You Can't Afford Me
You Can't Afford Me
Shifting Gears to Green Entrepreneurship and the Catalytic Converter Revolution
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and nobody embodies this more than BJ Evans, who pivoted from a minimum wage earner to the entrepreneurial force behind ProCores. This episode takes you behind the scenes of his tenacious journey, where resilience and grit meet the recycling industry. Through the trials of starting a business amidst an economic slump and personal milestones, like marriage, BJ's story unfolds as a masterclass in turning obstacles into stepping stones. We get personal with the catalysts that sparked his venture into catalytic converter recycling, the wisdom gleaned from unexpected mentors, and the relentless drive that fuels success against the odds.
Join us as we navigate the complex world where automotive innovation and environmental regulations collide. We delve into the nuts and bolts of catalytic converter recycling - a niche market that's as volatile as it is vital - discussing how factors like state emissions laws and vehicle models impact the industry. The conversation takes a turn into the future with the electric vehicle movement, examining the socioeconomic ripples extending from California's ambitious plans to the plight of non-Tesla EV owners. We round out our chat with a look at the darker side of the industry—catalytic converter theft—and the market's parallels with real estate's ebb and flow. Beyond the business talk, we reflect on entrepreneurship's deeper lessons: the importance of long-term vision, embracing fear as fuel, and the elusive pursuit of work-life harmony.
www.themrpreneur.com
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Speaker 2:Hey, doing well, doing well.
Speaker 1:Awesome man. So first give people some insight into who you are, what you do.
Speaker 2:Yes, my name is BJ Evans. I'm the owner of a company called ProCores. What we do is we buy and we specialize in the process of catalytic converters.
Speaker 1:Nice. So all right, let's go back. Talk to me about before you became an entrepreneur. What were you doing?
Speaker 2:Before I became an entrepreneur. I've been in business since 2010, so it's been about 14 years. It was actually the same year that I got married to my wife, we uh.
Speaker 1:That's funny because I started dating my wife right when I became an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know there's a correlation with that, yeah it really is so. Before that I before business, I was working a minimum wage jobs. I've been. I went through a series of jobs, you know, like that, working for temp agencies. At one point I worked for a trash company. There was a economic crisis that was going on at that time, so the company that was with we showed up at the job and they said you know where we have to close our doors.
Speaker 1:So I didn't know what I was already struggling. How were you when?
Speaker 2:that happened I was 23.
Speaker 1:And just married.
Speaker 2:Well, I was getting married at the end of that year, gotcha.
Speaker 1:So I'm sure your wife is excited about that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we were very ecstatic.
Speaker 2:Yeah we both were. She had a and she's still in this career. She's a teacher, and I told her I wanted to get into the recycling trade. I was exposed to it through a very close friend of mine by the name of Donovan Bates in Northern Virginia. His father was doing the recycling trade for years and years and years. Interesting story behind that. He didn't know what his father did as an occupation, he just knew that his dad, whenever he saw him, always had a lot of money on him and he always had a lot of cash on him.
Speaker 2:As their relationship began to foster in Donovan's adulthood, he then was exposed to his father's trade and he's telling me about it and he says you got to come out here and see this. So I'm saying all right, all right, I guess I have no choice. So I would drive in Northern Virginia, which is about an hour and a half, but with traffic it could be two to three hours, yeah, easily, for where we are in Richmond, and I would travel up there early in the morning and I would leave pretty, pretty late in the night and we would. What we would do is we would go to shop the shop and we would buy the scrap metal and then we would recycle the scrap metal at a yard and so they were paying you part-time as an employee at this point, or you were just learning the business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was learning the business and I was working for Donovan for about a month.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he had. He and his father had had kind of broken off and he started his own thing. Yeah, and I would work for Donovan. After that, you know, he went through some things and I brought it back out here to Richmond. But I brought it back out here to Richmond right after I was laid off from that. Well, actually the company that I was working for went down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so what was it in your mind that at that moment said because this is the finding moment in your life.
