The Power of Partnership

Kandice Whitaker hosts a podcast episode featuring business partners April Bridges and Kim Oden to discuss the benefits of partnerships. They highlight that partnerships boost revenue, create new opportunities, and fuel innovation. April and Kim, who have worked together for almost two years, emphasize the importance of collaboration, mutual respect, and open communication. They share their experience developing an event planning app, "Impact," which will launch in Q1 2025. Challenges included initial miscommunication and the necessity of trademarking and intellectual property protection. The partnership has taught them better communication, humility, and the value of diverse perspectives. They encourage listeners to follow their app and social media for updates.

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Transcript

0:00  
Kandice, welcome to the bail yourself out Happy Hour Podcast, where each week we'll help you navigate the corporate jungle. Here's your host, Kandice Whitaker,

0:12  
welcome to the bail yourself out Happy Hour podcast, friends. Here we focus on personal growth, career growth and entrepreneurship, our family, who are your virtual coworkers, are dedicated to providing you with the tools and insights to turn your dreams into reality and help you get your money up. In each episode, we'll explore strategies rooted in my framework, the bail method of resilience, designed to guide you in conquering challenges and thrive. I'm your host, Kandice Whitaker, and at the age of 21 I was a determined young mother of two who wanted to ensure my best possible life and defy the odds. So I took steps towards achieving the life I desire. I got my master's degree. Then I was a sought after consultant, which led me to starting my own company. I have a passion for helping people live their life to the fullest through resilience, using the bail yourself out approach. So I'm happy you're here. Kick off your shoes and relax your feet, fill up your favorite drink, because the bail yourself out Happy Hour podcast is about to start now. Hey, y'all, Hey, welcome to the bail yourself out Happy Hour podcast. And today, in today's lounge, I have two of my business partners who have kind of turned into my friends. I guess that was an accidental edition along the way. April bridges, friend to the show. You know her from last season, and my new friend Kim oden, welcome them to the show you April is a product manager with over 15 years experience, you know. So basically, for my IT folks, she works in it. And Kim Oden is the CEO and founder of the right UX. She's a product designer, you know, UX UI designer, and she has over 10 years experience. Hey, ladies, welcome. Hey. So the reason I have you guys here today is we've talked about over the past year or so. We have been around for a year or so. Look at God y'all on the bail yourself out pod about how partnerships are advantageous, right? There are definitely pluses, and some people might see some minuses. You definitely move a little bit slower. But the idea for me, right, there's an African proverb that says something, and I'm paraphrasing, like, if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go further, go together, and that's my thought process behind partnerships, in addition to, of course, facts based information, right? So there's a Forbes article that talks about partnerships that I shared with the team before our conversation today. And you know, there's data that shows that partnerships are a good idea for a number of reasons, and I'll list out what the article says. It says partnerships boost revenue for a lot of reasons. You know, you have diversified thought, right? Partnerships create new opportunities. Right? Of course, we know different people, and we have different networks. It fuels innovation. To me, that's the number one reason to partner. Thought diversity, thought partnership. And then, of course, you know, as a result, strong partnerships bring strong results.

3:26  
I'll start out and say, yes, when you have a partner to work with in any business, right? You, especially if you already have a relationship, you already know how to operate in a business or in anything. So Kim and I, we have been working together for a while now. What are you

3:45  
almost two years? If it's been about two years now, yeah,

3:50  
and, I mean, when we started working together, we became instant friends, you know, we were able to collaborate better, right? That that partnership built collaboration. It build, you know, mindsets on knowing how each other work, and so now, wherever we go together, we can deliver a better product, because we know how to bounce off one another, we know how to filter each other's thoughts, and we bring benefits to whatever we work on, and it doesn't matter how the product is, what the product is, and even when we have to understand, you know, like the history of the company, and you know what their benefits are, or what they do well and what they don't do well, and all of that, we can talk through it, because We're learning together.

