The world of entrepreneurship is truly ripe with competition, and it is always the minorities that are considered underdogs in such a community. Black founders are a living testament to this, as they mostly struggle to bring their pitches into the limelight. Steve Gaither and William Madden aim to change this stigma one step at a time. They join Elliot Begoun to talk about The Empower Project, explaining how this avenue centers on helping founders from the African-American community present their most interesting pitches for the whole world to see.

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Listen to the podcast here

The Empower Project: Providing Opportunities To Black Founders With Steve Gaither And William Madden

We are going to talk about an issue that’s been in the forefront of light in an industry that influences and has an impact on an approximately 50 million consumers, as an industry that can be a change agent. I’m not going to take any of their thunder. I’m going to introduce my two guests and let them tell you a little bit about it. I’ll start and introduce both, Will and Steve. Will, you go first and then throw it to Steve.

I’m William Madden. I’m one of the Senior Partners over at Whole Brain Consulting. We’re a small outsource operations firm. Steve, your turn.

I’m Steve Gaither, CMO of CA Fortune. We’re a privately-held national sales agency vertically integrated with a branding agency, a sales accelerator and an income agency.

Will is a man of many words if you haven’t been able to figure that out by now. I didn’t want to steal your thunder because I know how passionate you both are about what you’re doing. Steve, why don’t you tell us a little bit about the Empower Project, what you’re doing? Then I’ll throw it to Will to get a sense of how this started and the why behind it.

Empower Project, what we’re looking to do is invest and raise black voices. One of the things we found along the way and is that 1% of total funding out there goes to black-led companies. If you look at minority-owned companies, they get a 64% increase in EBITDA valuation compared to other CPGs. There was always a gap in the market. With the #BlackLivesMatter movement and everything going on, we wanted to do more than just talk. We wanted to put action where it was. We put this concept together, with us and a bunch of friends donating our services and/or capital to try to support one black run business.

At the same time, we’re trying to create a pitch slam so everybody who’s coming to the table and pitching has a room full of investors and awareness along the way. The basic thesis is, “Let’s open up applications to black-owned businesses. Let’s kick off with a one-on-one event. Let’s get those applications and pick the company that can make the most impact on black lives, and that we can be most helpful with.” We put them together into a pitch slam on February 16th. We let the winner walk away with about $700,000 worth of goods, services and capital with the partners, as well as the other companies an opportunity to present as well to investors. I’ll let Will get into the heartstrings and how this came about, but that’s the functional one-on-one of what this is all about.

I’ll let Will get into the heartstrings because this is his sweet spot. If he’s not sappy, I don’t know who is.

That’s something that we don’t share out there in the market. As matter of fact, our name is only associated with one charity, and that’s because we run a golf tournament. I’m on the board of a charity that caters to African-American girls building their self-esteem. We donate it. We sponsored 50 kids who were in group homes in 2020 for Christmas, and the other thirteen to get their hair and nails done. My mother grew up dirt poor. My business partner, when he started his business, he slept on the floor in the airports. We realize how fortunate we are. Normal people get pissed off and meet for drinks. Steve and I retired from drinking some years ago. We got together for coffee. Steve was like, “I’m going to work on a branding redo for some Chicago company.”

I want it to be a black-owned business and do something. I said, “We’re in.” We had a bit of a disconnect. I reached out to a couple of partners and we’re like, “Were you interested in this? It’d be a nationwide thing.” I touched back with Steve. I’m like, “These two guys said yes immediately. When we reached out to our partners, we were reaching out to DWT, “Could you review a contract?” Don Buder was like, “No.” I said something expletive and he’s like, “No, I’m going to go through their trademarks and their copyrights. I’m going to help them with investor docs.” Anybody who we asked wasn’t like, “Do the minimum.” It’s like, “We can do a lot more.”

Once I went to Steve, I was like, “We have these things national.” He’s like, “I was thinking Chicago, Will” He took the ball and run with it with a bunch of the other key people in the industry. What we did is we looked at what’s a 360 needs for a business. We realized how expensive it is and why most people don’t do stuff right from the get-go. We reached out to friends who were independent business owners on that 360 need. It wasn’t an immediate yes from everybody.

