Travel, Marriage, and Content Creation: A Life Shared with Lamar & Vicktoria

The Power of True Friendship: A Deep Dive into Life, Marriage, Travel, and Content Creation with Lamar and Vicktoria Thompson

Welcome to the Journey podcast! In this special episode, host Josh sits down with his best friends and business partners, Lamar and Vicktoria Thompson. Join us as we explore their incredible journey through life, marriage, travel adventures, and content creation. Discover how they balance career goals, personal aspirations, and the importance of maintaining strong relationships. Gain insights into the ever-evolving world of content creation and learn why they are excited about the Creator's Conference. Don't miss this heartfelt conversation filled with valuable life lessons and inspiring stories!

00:00 Introduction and Early Life
00:22 Welcome to the Journey Podcast
01:01 Meet Lamar and Vicktoria Thompson
01:32 The Creators Conference
02:18 Victoria's Story: From Brooklyn to Drone Pilot
05:58 Lamar's Journey: From Bully to Football Coach
09:52 Marriage and Future Plans
14:52 Challenges and Joys of Marriage
20:05 Advice for Young Couples
23:31 Is Marriage Dead?
29:50 Travel and Lifestyle
30:27 The Joy of Traveling Together
30:35 Embracing a Travel Lifestyle
31:15 Planning and Experiencing Trips
32:43 The Value of Luxurious Experiences
34:42 Content Creation and Sharing
40:05 Entrepreneurship and Balancing Jobs
45:47 The Importance of Education and Networking
49:55 The Creators Conference and Future Plans

Transcript

0:00

I was very, very young. I had a lot of aggression. It was, it was a turn on. People in our culture have given up on the idea of marriage. I would say marriage. I, I see marriage dying, to be honest. I do. Your kids may become content creators. Oh yeah. That's gonna be okay. Yeah. Like why did I want to do this? Yeah. And my parents are right. Welcome to the Journey podcast. Today is a very, very special day because I have some of the most important people in my life who I'll be interviewing today. Not only my best friends, the godparents to one of my children, look people that I genuinely do life with, probably the, the, the couple that I've traveled the most with in my lifetime. And. Without further ado, I'm so excited for you guys to hear their journey through life, through marriage, through just travel, adventures, content creation, I mean, and so much more. They're not only my business partners, they're not only my friends, but just people that I consider brother and sister. And without further ado, let me introduce you guys to the one and only or the two and only Lamar and Victoria Thompson. Man, what's going on? What's going on? Where do we start? Where do we start? They, they actually flew in all the way from New York City. The last second. Yeah, last second. And as you guys always do, you guys always show love and it's just been, uh, man, so amazing doing a lot of life together. We've traveled to some incredible places together, and today we're coming on the show for a particular reason. So, uh, the cool thing about. My friends is the fact that, uh, you guys are, uh, also like investors in this creator's conference. Yeah. You guys helped us put it together. Last year we did our very first creator's conference, and we're gonna be doing the second annual one this year in Tampa. So excited. Yeah. And man, uh, there's, there's so much that I can unpack here in terms of, um, your journeys and everything like that, but if you guys don't mind, let's get. Kick started with, uh, you guys just sharing a little bit about your personal stories and then basically how you met, how you got together. I was actually, I remember when I first met, we were talking about it last night. I remember when I first met Vicki and it was in Lamar's parents' basement and years and years ago during a blizzard. And who would've thought years later we'd be here? Right? Yeah. So let's get kickstarted. We could go ladies first. Vicki, if you don't mind, um, if you can just share a little bit about, uh, your personal story and, uh, yeah, we'll take it from there. Awesome. Awesome. So again, as Victoria Thompson, as Josh mentioned, and, um, I got into the world of traveling from meeting my husband. I've already been on one vacation before we met, and when we went, we had so many memories and I love the fact that we were able to capture them. And when I look back on those memories, like it just makes me so happy. It makes me smile because. It's something that we can build upon. And what I love is that our future, our kids, when they look back at what we've done, then they're like, Hey, we can do it too. And it's only the beginning for like, we've gone to so many, uh, so many different places and I kind of wanna pivot from traveling a lot to showing people what we do while we travel. Mm-hmm. And I feel like it has been like an honest struggle because we have a backlog of content that we have to put out, we love to put out. And that's why I'm super excited for the Creators Conference because we're gonna learn, learn so much like we did last year. We were able to put forth, you know, a lot of our memories to share with the world and with. Our family, so For sure. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. I'm really big on just sharing what we do and how we do it. Nice, nice. I love it. Yeah. Now, if you don't mind, take us back to like where you grew up, like Oh yeah. You know where exactly you grew up. What was your upbringing like before even just embarking into. Just what you do today, right? So I was born and raised in Brooklyn, and then I moved out to Far Rockaway, Queens when I was about maybe 11, 12 years old. I've been there ever since. Um, and yeah, I, uh, went to school in Rockaway and I went up to college upstate to Cuca, which is like a college so close to Canada. I was like eight hours from New York and um, I had a good time there and I'd say that, um, it brought me, it kind of opened my lens, like my eyes to kind of what I really wanna see in life and I really enjoy. Landscapes. I love the world. I love looking at things outside of what my eyes can see, which actually, actually brought me to the, to drone videography, which is what I do now. I recently got certified by the FAA to be a drone pilot. Nice. Which is super amazing. So I'm kind of tr I want to use that with our concept creation, with our travels and capture more of what we do from an aerial perspective. So I love it. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. That's kinda been my pivot. So much in between, of course. Mm-hmm. But just long story short. I like to be in the sky and fly capture for sure. Now what I, what did you want to be when you were like growing up, but let's just say high school. I know you were a gamer. You a hardcore gamer, A big Halo fan. I was a, oh my gosh, halo, gears of War, call of Duty. I was like, I was that girl that was stuck in her house. Like I wasn't outside on the scene doing anything extra. And I'm actually proud of that because it kind of kept me in, kind of saved me, right? Mm-hmm. Um, and yeah, I was into that world of gaming and um, I wanted to get outside more and I feel like God. Um, put me together with my husband'cause we, we are just always out doing what we love to do. Um, but yeah, I really wanted to be a dentist to be honest. I wanted to be, um, a, a Aden, not a dentist, a hygienist. Mm-hmm. A dental hygienist because I just, something about the gentrification, I just love that. Um, so yeah, I wanted to do that, but it wasn't my thing. I actually went to school to be a dental. Assistant, I was a dental assistant for about four years and then I realized I don't wanna take these x-rays anymore. Yeah. Like it was just too many x-rays and I think I kind of slacked myself out of it and was like, Hey, there has to be more. And you know, I really want to do something that will gimme more time or freedom to myself and. That's amazing. Wanna I wanna serve? Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Uh, did you expect to kind of just travel as much as you do today? Um, to be honest, it was a goal. It was a dream of mine, but it wasn't, I wa it wasn't something that I saw happening very soon. Mm-hmm. I was really wanting, wanted to build myself up as a woman and just be prepared for my husband. But yeah, I knew at one point I'm like, Hey, I wanna see more of the world. After I took a trip, a cruise to Bahamas with my best friends at the time, I just knew like, Hey, I need to get outta New York. Like to be confined by buildings all the time. Absolutely. It's like, and, and luckily for me, I lived by the beach, so I was spoiled in that sense. But come on, like other beaches compared to New York beaches, it's just not the same. So definitely, yeah, I kind of saw that in my future for sure. Absolutely. And let's take it to Lamar. So Lamar you, I mean, you guys come from two different worlds in a sense. Yeah. And I know you, you're a football guy. For those of you who don't know, Lamar and I actually played football in college together. So, uh, we both have a big background in just the world of football. And you've even coached football at the semi-pro level. You've won a bunch of championships as a coach even and as a player. Yep. And uh, just. Give us a little bit of the backstory. I know your story, but I know for a lot of our audience this is uh, their very first time being exposed to you. Many of our audience, they probably have seen you guys on our social media posts because we do so much life together. Yep, yep. But they don't really know the backstory of pretty much what it is that you do or the world you come from. So I'm excited for a lot of our audience to be able to just hear a little bit more about how you got to where you are today. Yeah. So it's hard to pinpoint