Successful entrepreneur & Co-Founder of Rally Gin Desmond Carr – Part 1

Travis 0:00
We all have different styles like Herman has a very well thought out, articulate argument.

Desmond Carr 0:06
And farmers as

Travis 0:09
I didn’t say he wins or his arguments win every argument. And I didn’t say argument I didn’t say he made sense.

Herman 0:18
When every argument I’m about to witness argument, you need to argue with some lotion on their knuckles, boy. Yay. Yeah, who won that battle? I was making dry skin.

Travis 0:27
I was making biscuits.

Desmond Carr 0:29
Is there a format that we follow? Are there highlights or points that we wanted to hit?

Travis 0:34
No, this isn’t okay, you’re giving us entirely too much credit. Even if there is a format, Mac and go and follow it, everything he does in life is a triple option. We’re back with another episode of Black in the middle, middle class, middle of the map, a podcast by three friends who seemed to always find themselves stuck in between

Herman 0:56
black culture and white America.

Tim 0:58
If you’re a believer, that genuine conversations can be a first step to closing the divide. And you’re in the right place the metal with us. Let’s go

all right, we’re back. This is your host Tim Travis Herman and we have a very special guest in the booth today Mr. desmin car. Welcome my brother. All right.

Desmond Carr 1:28
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Welcome,

Tim 1:31
I so let’s go from youngest to oldest guys brand a little baby man.

Travis 1:37
Oh man, so introduces me let’s see here. You know, when I first met him, he was at the walls of Campbell junior high school, and then had the opportunity to play football with and against him. And as he was the starting free safety for the drag Bulldogs, where he graduated in three and a half years with a degree in Computer computer information systems and I and I had the opportunity to play against him when he was with the drag Bulldogs. I will reference when I referenced the game believe that it were a well I will say I was victorious but with that being said, you know he did have an outstanding day he had he had 12 tackles I believe that day so he had a phenomenal game but yeah man that that’s my my recollections Harmon Do you remember the time we went to go visit Desmond and we drove up to Drake?

Herman 2:29
I do. That was the first time I was ever offered a prostitute in the bathroom by a de Moines Iowa that’s not that’s not a bullshit story that is swear to God and my my dude had the worst stable of hoes ever seen in my life. I swear to God, I’m not lying. Yeah. Not a reflection on desmin or Drake University.

Tim 2:56
But the Moines absolute oh my god, man. That’s funny. i How would you introduce Mr. Carr?

Herman 3:02
So how would I introduce desmin well if you’re ever Okay, so Desmon I came to Lisa North late at the time Tim and Desmond ran things and they did not like to include new people now they tell Well, I thought Desmond at that time was a little like a man this is a brother did just don’t like me. Fast forward. Doesn’t is family does what will make you feel like family doesn’t want will actually bring you into His family. Desmond is the most loyal, loving, warm individual ever. I was talking about how different we all are. But if Desmond has a thing, it is just this unwavering loyalty, commitment, all of those things that just you don’t find in many people, man and I love that about Desmond and just anybody that comes in contact with Desmond’s who spends more than I’m gonna say three minutes with him will also fall in love with Desmond as they should man.

Travis 4:01
Family big.

Tim 4:03
Or so the first time I met him, it was less than three minutes. So I did not fall in love with you. I was competing. Don’t beat me. He was encroaching on my territory.

Herman 4:16
There can only be one What are you doing? Those dimples are gonna give me trouble.

Tim 4:23
You had his white guy his white friend right now on bikes I had mine was bigger.

Travis 4:30
Right rival crews.

Tim 4:33
But But yeah, man. You know, that was like the summer before we actually met when we all went to Campbell junior high together and I mean, it’s just been everything is for the history books ever ever since man. One of my closest friends my best man at my wedding. You know, we’ve we’ve succeeded. We failed in so many things throughout the years. But the lessons that we’ve learned we Have we been able to take those and build something strong friendship, businesses, relationships, a future for ourselves and our families. And, you know, a lot of that would have happened without this guy. So Derek Carr is the CEO and co founder of rally Jin Hee, all also has had a storied past. We joked on the intro about primerica days, and how that I mean really kind of leveled level our way of thinking when it comes to finances without him introducing that to our lives. Who knows where we would be? Right, just be continuing to play pay the black tax all the time. So paying for performance. But yeah, Mr. Carr, man, welcome to Kansas City. Welcome back, my brother.

Desmond Carr 5:53
I love this city, man. Thank you so much. Kansas City. This has been so dope, just just being back on the town and seeing everyone and being around my family. And it’s just the I was thinking about this earlier today, like the word family. Typically, you know, you talk about blood ties. But it’s be well beyond that. Like, the friendships, the relationships, like, I call my, like, my people or my family. Like I don’t even I just I want to get work. I don’t have friends. I have family, I have people that I want to see, succeed and do well. And I want their kids to do well. And that’s just like, that’s, that’s us. And so our circle is so tight, and so dope. So it’s just, it’s just dope, just being back here to be around my family again.

Travis 6:55
Yeah, man, how long has it been since you’ve been around your family?

Desmond Carr 6:59
Well, so we made a decision in 2015 after a snowstorm, that we might not congregate in Kansas City anymore. We will we will congregate in other cities and or countries. Yeah, yeah. So we’ve been getting together and other

Travis 7:21
spots. So Wow. Like, and it’s amazing. Because, you know, just the mere presence of your name coming back to the city. You know, I thought LeBron was going back. You know, people coming out, you know, to see the kids since he came back.

Herman 7:37
Desmond, being in town made me think of something this morning, I was walking through my house and I look over the wall. And I say one of those signs that my beautiful wife put up that says, home is not a house, a place, it’s a feeling. And I was just like, I just feel like home is wherever Desmond is. sell that. Well, he bought at Hobby Lobby. But that’s how I feel.

Desmond Carr 8:00
That’s how I feel. I know. That’s why That’s why I can say that, like, that’s why this is home.

Travis 8:05
You left in 2015. What? In you’ve been north, south east west. Tell us a little a little bit about your journey just geographically. You know, you don’t have to get into the details of everything, but geographically your movements over the last seven years.

