Episode 9 - Behind The Eric Thomas' Brand Part 2 with Carlas "CJ" Quinney

Nicky Saunders: 0:00

What's poppin'? What's poppin'? What's poppin'? Welcome to Nicky and Moose! I'm Nicky! That's Moose! 'Sup Moose?

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:06

What up y'all?

Nicky Saunders: 0:07

And today, man! You thought last week was good? This week we got the one, the only person who really made the number one motivational speaker from a three, to what he is right now. All right?

CJ: 0:24

That's facts! These are facts!

Nicky Saunders: 0:25

You hear him in the background. You hear him in the background. Moose, Moose

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:29

He's talking from behind...he's talking from behind the curtain. He's not even gonna wait to come on stage. He's just like I'ma let y'all know this is true.

Nicky Saunders: 0:36

Yeah, we let let's just get into the intro. You hear him in the background. We talking about CJ. Get into the intro.

Jaymie Jordan: 0:44

Two kids from Queens, cut from a different cloth. Now joining forces, helping you to elevate your personal brand. Yeah, I'm talking about Nicky and Moose! Bringing you in never before seen perspective into the mindset, the mentality, the behaviors, the driving force, but more importantly, the stories behind the people and brands that you know and love the most.

Nicky Saunders: 1:12

Alright before before we go into him, I got to shout out the review of the week. I promise you. This one comes from Ginger. Shout out to Ginger. "More fire! Every week is full of value. This podcast is like a toolbox and I'm ready to go to work. Let's go!" Listen, we love all the reviews. Keep keep leaving those reviews. The reason why we're on the charts is because of y'all. But you see who we have. You see who we have.

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:45

First timer!

Nicky Saunders: 1:47

Man first time...let me tell you it is so... you will not see him except for on the S2S Podcast. You won't see him doing no live. You won't see him on social media. He doesn't have one. No, he doesn't have one. I promise

CJ: 2:04

My bad! My bad! you.

Mostafa Ghonim: 2:05

Twitter C would be fire though!

CJ: 2:07

2023! 2023!

Mostafa Ghonim: 2:10

I always thought Twitter C would be fire. That timeline would be fuego!

Nicky Saunders: 2:14

Yo and he loves Twitter. That's the crazy part about it.

CJ: 2:17

I do love Twitter!

Nicky Saunders: 2:18

That is the crazy part. But C, how you feeling?

CJ: 2:23

Man, I'm feeling great, man! I'm excited to be on. I know, you know you had to go with ya A-list. I'm just happy that you got to your B-list, that I can be a part of, you know, the podcast. Hey, I'm happy to be here, man. You know better late than never.

Nicky Saunders: 2:38

I get it. I get it. Yo Moose, do we want to break down who he is based off the flight assessment? Do we want to start it off with just the break down and then we'll we'll let the people know about it. What you want to do?

Mostafa Ghonim: 2:53

Yeah no. We will give a quick overview and then they'll they'll guess it as time goes on. We'll give them an opportunity to kind of be like okay, well, which one is he, right? Is he a...maybe he's a grounds crew. I don't know. Right? Well, we'll see what it is. But no, man... go for it. Go for it.

Nicky Saunders: 3:09

So if you don't know, if you're brand new shout out to you. But we always go based off the flight assessment, right? We got four characters, the pilot, the flight attendant, the grounds crew and air traffic controller. In a minute and 30, or however long he feels like doing it today. Moose, can you break down each and every single solitary one of them?

Mostafa Ghonim: 3:30

Absolutely man! Look, as always based off of the four dominant personality types that you know exist in the world. And we always know that certain behaviors, certain characteristics can begin to help us predict "Okay, what positions can this person be placed in to have the most success?" So we use the airport theme as always, because we look at the pilot as the driver, the person who is responsible getting the passengers from point A to point B. And those of that pilot style are going to be goal oriented, very A-type personalities that just want to push and not necessarily wait or slow down because they're going to fix it after they get to their destination right? Then on your flight experience, you're going to walk to your seat but you're going to see that there's a flight attendant there. Now the flight attendant comes on with a different swag, right? They're charismatic, they're smiling, they charming, very friendly. They're going to use more their charisma and their personality to help build relationships and use that as the key to their entryway. Now once you're in your seat, you're going to look out the window if you're sitting at a window seat and you're gonna see people with a blue vest on maybe a green vest, orange vestthe ground crews right? Involved in a lot of different things: putting bags onto the plane, bringing up beverages and snacks up to the flight attendants, helping the pilot navigate from the gate to the to the runway or vice versa. Right? So involved in a lot of different areas. That's why we often call them supportive, but really the glue that keeps the operation tight and together. And then last before... last but not least, you got the air traffic controls. Up in the tower somewhere, you don't really see them or hear from them. But they're working on all the minor details. They're thinking about how do our decisions today impact our future down the line? So more strategic, but definitely every single one of these brings up the entire flight experience for you.

Nicky Saunders: 5:19

So now we got to figure out what C is. So Moose start it off?

Mostafa Ghonim: 5:26

Yeah, absolutely C. I mean, definitely let us know a little bit more about the man behind the brand, right? Like before you even met E, I think people want to know that story of like, yo, who was CJ? And then how did you get an opportunity to start working with E? Or what? How did that kind of relationship spark?

CJ: 5:47

Yeah, you know, what, I think when people have similar passions in life, and operate in similar ways, you know, sometimes I think you both kind of climb and, you know, eventually end up meeting. So for me, um, you know, I can trace, you know, everything I do with personal development, with giving back, with trying to enrich people's lives back to elementary school. You know, I was...I didn't know what at the time, but I was one of the few students in school who was fortunate, fortunate enough to have a father in their life, right? And so it was crazy. Like, back in the day, you remember you would go on field trips from school, maybe you're going to the aquarium or the zoo or something like that, you know, they always broke kids up into groups, and you had to ride with somebody's parent, right? Parents would volunteer to drive. And every time it would be like, a fight to see who could ride with my dad. And I used to be looking around like, yo, why do I want to ride with my pops? Like, you know, in my mind, I'm like, I want to ride with somebody else, parents and like, you know, have a good time over there. I'm like, I'm with my dad all day. And I never really picked up on until about probably third or fourth grade. I asked my dad, I was like, man, do everybody want to ride with you? And besides the fact that he would let us listen to 96.5, the hip hop station here in Lansing, he was like, "Look around son." He said, "How many other fathers do you see here at the field trip?" I looked around and I was like, man, not many. And he was like, they not around because they want to hear the radio. They want to ride with me, because they look at me as the father figure they never had. And I remember in that moment, feeling so blessed. Like, literally guys, I was like, Whoa, like, I literally have a dad who's home every day, when I come home from school. I literally have a dad who's volunteering at the... guys, even when my dad was working nights at General Motors, he'd

