The Journey to Freedom Podcast
Journey to Freedom serves as an exclusive extension of the Living Boldly with Purpose podcast series—a platform that inspires powerful transformation and growth. Journey freedom is a podcast hosted by Brian E. Arnold. The Journey to Freedom is an our best life blueprint exclusively designed for black men where we create a foundational freedom plan. There are five pillars: Identity, Trust, Finances, Health and Faith.
The Journey to Freedom Podcast
From Marine Corps Grit To Parent-Child Bonds: How Olaolu Built Leadership At Home And In Community
What if four generations could line up on a track and show you what legacy looks like in motion? That’s the energy we bring as Olaolu—Marine officer, father of three, and founder of Parent Child Connect—joins us for a candid, practical, and heartfelt exploration of identity, time, and the stories we tell our kids.
We start with roots in Ruston, Louisiana, where power-out nights turned into lantern-lit singalongs and a community that refused to let kids fall through the cracks.
Olaolu shares how Alpha Phi Alpha and the Marine Corps shaped his service mindset, why identity cannot be outsourced to a job title, and how a rebellious decision to chart his own path became the first real step toward self-definition.
From there we tackle influence in the age of algorithms: why adults must reclaim mentorship, and how to build proximity and trust before screens do.
Olaolu’s daily framework is refreshingly doable: morning devotion and meditation, physical training, and reading—small, consistent deposits that compound. He reframes time as a non-renewable investment and lays out a simple time budget: track a week honestly, map hours to goals, and realign what doesn’t serve your future.
We dig into his children’s book Crow From The Shadow, an unlikely-hero tale that helps families name their “shadow” and spark brave conversations. He previews Lead Last, his leadership philosophy centered on listening first, pushing from behind, and lifting from beneath.
Faith anchors the toughest chapter of his story: releasing control during his son’s epilepsy journey and finding peace in trust rather than constant striving. We finish with fatherhood truths—moving from performing to being present, letting each child teach you the leader they need, and guarding the words that shape a child’s narrative. If you care about parenting, leadership, faith, and community, this conversation will give you tools you can use today.
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Explore Olaolu’s resources and books at Parent Child Connect, and tell us: what’s one habit you’ll add to your morning tomorrow?
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All right, welcome to another edition. Man, exciting edition of the Journey to Freedom Podcast. And I am Dr. B. I am your host tonight. And when I get to say I'm host, that means I don't have to talk as much as I would if I was doing the podcast, which is really kind of cool. But tonight, you guys are in for a treat. You're in for some fun. I have Olulu with me. And he's going to tell us all about his new book. He's going to tell us about things that he's been doing. He has the pleasure right now, which I keep saying I'm never going back to school again, right? Say that because, but you do have these breaks where you get to think about yourself and you get to think about how you're going to make a difference and an impact in the world without the daily grind, without the I got to get up at this time in the morning. I got to go report to somebody. I usually have somebody telling me what to do. You know, when you get to this entrepreneurship, uh, like you know, like I've been doing almost the last 20 years, it's not like a boss who's telling me what to do, other than my wife who's telling me what to do all the time. But it's it's just you telling yourself, this is what I got to get done today. And when you're doing the school thing, you know, you you pretty much are learning a whole bunch of stuff, you know, sometimes without having to do, oh man, if I don't do this, I have to eat. And so uh just excited to hear his story. He's got some kids. Uh, you know, I I keep thinking about my, you know, mine. I I have eight children. I don't know if I told you that at the in the green room. So I have eight children and 16 grandkids. And so I, yes, it is it is phenomenal. Uh, my dad uh just flew out to Sacramento and he got to to see a couple of my my grandkids that he's never seen before. My dad just turned 86 and got married, and now he took his new wife. So those grandkids had never seen his new wife. Uh oh my gosh. And they were telling me all the stories and having fun and all that kind of stuff. And so, how important family is, and I know it is as important to you uh as it is to me. And so I asked a little loot to uh kind of just tell his story. I said you can start anywhere in your life, like I tell all my guests, whether it's you know, at your mama's womb till now, uh, and then we're just gonna chop it up after that. And so uh I love the fact that I I say when I get to do this podcast, I'm the luckiest man on earth because I get to learn from, you know, we're at like 250 episodes now, and so we get to learn from all of you guys and and share it and all the wonderful things that we get to do. I get to find out why you got 22 on your hat and all those all those things that you got going. And so please tell us who you are, and then we'll just go from there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Dr. B, thank you so much. I've been looking forward to this uh really all week, really since I I I reached out to you. So I'm really appreciative of this. So thank you for the opportunity. Uh, I gotta acknowledge that that generational thing you just mentioned, that is beautiful. I mean, to to know that uh your dad can spend time with his great grandchildren, man, that that's really awesome, man. That that is a beautiful legacy, and and I I commend you guys for that because that's all what my platform is about. And I'll get to parent child connect uh a little bit later in the story.
