People Over Profit: Building A Residential Care Home With Integrity And Grit

What if a single morning on the road rewired your entire life? Nathan “The Greatest” Loftis takes us from oilfield trucks and 4 a.m. call times to a devastating crash in 2020, a six-month struggle to walk, and a fierce commitment to serve seniors with dignity. That turning point fuels Go Giver, his residential care home that welcomes complex cases others turn away, from two-person assists to hospice and memory care. The heart of his story isn’t just resilience; it’s a vow to put people over profit and let integrity lead every decision.

We unpack the real differences between group homes and residential care homes, why caregivers and higher acuity support change the calculus, and how new licensing and permitting rules aim to raise standards without guaranteeing compassion. Nathan gets tactical about startup realities: research and development to reduce risk, compliance and fire suppression budgets that surprise new owners, and the operating reserves needed for the long ramp before the first resident arrives. He also shares how he became the face of his brand, pushed past stereotypes tied to his bold style, and turned authenticity into a marketing advantage that builds trust and recall.

The conversation digs deeper into mindset and leadership. Obstacles, he says, are fertilizer—unpleasant but essential to growth. Doubt from others becomes fuel. Silence and listening sharpen purpose. And when the night gets darkest, it’s the cue for stars to shine hardest. We close by spotlighting the community he’s building with We Are One and Meet The Plug, two growing networks that connect residential care, hospice, and home health professionals across North Texas for referrals, training, and encouragement.

If you care about ethical senior care, are exploring residential assisted living, or just need a blueprint for purpose-driven entrepreneurship, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage for the long ramp, and leave a review with the question you want us to tackle next.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Journey Out Podcast. Welcome to the Journey Out Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Journey Out Podcast. We have another amazing episode for you guys, and we're super excited to just kind of hop in. So let's get into it. We are here with a very special guest.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Mr. Nathan, the greatest loftist. How are you doing? Nathan.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

I'm doing, I'm doing phenomenal, man. I'm just, I'm glad that you acknowledge the fact that I'm special. Hey, man. Alright.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

Because we are, you can't you can't start start this off without acknowledging how great.

Name Meaning And Living As A Gift

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Let me tell you a little bit about my name. So it's a it's a word that I uh uh my mentor taught me about a uh a few moons back. Uh it's called etymology. And etymology deals with the history of the original words and names. And so uh my name is Nathan. People call me Nathan short. I never really knew what the name Nathan meant. I just knew that uh it was biblical. You know, according to the Bible, Nathan was a prophet. My middle name is Darius. Darius was a king, and so I never liked my name. And so one day I was going through this dictionary, I was going to this particular lexicon, and in this particular lexicon, in the back of it, it had names and the language that they come from, right? And in the Hebrew, Nathan literally means a gift from God. I never knew that. My mama never taught me that, right? I don't even think she knew herself, right? Right, right. And so when I found the definition of my name, I was like, man, that's that's that's cool. That means that if I'm of those who live up to the definition of their name, that means that my presence, not not my presence, what I purchase and buy for people, but me, myself as an individual. I'm supposed to be a gift to anybody that I meet or come across. Right. And so I try to live up to the definition of my name. And so that that in fact makes me special, I believe.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

You know what? I I love that you say that. Because we're you live up to that on a day-to-day basis. So we we know you, like we know you, and you do live up to that. You are a gift from God, and you are blessing people every single day. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. First and foremost, you are a residential care homeowner. Yes, sir. Right? Amongst a plethora of other things. You do you were a speaker, you do a whole bunch of other things.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:13

First and foremost, before getting

From Oilfield Driving To Life-Altering Crash

SPEAKER_04 3:15

into the residential care home business, speaking and all of that, what did you do prior to this?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

So, believe it or not, I know you're looking at me and the Dolce Cabana shades and the Dolce Cabana shoes and the George V shirt. And, you know, uh, you might think about a lot of things that I might have did prior to this, but you would never believe that prior to this, I was actually a truck driver in the oil field. Uh uh at the particular time I was a roll-off driver, but I did a plethora of things in the oil field in regards to a vacuum truck driver, a roll-off driver. Uh, I've been a punk operator. I've been uh I've been heavy hard where we're moving oil rigs from one site to another site. So I've I've kind of did it all when it comes to anything dealing with a CDL Class A.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

So, and and with that, dealing with a CDL, Class A, and uh driving these trucks, why did you decide to go install your residential assistant?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