get off work at like, 2: 7:36

00 in the morning, the field trip

would be at 7: 7:39

15. And he would be there. Now he would fall asleep, whatever the show was, you kno what I'm saying? He was gone fall asleep when we got there. But he would always be there. And I remember feeling so blessed. And I was like, Yo, I got to do my part to give back because there was absolutely nothing that I did to deserve that over another kid, right? Like I didn't, like I didn't manifest my dad into my life. I was born into that. And so I always felt a sense of responsibility to give back. So around the time I was 17 years old, I went up to Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America. And I asked them, I said, "Hey, I want to mentor somebody." And they said, "Yo, you're not even 18 yet. Come back when you're 18." I went back when I was 18. I got involved in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Long story short, they start having me speak all over the country, I would go to different places and be an advocate on behalf of the organization. Got to Michigan State, continued along that same line of work. You know, I came in as a student who was kind of lost at Michigan State didn't really know what was what was able to find my way and I wanted to give back. So we started a mentoring program. During that time in my mentoring program, my dad who was also still mentoring met E and they hit it off. And my dad was like, 'Do you know my son? He does the same thing you do?" And E was like, "Nah." So my dad called me like, "Yo, you need to go see this dude." And I went and saw E Monday morning on a random day, didn't know who he was, never met him before. And I've been his right hand man, literally ever since that day. Like that day, we hit it off. We went to Maxey's Juvenile Facility where there was juvenile offenders locked up, some serving long sentences. And we put in work that night. I spoke, E spoke, and since that day, you know, we've been rocking.

Nicky Saunders: 9:28

Y'all not, y'all not gonna get this story anywhere else. But let me get into my side because, um, C you...okay, so you met E? But at what point did you know, "Okay, this needs to be in everybody's crib. Like this needs to be a household name." Like where...at what time? Was there a particular event? What what really happened?

CJ: 9:56

Yeah, so it's funny, right? So I was a part of, shout out to the African American Student Mentoring Program AASMP at Michigan State, right? So that was a program that I was, I don't know if I was the president or I was on the board or whatever, I was kind of like an upper level member or whatever, right? And so when me and E met, he was running The Advantage, which is the program some of you may have heard about us talk about that we eventually ended up running together. But E was running The Advantage, which was very similar to what we were doing AASMP. So when I met E, I wasn't just bouncing on AASMP immediately. I was like, Yo. I had heard him speak at the juvenile facility and he killed it. You know, I'm saying? We both went in there and did our thing. But I just remember at AASMP, we would always have speakers come in and people would be like this. And you will see people like, you know, on they phones or like struggling to listen or kind of halfway falling asleep, getting bored. And I remember E came in there and he was with Jalin. And Jalin was a little fella. It was probably the first time I ever even met Jalin. And Jalin, and E came in with his son and was like, "Alright, cool. I'm gonna speak to the group." It was probably, let's say 40 of us in there. And I'll never forget, it was kind of like the theater style seating. And E came up to me, and by this time, I might have known him like, maybe a week, right? Like, literally, like seven days since I met him. And he brought Jalin to me, and was like, hey, can my son sit with you? And Jalin was probably, I don't know, 8 or 9, maybe 10. And Jalin sat next to me. And I was like bet, I got it. And Jalin sat there. He had his coat on and he was just kind of like, whatever. And I you know, talk to him. "What's up little man", that kind of thing. And E was like, "Yo, y'all ready?" Everybody was like, yeah. And E went on an hour long tear. And when I tell you, every single person in the auditorium was on the edge of their seats the whole time. They laughed, they cried. They were reflective. They took notes. He got a standing ovation at the end of it. I was like, Okay, this is different. Like, this is different. I don't know what it is. But I never seen anybody move a crowd like that. Like, I literally have never seen somebody push people so hard. And then be so receptive to it. And from that moment on, I was like, Okay, we got to do, I don't know what we got to do with this, but we got to do something. Later this semester, is when he did The Guru Story.

Mostafa Ghonim: 12:17

Wow! That's incredible. So it's not like there was a big time period between, you know, when you guys started in The Guru Story. It's like, you said later that semester. So it was almost like back to back.

CJ: 12:30

Yeah, yeah, no, this was this was early on. I think, let's see, I had to eventually, I would say less than a year for sure. Maybe not let me say that same semester, but less than a year, I had transitioned out of AASMP and decided that I wanted to, you know, support E full time. So I finished my role there at AASMP, so maybe it wasn't next semester. I finished my role in the spring with AASMP and then coming back in the fall, is when I said, "All right, cool, I'm down full time. I'm in The Advantage now. Yo, let's build this thing." And the reason I did that, AASMP was fine, but it was one of those programs Moose where like, it was already established, right? Like it was already like, it had been done since like Michigan State was allowing black kids to come to school. And so they kind of had a rigid kind of way in which you were allowed to do things. The thing that intrigued me about what E started, is E was just like, in his office and was like, "Yo, I'm about to go down here and just wax deep. Y'all come out." And I was like, Oh, that's more of my style, because I could, you know, we could throw alley-oops, you know what I'm saying? We could really do our thing. And so Nicky it got to the point where we would go back and forth and just create. And I love the fact that I didn't have necessarily a structure and a box in which I had to stick into in order to do our thing. And so me and E really, we didn't have...this wasn't sponsored by the school. There was no department that was involved in it. It was literally us just being like Yo, let's do this.

Nicky Saunders: 13:55

That's good. That's good.

Mostafa Ghonim: 13:57

Flight assessment cues right there. You know? The "Hey, don't put me in a box." Alright, just saying.

CJ: 14:06

Come on.

Nicky Saunders: 14:07

Go ahead Moose.

Mostafa Ghonim: 14:09

Yeah, no. And let me back that up. C if you could talk a little bit man about specifically leadership because I think people, you know, they really have a misunderstanding of leadership they think like leadership, I got to be always the man out front. Like and you've talked about it. Like you've presented for the mayor since fifth grade, like you are just as much as somebody who can be the frontline, you know, but you choose to be like, would you call E's support person, but still a leader nonetheless. Can you talk about like, the type of confidence and just that that style and swag that you got to have to really say, you know what, I'm gonna stand behind and push the message because this is more meaningful.