Desmond Carr 8:21
All right. So if I if I just did geographically, that’ll be very selfish. Right? It’s all about the dollar.

Herman 8:28
Oh, okay.

Travis 8:29
Well, you know, I’m all about that. Yeah.

Desmond Carr 8:31
Geographically has been a matter of the dollar. But one thing that if I could tell anybody is that when we went from Kansas City to Las Vegas, and I started working with this company, I made them hire me. I flew to their headquarters, told them I wasn’t in town, repeatedly made them interview me. And damn near made them hire me. And then they promoted me within six months to where I knew I should be. So I didn’t manifest it. I just like, I was like, Y’all don’t know me, but y’all need to know me, bro. Like, y’all need to call me y’all need

Travis 9:27
to find kind of a big

Herman 9:27
deal. I looked and then they sent him as far away from Vegas as they

Desmond Carr 9:33
know it is get this brother out of here. Kind of like

the other things are happening around the country doing other things that are happening, right. But you know, it’s, um, it’s combination. It’s like it’s a vision. I wanted to be a part of that I needed to grow and I didn’t know enough about the restaurant industry and I wanted someone to teach me about it. So I was seeking a company that could teach Me more than what I knew. You know? I mean, right. And that’s how it happened.

Tim 10:07
All right, so, so you left Casey went to Scottsdale or went to Vegas started your journey with the new Restaurant Group. Right Man is a new concept out there in the casino lasted about what a year or so before they moved you to discuss in

Desmond Carr 10:30
Philly first or not now to two years in Scottsdale, two years

Tim 10:33
and then Scottsdale. He started a different concept right

Desmond Carr 10:36
now. Same kind of for a year. Yeah. And Scottsdale and then Philly. Yeah. Then Philly. Then Austin. Yep. And then back to Scottsdale.

Tim 10:47
And now you’re in LA. Yep. She’s so being. It’s like you you the whole time. You were always black in the middle. But just removing the Midwestern piece? How did you? How did that help or hinder you to kind of fit in those new environments with new, you know, diversity and perspectives and check climate? Yeah, fashion styles fashion. Did you feel

Desmond Carr 11:17
anything until recently?

Tim 11:20
You have the freedom and the confidence to wear a fanny pack? Yeah, man, shorts. Vans or was not even around your favorite?

Travis 11:29
Well, they call those pockets or no just pockets.

Desmond Carr 11:34
So my Jays are too tight to fit my phone. The phones are too big now like, true.

Herman 11:40
Maybe like a European tourist. I love it though, man.

Desmond Carr 11:44
Yeah, well, that’s, that’s the part of living. Just moving around a little bit. Ms. Coleman, you see, like, you just you just appreciate things a little bit differently. Like, you see something and you’re like, Okay, this is this here. And you respect their culture, their community, what they’re doing. And I think as you move across the country, it’s a continually like, you just appreciate what everyone does.

Tim 12:15
So you blend it in with your blackness and your Midwestern values, your familial inclusive values,

Travis 12:24
I would have to think going to Las Vegas, you know, that’s a little bit of everything. But then when you start going to like Arizona, where there’s a large Hispanic community, or when you go to the east coast, where you’re not really sure what you’re gonna see, people look a certain way, but then they start speaking, you’re like, Oh,

Desmond Carr 12:42
I guess the really dope art was just being in the restaurant industry, working with the back of the house, and understanding their journeys and their struggles. And it’s a lot of times they’re from other countries, and they’re dealing with different issues. It made me empathize, I guess, like, just like, Oh, they’re gonna do this, this. They’re doing this have this plan. They’re from this country. They’re from this continent. Vegas is different, different, different. And for me, that was a really cultural shock. You can live with cash in Vegas, you can be very discreet, very, like unavoidable. Other places are culturally different. Philly. I loved it because of the culture. But I guess not in it. No, it wasn’t blackness roll. I was meeting people from other countries. That was about India, Canada. Like I was meeting people from, like, worldly.

Travis 13:46
Did you ever see Beanie Sigel?

Desmond Carr 13:49
I did that freeway. Now, but the dope the dope part was, when was that? Like the boroughs? And actually I felt more connected to white people. Because the white people in Philly reminded me of my family from my walkie they were people they live in this block.

Travis 14:10
They were listening on the cuckoo cow. Yeah. What is bar roll bass? Yeah, yeah, roll

Desmond Carr 14:16
is communities. Yeah, that makes sense. When you’ve been in those communities for like, three, four generations. Yeah. You know, I mean, like, that’s all this deep rooted, but that’s the restaurants that they develop. That’s the community that develops bars restaurant like this, everything that’s there to the world row.

Tim 14:34
So we less it’s less about race or ethnicity and more just about community, that culture.

Herman 14:40
Did you build your did you build a little family, micro family and all of these different spots? Absolutely. I knew that she would.

Desmond Carr 14:47
Absolutely I have and I have relationships with a lot of these people. I’ve seen them grow in life. I am not a biological father. But these relationships helps in seeing people develop, they pick up the phone and call me. And I walk them through things and help them negotiate deals, tell them what to ask for, and what types of positions to be in. And we have those relationships still to this day, I’m able to help them better the situations they want to be in. And that’s been so rewarding, man.

Travis 15:27
So relationship building has been a huge part of your, your essence, right, like, so we can we talked about it from a testimony standpoint, from a friendship, but you’ve also kind of carried that into business, and how you run your organizations and how you lead? Why is that so important for you to have those type of relationships in both of those arenas?

Desmond Carr 15:48
It’s easy. So one or two things, right? You can be selfish, right? I can get everything from my employees and give it all to myself. Or we can all win together. And if you think of a certain mentality that you want to deplete everybody of themselves and their resources in some companies do that. And it might be depleting them of money, their time, their energy, deplete a person. Well, that means you don’t think you have it. There’s enough out there for everyone for all of us. So that’s just the focus, like spread love, spread energy, love. Everyone do well, our people that support us, we came into Kansas City to support them, you know what I mean? Like, they fuck with us, too. We got you and we do it. For real for real, that like fake that saying, just buy our shit, whatever.

