Jacobo Laya Jr. | Jac and Mac Photography LLC | Veterans Growing America

In this powerful episode of the Veterans Growing America Podcast, hosts Coach RL Simmons and Donnell Johns sit down with Jacobo “Jacob” Laya Jr., Navy veteran, entrepreneur, and the co-founder of Jac and Mac Photography LLC. Jacob shares his inspiring journey from 20 years of service in the U.S. Navy to building a family-centered photography business rooted in storytelling, legacy, and purpose. 

Born in Philadelphia, raised in Venezuela, and inspired by both his father’s naval service and his uncle’s photography career, Jacob reveals how his military experiences and passion for capturing life’s moments shaped his entrepreneurial path. From photographing Gulf War missions and ship formations from helicopters to preserving weddings, family milestones, and generational memories, Jacob explains why photography is far more than pictures—it’s legacy. 

This episode dives deep into military transition, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, multiple streams of income, and the importance of starting your business while still in uniform. Jacob also shares how losing jobs after retirement reinforced the need for resilience, backup plans, and building businesses that protect your family’s future. 

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

•  Jacob’s 20-year Navy career as an Operations Specialist 
•  The origin story behind Jac and Mac Photography
•  Why photography is about capturing legacy, not just images
•  The importance of family, marriage, and shared entrepreneurship
•  Lessons on transition from military to civilian life 
•  Why multiple streams of income are essential
•  How Rich Dad Poor Dad changed Jacob’s financial mindset 
•  The role Veterans Growing America played in his business journey 

Whether you’re a veteran, creative entrepreneur, photographer, or someone building a family business, this conversation is filled with wisdom, heart, and practical lessons on building something meaningful.

Connect with Jacobo “Jacob” Laya Jr.:

•  Instagram: Jac and Mac Photography
•  Facebook: Jac and Mac Photography
•  LinkedIn: Jacobo Laya Jr.

Support Veterans Growing America:
Visit veteransgrowingamerica.com to discover veteran-owned businesses, join the directory, and support entrepreneurs creating impact in their communities.

Work with Coach RL Simmons:
Visit yourmoneygoat.com to simplify your finances, business strategy, and legacy planning.

Like, comment, and subscribe for more stories from veterans who continue to serve through business, creativity, and leadership.

#VeteransGrowingAmerica #JacoboLaya #JackAndMacPhotography #NavyVeteran #VeteranEntrepreneur #PhotographyBusiness #MilitaryTransition #CoachRLSimmons #DonnellJohns #LegacyThroughPhotography #FinancialLiteracy #Entrepreneurship

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Veterans Grown America podcast. I am Coach Ariel Simmons. I am here with my illustrious co-host, Donnell Johns, and we have another special guest for you today. We have Mr. Hakobo Laia Jr. He is the co-founder and co-owner of Jack and Mac Photography LLC, and he is also a Navy veteran. Welcome to the show, sir.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Thank you, uh uh Simmons and Donnell for being for being here inviting me here to be in your in your program.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Sure. Hakobo. So I know you, but my audience wants to get to know you. Can you tell us a little bit about your military experience and background?

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Okay, well, uh a little bit about my background. The reason for for Jacobo is because my parents, my father is from Venezuela, my mom is from Puerto Rico. I was born in Philadelphia. Then I was raised in Venezuela there until about I was 12 years old and came back here to the States uh at the age of 12 and been here in the States ever since. Joined the Navy at 18 and retired in 2012 doing 20 years of Navy there as an operations specialist on board uh USS Saipan, USS Nicholson, USS Porter, USS Monterey, COMUS NAFSO, the uh Southcom version, the Navy version of Southcom down in uh in Puerto Rico, as well as uh Surface Warfare Development Group, which is my my other shore duty in Little Creek.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