CJ: 14:46

Yeah, you know what? I think I didn't know that at first. Like, I just thought me and E were gonna wax deep side by side forever. And then I saw that there was another need and how I'm wired Moose, I don't...I'm not watching for credit. I'm wired to get the job done. And I've always been like that, like, I've never been one that was like, I need to be in the lights. And I need to be, I always just wanted to do whatever it took to help the team win. And so we had a gap, right? So obviously, Karl, who many of you know, was there and he was down to, you know, do the videography and, you know, he would take pictures and do the audio and everything we needed. E was speaking. Well, there was nobody in that gap who could say, "Okay, let's get a plan. Let's be strategic. Let's move this thing. Let's make it into something." And so I kind of stepped behind the scenes. And I love it now Moose because like, even when I speak at our conferences and stuff like that, people come up to me and be like, "Man, you're a great speaker. You shouldn't be nervous about speaking. You've been behind the scenes for so long." And I'm like, y'all have no clue that I been speaking since I was born like I've had this gift since I was young. I chose to go behind the scenes, right? I chose to be the man behind the man, because that was the job that was needed. It was never about the credit. We already had a dynamic speaker, right? I say all the time. Having Shaq on your team is sweet. Having two Shaqs, not so much. Somebody's got to be Kobe. And so I was willing to go, "Hey, I'll be Kobe. I'm not tripping, I'll be Kobe, and I'll go over here and do what I'm supposed to do." And so that was always the goal was what's best for the team? How do we get next to the next level. And unfortunately, for me at that time, or fortunately, however, you want to look at it, it was me going behind the scenes and so now Nicky laughs at me about not having social media. Nicky, I had social media, I had Facebook. But you know what? I said, all of these things are distracting me from doing what I'm supposed to be doing, which is pushing ET to be a household name. That was our number one objective. Me having social media at the time was taking my focus away from that goal. And so I said, You know what, let me just get all the way locked in and I got rid of social media for years and now that I could probably have it back. I got so used to...I love it. You know, you get some people who not on social media, Nicky, and they got like an attitude like, "Oh, I'm too good for social media"?

Nicky Saunders: 17:03

Yes.

CJ: 17:04

That's not me at all. I actually love social media. Social media has done incredible things for our company, our brand, our business, everything. I'll be honest, I just got so used to surviving and thriving without it in my role, that I haven't figured out how to kind of transition back and I'm kind of nervous because I've always been, like, behind the scenes in terms of like pushing E, and now that there's a demand for me to be on social media...and I get it like, yo, we've been able to do some incredible things. And I know people want to hear from me, it's just about me saying, "Okay, how do I still maintain the number one goal and try to you know, do this thing?" I never got into this to brand myself. I never got in this to have a bunch of followers for me. That was never the goal. And so I still haven't really figured out how to connect those two paths if that if that makes sense.

Nicky Saunders: 17:52

And that makes a lot of sense. All right, we're still gonna work on getting C on social media though. Ya mean?

CJ: 17:58

We working. We're working on it. We're working on it. It's definitely necessary. And again, I'm ghost on social media, right? So like, I can still log into E's stuff. Nicky mentioned I love going on Twitter. I love watching inspirational stuff. I love checking out Nicky and Moose and Tobe and everybody else who rocks with us. I go see what the whole squad is doing. I totally get it. It's a necessary evil for a lot of people. And then sometimes, you know, in Nicky and Moses case, they take it and they just go crazy with it. Part of my other excuse now Nicky is I'm so old, I promise you, I'm so outdated. I'm like, man I'ma have to have my son teach me how to use Instagram. It's hard Nicky! It's like a full time job! I'm like Lord have mercy!

Nicky Saunders: 18:38

Here we go.

CJ: 18:39

I'm working on it though. I' m working on it.We got the podcast Instagram.

Nicky Saunders: 18:42

We do. We do. S2S podcast. We'll get into that. We'll get into that.

CJ: 18:46

Absolutely

Nicky Saunders: 18:46

But C, people know and loved and was introduced by TGIM. Right? The kind of the same sequences what you did for Tobe, but let's bring it back as far as where did TGIM come from? How did you come up with that schedule? Because that's what a lot of people struggle with. Like, okay, I have content, but how often do I put it out? Where do I put it out? Like in in early stages you figured it out. So talk to people about that process.

CJ: 19:23

Yeah, it was funny, you know, when you say "Where are the origins of TGIM?" You know, one of my favorite quotes is "Necessity is the mother of all invention." All right. And so when there's a need for something, and this is a nugget for you entrepreneurs, if you find yourself saying, "Man, I wish I had this, or maybe if some...if this only existed or that only existed, there's usually money in that follow up, right? And so it was really simple. So E, myself and Karl had start rocking right? And we decided that hey, we were going to Michigan State but we're gonna try to build this dream. We're gonna try to go all in. And so what would happen is more Monday through Friday, we'd meet up at the office, we'd be up there at 7am. Right ready to rock and roll. Well then Friday at five hit and E had a whole family he had to go home to. Karl had a girl. I might have been single at the time, or just, you know, kind of dating or whatever. So I didn't really have a whole lot going on on the weekends just hanging. But from Friday at five to Monday morning, I would not see E or Karl. And so we used to be kind of like sad on Friday afternoon, because it was like, man, like, we can't build the dream. We kind of just got to chill. And, you know, I wouldn't want to be calling Ian, you know, messing up his family time or whatever. So every Monday morning, when we would come back in, we came in the building, like, literally like, let's go, I've been chomping at the bit all weekend to get in here. However, our coworkers looked like The Walking Dead on Monday. They would come in literally and be like, yo, why is everybody pissed off? I never worked in corporate before, like an environment where people had a 9 to 5. I didn't even, to be honest with you, it might sound naive, I didn't even know that people didn't really like going to they gig like that. Like, I didn't come from that. So Monday morning, people would be pissed off and we'd be walking around the office and people wouldn't even barely speak to you. But yet on Friday, it was potlucks, it was like high energy music plan out of every office. And I'm like, Whoa! And E was like, Man, it's crazy how people are more excited about the end of the week, than the beginning of the week. The beginning of the week is where you build your dreams. And so he was like man, Mondays, you know, are poppin. And then he was like, yo, thank God, it's Monday. And he was like, yo, we need to just start delivering some content to people on Monday morning. And so it was this Magical Moments video that we did and E was like, yo, we're just gonna put this out on Monday. And then let me go back a little bit to your question about where we were going to put it out. Right around the same time, this little company called YouTube had come out. And I remember at that time, there was barely anybody on YouTube, you know what I mean? Like, it was all like videos of like, kids sledding down the hill, like 30 seconds, and it would be over. But it was I noticed that it was just like random people. And this is I'm taking y'all back to the origin. I told you I'm old. It would be just like random videos and like kids and like dogs and cats. And I was like, Yo, what is this? And I said to Karl, Yo, can we get our videos on this thing? Like, how do you get a video on this thing? I literally had no clue. Karl had no clue. And Karl was like, yo, give me a second. That was Karl's thing. He would always be like, yo, give me a second I'll figure it out. And Karl at the end of the day was like, Yeah, I think I know how to get...because mind you, we were always, we always understood that content was king. We, every time he was speaking everywhere we go we have footage for days. Yeah, we just didn't have anywhere to put it. Um, we probably were thinking about making DVDs at the time, right, like something like that. So then once YouTube, Karl figured out YouTube, I can't remember the exact first video he put up, but one of the first videos that he put up was a video that we put up from one of our speaking engagements. And I remember putting it up and it got like three hits. And I think it was us just checking on the video, right? But I remember thinking at that moment, man, we're gonna make a household name. This is the platform that could do it. And from that moment on, I was like Karl, make sure we upload everything to this joint. So we uploaded you know, you see now if you go back, I think it's the BTC I dare you page, we got like Advantage videos from way back. And even like E speaking from jump. So that was the delivery method. And then the TGIM was born out of like I said necessity, we needed it. We were like, Oh, this is terrible. Why are people all depressed on Monday and happy on Friday? Like Monday is the day to make it shake. And so that's kind of the chicken and the egg there if you will.