Steve started telling this up and was like, “This is like $700,000.” Steve reached out to a fund in the industry and was like, “This is what we’re doing to a black-owned fund.” They were like, “That’s great. Are you looking for a grant?” Steve and I had talked, “This wasn’t a grant. We wanted you to invest in the future of who we pick. We wanted them to have that ongoing network, access to capital, and an investor who’s behind them.” They stepped up to the plate. It grew and grew from two alcoholics being pissed off and they’re having coffee together.

It’s a good one that’s used for wellbeing. Will, this one has a deeper meaning to you too. This is important to you personally.

I have two children, one biological, one adopted. My daughter is an African-American girl from the south side of Chicago. We didn’t go overseas. We went 20 miles down south. We’ve had a lot of conversations around race relations. When I told her what Steve and I were thinking, she was like, “That’s great, Dad. Do you need any money? You can have my Christmas money if you need it to get it off the ground.” At which point, I got a little teary. I’m doing something right with these kids. I’ve always taught my kids to be generous and that there are people less fortunate. My daughter was like, “This is going to be great because whoever wins is going to be able to sponsor people in the future, and will have seen the value of getting that leg up on stuff that few companies can afford. They’ll be able to help other companies come up as well. That will magnify the voice and start giving African-Americans a seat at the table, Dad.”

For everyone reading, she’s not 25. She’s thirteen and incredibly insightful.

His kids are 13-year-olds trapped in a 25-year-old body. They’re amazing kids.

This is such an important thing to do because there are a lot of people in this industry who lament the fact that we don’t have enough representation and founders of people of color, women. It’s the same with boards and so forth. There’s a big difference between recognizing that and taking action. It’s not always easy. I applaud the hell out of you. It’s sometimes a dangerous rope to walk to be a couple of white guys trying to take this on. It’s critical that we recognize that doing so doesn’t necessarily absolve us of anything. We’re still going to screw it up to some degree, but to whatever degree we can begin to build success stories to your daughter’s exact response.

They build on themselves from there. We work in an industry that is a pay-it-forward industry. That’s an industry that is filled with people who while reaching one hand to the next rung up the ladder, or reaching the other one down to grab the person behind next. If we want to see a meaningful change in the representation of our founders and be a more diverse and inclusive industry, it starts with people like us and people like you guys being willing to jump into the middle of uncomfortableness and do something that needs to be done. Let’s talk a little bit about the mechanics of the pitch and the event, how you’re getting the word out, and how everyone reading can participate or help you get the word out. Steve, tell us a little bit about the mechanics of the process.

If you go to CAEmpowerProject.org, that’s the website that has the timeline and the application process. Applications are open. The goal is to do applications. On December 15th, 2020, we’re doing a one-on-one event for founders to help them see what each of the partners is going to bring to the table, a chance to workshop with those companies a little bit, as well as any logistical Q&A that they have on the process. That process will be open and the goal is to select finalists by January 27, 2021. Of those finalists, we will pick five. On February 16th, 2021, we will have an actual pitch plan with those five companies.

We’re trying to fill the room with everybody we can, but using all of our resources and all of our friends in the investment community as well to come to the table. Of these five companies that pitch and present, not only do we get one “winner,” but the other four companies now have access to capital and resources that they might not have had before. We do want everybody, all the founders to participate by either applying or sharing this with friends in their community that can apply. On February 16th, 2021, we want the food and investor community as a whole to come together to be a part of this.

What will happen is on February 26, 2021, we have a selection committee. It’s a diverse committee. Kyle from Dobson Avenue will lead the committee, being the fact that he is working with an impact investing group. He’s African-American himself. Our selection committee is more diverse than Will and me that bringing to the table to select that winner and then get to work. Let’s get the brand underway for these guys. Let’s get the data for these guys. Let’s get their block and tackle paperwork, logistics, legal and accounting structure set up. Let’s get their operational set up with Will for fighting and beating up co-packers along the way. Let’s drive this business forward to where in 2021, we could do something with a bigger impact. That’s the logistics and the timing. This is all at CAEmpowerProject.org. The timeline is right on there, and the application process is on there as well.

It’s one of these things that sometimes we forget. I started this show by reminding everybody that we look somewhat internally in this industry. We influence an estimated 50 million consumers. I’m of the belief that commerce when harnessed for good is one of the great change agents. When there’s an economic model that is not a gift or a grant, when people betting on the skills and the capabilities of others and those people meet with success, that’s how we begin to get things changed. That’s where we see a gathering engine of change. The only way this industry survives long-term is if it reflects its consumers. Empathy is critical in the success of a brand, and being able to understand the consumers that you’re serving. If you don’t look for or aren’t the consumer that you’re serving, it’s much harder to make that connection. What is your hope? If you could look five years down the road, what comes off of this both for 2020’s winner and what the Empower Project looks like five years from now?