That is awesome. Let me ask you this question. I always wanted to know, and I never got the chance to ask a uh a person in the Navy. When you when you cross over, I think it's the equator or something like that. Yep. Will it flush differently?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Again, it flushes differently when you get flashed up hot. I'm not a lot of the events out there. Thanks, thankfully, those things have come down back in the days. And like, man, show back was an awesome stuff stuff that we did. Happy.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yeah. Um, let me ask you this though. How did your military training and experience influence your journey into entrepreneurship?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Oh well, I was uh my father was in a Venezuelan Navy, so he inspired me to be to join the Navy when out when I got in here. He told me his his sea stories when he came when he was uh in in the Navy back there. He came over to his port here in Norfolk to get the ship repaired. And on uh on a trip to DC, he met my uh my uncle, which was my mom's uh brother at that time on the trip, and they took him to Philly. That's where we met, that's where he met my mom. 57 years now in in marriage. You know, I'm to be the the the byproduct of that of that union and everything there. Similarly, I was when I when I joined in. Uh my wife came to our house because they were from my mom was a bank teller there in uh in Philly, and the family came over to open up an account. They turned out to be from Venezuela, and hey, what do you know? Come on over and check us out. And that's how we came to meet. 26 years later, uh we're here uh father of four, and uh happily going over there. What really inspired me was uh obviously going on the trips all all over the world, just like my my dad did. And then my uncle, he was a famous photographer. He is a famous photographer in Venezuela, and he inspired me to have my first camera and inspired me, hey, if you can take those pictures, I'm gonna go all over the world. I gotta, I gotta capture that stuff there. So I took my uh my course before my first cruise, got my certification from the New York Institute of Photography there to uh to be certified as a professional photographer before my first cruise, and took that as my uh my second role in the Navy. And every ship I went to, I I did that that uh that role for my ship. Instead of having them to go over and contact uh other photographers from the Navy itself to come to the ship. I did it all for every ship and every command I did it there and on while I served. I got a chance to fly in helicopters, got to do combat photography without ever going to this photography school. Just did it all on my own because I was passionate about it. You know, like I said, my my uncle inspired me for that.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

No, I love that. Tell me a little bit about your favorite story that you were able to take a picture of.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Flying over uh on the Gulf War, up in the first Gulf War, flying over Kuwait, flying over uh Saudi Arabia and everything, taking those shots there, just the ability of being the opportunity to take on uh flying out there. Nobody trained me. You just hook you up in the helicopter and just doing there. Then uh the captain asked me if uh if I wanted to do a maritime exercise video of the formation of the ships. So they took they flew me in the helicopter and took over there and then started taking all the ships, the picture of all the ships as they maneuver into the formations and everything right there. And I was like, hey man, it's like look at me. And I not love it. The opportunity the Navy gave me was just kind of unfathomable. Like just awesome. And I just I gotta give back. And this is my way of giving back to everything the Navy did for me at that time. That's right. Same thing, obviously, God was He's responsible for making all these movements in my life as well.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

And so where are those pictures at today?

SPEAKER_01 5:16

They're here on the on the on my share drive and everything in my album. Unfortunately, uh, I've been trying to get to the time, but life as we live here in mighty USA, you uh you live to work instead of work to live. Unfortunately, uh hope is as we grow in our businesses, is to gain that that uh that edge of in the financial independence to be able to do and dedicate our our free time to hey, here's what he's my legacy that I can leave behind and everything, and sit down and and make uh something so that when I die, hey, my kids can have something to remember me. Just like I have the albums of my parents and my father, and and his teams hopefully will inspire my grandchildren, which I'm about to be one, have one soon. They'll inspire, they'll get them inspired as well.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