Nicky Saunders: 23:54

Let me do a quick follow up Moose. Did you think that YouTube would get as big as it is?

CJ: 24:02

Ah, so I knew E was special. Like I really did. Like yo, like, I knew that that dude had a gift that would transcend the world if they were to find out. Did I did... to say that I knew we were going to be number one, I think would be a little presumptuous at the time. But I did feel like at least E would be known in the space if you will. Because I was watching other people in the space. And I was like, yo, he's better than him. It's the same thing I did with Tobe. I was like, yo, he's better than him. There's just not enough people that know it. So what's CJ's job? To make sure they know it. And so did I think we would be number one, a multi million dollar company? I hoped. I can't, I wouldn't... I don't know that I would have put my life on it back then. Um, but yeah, I would say I knew E was special man and I knew it was something the world definitely needed.

Nicky Saunders: 25:04

Moose!

Mostafa Ghonim: 25:06

Yeah C, so I'm always amazed man at a time where people have access to all types of information. They struggle to put out content or any level of information. It's almost like they're overloaded. Where were you getting some ideas or a lot of your ideas behind the branding? And like the strategic placement behind the content and just moving that needle at a time where at you said, like, YouTube was premature, like, Where were you getting even any of those ideas from?

CJ: 25:34

So you know, what's funny, Moose? I was able to gather those ideas, because I stopped speaking. And I want to make sure people catch that, right? Like, there was a point in time when I was speak every time he was speak, when I stopped that, and I went, Okay, what's needed? What skill set do I have that I could bring to the table? I said, yo, All right, cool. Let me do this branding thing, right? Because I just said, E's the best speaker I've ever heard in my life. And no disrespect to any other speaker out there. But I'm looking at cats who are making millions of dollars, and E's better than them. So I said, how do we bring this information to the forefront? So I said, Okay, we're at a time... I'm a hip hop head, right? We're at a time... E's a hip hop head. He wears Jordans. I'm like, Okay, I know, we got something cool. Like, at least we're gonna look cool. E with the fitted cap, you know, the hoodies, the Jordans. I was like, Okay, I noticed the trend Moose, that hip hop was starting to grow. I don't think people understand that I'm 38 years old, I just turned 38. And even when I was little, you would never have a Nicki Minaj on Good Morning, America. You feel me? Like you would never have like Future on David Letterman. Or you know what I mean? Like, that kind of stuff didn't happen. But I started noticing as I got older, and as we started going further with the brand that like, Whoa, the world is kind of bending towards hip hop is a mainstream genre. And, um, so that was my first indicator that Yo, let's build something cool. The other thing I think was looking at, like, where the culture was going as a whole with music and sports and entertainment, you got to think like, Michael Vick was getting hot, like, you know what I mean? Like, it was just energy all around some of the culture. And he was that he was that in the motivational speaking lane. What I thought of, you know what LeBron was for hoop and what you know what I mean? Like I really looked at E as that and so really, the inspiration for my content just came from looking at the culture at that time and being like, yo, That's dope. How I knew I had that skill set Moose, I'm gonna be real with you. Like, I've always loved music. And one of my favorite hobbies used to be, I will go buy a CD, like, it's the day it came out. And let's say it was a Death Row, a Snoop CD, or, who knows, even like Drake or something like that, and I would go by it. And my favorite thing to do used to be able to listen to every song, and I would pick the next few singles. Every single time I was just like, Yo, this is hot and this is gonna win. And I would do it and like my boys, and my brothers would be like, yo, how do you do it every single time you know exactly which one is going to be hot. And I may... and again, maybe that's just my God given gift, because I didn't do anything to necessarily like work on that. But I did take that gift and hone it. So by the time I gave out like certain videos like a people... let's go through the list, a couple of them. "What's your Why?" How did I know that was gonna blow up? Because it was hot to me. "You Owe You", How did you know that... It was hot to me. "Nothing Funny" You know what I mean? "Secret to Success" like "Greatness is upon You" They were dope to me. And usually I'm a pretty harsh judge, a harsh critic. So if I like it, surely the world is gonna like it. And so that's kind of how I evolved into this role where I was kind of in charge of like, nah that ain't it, or that's it, or drop the music at this time, or crescendo to music at this time, or add in an image of this, or add in an image of that it was just kind of what felt good to me based on you know, all the culture that I had taken in over my life.

Nicky Saunders: 29:05

I'ma just keep doing these air horns. It don't even make sense. It don't even make sense.

CJ: 29:12

You know what I'm sayin'? I feel good when I hear that. It make me hype. Make we want to bust a 16 real quick.

Nicky Saunders: 29:16

Ya mean? Ya mean? Alright. So you're building the brand. People are wanting E for their gigs, everything like that. The bag is coming in. You made sure the hat, the J's, shirt, the hoodie was the situation. Now, you were presented in few times where the bag was kind of high. And they said, Hey, we want you to change some things. I want you to talk to the people about when certain bags are presented to them that's making them change their brand image, what should they do? Because you went about it in a different way. And we know E in a certain image and in a certain light, because you said no to certain things. So I know certain people are given opportunities right now, especially with the wave of social media, and a lot of influencers are coming up and everything. So talk to the people about Yo, certain bags are gonna be presented and what you should do.