Tim 16:43
Alright, so let’s let’s pull it pull it back to entrepreneurship. Man. I’m personally intimate with the entrepreneur endeavors that you have taken.

Travis 16:55
He broken you in don’t wait a minute.

Desmond Carr 16:59
It’s crazy. I got a degree in Computer Information Systems, right?

Herman 17:05
Yes.

Desmond Carr 17:06
Didn’t go into that because the tech boom happened and I couldn’t even I couldn’t get an internship for free. I mean, what I was willing to work for free. So because so many people were being like, we’re looking we’re doing things I was just like trying to get experience. Right. So I was like, Okay, we’re gonna say I was I guess so when in the sales primerica? Y’all were part of that. That was a very that was a very educational though time for me. And it really did expose me to like, things that transpired in 2008 2010. Right. Way ahead of that happen. But yeah, we

Travis 17:57
never forget. You work for primerica, alright, I came back home. And you sat me down and you gave me the whole sales pitch. And in my head, I’m like, doesn’t this nick it? No, I’m not. I mean,

Herman 18:09
I got 43. I got $43 in this locked up.

Travis 18:16
He’s just practicing. Because I can’t help you know, it

Desmond Carr 18:19
wasn’t you, man.

Herman 18:21
It was just I mean, it’s always about helping. It is always about supporting

Desmond Carr 18:26
me helping you. Like I was just being exposed to game and I was so excited.

Herman 18:31
Yes, you were talking to people about like, but I bet you also

Desmond Carr 18:35
power of interest rates. Sure. Interest and compounding interest. Yeah. Like I had never understood that concept. And I was just like, I don’t know if my friends know about this. No, we didn’t. So I was just like, I just want to shout

Herman 18:47
at the time, not the time. But I think that it would have been interesting because at the time we were having this conversation we’ve started paying attention to how much money or not how much money people have based off race, how much trust they have with giving you money, right? Like so. You go to a black family, even if they’re like, as your friends and family will shed even if you didn’t went to my dad, there would be a substantially less money for him to do anything with then. Yes, similar. Well, Caucasian surgeons in Lee’s Summit,

Desmond Carr 19:17
I learned I learned a bunch of things during that trial and error and we joke about me working at primerica during that period of time. But you don’t know what you don’t know. Right? So what you don’t know is what I did not know is that I did not have credibility about finances with people, whether it be age and or color, or whatever. So who am I to be guiding people that are twice my age? Why should they trust me? Why should they listen to feel like

Herman 19:57
I don’t give money to black mothers? Because on the street exactly get look at this fucker. Look at him.

Desmond Carr 20:04
It’s not it’s not it’s not primerica I’m talking about the concept of investing.

Herman 20:09
Oh yeah, well, and I was just talking about the concept of buying into any any organization wants you to buy in wholeheartedly like my man’s quote and Walmart still to this day you know I’m saying

Travis 20:19
so my blood can’t help it can’t explain it but the vibe is in the veins.

Tim 20:26
So I mean primerica was I know it was a job but it was like an entrepreneurial position, right? Like you got to build your own business, talk about that and just kind of bring us up to speed but you know, give us kind of an idea of what you did. And you know what you took from it that helped you kind of elevate to the next step.

Desmond Carr 20:43
And this was That was so scary. I was trying to do an internship in between my junior senior college, and I landed with this company, I went and got a series six is 63 license and an insurance license, six and 63 license allows you to trade mutual funds.

Travis 21:01
You say a 63,

Desmond Carr 21:02
I’m sorry, a series six. Okay, and a series 63

Herman 21:07
license, you know, Tebow wants a series 7363

Travis 21:10
The college number, so go ahead.

Desmond Carr 21:14
It allows you to trade mutual funds, a series seven license allows you to trade stocks directly. I got my six my 63 and Life and Health Insurance licenses doing this just because I’m good at tests in college and shit. And I was trying to figure out like, just how to like how all of this works. These are platforms that I don’t know about was ever talked to me about investments and stuff. I didn’t know what to do. I was trying to figure it out.

Tim 21:46
Let me let me put a disclaimer out there. There’s I think there was this episode might go a little sideways here and there. I’m going to try to pull out some conspiracy theories from this brother. So bear with me. Oh, that’s so so the insurance are you just gonna come in here live actual. So life health? Are these constructs these systems that we all follow blindly? Do you think that that experience helped you open your eyes to things that may be less unseen to the normal human being like us for sit around this table?

Desmond Carr 22:16
I will, I will never say no more than you are. But you know, sometimes you have your own beliefs or whatever about whatever. But it just opened my eyes to how investments work and things like that. I don’t think it’s as cut and dry, or as black and white as what I think we grew up thinking. I think the business is a little more different than what we’ve always thought, you know, my experience has opened me up to that.

Travis 22:46
And wait a minute. That sounds very vague, man, what you’re trying to say? You’re trying to say that Herman and his his thoughts on the market are flawed. What?

Desmond Carr 22:56
No, no,

Travis 22:57
no. Okay. What I was hoping

Herman 23:00
this guy trying to get me

Desmond Carr 23:05
a good example is what are we talking about? We’re talking about Elon Musk, right? At some point, like a day or two ago or something like that. Yeah. You know, I was like solar business made a bunch of money that invested in the business

Tim 23:17
to business like PayPal. So yeah, sold a little business.

Desmond Carr 23:21
invested in another business like, Oh, no. But But the US government got rid of NASA, he fulfilled that. He was like, Yo, I’ll send stuff in the space. I got it. So who cares? If Tesla’s not profitable, he he knew to take his company and make it publicly traded use the revenues that come in from that, build another company that not only takes the United States In the United States in the space, but every country in the world, Russia and China, everybody uses Elon to go into space. He’s space over. So fuck, that’s dope as fuck. So we down here thinking about us, Uber, and this dude is on another planet, literally.

Travis 24:11
Yeah, yeah.

