Unlearning Entrepreneurship with Reggie Davis: Shifting from Non-Profit to For Profit, Mindset Reset, Redefining Ministry, Embracing Growth, Tackling Financial Hurdles, and Finding Freedom

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:04.168 --> 00:00:08.736
Hello everybody and welcome once again to the unlearned podcast.

00:00:08.736 --> 00:00:19.626
I am your host, ruth Abigail, aka RA, and this is the podcast that is helping you gain the courage to change your mind so that you can experience just a little bit more freedom.

00:00:19.626 --> 00:00:23.952
And we are in our series called unlearning.

00:00:23.952 --> 00:00:34.710
We are in our series called Unlearning Entrepreneurship, and so I, during this, I'm talking to some entrepreneurs that have been in the game at different stages and do different things.

00:00:34.750 --> 00:00:48.786
Really, because I hear so many people saying they want to be entrepreneurs, they want to start something, and my first reaction is to say I don't know that you do want to start something, and my first reaction is to say I don't know that you do.

00:00:48.786 --> 00:00:59.506
And because there's a lot of things that are true about entrepreneurship that on the front side of it looks amazing, but on the backside of it it can be a different story, and it's not for everybody, but maybe it is for you.

00:00:59.506 --> 00:01:20.772
And so I just thought this would be an interesting conversation, because there are a lot of people out there, especially since COVID, who have become entrepreneurs, and then there are a lot of people who have unbecome entrepreneurs, and so, man, I have my friend, mentor, former boss, and he is the first person to take a chance and hire me here in Memphis, tennessee.

00:01:20.772 --> 00:01:23.243
It is Mr Reggie Davis.

00:01:24.426 --> 00:01:26.489
Good afternoon RA.

00:01:26.489 --> 00:01:28.593
What a pleasure, what a pleasure.

00:01:29.923 --> 00:01:31.808
It is so good to be with you on this podcast.

00:01:31.808 --> 00:01:32.771
Thank you for joining us.

00:01:33.140 --> 00:01:34.203
Hey, thank you for having me.

00:01:34.203 --> 00:01:35.769
I'm excited to be here with you.

00:01:39.403 --> 00:01:42.186
Yeah, so, reggie, we met in 2010.

00:01:42.186 --> 00:01:45.710
That's a long time, man.

00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:49.655
Wow, 2010.

00:01:49.655 --> 00:01:55.371
All right, wow, 14 years ago, that's wild, that's wild.

00:01:55.371 --> 00:02:00.831
You were a young, young baby straight out of college.

00:02:02.341 --> 00:02:10.593
Well, you know, if you're young I don't know if that's the right terminology- Perspective.

00:02:10.754 --> 00:02:13.725
I love that Perspective is huge in this world.

00:02:15.811 --> 00:02:28.169
No man, yeah, I was young, I was a baby adult and you said yes to me when I had absolutely no experience in what it is that I was doing, none.

00:02:28.169 --> 00:02:30.807
So I appreciate that.

00:02:30.807 --> 00:02:41.091
I would say that you have been entrepreneurial ever since I met you because of that kind of a trait, because, you know, being an entrepreneur, you got to take chances.

00:02:41.091 --> 00:02:44.399
I mean right.

00:02:44.399 --> 00:02:47.550
I mean like that's the name of the game, right, it's taking chances.

00:02:47.550 --> 00:02:50.848
If you're, if you're, risk averse, that's going to be a little rough.

00:02:51.449 --> 00:02:52.292
It is, it is.

00:02:52.292 --> 00:02:53.102
You know you.

00:02:53.102 --> 00:02:56.931
Just when you brought that up, it took me back.

00:02:56.931 --> 00:03:02.632
And do you remember my original thoughts I had about you before I met you?

00:03:02.632 --> 00:03:04.486
Do you remember me?

00:03:04.901 --> 00:03:07.844
thoughts I had about you before I met you.

00:03:07.844 --> 00:03:08.066
Do you?

00:03:08.086 --> 00:03:21.663
remember me, I didn't buy it, but when you said it I was like, oh, this is pretty cool Part of our story, though, right, you know.

00:03:21.663 --> 00:03:35.503
So, for those who are listening, we were starting a new well, the nonprofit had been around, but we were starting a new site at the most diverse high school in the city of Memphis, and my first two hires were two female, which I was very proud about, but they were two white female.

00:03:35.503 --> 00:03:55.432
And I got this email about this amazing person named Ruth Abigail Smith, and she went to Furman University, and I'm putting all the things together in my head Like, okay, double name, Ruth Abigail Smith, furman University.

00:03:55.432 --> 00:03:56.775
I'm looking at the resume.

00:03:56.775 --> 00:03:59.657
I was like I can't hire another white female.

00:03:59.657 --> 00:04:06.444
I'm trying to be diverse here and I can't have my first three hires be white females.

00:04:06.444 --> 00:04:11.741
So I said, but I'll meet her, right, like her, she looks sharp, her resume looks great, everything.

00:04:11.741 --> 00:04:12.787
I'll meet her.

00:04:12.787 --> 00:04:17.548
And, man, you stepped around that corner and I was like frozen.

00:04:17.548 --> 00:04:21.079
Like is Ruth Abigail?

00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:31.127
I'm so glad I had that meeting, though.

00:04:31.963 --> 00:04:39.065
I think it's important for the people to know that you ignored me for a good two months, was it two months?

00:04:39.065 --> 00:04:40.189
It was a while.

00:04:40.189 --> 00:04:46.423
And I mean I got ghosted on the emails, ghosted like just stopped hearing from him.

00:04:46.423 --> 00:04:51.601
And so, yeah, no, no, you know what, I get it, I get it, I totally get it.

00:04:51.601 --> 00:04:55.050
And at first I was like man, who is this dude that just ain't gonna respond back?

00:04:55.050 --> 00:04:56.261
Ain't you supposed to be in a minute?

00:04:56.261 --> 00:04:59.586
Y'all supposed to be nice and nothing.

00:04:59.586 --> 00:05:00.826
I didn't hear nothing, you know.

