, so I didn't understand this concept of our relationship with your creator and as Darius said, you know, not having to, uh, bury bear all the weight. Right. That was, uh, the, the focus of our Easter message, uh, at the crossing this spring was kind of, uh, the recognizing Jesus as both savior and sovereign. Mm-hmm. You know, and cuz sometimes I think. Some churches or people or me, uh oh yeah. Love the savior. Love the savior. Yeah. Don't give the sovereign his due take. What said, spend a little time, uh, in Revelations, you'd be like, oh wait. Yeah, there's some stuff here. Well back, you know, back to the family thing. You know, I think that, you know, why do I priorit my family? Cuz I realized that my family and my wife do not belong to me. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. They belong to the Lord. And I'm responsible for all the gifts that I've been given that goes down to my, the ideas that I'm given, the entrepreneurial endeavors, the employees that I have, the money that I have, the family, that I have, the relationship, this relationship that I have with you. Yeah. The relationship I have with him. You know? And so when you, when you change that perspective and, and especially walking in a world that says your truth, Kurt. Right? Right. It's all about your truth, which is very selfish. Uh, it changes the dynamic. So how I steward my money and where I put my money, where my mouth is understanding that that a hundred k check that I just got, it's not mine. So I need to give back to the Lord. What's the Lord's right? And I need to orient my heart properly. And the world does not tell you to think that way. I want to ask you something cause I wonder if it's similar. Um, so in, in my own world, I was, I, I went to a church. I memorized the books of the Bible, but I never heard the good news Really. Which sounds not too dissimilar from you. And one of the things I carried around through my early late teens and early twenties was, was guilt. Yeah. Uh, because I was, you know, a strikingly handsome and smart and charismatic. Person that was given more blessings than I deserve, but yet I recognize that I had the same ugly stains on my soul that most everybody else did. Mm-hmm. In, in similar measure. Yeah. And so, you know, there's a, you know, to who much is given, much is expected kind of thing. Do you vibe with that notion a little bit, or not necessarily? I didn't really feel that, but I, I was more trapped in the rules and the regulation. Yeah. Very legalistic. Very legalistic. Yeah. And I didn't know how to, how to wrestle with that. So to me, a lot of times throughout my life, the Bible was used as the tool to weaponize. Mm-hmm. It was a weapon towards me, me. Yeah. The religion is the Yeah. And it gets used that way a lot and, and it turns a lot of people off. And I think that's part of the, part of the battle that Christianity's up against is it's, you know, you have a sect that is not representative of the entire community. And, um, and yeah. So I, lots of them, so I battle, I battle with that. But I also came to terms with the fact that, you know what, the people in my life that, uh, maybe represented it that way, they're, they're wrestling with their own stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And so I had to actually turn around and give a lot of grace back to the people that mm-hmm. I held so much bitterness to. Yeah. Yeah. And forgive forgiveness, which is at the core of everything that. Christianity talks about. Right. And forgiving yourself for forgiving everyone else and Yep. And we can disagree on something and we can simultaneously, but still be friends. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that leads us straight into the politics segment with, uh, with the plum. Like, uh, let's go there. There is, I think there, there's kind of two camps in that space right now that like, we can disagree and both be kind of Right. You know, from our perspective. You know, I, like, I was, I was teasing my friend in San Francisco, like, it's okay for San Francisco to have paper. Weak ass, terrible paper straws. Um, because they don't want them plastic straws floating around in the bays and messing up their turtles and all these sea lion and stuff. But in North Dakota, they just want cheaper straws that actually work for an hour with by soda. Yeah. You know, and the chances of those straws coming into San Francisco Bay is not very high. So we can actually both be right with different sensibilities on that specific one little issue. Yeah. Anyway, uh, yeah, I mean, I planted that seed, but yeah. Talk to me about politics in general or big picture, small picture. Yeah. Well, we're, what are you curious? Anything particularly you're curious to know? Yeah. What rubs you the wrong way? What, uh, I mean we've got, uh, some lot of interesting stuff here. There's apparently not gonna be any democratic debates displayed, A couple of candidates announced, but that's, it'll happen kind of normal. You think they will? Yeah. No way. I bet you no way Biden will debate with bet Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I don't, there will be debates. So, uh, without getting too, so this is, I think part 50 bucks. I think this is part of the issue though is like the, the problem isn't necessarily, we're talking about surface level stuff. The problem is, I think personally in the core fundamentals of we live in a country where people don't actually understand the, the root right of the constitution and the root of what this country was founded on. Federalist type. And they live in this, this lie right of that. Here, I'll give you an example. You know, what'll fix a lot of the problems we have right now, a good depression, right? Yeah. Because all the things that we're currently fighting over right now are legitimately ridiculous in the grand scheme of things. Yeah. When you compare it to the, the broader world. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, it's like, um, we, we, we've lost sight of what made the country what it is today that gives the everybody this opportunity to ha to speak about the things that they wanna speak about. Mm-hmm. And so the, the byproduct of that is they're jaded. Yeah. And so now to your point, we, yes, we can have these two differing beliefs, but what's happened now is it's, well, if you don't agree with me, Kurt, screw you. Right. I'm against you now. You're my enemy. Yeah. And that's, that's not how this Right. Republic is actually set up and Right, right. Darius has some, a lot of thoughts on this. So you opened up a can of worms. So Darius, I'll let you take over. This'll be Darius. Yeah. It's in, it's interesting cuz like you said, like what annoys me or what bothers you? I think I, I'm, I've reached a place where anti-American sentiment bothers me. Yes. Agreed. A hundred percent. But here's why. Not because I'm a quote unquote Naga Republican as the left would like to call me in saying that. Or because I'm a white supremacist in black city. I hate when they use that term mega, anything like that. It's like such a brand. The reason why, the reason why anti-American sentiment bothers me is because history is littered. With people and nations and conflict and, and the nature of nations and people is to advance and move and make choices and do different things. And if you, if you think you have anti-American sentiment now, w wait until, if there was a reality where the United States wasn't the military superpower, and you actually dealt with anti-American sentiment, right. You know, you'd be a patriot real quick if someone from foreign lands came here trying to take your life away. Hmm. You'd be a patriot real quick. There's a good movie or TV series about that man in the High Castle. It's all about post, post World War ii, where Nazis won and Yeah. Oh, I've heard of that. Oh, I never have seen it though. It's a different world. It's a different perspective. Yeah. Yeah. And so for me, like, but the reason why I have that position is because, so my life changed as it relates to the nation about going on three and a half years ago. Okay. Um, uh, and, and what happened is it started with, uh, Oz Guinness, if you're familiar with Oz Guinness. Mm-hmm. Uh, I was reading a book, it's called A Free People Suicide by Oz Guinness, who is a, a social critic slash philosopher slash great communicator and writer. Interesting. I believe him. Um, but he's a, he's a believer and he, he, he broke down, and this is me as a Christian, he broke down the golden triangle of, uh, freedom, you know, Uh, so, you know, faith, freedom and virtue basically, right? Yeah. Like, you can't have, you can't have freedom unless you have virtue because you need to make choices that are not destructive to the people around you Sure. In your nation. But what's the standard for that faith? Right. And, and it goes in a triangle. But he, he was a, he's from England, he's from Europe. Right. And, and then that took me to an, that took me to another guy, Eric Matis. Mm. Uh, and longer story short is ultimately I found myself being around people who were actually challenging me to read the declaration, to read the constitution. Mm-hmm. To get the context and understand the language in players. Yeah. And it became very apparent to me, whoa. What you have in America is very unique. Mm. It's very unique. And that uniqueness creates a great response. It's designed to have a great responsibility on citizens of the nation. Totally. To hold their government accountable to it, but to hold their, their, their nation. Yeah. Yeah. Our nation will topple at the abdication of its citizens burying that responsibility. True. It won't be because of corrupt leaders. Mm. It won't be because of citizens. That abdicate the responsibility out of ignorance or out of rebellion, or out of Well, and responsibility's hard. Right. You know, like, we haven't declared a war for 70 years in this country or something. And, and the, the Congress keeps making itself more and more pathetic every decade. Yeah. It seems both the, you know, both houses and so they're advocating their responsibilities even in checking the, the Yeah. Executive powers. Yeah. It's like, so for example, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, these people think that that's about us. It's about the government. It's not about you. It's not about that you have freedom of speech. It's that the government can't infringe on your ability to to speak. It's not about you. It's about them. And that's the whole point was it wasn't about, and it's not just like, oh, you are a free for all with the citizenry. There's, there's, there's tension. It creates a tension. But the whole point of what we have, if there's a reason why the grievance has come at in the declaration, the whole point is about government. Mm. Like a, those in government