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I am your host, Jay Wil, and I would like to welcome you to Inspire Guys, people where we balance faith and business to guide you to your purpose. It's some things about to change around here. Yo, man, it's gonna be a lot of change coming to Inspire Guys, people in 2022 and beyond, so I just want to get you prepared for that. Today is the start of some of that change, and I'm really excited about it.
Really, really, really hype about it. We're gonna have Joining Inspire Guys, people, family starting today. It's gonna be none other than the Toya Early of Chase Great Enterprises. She's been on the show, Chase Great University, my bad.
Toya has been on the show various times, has given us some of our best episodes, and she's gonna be joining the family, so get used to hearing her voice. Look, we're growing, we expanded, and like right now, what we're planning is, she's probably gonna be on one or two episodes a month more consistently. We will see where it goes from there. I have some other thoughts and plans on expanding, maybe welcoming some other people into the Inspire Guys, people, folk.
The goal here is to continue to expand, give a well-rounded voice to faith and business, what we talk about here, because I really want to help people get guided to their purpose, and the thing is, I have a perspective. I'm one person, one life experience, and I want to continue to expand and develop in that area, and give also, Toya is, we're gonna talk about that. Let me not ruin nothing, because we had this conversation about two days ago now. Let me say this before we get into it.
I think it's gonna be a great episode, but filming on this, y'all, I ain't talking to y'all in a minute. I think it might have been about, it might have been two weeks since I've done the show. I don't know, 10 days, I apologize. I'm in transition right now on a lot of things, lot of things, lot of things, lot of transition going on in my life.
Maybe I'll talk about that. I'm trying to get better, y'all, at sharing things. You know, look, my philosophy is I like to keep my life private and my strategy open. Strategy public, life private, but sometimes I got to share experiences, A, so that you know they're real, so that you know I'm not talking out of the side of my neck.
I do like to establish credibility with y'all, you know, to be able to share like, Hey, these are some of the things I've done. And also, look, I'm the kind of person my goal is for you to never have to ask me how I did it, because I told you while I was doing it. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, you never got to ask me how I did it.
If I told you while it was happening, but sometimes I think people miss like the fact that what I'm telling you is so real to me, like I'm doing it. So we could do this together, we could grow together, be better together, all that. Let me say this, um, so it triggers me. I just want y'all to know that in real life and on the show, whatever, when me and Toya get into a conversation, you might get a slightly different side of me.
I tend to be a little more open. She tends to say stuff to make me say stuff. So, you know, just know that we'll see where that goes and where that grows. We're going to let it happen organically.
We're going to, we're planning to do some videos and y'all know I've been planning to grow the YouTube and things like that. So expect those things to come, but also be a little patient. I told y'all before I started a new job. So a lot, you know, more responsibilities, all that good stuff, more time spent, long hours, I have a lot going on.
Then traveling was in Chicago last week. That was a good time for a couple of days. I think I'm in Tampa Bay this coming week, Chicago again, a couple weeks after that. And I forget where I have to do that.
So a lot of travel, a lot of fun, a lot of busyness. But we are going to continue to grow. The one thing I want you to know, I'm so hyper enough, is inspire guys. People ain't going nowhere.
We ain't going nowhere. So that's why I'm getting creative and thoughtful about like, hey, as I get more busy, how do we continue to ensure that the show grows? I can tell you what I want. I'm just, you know, listen, what I really want now is I need to figure out the creative piece.
So I need to, I need to hire somebody. I need to work with somebody to be able to develop like the clips and the promo for YouTube. Take the audio, chop it up, maybe do some photos, whatever. Look, if anybody know anybody out there that's interested in the Michigan, Southeast Michigan area, give me a email, germanywilsomusicajemail.com.
But here's the thing I want to say, I have no time to play. Man, let me not take too much time because me and Toya have a great episode today. But I just want to, I do want to say this, I don't have a lot of time to play with people. That's why I tend to do stuff myself.
But I also know you can't, you can only do everything yourself up to a certain extent. So it's like, I'm trying to walk that line again. Remember, I told you, I never have to tell you how I did it if I told you while I'm doing it. I share a lot of good and bad in business, what I know and I don't know in real time.
Like, so when I'm talking like this, I'm literally telling you like, this is where I'm at when I'm trying to figure out, it's like, okay, it's time for me to be able to divvy some of these responsibilities around. But I'm like, I'm really protective of this because people are lazy and people play games. And I, there are a bunch of talented people. I know so many talented people, it doesn't make any sense.
But I'm like, it's like, who are the people that really want to work to build something that is really still at the ground level? You know, so many people just want things to happen overnight. And I think that's fitting for this, for today's show. It's like, you know, you got to build with somebody.
You know, I know a lot of people who just want stuff like, no, like, I love the process. I love the creation and the building. And I think we got to, you know what, let me just be quiet. Let me be quiet.
Look, Inspire Guys, people is going to continue to grow. I think I'm going to redo the intro song. We're going to have new segment like, it's going to grow, but it's going to take time. We are in our process.
I appreciate everybody who's rocking with us. But just know this, while we're in this process, that don't mean you're not getting good value. There is so much value and seeing and experiencing something real. And we'll see where it goes.
You know what I'm saying? Like, we walking by faith. This is real. Hopefully you feel that.