Herman 24:12
I mean, that is how that works. Right? I mean, I mean, that’s, well, it’s just like, that’s why people don’t trust their government or why people believe that private businesses can do it better. Because oftentimes, private businesses are thinking bigger or thinking more. Where’s the next opportunity for growth? Right? Well, the opportunity is to not have barriers that are whether they’re land or country. It’s like, Well, shit, I want to make money from everybody.

Desmond Carr 24:34
Snoop just said that he made this amount of streams. And he was like, but that’s nothing. I made 30 million in the metaverse selling my album, and I’m like, yo, Mac, how can we make money selling drinks in the metaverse is sounds stupid. The average person doesn’t. But in 2013 or whatever, I’m sure Bitcoin sounds stupid.

Right? Right. It still sounds stupid.

Travis 25:00
Still sounds stupid, but

Tim 25:01
25% of the

Desmond Carr 25:03
no not 25% bro like 99% think there’s 5% of the world population, I read a statistic it’s like 5% of people that actually understand what that is.

Travis 25:16
One day we’ll have a whole fight about Bitcoin and all of these crypto present don’t understand

Desmond Carr 25:21
cryptocurrency, I’m gonna be rich. By the time that conversation happens.

Travis 25:26
I think that if you were going to be rich, you would have gotten in when you would have already gotten it. No, that

Herman 25:31
is absolutely ridiculous. Because I was I was holding Bitcoin, way back. Yeah.

Tim 25:36
I think he rich, I’m not rich. So

Herman 25:39
it depends on brother you could invest. It depends on how much money you had, then at the time, you better get comfortable with, not to mention what actually, you will be. Oh, for sure. But this is one of the things that pissed me off because one of the things I invested in this man hold up, though. So one of my big pops was like it, it was for like 45 grand on what I was holding in this company. And I had that shit through our through security bank. And it was the day after it popped. They made me sell everything because they said they wouldn’t support it. And that was what I wanted. That’s when I literally moved all my shit and started managing myself because I was like, you can have that kind of control based off of risky stocks, because you guys make way riskier trades all the goddamn time. But if a person asked you to do it, you’re like, oh, wait, this is gonna, this is looking a certain way.

Travis 26:24
You had a pseudo currency. That was called cryptocurrency now popped. You had a little money and somebody told you, I can’t handle it. So you got to sell it. None of that sounds peculiar to you. Like when something they didn’t hold, like all of a sudden they

Herman 26:40
did not care. Whenever it wasn’t doing shit. All of a sudden when they were going to have to make a big pay. I ask is my point it wasn’t cropsy The Hustle was up. But that’s the thing. No currency it was. It was the bank. And it’s the one thing about crypto is that it’s not a bank. It’s a decentralized thing. So I don’t have to deal with a bank telling me how much money I can or cannot make. There’s no limits.

Travis 27:05
Well, what about that another day?

Desmond Carr 27:08
We gotta stay on this. We gotta stay on this order. We got we got to stay on this one. All right. The only reason I said we gotta stay on is because I want everybody out there to win in this is a winning opportunity. The same way that people didn’t understand the Internet and like the 70s and I didn’t have an email address until 1998 It was that email Travis

Travis 27:33
does dog 2020 three@hotmail.com

Tim 27:38
And the only reason he created that email was because we needed it to go to lead

Desmond Carr 27:43
so gotta lead Absolutely.

Travis 27:46
Does dog Yeah,

Herman 27:48
this will be professional

Tim 27:53
2322 There’s wrong

Herman 28:01
man. We just knew one thing about ourselves.

Desmond Carr 28:04
We didn’t know. We didn’t know this is the way I talked about crypto. It’s what you believe in right? So what I said like what I’ll say to anybody is let’s say you believe in watches and luxury watches and I love Yo Gotti Yo Gotti invest in watches, so he might buy a 200,000 on the watch and stuff for 400 Her ma’am I love Jordans. I’m gonna buy a pair of Jordans are 100 sold for 400 that is what that’s perception. Yes. Right. So Warren Buffett may not believe in crypto, but he will invest in Nike even listen Rolex. Yeah, that might be part of his portfolio. Right? So the sub category he might not invest in, but the top performing companies. He does. Yeah, I

Travis 28:53
believe in the stock market.

Desmond Carr 28:55
Right. So what’s the difference? So crypto that purchases items, bro.

Herman 29:02
No, we still don’t. That’s what I said. I’m like higher buying. That’s where he stops.

Desmond Carr 29:07
I paid I paid my rent and kept from crypto before so if you don’t believe Do you believe in real estate?

Travis 29:12
I do believe in real estate. You don’t live in a house

Desmond Carr 29:14
and I paid my rent. I paid rent you paid

Travis 29:17
ripping written crypto.

Desmond Carr 29:19
I cashed it out.

Travis 29:22
There we go.

Herman 29:23
But you don’t have to live

Desmond Carr 29:24
version. It’s the same thing. Gold Bar Yeah, it’s the same thing of having something of stock. Sell your car. Let’s say you got a car to this paid off sell the car. Get the money. See

Herman 29:36
this is where Tebow This is where T bone thinks whatever. He got it because he’s like nah, because I got the cash. Well, guess what? You can lose cash and short of the flaws of crypto wallets maybe being stolen crypto is backed by a whole ledger system. The whole point of crypto is power in any tokens power and a token of crypto is just like for financial. But you have a token that is a unit of energy a token that is a vote a token It is a gazillion different assets, but you have millions of ledger systems affirming that your transaction is okay, happening in a fraction of a second, you can lose $1 on the street, you can lose a 20 out of your wallet. I cannot lose crypto like that because it is reaffirmed it has all of this transaction history right there,

Travis 30:17
you know where I never lost $1 in my bank account, you know,

Tim 30:22
you had taken out $1.99 every month for that

Travis 30:25
didn’t lose that. Spent that

Desmond Carr 30:27
dollar you know, you have lost $1 Yeah,

Travis 30:30
there’s fees, no

Herman 30:32
fees just holding on to it.