Congratulations on that. So talk to me a little bit about I know you you haven't always been in business, but talk to me about where the bug for business started and how that bug happened. Was it was it something that you wanted to do, something that you needed to do? Tell me a little bit about where it came from.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Well, my second brother, the second brother of my dad, he was an entrepreneur in Venezuela. He had several businesses over there. Again, I took everything from each one of my uh my uh my uncles in my my my dad's side of the family. Uh one was uh a photographer, my other my aunt was uh physics and uh math teacher in the university in in Venezuela, and uh and I took into astronomy was another passion of mine there as well. And then I obviously my uncle, he was the owner of several businesses over there, and it's like, hey, he had a Range Rover, he had all kinds of stuff over there. It's like, hey, business is the way to go. And I knew that, hey, I could start a business as well. And uh, and I did. And when I got married, it's like I told it was an adventure to do something with me and my wife. That's why it's called Jack and Mac Photography. Mackey, Macley is my wife, we've been now with 26 years. We said, hey, let's do this together. Because this is not an opportunity to do something together. Most couples don't do. Everybody, we all go to work, we all do our our J L Bs all the time and everything, but then the relationships don't flourish because we don't have something in common. This part has an opportunity. We we love our marriage, and we figured that, hey, let's do photography, let's do wedding photography. Every time we go to a wedding, we get to relive it, recount our our union, our our time together, and our how we started, and also share the opportunity to others as they they start their journey in marriage as well. Not just with pictures, but also with knowledge and experience.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Tell me a little bit about Jack and Mac photography. Like what is the unique business proposition? Tell us, you know, you kind of give us the conception of it. Tell us what you do for folks.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Well, you know, I saw most photographers, hey, we it's more than just pictures. Every photographer can anybody can put in camera. We all got cameras in ourselves now, every day. So what's so unique about pictures? You know, pictures tell the story. And that's what we want to tell our folks, you know. You have certain events that are coming into your life, your family is a part of your life. You want to take that, you want to take that moment and capture those because other time frames that when you're gonna look back at an album, when's the last time you picked an album? And that the moment you saw one picture just brought that that image back into your that time again, you know. Your your friends and everything. Every time I watched my family go back and hey, when when we were in Puerto Rico, when we weren't here in in Virginia as their kids grow up, you see all those shifting changes. Where's time go? You know, how do you value now? You're gonna now you get that this uh perspective now differently, and you get to value that. You know, I've done a career now 40 years defense cock training. I did a lot of stuff in my in my career. What am I doing with with my family? Only the pictures are gonna tell that. Are you decorating your walls at your home with what you accomplished in your job or what your family, the good times you've been having with your family? Why not both? You know, we see a lot of people have their office, big achievements and everything, but where's their family? Little 8x10, 5x6, 4x5, little prints and all that stuff. That's how big it is? No. It should be just as big as as your achievements in your career as well be. Same thing for your wedding album. People spend don't want to spend all that stuff, but hey, that that's only a one-time event in your life. You're never gonna get that back. And it's the one investment you're gonna do out of all that expenses that you get to carry the whole back. You can't bring the the the venue, you can't bring the cake, you can't bring the food or anything that stuff with you when it's over. The only thing you get to keep is your album, is your pictures. So that's what we bring. We want to tell your story. We want to tell you through our lenses about you. It's not about us. I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

No, I appreciate that. As you were, as you were talking about different moments that you've captured, it got me. So so this weekend, one of my good friends came by the store. Well, he's been a friend for I want to say almost 15, maybe 20 years. And he was on my team, he was one of the recruiters on my team, but we I always develop a friendship with the people that that I work with. And he was one of my top recruiters and we went to Hawaii. And at the time, my son was maybe three years old. And now both his son and my son are both in the military now. It's funny when I got back home, I looked at the picture and it was them with us in Hawaii because he won top recruiter that year. So we got we both brought our kids and our family to that event. And it just got me thinking about how important are.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

And it is it is. Every time I cop pick up my uh pictures from my ship, I look at the that camaraderie, that where's that again? You know, those are the good times. And when you look at that stuff, and you know how bad it hits you, you know how much you miss it, and and all that stuff. You know, and the same thing with our families. And it's like here while we live together, it's the we get annulled our day, our daily routine, and just don't appreciate things uh the way they should we should be doing. That's one thing I uh I started to doing after uh 17 years now with with Jack and my photography. Uh, I also wanted to do also uh the finances uh as well. And that's why I opened up uh my financial compass uh as a second endeavor that I started after losing my my uh my job at uh at the Missile Defense Agency in 2019, and like, hey, if it wasn't for the for the photography, I'll be in the street with my family there because I didn't have nothing to back me up. You know, and that's I try to teach people, hey, you can depend on the days of uh of employment of depending on one source of income is gone. That's gone. So you know if you don't have multiple sources of income, you gotta start doing something.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