So uh the funny thing about it is uh I was making good money in the oil field, didn't really have a life, but I was making good money in the oil field driving trucks. Uh it wasn't like one day a light came on and said, Oh, I'm doing the wrong thing. Right. No, what had happened was I had I was involved in a truck accident. I never forget it, April 14th, 2020. So this was the year, if you recall, when uh COVID started hitting everybody real hard, you know. Uh this is right before, you know, everybody went on lockdown and everybody was quarantined. I was doing my first load for the day, it was like six something in the morning. I came to an intersection, and this particular intersection was a four-way intersection. It had stop signs at each spot, and it had the blinking red lights, right? And so I stopped like I was supposed to. I was making the left going northbound, finna do my first load for the day. And uh I just noticed that this truck in front of me was coming real fast, and I just snapped. I said, Oh my god, the truck is not going to stop. So just out of instinct, I switched the gears as fast as I could. Thank God I did, because instead of hitting the passenger side of my truck, he hit the passenger side of my trailer. Had I not did that, he would have hit the passenger side of my truck, and I don't think that I would be here because the speed limit on that particular highway was 75 miles an hour. So I don't know if the guy was on his phone. I don't know if he went to sleep at the wheel. I really don't know. Uh he felt real bad about it. It wasn't uh any question as to who fault it was. Uh he was driving teams. So teams is where one person is driving, one person is sleeping, and then they rotate so they can get to their destination faster. Because we can only drive a certain amount of hours a day. So his the guy that was uh he was driving teams with who was sleep was actually uh sleep in the truck uh when it happened and occurred, and the truck was on fire. It was real bad. Wow. So we we managed to you know put the fire out and everything before anything exploded, everybody got away clean. Wow. Uh I had to have uh two, two, I had to uh sustain a neck injury and a back injury. With my neck, it was my C4, my C5. I don't know if you can see that skull right here. They had to go in through the front and then uh to get to the back, and then in my back, the lower right side of my back, my L4, my L5, and my S1. And so

Recovery, Dependence, And A Call To Serve

SPEAKER_01 6:40

uh as fate would have it, uh they messed me more up on the surgery than the actual accident. So as a result of that, I couldn't, I couldn't even walk for six months. So just think about that. Think about everybody is getting hit with this COVID. I missed COVID but didn't miss the truck.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

And then and then in in light of all that and trying to get me back right, they messed me more up on the surgery than the actual accident to the point to where I could not walk for six months.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

So in in dealing with that, what was rehabilitation like for you? What brought you to this point to say, hey, I need to serve others? So tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

I think it was a plethora, it wasn't just one thing. If you go back to my childhood, uh, me and my siblings seen love exuded on a whole nother level. My grandfather, uh, Alex McAfee Sr., may he rest in peace. He took care of my grandmother, his wife, and my great-grandmother, her mother. So they they was located in San Antonio, and then my great-grandmother had a house in um Rockdale, Central Texas, by Temple, close to Austin, all that. And uh shout out to the Rockdale Tigers. Okay, okay. And uh so when her Alzheimer's got to the point to where she couldn't take care of herself anymore, uh, him being the stand-up guy he was, he uprooted his wife, my grandmother, relocated them from San Antonio, Texas to Rockdale, Texas, took care of both of those women until their dying day. And so that same love that my grandfather exuded towards my grandmother and my great-grandmother is the same love that we try to exude towards our residents. That's one reason. Uh the other reason was uh I have a good friend of mine, uh, shout out to Edward Jeffries in Houston, God House of Compassion. Him and his wife have been doing it in the Houston area for over 10 years now. And so when I came to the realization that I could no longer drive trucks as a result of my incident, uh, he told me this would be a good thing. That's number two. And then number three is uh I can identify solely with the singers in which we serve because I know what it feels like to be totally independent

Founding Go Giver And Its Philosophy

SPEAKER_01 8:55

one day and totally dependent the next day. Right. And now, you know, you're not getting the quality service in which you deserve. You're sitting in your feces, you're sitting in your urine. So I wanted to be a light and a dark place, so to speak, you know what I mean? To people like myself who was dependent on somebody else for helping them with their ADLs.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Right, right. And so let's talk about your residential care home a little bit more. Uh Go Giver. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. So, what do you guys do? How do y'all what do you guys provide? What does it look like?

