S01_E04(RD)

The main ideas from this information are: - The speaker and his wife started a logistics company called L&M Logistics Group. - The speaker had no prior knowledge of logistics but saw an opportunity while serving in the military in Iraq. - The wife initially had questions and concerns but supported the idea and they have been successful in acquiring contracts. - The speaker encourages listeners to start businesses based on their passions or interests. - They offer to provide support and investment for startup ideas. - The speaker explains the process of starting a business and mentions the potential tax benefits. - The speaker's husband will be hosting a virtual and in-person business seminar in April. I'm just loving it, talking to you guys off air and, you know, the support, the love is everything and we appreciate that. For sure. For sure. Thank you. Uh-huh. So what do we got on the agenda? So the agenda today is entrepreneurship, kind of. So I guess what we're going to, yeah, the sure thing, right? We're going to tap into some, you know, just some things that, you know, can get you going if you're thinking about starting a business or just the idea, if it's something that's been on your mind for a while, something that you've been holding on to, you know, a passion. And I don't want to put that out there because some people get frightened by the big picture. Don't let the big picture scare you. Not all good businesses start from passion. It starts from an idea. Say, for instance, I have a logistics company, a multimillion-dollar- Very successful logistics company. Shout-out to L&M Logistics. Oh, L&M, yeah. But listen, I knew nothing about logistics. I had no idea. Logistics is not my thing. I'm more of human services, social services. I'm a servant of the community. Like I said, I have a master's in psychology. I have a bachelor's in human services. I have associates in early childhood development. I've owned multiple daycares. I've been involved with many organizations. I've practiced therapy for about two, three years with my own clients and all that type of thing. Case management, what have you. That's my forte. People, the brain, kids, food, that's who I am. On the other hand, my husband is a logistics officer in the military, right? So he just was in the desert one day and- Yeah, I can tell you. Yeah, you go ahead. Tell your people that. I'm tired. As y'all know, I'm a military veteran currently in the National Guard. And an opportunity came about where I could go to Iraq and serve in a couple roles. One of the roles I served in was as an advisor to the Iraqi Air Force, right? So this was at Camp Taji in Iraq, which was about 25 miles from the Baghdad International Airport. This was in 2018. So that opportunity came about. I jumped on it. One role was the advisor to the Iraqi Air Force. The other role was the officer in charge of the aerial port for that base. And in other words, the airport. I was like the top dog responsible, like the shot caller for the airport at Camp Taji. And there were multiple bases throughout Iraq. You know, Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine. Every branch was out there. Coalition, you know, the different foreign countries and everything. But that base was ran by the Army. The aerial port was managed by the Air Force. And I was the top dog at that location, right? So I jumped on it. I went out there, did all the training, pre-deployment training. I was in Jersey for some training. I was in San Antonio, Texas for some other training. Boom. You know, rolled out. I was gone in like June of 2018. I spent six months out there in those two roles that I just described. And while I was out there, you know, I was like chopping it up with people, building relationships, kind of networking and everything. And I seen how the contracting world worked for the government. And I'm like, yo, I can do this. You know, these are just companies. They're obviously there. You know, they got their boards and they got their people. And a lot of them on the boards of these companies were prior military, you know, and they're making moves. They're doing logistics moves, moving cargo via the air, the ground, whatever. I'm like, all right, I'm logistics. I've been doing this for the last 15 years. I can do this. So when I got back, fast forward, I got back in 2019 in February, got settled, got reintegrated. I'm like, yo, we can do this. So in April of 2019, Letitia and I started L&M Logistics Group with the goal of acquiring, managing contracts in the government space. Yes, which we do right now. Yeah, we have multiple contracts with the government, you know. And then one of our most successful contracts is on the private side is with Amazon. So we do business with Amazon out here in the L.A. area. So the point I'm trying to make is I'm the logistics guy. Letitia is the human services, social services, people mind person. But what I did, and unbeknownst to me, when I came back, I was just eager to start a business and make some money and