Desmond Carr 30:33
No, no, I have not lost. You have inflation, if you want to miss correct if you

Travis 30:39
want to talk about how far my dollar has stretched? And yes, there’s my dollar may not stretch as far as it did. You know, 20 months ago when my gas was at $1.60 a gallon and it’s now 399 A gallon. Sure, like I get that. But long story short, when I can go to grab something to eat and I can pay in Bitcoin? Or Dogecoin or cryptocurrency, then I will be I will believe okay.

Herman 31:07
But this is where he’s Netflix in zash. Because how much you know about Web 3.0?

Travis 31:11
Sounds like way too much for me to pay for a whopper. Oh,

Herman 31:17
man, all it is

Travis 31:18
you sound like I’ve taken too many steps to be able to purchase a water burger

Desmond Carr 31:23
I get I get what you’re saying. All it is is converting? Let’s say that you’re not pulling cash out? Let’s say you just convert it into a home. Right? Well, I mean, yeah. Because that’s the only thing that’s

Travis 31:38
basically what we’re arguing over is, you know, how? How you take an asset? Right? And how many times I gotta make it flip in order to be what I’m trying to have on the first run. Yeah, yeah. So I gotta scrub and flip and do all these cartwheels to make that Dogecoin that Bitcoin or whatever, into what I’m trying to get on the front side,

Herman 32:01
not necessarily, man. So there’s lots of different platforms, select some of them. So like, you could have like a token that powers some network where it’s the only asset that they’re going to accept for all of these digital tools and digital items that you might add to a portfolio that can be used in the real world. I mean, you think about every app on your phone, like a lot of apps are web based. So now you have access to them, and you pay for them with the currency that is used in that way. They’re not taking US dollar, which means the US dollar now has limits in a space that is growing exponentially. So when you have a portfolio, you have lots of different tokens when it comes to just purchasing generally, right. And that could be from shipping shit to pet stuff to all kinds of just new stuff, right, like goods, we’re sitting at the forefront of something that is going to power the future growth of a digital economy that is not slowing. So

Desmond Carr 32:51
I guess what, what the the one thing that I would love to iterate, reiterate, whatever. Diplomatic, you’re

Herman 33:00
being diplomatic.

Desmond Carr 33:05
No, no, I Because Because I mean, I totally understand what exactly what you’re saying. But the the application karma, the application of in life, right? Like our dollar went to being in our hands to now just being online. And I think that’s kind of this is the next step. Plus the dollar

Herman 33:34
is fiat currency. The dollar is not read by anything. No,

Desmond Carr 33:37
no, no, it’s not. I’m not saying that’s a great way of putting it. I’m just saying, I’m talking about what I’m talking about what he’s saying. Oh, yeah. The physicality. Yeah, absolutely. And then we saw one of the dollar on our debit card. Yeah. But and then now it’s in a different form. Right. It’s the

Tim 33:55
perspective the previous Yeah, we learned knowledge is what is holding you back you got to get well blue pill or red pill, man, you want to be set free or because I’m like, this construct. Money is actually physical.

Travis 34:09
I just look at it. Like it’s hopes and dreams, right? Like y’all believe in Santa Claus. And I believe in mom and dad, like so that’s kind of where I’m at with it was that’s

Herman 34:17
kind of like not believing in a credit. Like when credit cards first came out. They’re like, you’re gonna tell me this little piece of plastic got 40 or $40,000 on it? Yeah, right. Tell him you couldn’t see it. It just has 16 numbers.

Desmond Carr 34:28
It’s the same we was talking about row when I was saying money is not real. The reason I say that right, is because Why does a bank have the option to lend you what like, nine times what they actually have room for these money ain’t fucking reorder. It’s just about what you get perfection.

Herman 34:52
Can I say one thing?

Desmond Carr 34:55
Can they give you some shit that they don’t have in charging you Do some shit. Yeah, you’re charging interest on money that’s Can

Travis 35:03
you buy some shit with money? You don’t have

Tim 35:07
money? Elon Musk? Yes, you can just call credit. Can we talk about valuation?

Herman 35:15
Can we talk about heist in American history? I don’t know if it’s the biggest but the fact that to

Tim 35:20
your point is mind

Herman 35:24
that banks don’t actually pay out cash for the homes, right? They just are giving this amount right. Like it’s not actual cash. It’s making a transaction whenever I got a loan from my house, right, then this housing crash happens where guess what, not only did they not pay out actual money, they then took the homes back from all these foreclosures and then resold them bitches as the market went up to me, Do you know how much money change hands and you’re getting money out of people twice? In less than 10 years?

Desmond Carr 35:51
How can you have 1/9 of what you loan out? That’s my only question row. When you figure out this shit ain’t real. Yes.

Travis 35:59
Gotta have collateral Ray.

Herman 36:01
That’s the thing No, what

Desmond Carr 36:03
you have is a you don’t have to collect government. You have a government that can do whatever the fuck and we can print money and we can decide Can you have it backed by the US gold’s not backed by gold? So it’s not backed by anything other than the US military authority and power

Herman 36:27
well in debt it’s backed by debt essentially,

Desmond Carr 36:30
what Who the fuck pays that that’s what I’m saying. If you can come fuck with me, why would I pay back?

Herman 36:35
I know but I’m I’m just saying that that has since there is no physical gold standard behind a piece of paper. It also has no

Tim 36:43
boom blow your mind money is a construct

Travis 36:46
that has a ceiling I felt like debating but go ahead brought that on me. No, there’s no need but I don’t want to it’s it’s not it’s not really it’s not really for debate. I think that that is a feel attacked. No, it’s a conspiracy theory but not attacked. No,

Unknown Speaker 37:06
I don’t feel attacked.

Desmond Carr 37:08
The theory is very, it’s just it’s not a theory. It’s just a way it’s just a way of

Tim 37:14
looking at it perspective.

Travis 37:16
It’s a perspective, Perspective Perspective Perspective, which I can respect that because I get

Herman 37:21
what I get if you don’t see or look very respectful.