SPEAKER_01 9:29

So, uh the name Go Giver, if I could touch on that briefly. Yeah, of course. Uh, when I couldn't walk, I became an avid reader. Uh, I read a book by a guy by the name of Napoleon Hill. He wrote a book called Outwitting the Devil. Now, in this particular tone, he's discussing about how temptation and how to deal with it in our day-to-day lives. Whereas one particular part of the book, because he is a black author, he says in the black community, in the black culture, when somebody is ambitious, when somebody is driven, they ascribe the title as being a go-getter. Right? Right? Y'all have y'all own PC home hell of y'all go because it takes a lot of courage and ambition to get something off the ground from scratch, from nothing. Right. Right? Uh, and I'm familiar with that term, but he goes on to say, but it comes a point in time in our life where we must transition from mere being a mere go-getter to a go-giver. Wow. I never heard of that term before, and it just resonated with me. I'm like, man, that's that sounds fly, but it really that's that's what's up. That's what's up. So, so we we're supposed to, you know, God blesses us in order to be a blessing to other people. You know anything about the Dead Sea? The Dead Sea is the Dead Sea because their water has a way of coming in, but it has no way of going out. And so we use the dandelion to symbolize what we're trying to achieve with our residents. Because when you blow it, you know, you don't know how far it's gonna go. It touches everybody, right? And so that's how I got the name. It's actually a book called Go Giver. Never heard of the book. I was scared when I heard it was a book. I was like, oh my God, we're gonna get sued. Right, right, right,

Who They Serve And Levels Of Care

SPEAKER_01 11:05

right. Right. But that's how I got the term, the term Go Giver, right? Now, the things that in which we provide for our residents, we handle everything from people who are hospice, who are bedbound, uh, to people who may have stage for cancer, to people who might be dealing with memory care, memory care issues such as dementia, Alzheimer's. We have some people who are more independent than others, right? We take things that an average community wouldn't take. So, so far as um, let's say if it's a two-person assist because they're in the hoya lift, right? You have a lot of communities, you know, their protocol and their policies and procedures doesn't allow them to take people like that, right? So we take a lot of people who a lot of communities don't take.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Right. So, so with that, tell me what for people that want to know, what is the difference between a group home and a residential care home?

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Oh man, you know, that's you know, that's very big because a lot of times we get called a group home, and I don't take offense to it because I know that individual is just not educated. Right? So this that's a good question. So the difference between a group home and a residential care home is that in a group home setting, you're dealing with people who are independent, right? In a group home setting, they might charge anywhere from, I don't know, $700 to maybe $1,500, $1,700 a month, right? You don't uh and a lot of times the owner of the group home makes an actual resident that is there, what's called the home manager, right? And that home manager is responsible for being the eyes and ears when he or she are not there, right? Making sure everybody is getting fed, everybody

Group Home Vs Residential Care Home

SPEAKER_01 12:45

is doing their chores, right? Right? Uh keeping everything sound when they're not around, right? But there are no caregivers in a group home setting. You have to be independent or semi-independent in a group home setting. And we love the group homes. I have a group that consists of a lot of group home owners, but it's very essential that we point out the fact that a group home and a residential care home is different. It's almost like calling a vegan a vegetarian. Right? They're similar, but they're different.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

What says the point a residential care home from a group home and a residential care home, now you're talking about maybe $2,500, $3,500 and up, depending on the level of care. Right. But residential care homes essentially are taking care of people who cannot take care of themselves if they were left alone. Right. So this is why you have caregivers, right? And this is why the price is higher because the level of care, you know what I mean, is yeah, it's it's more than that.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

So I know this is a little off, but I know it was a law passed. It is right. The law has been passed for residential care homes to become licensed. Right, right. Tell me what your take is on that.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

So, you know, uh, I believe that it's kind of like when you uh fall in love for the first time, right? Uh you fall. Right. You you have no uh, you can't recollect having your heart broke. You you you know what I'm saying? So once you get your heart broke, you kind of proceed with caution uh the next time around. Right. Right? Well, that's essentially what happened with this law that has been passed. You have to either be uh permitted or licensed, right? And so they are doing this to kind of ensure that, you know, the people who are taking care of these people are credential and qualified. And I un and I understand that, right? Uh however, uh just because you are licensed or permitted still doesn't mean uh that you're taking care of these people in the manner that you should. Right. Uh so I understand why the whole law came into place because there was a lot of things on TV, people doing a lot of things that were unethical. Right. Uh a lot of people, you know, just in it for the money per se, could care less. You got 30, 40 people staying in the

New Licensing Rules And Integrity

SPEAKER_01 15:05

home, people living in a garage that haven't even been converted to a room. Right. You know what I mean? I mean, so they had to do something. Right. So I understand. Right. You know, but just like a piece of paper in regards to marriage doesn't mean a hill of beans, right? If you don't have your relationship intact with your significant other, so it is with the license and the permit as well.

SPEAKER_04 15:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

You know?

SPEAKER_04 15:30

And I love that you talk about that because that's integrity.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Right.