SPEAKER_01:But let me and let me jump in just for a second because what we did in July, um, I have I have other grandkids or southern California, not the ones he met in Northern California, uh, but they came out in July. Well, my dad is 86 and he's still running track meets, and so we went, I know exactly. So we decided to go to one one in Boulder over at CU. And so we did four generations in the track meet. So I had you know, my dad was there, I ran in it, uh, my my uh son ran in it, and my uh grand two of my grandkids, we all ran in one race together, and I don't know how often that gets to happen, but to have four generations, we put these shirts on that said four generations, and you know, I don't know if we'll ever get to do it again. Uh, but it was so fun at 86 years old to have us all running down the track, and you know, and I was a track guy, and so I I think I told you about that a little bit before the show. Uh, my son was on a track scholarship that he went, you know, we'll see what happens to the my grandkids, see if they end up there. But it was just so fun to be there, and so it is it family is so cool, especially when we can share uh those four generations. My mom's the same way, she's in. I think how old is my mom? So she's seven, oh eighty. So she's 80 now, and she's still hanging out with the grandkids and making great grandkids, and oh man, making us food and all the wonderful stuff, making us foo-foo sometimes, right? I think my Nigerian roommates taught her how to do that, so you know, we have to you know just have some fun, fun, fun all the time. So, thank you for sharing uh that you appreciate the generations, and I'll let you get back to your story.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's beautiful, and and so I'll I'll remove the part of my story where I'm gonna complain about my knees hurting because your dad has completely and utterly showed us all up, uh, running track meetings at the age of 86. I gotta get rid of that part of my story, but I will start with being from Ruston, Louisiana. So I was born uh in Louisiana uh at the Lincoln General Hospital. Uh and it's it's one of the things that I'm very proud of being from Ruston. I was a fifth of six children. Um, and what I learned from that uh is being a close-knit family. Like me and my siblings, we talk all the time. My parents, we have a group chat set up and WhatsApp, and every single day we're checking in on each other. And God forbid, if one of us don't check in, uh you may have almost like an APB out for you, uh, where they're checking in, trying to find where you are. Uh, but that came from us growing up in the same house. And one of the things I appreciated uh growing up is how my parents emphasized uh closeness, they emphasized us always being there with each other. Uh, we we lived again in Louisiana, uh, where we we weren't on the coast. If those aren't familiar with Rustin, Rustin is in northeast Louisiana, so we're away from the coast. Uh, but during hurricane season, it'll kick up tornadoes and stuff like that. When you live in a trailer, uh, tornadoes tend to make you a little nervous. Uh, but one of my fondest memories growing up uh was spending those times because we were always anything could happen. It could rain uh for two minutes and then the power would go out. Um, but to me, those are like the most fondest memories with my family. We'll sit around a lantern as if we were back in the you know 19th century, but we'll sit around a lantern and we'll just sing and we'll just enjoy each other's company and laugh. And those kind of memories just I will never forget those things. And I tell this story because uh that's a huge part of who I am, and it's formed who I am as a father, as a husband, and as my as a founder of Parent Child Connect. Uh, so I graduated from Gramley State University. I did not run tracking college, I was by far uh too lazy for that. Um, so I decided instead to join the Marine Corps. So I don't know uh kind of lazy, uh but I decided to join the Marine Corps. Uh and so uh I joined the Marine Corps not knowing any Marines. Uh the only two Marines I know, and I tell people this all the time, I knew Gunny Ermy and I knew Major Payne. Those are the two Marines I knew. Uh and then I won the only other Marine I knew was a recruiter that I met. Uh and so it just went from there. I mean, I I I had a lot of Army mentors who were who were trying to talk me into going to Army, um, but I felt like I wanted to one up them. That's just literally how I made the decision in my life to uh to make what I think is a life-altering decision. And quite honestly, uh, it's been phenomenal. I've had the opportunity to meet some great people, I've had the opportunity to work alongside, deploy with, and just learn from people. And that was that's been the best thing that I've had in the Marine Corps. Uh, I graduated with a degree in computer information systems from Gram League State University. Uh, and I am a member of the best fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. Uh, and that that also contributed a lot to my uh willingness and uh and efforts uh to do community service and things of that nature. Uh I had a brief stint before uh going active duty in the Marine Corps, so I did work as a computer programmer analyst at Tyson Foods, um, which I thought was a phenomenal company at the time. I learned a lot from that CEO. Uh, one thing that Donnie Smith used to do at the time uh is he would always memorize your name and the project you're working on. And he did that for an intern. Uh, when I got when I was interning there, and he did that as a new hire. And that was just a thing he did. And I thought that was phenomenal. And again, that's just one of those moments in my life. Like I call them flashpoints, flashpoints in my life that shapes who I am today and my philosophy on leading. Uh, so fast forward, uh I actually got married uh the day after I graduated college. Uh so uh graduation and commission in the Marine Corps one day and then got married the next day. Uh and I always tell my wife that that means that the Marine Corps is technically there first. Uh that doesn't go well for me. So I just know I'm not a marriage counselor. Uh, but I do also like to tell people that uh I graduated, I was 22 years old, and I had a three-year-old. Uh, because I already told you uh in the green room that I have a 15-year-old. And I was completely clueless on how to be a parent. Of course, I had I believe I have phenomenal examples uh of what it meant to be a parent. Um, but you just don't know what you don't know. Uh, and that was who that's what I learned. I was just completely lost on how to be a parent, uh, which fed uh my willingness to try to come up with things that could help me connect with my children, specifically like my oldest daughter first, uh, because I always imagined I was gonna have all these boys because that, you know, I had two older sisters and then four boys, and I was just convinced I was gonna have a bunch of a bunch of boys, you know. And and God said, absolutely not. Uh so then first thing I had a girl, uh graduated college, uh, had my boy five years later, uh, when I was just starting the Marine Corps, uh, really getting well about a year in, uh, and then had my last daughter, uh, she's six. So two girls, one boy. Uh, so that that was how I've been shaped. That's that's really the environment I grew up in. Uh, and again, it was all about family, it was all about growing together. And that's what I try to do in my in my leadership. And then lastly, uh, I found a parent child connect uh in order to not just find a way to connect my own children, but to help other parents connect with their children's and children as well. So we provide resources for parents, teachers, mentors, and caregivers so they can provide those, uh, that that connection. Uh, because I grew up at a time uh in a place where I wanted to be uh I wanted to be somebody else. I wanted to fit in. I've very insecure growing up. Uh and so some of the friends I had, they just weren't uh necessarily influencing me to do the right thing. And so uh what I realized though is people would go to my parents and say, hey, you're you know better than that, and they'll call my parents and I'll straighten up. But unfortunately, some of my friends didn't have that same kind of uh influence. Unfortunately, some of them uh didn't have their fathers in the home, their fathers were in prison. Uh, and some of them, their moms were working three jobs, you know, just trying to keep the lights on. And so they were being raised and influenced uh by people who weren't uh raising them, influencing uh right. Uh so that's why uh again, just part of my story that led to me wanting to create a community uh to support these individuals and to support our own family and friends uh so that we can grow our next generation. So that's uh me in a nutshell.