Like, look, man, I don't have no time to be fronting. But I'm, I can't even just be quiet again. Where to ya? Just play the interview.
I'm too high. I can talk. It's not saying what you don't do till you do what you said. When you open that Bible, you knew what you read.
You felt the deep in your soul. The promise did not expire. Be inspired. Guys, people, what up, man?
It's been a, I don't know, a week and a half, two weeks. I haven't done a show. Got to, got to co-host with me today. Toyo with us.
Toyo early from Chase. Great. What up, Toyo? How you feeling?
All I'm saying is, it's about time that you caught me, but it's positioned, okay? It's long overdue. It's about time. But no, I am doing well.
I am excited. Listen, we have so much to cover. And I'm just, I'm just excited to be a part. Look, man, like, I'm excited to have you.
It is about time. It's crazy because we talked, I reached out to you, like, just to kick in and kind of get your mindset on, like, coming on the show in the more official capacity, even though this is like, you know, I haven't. Man, it's been crazy. So it ain't officially announced.
Nothing, we'll work on official announcements and stuff like that in promo. But hey, for the people who listen and not, y'all might as well get the reel and get the scoop. You know, Toyo is coming on the show as a more standard co-host. So you'll be hearing a lot more of her.
And I do think it's about time. Like, by the grace of God, as soon as I reached out to you, the next couple of days, like, literally, people who listened to the show were directly saying to me, like, hey, I want to win a female perspective on entrepreneurship or business. And I was texting you some of those messages so you don't think I was lying. Yeah, that was pretty cool.
That was definitely cool to see. Yeah, so I'm excited, man, just to see, you know, again, I brought you, I wanted you to be a part of this Inspire Guys people family because, hey, that's what you're already doing through your own stuff. It's already proven through your business, your entrepreneurship. You're one of the few really one of the only full-time entrepreneurs I know.
And like, when we say full-time entrepreneur, you're a real life, like, that's how you make a living. And I know that that's easy to do. Matter of fact, let's jump in right there. We got a couple things to cover today.
We're going to talk about how we maximize the pandemic, some of the pros and cons of the last couple years, and what worked, what didn't, we're going to dig into all that. But I really want to start off for the people out there who haven't listened to the other few episodes that you were on. If you can maybe just tell people real quick, like, you know, what do you do? And, you know, like, just tell us a little bit about the background of Toya.
And we'll do an episode later on, like, to go in-depth about full-time entrepreneurship. But just a quick introduction of yourself for the people who've been asleep. And then we'll jump into this topic. No, I said, let me just go ahead and just put it all out there.
You know, we've always had time to come on here and jump on and just share topics. Like I said before, listen, it's finally, it's about time that Jay called me. So for all of y'all that were sending the text messages and saying, listen, Jay, we need a woman's perspective. Listen, Jay, I'm glad that y'all did that because I'm glad to be here.
So I am a coach. I'm a full-time vision coach. I've actually been full-time since 2014. I was 12, and I was still struggling with who I was and what I was doing.
I just knew that I was supposed to be a business owner. So I went full-time 2014, fast forward to today. I am the owner of Chase Great University, where we serve Christian women, helping you to truly cultivate your calling and coaching while building a six-figure coaching business through niche coaching certification. So my whole life is all about how I can help coaches.
Just say yes to God in your coaching business. How can I honor God? How can I focus on God? How can I keep him in my business without compromising?
So when we start talking about inspiring guys, people, man, we always talk about how it just connects so well, because I'm all about serving people, but making sure that I'm doing it in honor. So I don't wait to just really deep dive in so many different areas so we can unpack some stuff and help some people get clear, especially when it comes to full-time entrepreneurship. Like, if this, and if you don't have God, in your pocket, in your hand, in your area, I'm telling you, like I've tried to abort the mission so many times, and he just won't let me. Yeah, that's real.
No, I appreciate that, man. Like I said, I'm excited for everything that you're gonna bring to the show because you are legit. You are authentic, certified. Like I said, for the listeners out there, one of the things that is really important to me is like, it's a lot of talkers out here.
And I'm just, we don't gotta dig into this right now, but like it's a lot of people who talk and it's easy to kind of craft up a social media message or create a post and stuff like that. And for me, I just send the value, like people who actually have done the work. I put that over whether or not you got 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, a million followers, our value people who did the work, I know you did the work and I know you have fruit, so just know the foot of listeners out there, that is what it is. So you tell them, you don't want us to call out on name, is that what you're saying?
We don't have to. I just want to make sure that I don't, you know, like, step outside of, you know, I want to make sure I'm operating in integrity and I'll let this up. You want to name drop in? No, no, be good.
No, I got the name. We don't have to call them, all they got to do is log in IG and Facebook, I'm sure they're gonna find some people that they think qualified, so. I know people to know this like clicks don't mean cash. You know, and I know that's like such a, you know, cliche, but it doesn't.
I don't have a lot of followers on Instagram. Your girl will be struggling with posting on Instagram, but on the flip side, you know, I've been able to truly grow and sustain a pretty nice business, so I just want you to know that if you don't have a lot of followers, that doesn't mean that you can't show but be influential, that doesn't mean that you can't grow your business, you know, social media, the world is making us think that if you know that 10,000 people following you, that it's not important, and that's just not true. So for anybody who just struggling with that quick moment, you know, I love that day, it's like I'm looking at that stuff, that doesn't matter. I'm glad it doesn't matter because in the real world, it really doesn't matter.