SPEAKER_04 15:33

You're what you're talking about is integrity. And it's some, and again, I t I'll be saying it every time, the people that we bring on here, it's about integrity. It's about not just putting people in the in the spy and then talk. It's because we know full full throttle that there is some integrity here. And so we know as a b business owner, any type of business owner, it's hard. It is extremely hard. So, what advice would you give to someone who wants to become a residential care homeowner?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Oh man, I have a lot of advice. The the first thing, first and foremost, I would say that you know, a lot of people say do what you're passionate about. Right. Uh, I want to take another take on that. It's a beautiful thing to be able to do what you're passionate about, right? Because at that point, it's no longer a job. Right. I tell people all the time I read the uh the day, uh I read a book called Rich Dead Poor Dead by a guy by the name of Robert Kiyosaki. Uh man, if nobody has read that book, you that's the five, that's the foundation of my financial literacy. He said, a job is an acronym for just overbroke.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

Just overbroke.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Another thing he said that is it's a beautiful thing to do what you're passionate about, but you have to realize, acknowledge, and understand in this fear of existence that we live in, sometimes you have to do what you hate to do in order to do what you love to do. I'm gonna say that again. Go ahead. Go ahead. Sometimes, in order to do what you love to do, you have to do what you hate to do. So uh as a business owner, I could tell you that everything ain't been peaches and cream and Beebly gravy with honey butter biscuits. There were times that I myself had to door dash uh just to keep things afloat in

Hard Truths For New Care Home Owners

SPEAKER_01 17:25

the beginning. It took me seven months to acquire my first resident. So I I know how it is to be paying a big bill and nothing's coming in. Right. Right. Right. And so a lot of people, you you you gotta be cut for this. Right. Right. You you you have to have the heart for this. Another piece of advice that I would give to people who are trying to do what I'm doing is um in corporate America, they have something called R D, research and development. Don't just jump into this thing head first. Right, right. One of the things Robert Kiyosaki talks about in his uh book called Rich Dead Poor Dead, he says, yes, you take risks as a business owner, but it's a difference between just jumping out there and taking a risk and taking a capital risk. Research and development, that what takes the risk to a calculated risk.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Another piece of advice I would give to residential care homeowners is that you can't hop into this industry undercapitalized. You have to have capital to capitalize. You can't just, you know, say, well, hey, I have $8,000 and I'm gonna be a millionaire. That's that's not what's going on here. Right. Your fire suppression system alone, you're you're looking at $35,000, $40,000 minimum. So this is uh a money game. You have to have capital to capitalize. You have to have money put aside for the months when you first started and you don't have no residence. Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

So let's let's go back to that. So you said several months you was putting in the work before you got your first residence. That's right. And putting in that work, right? What are some of the personal things that you have had to overcome? Because you are essentially the marketer for your business, you are the face for your business. Right. So, what were some of those personal things at stepping out there uh in that first seven months and getting that first patient?

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Okay, so check this out. So initially, when it first started, um I was just the guy putting up the money. I wasn't supposed to be the face of the company. Okay. Right? I had other people who were uh uh on the team at the time who were supposed to be the face of the company. So me stepping out and marketing for this is something that I never even ran through my mind. Right, right, right. Right? Right. Uh but you know how it is when you go into business and you try to do something with family, a lot of times it doesn't work. You know what I mean? Especially with people that look like us, but that's another conversation. Conversation for another day.

SPEAKER_04 20:01

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Um, so when when it didn't work out uh with the people who I was trying to get everything off the ground with, I had

Capital, Compliance, And Cost Realities

SPEAKER_01 20:10

to take the reins, not expecting to. Right. And I I officially became the face of the company. I I knew nothing about marketing for this particular field of endeavor, nothing at all. Right. And so uh a good friend of mine who was in Houston, him and his wife have been doing it for over 10 years, right? But they were doing it on a group home level. I was doing it on another level. So even the advice that he gave me, though it was helpful, he could only help me so far, because I was venturing in another on another level. Right that he hasn't, you know, uh he hasn't d delved into yet. So when I came, I came like the like the church said, can't come as you are. Right, right. Well, you see me, I I came as I was. You know what I mean? Uh and so a lot of people, since I came as I was, you see the way that I'm dressed, uh a lot of people they stereotype me. And so, due to people seeing what was on the outside and stereotyping me, placing me in the box, instead of just getting to know me in my heart and my intentions, you know, I was kind of blackballed. You know, hospice wasn't messing with me. Uh, home health wasn't rocking with me, placement agencies, uh uh he's a flyby night, you know? Right. Uh and so it was very frustrating for me. Uh but but one thing uh uh about a go-getter, one thing about a hustler, one thing about somebody who is ambitious, the most dangerous thing that you can tell somebody like that is what they can't do. Because they don't do it. Stop, stop. Now you can repeat that. Yeah, repeat that for the worst thing that you could tell a hustler, the worst thing that you could tell, and when I say hustler, no negative connotation. Right, right. Not holding about anybody that sells dope. Right,