SPEAKER_01:Oh man, well, thank you. Well, one of the things I love that to kind of ask as as we have begin the conversation is about identity. And it seems like there was a few identity shifts uh, you know, from your family. I know your family, like your parents grew up in in a different country, and so they, you know, they came here and then they had you guys, and you know, so I don't know if there was ever any time where you're okay, our identity is this, you know, people see us as this, but me as an individual, this is who I'm gonna be. And kind of walk us through maybe some of your identity shifts and who is the man that is now uh Lou, uh, and some of those things that that went you went through in your life.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's a great question because I I've gone Dr. B from uh being the uh cowboy to the future president of the United States to uh a guy with a mohawk that quite literally stuck up straight on my head that I I use uh axe staying jail to keep it up. Uh so I I've I've gone through the phases of trying to uh find what my identity is. Um, and a lot of it, I will say early on, a lot of it was tied, like I said, to fitting in. It was tied to not wanting to be made fun of. And so I just wanted to blend in to the environment. I wanted to be everybody else wanted me to be. And so that what that caused me a lot of different turn turn and caused me a lot of different learning experiences uh that I probably didn't have to learn. Uh so I would say that your identity, my identity is the foundation for me. Uh, I would say that it is what allows me to uh uh let me go back. Uh in my opinion, if you don't know who you are, uh then you just don't have a future, you don't know where to go from there. Uh you don't know how to uh to go through life because you're just living by someone's definition or someone else's definition of who you are. And so that was just my biggest thing for identity. I had to find uh who I am and the things that I enjoy. And it took me a lifelong journey to even get anywhere close to that. Uh, because I wanted to be at one point a rapper. I wanted to be uh, you know, I decided I wanted to join the Marine Corps, but I wanted to be a CEO, I wanted to be a computer programmer, I wanted to do all these things. And honestly, I believe the my decision to join the Marine Corps was the first step in me finding my identity. Not because I'm I'm just a Marine. Um I never believe in telling people that um you are what your profession is. Um, but the reason I say that is because a lot of people, especially because I was a salutatorian in my class, uh high graduating high school, a lot of people told me military is a last resort. Don't even try that. Um, but then I was sitting in in college and I was like, dude, nobody could tell me what to do right now. So I decided to join the Marine Corps, right? And that that was just that was a decision I made, and I it went from there. And so that's where I believe that that switch uh of me really honestly being rebellious, uh, is what helped me to understand that I am the only one who can determine my future, and that helped me to find who I was, uh, and that was really uh the foundation for me.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:You talk a little bit about, you know, you said the greatest fraternity, you know, in the world, you know. I get different people on the shows as I as I interview a lot of black men. And one of the things that I think kind of helps shape is the the fraternity life and the things that are taught and learned. Did that brotherhood help you in any way kind of solidify who you wanted to be, or just know that hey, this is I'm my own individual as a result of it? I mean, as I'm thinking of young folks that are watching this, I happen to go to a school that didn't have that ability. Um, you know, all my cousins and families are kappas, but it's because there was nothing when you know to pledge, I didn't pledge anybody. But at the same time, I think I might have missed out on some of that uh that brotherhood that that could help out. Maybe kind of talk about that a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Because what what the fraternity does uh for all of them, really, and and I and I love obviously I'm gonna call out alpha because that's what I'm a part of. But what I noticed about all the fraternities is they all have their own identity and they have something for you to to fit into and be a part of something bigger than yourself. And I believe, Dr. B, that uh one of the problems that we have is when the fraternities lose their way. And that that's not just talking about uh alpha or or or any of them in particular, that's just in general. When fraternities lose their way and and unfortunately are led astray and they start to worry more about identity in regards to trying to be unique, uh, I think that's where we we fail sometimes. Uh, but in reality, when you have the overall identity, so uh you know, for alphas, we talked about being gentlemen, we talked about being scholarly, which meant which meant we attracted people uh who wanted to be entrepreneurs, who wanted to actually learn in class. But what we did when we were there is we actually went out and looked for athletes as well. We wanted to make sure that uh the athletes knew that you had a path to work alongside people. You don't have to be or identify with people who are uh perhaps you know jumping around and barking. Uh you could you could be a gentleman, you can uh walk around and and and maybe uh take care of people and be a little bit more thought thoughtful about people. So I do believe that the fraternity uh was a huge part of who I am. Um and just to put in context, all my father and my brothers and my oldest nephew are all alphas. Uh so we all uh we all are part of this close-knit organization. Uh, but it did shape it. It's it's like this is the standard uh growing up. Those are the men I grew up seeing and my dad going to chapter meetings, those are men I knew who were contributing to the community, and so it made me think okay, well, if they are scholars and if they are contributing to the community, then what should I be doing? And that's what attracted me to them, and then that's what helped form me and my identity.
SPEAKER_01:I love that because one of the things that I love to talk about a lot is associations, right? And the people that we hang out with and who we spend our time with. And uh, one of the things that uh I think as I'm listening to your story, is it wasn't just, you know, I grew up in high school, which I hear a lot of folks that are kind of just trying to figure it out, or elementary and junior high, but it sounds like you had some men in your life, or just some people in your life that were able to be not only mentors, but examples as you were trying to create that identity of who I'm gonna be. And so many kids, you know, in today's world are missing that, I think, because they think it, and I know you like to talk about family a lot, but I see these video games and I see these YouTube videos, and I see the social media that they get on maybe too early where there's not these physical examples of people that they can log on. You know, now it's like, okay, somebody I don't know, somebody's life that I'm seeing their best life, and now I'm comparing my life as a you know, 14-year-old or 15-year-old to somebody that I that I have no idea what their daily life is like. All I know is what they put on social media. Maybe kind of speak to that as you know, what you've learned as when you were a kid by these folks, and then maybe how now you see the differences as you're getting older and working in this space.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Uh, one of the biggest differences is ownership. Uh, so when I was growing up, uh, there was not a young man or excuse me, an older man that wouldn't pull me in and talk to me. That was just one of things, uh, especially in my area. They uh my I call him my papa, uh, but he was he's he's actually our pastor a long time. And and so my my grandfather, I didn't meet either one of them uh because they both passed before I was born. So he really was like my grandfather, or one of my grandfathers. Uh, and so every time I saw him uh pulling in these young men, because what he was trying to do, one of the problems that he noticed, especially in our area and a lot of areas uh like it, uh, is that young men were out there trying to make a quick dollar. They were learning and being influenced by the economic needs, right? So they needed food, and thus they were going out and getting money to make food. Uh, and so what one thing he did, he didn't care who you were. Uh, he'll pull you in, he'll he'll find work for you to do, and he'll pay you. And those just little things, and while he's working out there beside you, because he never just sent people about along the way, he's working alongside you. He was always trying to mentor it, always talking to you. And oh, yeah, he became a sheriff deputy within uh in Ruston. And I know a lot of people are in bigger cities, but this is just my small hometown. Uh, but he was became a sheriff deputy. So when people were getting about to get in trouble, uh, he can show up and be be the, I would say, like the liaison between the police force and this other group because there was this disconnect there. And so that's one of the biggest things I I believe is the difference uh in my life is that people were taking ownership. Uh, whether it's your child or not, they will walk up and be like, hey man, come here. Why are you acting like that? And now, and I I understand some of it is uh we we become a little bit more isolationist uh as parents and we think that we know better. I I ascribe to the um to the belief that uh we need a little bit more intellectual humility and know that we don't know it all, and we probably should uh try to work alongside people. Um, I think that's part of it. Another part of it is we just we just we take it and we throw it off on the intangibles. Uh we say things like, Well, this generation is just uh they just want to play on phones, so this generation is that undisciplined, and this generation, well, we have to take ownership, right? Because we are the people who are responsible for mentoring and guiding this generation. And I believe that uh I was reading a book, one of my favorite books that I've read, it's called Hold On to Your Kids by Dr. Gordon Newfeld and Dr. Gabor Marty. And one of the things they talk about, and the premise of the book, is that our children will be influenced, and we have to accept that as a fact. And when I say our children, I mean the community's children will be influenced. And so the question is if it's not adults mentoring them or influencing them, who is influencing them? And the problem is, it turns out to be their older sip, excuse me, older siblings, their older friends, uh, people who are not there to nurture them and they're not there to truly guide them. They don't know what's best for them. And even those who have the best interests at heart for these young people are not going to guide them in the right way. And that's why the children are turning to these technologies and they're constantly getting addicted to it, is because we've now allowed them to be influenced by everything else. We don't spend time connecting with them, we don't spend time trying to learn more about them, we don't spend time bringing them under our wings and talking to them. And it is tough, uh, but we we have to become uh more comfortable with reaching out to these children and bringing them under our wing and working with them.