4:40  
I absolutely agree with everything April said. I also think it's great having a partnership, because it makes you think outside of the box. She may say things that I didn't think about, and vice versa, and then we'll be all both like looking at each other like, yes, yes, yes, you know. And so it just brings the best out of all of us. One

5:00  
of the things that you mentioned April is talking about knowing each other. I think that's really one of the benefits of a partnership, but it takes a minute to get there. You know, just like any other team, you know, you go through that process of, what is it when you come together? And it's the storming, norming, performing right that process, and part of that getting to know each other kind of expedites being able to work together. I didn't say this for the folks who are listening, so they don't know that Kim April and I are working together as partners on an app. And that is partially also what inspired this episode. We are developing an app. So we'll talk about the process of developing an app. For those of you have thought about it, this is my first time doing an app, not their first time doing an app, but we've all brought together different skills, which I think has really meshed well. But one of the things I want to talk about was the vetting process of getting this partnership together. So let me tell y'all what happened. What had happened was, y'all, y'all know, I ain't gonna lie, look and come off mute so they can hear you laughing. No, because it ain't gonna be just me out here. They fall it out and story. Let pull up y'all. Let me tell y'all what happened. Alright, so what had happened was, okay. April and I had met in a class almost two years ago. We were taking a small business owners class together, coaching class, and, you know, we kind of hit it off, you know, as friends, whatever, whatever, there was this person who was part of the classes that April became friends with. And yeah, that was April's friend. I said, what I said that was April's friend. April had presented this idea for an app that I'll tell you about a little bit later. She said to me, Well, why don't you do this app? And I was like, I'm thinking, how the hell she asking me, person who's never did an app to do an app. I'm like, why don't we do an app? Because I knew she had some of the skill set to do it, right? And she goes, Oh yeah, we could bring in this person who's my friend, to do it. I was like, Okay. Girl, okay. I love it, okay. Girl, all right. So what had happened was, long story short, we spent time coming together as a group, and that partnership, it wasn't hidden. It wasn't hidden. I knew from the beginning we was not gelling like the jail should be, and that's okay, right? My grandmother would say you gotta follow your first mind. I mean, I'm making a joke of it, right? Because it's definitely lessons learned. But like, when you are in a partnership agreement, I mean, that's as close as any other relationship. If it ain't hitting, it ain't hitting, and this is important, especially when you talk about making your money, like, if Yeah, it's not hitting, it's not hitting. So, long story short, irreconcilable differences, friends, we just went on separate ways. And so here we were with a hard and fast deadline, because we had agreed at the time to get the app completed for a large event, right? Because it is an event planning app. And we were like, We ain't got no team, and I will never forget this day as long as we live. Because April was like, oh, no, what we going to do? Because my first reaction is, somebody told me, shout out to Reverend Dubai. She told me this, that going immediately into action and not feeling feelings is a PTSD response. I was like, Well, damn well, it is what it is, friend, it's useful, right? Because April was like, Lord, what we gonna do? I didn't even skip a beat. Let me tell you one thing I know for sure, the Lord has never taken anything away from me that I needed. Let's go. That's good. I was like, the Lord is never, not once taking anything away from me that I needed. I once I can say that for truth. Let's get it. Hallelujah, that's a shot right there.

8:53  
I'm not ready to do that with y'all real

8:57  
gotta

9:01  
go not what? Not not a Nan, that's what I'm saying. So even though, in that moment, on that day, didn't know how it was going to work out, we started shaking trees in our network. All right, who can we get to fill the gap in? Walks, Kim. And then, you know, we set up a meeting. And from the beginning it was hitting it was like, alright, we cool. It's cool. Everything was cool. And so, you know, thanks be unto God who causes us to triumph. We about to have an app that's about to launch at the beginning of 2025 by the time y'all hear this, it'll be out probably. But anyway, I use that as an example for the folks listening. So you guys know who we are and how we got together. Was it a trauma bond? Not a trauma bond?

9:44  
Wasn't because, I mean, when we were talking about it, I said, Well, I am working with a UX designer. And I said, She's really cool. She and I became instant friends. You know, I feel she's my girls. I think that she would be great and so can. Was like, um, because she had a PTSD, another person that we

10:03  
had experience from your last girl.

10:11  
So PTSD, she was like, well, we can check her out. And then Kim was fading. Well, let me, let me see how it is. Let me talk, because I know how I am, and I need to make sure that we get along. Long story short, everything worked out. We are now all friends. We all get along. We all have great conversation, work and personal. So what God has done?