It really doesn't. Yeah, you know what, it's crazy. I actually want to, you brought it up. I think that's interesting to explore because I'm sure people out there that struggle with that, you feel me like, you know, it's people that they see somebody with, you know, 50,000 followers and getting attention every day, not in all of them.
Let me say this too, to the people out there who rock and you got 50, 100,000 followers, this ain't shade. That's not what we own. But what we're saying is that it could be a person out there that's actually working at the right way. And I know plenty of people do it, but just because you have that doesn't mean that you're actually successful.
Yeah. And I think people struggle like, I don't know what you think, Toya, but I feel like a lot of people, man, they struggle to lines between reality and digital life is blurred. Whereas like some people would almost rather have the fame and attention that actually have real success. And it's actually weird.
Well, that's because, well, no, not really, because actually the fame and success is external. And actual success requires internal development. It's more responsible, but that comes behind actual success. And again, like we said, no shade to those who are here rocking with 100,000 followers.
And you know, you doing your thing and those who the content creators in, you know, you guys are creating these fantabulous posts and reels, no shade to you. But for the people who feel like you have to show up and be polished and you think that that's better than you sitting down and actually doing the work, it's more so because of the responsibility that comes with the work. And I'm not just talking about some team building and paying the taxes and all of the adult-ish things that we got to do. I'm talking about the internal work that's required after success or not after, but you know, on the pursuit of success.
That's the part that people run from. Yeah, I think that's real. Like you said, it's a, because it's people out there that's working whether it be the reels or whatever, like they work in those joints and they creating some fire stuff. And I'ma be real.
Absolutely. I struggle with some of that stuff just because like for me, it's like I'm so busy and I'll say this, right? A lot of stuff depend on what industry you in too. Like for instance, to be a successful doctor, you don't need to have a 100,000 followers on TikTok.
You feel me? And I think some people don't understand that. Like even with the social media stuff, it's like, well, what purpose does it serve in your industry and your line of work? If it serves a purpose then you can leverage it to maximize your work and what you're doing.
But if it actually can also be a distraction or waste of time, I'ma give an example, right? I'll be transparent. For me as a rapper, right? So let's say like, I didn't drop the Bluncher Christian rap albums and I love doing music.
But I'm a person that like, I'm a math person. Things have to make sense. The numbers gotta make sense to me. Once I realized, you know, whether it be a few years, I don't know if it's five, six years ago, I had realized like, at the end of the day, sometimes the church is willing to pay me, you know, $500 to come.
And if I go out of town, he might've been willing to pay 1500 plus cover expenses. But a lot of local people want to give you, you know, $300 or whatever. Hey, we'll pay you $250 and let you sell your CDs. Then you end up doing a lot of favors.
So what I realized is doing a simple math. I'm like, man, it takes me a lot of time to create music. I pay for music. I pay for mixing and, you know, back in the day, if I needed a CD or distribution, I'm paying a lot and doing a $300 show here, a free show here, a $200 show and then like, oh, once a summer, do a $1,500 show.
I'm like, oh man, okay, cool, at this rate, I can make $5,000 a year. Yeah. Or, now I could do that via rapper, be on Instagram, get all these followers, right? Or in the line of work that I do, I could be super busy via salesperson, via marketing person, travel out of town, have meetings all day, every day, have almost no time to get online, to make a video, but the number, the math makes way more sense with that.
And so all I'm saying is regardless of what you're doing, do the math, like do the math. And I'm not saying like worship or follow money, but let's just be real, like people act scared of money too, like, you know? So that's what, I guess that's my take is like, if I'm a doctor and I'm working 36 hours straight and I'm doing surgeries and I'm the coldest surgeon ever, like my line of work doesn't require me to have 100,000 TikTok followers. Absolutely.
Well, I'm, it's hard for me to move forward in this conversation because I'm still stuck at you talking about buying CDs. And so I got to get stuck there. I'm trying to push forward, you know, because I think about my kids and how they like, what is this and they look at it so foreign, but no, I'm just being funny. So, absolutely.
You did, I'm like a CD. It was just like 10 years ago, it wasn't even that long ago, but I guess the 10 years is a lifetime. 10 years, man, it seemed like a long, I've been married 10 years, that sounded like a long time ago. I know it's terrible.
10 years is like, it's hard as it is to say, 10 years is quite a bit of time. No, but I'm with you about, you know, the math. And I think that, I think that the problem with the whole, and I know we're going to go back to the original topic, but I think that the problem with the fame part is, is that validation piece? You know what I'm saying?
It's what validates people. So people are in a space where they're so hungry for validation, they're so hungry for assurance, they want to be confident in something, that's their form of validation. And don't get me wrong, hurry, scaring to find your validation in a click. But again, I rather feed my endorphins with these clicks because it helps me feel better versus rising and challenging myself and to going into something way deeper.
You're actually going out a little bit on a couple words. It ain't happening a lot, just a little bit. I don't know if it's your headphones or what it might be. I'm just giving you a heads up.
I don't want nobody to be listening. I miss that word. I miss that word. Okay, so I think one of the issues, you know, when it comes to the fame part is that people fall for the, you know, you know, them clicks that validates them, it makes them feel good.