SPEAKER_01:I love how you say that because so many people want to blame or complain about this generation. It's like, so what are you doing about it to make a difference? You know, uh, you know, when I say I see them on the electronic devices, that doesn't mean I like love to see it. You know, it's like, what do I get to do? What can I do as an elder in the community now to make sure that there's something that they can hang on to that is, you know, everything doesn't have to be about entertainment, right? Everything doesn't have to be about instantaneously, right? And how do we teach them that patience? And how do we teach them, you know, those those different things that we go through? And I think part of it just might be, you know, maybe some personal development, you know, the things that we say is personal development. And and I can tell you're a person who subscribes to, you know, working on you and going back to school and making sure all those things happen. How much of your time in your life, if you were to give an example of is has been spent on making sure you work on you so you're a better person?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, that's a non-negotiable, and I recommend that for everybody. Uh first thing in the morning, uh, at for for me, it's no less than an hour and a half, but at least I recommend 10 minutes per per category. Your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Every single morning, I recommend you spend at least 10 minutes doing that. So for me, I wake up every morning and the first thing I do is my devotion and meditation. That's my opportunity to not just uh connect with my spiritual and what I believe, because I'm a Christian. Uh, it's not just my spiritual time there, but it's also the meditation. It's my time to clear my mind and really focus myself and prepare for the day. Uh, then I go to the gym and I work out. That's me good doing my physical fitness. It's now me paying attention and building my own physical fitness. And then after that, either I pick up a physical book and read it, or I listen to an audio book. And now I'm working on my mental psyche. And so every single morning, by the time I actually talk to the first person or engage with the first person, I've already invested in myself. And so that's what I recommend. Before we uh even talk to somebody, I would say seven days a week, make that a non-negotiable. You should be investing in yourself so that way you can pour into somebody else. And the problem with our our life in many ways is that we try to pour from an empty vessel, right? We don't we don't give ourselves any care, we don't go into and do anything. We're just like going from day to day and just trying to figure this thing out. And and anytime we mention self-care, well, it seems a little selfish, right? Why am I looking out for myself when I have kids and I have this baby and all this kind of stuff? Well, I always tell you that no matter what's going on in your life, do your best to try to invest in those four areas because it's free, right? All you have to do is potentially get up early in the morning or maybe stay up just a few minutes later. I'm talking 40 minutes a day. Uh, pick up a book, find a way to incorporate that into your schedule. And you'd be surprised uh the kind of progress you're going to see. What it may take is it may take you to spend a less little less time on scrolling on social media. Uh, but that will allow you to enhance yourself and continue to grow yourself and then progress into things that you really want to progress with in the future.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's so cool because I I think about time, and and it's so uh the older I get, the more time becomes precious, you know, the more the that time is like it can be wasted or it can be invested or it can be harnessed. You know, I'm starting a community this weekend called Becoming the Person Universe, which is all about helping people become that person that God put them on deserve to be, you know, and one of the key factors in that is where do you spend your time? And then how precious is the time when others, if it's about relationship, you will spend with you. Like I honor the time that you're spending with me now because you could be taking the same time and doing something different in your life. And then I watch folks that that will tell me about like all these shows and all these things, and I think, man, somebody spent, you know, if somebody spent a half hour listening to one of my podcasts instead of watching Law and Order or watching a show on TV where millions and millions of dollars have been spent to attract that person to be entertained, you know, or a football game or something like that, how precious that is. And when you think about this this limited thing, you know, of time that we have, where do we best spend it? And I, you know, I'm not saying don't ever scroll, or I'm not saying don't ever, you know, watch TV or be entertained or be in the sports, but sometimes maybe you can you can kind of speak to this a little bit. I'll see, like, you know, this weekend, we were there, somebody was talking about we we have this fantasy football thing that we do with our family, right? And it's just, you know, we're just we're just having fun with it. But like one of our family members is so into some of these athletes, like he knows more about the athletes than he probably knows about his kids. Like, he knows probably like when Patrick Mahomes goes to the bathrooms and stuff. I mean, like, oh my gosh, like, but if Patrick Mahomes seen him, he wouldn't give him the time of day, right? So, how do we get away from this? I gotta know everything that's going on. Like, I gotta get up in the morning, like you're going to the gym and you're you know working on your meditation and you're working on your physicalness, and they're watching ESPN, like celebrating these other folks. And I'm not saying that that's you know, hey, that's not good to know, but I don't need to know like what Patrick Mahomes, you know, eats for dinner or what um what's that that girl who's marrying um the the receiver from Kansas City? Yeah, you know, Taylor Swift, that's her, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Like there you go. I didn't think of it. Well, I put that out of my mind.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just like, you know, like I see these people are like, I'm a Swifty. I'm like, what the heck is a Swifty? What is I'm not so maybe kind of speak to that a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, sorry to the Swifties out there, but every time they they cut the camera to her during the Super Bowl, I was just getting so upset, I couldn't believe it. Uh, but yeah, I will tell you. So for me, uh always tell people to budget your time the same way you would budget your money. Uh, because we're talking about investing. I use the word investing for a reason because I want that to trigger something in people's minds. That means you invest. The reason you we invest is to get a return, which means everything that you do should give you some return. So if you're scrolling, what's the return that you're getting on that? What's the return on your investment? Uh, if you're reading, what's the return on investment? If you're engaging or watching podcasts, what the return on your investment? Are you taking notes during that podcast? Or what are you doing? Like, why are you doing what you're doing? And so that's what I always tell people start thinking of time like money. Except one big fact, as you said, uh, time is a non-renewable resource, right? We can always go out and find more money, but you're not going to be able to find more time. So we should, I think, prioritize uh time, budgeting time the more the more than we prioritize budgeting money. The problem is it's intangible, and that goes back to what I was talking about earlier. Those intangibles sometimes get a little tough because when we don't think about time, we we just start thinking about it as, oh, well, you know, like you said, as I get older, I think about it being more precious. But all of us should be looking at time as precious, all of us should be looking at time as valuable because you can't get it back. But if you go through and look at what you do, I I've always told people don't change a thing. The first thing I've always recommended, uh, people with time is just write down what you did uh throughout the day. Start writing it down, take a journal, do that for about a week. Don't change a thing. Uh I mean, don't don't get uh start