10:33  
Yeah, see, and we could not have done that in any other way. And you know, the other thing of it is, and I don't think I've ever told you guys this. I remember when we first started meeting, one of the things that you guys would say all the time, and don't get me wrong, like I tell people this all the time, I'm Christian. I identify as Christian. I love Jesus, and I drink and I cuss a little. Judge your mama. But that's not the point. My point is, during the meetings, right? One of the things that you guys would always say was like, Well, I gotta pray about that, kanina and I pray. Don't get me wrong, I do pray, and I pray often, but I don't think I really started praying about my business stuff until y'all started saying that. Because I was like, it never occurred to me that this is something that I should really pray about. I mean, I I've always kind of kept it separate. I And I realized, because I spent a lot of time thinking about this, right? I was like, I prayed for jobs, I prayed for contracts, I prayed for opportunities. But then when I got it, I'd be like, All right, Lord, I got it from here. If I'm really honest, I didn't say that, but that was my attitude, like, I don't bothered you enough. I got the job. I know what to do. Thank you, Jesus. And it wasn't until, you know, being exposed to you guys who did that as a regular part of your life, your business life. I hadn't included you in my business life. Lord, I didn't realize that that was really something that I should do. And I am one of those Christianity as part of your life and your everyday walk, but that was just a part that was secular friends. So no, for real, for real, and that definitely has made me better. And I don't think I've ever told you guys that, because I ain't think about it to just

12:16  
now, but wow, yeah, and, and it's funny, because Kim and I just happened to be on the same page, like I was like, Oh, I gotta pray about that. And then she would say it too. And so it wasn't anything that we even thought of, but I've realized that when I went forward with relationship, business, work and all that without him, like he'll give me something, I just left him then, oh, my goodness, when things happen, I didn't know what to do, that my control was completely out of whack. So it was just a matter of, then I have to go back to him. So if I keep him around the entire time, I'm going through even when things went bad, I know things are going to turn around. So you know, if he told me to go into it and I continue praying, then I know it's going to work out for my good, like

12:58  
these two heifers talking about, they praying. And I'm like, over here, just quiet demon,

13:06  
when April brought up this opportunity to work with you guys, and the first thing I told her, I said, Hey, I gotta see where the Lord leads me first, because I'm not really sure. Like, I was like, I've never met Kandice. And then I remember, like, saying, Alright, Lord, what we doing? And I remember, and one of my prayers was, has always been, since I began my company was to surround me with other black professionals and people that I can grow with. And so when I say, okay, so what are we doing? And he was like, he brought that back to mind. And I was like, so, like, so what, you know, what am I supposed to do? He was like, just talk to her. He's like, I mean, you gonna be cool, but you need to talk to her so that you feel secure in it. He said, but it'll be fine. He's like, Y'all get ready to blow up. And I was like, well, let's go there. Lord, let's go So, and that's what it is we praying folks over here. I mean, like, we have him all up in the mix and everything. I will ask, and I'll be like, and I'll tell Abraham and let me see where the Lord leading. I don't know if the Lord's leading me that way yet.

14:05  
Why don't feel like, leave me, guide me along the way. Hey, come on now. Let me ask y'all something though, like we were all new people, meaning that we didn't know each other for the most part. I mean, it's crazy to me when I really think about the fact that everybody on this pod a relatively new person in my life. But I'm a very, as folks would say, intuitive person. I'm a very feeling person sometimes. And this might sound crazy, but it's true, I can look at a person's eyes and see, like, yeah, that's a good person or not. I don't ask me how I know. I know. Am I Shawna and I don't be wrong? I'm I'm telling you. People be thinking, I'm mean, I'll be like, I don't like that one. They be like, You mean, I'll be like, my spirit the record show. Let the record show. Ain't never wrong. You. Mentioned that about the other person. And as you said, you tell me that someone isn't good. Release spirit, don't take to you. No, no. You know the Jamaicans would be like that. But anyway, so we digress. We're all relatively new people to each other, and we have this level of trust. We have this level of mutual respect. How do you build trust when you're partnering and, you know, navigating all the ups and downs of things that we've had to do in developing an app and working together and getting along and getting over communication barriers. I think, you know, personally, for years, I used to think I was a good communicator, and the more people I work with, the older I get, the more situations I'm in. I realized that, okay, you know, maybe you could be a little bit more clear. Maybe you can consider how other people are hearing the message, right? How did we build trust? How did you guys build trust? Was that something you thought about? Was it something you just felt for me? It was something I just felt. I think