where to start.'cause I feel like in my life. I had a lot of resets. Mm-hmm. Um, good, bad. Um, but, so I guess I'll take it back to just how I grew up. So I grew up in a really traditional Jamaican household, and if you guys know anything about Jamaicans mm-hmm. Um, you can imagine how tough that was. Mm-hmm. Very strict, especially growing up. They're so protective over their children. Yeah. And. Um, and growing up it was really frustrating, right? Mm-hmm. And, but as I get older now, I understood the things that they taught me and, and that like not letting me go to that party. When you are growing up and you, and you want to do all these different types of things and, and you don't understand why your parents would try to. Stop you from doing certain things. Mm-hmm. I was really frustrated growing up, and, and most people don't know this, when I was very young, I was a big bully. Mm. And people see me now and they say, oh, Lamar, you, you're so soft and you, you, like, you have a certain personality that people love. But growing up I was a bully man. Mm-hmm. And, and I think a lot of that anger came from just like not being able to do what I want. Like I couldn't, when I was young, I wanted to play football. I wanted to. Karate, my parents wouldn't let me do it. Mm-hmm. Um, and that, and eventually I played football and I think that's why I excelled at it.'cause I, I had always a lot of aggression. Mm-hmm. And not saying I was a bad kid forever. Right. Yeah. But I, I, I, I, growing up, it just, when I was very, very young, I had a lot of aggression For sure. Um, and I was able to get that out in middle school when I really started playing football. From there, that's where I really reset. Right. I got taught hard really because at first I thought I was gonna come out there and be a superstar. Mm-hmm. And life taught me real quickly that listen, you may be the man at home, but when you got on on this football field, you're nothing. That's right. And I didn't start for the first two years and I was like, why did I want to do this? Yeah. And my parents were right. I always had to dream about going to the NFL and everything like that. Of course. Again, if you know anything about Jamaicans, they're like, what do you mean they want me to be a doctor, lawyer, or something like that. Mm-hmm. And I was like, no, I'm gonna be a football player. Mm. I got humbled real quick. I played throughout, all, throughout, um, my life and through semipro. But um, that was my first big realization of life is kind like, listen. You may think you have a plan for your life, but this is, this is, this is, you get humbled real quick. Yeah. And I was forced to change perspectives. I was like, okay, maybe I'm not gonna be in the NFL, but I'm gonna be the best damn football player I can possibly be. For sure. And that was a pivotal moment in my life because I took it seriously to the point where I listened to my coaches. And I, and I got life coaching from football and it toned down my aggression. Yeah. A lot. For sure, for sure. And I turned it to somebody. It was funny for being super, I mean, when I say a bully, I mean, I was beating kids up in the yard. Mm-hmm. Like people would see me coming and run away. And it was honestly, honestly, mostly'cause of my younger brother. Yeah.'cause I, I was very protective over my younger brother and he, he used to get bullied a lot, right? Mm-hmm. Because people used to think, he was kind of like, you know, I, he's probably watching this like a nerd. Yeah. So he used to get bullied. I was like, nah, you're not bullying my brother. Yeah. But then growing up. I realized I couldn't continue to be that way and football taught me to, to hone in that aggression and, and use it for on the field. I love it. Um, yeah, man, and, and, and that's like the first pivotal moment in my life. Um, if I'm really bringing it back. I don't even know if you've even heard that story. Mm-hmm. Of me really bringing it back to where that in the foundation for the rest of my life. Yeah. No, that's amazing. That's amazing. I'm curious with you guys like. Did you know that you would be married at a younger age? Like when did, what did, what was your vision for family life, for like when you were growing up? I remember thinking as a kid, I wanted to have a big family, five kids and married. And then at one point in time it was like, all right, let me just wait till my dirties. And uh, Kia and I, we just ended up getting married a lot sooner than expected and just kind of like having kids write from the beginning. And one of the things that I wanted to do with this podcast was. Just kind of give people hope in marriage as well, because I know a lot of people in our culture have given up on the idea of marriage. Mm-hmm. And we've kind of been at war, right. The masculine and feminine for a lot of years. Yeah. I, I love the fact that you guys are, are married, but you're taking like your own path at the same time. Yeah. Like Key. And I started having children really young and you guys are now considering it at, at a later stage and mm-hmm. Um, but you've had the ability to do all this incredible travel and do all these amazing things together. And, um, I'm curious as to what was the vision when you were like. First starting out, like, did you expect to get married and kind of take this path? What, what, what, what did you guys both have in mind? Yeah. Um, for me, it's so funny because right before we came on this trip, I have a, uh, in school you used to, like, on my senior year, we, uh, did this whole, um, you had to write out a, uh, what your life was gonna be like in X amount of years. Mm-hmm. Right? And I was reading through it and I was like, wow. I, and I said to myself while I was 30, I was gonna have a kid. Mm-hmm. I was gonna have a house, I was gonna be married. And the only thing that really came out of that from when I'm going back on it now, was really just. Having be married. Yeah. I still, we still don't have kids. Mm-hmm. And we still, um, and we don't have a house yet. Yeah. We have a three bedroom condo. Mm-hmm. But we don't have a house yet. So I, when I was younger, I really thought that I was gonna be living mm-hmm. In a big house. Yep. Bunch of kids running around. Um, but life changed. Yeah. Especially depending on who you meet. Yeah. Right. And I met, uh, Vicki, you know, at a point in my life where I just wanted to just enjoy the person I was with. Mm-hmm. Because I didn't have that for many years. Yeah. Just enjoying life with somebody. Yep. And that's what we went to all around the world. That's all we did. Yeah. Travel, travel, travel in. The other thing is people in our family, and even you said it like, listen, don't have kids until you're ready. Mm-hmm. Right? Like you just get all the fun out now.'cause when you have kids, your life's completely changed. Absolutely. And I think we honestly listened to that advice. Yeah. Um, to the point where it's like now, like there's nothing, there's, we've done so much, it'll be silly now not to. Fill out our course. Second part of the dream is having kids and stuff like that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. No, it's beautiful because the, the good thing is like, I think we have so much pressure as a society, like, oh, you have to have kids at this age. Mm-hmm. And you have to go about it in this way. Get the house with the white picket fence and all of that, and American Dream. But the American dream has evolved. Yeah. It's definitely not the same. Yeah. It's it's not the same as it used to be during our parents' time. So what about you, Vicki? What was like your vision for that? Uh, honestly, I'd say before I met Lamoi I was a little different. Like, I, I wasn't really big on marriage or even pursuing,'cause I was, I was a tomboy. I didn't even really see that for myself when I was really young. Um, and before we met, I was single for about five years. So I knew that what whoever I was gonna date. Was gonna be my husband. Like I wanted it to lead somewhere. And the cool thing is that we would, when we got serious in our dating, we definitely knew we had, we wanted a future together. Like from our very first date, we've never separated like every tan, every chance we had with free time, we spent it together. And I knew this was going somewhere and I. I wasn't, we never really, I never pressured ourselves to have kids. I didn't wanna put them in that, make that like our main goal as our, as a couple. But I wanted to, for us to evolve and learn ourselves and learn each other as we grew together. Um, my, you know, my parents, they're like, you know, we're the kids, they were just excited for kids, but they were big on marriage first. Mm-hmm. And that was a big thing for me. Like, I didn't want to, um, become a mom without being a wife first. And once I became a wife, I'm like, okay, now I'm a wife. Like what now? Like. But there were just so many other things we wanted to do, and I, to be honest, thinking back on it, I feel like we could have done a lot, even if we did have kids a couple years ago. You know, I don't, I don't, I don't have any regrets. But I would say I would love, I would've loved to be an, a younger mom. Yeah. To be honest. Mm-hmm. Um, I do feel like it does take away from years going with, with our kids. Yeah. For, you know, let's just let just be honest about that. Mm-hmm. But yeah, I just knew it was gonna go where it needed to go, and I knew that, you know, we were gonna be guided in the right direction because Absolutely. Our love was real and we, we have similar goals. Yeah, sure. Um, and as far as like our, you know, moving to a house and things like that, I know that's definitely in our future, but it has to be. Right. Of course. You know, we don't wanna be rushed or pressured by society, like you