00:05:00.826 --> 00:05:07.516
Then we met and this, within the first two minutes of us sitting down, he told me, he told me this, and we just fell out, man, and that was it.

00:05:08.100 --> 00:05:09.904
That was it, man.

00:05:09.904 --> 00:05:14.762
That was it Cause I was like, okay, I gotta be honest with her right, like I just gotta, I gotta share this with her.

00:05:14.762 --> 00:05:28.927
And I and again I don't know if I was in intentionally ghosting you, but I was kind of I didn't know what to do with it I was like, okay, I don't want to say no to her because her resume looks great, but like, let me see if I can find some other candidates.

00:05:28.927 --> 00:05:33.146
And it was crazy.

00:05:33.146 --> 00:05:37.432
There were people well, I never said that like in my head I think she must be white.

00:05:37.432 --> 00:05:43.211
So the people who knew you, they didn't say, oh, yeah, and she's a black female.

00:05:43.211 --> 00:05:57.110
But yeah, look, I'm so glad we ended up having that meeting at I believe it may have been Starbucks and, and look, one of the best, one of the best hires of my life I've ever made.

00:05:57.860 --> 00:06:06.281
Man, look, it was one of the best decisions I made was working for you, and because you know you, you are you, you truly have been entrepreneurial the whole time.

00:06:06.281 --> 00:06:18.665
I've I've even though in title or in experience it may not have looked that way, but the way you move um was always entrepreneurial to me and, being in the environment under your leadership, I felt like I could do that same thing.

00:06:18.665 --> 00:06:20.488
And so, uh, you, you.

00:06:20.488 --> 00:06:23.262
So let's just, let's just kind of bring people into.

00:06:23.262 --> 00:06:35.101
You are the um founder, owner of a consulting company called uplift um and that started when we actually started it came up with the name in 2020.

00:06:35.803 --> 00:07:05.329
You know a lot of spending a lot of time at home in between virtual zoom meetings and, um, just 2019 though I gotta share this 2019, a friend of mine who had come to some of those I just called them conversations for change meetings that I was hosting around Memphis, right, he had come to a couple of these and this was a white male friend of mine and he calls me one day in 2019 and said, hey, we're looking for somebody to facilitate conversations around DE.

00:07:05.329 --> 00:07:05.442
And I recommended you.

00:07:05.442 --> 00:07:10.850
And I was like, said, hey, we're looking for somebody to facilitate conversations around DE&I I recommended you and I was like, well, mark, you know I don't do this for a living.

00:07:10.850 --> 00:07:15.932
And he said, but you should, and I'll be honest with you.

00:07:15.932 --> 00:07:18.146
I was like, man, this dude has lost his mind.

00:07:18.146 --> 00:07:26.634
Like I'm not a business owner, I'm not a starter, like I've spent 20 years in a nonprofit sector and that's kind of what.

00:07:26.634 --> 00:07:27.901
That's my lane now.

00:07:28.002 --> 00:07:37.827
Right, I really felt like that's my lane and but it it never left me Right, that thought of it like can I do?

00:07:37.827 --> 00:07:39.012
Can I do this?

00:07:39.012 --> 00:07:42.601
And then 2020, I was like, well, let me at least think of a name.

00:07:42.601 --> 00:07:46.973
And then, ok, let me at least submit something to the IRS.

00:07:46.973 --> 00:07:48.826
Well, let me at least do this with the state of Tennessee.

00:07:48.826 --> 00:07:54.028
And I kept doing all these pieces and before I knew it it was like OK, I have a business now.

00:07:54.028 --> 00:07:56.204
Now am I going to do it?

00:07:59.141 --> 00:08:04.233
I think I knew that part of that part of the origin story.

00:08:04.233 --> 00:08:08.742
Like I want to go to something because I think what you said was key.

00:08:08.742 --> 00:08:11.608
You said I've spent 20 years in the nonprofit industry.

00:08:11.608 --> 00:08:15.702
This is my lane, like this, is it so?

00:08:15.702 --> 00:08:20.512
It was that automatic assumption that was I've been in this for 20 years.

00:08:20.512 --> 00:08:24.043
I mean move, do something different.

00:08:24.043 --> 00:08:24.526
Why?

00:08:24.526 --> 00:08:26.451
Like I mean, this is this is what I'm doing.

00:08:26.451 --> 00:08:33.693
I mean, how, how did that, like that, shift right, which is, which is a pretty different shift.

00:08:33.693 --> 00:08:47.182
Now, let's not to say you can't be entrepreneurial in the nonprofit sector, but we're talking about moving into a for-profit situation, which is, and also, you know, being a um, a real owner, founder of a company, which is different.

00:08:47.182 --> 00:08:57.426
Uh, what kind of um mental loops that you have to kind of kill to get you from from here to there.

00:08:58.167 --> 00:09:01.833
Yeah, that's a great question and there were a lot.

00:09:01.833 --> 00:09:11.705
You know, ruth Abigail, this journey was was not easy in terms of overcoming my own mindset.

00:09:11.705 --> 00:09:18.062
Truthfully, like that was the, I will still say that has been the largest hurdle and still can be.

00:09:18.062 --> 00:09:23.849
The largest hurdle is getting out of my own way.

00:09:23.849 --> 00:09:32.765
And so, you know, you hear these stories of these entrepreneurs and people who start businesses and all these great things.

00:09:32.765 --> 00:09:43.442
And even to what you said, like I was doing entrepreneurial tactics and being an entrepreneur even in the for the non-for-profit space.

00:09:43.442 --> 00:09:50.902
But I wouldn't have called it that, it was just I'm doing ministry, right, I'm just doing ministry and I'm trying to lead well, and I'm trying to do all these things.

00:09:50.902 --> 00:10:12.716
And I can look back now and say, oh my gosh, like I learned so many, so much during that time how to navigate relationships, how to, you know, recruit volunteers, how to, you know, ask for support, funding and all these different things.

00:10:12.716 --> 00:10:16.150
And and now I can look back and go, wow, I see it now.

00:10:16.340 --> 00:10:18.883
But I had the hardest.