For sure. 100%. So that was a great segue into my into my next question. It's all about you know, transition and challenges, right? No, when you left the military. If your transition was like mine, you had a great time when you left. No, I didn't have a great time. It was a tough transition for me.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Uh and then the next transition. Hey, I did clear CIF in 22 minutes, though. I feel like that's a record. That is.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

It has to be a record. 22 minutes. That's awesome. So we're going through this transition. Talk to me about you know, your transition from the military into entrepreneurship, the good, the bads, you know, and how you overcame that.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Well, it's it needs to start. Take advantage of it. If you want to start that entrepreneurship, start it with even when you're in uniform and all that stuff. Because you gotta you have that that you have that source of income. You have a solid source of income coming into you that now you can you can experiment. If you fail, it's not going to affect you. Whereas if you wait until the last minute and now you want to get started when you get out, wrong time, Baba. If because if you got you have family to protect, you have family to take care of, it's not the time to start that that kind of adventure. If if you are the if your partner uh is not making that that solid income as well, it's not something you want to take risk, especially in today's economy. I started my business when I started Jack at my photography, and just when the moment I got we got married, a year later, and everything. And I started doing it. By the time we got I retired, Jack and My Photography was already running. We already had seven years, eight years already in in business and all that stuff. Was it perfect? No, it was never perfect. And it still is not and and all that. But we did it on uh on a part-time business, they're still doing it in a part-time business because obviously photography doesn't generate the income we need to sustain in this economy uh uh right now. But then I I learned more after losing that job and reading uh Rich Dad Poor Dad. I learned, hey, that's that's the best book that was a slap in the face to me. I better learn that stuff ASAP and everything. And that's why I started uh my financial compass. Because you know, I gotta learn about the finances. We learn so little, nobody teaches us. I was gonna command financial specialist in in my in in three of my ships, and they didn't teach us a lot of this stuff there either. You know, now I'm I'm old, you know, you wanna say so, hey, 55, but then you don't at that age, you don't have that opportunity to do that that compound effect to get that independence. Now you have to triple the time to generate the income to to get to the to that retirement. You're younger, man. The moment you got that uniform on, start doing something about it on the outside. More income is gonna come to you right there. Don't wait. The longer you wait, the the biggest, biggest mistake you'll you'll make. And I try to tell that to my kids and to every youngster out there.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Yeah, you you know I'm eating this up, you know. I know. Yeah, I love that. I love to hear that. I love to hear that. I think one of the biggest things that um want to note that you said, and a lot of people don't genuinely have that level of transition in their business when we talk about the that that transitional challenge. I do recall um a while ago, um, I did interview Jay Salters. He was he's been on a show friend of Donnell in the show, and we had a conversation about the right time to enter entrepreneurship. And he said that was some mentorship guidance that he got was to start his business while he was in service. Then it led me to like kind of dive a little bit more into my business because I felt like, hey, I'm torn between service and you know, getting a second job. And you know, when you're a younger soldier, they always tell you, hey, you gotta ask your command to have another job and things like that. But as you said though, like times have changed. Like, even for soldiers, I think it's imperative to ensure that they have multiple streams, soldiers and sailors and airmen to have a multiple streams of income. I think it is just that is the type of the uh economy we're in. But also, financially speaking, that's just a safe bet, right? You don't want to have all your eggs in the same basket, and that was what's gonna allow you to transition from one thing to another. When you have when you have that um that one source of income, you're really like stuck. You you really got the carrot in the stick, and you know, you're just chasing that carrot the whole time. Babe, but when they pull that carrot away, you're stuck with nothing. So I think that was very commendable for you to actually really bring up the the financial literacy piece of that, but also letting them know that they need to start their business early. And I'm glad that you were able to have such a transition into your business from service. Now, let me ask you this though. From your time in service, what are some of the things that you learned in service that now transitions into what you do in your business?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Well, not just in my business, but uh, but in my career, I took everything that the uh the Navy taught me. There, I was an operations specialist, I learned about each of my warfare areas uh that I was in working in CIC. Well, then how can I turn that into a career for myself? That's a business on itself. Because you want to, you know, you're getting your degrees and maybe and all these things there. And fortunately, uh the moment I knew I was gonna retire, I I didn't wait to taps to do to start my research. I went over and started doing putting applications a year ahead of time just to get to see if, hey, can I can I get it, am I worthy enough? Is my my experiences, is my resume good enough there to get me the JOB that I needed when I got when I got out. And when I retired on a Friday, I was on uh on doggren working at the uh uh uh at um ATRC over there at the uh Aegis Training School, they're working being uh a simulator for one of the classes, the classes they're teaching officers, uh air warfare, ballistic missile defense there. And hey, took what I learned from them from the military and put it in my skill into into work. Don't wait. You got the skills take advantage of all the stuff the military is is is is teaching you. That's experience that you're is so valuable out there right now and and everything. And this is when there's no job, I've been fired three times, I lost my job three times and everything in those processes in 20 and 14 years since I retired. So it's gonna happen. If you think it's it's not uh you're gonna be there stuck in one spot all the time, no, you gotta you gotta go through that through that process. And never lose faith, never lose hope. I knew that things were gonna happen. Thankfully, like I said, you have those backup plans. Most people don't have a backup plan. And we need to you need to incorporate that into your system nowadays.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

