S01_E04(RD)

The speaker discusses their excitement for reaching episode 5 of their podcast and their decision to incorporate video for this episode. They emphasize the importance of visuals in today's digital age and the need to show their audience who they are. They then transition to discussing their experience starting their own business, specifically a logistics company, despite not having prior knowledge in that field. They explain how they recognized an opportunity while the speaker was serving in the military and decided to take the leap and start the business. They highlight the importance of taking action on ideas and starting small, using examples like baking or making ice cream. They also encourage listeners to reach out if they have startup ideas and express their willingness to invest in startups. Finally, they briefly outline the steps to starting a business, such as filing with the secretary of state, obtaining an EIN from the IRS, and opening a bank account. Overall, they emphasize I love it. I love it. I love it. Yeah, we've been progressing in a major way, right? Yes, episode 4 already. I'm feeling like episode 5, we need to have like a serious celebration here, like a podcast taping celebration for episode 5. Episode 5? Yeah, what you think? Already? Yeah. I've been trying to get Letitia on that camera for the last month. Ah, look at you, look at you. Yes, I think that would be fitting for episode 5. Let's do some video. Episode 5 will be video. That's going to be dope. I'm excited for that. Yeah, I'm glad, I'm glad. I feel like, you know, visuals are important. You know what I mean? Like, y'all been, y'all heard us over the last three weeks, you know, we're putting audio on wax. You know, I appreciate y'all tuning in. But, you know, visuals are important. That's the way it is right now. Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, you know, all these streaming platforms, they see what they hear. Y'all see what y'all hear. And y'all need to see us. They know us. Y'all need to feel us. They know us. They know who we are. Yeah. But for the ones who don't, I think that would be good, you know, putting a face with a voice. It might make them feel a little bit more comfortable to see that we're just regular people. Yeah, we are. Just a little extra. Yeah. I can admit, but we are regular people. We are, alright. Put a little, you know, Instagram, put some clips out there, kind of show y'all what's going on to get some visual appeal. I think that'd be cool. So alright, so y'all be on the lookout. Episode 5. Episode 5. Yep, yep. CLP 2024. CNN's believing. CNN's believing. I love that. And Hank, I just want to say, guys, thank you for all the feedback, the good and the bad. I mean, everything, we're taking into consideration, but you guys have been very, very supportive, and we love that. 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 y'all. 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, 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 logistics company. Shout out to L&M Logistics. I don't know. 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 an associate 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. Yeah, I can tell you. Yeah, you go ahead. Tell everybody. As y'all know, I'm a military veteran currently in the National Guard. 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. 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. So 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 airport 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. Obviously, 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, 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, Latisha and I started L&M Logistics Group with the goal of acquiring, managing contracts in the government space. Yes, which we do right now. We have 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. Latisha 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 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 tells me, oh, I started this business or I started this business, I have a lot of faith in him. I support him. I mean, whether the business failed or is successful, I still ride 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. It gets me a little emotional when we're talking about the military aspect and those type of things because that was a long, hard journey. 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 brings these ideas, I'm jumping on them like, yep, okay, 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, okay, if it don't make money, it don't make sense to me. I have to know about everything, right? I'm the one got to tell him, okay, 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 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're 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 pitch us the idea. I'm going to tell you too also, I love startups. I love investing in startups. Hit me up if you have an idea. And it might seem daunting. It might seem like it's bigger than life when you say, oh, I'm about to start a business. But I'm going to break down really what goes into starting a business, and it's not as daunting as you might think. Wherever you live in this country or in this world, you connect up with the secretary of state or equivalent. You go on their website. You find the section where you can file to start a business, an LLC, a corporation, a sole proprietorship, a partnership. There's multiple structures, right? You start the company. Boom, that takes a couple weeks. You get your EIN from the IRS. You go on their website. You file it. Boom, you got your EIN, the employer identification number. And then you go open a bank account. And there you go. You have a business. And then there's other stuff that you can do to kind of strengthen your business, like operating agreements, shareholder agreements, who owns what, who has the percentage ownership, this and that. But if it's just you, it's 100%. You know what I mean? So you go out there. You start a business. And it's to execute or operate whatever that strength is that Leticia was just speaking to. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. The hair business. I'm telling you, I've started all types of businesses. People that know me. A lot of people are 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, too, like one stipulation or one guideline was in 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. 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 and we're still talking about taxes. Absolutely. You know what I mean? 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 your. I'm not talking no crap here. I'm saying there's. I got you, babe. I got you back. It's all legit. I got you back, baby. You can go fact check me on this. Hey, you know, so keep that in mind, too. Like, you can hone in on your strengths. You can pursue your passion. And you can save a few coins on the back end when it comes to taxes. Yes, yes. And my husband, you guys come. I believe 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 talking more about that event. We're going to be advertising it on our social. So you guys stay involved to know what city. You know he's everywhere. So maybe 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 a chance. Indeed, 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. So we'll bring out the professionals, the experts, the tax experts, the business experts, the economists, the attorneys, everything you guys need, any questions you guys have. We'll have folks on deck to answer any questions you guys have. 