build generational wealth for our family. I introduced her into that as a, you know, as a partner. She didn't know anything about it. And I had a lot of questions. One thing about my husband, he's a serial entrepreneur that makes me a serial entrepreneur. I have a lot of faith in him. I kind of think we grew together to get to this point. So when he comes and tell me, oh, I started this business or I started this business, I have a lot of faith in him. I support him. I mean, rather the business fail or is successful. I feel right with him because of the fact that each decision he's made in the past regarding even if it was just joining the military. I've always supported him because I know he needed that from me as a wife. He needed that from day one. And I just I just. It gives me a little appreciate emotional when we're talking about the military aspect and and those type of things, because that was a long, hard journey. You know, I was he was boots on ground and I was right behind him every step of the way. And I just want to say that. So now when he bring these ideas, I'm jumping on. I'm like, yeah, OK, let's do it. Let's do it. Not saying that I don't have my concerns. I don't have questions because he'll tell you I can be negative, Nancy. Very, very quickly, especially when it comes to my money, our money. Like, look, OK, if it don't make money, it don't make sense to me. I have to know about everything. Right. The yin to my. I'm the one got to tell him, OK, let's pipe down. I don't think that's going to work or that. So that's my head. That's my job as a wife. I'm not scared to do that. That's who I am. But what I was trying to get at is this. When he came to me with that idea of L&M Logistics Group, I had a lot of questions, you know, just, hey, let's look more into this on the legal side. How's it going to make money? How much money we have to put forth into it? And it it I gave it a chance and it worked. So this is what we're trying to tell you guys. Like, if you know how to bake, if you think you the best baker, the best baker. I mean, it could be anything from chocolate chip cookies, start a business. If you like to eat ice cream, I love ice cream, by the way. But if you like to eat ice cream, you might not know how to make it. Start researching what goes into making ice cream. You know what tastes good. You know how ice cream is supposed to taste. That's a business. You guys can start somewhere. And also hit us up. Like I said on the last show, our email, our phone number. Hit us up if you want to talk offline and shoot pictures. The idea I'm going to tell you to also. I love startups. I love investing in startups. Hit me up if you have an idea. Yep. And and it might seem daunting. It might seem like it's it's it's bigger than life when you when you say, oh, I'm about to start a business. But I'm a break down really what goes into starting a business. And it's not as as daunting as you might think. Wherever you live in this country, you know, or in this world, you know, you connect up with the secretary of state or equivalent. You go on their Web site. You find where, you know, the section where you can file to start a business, LLC, a corporation, a sole proprietorship, a partnership. There's multiple structures. Right. You start the company. Boom. That takes a couple of weeks. You get your EIA from the IRS. You go on their Web site. You file it. You know, boom, you got your EIA and the employer identification number. And then you go open a bank account. And, you know, that's that. There you go. You have a business. So and then there's other stuff that you can do to kind of strengthen your business. Yes. Operating agreements, shareholder agreements, who owns what, who has, you know, the percentage ownership, this and that. But if it's just you, it's 100 percent. You know what I mean? So you you go out there, you start a business, you know, and it's it's to execute or operate. Whatever that that strength is that Leticia was this was just speaking to whatever it is, whatever it is, the hair business. What I'm telling you, I've started all types of businesses. You wouldn't even you people that know me, a lot of people like, oh, you do this. You do that, girl. Yep. I sure do. Yep. So, like I said, you have any ideas, you have any dreams, any of that. You're looking for silent partners, investors. We're here. Hit us up. And then and then to like one what one stipulation or one guideline within our IRS tax code is, you know, you start a business and you're trying to operate that business. You have an opportunity from a tax standpoint to write off a lot of your expenses. Mm hmm. And that saves. You and your family on taxes. You know, taxes is a big topic of discussion always, you know, politically, socially, forever and always. You know, this country was founded on issues surrounding taxes. And here we are, 150 years later. Yeah. Still talking about taxes. Absolutely. You know me. So so there's legal ways for you to, you know, mitigate your tax liability. And this is