Becoming The Face And Overcoming Bias

SPEAKER_01 22:05

right, right. You know what I mean? Right. If I could take that dope away from you and you're not able to produce the same ass, the same uh money flow that you was when you were selling dope, that means you a dope boy or a dope girl. But you but the You not a hustler.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

A hustler, but this, but listen, eh, what you just displaying of that negative connotation of a hustler, it shouldn't have to be explained. Because the people that understand is understood. But I wanted you to repeat that because it's hard out here. Yes, it's hard out here for us, right? Trying to start something and trying to let people not see the outside, but understand what's in our heart, what's our character, right? Right. So please repeat that again.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

So the worst thing that you could tell a hustler, the worst thing, and when I say hustler, I mean uh like Damon Dash uh definition, a hustler is somebody who creates options for currency. The key word is create. Come on, you create with your mind. Come on. So they say a genius is somebody, they see the same thing that everybody else sees, but they look just a little bit deeper, right? Right, right, right, and you look deep enough to where it fulfills your purpose in life, but it also fulfills your pockets. So you could provide for your family, right? Uh so the worst thing that you could tell a hustler, the worst thing you could tell a go-guilder, the worst thing you could tell somebody who is ambitious and driven is what they can't do. Because that's just putting fuel to the fire. They're gonna do it at a level you never seen done before and take a whole bunch of pictures of it and put it on social media so you can see it. See, this is why it's so essential. You don't block the haters. When you know people don't want you to succeed, when you know people don't have your best interests at heart, when you know you have haters, right? Don't block them. Because I need you to see how this story plays out in the end. Wow. So now the same people who doubted me is the same people who want to be on my team now. It it uh uh when I was growing up, they had the old folks used to have a saying, you probably heard it before. Uh uh uh I'm like Bennett and I ain't in it. Right. Well, let me put a spin on that. Okay, right? Uh I'm like Bennett and I ain't in it. Because it was a lot of people who was down from the beginning, but now they're not down now, or they didn't want to be down, right? Period, right? Let me put a spin on that. Bennett wasn't in it. That's why Bennett didn't benefit. Let me say that again. Uh-huh. Wasn't in it. Right. That's why Bennett didn't benefit. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 24:55

Period. So tell me this. With getting into an industry that you really did not know much about, right? It was trial and error, you were learning everything. What has been some of the greatest lessons

Hustle, Adversity, And Fuel From Doubt

SPEAKER_04 25:10

that you've learned as an entrepreneur in the healthcare industry?

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Let me give you a couple. You see the way that I'm dressed, right? I got a lot of flack for that. I had friends who had my best interests at heart who tried to tell me to switch it up. I mean, you know, and a lot of times you have to understand that I guess that could be a lesson. Sometimes people that have your best interest at heart are giving you advice, right? And it's coming from a good place, right? Right, but it's not what you need to follow through with. You have to learn to tap into your own spirit. You know, you gotta learn how God speaks. God is not gonna part the sky, and Antoine, I have called you amongst your healthcare brethren to raise my. If that's what you're looking for, you're gonna be looking. Right. You know what I mean? God don't speak like that. God speaks through revelation, God speaks through nature, but most importantly, God speaks in silence. That's why they say prayer is when you talk to God, meditation is when you listen. So the old folks say you got two ears and one mouth to listen more than you talk. And the words listen and silent have the same letters because in order to listen, you must first be silent. Right. So when you're going through your turmoil of trying to get something done, you know, listen to the advice, right? But know that that might not be the advice you need to take heed to. Right. Because people have to understand part of marketing is branding. So when I'm dressed like this, it's part of my brand.

SPEAKER_04 26:48

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Right? Another thing I was tell people is, you know what I mean, uh, when you're getting something off the ground, uh, if if you reach your goal immediately, you might not be doing fulfilling your purpose.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Come on. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

When when when God calls you to do something great, there's a lot of hurdles, there's a lot of obstacles that you're gonna have to overcome and surmount in order to reach and achieve the overall agenda at hand. So that's why they say if you don't have haters, then you're not doing nothing. Right. And and those obstacles, man. Those obstacles.