CJ: 30:22

Yeah, so I got to start by being 100% honest. E, we were on the grind. And I remember E was like, yo, we gettin, like, $5000, $6000 a speech, something like that... killing it. And E was like, yo, it's time to get up into the five figure mark. And I was like bet! I'm not scared of a challenge. I'm trying to get to 10,000. And this company called him was like, Hey, you know, we want E to come to our banquet, whatever, and, you know, our corporate luncheon, something like that. And I was like, okay, bet, and they were like, yo, we just have one request. This is like a formal event. Um, can he wear a suit? And I was like, y'all got the $10,000. She was like, Yeah, we got the $10,000. I was like, bet. Let's go. And I was about to tell E put on the suit dog. Like, $10,000! You gotta understand something, we got that out the mud. I'm like, 10G's is 10G's. And E was like, Oh, no, tell them I can't do it. And I was like, What? They said, $10,000! So I said, Okay E you trippin bro. I will go there with a tuxedo and serve drinks for $10,000. And E was like, yo, he reminded me of what I said in that you said, we were going to build the brand like this. You said that we were going to be you know, what, what, LeBron is the hoops and what the Fab Five was the basketball and you know, all of these things. You said that we were going to be that to the speaking industry. And now the check got you reconsidering? And I was like, You know what, you're right. I'm tripping. And so I called the company back. And I was like, yo, he can't do it. And they were like, what I was like, he's not gonna wear suit. And they were like, Ah, well, we're gonna have to go somebody else then. And I said, All right, cool. About a year later. And I promise you, I'll never forget, I was still answering the phone at this time booking E's gigs. I got a call and we were way above $10,000 at that time, and they called and everything was good. And I got the bag. Let's say it's 15 - 20,000. And she called back and was like, yo, we just got one request. And I promise you, I had a deja vu moment. And I was like, oh, man, she bought to ask E to put on the suit. She was like, "Can you make sure he wears the hat and the T shirt and the tennis shoes, because that's how we all know him." And she was like, if he walks in here with a suit, nobody will even recognize him. And I said, Wow, one year later, because we stuck to our guns. Not only was it not a liability, it had actually turned into an asset. And so that from that moment on, it was like, No, this is who we are. If you like it cool. If it's for you bet, let's go. And a lot of you out there will be presented with bags to do things that go against your name, image likeness. And we're dealing with a lot of it with Tobe right now. Tobe is getting offers from all over the planet. And big bags. But now that we understand that there's no bag worth selling your soul, there's no bag worth selling your brand. Um, we it's easy to turn down now.

Nicky Saunders: 33:21

You get the bomb on that one.

Mostafa Ghonim: 33:23

Yeah, that's the...wow

Nicky Saunders: 33:24

Ima let that rock. Ima let that rock.

CJ: 33:28

Crazy. True story. True story.

Mostafa Ghonim: 33:30

Wow. One of the one of the realest bars, and you've said many, you've said many. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hype it up. You've said many. But one of the realest bars I've ever heard you say was "Everyone wants their C but they're not an E." And I'm like wow, that is some serious stuff. Right? Like everyone's out here like I want my two man. I want my team. How do... I need a team. But you're not an E-level talent.

CJ: 33:55

Yeah.

Mostafa Ghonim: 33:55

Talk to the people like how do you decipher if you are, if you need to work harder, if you need to join a team? Like what are those things that would help somebody to understand if they're navigating those waters right now.

CJ: 34:08

So that and the reason Moose is asking that, he's heard me say it before, is like people always like we'll be at conferences and stuff and be like, "yo, how do I find my C?" And by C, we mean, you know, my name CJ not C as in ground crew. So I just want to make sure we clear Moose because I don't want the user confusion. So people ,and I remember Moose it was like they would say it like every conference and then it started to rub me the wrong way. I started to hear it different. It sounded like nails on the chalkboard. And I was like, wait a minute. So y'all think it's just a ton of me out there running around like that, like I'm just like, that disposable where it's just like, oh, let me I need to find a C and he'll just blow my brand up. I'm like, it doesn't work like that. If you're, and what I was trying to tell them is, if you're going to find a high level partner, you need to be high level. And most people were mid grade, or low level. And they're saying they're looking for a C. And I used to be looking at them like, wait, you would be my C, don't trip. Like you're not on that level. And notice what I said, on that level. E didn't have money when I met him. That's not what I was interested in. E had a gift, and he was using it like none other. So if you have not found your team, you're probably 1) not in your gift, you're probably 2) not executing at a high level in that gift. And if you don't know what your gift is, and you don't have a gift, you shouldn't even worry about building a team, you should worry about joining the team.

Mostafa Ghonim: 35:39

Wow.

CJ: 35:43

Does that make sense? I just want to make sure that makes sense because, again, people think it's something wrong with joining a team like everybody, "oh, I need to build this empire"... you don't have nothing. So even though I always dog, E and say he was a three when I met him, the truth of the matter is I was zero. So when you're at a three, you can attract a zero. When he got to a seven, he could attract a five, right? And so that's kind of the law and how it goes. And people want to be a three, and you're looking to attract the nine and wonder why your team ain't coming. Go join a team, build yourself into a nine, then watch your five, four and three's come flocking to you.

Nicky Saunders: 36:20

Facts. Facts.

Mostafa Ghonim: 36:21

That's good.

Nicky Saunders: 36:24

I don't even know if I should follow up, but let's stay on team. Let's stay on team. C, what was some of the first picks that you made when the brand started moving as far as building your team? Like, now there's traction and people say, Okay, I'm ready for a team. I know what it takes everything like that. But what were some of your first picks, as far as establishing your team?