get their just powers from the consent of the govern. The whole framework is about what they can't do. Those who assume that position, whom you consented to be in that position, what they can't do now. Well, that's kind of the difference of today's. Uh, political climate, right. When we talk about like the deep state Yeah. We didn't vote for any of those people. Right. You know, that federal bureaucracy and I saw the Yeah. Pentagon released a statement saying that the world is gonna be a better place now that Tucker Carlson isn't on the network anymore. The Pentagon. Yeah. Like the Pentagon releases a statement like that. But the reason why these things can happen is because, again, like if, if you don't understand that there's a great responsibility that you've been given through these, this charter, um, through this republic, if you don't understand that a republic is undergirded by the, the ultimately, you know Yeah. Authority of the law, in this case, the constitution. Well, and our citizens are looking for the benefits. Right. Not the responsibility. Yeah. If you don't understand, understand that, but if you don't understand that, even people that come here, you become ignorant and you become lazy and you just enjoy the fruit of the blessings of liberty without the responsibility to maintain it. And, and to, to echo that is, that's the problem, right. Is everybody's about hyperindividualism. Mm-hmm. And it's not about making a decision that's actually there for the greater good. Mm-hmm. Right. And so it's right up, that's where that selfishness kind of comes too far. It a hundred percent. It's, there's one thing to have freedom and autonomy, right. But like you said, t is given much as expected and it requires there to be some sort of regulation over that. Otherwise, We have disorder. Yeah. And there's another great book, if you're listening to this podcast and you actually care about geopolitics, you should read the book called Accidental Superpower by Peter Zion. Hmm. And it gives you, I've been watching some of his videos lately, gives you a great understanding of why America is the greatest country in the world. Hmm. So the reason that communism is so strongly rooted in China is because in order for them to maintain order between east and West China Yeah. They have to rule with an iron fist. Right. Because they need each other's resources, but they don't speak the same lang language. Right. You can't just drive from eastern China to Western China. Right. So one of the things that makes America so great is we have the most navigable water, uh, waterways in the world. We have more shorelines, defendable, shorelines. We have more commodities and resources, more farmland Sure. Than any other country in the world. We have the greatest highway system. We're the greatest railway system. Right. And we have more oil and gas in Saudi Arabia. Right. And we can fly from San Diego to New York and speak the same language. Yeah. Right. Yeah. There's something to that. And so there is some continuity there. Right? Yeah. Now there's an interesting dichotomy that looks at that, the political and geographical landscape of why on the other side of the Rocky Mountains is are things so different? Hmm. Because when you get to California and you get in the Pacific Northwest, it's a little bit of a different world, right? Well, yes, but, but if you get to Spokane, You're still on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, but you're more like in North Dakota now than you are like in Seattle. Sure. And if you go to Israel and, and then you go out around that. Right. That's a, that's you're, you're referencing one little dichotomy in the, in the middle of, uh, the grander landscape. Right? Well, yes, but I know where all the, like all the people in California are over there on the coast and stuff, but like, it's more of a rural urban divide from what I've seen. Yeah, it's definitely, I mean that's, that's definitely grown quite a bit. Yeah. You know, as the closer you get to city centers, the more liberal it becomes, you know what I mean? Yeah. Um, I want to bring you back on cuz you're kind of a student of history and, and you have firsthand experience of what like inner city life was like and stuff like, it's one of my, I don't know if it's a passion, but I like, I'm really curious, like, how can we keep the inner cities of our country from getting any worse? And, and if anything, how can we make'em like strong and vibrant? You know, we've got our downtown Fort Collins was a, a dump not that long, you know, 30 years ago. What can we, what can we really actually do to make a difference on, on a state or a national policy? You got any ideas that in the inner city? Or what should we not do? Yeah. How do we, how do we make, how do we spark some hope in the inner cities? I think Is that out above your page? Your pay grade? Uh, you know, I, I think one thing I've seen personally firsthand is I think inner city youth would benefit from being exposed to. The cultures and people groups that embody the values that they need for their own people group to flourish. Mm-hmm. Even if it'd be their, not their people groups. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so for example, uh, just an illustration, if I, if, if, um, if you could get young black people around, let's just say Jewish families, that, and, and how the Jewish community interacts with each other around business and faith and, uh, like for example, family nuclear families. Yeah. Yeah. Or Asian families are very high performers In our example country now, the black dollar would change in circulation. And remember I was talking about the circulation. Yeah. Yeah. It would change in circulation if potentially it would change if those who would make, who make those dollars were black, were exposed to the way that the dollar circulates in other cultures. Sure. It's just, it's just a, it's just a matter of knowing that that's an option. Mm-hmm. You know, and so, you know, there, there are factors in play that go beyond just someone prescribing a solution. Right. For sure. Well, education is a big hamper. I, I, I mean, you know, I, you know, what I think would actually help the most, I think would be, it's, it's, there's so many different things because I think in the inner city, I think. Arts and entertainment, um, athletics, these, these very sort of epicenter institutions that where people that get a lot of attention drive a lot of the stimulus and the behavior, uh, of what's acceptable. Uh, you know, if you look at media, media creates, creates a lot of the standard that's acceptable for behavior mm-hmm. Within these communities. And so, uh, I, I think that would, I would change the inputs that are coming from me. Like the, like I'm thinking about some of the, the cop killer songs and the old black rap and stuff like that from way back when, you know? Is that the seeds of the disrespect? Maybe they've earned that disrespect. It's funny cuz it, it's funny cuz in your question, I'm like trying not, I'm trying to like tap dance around some of the most core answers. But I think you, you lack families, you lack the presence of men. Uh, you, I mean the country as a whole. But you look at inner city in particular black community, you, you see the lack of black, um, fathers, black husbands, uh, black lineage of, of men and women who are raising children. Uh, you see lack of economic options, lack of op entre, entrepreneurship, uh, investment. Uh, like for example, we were talking, we were talking. So what we're doing clearly, you know, and we know we, we can see the wealth transfer that's on the horizon that's actually really in full swing. Um, but if I was in the black community or any community where I had poverty in this nation, And I just got my tax return for 4,000, 6,000, 8,000. I'm gonna get together with three of my cousins and we're gonna buy a business. Right. And then we're gonna do the same thing next year. Yeah. And we're gonna do the same thing next year until 2030. And we're gonna look up and we're gonna have eight businesses. And now the financial trajectory of my family had just been changed if, well, what most people don't know, I grew up in a part of, uh, Pasadena called Altina. Mm-hmm. And it was run by, it was run by a group called the abc, which is the Altadena Block. Crips. Oh. We were, we were two blocks north of, uh, Woodbury, which separated the tip tops, which is where the bloods lived. And the very first weekend that we moved in, two bloods got shot and killed right down my street. I had bullet holes in my windows. So I grew, I knew what it was like to grow up in the inner cities as a white kid in a predominantly black and Hispanic community. And so I know what that dynamic feels like. Um, but I can just speak from my own experience. I have an extended part of my family that, uh, generationally believes that you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Mm-hmm. And that life is hard and that life happens to you. And, uh, the byproduct of that is the core of that family. They all kind of grew up in a way thinking that you get what you get and you don't throw a fit in statistically speaking or economically speaking, that most people won't make.$50,000 plus or minus of what the highest income earn in their house made. Mm-hmm. Right. So if the average person in, in my family made, let's call it$65,000, there's not a lot of people around them that they can see examples of who were just killing it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So that got pass, that got passed down to generation and they the next generations. Sure, sure. But I had a set of parents who never ever, ever, ever, ever said that I couldn't have or go or do or be anything that I wanted to be. Yeah. Grew in the same circumstances, grew in that same neighborhood. Right. Experienced all that same stuff. We, I mean, we have two nickels to rub together. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And so, um, mindset's a lot of it, so a lot of it is just generationally what is being passed down to you. Right. And, and, and it does come from your environment, your circumstance, and what you're surrounded by. For sure. I think it's a misconception to say that it's a lack of education, cuz I think our education system is a farce in the sense that that's gonna give you the actual skills that you need. Right, right. In order to operate economically. Right. Just, just cuz you understand grammar and reading Right. Like that doesn't necessarily mean that all of a sudden you're gonna be Yeah. Successful. So is it, is that what it is? N no it's not that. It's, it's actually a lack of understanding or monetary policy and uh, we can get into the semantics of that. But you know, when you live in a fiat money in world or environment where. Cheap money is readily and available to