Speaker 2:Oh yes.
Speaker 1:What was it about that that made you lean towards business ownership versus dusting off your resume and going to try to find another job?
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't have a choice. At that point. I knew that the recycling industry could be lucrative. It was also it all involved in what you put into it. Yep, you put the time in, but at the same time, there was a big learning curve, and so I was forced to be in this environment where I just had to make it work. There was no choice. Yeah, I was going through a lot. I was behind on bills.
Speaker 2:I had a lot of payments that I had to do it, a lot of responsibilities and had no choice.
Speaker 1:So I'm interested there in terms of because there's a switch. I believe that goes off for every entrepreneur at some point in life where, first off, was this ever a thought in your head that, like one day, I plan on owning my own business? No, okay, so going into that being forced into a situation where it's like, okay, I gotta take care of me and my wife.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Because you very like. You said you had no choice, but you know you could have gone, found some other part-time job like, done something in the meantime, but you chose to fully embrace yourself into that world.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes. I believe that the quality of entrepreneurship was there before, with some of the instinctive things. I've always questioned everything, always wanted to figure things out for myself and get to a solution myself. So that's an instinctive quality that every entrepreneur has, and it's faster than it grows down the line, especially as you get more exposed to to business.
Speaker 1:Gotcha.
Speaker 2:So I, at that point, I wasn't, you know, I was in a situation where I just had to make it work, yeah, and the dilemma was hey, I have my car here, I gotta, I gotta, put this metal in my car.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we decided well, I decided to say you know what, I'm free with the aesthetics, the responsibilities that I have are more important than the aesthetic of this car. Yeah, and so I trashed that car.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what kind of car was it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a 2007 Dodge Stratus.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah. Yeah, after words, after my dad saw what I was doing, he let me borrow his pickup truck, nice, and I'm keeping the truck, I'm debating getting the truck now because, like with a couple of lots and stuff I got him, like I can't put this stuff in my SUV, like I'm gonna have to break down and get a truck at some point.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:So, like this is, you're the first person I've talked to like in this space because, this is something that you don't typically hear a lot of, and I think it's important for a lot of people to be aware. You know, we're kind of drawn to the light like the shimmery things where it's like, but it's these quote unquote dirty jobs that often pay the most money and it's the things that are often overlooked.
Speaker 1:So talk about the industry and like why, because you've been in this for 14 years and you're still going strong, why is this still a good space for you right now?
Speaker 2:Well, you'd be surprised. You may not hear about it quite often, but you do see it. People see it all the time. If you've ever seen an old pickup truck with a bunch of cans on the back of the truck, that person who's driving that pickup truck is on his way to the scrap yard to cash out those cans. Oftentimes they'll find these cans, you know, on the side of the road. They'll pick them up and then or you find other various forms of scrap metal.
Speaker 1:That is.
Speaker 2:That is what I was doing prior to transitioning exclusively to the Caledic converter trade. It's in the same space. It all involves recycling, but it's a different hiring metal.
Speaker 1:You just reminded me of a story I didn't. I literally have not thought about this in decades, but you talking about the cans in the back of a pickup truck. I remember that was my first exposure to making money.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um my family's always recycled.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And my dad just said hey, if you handle the recycling in the household, you know, once a month we'll take all these cans, we'll go to this spot and they'll pay you for, uh, the cans that we turn in.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:So I'd make a few bucks and I'm sure the price is like way lower now on cans, and I think back then it was like 10 cents a can or something like that. It's probably nowhere close to that today. Um, but that was the first sense. Like man, you're opening up my eyes, Like that was probably my first taste of entrepreneurship.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Where I didn't even realize it was, and I'm not even sure my dad realized he was teaching me entrepreneur skills. It was just, you know, putting money in your pocket.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Let's step back one second, Cause I just realized we overlooked something. Um explain this industry. What are Cadillac converters Like? For those who don't know, explain what this is.