00:10:18.883 --> 00:10:42.011
The hardest moment for me was thinking that I could be an entrepreneur, because one I never thought about being an entrepreneur like, never had dreams, never, never wanted to start something you know, and I used to say like I'm good at being a part of something that's already establishing, establishing, established and enhancing it.

00:10:42.011 --> 00:10:43.363
That was my MO.

00:10:43.363 --> 00:10:56.695
I enhance what's already there and and literally I was sitting in church one Sunday about to preach and God's, I felt the spirit say to me if you get out of my way, I'll blow your mind.

00:10:56.695 --> 00:11:02.669
And you know my little days of being a musician back in the day in Arkansas.

00:11:03.211 --> 00:11:05.162
I was like trying to think of the song what song is it?

00:11:05.162 --> 00:11:12.182
I know that's in the song and it kind of went away and I heard it again If you get out of my way, I'll blow your mind.

00:11:12.182 --> 00:11:17.193
My second question was okay, is this you, god, or is this just me?

00:11:17.193 --> 00:11:20.125
Right, because I have to ask myself sometimes.

00:11:20.125 --> 00:11:33.783
And then I heard it again and at this point I was like was like okay, I'm not even sure what this means, because I thought I had been not in your way and doing exactly what you wanted me to do for the last whatever.

00:11:33.822 --> 00:11:35.787
That was 14, 15 years of my life.

00:11:35.787 --> 00:11:37.971
And now you're telling me to get out of your way.

00:11:37.971 --> 00:11:46.293
And I understand now, like it was, I want to actually use you in this business and the business is in your hands.

00:11:46.293 --> 00:11:47.782
I'm putting it in your hands.

00:11:47.782 --> 00:11:54.695
You're going to grow this business and you're still going to be as effective in the lives of people as you were doing ministry.

00:11:54.695 --> 00:12:02.903
And, as a matter of fact, it is ministry, but it's a business and it's a for profit business and I had to get over that.

00:12:02.903 --> 00:12:07.212
Honestly, all right, like making money.

00:12:10.020 --> 00:12:24.153
I'm glad you went there, because I was going to go there, but I would love to go in this direction Because let me just All right, so I do, I get, which is, honestly, again, what I said in the beginning, like why I wanted to do this series, is because I get a lot of people.

00:12:24.153 --> 00:12:31.481
What I said in the beginning, like why I wanted to do this series is because I get a lot of people, that young people and, to be quite frank, some, some, a lot of them that are working in the nonprofit space.

00:12:31.481 --> 00:12:39.192
They're a little disillusioned by the, by the work, for whatever reason, and they're like man, I just I want to, I want to start my own thing and I do my.

00:12:39.192 --> 00:12:55.626
If anybody's listening to this, you know this is true, that I, if I have said this to you, like I said, I don't know that you do, I'm saying a little tongue in cheek, but I genuinely I'm like I don't know if you do, because I've done that, like I've been a co-founder of a nonprofit.

00:12:55.626 --> 00:12:56.100
I've been.

00:12:56.100 --> 00:12:59.591
You know, god has been incredibly gracious.

00:12:59.591 --> 00:13:05.659
We have been around for 10 years, which is mind blowing, still moving, still growing, our.

00:13:05.659 --> 00:13:07.513
We have been around for 10 years, which is mind blowing, still moving, still growing.

00:13:07.513 --> 00:13:10.827
Our story is rare, quite frankly, that is not the case from nonprofits.

00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:13.407
So, but it's very hard.

00:13:13.407 --> 00:13:24.947
You don't realize what you're getting into and a lot of the reasoning behind it has to do more so where you're leaving than where you're going, and that's not a good way.

00:13:24.947 --> 00:13:27.624
Reason to go, no, to just start something, right.

00:13:27.624 --> 00:13:32.273
But but I'll have this conversation and, uh, a lot of times.

00:13:32.273 --> 00:13:38.279
One of the reasons that, um, that people are disillusioned by the non-profit space is the money you're making.

00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:42.047
It's like I'm not making enough in this, in this work.

00:13:42.047 --> 00:13:43.970
I want to go start my own thing.

00:13:44.350 --> 00:13:55.504
Well, and I'm like, hey, man, like you think you ain't making nothing, now you want to go start your own thing is going to be even, you know, even more hard to start making that kind of money.

00:13:55.504 --> 00:13:58.110
Certainly not immediately.

00:13:58.110 --> 00:14:15.277
But also the other answer I've given people and this is from 10 years of doing it I've said you know, the truth of the matter is we have in Memphis that's my context, that's what I'll speak to a hundred nonprofits.

00:14:15.277 --> 00:14:17.287
We have a lot of them.

00:14:17.287 --> 00:14:21.711
We have the highest nonprofit capital in the US, as far as I know.

00:14:21.711 --> 00:14:26.124
And don't start a nonprofit.

00:14:26.124 --> 00:14:30.344
I will say, like I wouldn't do that, I would start a business, you know, and then fund a nonprofit.

00:14:30.524 --> 00:14:30.745
Yes.

00:14:31.125 --> 00:14:31.386
Yes.

00:14:31.868 --> 00:14:32.249
Yes.

00:14:32.730 --> 00:14:40.585
That's what I, that's the kind of advice I try to give now, and I can see the twinge on people's faces.

00:14:40.585 --> 00:15:00.360
It's like because of what you and I already know, cause I'm, I'm I'm usually familiar with the people I'm talking to, but I want to do ministry, and ministry doesn't equal money, and that feels weird.

00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:01.884
I want to know how you, how you, got over that hurdle.

00:15:01.884 --> 00:15:12.951
I think a lot of us get over the hurdle that being in ministry means you have to take a vow of poverty, Nor does it mean that you are and that you're always stuck in this box.

00:15:12.951 --> 00:15:15.054
That equals low pay.

00:15:15.054 --> 00:15:22.114
It might, and that's not a bad thing, but does it have to be right In order to call it ministry?

00:15:22.114 --> 00:15:30.586
I want to know how you got over that hurdle and what are still some of the things that are still a little unnerving about it.

00:15:30.907 --> 00:15:32.971
Yeah, yeah, wow, that's a great question.