And so instead of, you know, looking for something that's going to enforce responsibility, I prefer to feel good in this moment. And I think that that's what makes it dangerous. You know, like I said, the content creator, they out here doing a thing, I look at them and I inspire to create that type of content. But for those of us who are posting for lights for engagement and it's not making sense, like you said, the math is not adding up.
I mean, we really kind of got to fall back and look at the bigger picture and say, okay, what's going on that I need to post this where someone's like an engaged in it versus me posting this, where it's leading to something. Like I'm solving the problems somewhere. Like I don't really understand the point of posting if I'm not here to post to do something else or to lead into something else. If that makes sense.
Yeah, it's kind of like posting in this proper place. You know what I'm saying? Like put it in this place where it's like, regardless of really what you do, now of course, you know what, social media has become the new rap or the NBA to me. Meaning like we look at, there are people that make it, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kanye West, whoever.
I don't even know all the names I'm naming people that's been in the game 20 years. But my point is you can't look at the person who made it off of something that one in a million people make it in and base your reality off-day situation. So you have some social media influencers that might make it to TV or you hear the stories like they signed a $24 million deal. I think discouraging nobody if you got what it takes and you doing what you do, don't take it like that.
But what I am saying is like, don't just automatically make that your way to success because what happens is we hear about the LeBron Jameses, but it's only 400 NBA jobs, only 400 in some people in the world got that job. We don't hear about the 10,000 of dudes that don't make it to the NBA every year. And never do that, you know, that big check. So don't let the big check in those things be what you're just going after without developing yourself because even those people had to like hone their skills and become the best.
So I just think we can't be blinded by a certain success and think that that's just everybody's reality and we can't be lazy too. Yeah, you got to be responsible for your success, man. No matter what it looks like across the board, I try to tell my boys that because they they especially my little baby, Corey, he like, I could just YouTube all day and I could just make millions of dollars. And I'm like, son, son, I know they make it look easy, but it's not that easy.
And so I think that it's that level of responsibility that you talk about when it comes to success. I'm just real, man, it's real building a business, especially from scratch, from the ground. I'm talking about like when God took the dust. And they're like, that's how I feel.
Like I put the dust, like, okay. And then it's real. So in this level of responsibility that's behind it, you know what I'm saying? That just takes you to a whole nother level of living.
And I'm gonna say this too, before we move on to the next topic. I really think this important, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. You know, when I started this show, you know, three and a half years ago, I told people like, it's about the process, you know what I'm saying? And so even when I look at like everything I believe in is about a process.
I started my own process, anything that people see me doing today, it didn't start today. This is, you know, 11 or 12 years of work now that like straight that I've been on a certain path. So even as it relates to like all this inspiring faith and business talk, that started in 2011. And what a lot of people don't want to do is they don't want to start their process and accept that it might take time.
So they would prefer to think, you know what, I'm gonna make a couple videos. I'm gonna get a hundred thousand subscribers. I'm gonna get a 10, 20 million dollar deal here and there. And so they end up wasting a lot of time because they never start.
Like the longer you take the start, the more time you waste before you start this process. And that's what the show is about really is getting people to start that process. And all we saying is the process ain't necessarily gonna start which you have in, you know, 10,000 followers. You might actually have to go build a business first for five years before you even get 3,000 followers.
And most people want the followers more than they want to start the process. You know what, talking about the process, I shared this just recently about pricing. You know, I'm not, I really don't subscribe to competition pricing or comparing your pricing or looking at your competition, right? And the reason why I don't do that is because first of all, it creates that spirit of competing and competition.
And a lot of people don't know how to break free from that or navigate it. But for the most part, especially in the coaching space, I try not to get people to look at the prices of other coaches because you don't know the process that coach went through to get to where they are in their pricing, right? You don't know the pain that they went through to get to where they are in their pricing. And this is for business ownership in general.
You know, when I first started coaching, I was charging $125 for AP programs. Jay, I was owing people when I was doing like, I am in the hole after trying to serve and coach people to their next level. And it took time, it took, you know, a mindset shift. It took tears, it took struggle.
It just took so many different elements for me to be where I am, but that process piece is what people tend to miss. There's a meme and I share this all the time. I love this meme. It said I became an overnight success in 10 years.
And I think that people will look at the success of someone and you don't know where they started, but you woke up, it's all of it at 20,000. But you don't know where they started. You don't know where they put them to get there. So yeah, that's right.
And so here's the thing, right? And I'm gonna be real. Like I love that. I haven't seen that meme, but I love it.
Like I became an overnight success in 10 years. That's how that's legitimately how I feel. And I think what people don't realize too, is the disrespect to people who did the work when you think you just gonna start today and then get there tomorrow. So like people, when somebody think what you got it made or what you doing is so easy, what they not realizing is, I'll use this example off top of my head.
I think about the rock, right? The rock is a strong dude. So I would imagine if me and the rock was in the gym lifting weights, he gonna lift 100 times more than what I can live, right? But how disrespectful would it be to him?
If I was just like, oh yeah, you just doing that cause whatever, you know, blah, blah, blah, it's like, wait, hold on, bro. No, what you missing is I've been consistently lifting weights and working out for 20 years. What makes you think you're gonna step in the gym for 20 minutes and compare and compete with my 20 years? So it's a slap in people's face when you try to minimize the work they've done.