one of those ways to do that. A legal, legitimate way. Yeah, of course. Legally mitigate. I'm not I'm not talking. I'm saying there. I got you, babe. I got it. I got you back. All of that, baby. You could go fact check. Hey, you know. So keep that in mind, too. Like you can you can hone in on your strengths. You can you can pursue your passion and you can save a few coins on the back end when it comes to the taxes. So, yeah. Yes. And my husband, you guys come. I believe it's it's dropping in April. He's going to do a business seminar. So it's going to be virtual and in person. So you guys be on the lookout for that. Keep tuning in. We're going to be we're going to be talking more about that event. We're going to be advertising it on our socials. So you guys stay involved to know what city, you know, he's everywhere. So it may be in Cali, maybe Chicago, maybe Atlanta, maybe Arkansas, maybe L.A., Vegas. We don't know. But he's putting something together. So if you guys want to attend, this will be your chance. And then you will have a lot of one on one. He'll have other guests as well in the circle to help you start your business. Yeah. So we'll bring out we'll bring out the professionals, the experts, the tax experts, the business experts, the economists. You know, I mean, the attorneys, everything you guys need. Any questions you guys have, it's going to be, you know, we don't have folks on deck. And and it's one on one with him, with his network, not how these other podcasters do it. You don't get one on one on one on one time with them or you're just another ticket. No, you'll have every session. The only session will be with my husband and his network. So be on the lookout for that. Yeah. Yeah. Dope. Dope. So the time is now. Yeah, I'm is now. Yeah. There's no time to wait. You know what I mean? Let's get it. It's 2024. We already halfway through January. Let's not let's take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to us. Let's maximize our time, our energy, our resources. Let's do what we need to do. And we're here. We're here to help everybody. We're here to help. Like, don't don't feel shy. Don't feel ashamed. Hit us up and see. You never know where it goes. You never know where it goes. Yep. So, yeah. So growth, like what are some of the things from a growth standpoint that that you would like to touch on today? For me, growth is just the individual. As far as I would say, from an individual standpoint, like, where do you see your family in the next five, 10 years? I want to even give it 10 years, but the next five years. And don't get me wrong. I'm not we're not saying that, you know, everybody is different. Everybody cannot be an entrepreneur. It it has to be not on you, but in you. Shout out to you. Yeah. And I got that from him, Lauren. Yeah. And I live by that right now, because like I said, I've started many businesses that has failed. But I have majority successful ones. OK, so and that's that's just the real with being a business owner. I have to be real. A lot of people don't like it. A lot of people might look at it as hating you. People might. I'll say this. I have had people that come to me with businesses and I'm like, hey, this is this. OK, this is how this goes. And they don't like the feedback. But I have to be real, because if I'm not real, I'm doing you a disservice, you know, because I've been there on that and losing out on tens of thousands of hundred thousand dollars on businesses and investing in people's businesses. And no return. You get it. Failing lawsuits just to get money back from investing in and believing in people. You get it. So I have to say these things, but they don't like it. One thing, too, though, like I would I want to touch on failure is a is a relative statement. You know, we started multiple businesses. You guys can do the same thing. I just I just explain, like how simple it is. It's not that I'm sure you're out there doing it right now. Yeah. And many of y'all have gone through some of the similar experiences that we have been through. But the beauty of it, you know, it ain't a lot. I don't know whose phrase this is. Somebody coined it. I've just heard it. It ain't a loss. Those failures. That ain't a loss is a lesson. I know. I know. Shout out to Calla, DJ Calla. Absolutely. But like you learn, you learn in all facets of life from all types of people, all types of beings. I learn from plants. Yep. Our plants. I learn from my my pets. I learn from animals. Yep. I learn from children like like as long as I'm breathing and I'm experiencing this this thing that we call life, I'm learning from everything around me. Yep. You know what I'm saying? So the same goes for those businesses that we started that didn't go. So like that didn't go as planned. Yeah. I learned something from that that I was able to apply. I love that. To the next venture. Yes. And I wanted to say, too. I love what what you just expressed right there, because even though it was hard for us. We learned a lot. I use every failure for motivation. That's