00:15:32.971 --> 00:15:36.464
So how did that get over it?

00:15:36.464 --> 00:15:43.763
I think time, honestly, growing up in rural Arkansas with not a lot like I.

00:15:43.763 --> 00:15:47.091
Still, kim and I, we still had these moments where we talk about.

00:15:47.091 --> 00:16:00.344
When I married Kim and I think I've told you this, but when I married Kim at the age of 25, this was a woman who was nine years older than me, had her own house, had her own car, she was INDEP, she was independent, right.

00:16:01.365 --> 00:16:12.528
And here I am walking out of my parents home, which was a trailer home, a house filled with love, but it was a trailer home and we go get married.

00:16:12.528 --> 00:16:24.745
I leave that Friday, we get married on Saturday and I go to our house, which was her house, all Sunday and I like and I promise I'm going somewhere with this.

00:16:24.745 --> 00:16:34.610
And so we finished opening the gifts with her mom and her sister and I said, hey, I'm going out to the car to get my stuff.

00:16:34.610 --> 00:16:37.729
I had a little two-seater sports car.

00:16:37.729 --> 00:16:45.472
I come back with my piece of luggage, my piece of luggage, and three suits over my shoulder.

00:16:45.472 --> 00:16:46.774
I go put it up.

00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:51.784
She had cleared out a ton of space and drawers for me.

00:16:51.784 --> 00:17:00.384
I put my stuff away and I come back in and I sit down and she was like you need some help getting the rest of your stuff.

00:17:00.384 --> 00:17:11.730
I was like no, that's it, you know.

00:17:11.730 --> 00:17:29.182
So I mean I came, you know, from a lot of love, like my parents taught me about God, they taught me about loving your neighbors and all these things, but I came from nothing, so like doing nonprofit work and not having a lot most of the time right Was just that's what I knew.

00:17:29.182 --> 00:17:43.563
And so it was like, okay, and in the back of my head, I gotta be honest with you I don't think I thought that I could be as committed in my faith with money, be as committed in my faith with money.

00:17:43.583 --> 00:17:47.770
Come on, pause there, pause there, pause there.

00:17:47.770 --> 00:17:49.493
Let's talk about that.

00:17:49.493 --> 00:17:52.420
Why?

00:17:52.420 --> 00:17:52.961
What scared you?

00:17:52.980 --> 00:17:53.942
about that.

00:17:53.942 --> 00:17:56.743
I think some of it was the things you heard growing up.

00:17:56.743 --> 00:18:02.849
You know, in the black church sometimes, like you know, you just heard things.

00:18:02.849 --> 00:18:10.037
You know about the love of money, right, and I know the full scripture, but we didn't hear the full scripture all the time.

00:18:11.361 --> 00:18:16.932
We heard the love of money and really A lot of times the love of money was left out.

00:18:16.932 --> 00:18:23.268
It was almost like money.

00:18:23.268 --> 00:18:25.799
And so most of the folks who I knew that loved the Lord didn't have anything.

00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:30.648
They had their faith, they had their passion for Christ and living holy, but they didn't.

00:18:30.648 --> 00:18:35.645
And this isn't a knock on my parents, because I'm telling you I'm not who I am without them, but we didn't go on vacations.

00:18:35.645 --> 00:18:49.345
Our vacation was the church convention and so in my head, being devout in your faith and having money didn't resonate, it didn't connect at all.

00:18:51.680 --> 00:19:08.412
And so and then and wait, and then you spend 15 years doing Christian nonprofit youth ministry which, let's be honest, you hear things that's not said to you but said at you.

00:19:08.412 --> 00:19:09.740
You know like.

00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:15.741
You know, if you're really called to this, you know why would you need a raise, you know?

00:19:15.741 --> 00:19:35.923
Or look, my first week of doing youth ministry, nonprofit work in Memphis profit work in Memphis my then supervisor had purchased a used Lexus SUV.

00:19:35.962 --> 00:19:40.146
A donor told him that it didn't look good for him to drive a luxury car like that.

00:19:40.146 --> 00:19:49.057
So he went and traded in the Lexus Texas pre-owned SUV for a newer, better looking, more expensive Toyota 4Runner.

00:19:49.057 --> 00:19:50.786
But it was a Toyota.

00:19:50.786 --> 00:20:00.055
So don't have a perception of having a luxury car when you're doing nonprofit ministry.

00:20:00.055 --> 00:20:06.151
Even if the car costs more, it doesn't need to look like and I so.

00:20:06.151 --> 00:20:19.839
Here I am my first week of my on the job and I'm thinking, oh okay, I better not look like I I have anything yep and so those seeds get planted, and now, like, when it's time for god to take you in a different direction.

00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:25.107
man, that's 30 years, 35 years of things.

00:20:25.107 --> 00:20:27.731
You've listened, unlearning.

00:20:27.731 --> 00:20:30.174
Come on, I had to unlearn.

00:20:31.520 --> 00:20:35.230
I mean, you was on the unlearned journey for a while.

00:20:35.230 --> 00:20:38.909
That's real, like you have to, that is real.

00:20:38.909 --> 00:21:07.373
And I think that hurdle that money hurdle that ain't even in our notes, that's not in my, I don't even have that on here, but I just think this is such an important uh part of the conversation in order to understand how do you kind of progress in a way, um that, that, that is, um, still God honoring, right, but enjoying the fruits of your labor.

00:21:07.373 --> 00:21:18.049
There's nothing wrong with that and I and I I know, because I've heard the same things Right there's and I've had to unlearn some of those same perceptions.

00:21:18.049 --> 00:21:22.185
Right Of, I'll be, I'm totally honest doing this podcast.

00:21:23.929 --> 00:21:47.721
I had to get through a mental hurdle to even do this Right, because there is a uh, there's a opportunity for um, for income through through this podcast, which, if I'm honest, I'm not, it's not why I'm doing it, but if it happens, praise God, amen, I ain't giving a damn Right Um, so I, but it's like I don't want people to it's.

00:21:47.721 --> 00:21:48.545
I had to go through this.