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 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. Yep, yep. Yep. Dope, dope. So the time is now. The time is now. There's no time to wait. You know what I mean? Let's get it. It's 2024. We're already halfway through January. Let's take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to us. Yeah, yeah. Let's maximize our time, our energy, our resources. Yeah. Let's do what we need to do. And we're here to help everybody. We're here to help. Don't feel shy. Don't feel ashamed. Hit us up and see. You never know where it goes. Mm-hmm. Yep. So, yeah. So growth, like what are some of the things from a growth standpoint 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, ten years? I wouldn't even give it ten years, but the next five years. And don't get me wrong. We're not saying that, you know, everybody cannot be an entrepreneur. It has to be not on you but in you. Shout out to Mike. Yeah. And I got that from him, Loren London. Yeah. I live by that right now because, like I said, I've started many businesses that have failed. But I have majority successful ones, okay? And 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. People might, I'll say this. I have had people that come to me with businesses and I'm like, hey, this is this. Okay, 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 end. Losing out on tens of thousands of hundred thousand dollars on businesses and investing in people's businesses and no return. You get it? Filing lawsuits just to get money back from investing 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 want to touch on. Failure is a relative statement. You know, we started multiple businesses. You guys can do the same thing. I just explained like how simple it is. It's nothing. 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. 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. It ain't a loss. It's a lesson. I know. I know. Shout out to Khaled. Absolutely. 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 pets. I learn from animals. Yep. I learn from children. Like as long as I'm breathing and I'm experiencing 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 well, like that didn't go as planned. Yeah. I learned something from that that I was able to apply to the next venture. I love that. I love that. Yes. And I wanted to say, too, I love what you just expressed right there because even though it was hard for us. We learned a lot. Yeah. I use every failure for motivation. That's who I am. When I fail, I'm going to come back 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. Yep. Because when we started back in 2019, before that, we had our lanes. Yep. As a couple. Yep. You know, military, boom, I got out, I was corporate, boom, Letitia 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. Right. Everything was good. When I went out, I did what I did. She was out doing what she did. When we joined forces. We had a system. It was a system. And it worked from day one. It worked. But when I introduced business into the equation, it turned everything upside down. Like, it was crazy. For like a couple years, you know, like we were trying to figure out. Each other. System. Each other. Yep. You know, and we had been together decades, you know, over that. So, 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. No. 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, right? I wasn't used to working with him. I wasn't used to seeing him in his craft and who he was. But all of our kids, like our daughter in Chicago, we just bought a franchise in Chicago. Shout out to that. That's coming too. Shout out to that. Shout out to Shy. Yeah, we just bought a new franchise that will be opening very, very soon. We'll do it all right here. Catherine, she runs the Chicago district, right? Yes, ma'am. 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 can have on a brown. That's going to stand for boss. I can have on my soccer mom hat, my polo hat. That stands for mom. I can have on 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 see your adult kids, especially me. We have adult kids. So, we're seeing them in a different light. But their mom hat don't come off. Their daddy hat 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, when it comes to our companies, they got it. And they're doing it big time. In a major way. Yeah. In a major way. Love y'all. Yes, which is a toast to that. Hey, toast to the kids. Hey. Yep. Move, move, move. Yep. But that experience, it was a lot, you know. It was a lot. It taught us. It was a journey. It taught us so much. A lot of people didn't make it. One thing about Marlon and I, any business we start, we start with the family. I'm going to tell you, 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 won't be that. They don't have the same passion. You have to deal with people. Accordingly. Exactly. Based on their situation. Thank you. Thank you. Accordingly. And that's how us, I mean, we've been hurt. Yeah. 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. Right. And guess what? We still love them. We just had to figure out who we were. We were trying to do too much. Yeah. At one time. Just because we made it, we wanted to put everybody on. And everybody wasn't ready for what we were offering. And we take full responsibility for it. You know? And it was a lesson. Again, it was a lesson. Like you can look at it as a loss, as a shortcoming. Yeah. But it was a lesson. You know, we brought our people from, you know, Chicago and other places out here. Yeah. Fort Wayne, Indiana. We brought a lot of people in. Yeah. This is what I want you to do. We got this. We made it. We're here. Here, I want you to have some of it. It just wasn't ready. It wasn't ready. It wasn't ready. And that's okay. We love you. We, you know, we support you. You know what I mean? But what we try to do ain't for you. Yeah. And that's okay. 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 won't be ready. And it's okay. 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. For real, for real. Shout out to that. 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, dude, look, you need to start this business. They don't hear me, but that's just the person I am. That's true. Because they don't have faith in themselves. And I do also know that everybody is not built to be a leader. Everybody is 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. Be the best in your own craft. There 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 enabling 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 and 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. 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 multi-million 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 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 oddball 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, but 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 oddball 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, mm-hmm. 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 Latisha, 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, you know, 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, you know. Yeah, best high school person ever. Yeah, and that was all me. Like 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. 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, you know, 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 when I was 4'30". Working out, hitting the gym, drinking. Okay. 