who I am. When I fail, I'm a comeback even stronger. That's what those businesses did for me. And look at who I am today. Yeah. And another thing I want to touch on, I want to touch on L&M and where it began and where we are now. Yeah. You know, because when we started back in 2019. Before that, we had our lanes. Yeah. As a couple. Yeah. You know, you know, military boom. I got out. I was corporate boom. Leticia was doing her thing throughout the whole experience. We had our lanes. We had our roles. We had our responsibilities. Everything was clearly defined. There was no uncommunicated expectations. Everything was good. When I went out, I did what I did. She was out doing what she did. We joined forces. We had a system. It was a system. And they knew our role from day one. It worked. But when when when I introduced business into the equation, it turned everything upside down. Like it was crazy for like a couple of years. You know, like we were trying to figure out each other. Each other. Yeah. You know, and we had been together decades, you know, over. I think I think we left an important piece out. So all of our businesses are family owned. So our daughter, Lili. Shout out to Lili. Lili is 31 years old and she runs she's our operations manager for all of our businesses. She is boots on ground. We would not be able to do what we do without her. So, like Marlon said, with the businesses and especially being a married couple, you get to know you get to figure out each other in a different sense, a different way. I guess that's the right thing to say. Like, I wasn't used to working with him. I used it. I wasn't used to seeing him in his craft and who he was. But we all of our kids, like our daughter in Chicago, we just bought a franchise in Chicago. Shout out to that. That's coming. So we just. Yeah, we just we just bought a new franchise that will be opening very, very soon. She Catherine, she runs the Chicago district. Right. She is a part of L&M. Our son, Levante. He is a part of our businesses. Our kids are involved as well. So me as a boss, I wear a lot of hats. I talk about these hats. I have on a brown. That's going to stand for a boss. I can have on my soccer mom had my polo hat that stands for mom. I can have a baseball cap that stands for wife. So I have to wear all these hats as a boss, mom, wife. But it gets frustrating sometimes, you know, because you you you're seeing your adult kids, especially me. We have adult kids, so we're seeing them in a different light. But their mom had don't come off. Their daddy had don't come off. We still got to be parents in the midst of that. And plus, we still got to be husband and wife to each other. So it gets a little crazy, but I would not want it any other way. No, not at all. Our kids, they when it comes to our companies, they got it and they doing it big time. Major way. Yeah, major way. Love y'all. Yes, which is a toast to that. A toast to the kids. Yeah. But but that that that experience. It was a lot, you know, it was a lot of journey. It taught us so much. And a lot of people didn't make it a lot. One thing about Marlon and I, any business we start, we we start with the family. I'm going to tell you, we we brought in a lot of family members on board. A lot of them did not make it because that just wasn't their path. It wasn't nobody's fault. It just was. This wasn't the thing for them. And we had to learn that early on that just because this is our passion. We're serial entrepreneurs. Everybody is won't be that. Yeah. They don't have the same passion. You have to deal with people accordingly. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. Accordingly. And that's how I mean, we've been hurt. We've been lied on. We've been all sorts of things. When all we tried to do was help and give people work, give people jobs. And I'm not talking about outside people. I'm talking about family members. And guess what? We still love them. We just had to figure out who we were. We we we were trying to do too much. Yeah. At one time, just because we made it, we wanted to put everybody on. Everybody wasn't ready for what we were offering. And we take full responsibility for it. You know? And it was it was a lesson. Again, it was a lesson like you can look at it as a loss as a shortcoming. But it was a lesson. You know, we brought we brought our people from, you know, Chicago and other places out here. Yeah. Hey, here, this is this. Fort Wayne, Indiana. We brought we brought a lot of people in. Yeah. This is what I want you to do. We got this. We made it. We here. Here. I want you to have some of it. They just weren't ready. It wasn't ready. We're ready. And that's OK. We love you. We you know, we we we support you. You know what I mean? But what we try to do ain't for you. Yeah. And that's OK. But we still moving. Yeah. We still rocking out. And we still pushing the family forward. And that's just been our mission. So once you guys get enrolled in this class with Marlon and start doing one on ones with Marlon, he will teach