00:21:48.545 --> 00:22:01.791
I don't want anybody to think I'm trying to um, I'm trying to, I'm trying to do extra, be extra, whatever, or I don't want anybody to think I'm starting this business and I'm going off on this, this path, where I'm not focused on ministry anymore and I don't.

00:22:01.791 --> 00:22:02.113
I don't.

00:22:02.113 --> 00:22:09.689
I had to unlearn that myself and just get out there and jump and do it because this is what God, this is what he put in me.

00:22:09.689 --> 00:22:10.570
I'm going to do it.

00:22:10.570 --> 00:22:16.433
And what people's opinions are are less relevant right Than following God.

00:22:16.433 --> 00:22:28.521
Um, but that unlearning process is so crucial when it comes to this money conversation, when you're coming out of, when you're coming out of ministry right.

00:22:28.982 --> 00:22:31.848
It is, it is and but like how can we?

00:22:31.848 --> 00:22:36.343
How can we talk about entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial ship, without talking about money?

00:22:36.343 --> 00:22:51.076
I mean, who goes to start a business and say I don't need to make no money, I just want to do this business period, like no, that's part of the process.

00:22:52.450 --> 00:22:53.224
That's part of the process.

00:22:53.224 --> 00:23:06.796
If you're not focused on the money part of business and we'll say money, let's just say on the investing, and investment right of it, because it's really a business is about growing.

00:23:06.796 --> 00:23:10.439
It's about like we're giving something in order to gain something.

00:23:10.439 --> 00:23:24.261
It's a transaction, investment to make something better, and so in this case it looks like money is the resource that we use to invest.

00:23:24.261 --> 00:23:39.065
So I think we put so much energy into this money thing and I go back to the verse, the parable of the help me out preacher.

00:23:39.065 --> 00:23:44.497
So the one, the talents, the talents.

00:23:44.657 --> 00:23:44.877
Okay.

00:23:45.465 --> 00:23:53.178
Even that parable, right yeah, the one who didn't think about it as a business was the one that Jesus said.

00:23:53.945 --> 00:23:56.336
I got a problem with you, eh.

00:23:57.606 --> 00:23:58.893
I don't think it's to do with you.

00:23:59.515 --> 00:23:59.715
Yeah.

00:24:00.384 --> 00:24:01.390
Give it my stuff back.

00:24:01.390 --> 00:24:03.010
Let me give it to somebody who knows what they're doing.

00:24:03.512 --> 00:24:03.733
Yeah.

00:24:04.565 --> 00:24:20.531
It's really interesting because when we think about the way that even Jesus talked about business and investment and harvesting and reaping in the Bible, it is from that mindset of take something, grow it Like into something more right.

00:24:20.874 --> 00:24:20.973
Yeah.

00:24:21.567 --> 00:24:30.086
And he constantly is using that and for whatever reason we have, and I think I don't know maybe it's an American thing and we don't have to be on here this whole time.

00:24:30.086 --> 00:24:50.192
But I think this is so great part of the conversation to help people unlearn, who are in ministry, who might want to go into business or might want to go into an entrepreneurial venture, that this is a part of the mental process that might be stopping you from doing that.

00:24:51.013 --> 00:24:53.659
Exactly, and could you know?

00:24:53.659 --> 00:25:03.734
Look, I think our life is about seasons, right, and sometimes we stay in seasons too long, come on, because they're comfortable, right?

00:25:03.734 --> 00:25:11.633
Let's just be honest, it's very comfortable to do something and you know whether you get an accolades for being whatever.

00:25:11.633 --> 00:25:15.127
It just becomes comfortable, right, and we don't like.

00:25:15.127 --> 00:25:19.298
As human beings, for the most part, we don't like discomfort and we don't like being inconvenienced.

00:25:19.704 --> 00:25:25.115
Becoming an entrepreneur will take you out of your comfort zone and it will inconvenience you at times, right?

00:25:25.115 --> 00:25:43.384
But I will tell you, man, god positioned these nuggets that I needed when I started this business, and so somebody sent me a podcast or YouTube video and this brother was talking about David, no Solomon, talking about King Solomon, right?

00:25:43.384 --> 00:25:52.539
So King Solomon, literally things would pay Solomon to come get advice from him.

00:25:52.539 --> 00:25:56.578
Now you're talking about somebody who's getting ready to go into consulting, right?

00:25:56.578 --> 00:26:03.157
And I almost felt like, truthfully, like I care about what I'm doing, I genuinely care.

00:26:03.157 --> 00:26:09.614
I was doing it before somebody ever offered me a dime, just asking people let's sit down and talk about this, right?

00:26:09.614 --> 00:26:14.193
And so now somebody's saying I'll pay you for it.

00:26:14.193 --> 00:26:15.596
I struggle, wait, wait, wait.

00:26:15.596 --> 00:26:23.378
If this is something that God has put in my heart and he's put in my mind should I make money from that?

00:26:24.325 --> 00:26:41.593
And then, like, somebody sent me this video and this guy saying well, look, god allowed King Solomon to be where he was and yet people paid him it was money and cattle and other things to receive advice from him, including the queen of Sheba.

00:26:41.593 --> 00:26:46.167
Right, she came with a whole lot of stuff.

00:26:46.167 --> 00:26:48.352
I just need to sit at your feet and hear what you got to say.

00:26:48.352 --> 00:26:54.432
Right, solomon didn't say no, I'm good, I got enough.

00:26:54.432 --> 00:26:58.345
And hear me, let's don't get it twisted, I'm not some millionaire.

00:26:58.345 --> 00:27:04.618
Yet I always like saying that, because I used to have a problem saying that I could be a millionaire.

00:27:04.618 --> 00:27:07.654
No, I don't, because if that's what God has for me, I want it.

00:27:07.654 --> 00:27:17.564
So, but I'm doing what I honestly feel like God purposed me to do when I was, before I was born.

00:27:17.564 --> 00:27:18.144
Ruth Abigail.

00:27:18.685 --> 00:27:18.905
Yeah.

00:27:20.088 --> 00:27:32.479
And if entrepreneurship is that for someone and again I'll be the first to tell you, maybe entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but if that seed is planted in you, go for it.