So tell us about your business or personal superpower.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

My personal superpower and determination and uh and perseverance. That's uh I gotta I'll be uh I'll be like Leo. You know, you got Mr. Smith fighting there in the in the Matrix. I know he's gonna punch me down and gonna get me back up, but I gotta get back up. I gotta I got Zion, I gotta protect. You just gotta go out there and and do what you need to do. It's your family, is your future. Nobody else is gonna do it for you. That's the only thing I can that I can do, is it's my drive, it's my purpose uh there until I get calls.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Hey, as a as a photographer, what would you say is the you know top two moments that you've ever captured behind the camera?

SPEAKER_01 19:06

No, the top two moments of uh in my camera. Well, one of them was uh I was in Greece watching this beautiful yacht going across and the sun was setting right there on the on the water, and I was like three blocks from the perfect spot to take, and I had to run over because I could not miss that one, that yacht as it crossed right there before the sun. It was so miserable. And then uh there was this couple that were getting married at the beach in Florida, and the sun was setting right there, the waves in the water, the background was just so perfect. I just caught their shot of somebody. There was a photographer there doing their wedding, by the way, but I took my shot anyway. Still the moment, and uh and I put that one right there, and it's one of the best shots I ever took at that time as well.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah, I love to hear you describe the scenery of it. That tells you the level of artistry and passion that you have in photography because you speak it the way you the way you speak it, we can see it. I can see that you enjoy what you do.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Oh, man, it's just like you know, you're going through through that wedding. I want to see my wedding there. I want to see every that that passion and that and that emotions and all that stuff. Yeah. You try to come to always try to tell the other couples, get to know your photographer. Even if you don't hire us or anything like that. If you don't have that chemistry with uh with a person who's gonna capture that moment, uh, you know, and is it's bad for you, especially if you're gonna go over there and and you're gonna cut yourself short, trying to get some cheap person and everything, they're just not gonna know. And that's what you're paying for when you're hiring on a professional photographer there for your special events and and all that stuff. You don't have to worry about anything. They know what's coming up and already.

SPEAKER_03 20:47

The uh my favorite um my favorite story about you, and I'll share it after you share your experience with with VGA, but just tell me a little bit about why you got involved in VGA and and how things Well, I was I was working over there, uh walking around uh Woodbridge and I saw VGA veterans growing America.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

I didn't know what kind of store this is, so I go in there and just and checked it out. I'm like, this is a place for veterans. When I saw the tables there, everybody was an owner. I'm in business, this is for business, I gotta be there, I gotta get my butt uh in there definitely. And I I never I never expected to be coming into VGA and become a member. I was like, man, somebody for your of your integrity and uh of of your status come over and like who am I? I was never expecting the the kind of the uh of acceptance, the kind of welcome in that I've gotten with with you and uh and and the VGA and everybody there. So I greatly appreciate that opportunity and uh and I want to always give back to the community because it's the is the best way we can do for for all of us out there.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