CJ: 36:53

Yeah, you know, it's funny man Moose. He's he's done such an incredible job, and Nicky, yourself and what you guys are doing with the flight assessment and things like that. But I'll be honest, I didn't I had no idea how to pick a team back in the day. So Karl, who is you know, my right hand and you know, kind of, uh, you know, just to glue guy in the squad, you know, he was around. And he was exactly what I needed and I didn't even know it. Like I'm saying Karl was literally sitting right next to me every day all day. And me and E didn't even realize that he was the missing link to what we actually needed. So when you think about picking a team, I think our natural inclination is to go find people who look like us who talk like us who think like us who do what we do, who dynamic like we are who want to host podcasts like we are. And guess what, that's actually the worst person to join your team. You're looking for someone who can actually plug the gaps that you have. So I think when you think about building a team of who you actually need, write down the top 10 things that you do poorly. And look for somebody who does those things well. E, as great a speaker as he was, he wasn't dynamic in terms of leading the team down a straight path. E got excited, he'd be all over the place. One thing that I could do is lock in on the fact that no, no, the goal is to make E a household name. So I took that role, I was able to plug that gap for him. What don't I like doing? I don't like dealing with video. I don't want to be sitting there editing. I don't like you know, details like that. Karl didn't mind doing that. And so when you're building your team, you're, it's contrary to what most people would think. You're not looking for people who are just like you, you're looking for people who are actually the opposite of you. So Karl was actually the one that made our squad go, even though Karl would have broke into a million pieces back then if you made him get up and say his name in front of 1,000 people. But he didn't ... he didn't mind doing the dirty work behind the scenes. And so, as you're building your team, your job is to literally go, what am I missing? What like what would be helpful to me right now? So that's why when I look at Moose, and I would look at Nicky, you guys have again been an incredible asset to our team. Why? Because as poppin as E was, note, our social media game was very basic, very basic. It was I'd say even towards poor based on who E was. So Nicky saw a gap and as soon as as soon as I met Nicky and I figured out what she did and how she did it. I was like oh my...and we're so dumb. I think we had Nicky assisting somebody who she was better than until we finally were like oh wait Nicky's the secret sauce and let's get them out the way and get Nicky in you know? And so then Moose. Moose comes in. And Moose is very like he's very calculated he thinks everything out. He was a so Moose is now actually again I most always be E's right hand and spirit. But from a day to day standpoint, now based on where we're at as a company, Moose is a much more natural fit as ease right hand now as the number one in the world just day to day because he can help move E detailed oriented throughout the day. Whereas I'm an idea guy, I push the vision forward. Well guess what E's already number one. So me talking every day, we just pumping each other up and coming up with million dollar ideas, we not necessarily in the weeds doing details together all day. So Moose actually makes the perfect right hand for E now based on his skill set. And so I would say as you're recruiting, find somebody who's a fit in terms of your their values, and then skill set wise, you want to make sure that they can do something that you can't.

Mostafa Ghonim: 40:35

Just keep them coming at this point.

Nicky Saunders: 40:37

Listen, I'm just gonna hold down the button. I'm just gonna hold down the button half the time. Whatever. Go ahead Moose.

Mostafa Ghonim: 40:44

Shoot! C, as driven as you are, you're one of the most giving people that I have ever met. And and by giving I mean, with your platform, always willing to duplicate and and, you know, inviting people so "Oh, you're talented. Come on in." And I know there's a level of confidence that comes with that. But it's also just a different mentality in terms of like each one teach one right? Like I saw you do it with Inky, I saw you do it with Tobe, Jamal, many others that you're not afraid to.... talk to us about what point do you start getting in the game where you're like, Alright, we actually have something here we need to start pulling people onto our platform, and at some point duplicating what we have, like, you know, with Mal and Tobe.

CJ: 41:31

You know, what's funny, man? Jay Z. Hov said Ima clean it up, but he said, "If everybody in your clique is rich, your clique is rugged. Nobody will fall because everybody will be each other's crutches." And I promise you, that's one of the like, and I'm a Hov fan. That's probably the line that stuck stuck in my head more than any other line because it made so much sense. It was like, yo, if I'm able to reach a certain level, that's one thing, but if the people around me are able to get it at a high level and we got a team that's at a high level, how can you fall? Literally how can you fall if everybody in your team is getting to it? If everybody's on? And so I started looking outside of just us and going alright, cool. Who else is is is like minded, who we have this formula that can work that can get to the next level? I promise you to the Lord knows, I hope I don't ever need to go to Tobe and be like, "hey, bruh I got work some things out. I need a job over here." Like come on, Tobe. Tobe like Yo, you the dog on CEO, the company. Let's roll right? Had I not done that for Tobe. And see what some people do is they try to just get a people like a little piece and keep them suppressed down here. Well, guess what? God forbid anything happen to you and you the only breadwinner in your crew. Now you're going down and everybody bow everybody busted. So I figured, hey, I want everybody to be big as humanly possible. Take they game to the next level, be millionaires and billionaires and run billion dollar companies. That way if there's any fall off if there's any unfortunate circumstances, COVID hit..look how crazy the world is right now y'all. Look how crazy... and now we're in a position where we understand that we can help people go to the next level and we can help them stay there. And if God forbid, like I said, we run into a tragedy, everybody's able to be each other's crutches.

Nicky Saunders: 43:36

I'm telling you, I'm just gonna keep holding this button. This this what we're gonna do. Tobe and Mal, right?

CJ: 43:44

Yeah.

Nicky Saunders: 43:46

What, to you, because some people are gonna be like, "I'm the next Tobe. I'm the next Mal. Like, get me next." Like, what made them stand out? Because E, we could clearly see E like. And we could clearly see Tobe, but I want you to break down what was so special about Tobe and what was so special about Mal because Mal was killing it before, off social media. Now they're like, "Where has he been all this life?" Like, and he's killing it. What was it about those two?

CJ: 44:24

So you know, it's funny, man. I see people that get stuck on what everybody else is doing. Right? Like they literally look around and go, "what's that person doing? What's that person doing? Oh, Tobe's doing this. Jamal's is doing this. I'm gonna do that." And what is different from me and how I view the world and most people is I always look at, what are they not doing? Right? So like, it's good to study people. But like, for instance, when E and I started, I looked at Tony Robbins and said, okay, dude is killing it. He's the number one motivational speaker in the world. I didn't say what is he doing that we can copy? I said, Okay, I'm gonna look at all the things he's doing. But what is he not doing? You know what Tony Robbins wasn't doing, he wasn't giving out free content. He didn't have content on YouTube that was available for immediate consumption. And so I always looked at, Nicky, what are people not doing. So when I heard a Tobe rap I had never in my life, and this y'all please go look it up somebody fact check me because I could be wrong. I have never in my life heard somebody rap and been that dope. Never swear and never said the N word in their music and not be considered the Christian rapper. Maybe again, maybe it exists and it's no knock the Christian rappers is no knock the people who swear. I just noticed that Tobe's music was jamming the same way like Outkast was jamming, the same way that Big K.R.I.T. was jamming that time, and they just did a song together that's crazy. But I noticed that he had a very similar swagger to these people. But I noticed he never cussed. And I said, Whoa, okay, nobody's doing that. So I found Tobe in the "not-doing". Once we started this up, I was like, Yo, this is the "not-doing". If you look at Jamal, every other entrepreneur that you saw that made millions of dollars, what did they do? They quit their job. And they were full time entrepreneurs. What did Mal do? Mal became a millionaire at the age of 26 and didn't retire till he was 41. He worked as a police officer for 15 years as a multimillionaire. I've never seen anybody do that before Nicky. Everybody else was, again, work their job, got they millions, quit they job, went on to do whatever. And so Mal was in the "not-doing". And it's so crazy that everybody wants to just go and copy exactly what's being done. Where my advice and my energy always says, okay, we can glean a couple of things from that. But at the end of the day, what's not being done, and you'll find a lot more success in the "not-doing" than the doing.