Speaker 2:So Calidate converters are anti-polluting machines and they contain three precious metals platinum, palladium and rhodium. Rhodium is higher than the price of gold. In fact, right now it's about two times the value of gold, jeez. However, two years ago, two to three years ago, it was over 10 times the value of gold, but, um, it's the most expensive metal on earth.
Speaker 1:Um now I burn him. Well, yeah, yeah. When, when no then I'm putting that in cars.
Speaker 2:No, no, no no, no, those cars would be flying.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'd be able to do phenomenal things. But, uh, those metals they they have. Their primary purpose goes into Calidate converters. And so, um, calidate converters, these anti-pollutants, were an initiative that the federal government decided um to do to well to enforce upon auto manufacturers way back in the fifties. But even in the fifties, the Calidate converter, the idea, the concept of the Calidate converter, was enshrouded in controversy In 1969, for an example, there was a big lawsuit from the DOJ to the four big names in the auto world at that time, which was American motors, chrysler, ford and General Motors. And what the controversy involved was, um the conspiracy from these companies to prevent and delay the manufacturing of these anti-pollutant machines. They deemed that these machines were too expensive. And so what um they ended up doing? And what many of the pollutant material actually ended up going was in your urban and rural areas, making the environments in those in those areas extremely unhealthy.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So that was a big thing. Eventually, after that, um in the 70, well, in the late in, in 1969, they eventually conformed and they began to manufacture these Calidate converters.
Speaker 1:So are those? Are those converters still in vehicles today?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, they are. Um. There are new Calidate converters being produced all the time, although the industry is being threatened by um some of the aggressive green green initiative that the current administration is going electric yet going going electric, but even that seems to be faltering. So maybe Calidate converters will be with us for a significant time. Further We'll we'll see.
Speaker 1:So with that, with those changes, I'm sure that equates to a drop off of revenue for you in terms of like is this metal still as expensive as it was 15, 20 years ago?
Speaker 2:It's well. They're actually more expensive right now than what they were 15, 15 years ago.
Speaker 1:So you personally, your company, goes into junkyards, places like that, and you ripped those off. So talk about that model like how do you set up a relationship with a junkyard so that you have the accessibility to go in there and rip this off? Do you have to pay that junkyard any fee? Like, how does that look?
Speaker 2:So, um what we do? Um we'll go into the junkyard, we'll meet with the owner and we tell them about how this process works, um how we can add value to his business by purchasing his Calidate converters. But most of the junkyards um there are all of them are familiar with how the industry works by now, so you have more competitors and there are people competing all the time, although competition has dropped off since the market has fallen. We've been the last two, two to three years.
Speaker 1:What will? What will accompany? Like yours, typically pay for a Cadillac converter per car and does it vary, like if it's a vehicle that's a 1990 Honda Civic versus a 2008 Dodge Stratus?
Speaker 2:Oh yes, it, it, it all depends. It all depends on the state where it's manufactured based on the various emissions laws of that state and also the country, Um, where it's manufactured that. So you have Calidate converters that you know are produced in the area that doesn't have as strict emissions standards, and so the value of those catalytic converters will be less than a place like California, for an example who has hardcore EV hardcore hardcore.
Speaker 1:Cause I think I heard by 2032 in California they want to allow gas powered vehicles to be sold anymore by 2030.
Speaker 2:Yes, but.
Speaker 1:I have a feeling 2030.
Speaker 2:Jeez, yeah, I have a feeling that that could be changed.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's because the electric vehicle concept we're just not there yet. We'll see where we'll be in five years. Yeah, they're not charging stations.
Speaker 1:If you don't have, Tesla has the hold on the charging stations. Because I've actually been looking into a Ford F-150 Lightning their electric version and everything I've read is just like because you can't go up to a Tesla charging station and charge your Ford Lightning, it has to be a certain station that you're at.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:And Tesla just got the lock on that across the country.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Probably even the world.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And Ford's still trying to catch up. So is that concern for most people looking to buy that vehicle Like, if I'm taking a long distance trip, am I going to be able to make it?