mentioned earlier, because. A lot of these pressures are giving, you know, marriage a bad rep. A lot of people, they don't wanna get married. They just wanna be, you know, they have that individual individualistic mindset where they're like, well, it's just about me pleasing myself and doing what I wanna do. But when you have someone else that's like, by your side, you're a rock. Mm-hmm. It's like, you know what? No matter what comes. You know, in your way, whatever obstacles might come about, you know that you have that support. Yeah, definitely. And it's just, to me, that's just worth more than everything. Like I'm just so happy just to be married. Mm-hmm. And just to have my, my person, my rock, my everything. Absolutely. That. I know that once we have kids, once we we're gonna still travel, we're gonna still do whatever we want because. We have like similar goals as far as as, yeah, definitely. Yeah. What would you say is the, the hardest part about marriage in particular? And I know you, you, you guys still have your fair share because obviously when kids come into the equation Yeah, yeah. That's its own fair share of challenges, right? But in terms of like your path, um, so far, what would you say is like the most challenging part? Wow. There are definitely a lot of challenging, challenging parts. It's like a constant battle, you know?'cause you're grow, you're as a person, you're growing, you're evolving, you're, you're not even the same person that he married or he. He was, you know, when you guys recording or dating, you know, so it's like keeping up with who your husband or who your wife is becoming and just still having, you know, maintaining the attraction. Just maintaining the intimacy. Sometimes I feel like it could get to the point where you feel like roommates, you know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. Because you're just in a routine, you're, everything's on like autopilot. Yep. And it is very, very challenging to go back to, hey. Cut out all the noise, cut out everything that we, that we think is more important than us, and focus on what really got us together in the first place. For sure. And just bring that back, keep that fire burning. I think that's very challenging. Mm-hmm. And it's very distracting environment that we're all in. Like we're on our phones all the time, we're doing this, we're trying to work on our business. We got work, we have friendships, we have family ships, all these different things. And you kind of lose sight of that one person that you are ordained to be with. And I think that's one of the challenging parts that Yeah, definitely. I noticed. Yeah, definitely. I agree. No. A hundred percent. I think I'm gonna take a different spin.'cause I'm gonna keep it real. Yeah, right. Absolutely. Let's go. Absolutely. Um, and, and just, just for me, and, and you know, this, where we have a alpha mentality. Mm-hmm. We, we need to be in control. We know, we think we know what's best for our family and, and we really take that on a true man's man. Right. And sometimes I find myself being, I don't wanna say not aggressive, but like, it's like, listen, it's this way and this is, I don't gotta explain why I gotta be this way. Just know, I know. What you don't know. Yeah. And, and this is how we're gonna go about it and not taking a step back and listen and like, listen, would I talk to someone that way if they were my employee? Yeah. Probably not, because I know the repercussions of doing that now. They're gonna feel like they can't come to me and tell me of course, what's really going on. Right? Mm-hmm. So I, I learned a lot to, to, and it's still a struggle, as you know. Mm-hmm. It's a struggle to take a step back, like, all right. Think about what you're gonna say before you say it. Yeah. Um, and, and that is huge in marriage. It's communication. But when you, when you peel, peel it back, how are you talking to your spouse? Yeah. Right. Or when you, when you, when you say certain things, words matter. Mm-hmm. Uh, Jerry AOV taught us, um, before I, I used to work at Hertz Rental card and we got trained by him. We got certified Mm. Um, in, in the sales field, um, by Jerry Ako. And one of his things and always stuck with me, if I remember nothing else, is that words matter and that curiosity. Through life, not just sales with, with your friendship, your relationship, um, even one word that you say could, can make a difference. So I battle every single day and sometimes I just wanna let loose. Yeah. And, and, and sometimes I do. Mm-hmm. But, but after you, and I think this, what's, what's, what good about us is we, we may be frustrated for a little while, right. But we, we figure it out. Like we're not gonna stay mad all day. Yeah. Like, that's very rare when we're mad for, for, for days. Mm-hmm. That's very rare. I mean, and it'll be something stupid. Mm-hmm. Right. So the, the, the biggest thing, the struggle for us is just keeping that holistic co uh, course communication Of course. And, and, and not being aggressive.'cause I don't want to be, it is never gonna be that way, but we've seen toxic relationships. Absolutely. They're always arguing. Absolutely. Yeah. And when we have kids, that can't happen. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Which, when you really go back to it. We learned that from just being, just us not having kids. Mm-hmm. So maybe if we would've had kids younger, we wouldn't have, we'd be so focused on them that we wouldn't realize like, wait, this is not Okay. Very true point. So hopefully now that's a good point. We have kids, we can be, you know, with that, that whole, yeah. You know, we had years together already, like not, not arguing petty arguments. Of course, of course. Yeah. No, it's so true. It's so true. What would you say is the aspect of marriage that you love the most? Oh, that I love the most. Mm-hmm. Just, man, I try to think the other day what it was like being by myself. Mm. Like not having that one person. Mm-hmm. And I remember, and I brought myself back to that moment. Like, I was meditated on that moment, just like in bed. I meditate. It's weird. I meditate a lot. I, I don't do traditional meditation. Mm-hmm. Where you sit up and you breathe. I meditate like this, hands across my chest and just when my eyes closed at night. Because I'm able to visualize more, right? Mm-hmm. And, um, it's, this is months ago and I still remember that I was remembering that time bringing me back to like, man, if I didn't have, and this is after like we got into a disagreement. Mm-hmm. I'm like, man, she really pissed me off. And I just, like, I sat down and I was like, let me think back to the time I didn't have anybody to, to like just sleep next to Yeah. And that time was very lonely. Mm-hmm. And, and it's uncertainty in that time. Mm-hmm. And that. Is worse. Yeah. And that, that, that's worse than having an argument with your spouse. Mm. Um, so I think the best part of marriage to answer your question is just knowing that that is your person. Yeah. Sure. Like you're gonna go through life together and, and you're not gonna, like, divorce is the last thing that's gonna come out. Your, your, your mouth. Yeah. Like, we are not, that's not, that's never, that's not in our cards. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. That's never that, that's like we are gonna be together for a lifetime. And understanding that and realizing if that's the, your path that you want to take mm-hmm. That you're gonna make it work. Yeah, for sure. And that shit, at the end of the day, you could be mad, but. Hey, babe. You hungry? No, that's always That'll do it. Yeah. Yeah. I'll do it. Like, Hey babe, um, you want me to pick you up something? Yep, yep. Little gifts here and there. Yeah. Yeah. We always bring it back together for sure. And you don't understand how important that is because. Life can get lonely. Yeah. Very lonely. So good. So true. Yeah, so true. Absolutely. Now, um, in terms of advice, like what, what advice would you give a, a young person who's even considering getting married or, or wants to get married? What would be some practical advice before we jump into a lot of like, you know, the travel and lifestyle stuff, I definitely wanted to, uh, have you guys offer some insight. To that. I think that's a great question and I think that's, um, a topic that a lot of, a lot of us need to talk about. You know, married versus a married couples. Um, I have a lot of friends and I, you know, I hear their journey, what they're going through and. My advice to them, like my advice would be to anyone, everyone listening to this podcast, especially the ladies, is to really, really understand your value and keep that in mind, like with every decision that you make. Because I do feel that, um, you know, as, as the, with the dating culture these days, I feel like we, everyone's looking for everything at the same time. And it's like, you're really, you seem to slow down and just be patient. Yeah. You know, be patient and understand your value and don't just give out what you have so freely. Mm-hmm. I know what I'm talking about. Right? Yep. Yep. I feel like that's very detrimental. It brings forth, you know. Single mother, um, single mother, family, you know, brings forth a lot of things that our society just doesn't need. And I think we need to really just sit down, you know, have that conversation like, Hey, we are valuable and we need to act as such. Mm-hmm. I feel like I'm not seeing that as much in, you know, with the music, the culture, a lot of these different things. Its, it's. Disheartening to see where we're going as a society to be real. And I feel like we need these type of conversations, mentors, people who are married, people who've gone through, you know, the dating phase so that our generations don't have to go through what we went through, or we can at least help them navigate it. So my advice to the ladies, to the men even is to just take your time. Don't rush into it. Don't be pressured by societal norms to just know that the one out there that's gonna love you for you is there. You don't need to share so much of yourself to just get that five second feeling of, um, euphoria just to kind of. You know, very true. Have everything go downhill just from that one decision. Yeah. So I would say definitely take your time and very be mindful of who you're dealing with, how you're dealing with them, and just have a goal. Mm-hmm. But you know, a lot of relationships don't really have many goals these days. Course, course unfor, of course. Yeah. No, it's so true with the goal, like it, I always tell couples that it's good to have a unified North star. Like what's, what's your unified vision? Not just your individual goals, but your, yeah. Collective goals that you share. Like what's, what's the vision for your family? What's the vision in terms of where you wanna live, how you wanna live, those types of things. It's important. Important. It's important, yeah. To, to, to, um, build on that though. I also think it's important to have individual goals because Yeah, you have to keep growing. I think you mentioned it before, you gotta kind of keep up with your spouse. Like she's doing drone and I don't know anything about being a drone pilot. Mm-hmm. Um, but I'm trying to keep up. I'm watching her, you know, I'm even playing with the drone a little bit. And her starting her own business is fascinating and it also brings you closer, like having seen her do something else besides what she's doing already. Mm-hmm. Just having want more outta life. Even though she, she does, we, we travel all the time. We do. You would think that people look at her and say, oh, you have the perfect life. And she, we hear it all the time. You guys are so happy and this and that. We are very happy. But it's just at that stage where she has really nothing that she really wants. She wants to. Build and, and that's attractive. Yeah. Right. So I think it's important to have your own goals even with me. Absolutely. You know, I, I have, I have a high paying job. I'm, I'm fine, I'm good, I don't need anything else, but then I wanna do production and content creation and stuff like that. So, um, to advice on marriage would, I would just spend it a little bit, um, and say, make sure you have your individual goals Yeah. As well. Yeah. You need to come together and have a combined goal, but if. It's attractive when your, when your spouse has something else going on that mm-hmm. You know nothing about and they can teach you about it. Yeah. Yeah. There's something special about that. That's so good. Yeah. I love that. Last question on marriage is marriage dead? He and I did an episode specifically that was the title of the episode is Marriage Dead Go One, and we just kind of. Spoke a little bit and, and went down the rabbit hole with that. But what, what are your views? Do you feel like marriage is dead or the concept of marriage? Do you feel like it's evolved? I know a lot of people have different ways. Some people just believe in partnership, right? Yeah. Like, or common law. There's just so many ways to go about it, but what, what are your views? I would say marriage. I, I see marriage dying, to be honest. I do from, um, just from conversations that I've had with close people or friends of mine or. You know, I feel like there's a stigma on marriage that you lose your freedom. Like you lose your sense of yourself. Like you have to become someone for this person, but it's like, no, you have your goals. Like, like Lamar was just saying, you have your own goals that you're working towards, plus the goals together. It's just a beautiful thing. And, um, I, I wanna say it's dying, but I feel like it's never gonna die. Mm-hmm. You know, it's dying, but it'll come right back like this. And I feel like it takes. These type of conversations. It takes like you need to have a married friend or too Yeah. You know, to at least see how it's, like you said, it's a lot going on. It's not perfect, but it's just overall it's a beautiful thing. It's the purpose. The purpose of life. Right. Of course. Why, why do it all alone when you and your little cat you can give, nibble it all year, like forever rest of your life? Like, no, there's just so much. It's just, to me, it's such a beautiful thing, especially when I'm out with, out with other couples, especially married couples. It's like, wow, like we're really doing this. This is hard. Mm-hmm. Like dating is hard. Like I know what the dating pool is a swamp right now. I get it. Oh yeah. And it's making people not wanna date. They don't wanna get married, they just wanna have their options open forever. But. The age is not gonna stop. We have to be mindful of our time on this earth, and I feel like it's just a beautiful thing to show what the beauty of marriage is. And I like that, you know, that's what we're doing. So, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, we've seen more good stories about it. Such a good answer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. No. As far as marriage being dead, it's funny because I feel like every little girl grows up and, and they have an idea of what they want for their, for their wedding and their marriage and everything like that. And I think that with social media and you see, like, you, you like, it's like. It's not how it was before your marriage and, and you know this very well, it's like a production. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think they fantasize about that day. Yeah. They, they fantasize about like having all their friends and family one big party and, and, and having like. Behind the scenes captured and, and they're so focused on, on the fairytale, on, on the fairytale story that that's what kind of draws them to get married. Like, we need to get married, not because it's good for us or that we're ready, we wanna get married because I, I, I have this vision in my head and I want to fulfill this fantasy in my head. And I think at leads to a lot of people getting married too early. And that's why it's the divorce rates are so high. Yeah. Right.'cause they don't really know why they got married in the first place. Yeah, for sure. I mean, why, why marriages lasting one or two years? That's crazy to me. Yeah, exactly. One or two years. Yeah. Yeah. Like to, Vicki said before, take time and understand and know that person. Mm-hmm. Like that you could, this whole fantasy that you have in your head about marriage, it's, yes, it's, listen, if you're gonna spend all that money, make it the way you want it. But don't lose sight of what you really got married for. And a lot of people don't really uncover that. They don't have the conversations. So true. Yeah, so true. Uh, whenever, whenever I get asked this, I, I usually answer that. I don't think marriage is necessarily dead. I think what's dead is. Or are people who are willing to put it, put the work in necessary to sustain a marriage. That's true. It's a lot of work. And if, if there's any one word that I had to use to describe marriage, I would say work. Yeah. It's, it's not just the fairytale, it's, it's work you and you have to be willing. You tell? Well, both people have to be willing to put in the work necessary, and it's challenging. It's a challenge. Yeah. I tell people all the time, like, it's probably one of the most difficult things that I've ever had to do, but it's, it's worth it. It, it really, really is. If you can get it right, it's absolutely worth it, but I think we need to set realistic expectations for the next generation. Like, Hey, agreed. This is what it actually looks like. That fairytale bullshit is just Yeah. Yeah. It's good. It's not reality. Yeah. Yeah. And stick to also like, um, uh, there's, there's like certain things where you can't get over. Mm-hmm. When you, and I told some people come to me for marriage advice at work, and they say, listen, what? Like before they get married, they're like, they ask me for advice. I'm like, listen, I don't know your relationship, but there are four things that you, four or five things you have to agree on. Finances is number one. Mm-hmm. You need to have that open conversation. Of course. You know, understand who's in debt, who's not in debt, how much money you have in the bank. That has to be number one. You'd be surprised how many people don't know how much money their partner has before they get married. Yeah. That's crazy. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. That's true. Um, number two is religion. If, if you're not, you have to, you can't, one person can't be the one to say, let's go to church. And you don't really wanna go to church. Yeah. Yeah.'cause you don't believe in God. Absolutely. All right. So that, that, that's the biggest thing. Um, another one. Um, what was another one? Uh, um. I think we talked about this yesterday. Um, your signif, uh, your, uh, spouse or not your spouse, your spouse's, um. Come on. Uh, uh, parents. Yeah. Yeah. In-laws in-law, inlaws in-laws. If you have a toxic in-law, you'd be surprised Oh yeah. That, that can lead to divorcing. Oh yeah. Sure. Big time. And then the last thing was kids. Yeah. Agree if you're gonna have kids mm-hmm. Or if you're not gonna have kids, and how many you're gonna have, if you can't agree of those four things. Mm-hmm. I don't think it's gonna work out.'cause it's like you're, you're, you're at the point, unless you could change the person's mind mm-hmm. But you shouldn't go into marriage like, okay, maybe we'll have kids. Mm-hmm. Imagine if you were married to Kia, right. Um, you guys are married and then you wanted kids and she wasn't really sure, but you still got married anyway. And then now you're at the point where you really want kids and you're like, yeah, I don't know if I want kids. Yeah. Oh, that would lead down. Of course, of course. That's very common. Common. That's, yeah. And that would lead to divorce, like almost. Yeah. Yeah. Immediately. Mm-hmm. So true. So true. I think one of the things that makes you guys work is the fact that you guys have a lot of fun together. Yeah. A lot of fun. So you're very big. I mean, you were just out in Columbia living your best life and I'm, I'm like, you know, Kia and I were living by Carious. Lead through you guys just watching from afar, like, man, you know, you, you guys are our couples goals for a lot of people Yeah. In, in this generation. And it's beautiful. And, and then, you know, key and I bring a different element to it because we obviously started our our kids journey a lot earlier. Yeah. So you, but you have these two different paths, right? Yeah. Amazing. And the amazing thing about it is that we also got to do a lot of life collectively, right? Yes. Two different. L uh, styles of marriage in a sense. Mm-hmm. Right. And, um, but at the same time, it's like we all pretty much were unified through travel, lifestyle, things like that. So, um, I'm, I'm curious to kind of go down, uh, this rabbit hole of, of what travel looked like and lifestyle and fun in the marriage for you guys and Yeah. And how did you kind of set that as, as the norm? Mm-hmm. You know, for, for your relationship. Yeah. Um, man. It was like that from day one. Mm. Yeah. We, we, we, I was part coming, before I met her, I was in a lifestyle travel company. Mm-hmm. So it was just my life already. I was traveling before I met Vicki. Um, and she wasn't really traveling and I introduced her to that life and she got hooked. She got bit by the travel bug and I Oh, that's right. Great. I was like, this is great. She wants to travel. I said, this is the one man. Yeah. Whatever. We gonna, it didn't matter what we were doing. For sure. She was like, yeah, I'm, I'm with it. Let's go. Yep. Yeah. Um, and I think that's where it started, man. Just, just I,'cause I already had that lifestyle and it just, that's another reason why we got married. I mean, it was just like, you'd be surprised some people, you would think that a lot of people want to travel. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I mean, we know people that said they don't want to travel. Mm-hmm. They don't want to go anywhere else. They want to stay where they're at'cause they're comfortable where they are. And, um, just. And the frequency I was traveling might be a lot. I mean, we were traveling, man, six times a year. Oh my gosh. Oh, oh. Sometimes more. We did like nine trips a year. I remember. Yeah, yeah. Nine trips a year. Who, not, not a lot of people are willing to do that, right? Or would, you know, be they, they're like, listen, let me get a break. Yeah. Um, but she, she would like fit right into my lifestyle. So from day one, it was like that. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That was it. Yeah. Yeah. What was that like for you, Vicki? Like just to go into this world where now, like you're all over the place, you're traveling and meeting people and everything like that and Yeah, and it was phenomenal. It was phenomenal because it, it showed me that he had a, a wider, like his brain was like. He had a wider view of life and it showed me like, okay, he doesn't like to stay in one space in one place. And it was, it was a turn on. Mm-hmm. I, I'll be real, like, I was like, wow, you know, especially the chaos of packing and preparing for a trip even that we went through together. Like, I loved it. I love like, okay, what we gonna wear? What we gonna buy? What do we need for this trip? It was just. It just gave me so much more to look forward to. Sure. And now we're in a different country, right? Mm-hmm. We're like, what do we do? We, he wants to do this, wants to do that, but we always have the same goals. One, we gotta check out the food. Mm-hmm. Right? Y already know food is very big. We need, like, where do we go for the best food out here? You know? And we wanna do like, where can we see the best landscapes? Where can we go to experience the culture? Like where can we wanna get in the nitty gritty of the city or, or the town, wherever we're at. Gritty of the city. And I love that because some people like have different travel styles. Some people like, Hey, I wanted to chill. Mm-hmm Hmm. I just wanna chill, wanna relax When a peaceful. But what we do that I love is that we incorporate the chilling. But we also, Hey, we're gonna get out and do an adventure like in Columbia. We did really go on that trip, babe. Like we planned it. Well, yeah. Like we, we reserved our restaurants before we even flew out. Mm. And we had to, we, yes. Well, I chose them and he reserved that. Right. Because I was on TikTok. I'm like, okay, where are we going to Columbia? Where we gonna go? And she, she, she did, she did. You couldn't even certain restaurants you can't even get into unless you reserve it weeks in advance. I'm like, oh, this is that fly shit. Because we like fly shit. Yep, yep. Yeah. Absolutely. And we love that luxurious feel. And that's another thing that I love is that. We don't have any, like, like he said, we do have boundaries. What we, what we're willing to spend budgeting, things like that. But we make it work because we know the experience. We're never gonna look back and regret of like, dang course we should never spent that money on that. That's right. Like, no, no. That's right. Hundred percent. I look through my photos and videos, I'm like, oh, this was amazing. I'm mesmerized. Yeah. And uh, that's why I kind of want, I wanna show more of that to the world because I feel like I'm keeping it to myself. Mm-hmm. Like my own little, yeah. Yeah. So true. Yeah. But I definitely wanna show more of it because I want to empower other people and let them know like, Hey, you might not think you could afford it, but get connected. Yeah. You'll find a way to make it work and go to where you wanna go, because as you're, as we get older, we just lose our flare in a sense. Mm-hmm. And we, you know, the body's gonna do what it does. Of course, you gotta take care of your body. But I would say as you're young, as you have the age and the capacity, even with kids, make it work. Yeah. Bring your loved one along. Mm-hmm. And just, you know, enjoy. Yeah. So much of this world, we gotta see. That's, it's so true. And I, I'm glad that you brought that up because Lamar and I, we always talk about how. You know, you never regret the money you spend. No. And we've, we've burned through some money tr no expense. Spare some, yeah. Before we even had money, man, we were burning through some, some credit card maxed out. Oh yeah, absolutely. But credit, I, I try to, I try to stress to people all the time that it's like. Even if you go in debt, like you're not gonna regret. I don't regret a do I, I can't even tell you. Like, I don't count any of it. I don't, I don't regret it. Yeah. Like, and it's, it's, it's weird because on one side of the spectrum, it's like, yeah, as a couple you, you gotta budget and you gotta keep your finances. Mm-hmm. You gotta be responsible and keep your finances tight and all of that. But then. On the flip side, you also have people who have a different philosophy with life and they're just like, well, I'm gonna live my life and spend my money on experiences. Yeah. Out here. And who's to say which path is better? That's true. Right? That's true. And you can't really judge either path. But one thing that I can tell you from personal experience, I have no regrets. Yeah. Spending all that money on travel, but neither. Yeah. No, a hundred percent. No expense. Be. And that leads into content creation, right? Mm-hmm. Because now, like, yes, we don't wanna keep the, the content to ourself, but like, and it, here's the one thing too. It, it's almost like. You go on vacation as a content creator, you wanna have a good time, but it's like another job. Yeah. In a sense. Exactly. But you have to love that. Yeah. And like she said, we want to share that with the world. And we have, man, we have terabytes. Yeah. Worth the footage. Yeah. We gotta release. Absolutely. I can't wait. We're gonna go on like a, like we could have enough content literally, yeah. To last to the rest of the year. Yeah, for sure. The backlog is backlogged. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm glad you brought up content creation, because that was gonna be a lot of what we spoke about here today. As you guys know, like we're prepping for the Creator conference. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. And it's interesting because we all started out as content creators, like in travel. It's a fact. Yeah. And it was in travel and lifestyle and back in those days, people weren't really traveling as much as they are today. So it's interesting because. It, it was like we were going all around the world and I think, uh, a lot of people were just really inspired because you weren't really seeing too many people like us or who look like us, who were out there in China. Dubai. Egypt, exactly. Yeah, exactly. So, and that was in like 2010. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Man, we old and you know, we were talking about this yesterday. I know, right? Uh, we were talking about this yesterday and I'm like, man, I wish we had all the, the drones and all of this fancy equipment and production equipment that we have today. And we didn't even have reels back then. I know. And to think that that is true, most of the content was really just still shots. Yeah. Or maybe just some short video. Right. Yeah. And I'm, I'm, I'm, I wanna know a little bit about what you guys are excited about when it comes to content creation. Mm-hmm. And what do you see in the world of content creation and, and what excites you about it just moving forward long term. Hmm. I'd say I, well, the most exciting part for me when it comes to content creation and what we put together, what we travel, even like what we do on a daily is having that, it's like a magazine mm-hmm. That can have for our children in the future, our family in the future. Like, Hey, what, what was my mom doing back in? Yeah. So 2022, when you know, you look, they like, dang, she did this, she did that. Like, I really wanna inspire not only our offspring and theirs, but just everyone else. Like, Hey, this is some like. And I know I, I, I love educational content. Mm-hmm. So many different types of content you can put out there, like you already know. But when you used to see someone doing something, like you say like on, uh, where were we? We are, we were in Columbia. We had like a, a private bungalow looking overlooking the sea, and it was just peace, calm. Like, you get a little dosage of that peace and calm and makes you like, dang, I wanna go there, or somewhere like that. Mm-hmm. So I, I see it being. Uh, as way more influential than it is now. And I see it being more attainable for people who seem like they can't really afford Absolutely. Travel. Absolutely. Like, yo, there's a way you can do it. And I think we sh I do wanna have more, um, I wanna get more personal with followers, people who engage because I, they might not know what to do, how to get there. Mm-hmm. You know, and I think with concept creation, we'll be able to connect with them on a deeper level and kind of help them with finding, you know, trips or finding where to go, things like that. And just kind of expanding from there. Of course. And not just, not just, oh, look at me, look at me, but hey, let me help you. Yep. Do what I can do so we can do it together. Absolutely. You know, collaborate. So I, I feel like collaboration is really, really big and it's, it's really gonna, um, it's gonna show itself through the next for sure. Couple years. I agree. Yeah. It's a whole new industry that opened up, man. I mean, we, and we didn't realize it at the time when we were really doing it. Mm-hmm. We were open and, and it, it's, it's so crazy right now that. Your kids may become content creators, it's gonna be okay. Yeah, absolutely. Right now it's still kind of weird, but it's becoming unacceptable that that's a full-time career. Yeah. I mean, people make a lot of money. It's a whole industry. Absolute. And big companies are really starting to reach out to smaller companies to uh, to, to, to create their content. Yeah. Right. For sure. And that's what got me into my production company. That's why I opened that up. So I was a content creator for many years, travel on the pro traveler on Instagram. Mm-hmm. And I started this business'cause I seen, and this is during COVID, I seen a void in the market where. People had a lot of products and they were really business minded, but they didn't know how to market their product. Mm-hmm. It was really, or if they did, it was very basic. Yeah. They had no idea if they had a, it was saying baseball cap. So whatever they were selling at the time, they didn't know how to market it properly. Yeah. Um, and at that, and it happened a lot during COVID'cause you've seen a lot virtually. Yeah. And I was like, man, what if I could create. Stuff for these companies.'cause these, these are small mom and pop companies. Yep. They don't have 10, 20, 30 grand to spend on a production. True. Right. But if I set up an at home studio, buy some simple equipment and have the vision for them to create something for them, why not? Mm-hmm. And that's what really started my journey. I, we, we did it first when we pivoted from, from. Um, the company that me and you partnered with before to another company that had products, I did it. That's how I experimented. I experimented a lot with that and I got a lot of love. I love that. And I didn't realize that this is something that they were missing a big, a big company like that. Mm-hmm. Yep. A billion dollar company didn't have a way to market their products in a cinematic way. Of course. Of course. Right. And I, and after that I went down the rabbit hole. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now I absolutely, I do, you know, cinematography mostly behind products and, and stuff like that. Yeah. And I love it. I'm undercutting the, the big production company. Definitely I'm able to, I'm doing it on a smaller scale, but that's all you need for, for, for social media. Yeah, absolutely. To, to, to your point where I think content creation could, I mean, it's, it's the, the, the little guy is no longer the little guy. The little guy could become the big guy. Yeah.'cause they're gonna get reached out by the. The Coca-Cola, the Pepsi, you know, those big companies that don't, they, they have a marketing budget, but now I'm part of that market marketing budget. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Very true. So it's, it's, it's, it's, it's great, man. Yeah. It's great. Yeah, absolutely. And I know entrepreneurship has obviously been a big part of all of our journeys, and we tried all kinds of stuff over the years. Job shipping. Oh yeah. Everything. I mean, Forex trading, I mean, you name it, like shoveling snow. Oh, yeah. All kinds of stuff. So, uh, and, and it's, it's important. I feel like. To even, even if you work a job, because most people who are tuning into this have jobs, right? Yeah. Yeah. And what, what would you say is the importance of still having like a dream? Like Vicki, you obviously are now embarking on drones and doing production when it comes to that and content creation and you know, you're building out an entire like, production business from scratch. And then we also have Dream Nation media. So for those of you who don't know, um, I mean. Some, sometimes your closest friends could be your very first investors. And, and I think it is important to be very mindful of the types of friends that, that you have in your life. Right. And I think the beautiful thing about all of us is we all have our own different paths. Yeah. And, but we also have things that we're unified in things that we believe in, like the creators conference. Mm-hmm. And I, I love that. And what, what would you say for those who are, uh, working jobs and maybe they want. To embark on some form of entrepreneurship, how do you recommend they go about it? Because obviously. You also don't have to go full-time. No. You can very well work full-time on your job, part-time on your business. Mm-hmm. And that's cool. Yeah. And And I also don't recommend for everyone to go full-time with like just entrepreneurship in general. It's not for everybody. Exactly. But I love what you guys have. You know, you have your own respective paths. You don't feel the pressure to have to go all in on something. Mm-hmm. But you still take the time to nurture your. Your dreams on the side. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm, I'm just curious, like what, what, what advice would you give someone who's just kind of working a job but they haven't really found their thing? Yeah. I's go ahead, go for it. Um, so, um, that's a great question because I often was, was wondering that this, when I was kind of getting into it at first,'cause I didn't really know where I wanted to go. I'm like, what I've read I realized though, is with concept creation, it can go in any direction. Like you can find things you love and be passionate about and things you kind of don't like. So like I've seen people where they have their phone propped up while they're at work. Right. Literally recording themselves doing the job that they hate doing. Yeah. And that alone will inspire other people. Like, dang, I hate my job too. You know? And then they just watching each other. You could build a following off of like, whatever. It's crazy. You see, I see people follow each other off of like foolishness, right? Yeah. Yeah. And then people follow each other off of things that they can learn from them. But I feel whatever you're already doing, you can just prop a camera. You know, set it some more, even if you're doing podcasts, some type of audio, whatever, like you can use your daily, your daily life as it's true, your content, because it is content. They say everything is content. Yeah. It's like everything is, and someone will be interested in it. Yeah. You'll, you'll be surprised. And I, I kind of kick myself in the, in the back too, because sometimes I'm like, oh, no one's gonna be interested in this, so I won't post it. Mm-hmm. And I'll just, it'll just sit in the backlog. Dang. What if it inspired, what, what would inspire someone or what if you know, it would had a greater impact? And that constant battle in your head mm-hmm. Is gonna keep you farther from your goals of becoming entrepreneurship. You will be at that nine to five longer than you wanna be because of that fear. Of course. So, um, yeah. From my experience, I'd say try to kick that fear and just know that, hey, just post it. I have Kia's voice in my head. She'd be like, just post a dom rael. And I'm like, girl, especially when you work so hard on, on content. So just. Pop a camera up, you know, and just, just be more confident in what you're doing. Mm-hmm. And just know someone will appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And just start there. I'd say, yeah, I agree. I definitely agree with that. I, I'll piggyback off of that. Um, so. One of the best advice I've ever gotten was be very good at your job. Like no matter what you are, you could be a mailman, you could be a project manager like I am. You could be a, a renter car agent like I was, but I was the very best Yep. Renter car agent. I was a very best project manager. Right. So that's so good. I think doing, being really good at what you are already'cause you could learn so much. Yeah. Right. And, and, and be a leader, right? Yeah. Entrepreneurship is hard. Yeah. You think your nine to five is hard entrepreneurship? Is that times 10? Yeah, absolutely. Now I get a little bit of that'cause I, I, I do project manager for a, a big company. Um, and it's, it's, it's like having another, I I, I own a business multimillion dollars a month mm-hmm. In business. Mm-hmm. Um, and it's a lot, right. But I, I get a lot of that entrepreneur, like if, if I. Going back,'cause I started at Hertz first. If I wasn't one of the leaders at Hertz and understand and get, and like really get, I was in the business, right? Mm-hmm. I was one of the leaders leaving Hertz.'cause I wanted to know everything about business of course.'cause I knew I wasn't gonna do this forever. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Right. And now that, that transferred over to what I'm doing now. Yep. Taking ownership over, you know, um, my project manager mm-hmm. Business. Um, and that transferred to my production company. Yeah.'cause and, and listen, I know it's hard, but I'm like, if I could do it at work at a high level, I could do it here. Mm-hmm. And a lot of people don't ever get to that point where they're working extremely hard at their job. Yep. Because it's gonna do the, it's gonna be the same thing. And you may think passion will be, will get you through the hard times. Yep. Because whatever you are, like, oh, listen, I'm, uh, I, I love, uh, photography. Mm-hmm. Right. If that photography business gets super busy and you get stressed, how are you gonna handle that stress? Yeah. So true. Right? You can love taking photos, but you may not like sending out invoices. Yep. You may not like getting the team together to That's true structuring, you know, uh, call sheets and all this stuff. Yeah. Yeah. That goes into having a production. You may not like lighting. Yeah, exactly. And you're like, damn, all I wanna do is take photos. Yeah. Yeah. Or the risk associated and the risk of money that goes behind that. Right. So I would recommend to, like you said, don't quit your job. But go really hard at your job. Yeah. And use those skills in your business part-time. Yep. To where it's like, listen, if I don't leave my job, I'm never gonna scale this up. There's, there there's a point. Exactly. Yeah. There, there's, there's a defined point where it's like. Listen, I'm getting a lot of clients now. I can leave my job. Yeah. Yeah. And it's now holding your back job is actually holding you back instead of helping you. For sure, for sure. No, it's such really, really good advice. And I know we're getting ready to bring the plan in for a landing, but, yep. Um, I had a few more questions and one of them, like you mentioned, just business in general and we also went to school for the same degree. We, we studied international business, right? Yep. So a lot of the foundation was kind of laid with that, you know, Vicki, I know you had went to school as well and, and, um, but is, do you feel like. It's necessary, whether it's you just trying school for one year to see if it's for you, or going in a two year program, four year program, or just even getting a, a certification. You can get a CER certified in AI these days, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. What, what do you feel like is, is the best approach, because you mentioned working a really good job, but. You probably wouldn't have gotten your foot in the door if you didn't have some type of degree. True. Right. But then if you go the entrepreneurial path, there may not be no need for a degree whatsoever, and you're actually wasting time and resources pursuing, uh, a college education. What, what are your views on that as we get ready to wrap up here? Yeah. Oh, oh yeah. Okay. Um, I'd say definitely try it out first. Try out schooling, you know, um, I'm not gonna say it's not for everyone'cause you can still learn a lot from, you know, having, being taught by a professional or you know, a teacher. But, um, I would say use your, use the internet as your, that could be your teacher. You have ai. You can ask that AI any question, you know, it'll break it down for you from however, whatever you wanna learn, whatever you wanna get into. Um, I would, I wouldn't downgrade school a hundred percent, but when you think of schooling, you think of. The loans. Think of what you're spending to, and not the, not to mention the time you're spending to learn something and then you might end up pivoting to a whole different direction, you know? Yeah. So it's very, it's very important to leave your options open and not just kind of spread yourself out just a little bit. Mm-hmm. Just to figure out where you wanna go. You can go to school and still be an entrepreneur. That's right. But just be mindful of like, Hey, I might as well outta this with all this debt, but I'll have a degree. There are people with degrees, there're Starbucks, baristas. Yeah. You know, and they're just sitting there like they, they get international arts degrees or um, degrees of different type of studies, which is like. Not even necessary. Yeah. You know, so it's, it's a very challenging thing to kind of, it's something to really sit and think about and just realize what you really wanna do, where you'll feel fulfilled doing it. I agree.'cause it's very hard to find people who are fulfilled in what they do on daily. I, I definitely agree with that. Absolutely. I agree with that. Yeah. Like, so your children are lucky because you and your, your wife are entrepreneurial and you're gonna pass that on to your, to your, uh, to your kids. So I've seen a lot of success for kids who don't go to college or end up not going to college. Their entrepreneurial parents have put this in their mind. Like, listen, you don't have to go to college. Yeah. Because I'm gonna teach you a way to avoid college if you want to. Yep. But if you don't have the upbringing, if you don't have the background, if you don't have the backbone, college may be the only way. Yeah. And you can't teach that. You can't teach entrepreneurship. If, if you don't have it, and you weren't taught it from when you were young mm-hmm. The time to learn is not going into college. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You, you, you're gonna waste so many years. But what I will say though is if you're on the fence of what you wanna study. In school. Take your time. You don't have to go to college right after high school. That's the, that's the worst advice I've ever heard. Mm. You go like, you, you have to pick your major right then and there. You don't have to, you could take a year off and figure out what you wanna do that travel the world. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Just make sure you have a plan. Yep. Right. You have to have a plan. So I, if it's not, if entrepre entrepreneurship is not, uh, embedded into you at a young age, just don't go into it right after, don't go into college right afterwards because you may go down a rabbit hole where you're on all this debt. You got this degree that you're never gonna use. And it's the worst thing in the world. I know people right now that have lawyers, lawyer degrees, and they can't find a job. It's so true. And they spent, I mean, they're like$300,000 in debt. Yeah, yeah. Right. So, so true. So true. I, I would definitely recommend. Yeah. I mean, I share the same sentiments as you guys. I think that it's worth it. I think what we have to put more of a emphasis on the, the, the network that you build, the relationships you build, because Yes. Think about it. My first investors for Dream Nation Media College guys. Yeah. Guys I went to school with, worked really good careers and I was able to go and, and pull together all of the, the network and the resources and, and that went a long way. A lot of my best friends today are from college. Yeah. So there's a lot of value that you get outside of just the piece of paper. I never used the paper. True, but I got so much value how to research, how to write papers, how to articulate myself, and I spoke very different before going into college. Same. So all, all of that stuff most certainly helped, you know, so, um, as we get ready to wrap up here, so we got the Creators conference, and you ain't, you don't need no college to be no creator, right? You got a phone and we have. We have lots of phenomenal creators from all around the world. And what I love about everything, like, it's interesting how the dots kind of came together, right? Like we helped build this travel and lifestyle company and we understand how live events work and things like that. Mm-hmm. And we've also done a lot of content creation over the years, and now we get to create a platform for a lot of creators. Mm-hmm. Whether they're just now starting out or they're looking to scale their, their brands or businesses and, and, mm-hmm. For me, it's very rewarding to be able to be at the cutting edge of what's happening right now. Yes. In the world of not only entrepreneurship, but just culture, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Uh, if, I mean, what, what would you say in terms of like. What's exciting about just the Creator's Conference and why, why would you even recommend for people to be a part of it at some shape or form? We have our Creators awards, by the way, happening. Uh, it's gonna be the first weekend of October, um, out here in Tampa. And the, the, the, that Friday's gonna be the Creator's Award. So we also acknowledging, recognizing a lot of talent, which is amazing. And then. On that Saturday, we'll be doing the actual, you know, panels and keynote speeches, live podcast experiences, and then we'll be wrapping up with the Fun Culture day. But for you guys, like, why even be a part of it? It's not even in New York. You kind of have to fly out here multiple times this year. And, uh, why, why invest in it? Mm-hmm. Why be a part of it? Why even take a chance on, on this next journey with Creators conference and just content creation in general? Yeah. I mean, there's been many points in my life where I regretted because I didn't hop on it soon enough. Mm. Biggest thing was one. One of the biggest things in college is Facebook. Yeah. I think you even told me to invest in Facebook and I never did. I never invested in Facebook, and at the point where I learned about stocks and it was too late. Yeah. But now I would say too late. It's never too late. But I could've caught it early for sure. And I could be a very wealthy man right now if I would've invested my little money into Facebook. One of my biggest regrets, and I told myself. This is not just, this one thing is not just, it just, I, ever since then I've learned that I'm never gonna have to face regret ever again. Mm. And right now we are in a special place in the world where people. Content creation is a thing and I don't wanna miss the boat. And that's why I invested and that's why we, I'm partnering with you in this media company because I see the vision. Absolutely. I see where, where it's gonna go, and I don't wanna miss the boat. Yeah. So if anything else, I'm not missing the boat, I'm gonna be on that damn boat for sure. I'm gonna be a investor in the boat. That's right. Right. And I'm gonna make sure that to make this event as successful as possible. Mm-hmm. To your point, we have experience. With, with live events. Yeah. We know what it takes to run a live event. Mm-hmm. And why can't we do that ourselves? Yeah, yeah. Right. Absolutely. And its something that people are looking for and they don't know how to do themselves. Yeah. So, yeah. So true. So true. Absolutely. Absolutely. What about you, Vicki? Uh, I'm looking forward to the knowledge that I know the panel is gonna give. And, because I remember the last year we had people that came where we're like, you know, how'd you learn about us? Yeah. Oh, we found your guys online. Wow, there's so many people out there who were just looking for a community of other creators. Mm-hmm. Because like, I just have this vision where like, you know, a lot of creators have different industries, different things that they're marketing or they're sharing with the world, but imagine all them together in the same place. Mm-hmm. Everyone with their different, you know, niches. It's just such a beautiful thing. It's where powerful we can, it's powerful. Yeah. Not only are we learning from each other, but we're also. Promoting each other like, Hey, you know, absolutely. You check it out. You, you could do a quick reel, a quick video with someone you just met, promote them on your page. It's, it goes such a long way for just by us connecting for, yeah. And I'm really looking forward to not only just the knowledge from the panel, but also just the fun. Like it's gonna be a vibe. Oh yeah. You know that the Creators conference. Oh, absolutely. It's gonna be just. Just tremendously, like, just so much better than what it was last year. I know it will. And I know that it's gonna keep getting better going forward for sure. And I just, we just gonna, you know, rock out with our network and continue to network, so Yeah, for sure. Be a option. So work and play. Work and play. Yeah, that's right. Work. Work. Like a captain party, like a pirate. That's it. Oh yeah. We know how to party. Yes, we should. That's for another podcast. Yeah, man, we are gonna have, we have so many episodes. Like it is just crazy. That's the, the how fast this time went is just mind boggling to me. I know you're getting ready to kick us out. Yeah. Camera's dying. But yeah, exactly. But it's, it's crazy how fast time flew and there's so much, we can talk about so many jokes over the years and I just wanna, like, from the bottom of my heart, even just thank you guys. Like you guys have always, uh, believed in things that we were a part of, whether they succeeded or they failed or they made it or they didn't. And for you guys to still be on this journey with us is a true testament to not only your loyalty, but just your, your friendship in general. I, I would not want to live in a world that didn't have you guys in it. No, I appreciate it, bro. I, I just appreciate you guys being like aunts and uncles to my kids. Mm-hmm. And for them to also have strong role models to, to follow. And I'm, I'm just so grateful. Like we've had the opportunity to travel with our parents together. We just got back from Cape Town South African Zimbabwe because mom was there. Uh, Kia's mom was there, and just so many beautiful memories that we've had over the years. The, the good ones, the, the savage ones. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because we can go way down the rabbit hole with that as well, but it is, it's just been such a, a rewarding life. Doing life with just beautiful people. And I thank you guys and, and I wouldn't be here shooting the Journey podcast the way we do it if it wasn't even for you guys. So thank you. And, uh, any departing words. So if this were the last podcast episode, God forbid, knock on wood, but let's just say it was, and you had to leave some advice for the world and, uh, what would that advice be? And also to close out, where can our audience. Find you guys okay. Yeah, then sure. So, uh, my parting words would say would be to be open. Be open to your friends, your family, like be able, be open to networking and be open to your own self because I feel we, we can lock in a lot of our talents just by feeling that it might not be useful to every anyone else, but just do it. Just content creation. Just where it's going. I'm telling you, like you were saying earlier, we don't want, we don't wanna miss the boat. We wanna draw the boat. Definitely. Okay. Get up on this boat because I know we can help each other to help each other elevate to many different levels. And it's, it takes connection. So everyone listening, watching, please just believe in yourself, believe in the people who love you, and know that you're gonna leave something good for the people that come after you. And, hey, life is short, right? That's right. So we have to just make the best of it and just show ourselves, get out of the, get outta the dim light. Get outta the shadows. Let us see your, your work. Let us see your love. Let us see you and just know that someone will appreciate it, I promise you. Absolutely. So good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Ill see you at the Creatives conference as well that see you shine. Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So this was my last podcast episode. I would say get to creatives conference. That's number one. A hundred percent. Definitely Tampa, Florida location coming soon. Um, but what I'll also say is kind of similar to what Vicki was saying, because we're at a shift in the world. I don't know if, if everyone knows what's really going on mm-hmm. And we see it. We see a shift in the way people do business, the way people market themselves, the way just, you see what's happening with podcasting. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're, you can literally build an entire business off of just a podcast. Yeah. Not talking about video production or filmmaking, just a podcast. Very true. Right. Find out where you fit in in this world shift. Is it podcasting? Is it filmmaking? Yep. Is it creating reels? Is it marketing? Is it ai? That's right. If you're not, you will get left behind. And what's happening now? We went to an event, A BNH Auto, uh, A-V-B-N-H photo event in New York Expo. And you've seen some people that were probably twice my age. Mm-hmm. I mean 80 years old. Wow. Running businesses, 70 years old, 60 years old, running businesses, and they're in. There's a lot of different breakout sessions and they were in the content creation one'cause they don't know what's going on. They don't want, they, it's, they're finally starting to wake up. Mm. They have a mama and pop store and they're like, listen, I gotta get on social media. Yeah. I don't know how to do it. Yeah. Lemme get some insight from this 30-year-old, 20-year-old person. That's right. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. If you don't see, our world is shifting to now the younger people or the teachers, definitely. I don't know. I don't know what you're looking at. So definitely. Jump on the boat. I agree. Yeah, I agree. And I mean, we could drop the mic right there. I mean, so such good. Good advice. Thank you so much, guys. Really appreciate it. And they'll be back, I can assure you that we'll be doing a lot more episodes. Yeah. Ain't the last one that, that was just hypothetical guys. Exactly, exactly. Hypothetical. So, um, I'm looking forward to doing a lot more episodes with, with you guys and I'm just so, uh, grateful that we were able to. Get this first one kickstarted with the Creators conference. And thank you guys for even flying and making the sacrifice with your time. Of course. Yeah. And looking forward to having some more fun. So we're actually about to go to the venue right after this, one of the venues we have in mind. And, uh, we're so excited for you guys to just, you know, see a little bit more about what we got cooking up over these next few weeks. So there you have it. Guys, thank you so much for tuning in. Make sure you like, comment, share, tag, follow my wonderful friends on social media and we'll be seeing you on the next episode. Take care later. Peace.