you guys all about that. You know, just because you ready, don't mean everybody going to be ready. And it's OK. Don't hold grudges. No hard feelings. You just got to keep on moving, because if you fall, you're not going to be able to help the people that are ready. Yeah. For real. For real. Yeah. Shout out to that. Yeah. And I'm excited. I am. This is a great, great topic, because I feel like I know a lot of people. I could sit and look and have one conversation with them. And like, oh, girl, you need to start this business or do look, you need to start this business. They don't they don't hear me. But that's just the person I am. Because they don't have faith in themselves, you know. And I do also know that everybody is not built to be a leader. Everybody not built to be an entrepreneur. You got to want it. You got to have the effort. And you got to have reach out. You got to know how to network. You got to know how to build your tribe. Yeah. And if entrepreneurship ain't for you, then be the best employee. In your own craft. It ain't nothing wrong with that. Because let me tell you this. Let me tell you this. All of our kids, we've taught them this from day one. I don't care if you work at McDonald's, and some of our kids have. You better be the best hamburger flipper, the best French fry cooker there is in that establishment. And I'm going to love you. I don't care what it is. You better be the best at it. And shout out to my bosses out there, my boss women out there that's leading corporate situations, that's in their bag, moving establishments, organizations forward. Yeah, because not only do we need entrepreneurship and businesses to thrive within our communities, we also need to see people of color, people that look like us leading in the corporate space, in the military space, in the private space, in the government space. That's motivation. That gives us something to aspire to. I love it. I love it. You know what I'm saying? I love it. And trust me, I got a roster of friends, people in my network, women, black women of color that's bossed up and leading the way. For real, for real. They leading multimillion-dollar corporations. They got the corporation on their back. So holler at me. Trust me. You want to know how to do it either way. Holler at me. Yeah. It don't come easy, though, because when you're in those positions. It's hard work. And these corporations and these companies, it's a lot of shit you got to deal with. I remember, I know, waking up, going into a corporate space where you're the minority, you're the eyeball out, you're the guy or girl that's trying to blend. You're the dark one. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I'm different. I talk different. I look different. I may dress different. So it does a number on you where, like, all right, maybe I need to look like them. Maybe I need to dress like them. Maybe I need to sound like them so that I'm accepted, so I don't feel this heat. I don't feel this pressure that I'm feeling right now. Yep. Yeah. Like, it's crazy. When you're in that role as a person of color in a multimillion-dollar, billion-dollar corporation in an environment where you're the eyeball out, it does a number on you. On your mental state. Yeah. It's like, all right. You start, like my husband mentioned, you start to think, oh, I got to be this way to fit in. And let me tell you something. I'm a straight-up Beyonce. Fake it till you make it. I feel this way. Remember how she came out on the Super Bowl halftime show in a Black Panther suit? That's me, and that's how I roll. I have no knock on nobody that you got to fake it till you make it. I get it. I know how it is. My husband went through this for a while. I went through it through therapy, practicing therapy. And a lot of people don't know this. This is why I stopped doing therapy, because I just wasn't, I did it for a while, but I just wasn't that person. I'm not going to change my voice. I'm not going to be talking like Susan. Hi, good morning. How are you? Yes. Like, really? Uh-huh. Yeah. Hey. Hi. Yes. I'm wonderful. No. I'm not that person. I just felt like I could not help my clients if I'm being fake. Fake, yeah. But let me tell you, I did what I had to do. I stacked my bread, and then I went off into entrepreneurship. So once my husband brought that to me, I was like, hey, I'm ready to roll anyway, because I can't do this. I just can't do, it wasn't for me. But my husband, he was locked in, because he's been dealing with this from day one. Yeah, at that time, like Letitia, that soliloquy that she just gave right now was later in life, like 2019, 2020. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Back in like the early 2000s, 2004, 2005, when we left Chicago and I joined the military and we left to start a different life, a better life, it was different. It was, like, because prior to leaving, I only knew a certain thing, the hood, Chicago, the South Side, the projects. You know what I mean? I had a little bit of diversity in my high school, because I made a decision to go to a high school that was diverse. Yes, best decision ever. Yeah, and that was all me. I made that decision. Nobody else in my immediate family went to a school that was as diverse and as dislocated from our roots as me. Maybe that played a big part in where I'm now. But when I left for the military, it did a number on me. It's like, wow, you know, we're only like 13% of the country. So everywhere, you're typically only about 13% of the population. So in the military, I was only about, we're far less than that. It's like 2%, you know. So everybody around me looked different than me. They acted different than me. They spoke differently than me. Off-duty, they dressed different than me. So unconsciously, I had to figure out how to blend, how to conform. You know, and like performance-wise, I smoked everything. But socially, socially, it's like, wow, I'm 6'3". You know, I was small when I joined, but I bulked up crazy. I was like 220, 225. I'm the big black dude. Okay, okay. Yeah, I was getting it in, getting up early, 4.30, working out, hitting the gym, drinking, like drinking all the protein shakes and eating everything, right? So I'm the big black dude everywhere, wherever I went. You know, and then I picked up a job when we went to Germany. This was like four or five years in. I'm traveling the world. I'm all over Europe, Africa. Not really an issue in Africa, but Europe, Australia, you know, Asia. Yeah. I'm on an air crew. I'm a flying crew chief. Flying with pilots and flight attendants and communication specialists. And then you had us with the maintenance guys that made sure the airplane got to where it needed to go, right? I'm the only black dude on the crew. Maybe, you know, another dude, he was, you know, depending on the mission. But I'm in Estonia. This is a true story. Eastern bloc Europe, Estonia, used to be, you know, where Hitler used to do his thing. You know what I'm saying? And this is around the time Obama was running. I'm out with the crew. We land. Boom. We put the plane to bed. You know, we get everything buttoned up, make sure it's gassed up, everything ready to go for the next flight. And we go out. That was a typical thing. We go out. We have dinner. And then you eventually go have drinks and whatever. Yeah. Military life. Military shit. Yeah. And we out. We walk in. I think we walk into a restaurant to go have dinner in Estonia, Eastern bloc Europe. And there's this homeless woman. She sees me and she's like, Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama. I'm like, what the fuck? Oh, she talking to me. She talking about me. You know what I'm saying? So I juxtapose that to the role that I had within the military, within this environment where I was the minority. Yeah. So I had to position myself to be accepted. I created a situation that's so crazy unconsciously like to come off as non-threatening. I'll give you an example on an elevator. We're in Europe somewhere with my crew who's non-black. And then you have foreigners that's on the elevator with us. I picked up a humming habit to come off as non-threatening, as gentle, to put them at ease so that they don't look at me as the big guy. Threatening. The big black dude. And guess what? That was me at 20, though. I was young. I didn't know who I was. And guess what? I picked up on this humming when we would be together in corporate buildings or just doing anything, wherever we are. And we would get on an elevator. He would start humming. And I picked up. I'm good with patterns, if you know me. I'm a good observer. I'm good with patterns. And I would notice he would start humming on the elevators in those crowds. It would just start on the elevators. So I started talking to him about it like, hey, why are you doing that? Why are you humming like that? And he finally told me what it was. And I was like, hey, no, you don't have to do that. No, I'm here to protect you. Like, no, you don't have to do that. Yeah, and I appreciate that. And that's the beauty of having a strong woman on your side to hold you down and to watch your six, as we say, in the military. You know what I mean? But that was me in my early 20s. That was a long time ago. Yeah. I didn't really know myself. I was coming in to my being and trying to fit in and trying to adapt to the corporate world, trying to be, you know, like them, et cetera, et cetera. But that's what we were getting to. You make it fake it till you make it. I'm all for it. And I understand and I support, like I said, my women, my girls. I got a lot of girls I know in corporate. They my dogs. They my friends to the end. Only problem I have with that is when you inflict that on your family. Don't fake to your family. Be who you are, you know, because they are the ones that's going to have to support you. Those people in that world, they're not going to be there, you know. I say that strongly because us of color, they're not going to have us leading their multimillion dollar corporations and, you know, that have you. I feel like we're always going