00:27:32.479 --> 00:27:44.868
Yeah, go for it and be ready for all the things that come with it, including, you know the things that come with it, including not having a limited salary.

00:27:48.297 --> 00:27:52.739
That's it, I think so I've listened to.

00:27:52.739 --> 00:27:56.852
I don't know if you've heard of a business coach named Myron Golden.

00:27:56.852 --> 00:27:58.692
That's exactly who I'm speaking to.

00:27:58.692 --> 00:28:05.532
I thought that's who you were talking about, because I've heard it and I've heard other people.

00:28:05.532 --> 00:28:09.295
I've heard so many of his kind of like protégés.

00:28:09.516 --> 00:28:09.817
Yeah.

00:28:11.286 --> 00:28:13.070
And I was like I bet this man's talking about.

00:28:13.070 --> 00:28:15.217
I didn't want to assume that's what I mean.

00:28:15.217 --> 00:28:18.394
I've been following him for the last couple of years.

00:28:18.394 --> 00:28:19.750
The man is absolutely brilliant.

00:28:20.305 --> 00:28:20.688
Listen.

00:28:20.688 --> 00:28:33.751
Can we stop there for a second and say if somebody think they think they may want to be an entrepreneur, go on YouTube and listen to Myron Golden speak.

00:28:33.751 --> 00:28:35.997
Here's my deal.

00:28:35.997 --> 00:28:41.729
I can't tell you one person that 100% of everything they say I'm just like.

00:28:41.729 --> 00:28:51.318
I hope you don't like 100% of what I say, but I hope I can say something that might inspire you, that may water a seed that's already planted.

00:28:51.318 --> 00:28:56.307
And I'm telling you, if you want to be an entrepreneur, if he don't plant a seed, he's going to do some watering.

00:28:58.992 --> 00:29:01.238
Myron Golden for those of you that don't know.

00:29:01.238 --> 00:29:09.647
Myron Golden for those of you that don't know is an entrepreneur, business coach.

00:29:09.647 --> 00:29:17.373
It has been for a while, for decades, and he's also a former pastor, and so I think, the thing that I appreciate most about him.

00:29:17.373 --> 00:29:30.000
I appreciate a few things, but one of the things is like his practicality of really helping people to understand biblical truths right.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:32.201
That apply across the board to your whole life.

00:29:32.682 --> 00:29:32.942
Yes.

00:29:32.961 --> 00:29:34.643
More specifically to business.

00:29:34.643 --> 00:29:37.769
Yes, and so I.

00:29:37.769 --> 00:29:38.832
He is, yeah, I.

00:29:38.832 --> 00:29:39.272
I.

00:29:39.272 --> 00:29:46.756
The guy is absolutely brilliant and I am just I'm floored by some of the stuff he says.

00:29:46.756 --> 00:29:52.855
One of the things that I like what you said unlimited and unlimited amount of money.

00:29:55.406 --> 00:30:10.717
Well, I believe he is credited with terming this, and I've heard him talk about these four, four um levels, of four levels in the marketplace, and he says he didn't make them up.

00:30:10.717 --> 00:30:17.878
He's like I got it from the Bible, so I'm not going to say I've made them up, but he gave them names and so there's like four levels and let me see if I get them right.

00:30:17.878 --> 00:30:31.214
You have the implementation level, you have the education level, you have the communication level and then you have the imagination level, and so each one of those has a certain value they have in the marketplace.

00:30:31.214 --> 00:30:36.420
Implementation might be anything you do with your hands right, anything you do with your hands.

00:30:36.420 --> 00:30:43.788
Unification is the idea of management, Communication is using your words, and imagination is where entrepreneurship comes from.

00:30:43.788 --> 00:30:55.019
You think of something in your head and you do it right, and it's that imagination level that comes with the unlimited resource, because there is no cap.

00:30:55.019 --> 00:30:59.174
Each one of those other levels has a cap that the market has said it has a cap to it.

00:30:59.536 --> 00:31:00.747
But your imagination.

00:31:00.767 --> 00:31:02.894
Nobody can put a cap on your imagination, because it's yours.

00:31:03.394 --> 00:31:03.776
That's right.

00:31:04.767 --> 00:31:12.253
There's no cap going into that, and so that's, even if you just look that up right, the four levels, I think it's.

00:31:12.253 --> 00:31:14.413
I'm getting the wording wrong there.

00:31:14.413 --> 00:31:15.871
I don't know if you know exactly what it is.

00:31:16.005 --> 00:31:32.946
Yeah, it's not levels that are used, but I mean your point, like you're giving, you're sharing the point of it.

00:31:32.946 --> 00:31:34.750
All right, and so, again, whoever is listening, go to YouTube and type in Myron Golden.

00:31:34.750 --> 00:31:38.736
This brother has so many resources out there in all forms, from 30 seconds to 35 minutes.

00:31:38.736 --> 00:31:42.741
Right, and just listen to some of this.

00:31:42.741 --> 00:31:55.155
Right, like I'm telling you, ruth Abigail, I probably listened to him daily for about four months, wow, and it was early on in the start of our business.

00:31:55.155 --> 00:32:22.015
And when I tell you, like God was just using his narrative, his message from the gospel, from the book, to like, fuel me and to help me unlearn some of that stuff, yeah, right, some of this stuff that was in my mind, biblical, right, and God said you got to get all of it.

00:32:22.015 --> 00:32:25.047
Right, like, and here's the deal, two things can be true.

00:32:25.528 --> 00:32:27.068
That's right.

00:32:27.848 --> 00:32:36.836
Two things can be true the love of money is the name of prosperity, prosperity, gospel, and it's just a gospel.

00:32:36.836 --> 00:32:58.585
So when Jesus says in Matthew 6, 33, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added.

00:32:58.585 --> 00:33:04.229
Now some people will say, well, those things have nothing to do with money and possessions.

00:33:04.229 --> 00:33:05.392
And all that, no, no, no.

00:33:05.392 --> 00:33:07.837
It doesn't say what the things are.