Speaker 2:Very often people aren't. And so right now you see all sorts of different articles popping up Electric car, you know, on the side of the road. Those batteries are extremely expensive $25,000 and above.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And above.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, they got to get these caught. I know Elon's working on one of the next models of Tesla they want out. I think it's going to come out like $19,000 or something like that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, which is going to be insane, and I've seen that is insane.
Speaker 1:They've been talking about the highway lanes where they're going to be installing chargers underneath the road.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:While you're driving on the road is actually charging your vehicle.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of money.
Speaker 1:It'll lie to money. Yes, so because we can't get them to fix these potholes that have been there since, you know, 1997, and then ripping up all these highways and putting in charging stations, that's going to be that's going to be an obstacle.
Speaker 2:Having an initiative like that being executed, you know, within seven years. Yeah, I just don't see that happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that it seems like a pipeline dream, yeah, Um, getting back to the converters. So typically give me a range of like and if you're listening to this, I don't want everybody running out of here and ripping out your Cadillac converters out of your cars and stealing them from your neighbors. But what's the going rate if and I'm sure you guys have to like you know whether it's melting them down or doing whatever you do yes, what's the typical going rate if you pull a Cali converter off a vehicle?
Speaker 2:So right now the average converter is about $80. But three years ago the average converter was around between 250 to 300 dollars. Yes, the average converter there was, and there there was a. There was a set of converters on some of your hybrid vehicles Um, the Toyota Prius is, for an example, which are the most stolen converters in the entire world.
Speaker 1:Wow really yes. Why are people stealing those more than the other ones?
Speaker 2:Because at that point two years ago they were about $2,500. The recycled value was $2,500. Jeez. So once people became privy to that information, I mean, it just sparked this huge wave of converter theft.
Speaker 1:So how have you because those are some major drop offs you just you just mentioned how are you able to sustain your business and continue to grow if those costs are coming down?
Speaker 2:Um, well, we still pick up a lot of volume. Um, we're in an environment now where people have gotten so frustrated with the industry and with the cost of the material going down that they just didn't know how to adapt. When I got into the business, the converter prices were significantly less than what they are now, so I know how to operate within an elevated market and a market that's significantly lower.
Speaker 1:So it's similar, like the way you described that it's similar to real estate. Like the big boys in real estate know how to make money in a down market and they know how to do it in an up market.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Same thing with what you do there. There are those spots where a lot of people are probably pulling out saying, ah, the market's not paying as much. I'm not going to focus on this right now, but you're still buying up.
Speaker 1:Um and that deal that you're making with. So is there like, let's say, you have a deal with the junk yard? They get in 20 cars this week. Um, do you just go through and say, hey, I'll give you a flat rate for me to go through and rip these off? Do they take these off for you? You have to manually go in and do this stuff. Like what is that process?
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Speaker 2:So the converters are already removed before we get there. Okay, and so the converters. We're able to tell the value of the converters based on a set of data that's already installed on the converter, gotcha. So a lot of research has been done throughout the years, for you know, some of the biggest refineries you know in the world, conducted by the biggest refineries in the world, I mean and they're able to collect the serial numbers on the converters and a certain value based on asking a significant amount of a specific kind of converter Gotcha. And those kinds of converters will have the same exact serial code.
Speaker 1:So why are? I want people to get a full understanding of this, so I'm continuing to poke holes in things and ask questions. Why would a junkyard operator, if they're already ripped off, why would he not just make these transactions himself?
Speaker 2:Well, they'll deal with us, because we're buying thousands and thousands and thousands of converters on a weekly basis, gotcha, and we're able to demand higher prices.
Speaker 1:Gotcha.
Speaker 2:So this is something that we specialize in. Not only do we demand a direct processor, so we actually break open the material ourselves.
Speaker 1:Gotcha. And then who are you then selling to?