That's that's awesome. So my favorite story is I got to meet your wife outside of you. She was standing outside of VGA and uh she was like, I'm about to come in, but she was just getting off the phone and I was like, Cool. I was like, what do you know about uh Veterans Growing America? She was like, Well, my daughter is in there right now, and she loves coming here. And I was like, Oh, cool. And then she told me who her husband was. And I was like, Your husband is a he is so cool, and he he supports us in so many different ways. And so that is that's my favorite story because it fits in the mode of what we do at VGA. Is number one, we're all about family, we're all about community, and just to see your family involved, even in events that we do on the outside. Your daughter was in there. I think we had some type of energy event. One of our vendors was having an event in there and she signed up for it. And it was just amazing to see that not just you, but your family felt comfortable being a part of our community. So I want to thank you and your entire family for being a part of VGA.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Thank you. Thank you. They're excited and everything. They they know that, hey, when I go to when I go to when I say VGA, they know exactly where where I'm going and what I'm gonna do and all that stuff, and how much I I appreciate being uh being there because I just get totally excited to be around uh, you know, uh we're doing the same thing for for the whole community. And we need to, we need to be an example, set an example for the rest of our our society because we need our society needs the help right now. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Love that. So, Jacobo, I want to give you the floor and the opportunity to kind of speak and say what's on your mind to the listeners. You may have some listeners at home who are prospective entrepreneurs and they want to hear your story. You may have some uh, you know, prospective photographers who don't know where to start. But again, you have the ear of a lot of veterans and entrepreneurs right now. I'll give you the floor.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Okay. Well, thank thank you. I greatly appreciate it. And uh my biggest thing is if you have a dream, just go for it. You gotta you gotta you gotta start somewhere. But gain gain the knowledge, know that the other people are are doing it as well. You're not the only one if we're all starting from somewhere. You gotta you gotta try it out and everything and talk to somebody who who has experience, who who's been there through it and everything, just like we've been in our military and all that stuff. Look up to those who who have achieved and you know who have lived in examples that you want to be in and and go for that, go for that goal as well. If you're gonna start your own business, just know why. Why are you doing it? Because your why is the is the most important thing. It's not just uh the protection for your family or anything like that. It's for your own good. You want to be your own boss, you want to be in control. Because as long as you're in a JLB, you're only fulfilling someone else's someone else's dream. You're only you're only making their their dreams come true. You're just earning a paycheck. You want to want to break that monotony. Is it bad? No, it's it's not bad. We wouldn't be aware we are if it wasn't because most of us had a JLB in our time. But when you have an opportunity here in in USA to start a business, it's not the same thing as right now trying to go and try to start a business in Venezuela right now. It's an opportunity after thanks to uh to what our government did over there and all that stuff, man, gold mine to uh to start it. But it's not the same everywhere. You have advantage right here, take advantage of it. And most of us have the information in the palm of our hands. You know, stop wasting time, start Facebooking, stop doing TikToking and all this stuff, looking at things that are not gonna give you any purpose, learn, gain knowledge, gain understanding, make your time count because time is of the essence. It's the one thing we never get back. We never get it back. So make your time count with your family, with God, obviously, God first, family second, business third, do what you need to do, but but make your time count. Because when we only get to live once.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Well, how can folk get a hold of Jack and Mac photography and you personally?