to be used as pawns. So I'm all for that with the corporate world. Like I said, I'm a Beyonce. She faked it till she made it. She came out in the football halftime show and she showed people who she was when she made it. But she did not inflict that on her family. That's where I draw the line. Yep. No, that's real. And my husband, we had a lot of talks about that. Like we got out here to California the first year, the first two years. Yeah, we tried to fit in. If you guys know me, I'm a blonde girl. I've been number 27 with hair color since I was about 14. I got out here because my husband was in corporate. I went to a brunette just to support him and what he had to do to make it in corporate. And let me tell you, we found out very soon that within one, two years of being out here, my husband, he didn't have to do any of that. One, two years, my husband was running his corporate organization. Circles around him. Circles around everybody. If you know him, he's an overachiever in everything. So guess what? I went back to my number 27. We, we, we, god damn it. We, we, who the fuck we are. Yeah. You hear that? That's where we went to. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, but, but when you, when you go on through your journey, you gotta, you gotta figure it out for yourself. Or you not gonna make it. You not gonna make it. Your family not gonna make it. It's either you gonna make it and your family not gonna make it. Y'all gonna make it together. Or you gonna be solo with that shit. That's how I feel about it. And, and, and the reason, and let me tell you something about CLP, Marlon and Letitia. We don't talk about no issues or address any issues that we have not went through. That we don't know nothing about. We not gonna do that here. We giving you guys live. And what we been through. Yeah. We're, like I told you from the first episode, we are not perfect. My ears are not sensitive. We've been through all walks of life. From corporate, entrepreneurship. Military. Military, whatever. The hood. The hood, whatever you wanna call it. Everything. We us. We us. And we been there. And so we not gonna sugarcoat anything for you guys. That's not gonna happen here. Yeah. So if you looking for, if you looking for authenticity. Yep. You looking for reality. You looking for grit. You looking for grind. Truth. You looking for truth. You know what I mean? Like this is the podcast you need to tune into. Yep. Changing Lives Podcast. Yep. 2024. Yep. Letitia and Marlon. L and M. Yep. We here. To recap, you're not gonna find your tribe. You're never gonna find your tribe. You're never gonna find your truth. You're never gonna find your passion if you're not authentic. That's just the bottom line. You're not. And I'm sorry to say that, but that's the truth. I gotta be real here. That's real. That's real. And sometimes it just, it takes a while for you to figure out who you are. And that's okay. Yeah. And I learned this through the military. I learned this through corporate. Like I got, cause the military really hinders you. Yep. In identifying and understanding who you really are because you join the military. You, you conform. You adjust to their, their customs, their courtesies, their way of life. I got many, like I got many people, many 20 year veterans that, you know, have gotten out me included, you know, maybe not so much, but they get out, you get out. And then you figure out, figure out who you are. Yep. Drinks. Yeah. And that was like, we are, we often Letitia and I, we often finish our statements and sentences. And that was one of the moments that was real. And don't, and don't get it twisted. The military, I don't think we will be who we are right now without the military. So it's like a double edged sword. Like our kids attended some of the best, you know, educational environments, like in Germany, Japan, and, and all those types of things. Like we, we have the military set us up, but we are black. We're educated. We're intelligent. We know what it is. We, we are grateful for it. But it's, it's a life outside of the military, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Yeah. And that, and I'm glad you touched on that. I'm so glad you touched on that because especially for me in, in, in the maintenance world, this was my first few years in the military. Like, and just in general, not, I ain't going to say just in general because certain careers, they really, there's a, there's a career path and it's nice and clean. You know, you know, where are you going? You know what you're doing? It's, it's, it's PG. You're building a white picket fence. But then you have a few career fields within the military, like maintenance, like security forces. Like all you do is you work your ass off. And then when you get off work, you work your ass off. And then when you get off work, you drink your ass off and you party your ass off and you get in trouble. You get DUIs. You get, you get all type of, you know, the, they call them article 15s in the military. It's like felonies on the