Speaker 2:And so there we have various partnerships around the world we deal with. Sometimes we'll deal with a company in Japan, Other times we deal with a company that's located in South Africa, where the material is being actually repurposed, and but our next goal is to become that we want to be the company that repurposes the material Gotcha.
Speaker 1:So then you could then in turn sell the auto manufacturers.
Speaker 2:And there's a lot of red tape. Oh, I'm sure, take it into that. Oh, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Even I can't. Even I'm like who is the smallest, like manufacturer of vehicles? The only ones I can think of are like new electric. So electric vehicles don't have these on them.
Speaker 2:They don't have any quality converters. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay. So for you moving forward, because you're seeing this huge shift in your industry where there's a large push to go EV and get away from gasoline, how are you mitigating that? Like, how far ahead are you having to look forward in your business to make sure that you can maintain this for the long term? And with that, let me give you a two-part question on that. Do you have an extra strategy with this business?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, this as far as the recycling industry is concerned. It's always repurposed itself, and so you have you know, at one point there was a demand for coal.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And there was before that was demand for horses. Yeah, and that's not recycling. But as far as travel is concerned, the industry evolves, and just like the travel industry evolves, the recycling industry evolves. Caledic converters haven't always been around, but the largest refineries in the world. They were recycling another form of metal, and so right now there's a lot of discussions within some of the under circles about cobalt, your cobalt, the cobalt metal. It goes into your battery, these electric car batteries.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so everybody's been talking in the under circles. Oh, we need to transition more into into cobalt, into repurposing that, seeing what we can do, collecting the metals that go into these batteries.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So we'll have to see, but I suspect that Caledic converters have a longer life expectancy because of the deficiencies in the electric vehicle models currently.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Than what people are suspecting right now.
Speaker 1:For sure. If someone was looking to get into this industry like they're hearing you right now and they're like, man, this is, this is a business I could get behind. What are the startup costs look like? And, let's say, within their first three years of business, what type of income could they look to generate?
Speaker 2:It all depends on what you put into it. That's all. There's sacrifices that you have to make, that that I've, that I've made, that I can expound upon, but it all depends on what you put into it. You have to, you have to know what you're doing. It's easier to get into the industry and through the recycling industry, through the overall recycling industry, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's it's it's easier than it's a better way and a quicker way to build your money on, to build your money and afterwards you can transition to more of the higher end metals you have. For an example, right now, the price of platinum is currently about $900 an ounce, and so quality converters are. They're still expensive. They're average of 80, but they're still expensive. So if you don't have a few thousand dollars right now, you're not going to be able to buy a significant amount of quality converters. But you can build your money up by going into one of the other one of these auto repair centers and buying their scrap metal and turning your money over from there. Gotcha yeah.
Speaker 1:I want to just give people an idea. Give us a rough estimate, like your first three years in business, like the third year what kind of income was your business generating?
Speaker 2:When I initially got into the business, I didn't think about how much I was going to going to make. What I wanted to do was when I knew that I was for sure going to be doing this. What I wanted to do was please my clients and so, initially, especially me, being very young, being who I am and being different than people, then my predecessors in the industry. There were many occasions where I would even out with clients just to land their business and eventually start building a relationship so that I can then become profitable.
Speaker 1:So you made a very good point. There is Number one. You went into this with the thought process of like I'm not chasing money, money's gonna chase me yes. And then that relationship capital. Yes, like a lot of people, a lot of entrepreneurs starting a business, they're not willing. We live in a society where we want what we want and we want it right now right.
Speaker 1:That's not the way it works in business. Like it's funny to me because every single business I've started I think I'm up to nine or ten right now Every time I start one it's like, oh yeah, that's gonna be a piece of cake. Like I know the market for this and blah, blah, blah and get this started, I'm gonna be profitable within the first two months. It has never worked out that way ever.