judging yourself. That's not what we're here for. Just write down what you're doing. If you spend you know 30 hours a week on social media, good, write it down. Uh, and then I want you to do go back. And look at your goals. What are your goals in life and what do you want to achieve? Okay, so now we have we've written down our seven days worth of data. So we know how much uh time we're spending in certain areas, and then we have our goals. And I like to do this on a whiteboard or at least on a sheet of paper where I can draw a line. And if I could look at the things that I spend my most time on and draw a line to one of my goals, then I'm like, okay, cool. Then I know that my priorities are in order. But if you say that your goal is to uh to go be uh, I don't know, a professional athlete and your physical fitness that you spent that week is 10 minutes and your social media is 30 minutes or 30 hours, then perhaps you may need to restructure your day a little bit. And that's why I always that's the way I look at it. I start looking at it, and I know people think I've talked to people one time and they they think of that regimen it uh way of thinking. They say, man, that's just that's just so boring. No, because you can actually budget in time to even be spontaneous. Uh, because one of the things I realize about spontaneity and and people who are trying to always do something new is typically they don't do it as often as they think they do. Uh, they think they're very spontaneous, but they're not doing it as often as they think they do uh because they haven't budgeted the time for it. So I always recommend if you want to do something spontaneous, you can think of it. If I'm gonna do it once a week, you can pick a different day every single week and budget that time for it. That's the way I recommend people doing it. That's what I try to do in my own life. I call it zero-based budgeting. I I believe it was uh Peter Fur, uh Zur, I think his name is. Forgive me if I forgot his name. Uh, but he talked about uh zero-based budgeting. And so that's one thing I always recommend is it's you go out and budget your time the same way you do with your money. You have 24 hours a day. Hopefully, you're spending at least six to eight of it sleeping. And the rest of it, how are you spending? Uh, are you allocating every hour of your day or every minute of your day in a positive way? If not, then there's probably some room for refinement. And I'm not saying become obsessed with it, because if you become obsessed with it, then that's when you start losing. But at least uh find out where your time is going because I can promise you that one thing that it is going somewhere, and if it's not going towards your priorities, then your life may not be as aligned as you want it to be.
SPEAKER_01:Lou, man, you just dropped a whole bunch of stuff on it. This is gonna be because I love this fact where you're just talking about your return, right? What is that return on the time? Are you investing it or is it just going, is it just going by you? Are you just you know, passive to you know, yeah? I'd love to watch a sunset, right? But that's at one point in time, you say like spontaneity. We are such creatures of habit. We don't realize how big of, but if you go through your day, I bet you will look at when you write that down the exact same things that you're doing every single day at the same time that they're doing it the same way, and we and we don't think about okay, what if I just changed something little, like maybe started reading for 10 minutes during the time that I'm doing something else, watching you know, ESPN, like like it's say I watch ESPN for an hour. What if I took 10 minutes of ESPN and read a book that pertained to the life that I'm trying to build or I'm trying to go? I would love for you to come on, uh, you know, as I do becoming the universe is for folks that are, you know, all the all of my uh podcast uh guests are are are founders in it, and they come in and maybe teach, you know, a book, you know, do a um what do you call it, uh a book uh book club on that book you caught, you know, hold on to your kids or something like that, where you can go, okay. No, I do have kids, and maybe I'm not the best parent in the world, so maybe I go learn about it a little bit instead of yelling at it for 10 minutes because I can't understand where they're at, right? Maybe learn about love languages and learn about some of those things. Oh my gosh. So now, as um, I know you're an author, and so you've written and you're writing, and you continue. Maybe kind of talk about some of the things you're writing and why you're doing it. I would love to just kind of hear your thought process. I've written now four books. I have one coming out in um uh once to speed out this week. It's called Be Do Have, the Ultimate Success Principle. And I have one called Relationship versus AI, where I'm really talking about the ethics of AI and how to use AI and the tools of AI and how I'm gonna, if you want to come, this is my plug, right? It uh summit on October 18th. It's a free summit. Uh, you know, if this is 2025. So if you're watching this 2027, just look up on our website and see when the next summit is. But how important you know, we we can get into something and have take over our lives. But now this relationship is so important. So we kind of talk about your books and what what you why you're writing them and how you you believe it's making an impact.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Uh, so I will say the first three books that you see behind me. So uh I started off my children's book series uh with the goal of helping parents and children sit down together and learn. Now, why did I do this? Number one, again, as I told you before, uh, I wanted to connect with my children. And so that's where my children's book journey started. I literally was just writing a book for me and my children to sit down and enjoy a moment together because I learned that from my mom. My mom sat down and she made storytime fun. And my idea was to increase the literacy in my home and create a connection with my children by reading books. Uh, but then after I started reading with them, the books I wrote, I was like, Man, this is the first one called Crow from the Shadow was a truly personal story. Uh, because I use the crow, which is not not your not likely hero. Uh, is the crow is one that we tend to uh think that it's annoying. He's picking through trash, it's doing all these things. Yeah, that's exactly right, right? Uh, but the reason I chose the crow is because many of us are probably more like the crow than any of the other superheroes that we read about. Uh, the crow is just trying to survive, right? That's why he's so annoying. He's picking through trash because he's just trying to eat, right? And so I chose that as my main character for that one reason, and I'll tell you the other reason later. Uh, but as I go through the book, it's called Crow from the Shadow. Um, the idea behind it is that there's this shadow throughout the story. It's just telling Crow that he cannot be or he cannot do, or what everything that he cannot be or do. Uh, and so the shadow represents a place, a person, uh, a uh anything that's that's telling you that you cannot achieve your destiny. And in the end, Crow realizes that only one can determine my future, that one is me. So that's what Crow from the Shadow is all about. And that became the foundation for my entire brand. And the reason I the second reason I use the crow is because I wanted people to know every time they see a crow fly by, I want them to remember, think about it. Only I can determine my future, right? And that's what we're trying to do is rebrand the crow. The crow, the unlikely hero. Uh, the crow is the the one that picks through the trash, the annoying one, the one that doesn't truly know his identity. Uh, finally, he finds out who his identity is. He learns how to overcome the shadow and become who he's meant to be. Now, that would be nothing if I didn't get feedback from a parent. Uh, and that was probably that's probably my favorite part about writing any of these stories. Uh, it's the feedback from the parents. And and I really appreciate the parents, teachers, mentors, caregivers, coaches, all of them who took the book and sat down with the child and gave me feedback because one of the things that they talked about is they read the stories, uh, they looked at the continue the conversation questions in the back, again, because this is written in order to help guide and direct and coach children. And so once