Desmond Carr 37:26
Crazy boards I get what you

Herman 37:31
get, say some different

Tim 37:35
Alright, so we started with primerica and that opened up a few cans. Yes, I know when you’re gonna have to just bottle it and keep it. There’ll be other topics that you can you can write it out. Alright. Alright, so after primerica Mr. Carr, what happened? What’s your life?

Desmond Carr 37:51
Like I ended and I wouldn’t in corporate America.

Tim 37:55
I found was that.

Desmond Carr 37:58
Bills, made some

Tim 38:00
money to wear a suit every day.

Desmond Carr 38:03
Met a lot of people or a suit every day.

Tim 38:07
drove around and it was black car. Yeah.

Desmond Carr 38:11
All of that sales rep. It was it was a very it was a very learning experience everyone

Tim 38:17
to turn the AC on because it costs too much gas.

Desmond Carr 38:21
Oh, what not I pay for that. Again, a gas car I got I got they roped you in bro, you get the you get the insurance, the gas card, you get all these little perks? All you get all this stuff. And you feel like him life is good. But it is good until you have an expiration date until the market crashes, and they decide to get rid of so much of their sales force. And you don’t have a conversation about who that person is. And then it could be

Travis 38:59
that is why I chose HR

Tim 39:02
to be in control. be in control of my circumstances.

Desmond Carr 39:06
Yeah, I mean, but that’s Yeah, but they have it. Well, yeah.

Herman 39:09
I mean, it’s crazy how industries change too, right? So like pharmaceutical, just the entire pay structure change, like overnight, like yeah, they was out there

Tim 39:18
bowling. They were like 80% of the workforce has gone gone.

Herman 39:22
I mean, we have people in our neighborhood that I mean, like Yeah, turned into liquor and houses and wives it was I mean,

Travis 39:30
that’s perspective right like, in the opinion of many some of those things that they were pushing sold themselves. So let’s just find a different way to be able to they absolutely did. Yeah,

Herman 39:39
they were like Look, we’re not gonna pay Tim to try this pill is gonna get

Tim 39:43
better. They had the top three selling medications of all time. Zipa Pak everybody knows yep, I have this cold medicine working. Let me go get a Z pack. Yeah, big

Desmond Carr 39:54
bills, all right. Viagra

Travis 39:59
wasn’t Hard

Tim 40:02
there’s only there was there was only one choice for years then there became three choices but you know, at present the market and then Lipitor, which was number one, you know, cholesterol drug. So literally your right arm, they figured out they have to pay. You don’t have to give them the card and the car and computers in the storage unit. Tell them a single signature.

Travis 40:25
We got the word out there, the seller said, Oh, come get some more the world

Tim 40:29
corporate America was so like bloated and gluttonous for processes and just overdoing shit just for people to make more money off of this shit right up. Right. Like they had deals with Amex. You know, the cars. That was another deal. Oh, we’re getting it. Oh, man, we must they must love us and really value us. We make money on the back end. And it’s two

Herman 40:54
companies that they Yeah. Oh, my God. I mean, it wasn’t just the other day, I figured out how good RX worked. Like I didn’t realize,

Tim 41:02
Oh, it’s so weird. I don’t understand how it works. Because I know is I had a $20 medication for my son’s ears. And I went up to the doctor gave me a prescription. I went and picked it up. She was like, Ooh, this is 200. Let me see if I get that for you cheaper. Good. rx.com. Here you go. Yeah, I’m like, I’m like, what about you? It wasn’t what do I need to do

Herman 41:25
that I read that I’m like, they get these baesman. So they have these, they are literally buying the drugs themselves. You’re just buying it from them. They buy it at a huge discount and volume, no good RX. They own that product. And so instead of using your insurance for whatever deal, they have struck with whatever medication they just got, all right, well, I’ll buy good RX is and they’re like, Okay, well, and the crazy thing is that, that she’s not on the forefront of everything ever. Who bought the drugs at the lowest price, right? That if I buy it for $20, instead of 200, they still make 10.

Tim 41:59
So it’s crazy. So

Desmond Carr 42:02
so that’s where I’m at? That’s, that’s where I’m at with the liquor business, right? Who says that you can’t own a drug? Right, right. Yeah. Because it’s, it’s already it’s been through its r&d process is being cleared. So why as an individual owner, like who says that Herman Watson, or Travis Brown, or Tim McCoy cannot go and produce something else? Right? You can. People just don’t know that they don’t feel empowered to do that. Right. And I think that will come. That makes more competition type of

Tim 42:37
shit is those type of walls and perceptions are being broken every day. That’s what

Desmond Carr 42:41
Yes, that’s what that’s what we’re working on. Because when we complain about one thing in America, it’s usually like health care. And health care usually has to do with like,

Tim 42:51
just one of the system’s inequitable systems. Yeah. I think back to Kinley, right, one of our clients unapologetically black, because a lot of black people don’t think that they can open our own bank. Yeah. Throw the dead. You know, like, like, that’s like, well, it’s you we don’t challenge the system or the status quo enough

Herman 43:14
or it’s or it’s just the general risk, right? Because Frederick Douglas on the bank, but the US government tanked it right. Like the first black owned bank, he became the president of and they were like, Let’s fuck this shit up. And black folks lost a ton of money. Yeah, you talking about the weather?

Tim 43:28
There’s a dark there’s a movie about the first black owned bank.

Travis 43:33
There’s a movie. There’s a movie down in Texas. Yeah, yeah. Brother Anthony Anthony Mackie, I believe

Tim 43:39
Yeah, I can’t I don’t remember the name of the name of it either.

Herman 43:42
But when American history is the white guy, the front end, yeah, but what I was gonna say when American history starts off with Frederick Douglass taking over a bank as the first black president and then America saying we can’t have that then it’s risky for the next brother to come in and do something from the ground up. Because there’s a lot of tools to take and destroy. Yeah, oh, yeah. There’s a banker.