civilian side. You get yourself in a bunch of shit and you don't plan. Typically, generally, you know, most of us, it's a percentage of us that, that figure it out. Like I did and we did. But the majority of us, they, we, we believe we jump on as a wagon as if those things that I just described are all that it is to the military drinking, partying, working hard, getting, you know, fucking up your knees, your back, your hands, your feet. And then you get out after 20 years, you ain't, you ain't done no schooling. Yeah. You know, you don't really have anything that's translatable to the civilian private sector. And then you start to go crazy. Yeah. And I had, yeah, hold up. And I've had, I've had many a brothers and sisters that have taken their lives because they have not been able to adjust to the lifestyle outside of that false reality. So I'm here to tell you, I'm talking to my military brothers and sisters that there's life outside of the military. Yeah. Okay. But it's okay. You have to find that life. It's okay. Yeah. There's life outside the military. It's not everything is going to end focus on your family. You focus on your family, your kids, your wife, your husband. What, what, whatever your vice is, you focus on them. That world is gone. You focus on them. And you can make it outside of that. And we're living proof of that. And we're here for everybody for you, for you, women, for you, men. We are here for everybody, no matter what. And black men, black men want to rise. Yeah. I mean like black men, we're in positions of power. We're positioning ourselves effectively within society. Yeah. You know, shout out to all the outlets that are advocating for black men and pushing them forward and help helping them dust themselves off so they don't commit suicide. So they don't kill themselves. And, and, and my sisters too, like Angela Rye, like every, everybody out there that's advocating for my sisters that are, that, you know, you know, who's having a hard time, who's who's struggling right now. Don't give up. As you guys can see, this is a touchy subject for us. We're kind of emotional right now because this is our life. This is who we are. And we deal with some of the same struggles you deal with. Like I had a husband that came, that, that served in the military for 20 years. I am an officer's wife. I was a military spouse. Like I know how hard it is, but you guys went on this journey for a reason. Keep going. Don't give up. Yeah. That's a good message, babe. Yeah. No, I like that. So we, this is COP episode four. So we get a little deep over here. Like I said, it's a lot of hot and heavy topics. It's just who we are. We're real people. No matter what we have, no matter where we come from, no matter where we come from, we're real people, no matter what we have, no matter where we came from, no matter the color of our skin, no matter what, you know, we're real, we're human and we are like you and we're here to help. Yeah. Yeah. So you gotta make sure you guys follow us on the changing lives podcast on Instagram. Hit us up. If y'all got any feedback, good, bad or indifferent on, on the emails at the changing lives podcast, or what is it? Changing lives podcast, 35 at gmail.com. Changing lives podcast, 35 at gmail.com. Hit us up on Instagram as well. We accept DMS, changing lives podcast on Instagram. Um, we're, we're working on our, uh, Facebook and our tick tock as well. Also be on the lookout for Marlon, more information on Marlon's, uh, event coming up here. Um, this spring, summer timeframe, um, business entrepreneurship, and we love you guys. You know, we know it's hard. We know this life is hard. Um, but keep going and we love you. Reach out, reach out to us, call us, text us. I think the next episode, cause I feel like every, every episode, like for the last two episodes, we've been like skimming the surface of politics. And it's crazy. Like, um, before we, we turned this joint on tonight, we had like a whole hour long conversation on politics. Like, and we've had many conversations on politics like this over the last, you know, four, eight years. And I, I feel like we, so, so the next, the next episode, uh, once, one, one sec, uh, section will be about politics. We're going to touch on politics on the next episode. I feel like if you, if you, if you're not scared, join in. Okay. Yeah, for sure. Like it's, it's a, it's a, it's an election year. You know what I mean? We're in January. Um, the election is in November. Yep. Um, so if y'all's left, like we, I, I feel like we need to put our energy out there, you know, own changing lives podcast this year. We need to let y'all know how we feeling about politics, about the current state of affairs in this country. You know what I mean? So y'all going to get that. Y'all going to get that on the next episode. And we not, we not scared. So, yeah. All right. All right. Love you guys. Peace, love, happiness, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, peace, love, 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