We’re hoping we don’t screw it up. That’s our number one goal. If we don’t mess it up too bad, five years from now, I hope to see four entrepreneurs and one on their way who are all successful, who were all putting focus on their communities, investing in their communities, and having developed their own cohort of knowledge, sharing go-to market best practices and a cohesive unit. That’s my goal.

One of the things that I’ve seen in general, being involved in the more traditional events like the Hirshberg Entrepreneur Institute and Rabobank FoodBytes, both of which tried to do their best to be as inclusive as possible but aren’t singularly-minded like this, is that what comes of it unintentionally but now with more intention is the sense of comradery, the sense of you are part of a family. There’s an alumni type of response. That’s what excites me to see this for you as you build this and you begin to build more and more founders of color or black founders, going through this and meeting with success. You put a dollar amount on it and it’s phenomenal.

The $700,000 is an amazing investment in any founder. What is going to be far more impactful is who’s providing that $700,000 worth of services and investment. These are people like you both in your organizations that can leapfrog founders from where they are to that next big step over. It’s not just leapfrog over competition, but more importantly leapfrog over some of the obstacles and minefields that exist in this business. That advantage and acceleration is an amazing opportunity. That’s what is important that all of us reading do to make sure that we get this out there. This is a lot more than just a feel-good pitch event with a nice outcome. This is an opportunity to take a spectacular founder, put them in a Ferrari and shoot them down the road, and get them what would take 2 or 3 years of hard-fought lessons to learn.

You mentioned one thing there too. I don’t even know if it’s necessarily a Ferrari. What we’re doing is getting people on an equal starting line, and giving them the same vehicle that other people have access to due to whatever reasons. We’re trying to get them on that starting line with at least as good of a vehicle and us being biased to ourselves as we like to think. It might lean towards a Ferrari but even if it’s a Ford, we’re in much better shape at least if the starting line is equal.

That’s humble but bullshit. The reality is that the people that are coalescing around these founders are not the B-teams, it’s not the amateur league. These are the best of the best. I don’t think you should walk away from calling that out. There are a lot of founders regardless of background that started in this industry that has to wait a long time to have access to the people that you have involved in this project. It’s that simple. What crushes founders often is the early mistakes, the unintended consequences, the things that they don’t see, them not understanding all the nuances and all the complexities of this business. These founders are going to be relatively early in the journey by getting a team like this coalesced around them this early in the journey, and having them avoid some of those existential threats to their business. Play it up. It’s something you should be proud that you’re offering.

We’ve got on the list Whole Brain Consulting, doing everything from outsourcing operations, compliance, safety regulatory, find a coalman, beat up a coalman, everything before the distributor. We got C.A. Branding, which provided the brand strategy, creative design and digital marketing strategy, C.A. E-COMM bringing on the Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Kroger.com. DWT, bringing together all the legal services and also helping with the entity itself and all the legal services for the entity. Dobson Avenue Capital Partners with Kyle Gardner and Adam Robins are bringing together potential capital, and trying to bring their friends along for follow on investment. We’ve got JConnelly on the PR side of the house, going to put together a communications plan, media pitches, ongoing reputation management. Agency 108 is bringing together the web dev services. We’ve got Propeller doing the full back office outsourced accounting services. SPINS is bringing together all that data that everybody needs in order to empower an organization. Collectively, it’s a good start to that 360 approach that Will talked about.

One of the questions that are going to come up, I already mentioned this to Will, beyond the nine partners, there are others that would love to contribute and support. If anyone reading here is interested in offering support, should they reach out to either of you and have that conversation?

I love the nine partners to be nine. Thank you for coming on board.

The fact that you guys are doing this is a huge difference. We got a nice comment towards you in the chat here from Bernice, who is a black founder. She lives in Ghana. What she’s saying is that she never thought she’d see three white guys talking about amplifying black voices, and thank you. It’s about damn time that we do. How lazy and somewhat negligent have we been in not. It’s an honor. The reason I wanted you on this show more than anything is I want people to understand that there is a big damn difference between talking about this and coming together, getting off your asses, and doing something about it. It’s critical if we’re going to see the change that we want, to be the change that we want. It’s that simple. Let’s talk about advice to the founders who are going to be applying. What are you looking for? What advice would you give them in terms of positioning themselves and how best to do that?