15:59  
I felt it. I also feel like, for me, I show up. And so with me showing up, it comes out to my partners that, oh, I need to show up too. And so I feel like that energy, the energy of me showing up, comes out to, you know, my partners. I also ask a lot of questions. So, like you just said, the communication has to be there, and you have to seek to understand. If I don't understand what you are talking about, what your thought process is, what the ultimate goal is, we're going to all just be going all over the place. But since you know, I feel like with working with you ladies, like we're always pushing each other and challenging each other, and even when we don't agree, you know, we can we somehow make it work, because we're communicating the ideas in our heads, and then it just kind of meshes after we be like, Oh, well, maybe we can do it this way instead. And so I feel like that's where the trust came in, because we were all communicating and open to what each other was saying. And not like, you know, this is stupid. She's a, you know, whatever, but the openness, the communication and just showing up is how I feel, like we have created the trust within this partnership. One of the things

17:16  
you said, there is key, right? There was respectful communication, even when you don't understand, even when you don't agree, that doesn't mean pop off and get toxic,

17:26  
right? Absolutely. And we, we've never done that. We won't, I don't do that right? I don't know. Just do all of that

17:34  
like, I ain't doing all that right, right? And in

17:39  
addition to that, no one access if they know it all. We all have our lanes as far as our experience, and

17:49  
no one in this group acts like they know it all.

17:56  
Yes. In this partnership, no one acts as if they know it all right? So we give information based on our perspective, our knowledge, but then, because we don't know it all, we welcome everyone else's and then we all work together to come to something that we can all agree upon, right? So that is huge, with a partnership that no one saying, I can do all of you all's job and you all just follow me, because that's not a partnership. That's the one man thing. You might as well go ahead and do the work on your own, since you can do everyone's job, right? The other thing is not getting offended easily. So Kandice, you know, I have said this to you a couple of times about, you know, just overall, like communication, right? Because you know, if you're offended easily, then that could break, you know, any type of partnership. But then, you know, you have different people with different strong personalities in different areas. So Kandice, you have a strong personality. I know that at times I have one. Kim, he doesn't have a strong personality. But, however, when she said, when she make a decision, the decision is the decision, right? And so

19:10  
why are you looking like that? Kandice, what are you saying? Like, what are you saying? Go ahead, April, we'll, we'll come back to

19:17  
her. But, but she's, I mean, like, She's over here. Miss meek and Miles stop

19:22  
not she's not meek and mile but so she don't walk over. But it's not like this is what it is type deal, right? But however, no one gets offended, right? We talk things through and we keep it moving. So those are very important things with any partnership, because there have been partnerships that I've been in that have been broken just because someone felt that they knew it all, and then there are some people who think they know it all and get offended when you told them that they don't know it all. So that's a double No, right? So I think that is very important, yo,

19:59  
so to. This is a great place to take a break. When we get back, we're gonna talk about what we learned in the partnership so far, and like maybe some tips for people who are getting their little partnership together. We'll be back in our virtual happy hour. The party never stops. Join your bail yourself out, virtual coworkers on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok. Now back to the show. Hey, y'all Hey, welcome back to the bail yourself out Happy Hour Podcast. I'm chilling in the lounge today with my friends and business partners for the app that we're calling impact right now, but it might be called something else, but we are making an event planning app that'll be out quarter 120, 25 and it is designed for people who are not event planners, like not a professional event planner, to organize their events, their budgets, their schedules, get your whole life together. So be on the lookout for that. Well, I'll tell you more about it when it drops. But anyway, these are the people who have made our dreams come true in relation to that app, and we're talking about partnerships today, because without our partnership, and I think overall friendship, none of this would be possible. So I want to talk to y'all about two things. Number one, what did you learn from our partnership? And then I'll talk about two later. Did you learn anything? I learned two things, I think, I think I learned how to pray before my business decisions, I talked about that a little bit earlier. But another thing that I learned in our partnership is how to communicate better, because I'm going to be really honest with y'all. I'm gonna have a transparent moment in the past in other situations, not necessarily partnerships or whatever. I have a tendency, as I think a lot of people do, to like label people I'm working with, maybe not intentionally, but you do, you compartmentalize that person. Sally, in accounting, she's dumb. She'll know what she's talking about. Well, I'm the only person that does that. Stop playing. No, I'm not y'all lying. Um, so if Sally was in a meeting talking, I would be like, okay, Sally's dumb. So I'm filtering everything through the Sally's dumb filter, right? But with y'all in this partnership, I'm at the table with Titans and iron sharpens iron. So I didn't have with you guys that filtered preconceived notion. So it did two things. It made me realize that I do that, which is not right, so I'm trying to get better at that in other parts of my life. But then it also made me more open to what you're saying in a way that I had not been before. So if you're saying something that maybe I superficially didn't agree with or initially didn't agree with, I'm going to ask more questions. Why did you say that? Here's how I thought about it. So I feel like overall, it's just made me a better communicator and a better partner. As a result.