Mostafa Ghonim: 47:01

I hope I hope people are starting to get some clues around what what C might be on the on the flight assessment right now.

Nicky Saunders: 47:07

Hey Moose, we may have to break that down now. We may have to. We almost at the hour mark. Let's break that down because I want to have like, random conversations as well. So okay, let's do that.

Mostafa Ghonim: 47:19

Fair, Yeah, go ahead. I'll let you lead it out.

Nicky Saunders: 47:22

No, no, no, no, you got it. You got it. Okay. Because I want you to break down the certain words that he said.

Mostafa Ghonim: 47:29

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and just make an assumption here, C, and tell me if I'm, if I'm, if I'm right. Early on in the episode you said, You know, "I was not trying to get boxed into any structure". So is it safe to say that you are not, that you are not an air traffic control? Is it safe to say?

CJ: 47:53

Oh, very safe, very safe.

Mostafa Ghonim: 47:55

Very safe. Yeah/

Nicky Saunders: 48:01

Alright, so I'm going to say, let's put this over here. Um, he he's supportive, but he doesn't deal with certain things. Right? He's not fully like in the background, per se, like my man would still get on stage if he needs to. Okay. So is it safe to say that you are not a grounds crew?

CJ: 48:33

That's safe to say. Very safe. Another safe guess.

Mostafa Ghonim: 48:37

Very safe. I like that. Very safe. Very safe. Yep. Yep. But let me ask you this before we give the people the final answer, I've actually had some sources tell us that you do have some very flight attendant tendency, like strong flight attendant tendencies. But it's it's uh, you know, I don't know. I'm just wondering, is it it can we say...?

CJ: 49:05

That would be true. Yes, I do. I do have some flight attendant tendencies. Yes, for sure. I just don't like to let him out because when I do, the staff gets, they get they get loose. They get they get loosey goosey. So I like to stay on brand, so that everybody feels like they need to get work done. And they can't just party all day.

Mostafa Ghonim: 49:28

Love it. Love it. Love it. Tell the people man. Tell the people. What are you on the assessment?

CJ: 49:34

So yeah, no, I'm a pilot. So I'm a pilot first. And then I'm a flight attendant. So I have a very high pilot and right out under that not too far away from that is the flight attendant. You know what's funny? I will say this. It is because E is, me and E are partners and E is such a high flight attendant, that I end up operating more in my pilot than I do my flight attendant especially as it pertains to work.

Nicky Saunders: 50:13

Makes sense. Makes sense. Makes sense.

CJ: 50:16

Like somebody's got to be bad cop, right? Like...bad cop.

Nicky Saunders: 50:21

He's been banned from the meetings, people he's been banned from the meeting. We just had a meeting, he actually showed up. I was very shocked.

CJ: 50:30

I did. I did. I come to one a year. I come to one meeting a year.

Nicky Saunders: 50:33

That was the only meeting. That was the only... alright, so C, um, I wanted to have this conversation with you. Um, so Verzuz, real quick. Verzuz... Gucci and Snow. What was your thoughts on that? Like, as far as a branding standpoint?

CJ: 51:00

Yeah, you know what I thought it was okay. So I'm glad you know, we're gonna talk about this.

Nicky Saunders: 51:05

That's why I said random.

CJ: 51:07

You know, what's crazy again, I don't get to talk about this on our podcast cause it's this the AARP podcast. I'm on there with a bunch of muscle relaxer, joint pain, old guys who don't even know what Verzuz is. Matter of fact, Mal told me he didn't know any Gucci songs. And he barely knew any Jeezy songs. So I'm like, okay, I can't even talk to you about this. But anyway, so I actually, both gentlemen, did incredible by their brand, right? Um, if you're like, so I live in Atlanta. I've spent a ton of time in Atlanta over the last, you know, 15-20 years or what have you. Um, so I kind of know the backstory right? A lot of people know the backstory, but I've been around the energy. Well, I think it was great because Gucci is known as the Boogey Man in Atlanta, like Gucci is that that presence of like, yo, when he comes around, people are like, yo, he's here. While Jeezy, you know, definitely you know, was was that guy in his past, we've seen Jeezy's progression into, you know, this kind of, you know, new guy, this entrepreneur, you even heard him talking about the real estate stuff. You saw, he was the one who extended the olive branch to Gucci. And even though Gucci came in, they're like, yo I'm doing these dis records, I'm gonna be, you know, reckless and all of that Jeezy stayed in character and was like, Yo, I feel you, that's where you at. And this is where I'm at. And so it allowed Gucci to keep that same Boogey Man presence that makes him so you know, everybody's so enamored by his aura, he was able to keep that. And Jeezy was able to stay in his new"I'm a businessman and CEO. I'm not on that foolishness anymore." He was able to stay in his lane by being like, you know what, go ahead, you perform those dis records. If you see Jeezy didn't perform, "Stay Strapped". He was like, Nah, I'm good on that. That's old. I'm over that. And so both of them were able to keep brand integrity while still drawing a bunch of attention to their music and their brand. So I thought it was an incredible.

Nicky Saunders: 53:12

Yeah, I think I think the story line, because clearly they knew that they were cool at the end. They had, they had to stage that. So the fact that they kept that whole, like there's still beef. You're locked in. It kept what, like 1.8 million, the highest on IG. So the fact that, yeah, the fact that they kept it there, I was like, I got to C about this because they're still storytelling with battle. They're still storytelling with even an IG live like any piece of content. Because how do you keep people on that? So I just, yeah, I wanted your take on the whole battle, because these Verzuz keep getting better and better. And I don't think people break it down from a branding standpoint.