everybody. It creates a different dynamic that is not actually very natural. Yeah. It doesn't have a natural ebb and a flow. And, and so yeah. The, those communities are being told that it's, it's okay to get on food stamps and have all these things, which very beneficial, necessary at times, but it's a, yeah. It's a supplement or a tool. It's a short term solution to a long-term problem. Right. That's not what they're being educated on. Yeah. Yeah. Totally know what they're being taught about, right? Mm-hmm. They're, how to gain the system, how to leverage the system to their advantage. Well, define what your advantage is. Right. Not having to, not having to work. Yeah. You know, I would also say to that, like, to anybody, whether you're, I, I guess actually just keeping it straight, I'll, I'll speak to inner city people who happen to have brown skin. Uh, I would say you're, you know, the fact that our descendants were slaves, the fact that slavery existed in this nation, um, is not, is, is not the limiter in your, in, in your life. Yeah. You know, the fact that racism is a real thing is not a limiter, a limitation on your, your life. Um, it's gonna be the choices you make, the relationships you have, the way you think, the way you handle your resources, your, you know, like Yeah. If that, that will be that. Like, um, and I, I, I'd be remiss to say that I didn't think that at one point I wouldn't be, I'd be remiss to say that I didn't used to stand for the pledge. You know, I didn't used to do that because I adopted these things that said to me, well, this nation doesn't welcome me. That's the white man's America or whatever. Well, yeah, this nation doesn't welcome me. Well, you want to know what this nation has made it so that people who look like me have far more than other people who look like me across the world. This nation. Yeah. Yeah. This nation, right. This nation has elected a, a, a black president twice that is now worth a hundred million dollars. This nation has several athletes and entertainers and different people who contribute to society in whatever way they can using their gifts that are nine figures. Uh, and above this, this, this, the amount of money being spent in the black community is ridiculous on consumer goods. So the money, the opportunities that things are there, it's our thinking. Even if they just spent fewer of those things on seven-eleven based consumer goods, and it's not just, yeah, and, and unfortunately, it goes, we talk about this, how it goes beyond black now, you know, it goes beyond black, but it, it, the thing is man, it's just like our nation's history does not determine our people's future. And that's what we need to, to really push and, and, and, and help people understand that. Dude, you. Got a responsibility here. Yeah, dude. Like the end of the day comes down to personal responsibility. Yeah. The one thing I love about the Constitution and the declaration is that in the declaration when it says, um, that all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, the second that that was made charter, it put slavery on a crash course to be eradicated. Yeah, I would agree with that. Because the second you say that, this is initially you say all men are created equal. Yeah. The second you say that you are gonna, you immediately become accountable to that being a reality. And that's the beauty of the declaration and the Constitution and these things is that no nation has no nation. And I don't know the history of all nations, but I can, you know, it started in England. Well even in Canada there, free speech is like so long as the government agrees or something, you know, it's like I got a limited thing. It's not free. Yeah. The irony is like if you look at the, you look at England and you look at the United States and you see how we're related and different things from history, constitution and stuff. England was one of the first to deal with the problem of slavery. Yeah, sure. Through Wilberforce and other people who supported him and were friends. Um, and then you look at what hap what, what other nation, you know, went to war its own people over this cause. And there were other factors, you know, economics and different things, and poli political barely, but what nation do you know went to? What nation do you know, lost so much blood over this issue. Right. But why did they do it? Because all men are endowed with the rights by their creator. Yeah. That's why they did it. Yeah. And that's, that's all. And so I I, this, we're not victims, you know, our history isn't our, our future isn't settled by our history, you know? And so, well, and that's what my biggest fear right now is that the, the, the narrative is kind of like encouraging people to become victims, to place themselves, to identify themselves with victim hoods, whether they're trans girls, boys, whatever, or they're their boys or girls, black or people of color, or they're, whatever their protective class is that it's like, okay, get your victim card and carry, wear it around in your forehead. And it's just not good for people, in my opinion, you know? But I think that the other pieces though, that people who disagree with it, I think we have to be willing to, you know, it's, it's easy to be defiant, but it's harder to be, um, forthcoming but loving. Hmm. It's easy to be defiant and say like, some off the handle or mark, it's harder to say to someone, Hey, I, I hear