What we’re trying to do is we have loose guidelines intentionally. We haven’t done this before. We are making the sausage. We want the founders to make the sausage with us. The range of this is anybody from $125,000 to $10 million in revenue. We’re not saying that if you aren’t making $125,000 in revenue, you’re not a meaningful company, but we want to do two different things with this initiative. One, we want to use our services to help a company out the most. Number two, we want to impact the most black lives. For example, a company that not only is black-owned but maybe like T Squares was doing by manufacturing, doing job training and education in Inglewood, and manufacturing that process. That might have more impact than another company. We’re trying to keep it open-minded so we could see how can we work together with companies, utilizing our skillsets and their skillsets to input the most black lives together.

As you’re going through this, try to make sure you have a core product but don’t worry. Will can help that product become a better product. Make sure you have some proof of concept. Whether that’s online sales or farmer’s markets, whether that’s, “I’m doing $1 million in revenue but I’m stuck,” all those areas are open. It’s like, “I have something good that I’m working hard on, but I need help getting to that next level,” whatever that next level might be. All I would look for from a founder basis, “I know I’ve got something. I know I have a proof of concept. I know these people can help me do what I want to do.” That’s the core essence of what we’re looking for. It is intentionally a little bit open.

What about categories? Is it all in natural products? Is it more broadly CPG?

It’s more broadly CPG. Once again, going into the fact that the area that we can help the most in tends to be food and bev. I would argue most of the innovative products coming out tend to be more natural or natural enhanced anyway. Everything is smushing in categories. Whole Foods is acting more like Walmart. Walmart is acting more like Whole Foods. I’m not looking for just something I could buy at a holistic natural grocery store over here. I want something that somebody can buy at a vitamin shop at Whole Foods, as well as Walmart and Target. That’s probably the best chance where we can be most helpful, in those food and beverage sense. If something comes along like HBC or Health and Beauty Care that’s impactful, and we think that this is such a compelling story that lets us figure out how to help out a little bit more, we can do our best.

I’m going to go to another question here. I’m sure this is a tough one that you gave a lot of thought because there’s a lot of need. We talk about the lack of representation across multiple constituencies and founders. Not just black founders but founders of color, gender and all of that. You specifically narrowed it to black-owned. Why and have you thought about expanding that at all to founders of color?

With the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the fact that at least for year one, we had to put a flag in the ground and say that this is real. This is something we need to pay attention to. Not that minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses aren’t integral and important. They are. Going back to those stats of 1% total funded, if you take in all MBEs and WEs together, that’s still only 2% equating for that 64% increase in EBITDA compared to normal companies. There’s a real gap there and we realized that. We have found that there are some great other groups out there doing things for women-owned businesses and people of color owned businesses. We wanted to put our first flag in the ground and stop this to say, “Let’s acknowledge what this is. Let’s focus on black lives and black businesses for this initiative.” In 2021, come what may. We’ll see how this goes for people of color and women-owned businesses. Let the spirit move this thing forward.

Given that you were originally talking about this being a Chicago-based mission, and the black community in Chicago has been particularly challenged, it makes sense. It’s hard and it’s one of those difficult things I can imagine, to decide where to make that cut off and how to do it. At times you have to, in order to accomplish what you need, and hope that if you’re modeling it this way, that others will model it for other groups. When you think about the founders coming through, given an understanding of the criteria and what you’re looking for, how will you engage with them throughout the process? What will it look like from an application I’ve put in on the 15th of December 2020 to when the event is itself? What interaction do I have in terms of being prepped or mentored or anything along those lines, Will?

One of those first stakes along the way is that one-on-one event. We want to bring to the table each of the things that the partners want to bring, add value, and then have breakout rooms. People can ask any questions on the individual groups, as well as one-on-one on the logistics, on the application process and coaching and mentoring. The cool thing about everybody on all of the partner firms is we’ve all committed to and we want to be helpful and mentor any companies along the way. This is where we go wider than just black-owned businesses, people of color and minority-owned businesses. We want to open that door for outreach or anybody that needs assistance either on the application process or opening our Rolodex to people. We want to open that up.