SPEAKER_03 27:25

And I love them. You know, I love them now, but in the beginning, it knocked me in the back.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

It's hard to love something that is hard to go through and you don't see the end.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

And I'm gonna tell you. And I'ma tell you, I I'ma tell you now. I thank you for those of I'm blessed. Thank you, Gilly, for those obstacles. Oh, there's I uh when obstacles come today, I look at them totally different than what I looked at them before. So those obstacles are not for everybody. Some people are laid down, some people be finished with it.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

There's a quote that says this. I'm a very avid reader. People be like, where do you get this stuff from? I read. You know what I mean? They say that uh uh poor people uh poor people have big TVs, rich people have big libraries. It's a quote that says this. It says, obstacles do not get in your way to prevent you

Lessons On Brand, Faith, And Patience

SPEAKER_01 28:20

from your goal. Right. Obstacles come in your way for you to prove how much you want to reach your goal.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Okay, so high five going on. Give him a high five. Give me a high five.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

I'm a I read a book, right? This book is by an author named Robert Green. He wrote a plethora of books. One of his most famous books is The 48 Laws of Power. Power, yeah. Right. But he has another book called The Art of Seduction. Now, I've heard of Don Juan, right? And I've heard of uh uh what's the other guy, Casanova. So uh when you say Don Juan, Bishop Don Juan? No, no, not the pimp. Okay. The original. Okay, okay, okay. Don Juan over there, like in Spain. Okay, I got you. I got you. Okay, so uh I heard about Don Juan and I heard about Casanova. For those who are not familiar with uh these men, uh, a lot of people think they were myths, some people say they were real. I don't know, right? But these were what you call uh gentlemen. These were what you call the master seducers when it came to women. And one of the things that both of these individuals had in common when I read and I did my study and my research on Casanova and Don Juan, you know the one thing they had in common? What's that? They did not like women who were easy. They liked the priestess in the castle, they like the nun in the monastery. Uh they see what I'm saying? They like the challenge. The challenge. Yeah. So so so so so so when you're ambitious, you you you you have to like the challenge. You can't be one of these people, and we live in a microwave society where you think you just put it in there for 30 seconds and it comes out ready and dumb. That's that's you gotta go back to nature. When you plant a seed, whether it's a watermelon seed or a corn seed, or you don't just plant it and it brings forth the next day, baby. It takes time, right? Right? And let me let me point out since we're talking about that, this is another lesson. Now, the first thing that a farmer or agriculture does before they buy a plot of land is they make sure that the soil is fertile, right? When you do the etymology on the word husband, it will take you to the word husband tree. Husband tree literally means a cultivator, a gardener, a wine dresser, or agriculture because the husband is supposed to cultivate his wife. I'm getting all tracked up. So you you you you get a plot of land that's fertile because you don't want to waste your time and your money on something that's not gonna produce. Right? But they have something called fertilizer. You know what fertilizer really is? It's manure. It's not pleasant to the sense of smell, right? It's very repelling, right now. So if you plant it in fertile soil, it will produce over time. But what the fertilizer does is actually accelerate the growth and development of whatever it is that you have planted. Right, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

So it is with adversity in life, man. We don't like it, but it's needed, right? It's needed. I love it. The haters, it's needed, the challenges, the obstacles, the adversity. Hey man, I can't say that I'm a gangster if my gangster ain't never been tested. Well I can't say I'm a business owner and I'm successful. If my business IQ and acuity has never been tested, you be tested. When the when you are in the classroom setting, and the teacher wants to know if you actually ascertain the information in which they disperse from the podium, they administer

Obstacles As Fertilizer For Growth

SPEAKER_01 32:15

what's called a test. The test determines if you understood the lessons that were being taught. So in life, we have lessons. Adversity, challenges, obstacles are all a part of the course. Speed bumps might slow you down, but they don't stop you.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

Now, I'm glad you say that because a lot of people, because of how it's represented these days, it's easy to get rich quick. I can just put this little they think it's so easy. There are steps you have to go through. And if you don't have haters, you don't have adversity, you don't, you're not doing anything. You are not doing anything because you know you are doing something worthwhile when you have those things coming your way. I love that you say, and so before I wish we could just continue to go on forever. One of the one of the last questions that I want to make sure that we ask. Being that you're running a residential care home as a business, how do you reconcile profit with compassion?

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Man, that's good. So you go to school to what? To to learn, right? That's one of those things that just can't be taught. You you you you you you're either sincere, genuine, right, and authentic.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Oh you're no, you're not.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

You know, it that's a that's a that's a that's a question of character. It is that's that's a question of care. I'm not talking about your image. Right, right. What people see and what people think, because a lot of times the images that that are portrayed are are not the re uh a resemblance of the reality of the mouth. Yeah. You ever met a woman, Antoine, and you know what I mean? Oh man, she is just so pretty. Yeah, and then you know, after being with her the first time, you see her with her makeup off. And you're like, this is not the woman I seen on Tinder. Yeah. This is this is you fooled me. This is this is not what I signed up for. Nathan Catfish, you gotta got cathet. Okay. Hey man, people don't like to be fooled. Right, right. It's another quote. It says, Don't betray what you portray. Wow. So, so so so so so being being being authentic, being genuine, being sincere, that's that's a that's a question of character. Right. Yes, this is not a non-profit, and yes, I am trying to make a profit to provide for my family, yeah, but I'm never gonna put myself in a situation or circumstance where I put profit over people. Come on. It's always people over profit. Come on. If you take care of the people, you will get the profit or come.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