you. I feel for you, but I don't think that. Yeah. And here's why I don't think that, and here's why I think it's better or whatever. Yeah. It takes a lot of work, you know? And so I think part of the problem with the conservative right side is we're like, I'm gonna overcompensate with these, these statements Agreed. And these people, and throw these grenades and call it good both sides. Yeah. And so, like, agreed. I'm not gonna budge on this. Well, I, uh, okay. I hate to cut it short, but I've, I've gotta pee again and I don't want to take another break. So we're gonna jump into the loco experiences here. Let's go and, uh, Darius, this time I'll have you go first. You wanna tell me about a crazy experience from your lifetime that you're willing to share? Oh man. Not really. Um, I, I feel like all my crazy experiences are bad experiences though. Yeah. Fair. So like, I don't have, like, outside of skydiving, I don't have like, crazy experiences that are like, this was a noteworthy tale. Yeah. You know, I have, I have some decisions. I had a three day bender after I got paid. No, none of that. We don't wanna tell those stories. I, I don't really want to, to be frank, I'm sorry. I don't want to share like, any crazies you don't have, I don't want you to because they're, they're negative to be honest. And I think it makes me, I, all my stories I think would potentially paint me as a victim and I don't want to share them. Yeah, that's fair. Do you wanna tell me about skydiving? It was a blast. I did it several times. Go ahead. I love it. Describe the experience to somebody that's just, uh, closing their eyes and just imagining it, that they're at the edge of the airplane door. It is for a few seconds. It's, it's like if, if I can make a sound in the microphone, that would equate to the experience for the listener would be like, And then just quiet and then you're just taking it in. Yeah. And that's a, it's a pretty unique experience, so Yeah, I dig it. I like it. I like it. I, I'm, I haven't done it yet, but I want to, so, uh, that's a trip that helped me, that microphone sound, especially Sam, you want to, you wanna jump us over, Kurt, with his eyes closed, like, um, man, a crazy story. Um, I can tell you a story about when I knew I was gonna marry my wife. Sure. Is that a good one? I think so. Okay. So I said this earlier, but my wife and I connected a lot on hard, heavy music, and if you meet her now, you'd be like, there's no way she would listening to this crazy, she's like sweet screaming and just, is it like Danzi or whatever? No more like, you knows heavy screaming. I know that about you. They don't know that. Yeah. Screaming and, um, well you said a punk rocker too, back in the day. Yeah, so we connected a lot of punk and hardcore and screamo music. And so, uh, it's the very first time we were dating and we go to Warp Tour down at Mile High, right? Yep. And so we're down at Mile High and, uh, her favorite band comes on, which at the time was a band called Thre. Okay. And Sorece comes on and she looks at me, she says, I gotta go in the pit. I'm like, okay, she's beautiful and she's tough. Let's go. So she goes in the pit, she's the only woman in the pit, and she's moshing. And unintentionally she talks, takes an elbow to the face. Ooh. Which cleans her clock right. Puts her down on the ground. So everybody runs over and tries to help her. And I'm standing on the side like, oh man, she just got messed up. And she jumps up and she like, she like, get off me. I to get back in the marsh, she shakes her head and she goes, woo. And she starts moshing and I, I slapped my buddy Dan on the chest. I said, I'm gonna marry that woman. And that was it. That was legitimately the moment. I was like, now it was, was early. It was early days. Right. But I was head over heels for her and then we, we, we took some time apart cuz she went to school in Glenwood and came back. But anyway, as long as short of like Yeah. That was one of those moments, moments you likelihood of fighting another woman that could take that elbow and dust herself off and get back in the mosh. She's, my wife is unreal, man. She's just like, she's handy, she's artistic, she's business savvy. She's just in, she's incredible man. She's, yeah. Cool. Well this has been a really fun conversation. I wanna thank you guys for having me on. And, and if you're, uh, listening to Pain, pain to Profits podcast, I think I'll be coming out here Yes. Pretty soon. Yep. Absolutely. Look for that. Uh, so thanks for having me on your show as well. And then where do people find you? What's the best, easiest way to find clearly acquired or painted profits or Yep. Where do you wanna send people? Yeah. Clearly acquired.com. If you wanna learn more about buying and selling businesses, uh, if you're interested in listening to podcasts or subscribing to the newsletter, you can catch us@paynetwoprofit.co or pay with a number two. Uh, words to, but you can type all those things. We have all the variations of it. Fair enough. They're all forwarded. Uh, we're on YouTube. We're on Spotify. We're on uh, apple Podcast. Cool. TikTok. TikTok, yeah. You name it. Um, and then if you're following us on social, best places are probably LinkedIn and Twitter. LinkedIn, yeah. Okay. Yep. All right. LinkedIn. You can catch me on TikTok. Well, god speed gentleman, thanks for making the time. Yeah, thanks sir. Appreciate it. It's fun. Thank you. Bye. Bye.