Desmond Carr 44:04
Charles Johnson out there doing stuff we were talking about that earlier about just like helping them when there’s rattlers Yeah. Here’s a rather I met him at least a long time ago. But I think the scope of what we can do and what we can reach and can connect to, I think the more people will talk people of color talk to each other. And be like, Yo, you can do this. Like you can open a bank. Yeah, like I’m still online with Greenwood bank to get my car bro. I’m gonna be a part of Greenwood. As soon as they get they shit. I’m on their email.

Tim 44:42
I’m there me too, but I’m doing that for competitive analysis.

Desmond Carr 44:46
Yeah, but but but it just like sometimes. Sometimes things like prescription medication or whatever. Like we don’t think that we can build these types of businesses

Tim 45:00
we just follow what people tell us a lot.

Desmond Carr 45:03
Yeah, following Diddy, bro. He says some rock? I did. So we rally. We rally.

Travis 45:12
Did he send a Northern Star for you for quite some time?

Desmond Carr 45:16
Did he fit the Jay Z?

Tim 45:20
Yes.

Desmond Carr 45:21
Yeah. The Why would I not feel follow these? Like, I follow you tee? You know, I’m saying you do something you and HR you above is it back in the middle of standing so I’m so I’m gonna follow you so I’m gonna follow your leadership. Yeah, you know, it’s just leaders

Travis 45:37
success. Success breeds success, right? Like you see somebody doing something positive, it should give you not a sense of hate or ism, but it should give you the energy to try to find your lane to be able to do something as well, and manifest something that is a dream into reality.

Herman 45:54
I think that that is a I think that I don’t know if it’s something that that we as black men have to deal with. But I don’t know if we do well enough with competition within ourselves. I feel like we compete. Wow, that’s the theme of this episode were limited resources where we don’t have to because I’m like, I’m sure we are all like, Hey, man, this could be a win win win for all parties. But when you look around and you try to find the person like yourself in positions where they’ve reached in Yeah, it’s hard to find sometimes. And it’s like, well, if Herman’s gonna rise up, well, who’s gonna come out? Or, you know, so it’s I don’t know, and it’s just,

Desmond Carr 46:29
I think I think that’s a that is racism?

Herman 46:32
Yes. Well, it’s a horrible mentality.

Desmond Carr 46:36
is racism. Yeah, is that think that there’s that only, if you have 10 people, or 10, companies in play, and only one of them can be black, or only one of them can be woman owned, that is the challenge that we’ve had. And that’s what we’re trying to break that barrier. Exactly. Because that it does not have to be that way, we can all support each other, help each other, we can all grow together. It doesn’t matter who anyone is, there’s enough out there for

Travis 47:06
all of us. But the problem, the I Agree 100% 100% the problem and where people get into this kind of, you know, competitive nature is because they rest on a niche, right. So if I’m resting on a niche, of being black, or being female, and that niche gets watered down, because there’s now more people in that pool, then that’s where people, that’s when it’s crabs in a barrel, and you start seeing people, you know, start doing things that are, you know, hindering the growth of other people in that same arena. So I think personally, that the biggest thing that one can do is you can lean on those niches, but you also need to make sure that you lean on what’s actually your brand, lean on your product, lean on your skills, you know, whatever it may be, because what you’re doing in this arena with rally, Jin, I’m not we’re gonna get into that. But what you’re doing is awesome. And if I would translate that into being the only black guy in the room, right, like, I was the only black guy in the room. And I can tell you that there was times in my life when I was the only black guy in the room with other black person saw me as competition instead of ally. And so just what you said there was a hinderance or an inability for us to build together. instead. Yeah, we over here trying to one up each other and other people on all sides trying to figure out who’s the top negro. So

Desmond Carr 48:37
I think jet hudl Jay, Jay, Jay said Abbas. So Jay Z. I’m paraphrasing this, but he said the term crabs in a bucket. He was like how to crabs not in a bucket and who put them in the bucket? What is that? Why are crabs in a motherfucking bucket? What are we doing? We’re trying to put people against each other based on these buckets of race, sexuality, gender, that doesn’t need to happen. Crabs don’t just be in a bucket in the sea. They just be

Herman 49:22
crabs grabbing you know, they just be out crab it they literally see walk, you know.

Desmond Carr 49:30
So it’s so the I’m just saying there’s a construct that’s that we we help we help do that row by treating each other that way. Yeah, you

Tim 49:44
know what? I just had an epiphany. So, you know, if you picture like a picture, you sit in the boardroom, right? You know, she’s you white ladies some, you know old Palin, male people Another black guy walks in the room.

Herman 50:02
And it’s me. And we just argue,

Tim 50:05
somebody you don’t know. But like, imagine or take yourself back to sports, right? Where you were one of the only black guys in the team, probably the fastest, or the most skilled, maybe the smartest. And you’re getting ready to prepare to prepare for the competition. And it’s, I don’t know, it’s let’s say we’re playing basketball. And the other team, white team, I got one black guy who’s guarding me. You were put up against him. You were put up to seek out the best player on that team and take him out to defend your basket to get buckets. Yeah, we’ve been conditioned, bro. Yeah, yeah, yes, I at every level, man. We’ve been conditioned. It’s very. And that’s why too many people. In communities in the hood and organizations, we don’t look for Win Win scenarios. This is one concept that I have taught my kids I will continue to bury in their heads because they go at each other. You know, we’re at we’re in St. Maarten, we’re driving in. And he says like, oh, there’s an ocean. It’s on my side and Max, like, all pissed off and shit, and then turn around and go back to the place he’s like, is on my side of you. And he’s like, bro, if you look further, there’s ocean on both sides, guys. And I’m like, What’s that? Win win scenario, daddy, like you got to teach them to pull each other up to pull us up and not go at each other store and be competitive. Now, we’ve got to, and this is what we talked about last night, too, right? Like with kids raising boys, right? When you got it, you got to, like when you don’t want to raise a pussy, you know, boy, or girl, whatever, whatever. You want to raise them to be aggressive. Because if they’re young and aggressive, they’re going to, they’re going to get seen, they’re going to do more, they’re going to be brought out. But you also got to teach them that balance. The other side of the coin is like, you know, you may aggress this guy, but if you trip him accidentally, whatever. I pick them up. Yeah, let them up my bad, you know what I’m saying? Because we’re all a part of this, this greater community, whether we like it know it or not. So

Herman 52:17
it’s like, it’s like, how do you clearly define healthy competition in every level, right? From athletics to, you know, the boardroom, right, like, everything should be competitive, because competition just makes you hopefully better. Right innovation, but I don’t want to see you out of a job on the street. Like, that’s the, and a part of that, I think, is just baked into capitalism, where it’s like, all or nothing, right? Like I had a spare. Yeah, I’m like, and, and I don’t care if my ex is because even in the structure with how businesses are evaluated, it’s with a 100% of the market share. And so when your business is valued, they’re like, this is an assumption on how much you’re worth, if you have 100% of people that drink gin, and every other gin company fails for us to do that.