As the actual process comes through, when it comes through to the pitch slam, we will be on call for anybody on helping them through the pitch itself, depending on where they feel they need the most help. Post pitch slam and selecting the winner, that’s where we get to work as a group. We follow along the process from digging through the data, the core essence of what they have in their product, their capacity and capabilities, aligning that with white space. We’re helping them with their branding, packaging and operations, and then that go-to market strategy between those channels of retail, click and brick, direct consumer, and eComm with Amazon and the pure plays. We help them navigate that structure with the resources, the best practices, and in some cases, worst practices of what not to do to bring along the way. We do want to leave those doors open to people. It’s part of our mantra anyway. Will and I are mentors in the space very intentionally because we’ve been blessed. We want to make sure to share that blessing with other people along the way.

What you said there is something that I treasure about this industry. Will and I’ve had this conversation before. This is one of those unique industries where those who have been blessed recognize that they’ve been blessed, and take responsibility for bestowing that good fortune on others. That’s unique and cool because there are a whole lot of people who have had blessed or charming lives who have no recognition that they have. They have no moral acceptance that they have a responsibility to pay it forward. Will, when you think about the founders that will be coming through, have you thought about particular challenges that they would have? Those that are unique to that subset of founder challenges in general, that you will need to be better prepared as a coalesced or holistic group to solve? Do you think they’re going to be more traditional, everything from co-man and margins to channels?

Believe it or not, there are a lot of racist people in this side of the country in the South. There are a lot of co-man in that area, a good bit of them. A lot of black entrepreneurs had to overcome the predatory pricing issues. It’s blatantly illegal. They can come up with any reason why they do it, but it does happen where costs are 10%, 20% higher and fulfillments are lower. Part of what we plan to do is level that playing field. If you are with a POS co-packer, we’re going to move you to somebody who’s a good human being.

The co-packers, if it’s one that we have a relationship with, we’re going to let them know that we have a substantial personal interest in this one. We don’t want to hear any problems. As any of our clients know you’re either with us or you’re against us when it comes to co-man. I’m either your friend or your worst enemy. If I’m your best friend, you’re flooded with business all the time. If I’m your worst enemy, you will never get past break-even. Our goal is to help that subset of investors not wind up with those co-man, and also help that subset of investors figure out how to optimize the supply chain while impacting people’s lives. We have a co-packer down on the Southside. We recommend them left and right. If it’s something that they can do, we don’t take the project and tell people to go there.

His whole mission is training people on the South and West side to become operators, mechanics and stuff like that in the food industry. We’re also focusing on the co-packers who naturally are good people and who have aligned missions. It’s hard for black entrepreneurs also to raise capital. Going through this, if you’re an investor, you need your head examined and not invest in these top five. You have all the major service providers in the industry going through everything that they’re doing.

The winner, you should invest in it because you got all the service providers in the industry, sitting there, figuring out everything that’s wrong with the business and fixing it. All of us are paid thousands and thousands of dollars by firms to do the due diligence, to tell them what’s wrong, much less fix it. We feel that capital allocation for those top five, that bridge will be crossed a lot easier for them. As those returns are magnified, it’ll become apparent that even though black businesses have less investment, they generate far larger returns, and bring the investor community more into being opened into investing in black companies.

Emerging brands tend to have three major issues, no matter who they are. They tend to be working with a co-packer that sucks the least out of the three they tried. They’re paying X amount to their broker distributor and they have no clue what they’re doing for them or accountability, or they got the product on the shelf. Now, they need to figure out how to get it off the shelf. Needless to say, if you can help an organization figure out those three core problems, that makes a world of difference.

There’s also going to be a unique subset of challenges or stories or narratives that come with it. One of that is helping these founders believe that they can succeed on a big level. Let’s be realistic, they don’t have many examples that they can look to as proof of that. I do think there’s going to be even a bit more support emotionally that’s going to be needed in confidence-building. I spend my days working with founders. One of the things that all founders share universally and I wish we talked more about it is doubt. Founders go to bed every day with doubt about the decisions that they’ve made and what they’re doing is right, all of those things.

These are founders that can point to many other founders who have succeeded. That aspect of it is hugely important and not talked about enough in general. One of the questions that came up, and I’ll ask it to Steve, is what about ongoing mentoring or mentoring in general for black founders even those who don’t make the top five. Have you put any thought into trying to do anything with that or build any mechanism for that?