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. I'm on this airplane 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. And we out. We walk in. I think we were walking to 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, fuck, she's who? Oh, she talking to me. She talking about me. You know what I'm saying? It's like, 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 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 black dude. 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 the 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. I didn't really know myself. 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. Fake it till 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? And 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 everybody. If you know him, he's an overachiever in everything. So guess what? I went back to my number 27. We got damn it on. We who the fuck we are. You hear that? That's where we went to. You know what I'm saying? But when you go on through your journey, you got to figure it out for yourself. You're not going to make it. You're not going to make it. Your family's not going to make it. It's either you're going to make it and your family's not going to make it. Y'all are going to make it together or you're going to be solo with that shit. That's how I feel about it. And let me tell you something about CLP, Ronin 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're not going to do that here. We're giving you guys the live and what we've been through. Like I told you from the first episode, we are not perfect. My ears and my feet's real. We've been through all walks of life, from corporate, entrepreneurship, military, whatever, disease, whatever you want to call it. We us. We us. And we've been there. And so we're not going to sugar coat anything for you guys. That's not going to happen here. Yeah, so if you're looking for authenticity, you're looking for reality, you're looking for grit, you're looking for grind, you're looking for truth, you know what I mean? This is the podcast you need to tune into. Changing Lives Podcast 2024. Letitia Marlin, L&M. We here. And just to recap, you're not going to find your tribe. You're never going to find your tribe. You're never going to find your truth. You're never going to 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 got to be real here. That's real. That's real. And sometimes it just 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 because the military really hinders you in identifying and understanding who you really are because you join the military and you conform. You conform. You adjust to their customs, their courtesies, their way of life. I got many people, many 20-year veterans that have gotten out, me included, maybe not so much, but they get out, you get out, and then you're trying to figure out who you are. Drinks. Yeah, and that's like we often, Latisha and I, we often finish our statements and sentences, and that was one of the moments that was real. And don't get it twisted. The military, I don't think we would 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 all those type of things. Like we have, the military set us up, but we are black. We're educated. We're intelligent. We know what it is. We are grateful for it. But it's a life outside of the military, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Yeah, and I'm glad you touched on that. I'm so glad you touched on that, because especially for me in the maintenance world, this was my first few years in the military. And just in general, I ain't going to say just in general, because certain career fields, there's a career path, and it's nice and clean. You know where you're going. You know what you're doing. It's PG, I would say. But then you have a few career fields within the military, like maintenance, like security forces. All you do is 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 all type of, 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, most of us, it's a percentage of us that figure it out like I did and we did, but the majority of us, we believe we jump on this wagon as if those things that I just described are all that it is to the military. Drinking, partying, working hard, fucking up your knees, your back, your hands, your feet, and then you get out after 20 years. You ain't done no schooling. You don't really have anything that's translatable to the civilian private sector, and then you start to go crazy. Hold up. And 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, and I'm talking to my military brothers and sisters, that there's life outside of the military. Yep. It's okay, babe. It's okay. You have to find that life. It's okay, babe. There's life outside the military. It's not everything. It's going to end. It's going to end. Focus on your family. You focus on your family, your kids, your wife, your husband. 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 women, for you men, we are here for everybody, no matter what. Black men. Black men. We're on the rise. You know what I mean? Black men. We're in positions of power. We're positioning ourselves effectively within society. Yep. You know? Shout out to all the outlets that are advocating for black men and pushing them forward and helping them dust themselves off so they don't commit suicide, so they don't kill themselves, and my sisters, too, like Angela Rye, like everybody out there that's advocating for my sisters that, you know, who's having a hard time, 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 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. Keep going. Don't give up. Yeah. That's a good message, babe. Yeah. I like that. So, this is DOP 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 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 got to 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 any different on the emails at the Changing Lives podcast or what is it? ChangingLivesPodcast35 at gmail.com. ChangingLivesPodcast35 at gmail.com. Hit us up. On Instagram as well. We accept DMs, Changing Lives podcast on Instagram. We're working on our Facebook and our TikTok as well. Also, be on the lookout for more information on Marlon's event coming up here. The spring-summer timeframe. Yeah, I'm excited for that. Business entrepreneurship, and we love you guys. We love you. We know it's hard. We know this life is hard, but keep going, and we love you. Reach out to us. Call us. Text us. I think the next episode, because I feel like every episode, for the last two episodes, we've been skimming the surface of politics, and it's crazy. Before we turned this joint on tonight, we had a whole hour-long conversation on politics, and we've had many conversations on politics like this over the last four, eight years, Letitia and I. I feel like we, so the next episode. Episode five will be one section will be about politics. Yeah, we're going to touch on politics on the next episode. I feel like that's necessary. If you're not scared, join in, okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. It's an election year. You know what I mean? We're in January. The election is in November. Yep. So you've got about ten months left. Like I feel like we need to put our energy out there, you know, on 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 scared, so. Yeah. All right, all right. Love you guys. Peace, love, happiness. We not peacing out. Because we got music. We got, we got, we got, uh. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. Swords. 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