And I find myself, because when you work hard for something, you become proud of it. Like I consistently been working for 10 years. So I'm proud of the work that I've done by the grace of God. And when people ask me certain questions, like, yeah, okay, I'll tell you this people that didn't hit me, I'm like, all right, how you start a podcast?
And I'm like, you know what I wanna be like? Well, back in 2011. Right, right, right. Like you start a podcast by starting a process.
I had to live the, I had to live this podcast before I ever turned on a mic and started recording it. Yep, back in 2011 when I had my CD. Let me take y'all back to the future. Right, back then, that's hilarious.
But that's the thing is like, so what you doing with Chase Gray and, you know, the work that you put in, I can't come to you and look like, oh, what she do is easy. She's just a coach. Oh, I could be a coach. And that's legit how people be thinking.
Oh, I can do that. They ain't doing nothing with this, but no, you missed. When I had the building, you missed when I had to pivot because of the pandemic and make some moves and some changes. Actually, I want to talk a little bit about that.
Like, let's just kick it a little bit about like, like how did you maximize the pandemic? Like being a full-time entrepreneur, you know what I'm saying? Like maybe you could talk about it from that perspective and then I could talk about it from the corporate perspective. Like, you know, in comparing contrast, like, all right, what kind of things did you think about like, you know, going into the pandemic as a pandemic was starting as bad as it was and disclaimer for everybody out there.
We're not going, we know, like, God bless, you know, people lost family members and things. We not minimizing nothing. We just want to talk about a certain aspect of this. So we're not trying to make the pandemic seem like it was a good thing.
But I did say in it, while we were in it, and I think we did a podcast together about problems creating opportunities. So talk a little bit about how you maximize that time. And then what were the results? Like, what are the results that you see now based on what you did during the pandemic, the work that you put in?
Yeah, so it's crazy. And I'm just going to say it, you know, we've given disclaimers. This is not to be taken, you know, to be insensitive. But I was just looking at my, you know, how Facebook give you memories and I was just looking at the memories and I was talking to me and I was like, I don't know if this is bad.
I said, but that was the best time of my life. Man. Because I had the chance to explore parts of my marriage, parts of me, parts of my children, parts of my business. We wasn't on this rigorous routine.
We wasn't, you know, up against the clock. We was just living. We was just basing in each other's presence. We was just loving on each other.
Now, again, don't get me wrong. You know, we had some dips and some turns, but for the most part, God kept us and it was just like, it gave me an opportunity to not only honor God in a different way, but just to really celebrate life in a different way. And I was looking at the memories and I was saying, you know, in business, we were booming during the pandemic. Like, you know, people were trying to figure out alternatives.
They're trying to figure out what's next. Well, the only thing that made me sour about it is that, and, and, OK, we can, to each zone who says we're still in it, who says we're not, I don't watch the news. I don't know. I'm going to pandemic is over.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So now that we're, we're editing, you know, this whole world, people are now getting back into their comfort zones and they're getting back to work, right? And it's nothing wrong with getting back to work. But what happened to the dream that you was so excited about March 11, 2020, when the world shut down, like, what happened to that dream?
What happened to that fire? What happened to that ambition? Now, again, like I said, it was one of our most booming times we had the most engagement. People were excited to do what God called them to do.
They're like, I'm ready to do something new. It was exciting. It really set the tone for my business moving forward. But it really kind of made me think of the people who started and didn't finish.
You know, it showed me that like you were so excited and gone cold, but starting new because we all had to pivot. But now that the comfort is, is now creeping back, not a dream, is it as important as it was? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, like that's dope.
Like the thing about it, like you said, like so many people were hype at first about certain things. I saw this in a lot of areas, what I really feel like the pandemic represented from the standpoint that we were talking about business people, faith, entrepreneurship, even in professionals in the corporate world, what I think it represented was, it was the difference between it represented endurance. We needed a lot of endurance to start that race and finish it. And again, I'm talking from any of your business or dreams and things because when it first happened, it was a lot of people at home.
I saw a lot of people talking about their dreams or getting back into whatever. But man, just being real, you get around lap one, lap two, it's like, hey, you know what, I'm getting tired now. I know what bumping we at home, you know, and March it was cute. April, you thought you was going to do it.
But then some people got to the summer and it was like, man, bump that, like, I ain't got it in life. So I'm with you. I think the pandemic really exposed who was for real and who was playing. It was people out there who, and I know it because I just didn't heard testimonies from people who listened to the show.
It's people out here that heard the stuff, that believed it. It was messages we were talking about on this show. I was really trying to be intentional about like what people needed to endure during that time versus like you said, I don't watch the news. I don't, I really don't be knowing what's going on other than social media and like marketing campaigns and stuff that they put on social media.
You know, and, but for me, I was focused on the outcome. So I love that you said that, you know, y'all were just living and had a chance to explore it. Man, like, like, so tell me this, like, and I don't know how much you want to share, whatever you want to share. Like, so I give people an example, like when you, when you say we had a chance to explore, give me one thing that you found.
Like tell me something, one thing that you found that you didn't have when you went in the pandemic. Something that I found that I didn't have. You said it gave y'all a chance to explore as a family, right? Yeah.