It’s fragmented and unofficial, but it’s something that Will and I have dedicated to with a number of organizations around Chicago like The Hatchery, the Chicagoland Food & Bev, and different people and groups. It’s a good business. To be there for early-stage founders and especially those that don’t have access to resources that a lot of other people do. It’s part of our DNA to be there anyway. What we want to try to do through this process is figure out how can we magnify and explore opportunities to make that even bigger outside of just Will and I doing mentoring here or there. How can we make something bigger? We are collectively going through this process and making the sausage here with one project in mind, but a bigger picture of we are bringing five companies to a pitch slam and there will be one winner. How can we impact more businesses and more lives in 2021 and the year after, and the year after? That begins with our day to day on a mentoring basis, and how we can bring our friends and other people that we mentored along the way to be mentors themselves.

I’ll talk to anyone. Everybody who’s read this, every other service provider, every grandfather of the industry, if they’ll refer somebody to us, they’ll find me online. I’ll talk to them. Seven out of ten, we won’t take as clients, but 10 out of 10 if they are coming to me with helpful suggestions on what they should do, I go ahead and give it to them. It’s the good karma bank and putting it out there in the world. I don’t see that being any different. We’re in operations. We’re going to be talking to the winner of this frequently. It’s going to happen.

It’s an area that, what’s the fire this week? Not that there’s ever not a fire. We plan to have with the winner about a year-long involvement. The next four, when they have real issues, they can reach out. That’s what we’re here for. It’s not like, “We’re going to do this and then forget about it.” We can’t open it up to everybody because we don’t know if we’re going to have 1,000 applicants or we’re going to have 50 applicants. There’s not good data on how many black-owned food and beverage companies there are out there.

This is an important point. This is not just to black-owned founders but to everyone reading and that is getting back to the point earlier in this industry. There are a lot of people in this industry who believe as I do in the importance of karmic boomerangs. A lot of founders tell themselves or talk themselves out of reaching out to people because they’re worried that there’s expected reciprocity. If I have a half-hour call with Will and I’m not in a position to hire them or I’m not a good fit, the expectation is going to be that I work. That’s not how any of us operate in this space. There are others that may, but the vast majority of the people in this space will all take a call and make the time. That includes investors, service providers and other founders.

One of the biggest misses that founders make is reaching out to somebody and saying, “Can I have 15, 30 minutes of your time to learn from you? You have to be respectful of that time so come prepared. Don’t talk about regular old bullshit. Come prepared with meaningful questions, show up on time and do all of those things. If you do, it’s amazing the doors that could get open. The founders that tend to outperform others are the ones that coalesce a network of champions.

One of the episodes we did is with a guy named Jono Bacon, which anytime I get to say his name, I do it. That’s why I did it. He’s an expert in community and he talks about the fact that the successful brands built three distinct types of communities. This was like an a-ha for me. One is consumers. We get that. That’s where most brands focus. The other two are where we miss sometimes which is a community of champions. The people and the community that you coalesce around you are your champions. They’re going to knock on doors, move obstacles, take phone calls and help you through tough times. There’s the other community of collaborators and these are your peers in the industry. People that will do it. I encourage all founders to think about those two communities. The key is if you reach out to somebody like Will or Steve, and they give you their time, then it’s incumbent upon you to turn around and offer somebody else yours. That’s the only expectation any of us have. It’s that when it’s your turn to take the call, you do it and you do it with the same willingness to help. That’s how we’re going to support this industry.

One note to put on top of that, the karma bank is an amazing thing. Trust us, we do all this for selfish reasons in a good way. The karma bank always pays people back sometimes directly, but more often than not, indirectly. There’s always something good that happens when you do good for other people. If you manage your expectations and you don’t expect it, it always comes back to you. We’ve learned by giving strategically. It always pays back. It’s good business as well as the right thing to do.

That’s the way it should be. It’s the old Ben Franklin adage, “You do well by doing good.” It’s nothing more complicated than that. It’s a good business. It’s a good strategy, but it’s just good. Somewhere along the way, people lost sight of that. Goodness and kindness is still an effective business strategy. It’s an effective marketing strategy. It’s one that you don’t have to keep glancing over your shoulder to make sure nothing’s coming behind you and bites you in the ass. Either so, there’s an advantage.