they start having these conversations, the feedback that they got from their children was the most important part because what it did is it opened aligned communication that didn't previously exist. Uh, for example, when I was talking to Crow from the Shadow, one of the uh parents, a couple of parents, hit me up and said, Man, this book is crazy, man. It truly, as I sat down with my kids, I had the conversation with them and they told me what their shadow was. Uh, some said the shadow is um they they're ashamed of their gap in their mouth or they're shame of this. Or one of them said their shadow is their parents, uh, which that I think I think the mom at this point in this context, uh, she was initially offended, but then realized what he meant by that, why her child said that she was his shadow and not in a positive way. And that helped her as she began to develop her relationship further with her son and starting to understand that, you know, as she's trying to coach him and mentor and guide him, she's actually holding him back from the things that he could potentially achieve just because she's trying to be protective. And I I have no, I don't see there's no fault in it, uh, but it was good for her to have that conversation. So that's what the children's book series is all about. It's about bringing adults back into the children's bedrooms and doing and establishing this connection with children. Uh so that way we can guide and mentor and lead them. And then my next book that's coming out is called Lead Last. Uh, this is my first leadership book, and I'm very excited about this one. I'm actually uh working with Amplify Publishing Group to publish it uh early next year. Uh and this book is exactly what it sounds like. Uh Lead Last uh is is it's the philosophy that I learned uh as a young officer. Uh, and I I've I've messed it up plenty of times, and I'm sure there's plenty of Marines out there that can tell you that. Uh, and as a as a husband and father, I've messed that up too. Uh, but what I realized is that um we're trained in a way to say, you know, you know, we're supposed to be out in the front. We always have to have our opinion. We have to be the loudest voice in the room, and so on and so forth. But in reality, what I learned is that when we're talking about lead last, uh it sometimes you have to be behind your team and push them forward. Sometimes you have to be beneath the team and lift them up. But really, what we're talking about is we have to have the ability to lead them in a way that that we never sometimes we don't even think about. So active listening, uh getting to know them, getting to know yourself, uh, and creating an environment to help them grow and develop. So uh really that I'm very excited about that book as well. Um, my journey as an author uh was not one that I truly planned. Uh it just to be honest with you, just sort of happened. Uh, and and I I just I'm grateful every single day that I have an opportunity to connect with people uh through books.
SPEAKER_01:And so, I mean, how this is a question I was asked just not too long ago, and I'd love to ask it to to somebody else because he asked me, like, how many more books do you think you have in you? Have you even thought about that, or is it just as they come, they go, or as as that leads to me, where are you at with that?
SPEAKER_00:That's a great question. Uh, I have no idea. I at this point, I'm just having fun, right? So I I uh so aside from the books, I I do articles. Uh, I have a partnership with the UVersion Bible app where I provide content uh for Parent Child Connect, which is probably one of the most unique and exciting opportunities for my brand. Uh, and it's just those things that we have the opportunity to do. So uh writing for me is is more than just uh um just a thing that I do for money. It's truly a hobby. I really enjoy it. Uh and it it's a it's an outlet for me. Uh it's exciting. I love, I used to be very, very nervous. And this this is for those authors out there, aspiring authors who are who are writing, and maybe you have this phenomenal book that's been sitting on your shelf for years. Uh hopefully I'm just looking at the camera and tell you stop doing that. Get that book off the shelf uh and put it back on your table, get it edited and publish it because there's so many people that need to see your message, and a lot of times we're holding back because we're scared for that feedback, and that's the point I'm making. There's a lot of feedback that we get uh and we're afraid of it. But I started looking at it as iron sharpening iron. So if I put a book out and something's wrong, I had a one-star review on uh Billy Dipper's Time to Shine. Uh, and you know what? Initially I got um, I was in my feelings. Uh, who in the world? Who in the world one star review on a children's book, right? Um, I was in my feelings, but uh it was something that we learned and and grew through. So uh publish that book. Uh, I don't know how many left in me. Uh I'm gonna do them until uh the Lord decides to take me off this earth, probably. Uh, but I'm enjoying it right now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, oh my gosh. Well, for those of you for that question you just asked when we do that event on the 18th, uh, and it is it's live and it's free, and it's on you know, just go to becoming the person.com. But I'm gonna teach people how to at least get an ebook going so they have something in their hands to get published. Use the AI as a tool to help with outlining and getting it at least to the point where you're there, uh, because it is so important. There's so many people who have so many great things and amazing things to say. I'd love to go pivot a little bit because I want to hear a little bit about your faith and how your faith has played a part in who you are. I mean, we talked about identity earlier, uh, but just you know, I think faith faith plays such a part in our lives that sometimes we don't say it enough as to who we've become as a result of it. And maybe kind of share with us just a little bit about who you are in in your area of faith.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, my faith is what's grounded me and got me through some rough times. Uh, because uh one of my biggest uh uh I guess vulnerabilities or faults is that I feel like I need to control everything, right? Uh and it wasn't until I truly realized that I couldn't control everything, and that's when I realized I had to have faith. And my faith, my faith in God is what got me through rough situations. And one in particular uh is when my son uh was diagnosed with complex partial epilepsy. Uh, it was out of the blue for us. Um, but you have no idea how many sleepless nights I had, uh, whether it'd been just like staring. So I put a monitor in his room and I was just staring at him, just trying to make sure if he if he twitched a little bit, I had to run in there just to check on him. Or uh me staying up late at night trying to look up Eastern medicine. I was I was looking up where I could fly and get him this care. And then eventually, after doing night after night just like that, and still just trying to keep on this facade that I'm I'm so happy and joyous, uh, it got exhausting. And I could tell that it was starting to weigh on my mental psyche uh way too much. And so I decided, okay, you know what? This I need to take a break. Uh, this isn't me uh being faithful or allowing myself to believe in God the way I say I do, uh, because I wanted something quick, right? I wanted to be able to say, uh, well, I prayed to God and He healed him, right? And and that didn't happen for years, right? And I wanted to be able to say, well, you know, if I can't pray and get it healed, then maybe God's giving me the ability to pay for this and I can go take him this and get it and get his mind looked at and see what's going on with his brain, and all these kind of things just didn't necessarily add up. And that's when I truly realized, like, dude, you're losing sleep at night, you're making yourself, you're stressing yourself out all because you want to be in control. And once I learned to be out of control, let go of my control and have to trust. I had to trust in God, I had to trust in in what all the things that I said that I believed in. Uh, once I finally did that, uh, that's when I learned that you know that God is a person I had to rely on. And so my faith is huge for me. Uh, it's it's one of the things that again it's grounded me and it's letting me know that you know I can't control every situation, and and it forced me to have faith in God.