So my thing is like, if y'all exploring, that means y'all discovering something. Yeah. Like, so that didn't exist whether it's in your personal, professional, your business, your family, like, I'm just curious when you said that I wrote it down because I'm like, man, y'all had the chance to explore. So it's like, well, what did y'all find?
Yeah. So this is, this is gonna be out of funny. But the one thing that we found is that we like each other. Like we legit, like, we legit, like, no seriously.
Oh, like we're for real best friends. Like, oh, you know, like we really, and it's for the long haul. Like, you know, when you go to work, when what person's at work at a certain time of day, you know, I work from home. So my schedule is a little different, but when you're not seeing your spouse 24 seven, it gives a great time.
Of course you can miss a person during a day, but when you have to wake up and look at this person, but it's higher day. Like there's no escape. There's no going to, you know, first of all, to go to another room, but y'all, any other space at all times, we legit large, like, oh, wait a minute. Oh, we like legit like each other.
We for real friends. Even when it came to the kids, like just, we were able to create better relationships. Relate the way that we communicate with them. Well, you know, they didn't know, they just, it was this fun day, party day all the time, but it just gave us that chance to just be, we were able to be the parents that, you know, when we're taught how to be parents is like, you know, be that authority of it.
Make sure you said boundaries and make sure you, but during that time, it was like, let's just all be, you know what I'm saying? Okay, you know, watch the dishes, but whatever, like, okay, like if you don't do it, whatever, do it tomorrow. And so it gave our kids the opportunity to be like, oh, I love mommy and dad because they get so cool and it created a next level bond. Don't get me wrong, we be on the body chores now, but they receive it differently.
It's different. It's different. You know what, it was, and this is what I was trying to get people to really realize why we were in it to you. And that's why, you know, my message from the start was don't leave the pandemic empty-handed.
And I love that this stuff is recorded because can't nobody tell me I didn't say this while it was happening. All you got to do is go back and listen to the podcast from 2020. But my point is like, what the reason I was saying this is because what I had recognized was that this moment that we're in is like no other and will be like no other of our lifetime. Yeah.
I remember, you know, it's a cool thing about like the point of life I'm at now where it's like, I'm getting, I'm getting older and mature, but I still, I'm still young enough is like, you really get to kind of see both sides. And I remember in 2008 when that market crashed. And I said this before in the show, I ain't had no money, but I remember being like, I ain't never seen nothing like this. I ain't never seen a house.
This, you know, I saw it was a house, you know, house is worth 150,000 and selling for 50,000. I'm like, I never seen this and I wasn't prepared for it. And I told myself since 2008, the next time that I enter a season that I know is temporary, what can be taken advantage of, I will not leave out of that season with everything that I'm supposed to have in more. And I think that's what people don't realize about the opportunities that come to us in life.
Am I happy in 2008 that people lost their homes? And it was crazy. I remember it though. Again, I ain't had no money.
I didn't own a home, but I saw family members. I saw friends. I saw their family members like dang, like they lost a big house. This I was tripping at people with money.
We're losing their house. But again, understanding and seizing the moment and so many people and I'm going to let you jump in. So many people play around when the windows open. It's an open window.
It ain't time to play right now. And that's how I approach from last two years. Yeah, I think that well, I'm going to say this real quick. So I know about the housing market in 2008, but I was so busy being a college student.
I didn't know. So I don't know the full effect of what happened. I hear about it. I know about it.
So this is actually like my first real life paying attention, life event. You know, I was like, you know, we'll have it back in high school. Nine, you know, of course I remember that kind of stuff, but this season, the moment and being able to pay attention and say, okay, Laura, what can I get out of this? What can I learn?
What can I take to the tomorrow? What can I, how can I use this time to build and not, you know, waste my time just sitting around or, and then it really took me to the next level in business and not just because we were capitalizing on people. It was that we were able to capitalize on the education on the experience. Now I have your attention.
You know what I'm saying? Now I'm here, not in the hustle and bustle. So I don't want anybody to think like, oh, you know, you just took advantage of. No, I took advantage of the time that I was able to educate people and really try to inspire them, you know, to do what I called you to do.
And like you said, it's like, you know, some of them continue. We have some great businesses that were burnt out of that. And then there were some people who were by the time April, May, June came and everything was starting to wind down. They like business.
What? I like when you said the whole marathon, you know, the running the race thing. I say this all the time. Well, I've been telling it late because the girl has been on a workout kick because I'm going to make up for my 10 years of wedding of marriage and I just need to be right.
I didn't matter. So this little revelation that guy gave me in the middle of a crunch when I was about to call out. Yeah. He was talking about how we don't understand the concept of breaking through the fat to get to the muscle, right?
Wow. So when we talk about that repetition, my son was like, why do we keep doing the same thing over and over again? I said, because you have to be repetitive. There's a repetition that has to take place so that you can break through the fat.
You got to keep on driving in that same area until you're able to get to the muscle. Well, by the time you get to the muscle, now you're building that muscle and you're strong enough to endure. People start sweating. They start getting tired and they were like, Oh, I'm done.
The same way we do new year resolution. The same way we do, you know, workout regiments. It's like, man, can you imagine guys sitting back and making these things to each other? How you make working out the same as building a business, going to college, graduating, raising a family, like how do you connect all of this stuff together like this?