In a lot of calls at the end, for some reason, people think that I’m charging them for it. They’ll be like, “What do I owe you?” What I always say is I’m like, “Next time somebody needs your time, give it to them. Put some extra money in the collection plate at church or donate to Styles4Kids. The most important is it’s not doing it for somebody else. Do it for three other people. All you ask for in return is that they do it for three other people. There are a lot of pricks out there and somebody has got to be a good guy. All of us are two mistakes away from hanging drywall. It’s by the grace of God or Yahweh or the big juju be in the sky or whatever you want to call them that I’m fortunate enough to be able to spend that time with people.

Give us one more little pitch for the Empower Project, how people can get involved both from a service provider perspective, investor perspective and for the founders that you’re trying to serve. Steve, I’ll let you do that. Will, I’ll figure out some way to make you uncomfortable before we end.

Once again, it’s CAEmpowerProject.org. You’ll see the timeline and resources on there for the founders to apply or share with your friends that should apply. For investors, come to the pitch slam on February 16th, 2021 or anybody that can support the food organization, come and support those black-owned businesses on February 16th. If you are a service provider and you want to help out, feel free to hit Will or me, anytime along the way. We’ll try to add you to the list or at least give your information to said founder at the end of the day. The more the merrier that can come in for 2020 as well as how can we empower this thing even stronger for 2021.

I’m going to add one thing there about service providers because there are many that have good hearts and good intentions. The one thing we can’t afford to do is let these founders down. If you’re going to commit, you have to think about what you can commit and be willing to serve them. I wasn’t part of this. I’m not part of this but I’m going to champion it. I believe in what these guys are doing. If Empower Project is going to have success, it’s going to come from the success of the founders that go through this.

As they meet with success, it’s going to build the credibility of the program, and the interest in the program, and then it builds on itself. Think about that before you make an offer. Make sure that you’re in a position to be able to deliver that offer. It’s not a marketing opportunity. It’s work. Will, you have this reputation of being a hard ass, plain-speaking tough guy. For those of us who know and love you, you are the exact opposite. You are one of the kindest guys in the space. One of the most generous guys I know. I mean that as a friend and as a colleague. As you think about this, what is your wish for the founders that go through? What is it that you hope comes from this for them?

I hope that it magnifies their business on a national scale. It’s not just investors, it’s consumers, retailers, the whole community, everybody who’s involved in food out there. That’s what I hope. JConnelly should help with a lot of that. They’re a great PR firm. They should get these people’s names out there in front of consumers. I want every one of these businesses, not just the winner but all of them, to be successful. I want them to be role models for people like my daughter and for other kids on the Southside, the Westside or LA and Compton. I want role models for the African-American community in food.

They’re not just underrepresented at the founder’s level, they’re underrepresented in management, in the whole value chain. I’d like to see more African-Americans get into the food industry. I’d like to see more of them progress through leadership roles. I’d like to have more role models out there that are positive role models for kids who are trying to figure out what to do in their life, and people who are going to turn around and give back to their community. That’s what I want for the brands that are going through this, for the brands that are applying, and for the brands that win.

We are an economy still to this day that’s driven by entrepreneurialism. Most of the wealth built by people in this country are built by entrepreneurs and people that have started their own businesses of any size. The greatest escape pod from poverty is self-determination. It’s the ability to fish for your own food and not be reliant upon anybody. First of all, I appreciate you coming on and letting me share this with the readers because what you’re doing is awesome and important. I admire the fact that you guys sat around over coffee, dream this up, and took it from that to this. It’s going to be a great success and wish you the best in it. I look forward to helping in any way I can.

For those reading who are interested, you can reach out to me, to Will or to Steve and we’ll help. Those reading who can provide help, we talked about mentoring. If there are a lot of applicants or a lot of you founders are in a position that could serve as a mentor, or offer an hour of your time founder-to-founder to some of these earlier stage entrepreneurs, if that’s something you’re interested in, raise your hands. We can make those connections. Steve and Will, thank you for joining me and coming on this episode. Everyone, thanks as well. Take care.

Thank you.

Important Links

• Whole Brain Consulting

• CA Fortune

• CAEmpowerProject.org

• Amazon.com

• Walmart.com

• Kroger.com

• JConnelly

• Agency 108

• Jono Bacon – past episode

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