00:33:07.837 --> 00:33:26.880
So some of the things might be joy and peace and some of the things may be increased income, business ideas, and I've opened myself to all of that and not just limiting it to the fruit of the spirit.

00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:33.145
I just need more humility, god, and I do every day and watch this.

00:33:33.145 --> 00:33:59.170
And if God also uses his business to a point business to a point where my daughter wanted Sydney, I can say that you know Sydney, uh, wanted to do a learning program in in Taiwan, yeah she got accepted in the whole nine but still it was like a cost and it was like a I don't know.

00:33:59.349 --> 00:34:00.532
It was a cost.

00:34:00.532 --> 00:34:10.918
And Sydney was even before applying for Ruth Abigail, because she's been raised by her dad for 15, 16 years in a nonprofit space.

00:34:10.918 --> 00:34:14.072
She was like I would really like to do this, but I know we can't afford it.

00:34:14.072 --> 00:34:20.253
And so now I've already started the business, but I'm not talking to them about what we're doing financially.

00:34:20.253 --> 00:34:29.532
I'm just saying like man, this business is going well, right, but she's still stuck on 15 years of well baby, I really wish we could do that, but we can't.

00:34:29.532 --> 00:34:33.456
I really wish you could experience this, but it's not in our budget.

00:34:33.456 --> 00:34:45.072
I really wish, and so she wants to do this thing but also is like she's also the only one to like put me into this, like she don't want me to have to say I can't do it.

00:34:45.072 --> 00:34:47.155
I said maybe apply for it.

00:34:47.155 --> 00:34:49.257
And she said well, there are some scholarship opportunities.

00:34:49.277 --> 00:34:50.239
I said okay, do both.

00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:52.481
She gets in the program, she doesn't get the scholarship.

00:34:52.481 --> 00:34:58.268
She calls me disappointed.

00:34:58.268 --> 00:34:59.512
I said, sweetie, don't sweat it, we got it.

00:34:59.512 --> 00:35:04.809
She said no, dad, like I don't want y'all to have to, sweetie, don't sweat it, we got it.

00:35:04.809 --> 00:35:05.431
Wow.

00:35:05.431 --> 00:35:13.199
Like to not have the ability to do that for 15 years, wow.

00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:20.438
And to have the ability to send your daughter off to grow and develop and to pursue her career.

00:35:20.438 --> 00:35:24.795
I wouldn't trade that for anything with Abigail.

00:35:26.586 --> 00:35:28.474
How did it feel to say we got it?

00:35:31.246 --> 00:35:33.353
Such a blessing right.

00:35:33.353 --> 00:35:44.811
It felt as good as when I wasn't making as much money and you know we might have a kid in the streets, you know.

00:35:44.811 --> 00:35:50.280
You know it was the little things that were just success.

00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:59.739
We long for little things, sometimes from kids, to see their growth and their development or them to make the right choice.

00:35:59.739 --> 00:36:02.750
And as good as that felt.

00:36:02.750 --> 00:36:08.210
This felt that good too, like it was like God.

00:36:08.210 --> 00:36:27.010
Thank you that you have placed in my hands the opportunity to not only make a difference in the lives of people with the work that we do, not only provide even opportunities for others now to do this with us.

00:36:27.010 --> 00:36:28.052
Thank you, myron Golden.

00:36:28.052 --> 00:36:40.572
But now to be able to do for my daughters things that I had not been able to do up until I became an entrepreneur of a for-profit business.

00:36:40.572 --> 00:36:45.056
Let me say it their way yes.

00:36:45.175 --> 00:36:59.777
So I want to pivot to what you do, Talk, talk, like tell us a little bit about Uplift, what it is that the company does and why it's been successful.

00:36:59.818 --> 00:37:04.527
you think what, why it's been successful.

00:37:04.527 --> 00:37:04.969
You think, yeah, ok.

00:37:04.969 --> 00:37:08.257
So Uplift is a coaching and consulting organization.

00:37:08.257 --> 00:37:27.385
Our mission is to help individuals and organizations become the best versions of themselves possible and we do that through DEI leadership training Right, leadership training right.

00:37:27.405 --> 00:37:29.311
I'm convinced that individuals become better with folks who are different than them.

00:37:29.311 --> 00:37:33.166
Then they become even better because you can become better with folks who are just like you.

00:37:33.166 --> 00:37:47.639
But, like I can tell you, my personal journey has been I've grown more from folks who thought differently than me, who believe differently than me, who look differently than me, than somebody who looks, talks, thinks exactly the same way I do.

00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:53.938
But it's getting people to understand that because there is going to be a level of discomfort.

00:37:53.938 --> 00:38:00.378
But if I want to get stronger, I don't get stronger sitting on the sofa.

00:38:00.378 --> 00:38:07.293
I get stronger by getting up and doing something that I haven't been doing, which is some form of exercise.

00:38:07.293 --> 00:38:13.474
And typically if I have not been exercising and I start exercising, I'm going to feel uncomfortable.

00:38:13.474 --> 00:38:17.668
There is going to be a level of discomfort that comes with it.

00:38:17.668 --> 00:38:26.914
But if I embraced it and the discomfort engage it and don't say, oh, that was uncomfortable, I'm not going to do that anymore, no, like I got to stick with it and so it's.

00:38:27.394 --> 00:38:45.896
We've been able to connect with some clients who, I will say, are genuinely concerned about diversity and inclusion, and our Philosophy around it has been successful.

00:38:45.896 --> 00:38:52.882
And it's as simple as this we don't go in when we're not lecturers.

00:38:52.882 --> 00:38:58.445
Right, you know?

00:38:58.445 --> 00:39:00.108
We're not about to get up for three hours and just hit you with 40 slides.

00:39:00.108 --> 00:39:00.570
That's not who we are.

00:39:00.570 --> 00:39:10.016
Our sessions are really interactive and we engage people and you know, and it's not always easy, but that's what we do and how we do it.

00:39:10.117 --> 00:39:21.387
And we've been, you know, really blessed and I'll tell you one of my sweet moments, and I've had a few, but I'm in a rural place in South Carolina.