SPEAKER_01:And just having to give that up, right? When you give it up to God and then let Him take and then the peace, right? The peace that just beyond all understanding. What I'd love to do, you know, and I and I asked, you know, most on this podcast with the journey to freedom and talking to black men. Um, and we think about being dads, right? Because in the black community, a dad is is a whole bunch of things, right? A dad is a hero in some of the community, and the dad is the deadbeat dad that we hear about, you know, from from but and I believe that we all know how important our kids are, and that the kid every kid needs to have a dad. It's just we all believe that, but sometimes we don't talk a lot about what does it mean to be a dad and the responsibility that comes on us to be a dad, and and how much we're willing to go through in order to be that great dad. And so, how has that changed? You have three kids, and you know, and you had one that when you were you real young, and maybe tell me a little bit about the evolution of fatherhood for you, uh, having some great examples. You know, I know you said your grandfather passed away uh, you know, before you had, but you had you know people in the community that kind of took on that role. Talk to me about being what does it mean to be a dad?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I that's a great question, uh, because I started off my dad journey trying not to be a deadbeat or trying to be there for my daughter in order to not be what I saw other men out, uh, especially with daughters. Uh, and I was like, Well, I can't be like that, I need to be there. And so my idea of what it meant to be a dad early on was to just be there doing everything with them at all times, right? Uh, and then that led to uh me uh getting cramps in my back and trying to do a backband. Uh, and it was actually embarrassing at a park. I uh legitimately was trying to do a backband, like walking down a tree and my bot my back locked up and I just fell. And all the parents were like, Are you okay? Uh, so that's me. I got stuck in Chuck E. Cheese and all these things I'm doing, just trying under this umbrella of I just want to be there for my daughter. I want to be everything with her, I want to do everything with her. I don't want to let her down and all this, which is was admirable. Um, but I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. I was doing it because I I thought that you know every dad should be there for his daughter. You got to be your protector, you got to be this. And I was like, okay. So what I did is I evolved over time, and I learned this from my dad. My dad said, Allow your children to teach you what kind of leader they need. And that's the same thing I learned for the workforce. I learned that in the Marine Corps. Uh, that same lesson applies, but your children will teach you who you have to who you need to be for them. And so that was probably the thing that helped me to evolve is I started looking at, okay, what do my children truly need? Does my daughter really need me out there doing backbands? No, all she wants to do is show me her backband. I don't have to do all that extra stuff. Uh, does my son need me uh to coach him through every single thing and um force him to carry heavy? No, I don't have to do all that stuff. And so once I learned uh how to uh tailor my my parenting and my leadership style to the child instead of trying to be what I saw on TV or what I saw other dads doing, I think that's when I started to evolve as a father and truly create moments that are that are memorable. Because the most memorable moments are the ones that you actually are sharing with them and you're connecting with them, not the situations. What I was trying to do is fabricate situations, fabricate fun and create memories when in reality I was actually missing them because perhaps uh the moment would have been us talking and having a great conversation. Uh, but instead, because I'm the dad, I needed to teach my son a lesson using this as a this analogy. Uh, you know, so it's it's those those kind of things I've grown through, I've learned, uh, nowhere close to perfect. Um, but I was able to learn these things and and really start to refine and continue to refine my my leadership style as a father.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh, that is so cool. I'm as you're talking, I'm just I'm hearing a book like being a dad or what it meant for me and my son, or you know, because it made me remember like there was a time when my my son uh was in I guess he was in eighth grade or something like that, or seventh grade, and he decided he was gonna play baseball. Well, we did, I don't know nothing about baseball. I'm a track guy, it's the same season. There's nothing I absolutely know about baseball, and I just know uh yeah, I was still a P teacher, so I mean I knew enough about it to know how the sport works, but at the same time, you know, they had like 69 games, it felt like, anyways. I'm like, I can't go to 69 baseball games, and first I don't even know enough about it. He wants to try it. Well, we missed about nine years of him starting when he was two and a half years old, like all these other kids. And so the coach puts him out like in I guess it was right, Phil, uh, and you know, and and then doesn't let him bat. And then the coach gets suspended from three games because he's not very good. And all I could do is be the dad who says, you know, maybe we should do something else, or maybe we could, you know, I believe in you, you can do this. I couldn't be that that coach, I couldn't be in control of the parents that were mad that my son was up to bat and was not going to hit the ball at all, you know, that he was a good athlete, but it just it wasn't happening, you know, and to see that evolution and then me pour into them him and then go to years later, uh, where now he's a high school senior, we gave up the baseball. We went into something I know like track, right? I still let him have a high jump coach, and now he's like second in the state of California, and all those other kids are not doing anything, ends up a national champion high jumper in college, you know. But it was just what does it mean? Me saying, wait, I don't need to know how to do big, I don't know how to know everything. I just love how you you put that because it just puts it into perspective of wait a minute, you know, you don't have to be everything to all of your kids at all of the time. You just they just want you to be there, right? They just want you, you know, and then you just say, Hey, you're important to me. And there's so you know, I know how hard it is. You know, I'm fortunate enough. I we didn't have to have a blended family, and you know, all those other things that that are part of it. Um, but at the same time, you just go, Oh my gosh, you know, for some of these kids that are just you know, they sit on a step or they sit on a stool and they wait for dad to show up and then dad doesn't show up, and then you know, dad trying to buy him ice cream or something like that to to to win because he's you know, um yeah, I guess I don't have to go on because we know it, but thank you for sharing that because that was so the way you just put it was just was so neat. I can't wait to I hate to say it, but I can't wait to see that in a children's book that I would have buyed me and my dad or whatever you decide uh uh to call it. What at this point I I've been super selfish because I've been asking you all the things that I want to know. What is it that you truly, I mean, you came on my podcast and you you're you've honored us with your time. What is it that you truly wanted to share with our audience tonight and uh drop some more of this incredible knowledge that you're giving us today?