22:47  
The one thing that I've learned, and Kandice, you brought this out in conversation before, about me, is that I tend to think and talk at the same time and don't really realize it. And I would say some things and then I'll go back around. So it's the communication. But I didn't realize it until it was pointed out that whatever I'm saying is important, but it's always on the back end. So April says

23:12  
the most important thing at the end, yes, yes, she does,

23:18  
because I'm thinking and talking at the same time, so I'm getting better with that, but I've never realized that before, until it was pointed out and with that, because as a product manager, you're thinking through a process anyway, and you're you know, that's what we do when we're building something, but it's different when you're creating a business, and You know, the concepts and the materials and all that, when it comes to that, it's different from building a product, because building a product you're going through like how it's going to work. So you are to think and and speak at the same time, but you're not speaking to a lot a larger audience. You're either speaking to yourself or to the UX designer, who, in our case, is Kim, so you know, it's okay, it's acceptable. So what I have learned is to split that up. I'm still learning, and you all are working with me as it relates to that. But yeah, that's one of the things that has been identified for me through our partnership.

24:17  
I would say I have learned to listen a little bit more, because usually, especially

24:23  
during long meetings, like, come on for real and and,

24:27  
you know, like when I was in corporate America, like when I would be sitting in meetings, I would only, like, pretty much listen to the stuff that has to do with me, correct and what I needed to do, and Listen for your name, yes, yes. And even when I did, I'd be like, Oh, Kim, what did you say? You need me to do? And so, but with us, like everything pertains, like we all have to listen and, you know, and I and still today, you know, I'll send you a text, you know, you know, yeah, I'll text and be like. Did we talk about this? And, you know, Kandice will be like, yeah, that hasn't come up yet. Okay, I'm just making sure, because baby, I goes off to left field in a hot second, you know, like, we'll be talking about requirements. So I'm like, Okay, I need to be thinking about this. And then Kandice come in and be like, Hey, have we been looking at grants? And I was like, Wait, grants? I was just sitting over here thinking about requirements for logging in, so let me bring it back in. So it's just been a big opportunity for me to listen the entire time. Hey, you're

25:30  
not the only one. Kim. That has been a big thing for me too, because I think we all do it in corporate, because corporate likes to have a lot of meetings that should have been emails. I mean, that's a whole thing, right? But when you're running the show, you look at it differently. Because for me, it's like, all right, I need to listen to what April is saying, because I need to understand that in the requirements to make sure that they make sense from the end user's experience. Because even though I'm not a UX person per se, I'm always on the testing training side, and I break stuff. So you know, from an end user's perspective, well, why would you have this and not that, you know what I mean? So more critical thinking than I ever did in corporate. You know why? Because when you have those critical thinking thoughts, then you get more work with no more money, because most corporate places are toxic. But that's different when you work for

26:28  
yourself. But guess what? If you are working, if you work for yourself, and it's toxic, it's because what, you don't like yourself. Oh yeah, you see how well that was. Because you don't like yourself.

26:40  
You don't like yourself. You know, being an entrepreneur, doing this by yourself, it is not for the faint of heart, right? We're not saying it's easy. We're just saying you get to pick your heart. Yeah, so with all of those things in mind, like, what tips would you give to someone who's looking for a partner, or to partner with someone for something that they're working on. For me, my number one thing, I think, would be compatibility. Ding, ding, ding, that's the biggest. Compatibility is huge. You need to be able to just jive with this person, because you're going to spend a lot of time with them, and it's not going to be that relationship like with the coworker you tolerate, not that person like you genuinely need to, like, love, respect. Mm, hmm,

27:28  
absolutely communication. If you cannot communicate, if you cannot communicate, meaning, dis,

27:35  
right. But that communication means, let's break that down a little bit, being able to disagree and not be toxic, absolutely being able to explain yourself in more than one way and not get frustrated. Be open minded. Be open to other interpretations, other thought processes. I could tell you one thing, being a consultant, a lot of things are regional AF, and you don't really realize that. I'm gonna give you a perfect example. This is true. So I said to a person that I'd known for quite a while, what we in New York say all the time, you good. You good. Now that be, I mean, in New York, that could mean a lot of things, but you good, like that. Shout out to my New Yorkers. We know, like everything. Okay? My boy from Georgia was legit offended, and I was confusion. Why did I don't know. He gave me an explanation that I disregarded. Because I was like, at the end of the day, my intention was good friend. So whatever you think right now, that's not my problem. That's yours, my power. No, I mean, that's just the truth. Like, my intention wasn't to offend you. So I was like, I'm sorry. It seems like you took that the wrong way, but like when you wouldn't get up off it, in my mind, if there's a miscommunication, right? To illustrate the point, if I say to you, Kim, oh, I didn't mean it that way, here's what I meant. And you were determined to stand on the misunderstanding. That's your major malfunction, not mine.