CJ: 54:02

Yeah, no, it was great. It was incredible. I enjoyed it. And I think like I said, If Gucci woulda came in there and been too nice, he probably would have lost a little bit of that Boogeyman aura that makes them him him. If Jeezy would have came in super tough, people would have been like Oh, I thought she was just changed man. So I think both of them did an incredible job and represented their brands and themselves you know, in a great light.

Nicky Saunders: 54:28

I had to get C to talk about something current because he doesn't do it much.

Mostafa Ghonim: 54:35

He said I'm off. When he said I'm always the muscle relaxer guy that had me dying. That was hilarious.

CJ: 54:39

These guys on the podcast talking about how they gotta stretch before they eat. I'm like alright dog. Shout out to my guys. I love my guys.

Nicky Saunders: 54:53

Yep. Announcement time people. So S2S Podcast, that's where you could get C and E and Mal and Karl all the old people. You go to S2S Podcast. No it's a great podcast personal development all day.

CJ: 55:11

We will not be talking about Gucci and Jeezy. I can guarantee

Nicky Saunders: 55:12

Yeah, you won't you won't get that there you that. won't. That's why I had to do it over here. On top of that, ever Tuesday, new time right Moose? 7:30? Yep, yep. 7:30pm eastern?

ep, eastern. 6: 55:24

30 Central Tim . Some time West Coast time. It' a new time. I don't know. ut um, Facebook Live we're goi g live me and Moose, Q&A, a review of what's next, just a getting to know us a little bit better. So facebook.com/nicky ndmoose. Nicky and Moose everyw ere go follow us. But C, wha is next? What's next?

CJ: 55:51

Um, before I say what's next, Ima hijack the podcast a little bit and just say that man, I'm extremely, extremely proud of you two. I just looked in my phone. I was looking for email from Moose the other day. And I'm gonna embarrass Moose. I found the email that says "Good morning, CJ. Attached is a file with all the additional information" And Moose sent me a whole breakdown of how he was gonna sell us some iPhone cases. Dated June 4, 2013.

Mostafa Ghonim: 56:28

Back in the day.

CJ: 56:29

2013. So you talking about man six and a half years ago? And you know, let me say something...and here's the crazy thing. Moose was just trying to add value at any point. And I love you for that. You know, Moose you you again man had been such a blessing to this squad and you know, we keep our circle very tight. But literally for years Moose was just coming around and he was like, yo, anything I can do to add value I'm gonna do. Um, he did that at a high level, as you can see from cell phone cases now, you know, worked his way to being E's right hand. And I'm extremely proud of you, brother. You always came around trying to see what you could give and not what you could get. And it's great to have you in the family. Nicky. Let me tell you something, man. I just Nicky is like the little sister that I always wanted to never had. I mean that like the first time I saw Nicky, she was just fresh. Like I seen her and I'm like Yo, she is like, as y'all can see, Nicky is just like, New York, New York cool, right? Like everything about her is so cool. And I saw her. And I was like, "Yo, I see you with them J's on." First words I said to her. And she was like, "okay, no doubt." And then I promise you, it was probably, I don't even know how still to this day. I got a package delivered to the crib. And it was a brand new pair of Jordans. And I was like yo and it was like, you know from Nicky, I appreciate you acknowledging the swag or something like that. And I was like, Whoa, and since that day, you know, Nicky's been a part of the family. Y'all see what she does the information she gives out. She does it in a way that's so cool. So electric, so easy to follow. And I'm just you know extremely happy to have you on the team as well. Y'all are amazing and have been you know incredible parts to the ETA family and I love you both dearly for it. So sorry about that. What's the question?

Nicky Saunders: 58:28

What's next C? What's next?

CJ: 58:35

Look I got Nicky to blush! As cool as Nicky is I got her to blush a little bit.

Nicky Saunders: 58:38

It's the lighting. It's the lighting. It's daytime. It's daytime. It's lighting. Ya mean? It's the lighting.

CJ: 58:44

Yeah, you know what? What's next is more the same. They say if it ain't broke don't fix it man. We are on a path to you know, taking this thing to another level. I got some things in the works that I won't speak on just yet. But um, everything we do, you can guarantee it's gonna feel like this. It's gonna feel genuine, it's gonna feel organic. It's gonna be something that is pleasing to the people. It's gonna be something that doesn't feel like we're trying to take anything from you. But we're trying to give man. I know a lot of people come on social media, they come on you know podcast and they take take take take take, but you will always get our pure heart and I say our because this is a family now. You get our pure heart you get our best information, and you get our best foot forward every single time so we'll continue to give that in 2021 hopefully this COVID dies down we can get back to seeing people in the flesh, dapping them up, hugging them but until then we don't keep holding y'all down online. And yeah, bigger and better things and 21.

Nicky Saunders: 59:46

Just trying to get the exclusive. I was trying to get what's next. He didn't want to give it. He didn't wanna give it.

CJ: 59:51

I got something in the works man but you know, it's Thanksgiving. I'm at my mama house. You know what I'm saying? It's the time for turkey. We don't want to get into too much business.

Nicky Saunders: 1:00:01

Man, we were trying. We were trying. It's alright, it's alright people. We're gonna get him back. We're gonna get him back. Look C, hank you for being on. As the only child like you are the big brother I never had for real for real. I've learned so much. Everything really is a reflection of you and E let's e real like and so I appreciate he the platform. I appreciate the talks and everything and the support so it was only right that we put you on the podcast because that's the only way we know how to get back

CJ: 1:00:34

Hey, man. Love y'all man! Love y'all!

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:00:37

We love you too man. What a blessing bro, what a blessing. I mean, always constantly, like I said, the most driven person, but the most giving person and I think there's no better balance to, you know, to want to walk with and hold you accountable and push us to be better. So we're beyond grateful for you. And again, thanks for joining us, man.

Nicky Saunders: 1:00:53

Yo, Moose do you want to do the final words? Do you want to do the final words Moose?

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:00:57

Absolutely not! Let me say this real quick. There's at least three times that I want to C and I said I never want to even touch a microphone because of how you speak. Like every time I'm just like, This dude is so good. So no, C, I'm gonna plead the fifth and pass it to you man. Close us out.

Nicky Saunders: 1:01:15

Final words.

CJ: 1:01:17

Hey, listen, man find your gift. All right? Your gift is something that God gave you. How do you know what it is? What comes easy to you that's hard for most? I'ma say it again what comes easy to you that's hard for most? Can you draw? Can you sing? Can you act? Can you put words together? Can you create? Are you visual? What are you? Find that first and then double down on that thing, man, and you'll be exactly where Nicky and Moose are all right? At the top. Love y'all.