00:39:23.550 --> 00:39:24.050
You've been there.

00:39:24.050 --> 00:40:00.451
I'm in a very rural area in South Carolina and actually, before I get to the town that I'm going to present, about 10 minutes, 15 minutes outside of that town, is a town with a I don't know like a 10 by six Confederate flag in the center of the town and I'm like, ok, here I am, but I get in there the next morning and I'm facilitating with this group of leaders and there was a gentleman who, when I first met and look, this is the work, right, like I have my own biases Right.

00:40:00.451 --> 00:40:05.300
But when I first met him, you know, I thought he had a kind of tough looking face.

00:40:05.300 --> 00:40:08.414
He didn't seem to be very engaging with me.

00:40:08.414 --> 00:40:18.768
And so we start the session and we're about three quarters of the way through it, he raises his hand and he says Reggie, I got to be honest.

00:40:18.768 --> 00:40:24.969
It sounds like everything you've been sharing today around diversity and inclusion and it sounds like the gospel.

00:40:27.416 --> 00:40:29.766
Wow, wow.

00:40:30.731 --> 00:40:44.436
I say thank you Because I've actually been questioned, ruth Abigail, a number of times by Christians who will ask me how, how do you do this, how do you lead diversity and inclusion work as a pastor?

00:40:44.436 --> 00:40:51.902
Right and for me, I kind of go like I see it all throughout the gospel.

00:40:51.902 --> 00:40:57.630
I see it all throughout the life of Christ, his life in Matthew, mark Luke and John on the earth walking, talking.

00:40:57.630 --> 00:41:16.461
Matthew, mark Luke and John on the earth, walking, talking, engaging with people like it's, it's, it's all in there to me, but there are others who feel like no, that is completely anti.

00:41:16.481 --> 00:41:21.284
The gospel yeah, that's, that is beautiful.

00:41:21.284 --> 00:41:27.407
And I, I, that's beautiful, I'm, I'm.

00:41:27.407 --> 00:41:31.302
I think, I'm hesitating from going in a particular direction just because I don't want it to go off on that cause we can, but.

00:41:31.324 --> 00:41:38.153
so, um, but, but I I would love to know, um, how the DEI world right?

00:41:38.153 --> 00:41:49.934
Um, one thing I love about entrepreneurs is so many that I talked to didn't necessarily have a plan to become one, like it just kind of.

00:41:49.934 --> 00:41:59.237
It just kind of happened right and on top of that, didn't necessarily have a.

00:41:59.237 --> 00:42:03.215
Not only did they not have a plan to become an entrepreneur, but an entrepreneur doing what they're doing, right.

00:42:03.215 --> 00:42:20.670
So there are a lot of people who somehow find themselves starting a business, and starting a business in something that for some people they've had no connection to before in the past, or they had very little connection to and they just kind of like jumped into it or just never thought about it.

00:42:20.670 --> 00:42:27.139
So I would love to know that journey for you.

00:42:27.704 --> 00:42:42.699
Like, you kind of shared a little bit earlier that DEI path wasn't something you ever thought about, certainly doing a business around but kind of, how did you kind of come to the point where you said, ok, this is the work that I'm going to do?

00:42:42.699 --> 00:42:55.246
You also said earlier that you feel like this is the work you were born to do, which is a huge statement, but it's something you expected to find, and you didn't expect to become an entrepreneur in it.

00:42:55.246 --> 00:42:59.612
So what has it been like to run into this?

00:42:59.612 --> 00:43:03.260
You know like and, and then now thrive in it.

00:43:03.625 --> 00:43:12.932
So part of that question, right, it goes back to and I can now look back and I understand some things that just felt like life to me, right.

00:43:12.932 --> 00:43:19.969
But now I go oh God had a plan, like I couldn't explain it, but like it goes back to the first day of kindergarten to me.

00:43:19.969 --> 00:43:43.759
I don't know if I ever, even though I took you out of Hughes, I don't know if I told you this story, but in my town there was a train track, obviously not functioning anymore, but there was a train track where most of the black folks lived on one side, most of the white folks lived in another area, right, and it really was like an inverted Oreos, like most of the white people were were on on both sides of the town and the black folks lived kind of in this central area.

00:43:43.759 --> 00:43:46.934
And so I never played with a white kid until the first day of kindergarten.

00:43:46.934 --> 00:43:53.518
And I walk into the classroom, I'm playing with two young black boys from my community.

00:43:53.518 --> 00:43:56.152
We went to the same daycare together and this white kid walks over.

00:43:56.152 --> 00:43:57.396
He asked if he could play with us.

00:43:57.396 --> 00:44:03.434
I said yes, but I didn't even think about it, I just said yes, and the two two black friends were like no, he can't play with us.

00:44:03.434 --> 00:44:13.648
And we kind of went back and forth I don't know how many times, but they ended up saying if you play with him, you can't play with us.

00:44:13.648 --> 00:44:16.190
I wish I could tell you right now why.

00:44:16.190 --> 00:44:18.114
I said, okay, come on, let's play.

00:44:18.114 --> 00:44:33.436
But I did, and that literally became the story of my life from kindergarten even until this day, right, like I started seeing these, these, these patterns, right, and there's so many more in there, but I'll just tell you that was part of it.

00:44:33.644 --> 00:44:52.579
But what I also recognize when I got married, or before I got married, like I was real passionate about bringing people together in terms of race and ethnicity, but I had issues around the LGBTQ plus community as well as other religions.

00:44:52.579 --> 00:45:02.253
So I'm bringing black and white Christians together or trying to, but have you something else and you don't fit into that kind of this Christian bubble.

00:45:02.253 --> 00:45:19.958
I was, you know, I was doing the Heisman to you, right, but all through that process, one my wife kind of called me up honestly and called, noticed something and called me up and I did like most human beings do.

00:45:19.958 --> 00:45:30.317

Unlearning Entrepreneurship with Reggie Davis: Shifting from Non-Profit to For Profit, Mindset Reset, Redefining Ministry, Embracing Growth, Tackling Financial Hurdles, and Finding Freedom

Listen On

Recent Episodes