Speaker 1:But now, ten years into the game, you've been in the game 14 years. I've been in my industry 10 years. The relationships that I worked on nine, eight, seven years ago yes, are now coming into full fruition. Oh yeah, like and that's just something people have to get in their head is like you're gonna have to devote a lot of time to this and it needs to Be something. If you're starting a business, you need to be in this for the long haul. Yes, like, because it is, it is much easier to work at nine to five.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is hands down, because when you work at nine to five, when you clock out at five o'clock, the last thing on your mind is work. You're right, when we walk out of our office, it does not stop never, you're always thinking like, okay, what can I change here?
Speaker 1:I had this problem with this employee or man. I got to get back to this client tomorrow. We got to write this boat, whatever it is like. It's constantly go, go, go, go, go. So for your journey as an entrepreneur, doing this now For almost two decades, what have been Some of the greatest things where you look back and say, man, I'm so happy I decided to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:The relationships that we were able to build, mm-hmm, and not just that being Simply being an entrepreneur. It has given me a deeper appreciation. Yeah, into it and it gives you the confidence that, hey, with a certain amount of Just the intrinsic knowledge that you build upon, yeah, just being in business. It gives you the confidence, knowing that, hey, you can go into this industry. Mm-hmm and you can. You can build up into this industry or another industry or different or another industry?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so that is something that you know, provided my background, I never, I never Imagined in a million years I would be able to, to achieve yeah, you mentioned something earlier and I think I read this just recently a Lot of entrepreneurs were ultimately motivated by fear.
Speaker 1:Oh yes because you think of those moments when I know you've been in the same situations where it's like Payrolls do this week and it ain't in the bank, what am I gonna do? And it has amazed me every single time where I've just figured it out, whether it's I went out and got those contracts that I was talking to somebody six months ago about, I got them to sign today. Or a client decides that they're just gonna pay me up front for the whole year and it's like it's always worked out that way. But that fear is a two-edged sword, because that roller coaster right, I think we live off the high. Like it's the fact that we don't know what next month looks like right, we have estimations and we're planning for things, but we have no idea. Like next month could be our west month ever, or next month could put us in a completely new stratosphere and we're in a whole another level dealing with clients that we never dreamed of that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one thing about me is that I'm constantly reminded to go back into the, to the basics. Mm-hmm on how I first started. When I first started, I I provided a service where I was always available over seven days a week when I was working a job. You know you're working five days, yeah, you're working a set amount of hours. When you're entrepreneur, as you said, it doesn't stop, yeah. So I had my business available For companies to sell to me and for me to service them.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm seven days a week, on holidays, christmas yeah, thanksgiving, all of that and that people buy and Cadillac murders for for Christmas.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yes, they sell Cali converters on Christmas.
Speaker 2:Yes, they do. Some of them, some of these major yards, they say, hey, you know you're available, like yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm available.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for the right, for the right amount. I'm always available, yeah, and that's a difficult thing. Like often on this podcast, I'll talk about work-life balance. In my mind, there's no such thing as an entrepreneur Like it's never gonna be balanced, but you find your spots and you make it work and you have those conversations with your wife and you're like you know, I do my bet, like it's. Since we've had children, I've rarely work on the weekend but, one.
Speaker 1:I've put in all the work up front. Yeah, when I did have a family, I wouldn't have to do that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:There's the occasional time when like Job comes up and it's like I can't pass this up. That's right, I gotta go do what I gotta do. That's right. And it's sitting that tone in your household to understand like you know, daddy's got to go do this. Yes, it's not like this all the time, but this is something for our future and what we're building towards.
Speaker 2:Yes, now, if I'm gonna work on the weekends, I deal with the, the regulars people who I've been dealing with for years. Yeah, over the weekend, so it's open to them and it's a perk that they they enjoy. Yeah, because most of these other yards they're completely closed. Yeah they don't have any operating hours on Saturday and especially Sunday.
Speaker 1:Yeah so what, what is? What is one of the greatest lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur? I?
Speaker 2:I've learned a lot of lessons, but one of the greatest lessons that I've learned Because I'm still learning, yeah, constantly one thing that I'm learning now is that it's very easy as an entrepreneur to become totally engulfed in your business, where your personality is attached to it, and you can't even see yourself, yep, without that business.
Speaker 1:I said for years I'm an entrepreneur, reform a black man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but it can become problematic Because you'll begin to compromise, yeah, all sorts of things, and you can lose yourself.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:I've seen it happen with others and it's happened with me Before, and I had to get checked yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's. It's also important Having the right people around you that can check you.
Speaker 2:Yes, like it always amazes me.
Speaker 1:When you know let's use athlete pro athletes as an example, like let's take John Moran yeah, that kid was supposed to be the face of the NBA, like he was the next one that was supposed to take the throne, and this fool want to play gangster, pull out guns on Instagram live and all this crazy stuff, my whole thought like the second. All this news start to break about him. I was like who are the cats that are around him? Because if I'm the dude with no talent and from the hood my boy made it and he put me on payroll, I'm doing everything I can to keep, because that's, that's the bankroll. I'm doing everything I can to keep him out of that. But as an entrepreneur, you have to make sure that you put the right people around you.
Speaker 1:I don't need. Yes, man around me.
Speaker 2:You're right.
Speaker 1:I need people that are gonna check me and say, sam, you, you went a little too far this time, right or a? You probably shouldn't have did that. And here's why right because I. It's a very humbling thing to also be an entrepreneur, because your ego is going to get checked a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because innately I think we all believe we know what's best. But you have to get to the point where you recognize here are my major strengths and here are the things I lack in.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm going to surround people around me that have these things that I lack in, and I'm going to focus on the two or three things that I can be great at.
Speaker 2:That's right. It's something that you actually have to intentionally do, absolutely, because if you don't, like you said, it's very easy for you to get an inflated ego. You think that everything that you're doing is right or the right way, and then there's people around you that can benefit from you monetarily and they're just going to tell you what you want to hear and pump your head up. But once that's happening, you're already on the road to destruction.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. Well, man, this has been like I said, I've never had anybody on the podcast in an industry like this. This is very refreshing. I like to expose the audience to a number of different things that they can do, because entrepreneurship is a big world Like. There are a ton of different avenues and routes that you can take something. Let's end on this, because we're both family men. What's the lesson and the legacy that you hope to leave your children from being an entrepreneur? What are the skill sets that you're taking from what you do now that you hope to instill in your children that maybe your parents weren't able to instill in you?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all and above all things, I want my children to acquire just the appreciation for God and the knowledge of God. That's always been the foundation of my business and everything that I do, and without that I wouldn't be anywhere. Yes, and as a result of that, I want them to be able to know what it means to work hard, to know what it means to have discipline, to know what it means to have perseverance and to also be resourceful, because we're going to come across a lot of hard times as entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter how much money you require or how much business or how many businesses you're able to start. There's going to be difficult times and there's going to be times that test your character. Absolutely and you need to know hey, what is my character, who am I? And if you only look at yourself through the lens of your business and the lens of your success, and then there's something that comes to challenge that success, are you able to persevere? Do you even know who you are? I?
Speaker 1:love that, love that. That's a perfect note to end on right there. Man, if people want to reach out to you, they want to learn more, they want to utilize your services, how can they reach you?
Speaker 2:Yes, you can simply key in pro-cores. We're on every platform and you'll be able to reach out.
Speaker 1:Good stuff.
Speaker 2:P-R-O-C-O-R-E-S.
Speaker 1:Good stuff, bj. We appreciate you being here today. Buddy, hey, thank you so much, Absolutely, and we'll see you guys on the next episode. Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Are one-on-one coaching, taylor Stragies to your unique business goals. Dive into interactive workshops fostering skills essential for success. Looking for an inspirational speaker for your next event? Book Mr Pernuer to elevate your gathering. Visit wwwdmrpernuercom to learn more and embark on your path to entrepreneurial success. Mr Pernuer, empowering your entrepreneurial spirit.