Because you got it. Yeah. It's look, the connectivity to is because of the principles. It's like, I don't think people realize like these are just principles that play God's principles that play when I read the word, man, these principles be in the word like God, you know, in the parables, Jesus would say, you know, well done, I good and faithful servant to someone who managed their money properly.
To something you think about like always talk about the parable of the talents. You weren't just managing money though. You were managing time because with a master left, it was a window. You knew he was coming back, but you didn't know when when this pandemic started.
Here's what I knew. I knew that we wouldn't go the entire rest of our lives at the same level that we were now. There may be elements in residue and at some point it becomes an endemic where it's not necessarily like elements of it still here, whatever it may be, but I knew we weren't going to be at the height of it forever. And when I saw that, I was like, all right, let me keep the faith.
But let me tell God's people like teach them this process and tell them what they need to hear to endure the race because with a marathon, here's the crazy thing about a marathon that when you do when you do a sprint, like a 40 yard dash, it's about who finished first in competition with other people, but you started this off saying like when you saw my money, you like, you know, I tell people not to be in competition with the next person, but I love about a marathon is you not trying to race and beat everybody else. You just trying to finish. Like you, it's you against you. And so I think with some people, with some people might have missed and what I'm hoping is that there's still a small window or you find new ways because you might admit you missed that window from 2020, but there are still other windows that are opening your life just like I missed the window of 2008.
I had to spend it wasn't another window like that until this year for real. You know, you think about that. It's a that loan and now we on the other end of the housing market 2008 a crash. You see right now in 2022, the market, the market is at its height.
And so the dynamics is crazy, right? But you went out to it. If I ain't. No, I'm not that I'm not that I'm not that I'm not that I'm not that I'm not that I'm not that I'm leaving that in here too.
My point is the dynamics of the difference between seeing it at its low and how you need to act when it's at his low, right? And in a housing market, when it's low, you should be prepared to buy them when it's at its height, you be prepared to say it. And those are dynamics that sometimes we don't understand how the windows work. And that's why the process is so important to me is for people to understand how the windows work.
So what I want to ask you, like, let's talk a little bit just about like, so for people out there, like who might have wasted some time and missed their moment. So some people that might have started with Chase, great in the beginning of 2020, but they lost their way. They got tired. What would you tell them now?
Like, what would Joe message to them be now? Is it like, Hey, y'all just missed it. It is what it is. But how do you get that person up and get them to realize like you might have missed the window, but this is how you prepare for the next one.
This is quite funny because this is, you know, we just we just implemented some boundaries with Chase, great university because of this exact thing. And it's not just because of the pandemic, it's just because people get tired of running. It's funny how God gave us chase great, right? And so when we think of chasing, of course, we automatically think of running.
And my thing is when you're building a business, you are in a marathon and so many people just get tired. They just stop. And it's kind of like, I'm at the point now where I've created these boundaries where you can't just stop. You know what I'm saying?
Like people have given you, it's like having a participation award. It's like, Oh, well, it's okay. You know, like happens and let them go. No, I'm tired that I'm ready for people to show up and be responsible for who God has called them to be like, I don't want to pacify anybody anymore.
I don't want to baby you anymore. I don't care what happened in your life. I don't because here's the here's the end of the day. You have total control over your tomorrow and let's guide us something different.
You control that. And so if somebody keeps coming in and giving you new options and they keep pacifying you and telling you that it's going to be okay, you don't keep thinking this. Okay, the stop. Like where is the person?
Where's the coach? They say is no. Okay, your legs are that fine. Keep running.
Okay, you tired. Okay, that's fine. Keep running. So for the person who's like, well, I fell off.
Okay. Oh my gosh, he just sounds so rough. Okay, you fell off. Get back in the game.
Period. No, I'm not going to pacify you. I'm not going to coddle you. None of those things.
Okay. So people of seriousness of your assignment is bigger than you. And every time you let your flesh stop you, you are stopping the growth of somebody else. You're stopping somebody else's life.
And that's selfish. That's fine. So at the end of the day, it's like, okay, Jay, like, oh, I don't feel like recording a day. Oh, I'm just going to pause for but I'm just going to stop.
No. All right. You took your break. You're good.
You're good. Get back in the game. Why? Because what you're doing is not about you.
It's about the people that God created it to solve the problem of that person to help that person. And if you keep allowing yourself to fall into the victim of I fell off. I got to get back on track. Man, that gets tired.
That gets old. Like how much more do we want to pacify you and cuddle you because you get tired in the race? I love that. Like I love the fact, you know what?
Like we ain't pacifying. And you know that's that's fitting to me because for the people who've been listening to Inspire Guys people, they already know like, Inspire Guys people and about pacifying you. And I think that's where some people struggle with me as a person period because I'm trying to bring the best out of people. And when you're trying to bring the best out of somebody, you can't pacify them.
You got to be like, no, you got to get off that. You got to go from milk to me. I'm about to say something that's going to sound crazy. But just listening to you.
And I've been thinking about this for a minute, but it just I didn't see it this clearly into right now. People need to be prepared and I challenge anybody. I'm challenging people out there right now to go and prepare and go on a 10 year marathon. Yeah.
That's what I mean. You opened up and you said you said some about 2012, but you went full time entrepreneurship 2014. What did you say about 2012? I just started.
I know what I was doing. I just got started. Okay. All right.
And I think the year is 2022. Cool. All right. So, whatever you started in 2012 that you ain't know what you were doing, if you would have never took that step, you would have never got to this day.
We're 100% that so you've been on a 10 year marathon. Now here's the crazy thing. Of course, while you in it, you want to win the championship and complete the race. Like in the first year, the first month, because that's the excitement that we have.
But I'm a person is like, I'm about the process. Again, this might not be everybody's way. This is this is what I believe this is a proven method because it doesn't take as much look as oh, I won a lottery and I just got it overnight or I got signed to a $20 million record deal. I believe in a 10 year marathon.
Here's why. In a marathon, you don't just run through clean like a sprint. A sprint, you run through clean like it was only 30 seconds. You're not even 30 seconds.
You know what I'm saying? What they run a 40 yard dash and four seconds flat. Like so you going four seconds, you giving it everything you got. Don't get me wrong.
You practice for it, but it happened really quick and you found your results really quick. With a marathon, you get tired. You might stop. You might.
A marathon is ugly. And so what I'm saying is just like you started to it in 2012. I tell people all the time my financial journey of like getting my credit together. Everything started in 2012 when me and Tiff got denied for that home loan downtown in that chase building and a dude named George brought me that envelope.
They never wanted to laugh at me because I got denied for that house. That's that journey we talking about. I thought I was going to get a house in 2012 and got denied for that loan in 2011 on a professional side. I got a promotion in 2011 that changed my career.
I've gotten six promotions since then. In the last 10, 11 years, I've grown so much. But my point ain't about the growth. It ain't about me.
Here's the point I'm making. It took 10 years. I got tired. I messed up.
I tripped. I cut myself. I bent over for a minute and had to hold my knees like when you hoop and you get tired and you can't stand up straight. Like my point is it was ugly every moment in this walk.
It ain't pretty. I'm going to be quiet. Go ahead. What you got?
Because I can go on that. For real. I mean, it's just clear that I think that, you know, people think when you think about that marathon, it's funny. I use it.
I've used it before. I remember in great school, I tried to run. Y'all. I thought I wanted to run it.
I'm just not doing it competitively. I don't like how pretty it's okay. But I remember being in great school and I tried to run it. So I can't remember if it was a relay.
I don't know what it was, but I remember running and I failed. I didn't hurt myself, but I laid there because I was embarrassed and I didn't want anybody to laugh. I just laid there. I'm going to make everybody think something is wrong with me because I'm too embarrassed to get up and just keep running.
That changed my life. As an adult, I still laugh at it and I told my mom and I told her, you know, what really happened. She like, really? You could have got up.
I could have. I really could have. That's the problem. Yes.
I know I'm supposed to be talking at a certain pace, but I'm just going to walk for a second. Have I walked? Yes, but I never left the track. I never left the track.
And I think that's the most important. I'm not. I don't want to discourage you. I don't want to, you know, seem like be hard on the listeners.
I just want you to understand that the finish line is greater. The people in the stands are watching you because they're saying, man, if that person can do it, I can do it. If that person can fall and get back up and cry and get back up and pass people, you don't need people to pass me and say, years and I'm looking around like, Oh, why aren't I there? Yes.
What is happening? Listen, like you give me so hype, like never leave the track. If I get hype, y'all got to blame Toya. Never leave the track.
Listen, like you listen, you don't understand. So are you willing to stay on the track for 10 years? You get what I'm saying? Like because so many people, Toya, they want to run when it's cute because then first couple laps is easy.
And the first couple laps, you ain't sweated out your ponytail yet. Your J's ain't got scuffed up yet. You're like, Oh, we good. I could do this all day.
But the moment it get ugly, Oh, now it's raining outside. You're going to try and listen. It's knowing you're going to stay on the track or you're like, ah, that's a good look. Some of us are only waiting for a good enough excuse to quit.
Yeah. And I'm going to tell you the worst part to it. People probably think I'm crazy saying it's a 10 year marathon. Start now.
And the number is arbitrary. It don't mean it's literally 10 years. I'm saying you got to have that long term commitment to the track. But here's the crazy thing.
People don't want to commit to a 10 year marathon for their purpose, but they already wasted 10 years doing nothing. Doing nothing. Like, like you, anybody, everybody who listened to the show over 10 years old, like you tell me, I don't know what you did. I wasted a lot of time.
What I love about what you saying. No, Toya is like it was ugly. We not selling a false hope that it's this perfect, beautiful walk and you not going ever make a mistake or something ain't never going to happen to you. It's going to be great.
No, what we talking about is, I want to get real specific and granular real quick, right? So for you, you started in 2012. You didn't know what you were doing, right? So you took that step.
What happened in 2014 and those two years, right? Because that was your first two years on the track and those two years what happened between 2012 and 13 to give you the audacity to start in 2014 full time. That's nuts. So since we use the analogy of running.
I was cheering on everybody that was passing me up. I'm like, you can do this. You got this. You got this.
You can do this. Keep going. Keep going. I'm cleaving them away and I'm like, I can't do it.
This is hard, right? And that was like, so how you going use me to encourage them, but you won't trust me to use you. Wow. I threw my hands up.
I was, I had just had my baby boy. My baby was born in July 2014. And to be honest, God told me not to go back to my job after my maternity leave. But your girl was scared.