SPEAKER_01 25:49

I'm in I'm in Facebook. Obviously, I'm in all the social media sites there, Instagram, Facebook, just uh search uh Jack and Mac Photography, and I'll come up there from there as well as uh personally, Hakobolaya Jr. Uh, you'll see me there on my personal part on my my Facebook as well as on Instagram. Uh you'll see Jack and Mac Photography and as well on LinkedIn. Hey, let's go. If you're in business, let's talk, let's do B2B, because that's that's the way to grow. That's how we support, just like we support ourselves in the in the military and as veterans. If you're in business, it's crucial to support each other as businesses and everything. We should not be just trying to uh, hey, how much can I get to get this other? If we're in business, we should not be even charging ourselves. We should just be helping each other out as much as we can, putting our skills, putting our knowledge to better the society, to better our community. The gifts will come later, the rewards will come later, the fruits are gonna come back later. I just firmly believe that. And so far is proven correctly.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah, it's facts. That's facts. Uh truly, truly appreciate um having you on. Definitely sharing a lot of information, insight. And I think um really what took it over the top is your your experience. But truly appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Thank you, thank you. And I hope it that I can uh light some hope for everybody because if a guy like me can do it, anybody else can do it.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

I love that. Donnell, how can folks get a holding of VGA and continue to support?

SPEAKER_03 27:14

So uh, well, first I want to pass the mic back to you so you could tell people on how they can support you, especially since I need I need y'all to come in real quick. He's on terminal leave right now. So now he's really in business. Um I was gonna hear a little bit about the GOAT business. So I'm I'm gonna pass the mic over to Coach Rob Simmons.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Yeah, I love that. Hey, first of all, truly, truly appreciate you giving me this platform. So um, in the GOAT legacy, I'd like to ensure that people understand finances. What happens is a lot of times, really, it's two big things. We don't get educated in school, and then when it's time for someone to actually educate us, and we don't really know what they're talking about. What we do in the GOAT Legacy is help you simplify finances. Now, one of the things that I found very interesting, and just doing a little bit of research, because I like to do market research in order to ensure that I'm getting people the correct information. One of the things that I always see is that banks offer financial literacy. Now, the thing about this is if the bankers are offering you financial literacy, but they profit off of you not having financial literacy, what are they actually teaching you? Right. So with that being said, go to your moneygo.com, I-O-U-R-M-O-N-E-Y-G-O-A-T.com. Um, and let's talk money and uh let me help you simplify it. And truly again, Donnell, I truly appreciate this platform, brother.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Yeah, I just yeah. I just well first of all, go ahead and go.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

My financial compass and and and you should be working together and all that stuff there for more.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

My ears perked up. So we'll we'll link up and we'll lock up and we'll have a talk. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Y'all saw that? That's what we do here at BGA. Yes, sir. We don't do co-op, we don't we don't do competition, we do co-opetition. And so, Veterans Growing America, first of all, I just want to say this to the community is you fall in one of two categories. You do you're either a consumer or a producer. You're either consumer or producer. Consumers buy stuff and they're being sold to constantly. Producers produce stuff to be sold. Are you a consumer or producer? Well, at Veterans Growing America, what we do is we promote producers, right? I saw this, I saw this video today about Whitney Houston, and Whitney Houston was one of the best singers out there. But the one thing that she did is she celebrated other singers and wanted them to be better than her, and she helped them shine and gave them opportunities to shine. Well, at Veterans Growing America, we just want you to win, right? We don't care that we don't care if you get better than us. We don't want you to get worse than us, and we want to be able to support you. We have a saying you're in business for yourself, but not by yourself. These gentlemen right here on this call will promote, promote, promote you, right? Because they love you in a way that you have never been loved before just because you donned this uniform and then you you're also on another mission. So here's what I need you guys to do. You guys to go to our website, veteransgrowing America.com, and figure out a way that you can contribute, either as a volunteer, either as a member, either as a vendor. And then if you become a member or a vendor, we need you to put your business on our directory. We have over 7,000 people visit our website every month. All we need you to do is inject yourself in the community and be a part of something special. My name is Donnell Johns. I'm a retired command sergeant major, and I love to be able to support you, and these gentlemen would love to support you as well. And I am grateful for uh people like these gentlemen and many more that are a part of our community. So thank you. Yep, you got it. All right. And also thank you, Coach RL. I truly appreciate you, gentlemen.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Pleasure, my pleasure. And again, um truly, truly appreciate you for sharing this platform. Thank you for both for sharing your experience and knowledge. We are, before we go over and out, we didn't get a shot, baby. What happened?

SPEAKER_03 31:24

We are overhead.