28:57  
And truth be told, we've had a conversation like that, where I think you like, suggested something, and I was like, Well, wait a minute. You know, that's what I do. And then there was a phone call, like, we got on the phone, and you was like, that, Oh, I forgot about that. That was not my intention. Like, I'm not trying to be all on your business and all that. And I was like, that's fine. We've had a conversation. Everybody's on the same page. We're moving right on along. Let's go,

29:23  
because you're a normal person. So that speaks to my point.

29:27  
But the communication was there, like, you know, you know, you said something not meaning to, you know, offend or anything like that. I spoke up. It was like, hold on, let's take a step back. And then there was a conversation. We talk about it, we move on. Never came up again. Forgot about that.

29:44  
That's true in business,

29:46  
partnerships, friendships, any lasting relationship, that's how you're supposed to communicate, absolutely.

29:52  
And if you can't, don't work with other people, period.

29:56  
Well, let's also speak to the fact that you have to be a little humbled. There too and be able to see yourself. A lot of people don't see themselves. That

30:04  
is true. Yeah, a lot of people see themselves as perfect. The way that they work, the way that they handle things are good. And so because they don't see their imperfections, they aren't humbled at all. And therefore, whatever anyone else says is a problem.

30:21  
The things that I think is important in any kind of partnership, whether it be, you know, a business partnership, or even, like an interpersonal relationship, I like two things, people who are go getters, which you guys definitely are, but also people who are working on themselves to prevent what you were just saying, April or not, to prevent, to mitigate it at some we all are human, and we all have our stuff with us, right? But it's like, okay, you don't go to therapy, you don't read a Bible, a Quran. Have a rabbi, crystals thing, you gotta work on yourself. Friend,

31:00  
right? Yeah, go for a walk. I

31:04  
was deeply offended when you talked about my logo drawing, but see,

31:09  
I didn't have anything positive to say.

31:13  
Y'all, y'all. So we was working on a for this company. Ah, we had a thought, right? April said, I would like something that looks like a butterfly, because I like what a butterfly represents. She like what a tree represents. Okay, well, why don't we merge that together in kind of an abstract kind of way? Y'all see what we come up with when, when it's out. So we came, we had a designer artist draw something. It gave us. It was not me, was not Kim. We had an artist draw something. I was like, Do y'all like this? Whatever? So April, gonna send us a post it? Note that look like a long piece. Talk about I thought it would look like

31:54  
this. I swear I looked at

31:57  
it. Group text so nobody responded for like a day. We can't ignore April's picture, right? So I said, I don't want to tell her. Okay, we ain't using this. I just said, April, this looks like a penis

32:12  
or her,

32:14  
you know, baby, let me tell you. I said, I have first I looked at I said, oh, and I put the phone down. Say, I have nothing to say. I'm just going to let them have at it. Kandice will come up with some. I

32:26  
was like, April, I'm not sure where you were going with this penis logo, but this doesn't look like a true you are a butterfly. Looks like penis like I told you.

32:35  
Not an artist. I am not an artist. And I was like, mind

32:39  
you, she act like Erica Badu, keep in mind that I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my ish, oh.

32:46  
I was like, Yeah, you are not an artist background. I have nothing. I have nothing. So what do y'all think? I don't think anything because I don't have a solution. I

32:55  
can't help you. You're loud. Jesus did all he could for you. And that penis logo.

33:03  
I said that. The thing is that one was better than the second one that I was like, Oh no, this other one was better. Had

33:10  
a choice, and that's the one you picked.

33:12  
My mama, you did not talk to the Lord about that. No, ma'am,

33:16  
I did. And I said, draw. They would

33:19  
have told you that book is like,

33:24  
let's try this again.

33:25  
This is not your gift.