SPEAKER_00:No, I thought your your questions were phenomenal, man. I I love the conversation because it what it's doing is it's growing my mind. I love uh conversations that are continually to uh helping us grow. And that's one of the things that as we are talking about, you're talking about the stress that parents undergo. Uh, you talk about the the fathers in the African-American community, there's a lot of things there that I want to point out too. Uh, and I will say the one thing is we're talking about parenting in general and things of that nature. I would say be careful what you say to your children. Uh, because uh I've always heard people, if I hear people tell call their children bad, if I know them, I I don't I tend to I try to leave people alone if they I don't know them. But if they call their children bad or something like that, I tell them be careful what you tell them, right? Because um you may be reshaping their minds. And I say that because um when you talk about a lot of the things that happen, whether it be the the fathers that don't show up at home or whatever it may be, a lot of times they're living up to what they were told they could they were going to do. Um and that I think that's a lot of problems in our our community as a whole, is that we are tend we tend to live up to a stereotype. And there's stereotypes and then there's societal expectations. And in my opinion, that creates a narrative, right? And a narrative is just the connection between events, and so what that does for us in our mind is that well, if these events happen, because our minds are linear and we love to make things easier. I think uh Daniel Kahneman talked about it being system one thinking, it helps our brain to automatically uh create these things about life so we can have an easier understanding of what's going on around us, and so we create we connect these events automatically and say, well, if if my dad's not here, then this event may happen in my life, and now I'm going to be a deadbeat. Um, but I challenge people and challenge everyone watching or listening uh to go in go in thinking about your child as a frame. They God gave you a frame that gave you a He gave you a foundation from which you can build on. Uh, no matter what the genetics are, uh my dad ran track, that's what he came from Nigeria for. He he immigrated here and he ran track at Alabama AM. Uh, but if uh he I was born and I never did anything uh athletic, I never tried a sport, I can assure you that I wouldn't have been able to run track. Uh, genetics is not all. Uh, just because he started that story, he started that narrative for me doesn't mean I was going to equate to an athlete in the future or a Marine in the future or whatever. Um, so I I challenge you to know that you can create a narrative in your home and and you should be able to create a positive narrative. Um, but if you aren't paying attention and being intentional about it, a narrative is still being created in your home. So be careful what events are happening around your child. Be to do your best to try not to allow those events to connect and become something that you're not intending to do. And then the last thing I'll leave with everybody is it's all it takes a community. It really takes community. Uh, I was raised by a community hands down. Uh, there's things that uh when my parents weren't around, there are people that'll walk up and smack me in the back of the head. Not that I'm advocating for physical violence, but somebody like me probably needed. I was a knucklehead. Uh, but there are people that always who were there to try to help mentor and guide me. And so my recommendation to you is if you see a child out there, whether you're a teacher, mentor, coach, whatever your position is, do your best to reach out to them. Uh, try try to bring them under your arm. Even if they're the worst, worst thing since whatever in your mind, uh, do your best to just don't give up on them. Uh, because there's gonna be a time when society gives up on them. And and quite honestly, what that looks like is it is looks like either the graveyard or it looks like the penitentiary system. And I believe that we can do better. I've seen it happen way too many times. I have good friends, they end up in those two places and or and they're consistently in there. Uh, and and I I just believe that we can do better as a community to uplift these young men and women. Uh, we just have to be willing to do the work. So I appreciate you, Dr. B.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh. Well, before you go on, I I know you you talked about parent child connect a few times. Maybe you can just tell us a little bit about that, the organization and what it what it does.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. So parentchildconnect.com. So it's parent-child dash connect.com. What you'll see on that website, uh, first of all, is the blog. Uh, you'll see my books, all children's books. And eventually, once I publish the lead last, you'll see it there too. Um, you'll see my uh, as I'm alluded to before, my content partnership with UVersion Bible app. You'll see all the Bible plans that I have there. Um, you'll see free resources. I have downloadable resources for you because I want uh everybody to have the ability to build their mental, physical, emotional strength. And so I created these PDFs that you can just download and journal in. So um, and you'll also be able to reach out to me. So I love working with parents, teachers, mentors, caregivers, and helping them to build that community. So there's three areas that I love. Uh, number one, I love getting in schools. Uh, that's anytime I can get to work with youth, uh, I'm gonna be there. Uh, if if I can make it there, or if I can at least do it virtually, I'm going to do read-alouts and I'm going to do right writing workshops. I love engaging with children. It's like the my favorite thing to do. It gives me life. Uh, the second thing I love doing is leadership conferences. I love doing keynote speaking on leadership because that's just what I enjoy doing. So you'll see a lot of the I do one-on-one coaching, uh, but mostly I enjoy the workshops and and the uh keynote engagements. And then lastly, I write. Now, like I told you before, I love writing. I've written uh blogs or excuse me, articles for uh many magazines uh forbes. I've contributed to Forbes, I've I've written for several areas. So uh those are really the three key areas. So uh if you want to really make Lou happy one of these days, uh just hit him up and say, Hey, I have uh an elementary teacher that wants you to come read to their class. And boy, man, you're gonna make my day. Because those children truly do make my day. And you'll be surprised uh how much it makes a difference uh when they stand up and ask me questions as I as I read to a school, uh, like, hey man, how do you read so good? Oh man, I love who you asked me that, young man, because now we're gonna talk about how we can learn to read and these kind of habits. And then I love following up with those students uh to help them grow. So those are three key areas I I love to be in. And so uh again, Dr. B, I I would love to talk to people. Uh all you have to do is reach out at parent-child-connect.com.
SPEAKER_01:Man, thank you for today. This has been this has been so amazing. I as I go through and I have all these notes that I've you know written down on our conversation, and uh and and because you said earlier, you know, get a book out, take some notes. And I remember like when I started watching podcasts and you know, and and trying to keep up and just you know, from the mentality of being a six-year-old who's not as bright as everybody else, but I'm on so I'm trying to take notes and I'm rushing and I'm and I'm trying to get it all in, and I'm trying to remember, and you know, it's like and then somebody said something later, and I'm trying to go back in my mind, and then I realized that all I have to do is hit the pause button and take the note and then go on from there, right? I could I could pause for a minute and then oh no, let me make these connections. And so I I say that because I laugh at myself because literally I was going through these podcasts trying to get everything written down and you know organized and realize, man, just hit the pause button. And so, if you guys get the opportunity in this here podcast, I would go back, I would hit pause. I would hit there. There's a couple sections in there that Lou just dropped some knowledge that is just I I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna listen to it because I think it's going to help me become a better person. When he started talking about personal development and the five things that are the that he does every Every single day, and the amount of time he spends and how he spends it. And so uh this is one of those podcasts that you do not want to miss. And if you know you haven't heard any of these before, we have some really good shows. We have some fun people, some famous people, some non-famous people, but mostly we have folks that are everyday heroes. And Lou is one of those. And so hit the subscribe, hit the notification. I can't wait to spend more time with you. Can't wait to get you into our community and have you really even teach some more stuff to folks and uh go to his website, uh, go to Parent Child Connect and and and look at the things that he has there, order his books. Uh, I promise you, you will not be sad for the time that you spend because we talked about only having a limited amount of it. Uh, and you will not be sad for the time you spend if you're giving up. Maybe it is one of those million-dollar TV shows that keeps the drama, but it's the same story that you've heard a thousand times, just told a different way. How about something different that can make an impact in your life? And so, uh, Lou, thank you for being on today. Thank you for spending the time with us. It has just been one of the funnest hours of my life, and I'm so glad that I spent the time with you. So, thank you again. Um, for the rest of you, don't forget you're God's greatest gift. He loves you if you allow him to. And don't forget that. Lou, you have one couple words just to take us away before I hit the bumper.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, Dr. B, I really appreciate the opportunity. Hey guys, if you're watching this, you're a winner, and I appreciate everything that you you've done to help support me. And I I I I love you guys, and I hope you're able to continue to be a part of this wonderful community. All right, thank you. Have an amazing day.