So it's kind of like uh you gotta be methodical when it comes to success. A comes before B, B comes before C. You can't do it any other way, right? And so before you get into health care or any other business or field of endeavor, the the one thing you want to make sure that's solid is your character. And and that's something that's the universities don't teach. Right. Uh, that's something that even your parents could have instilled in you, right, but you know, you just didn't, you you didn't take heed to it. Right. So it's it's it's very that's a that's a question of character.

SPEAKER_03 35:55

So I tell you what, the relationships that we have formed in this business and in life, as friends, as part as partners with people, uh your character stood out to me, Nate. Right. I know uh

Profit And Compassion: People First

SPEAKER_03 36:10

I I can tell you were genuine. Right. The genuine person who you are, I seen that. So I know when we first met the cut first couple of times, I I'm like, man, you know what? I appreciate you, man. Uh I just say thank you or stuff like that. Because I can see that you were genuine. Already. You know, it wasn't you wasn't hiding nothing. What you see is what you get. Right. Right? Who and and that I was like, that's a friend.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 36:35

That bump bump partners or business, that's a friend. Can I energy? Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

You know why social settings are so draining for a lot of people? Social settings are draining for a lot of people because it takes a lot of energy to be somebody you really like. It takes a lot of internal fortitude to be who you are, regardless of who likes you or not. The way that I dress, this ain't no gimmick. I would be like this if I wasn't in the healthcare industry. This is me, baby. And you know, the people that got something to say about the way that I dress. Let me just say something. You know what I'm saying? Last time I checked, man, you know, Don't Check a Bonna shades wasn't cheap.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

Right.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Don't take a bana shoes. Yeah, yeah, they wasn't cheap. That's 1300. I'm just trying to prove a point because the people that has something to say, something, they employees. How dare you even speak? I'm a boss. It's nothing wrong with being an employee. But hey, man, a lot of times when people is hating on you, they really not hating on you. It's a perverted form of admiration. It's just like the little boy when you was when you was in school, right? And and and he's pushing you hard when you're playing Doug Doug Goose, and he's making fun of your braces, and he's always cracking jokes and throwing spit walls at you. Later on in life, as a young adult, 21, 22, you run across this same individual and he says, You know, Bree, I always had a thing for you. And you hit him with that Scooby-Doo. You? The one that used to throw spit bars at me. Push me hard and dumb dunk. Yeah, I just I liked you. I just didn't know how to tell you. Well, it's the same thing as adults. A lot of people are not emotionally mature enough to say, man, how you do that? Can you teach me? I like your style. Can you show me the way? That that so it comes out in the perverted form of, hey, they really admire you.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

Right. But they're not emotionally mature enough to convey and express that to you. So it comes up in the perverted form of what we call and label this hate.

SPEAKER_03 38:59

Let me say this, Nate. The people that have gotten to know you is has been rewarded with some knowledge and uh and connection and love, right? So let's talk about real quick. It'll be the last thing. Listen, y'all. Let me put the camera right here.

Authenticity, Energy, And Perceived Hate

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Listen, we got the camera.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

Season three is different. Season three is different. So get ready for this ride. But for Nate, we are one. You connect a lot of professionals, business owners, and you give insight to how to help them build their brand and their business. Tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