33:29  
Let's use words. It requires it. Let's do that. We're not

33:32  
she didn't come from the tribe of Judah. They were the ones that was the artist. Anyway, y'all, are fools. We're gonna take a break right here. We'll be back. Y'all

33:43  
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33:49  
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33:51  
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33:58  
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34:03  
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34:22  
All right, hey, y'all, Hey, welcome back to the bail yourself out Happy Hour podcast I'm on with my friends and partners, April bridges and Kim oden, and we're talking about partnership, and how you learn from your partnership, and what we've learned in our process of building our app that's going to be dropping first quarter 2025, for right now. It's called impact, but the name might change, y'all, but I'll let y'all know. So with all the things that kind of come with a partnership, just a question off the cuff, y'all, overall, do you think it's worth it? No pressure, absolutely yes. Think it's worth it, because, you know, frankly, I feel like we need each other in this scenario, because. Because, as April said earlier, you know, we all have a very specific skill set that compliments each other and compliments our overall goal. So in this scenario, we need this partnership. But of course, there are scenarios where you don't necessarily need a partnership, but from the success of this partnership, I definitely would like to continue partnering, not only with this group, but on other things, because it is nice to not have to do everything, not to come up with all the thoughts, not to come up with all the direction and the strategy and the marketing. Like, there's just a whole lot that goes into having any kind of business. So I love that for us, I absolutely

35:39  
agree, yeah. And I was going to say, like, I've worked with Wex professionals before, by far, Kim and I have the best relationship in in this field, but I haven't worked as much with someone who does a lot of front end stuff, and like Kandice, you know a lot about marketing and a lot of stuff about everything on that front end, and working with someone with that knowledge, like I'm so used to the back end of stuff, of developing that you know, working with you, and learning all that you know, as far as you know, how to do social media marketing and what to do next, and all the other things About the logos and trademarks and all of these things that I had no knowledge about, right? It's really is beneficial, and it's a learning process, but I wouldn't have known if we didn't have this partnership, if Kim and I ever said we were going to do an app together, we would have been dead in the water when it came to moving forward, we would have been like, now, what do we do next? And with another company that she and I worked with together in partnership, where we first met like, we didn't have any true connection to the marketing side. And so there that disconnection for me. I think it, it kind of it hurt the company a bit, because, you know, the communication wasn't the best when it came to what we were doing on the development side. So you could tell that disconnect was there. And like I said, in my opinion, it kind of stalled the releasing and the app just growing, because the communication just wasn't there. The relationship wasn't there. So that's one of the benefits that I find what the three of us is that Kim and I, we still in our you know, mindset of, okay, this what needs to be done, and this is, you know, the next thing is going to do. And what do you think about that and all that? We go in our mode, but then we have, you Kandice, to say, okay, so we need this for marketing, and we need to do this on the business side. And it really does help. So I really think that the three of us together just make a cohesive business altogether. I think

37:54  
that's one of the things that in business is so key, and especially for people who are black and brown. You know, I volunteer with the 1 million black business initiatives and help people to learn how to start their business. And of course, we all know you can start selling dentist from your house, right? That's one way to start a business. But if you don't register your business properly, then you don't get credit for that. So then let's say you sell, you know, $10,000 a month in dinners from your house. Well, you can't get a mortgage from that, right, if you're not taking care of your financials, or if you decide that, you know it's going to be Auntie's Bar B Q, did you see that lady on social media who's getting sued by Mattel because the name of her barbecue sauce in Georgia. I think she has a GoFundMe says barbecue. Now, it's not spelled like the toy Barbie, but it is pronounced like it and Mattel is coming for sister. So if you don't have your and Mattel got loan money, right? So if you don't have your stuff, your logos, trademarks, that is your intellectual property, the stuff that belongs to your company, you got nothing. So when you go to sell it, what are you selling, right? Mm, yeah, no, I don't play about trademarks and copyrights and get you an attorney. I'm not an attorney, but you know, I'm just putting that out there for folks who are listening. No

39:16  
one knows. I have learned so much from these type of conversations, from you. I'm like, okay, that's another thing I need to add to my list, my to do list and check it off. And yeah, the partnership has absolutely been a godsend. But, you know, I was very specific in what I asked, in my prayers, and guess what, he is absolutely delivering in above my expectations.