Desmond Carr 52:59
Yeah. Well, I get exactly what you’re saying. It’s that so that’s where it becomes a little different. Right. Right. So so what, what becomes, what is the thing right, is Tesla has market share. And I don’t think that Tesla’s ever been profitable. Right? Right. But you pay what between 60 and 100 for Tesla. And Elon is worth 240 something billion is perception. It’s purse. Oh,

Travis 53:43
yeah. No, he got a hell of a perception. Yeah. Like, that’s the

Tim 53:46
this is valuation. No, it’s not even real.

Herman 53:49
Valuation is on everybody.

Travis 53:51
I mean, I get that.

Desmond Carr 53:52
Why can’t we apply that to our own lives? What who’s to say

Travis 53:56
you can apply it? You just gotta get people to buy it?

Desmond Carr 53:59
Yeah, that’s why can’t you in your bubble? Well, in your bubble, that why is why is the point what the chart we sent each other the other day, why is point 1% of the population? Why is $60,000 major part a point? 1% population in Kenya is 25 million. Your point 1% of the population? Why are people are the other people the other 99.9% of the population miserable in Kenya versus America? Is what the fuck is happening. Evaluate this and let’s so

Tim 54:34
$60,000 in Kenya makes you a top point. 1% Yeah, yeah, that is equivalent to 25 million in the United States. Yes.

Herman 54:43
And that’s what I was saying this morning. I was like, Man, when we made it surprising that we have not invested more. You took 30,000

Travis 54:52
going you don’t like to be to

Herman 54:55
hold up. You don’t even have to go.

Desmond Carr 54:57
We don’t even have to go up houses. That’s a good point. We’re looking at how Moses,

Herman 55:01
bro, we don’t have to go. They have network infrastructure. They have people they have people that understand. Exactly right. So I’m like, bro, we could actually change the landscape of a country like that you could bring an entire country up. And I’m talking about talking about

Tim 55:16
religion, I want profits, my rough precedent, can you

Herman 55:21
throw they go home, they’re gonna have rally in

Tim 55:23
my position and whatever it’s gonna be the flag that written that really.

Herman 55:28
But it is interesting to think about how much like so it’s really funny how far away things just don’t seem real. Right? Like the war in Ukraine, we can see it but we’re not there. We don’t know what that is, until unless you’re there. So we don’t know what life in Kenya is actually like. And I’ve employed Kenyan by best part, one of the best people I know, great person, hard worker and like them. But for whatever reason, maybe he doesn’t know. Right? You know, I’m saying just not valued. And I’m like, We’re the fastest? And could we go over there and stop the exploitation? Can we go over there and use our dollars to stop the exploitation of goods coming out of Kenya, which have been robbed for generations by not black people? Yeah, absolutely. That’s what it wouldn’t take that many

Tim 56:09
dollars, it would take that many people, what would it take for us to do it,

Desmond Carr 56:13
we’d have to get army,

Herman 56:14
we would have to not be competitive and have

Tim 56:17
to not be competitive, I have to not be selfish. And I have to have a return

Herman 56:21
of some when I moved back on our way city, we were talking away, we’d

Desmond Carr 56:25
have to have a common goal, man, it’s just a common goal of what we want to have a vision, right. I think the vision sometimes is not the same. Because the we get everything we need from Kenya, if we lived in Kenya, we get everything we need from Kenya, like Kenya can grow its own produce, I’m assuming it like has its own things. So what’s the like? We can build a house? I’m sure we have materials. So maybe what’s

Herman 56:57
it Oh, whatever they do, I’ve been looking at houses run ever. I’m new. I’ve never been a house. I moved back from New Orleans, we all came together. And one of the ideas we almost bought one of those payday lending things and the whole concept behind why we as a group wanted to buy payday lending software that was illegal in other states was to reduce the rate of the interest that was charged that would help out a gazillion people because all you have to do is not exploit people at that level. So mine legitimately we could go to Kenya with this whole concept of reducing every interest rate on every item or whatever we could purchase by a few percent exactly bring in instead of them paying 22% for whatever it may be. What if you just paid five? What if you just paid one if you don’t like that is what would help aid that I mean, that would help an entire nation. Obviously you need to have some level of control over part of the government but I think that’s pretty normal.

Tim 57:51
All right. Yeah. Let’s do a speed round real quick. Just for people get to know you. All right. Me football basketball for you. Football. Republican or Democrat. Democrat. Writers are chiefs, writers. Austin or Scottsdale Austin dog or cat dog? Bitcoin or Aetherium theory. Beach or mountains. Beach. Chuck’s Cortez.

Desmond Carr 58:18
Cortez is cortezes

Tim 58:21
fanny pack versus pocket. Fanny I really don’t know have you got any other rapid fire questions you can think of?

Travis 58:42
Funny you should ask. Shake junk or tourism

Desmond Carr 58:51
you can take out the Shake. Shake out

Herman 58:57
Memphis or anywhere else on the planet

Tim 59:03
through and through.

Herman 59:06
Thanks for your Listen, don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast. Just start with don’t forget to subscribe. Right. Ready? Are you ready for me to go? Go now. Don’t forget don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or whatever random app or website you’re listening on. Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram. Underscore black in the middle.