So uh the reason why the whole I have two groups. I have one called Meet the Plug on Facebook, um, which we are over 5,000 members now. Uh a little bit over three years, we 5,000. And then the We Are One group that you're speaking of is on an app called Group Me. It's called We Are One. It is a healthcare group. Initially, it was for group homeowners, residential care home owners, residential assisted living owners, because after going to all these groups in the morning, I said, man, you know, it's a lot of beautiful groups out here, right? But there's nothing for us. And so I created it for us, and it really transmuted into something different. And so, since hospice and home health and all these different facets of the healthcare industry help us do what we do, uh, we invited them as well. So now it's like open to the public pretty much. Uh and so that's the reason why I started that group. Um, a lot of people uh noticed that I had uh the gift of gab, as they say. Uh the vernacular is very extensive. And so uh people were wanting me to speak at certain groups, but I think that uh the way that I was delivering my speech, I was too radical. And so I wasn't invited anymore uh to speak at those groups, right? And speaking is something that I love to do. Believe it or not, every time I speak, I have butterflies. My mentor taught me, he said that uh whenever you stop having butterflies, be wary because you might be feeling yourself too much. You understand the weight of what you're doing. You might say something that changes the trajectory of somebody else's life. Right. Right. Uh and so, you know, God gave me this gift, and like I said, a gift is not something you keep and hold to yourself, it's something you give away freely. If I buy or purchase you a gift for your birthday, it's not a gift until I give it to you. Right, right. And so I have to give away this gift freely. Uh so we are one is uh a healthcare meetup. We meet up every other month, the last Friday of the month, at a place called Reunion Rehabilitation Hospital, Arlington. Uh, the head of business development there, Miss Daphne. Shout out to Daphne. It's up there. Uh she heard me speak at one of the We are one meetings and she said, Where are you having the next one at? I said, I she said, I tell you where you having it, you having it at reunion and everyone after that. Right. You locking it in. Yeah, I mean, because I, you know, you know, we want to have it there. So she locked me in. Uh so to answer your question, we are one group is just it started off with just strictly group home owners, care home owners, residential assistant living owners. Now it's pretty much just if you're in healthcare, period, or you just want to hear a good word. We have a turnout of like 60 something people, the biggest turnout of any healthcare meetup uh uh in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. Yeah. Right. And so uh I look forward to it. Uh a lot of people want to have it more regularly, but you know what I mean? I think that's what keeps people coming back, is that you know what I'm

Building Community: We Are One And Meetups

SPEAKER_01 43:00

saying, you don't get burnt out on it. Right, right. Right, right. You know, right. And so it's it's the opportunity for me uh to teach a lot of people the things that I've taught and maybe help somebody on their journey, on their way, uh, whether you're a business owner or an employee, right? Uh, because a lot of times, you know what I mean, we need those extra words of encouragement, especially if we're in a rut or things are not going as we planned it. Uh, right. Uh somebody's grandmother used to always say, uh, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Right. Because a lot of times our plans aren't on God's words. Right. Right. Right. So that's that's what the We O One meeting is all about.

SPEAKER_04 43:39

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Listen.

SPEAKER_04 43:40

It's it's honest, honestly, just been such a pleasure sitting here and being able to talk with you. I mean, we we talk regularly, but being able to really just put it out so other people can hear it. Because again, they only see this, but they never, they never see this. And so I'm so glad that you were able to share that with so many people because that's what it's about. And then also on helping people understand that entrepreneurship is not easy, but it's really who you are as a person and the heart behind what you're doing that accelerates you to the next level. So I thank you for coming on and bringing it up.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

Go ahead. You know, the only reason I'm saying it is because I see you have, y'all always match. I love that. And branding is a part of marketing, right? Yeah. And then I have black on. It wasn't playing, I promise.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

It wasn't.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

It was not. But it it made me think of something, and I'm just gonna end with this. You know, uh, a lot of people say, you know, I'm a ghetto superstar, or I'm a star, or you know, I'm a ghetto celebrity. I ain't got no problem with none of that. But to all the people who feel as though they are stars or they aspire to be stars one day in their particular field of endeavor, I want to leave you with this quote. It says this the darker it gets. The thing about the truth is the more profound and the more closer to the truth it is, the simpler it is. Yeah, the darker it gets, the harder the stars shine. That's what makes a star a star. Things ain't going your way, things not going as planned, you know. You ain't got no patience, you ain't got no residence, you hiring people who really can't fulfill the vision and mission statement you have for your company funds, it's getting low, it's getting dark, it's getting dark, but this is where the stars shine hardest. That's what makes a star a star. The darker it gets, the harder it shines. So I encourage everybody out there who not even in the healthcare industry in life, period. If it's getting dark and you the star that you say that you are, just shine.

SPEAKER_04 46:03

And with that, that's it. Ain't got nothing else to say. He wrapped that up.

SPEAKER_03 46:07

He wrapped that up. One thing we got to say, thank you, Nate.

SPEAKER_04 46:09

Yes, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 46:10

You guys like, follow, and subscribe.

SPEAKER_04 46:12

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Okay, so uh I don't have a business phone and a personal phone because my business is personal. Um, so you can find me. Uh my website is go giver G-O G-I-V-E-R agency uh dot com. Go giveragency.com. Uh you can reach us on our website there. Uh my number that you can get in contact with me personally and in regards to business is 682-410-3800. Again, that's 682-410-3800. We have two groups. We have Meet the Plug, Healthcare in North Texas on Facebook. We have over 5,000 members, and then we have the We Are One uh group on the app called Group Me. Uh, it was a pleasure.

Closing Wisdom And Contact Info

SPEAKER_03 47:05

Season three. Journey Out.

SPEAKER_04 47:08

Yeah.