39:40  
Who has begun a good thing. Come on, ma'am, come on. And what

39:44  
he say you have not cut you last night. Okay, then here we go, faithful

39:47  
to perform. So I'm sorry. Okay, alright, so we all have a diversity of perspective and a diversity of thoughts, and we've proven that that can be absolutely a good thing, but we've also. So dealt with some challenges as a relation to that. Because, you know, I remember the conversations when I came like, Y'all, we need to trademark this stuff. And y'all like, Why did I gotta explain that to y'all, way too many times. Y'all like, I keep saying this now it's funny, but in the moment, you know, I come with my thoughts that were important, because that's, you know, my perspective. But y'all have, y'all stuff that's important. April over here, like, I'm over here writing these requirements, and you talking about some dang on trademark that don't even mean nothing. I was like, but somebody could be using our stuff we if we don't trademark, and somebody else could, how do you know they're not going to develop something? I mean, what? Right?

40:38  
That's exactly how we was on on this cop looking at her, like, what I gotta think about? What now then? What do you need from me?

40:48  
Like, we already have an LLC, what? What do you mean a trademark? Like, just confusion? Yes,

40:53  
yes. So we got schooled real good, real quick. I don't play about my marks, but that was some interesting, tough conversations, initially, because it was a sell. It wasn't like, Okay, I'm coming here, and this what we got to do, because it's not like, it's free, right? There's that. And for the folks who were listening, I did another whole podcast season. I don't remember, but with summer Burnley, she's an attorney and she's a trademark attorney. She's my trademark attorney, but I've learned a lot in working with her and my different business ventures. And it's not cheap, but it is worth it to trademark and copyright as appropriate, so that your stuff is, in fact, your stuff. I mean, my girl, Jasmine. What does she call a lady, a bleach blonde, a bleach bomb, bad, built Butch body. She trademarked that the next day.

41:41  
Wow. I know that

41:46  
the next day, y'all, so y'all can't just be printing that on shirt. She can come for you. Wow, wow. I mean, it was legendary content. I gotta give it to

41:54  
her, yes, and she's an attorney, so she was like, Oh, I know this. Everyone already using it. Let me do this real quick. And

42:00  
you know, Marjorie Taylor green went home and cried, you know, she went home and cried that day. Oh, yeah.

42:10  
Is now,

42:11  
it was also a Tiktok video where somebody went up to her in the airport and called her a bleach blunt. But I was like, Stop, y'all done. Got y'all, y'all ain't trying to make it in, right?

42:26  
You cannot, you cannot have anything go out viral, and our people not, you know, just, just jump on it, that that's just, that's just how we are.

42:36  
That's how

42:37  
we are so creative with why we need to protect our stuff, intellectual property. So I'm saying it absolutely yes,

42:45  
yes, absolutely right. She got recorded in the airport. Oh, the bleach. Yes.

42:51  
I mean, look so so now you heard it, and now you know it, so you are now going to be held responsible for what you know. That's how it works. Friends, yes, so much. So I love our partnership. I love what we bring to the table. This definitely was a wonderful conversation. I want to ask y'all, people want to follow you on social media, but wait, wait before I ask y'all, y'all, social media, follow our app, y'all, it's called my impact events. We're on the gram, we're on Facebook, we're also on LinkedIn, so you can get the latest news. If you are a person who plans events, if you are the go to person in your circle and you want to be able to communicate and do the budget and all the things related to your event more efficiently, hit us up. Y'all, we going to be available in the app stores, and probably by the time you guys hear this quarter 120, 25 so business partners, friends. How can people reach you? On social media, April, if they want to follow you, LinkedIn

43:47  
and Facebook, just April bridges. That's it. It's my first time

43:51  
pass Kim. So on Facebook, I am the right UX, and on Instagram, I am Kim, underscore the right UX, that's W, R, I, G, H, T, for those who don't know, like the last name, right? Like the last name, right? Yes, because that was my maiden name. And then on LinkedIn, I use my government name, which is Kimberly, Odin, O, D,

44:14  
E N, y'all alright? So as always, I love you for listening. We out peace. Wasn't that a great interview? Hold up before you grab your hat and head out, make sure you make your way to facebook and join the bail yourself out pod Facebook group. That's where you'll find your virtual coworkers luxuriating and chatting. Thank you so much for listening, and if you enjoy the show, please leave a review. That's how we keep the lights on. If you're on social media, follow your girl, Kandice, with a K Whitaker. And you know what? I'd love to hear from you with that I love you, and I mean it because there are people who hate in the world for no reason. I choose to love for no reason. I believe that the great Martin Luther King Jr said hate is too great a burden to bear. So. I choose to love peace y'all I.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai