 How are you able to stay in line with that as you're growing the business? So so so one of the things that that we do and this is this is a million dollars that I'm giving you right here No, no, that's no when you brought that up. It just like it went off of my head like bam like how do you do that because so our local car track here In the T bank stadium, which is the home of the Baltimore Ravens and Horeo Park, which is the home of the Baltimore Orioles The majority of our team members there are house on residents And then when we hire for New contracts one of the things that we try to do is we try to get college student local college students To come on board and help out with that office office operations So so a tidbit is that in college students every college even our I believe colleges are considered house on because the students that reside there Their income is below the threshold for You know to be considered a low income area. So every college is it's a house on I did not know that Wow, no, that was um Did you come up with that idea or some you know, some of your team came up with that idea With hiring the college interns, right bringing them on well, you know, those those were some of the tidbits Of going to the hub zone. We're a member of the hub zone council so going to the hub zone council and and talking with other hub zones and throwing out ideas of how we can maintain The hub zone status and how we can help the community and You know getting individuals who this would be their first internship or their first job The ability to to work in the space Well, I think that serves the dual purpose then right it's um, you know, you're you're helping them and educating them and Getting them prepared for their future business success or career success And then at the same time, you know, you get the benefit of maintaining your size standard Exactly So actually, uh, I have Michelle Burnett was one of my uh pass guests. Okay of the council So it's interesting you mentioned that maybe that's how the maria connected the two of you somehow All right, awesome And and really really quick me because I almost lost my turn of thought when you were mentoring mentoring mentoring mentioning About a lot of companies give up So through research, uh, you know, one thing that I found is that it's the fifth year so most companies give up before their fifth year, but if there's someone can maintain to that fifth year, that's one you know, they have a A growth In their company. So I I tell all your listeners, please keep grinding keep going Um, as Reginald F. Lewis said keep going no matter no matter what Uh, and that fifth year is that turning point. So that fifth year is like It's like, you know, the forces open up and you know, your your business with skyrocket Wow, wow. No, that's that's great purpose when you start out Was it just you and the company or did you have any employees when you know Actually, it was just me working out of a spare bedroom um The people that did uh employee were 1099 that that particular time Uh, you know, we had limited resources. So we were not able to you know pay biker and medic medicare taxes and all that good stuff We had 1099's and uh You know through that we were able to to grow revenue That we were able to you know, run on our first our first full time employee Did you where did you learn how to run a business from? So I I do have my MBA from the university now in the university college. Okay, uh, and then also it's just taking different seminars So I've been to uh, uh, the tough school of business. Uh, they're building a hard-performing minority business Uh, I did have a mentor Uh, uh, Brian Cunningham that started started a business back in 60s It was a former uh, nasa scientist Okay, because his business public went on nasdaq and sold it back at 89 Uh, so they have a business mentor that was able to to guide you and show me roles. So as well as my cpa Uh, Robert Waller and the sociasts been business for myself for about 20 years. So, you know, definitely surrounding my stuff with with uh People have been there You know, this is a question that people ask me all the time because, um Again with me and me sharing my stories and my experiences and the same thing with you and you may get this ass often Because they say, oh, can I be your mentor? You know, could he be a mentor and then so what the question is ultimately is how do you find a mentor? any Words of wisdom, how did you find your mentor? How did you run into him? Was that a Sure, so One thing one thing I would say Uh to individuals that there will be for a mentor. It's It's really look what would you bring to that relationship as well? Not just what you would get from a mentor But what can you bring to that relationship? Why what a person wants to be your mentor? You know, what what do you offer as a mentee that will entice that person? To be that mentor so for me it was it was pretty much going out and And doing a research on Who Brian was what he brought to the table what I as a mentee would bring to the table how our school You know how we were meshed together as a mentor and mentee Well, no makes that's I mean that that says it all that says it all Is he's still around today? He is he is why is the original man? Early eighties mid eighties actually Okay, why is it still going strong so as brilliant ideas? What did you think about your success? Ah, man, uh, he's very pleased Isn't that rewarding? I mean I I know Someone encouraged me a long time ago through real estate development and I remember Because he was up there as well and he started having a whole time person I talked to him. I said, do you remember when I was that little boy? You told me do real estate development Is what did you do? I said, I did it. He says, all right. Well, good job then He said good job, sir and You know, so I when you told me he was older here. So the business in the eighties I figured as much But that's great. That's good stuff As you were growing the business On any line to credit or anything or All self-funded as well in the beginning. It was all self-funded. Okay, you know getting no banks. I'm not looking Yeah I remember, you know, I agree with you, man. I you know, they told me you give me 50,000. We'll lend you 50,000 No doubt about it. And then one of the issues and it's still a real issue for Minority businesses, especially afro-american businesses is is is access to capital right and having that access to capital So in the beginning was self-funded just putting everything back into the business As we were able to get SBA loan So that really helped us out and helped us get over the hurdle Winning, you know, winning over contracts now Since you mentioned that you you spoke at an event black wealth through entrepreneurship Can you tell us about it? Oh, no, I wasn't I wasn't a speaker there. I actually attended there. So that was Robert's business go across my mind. So that was Robert Wallace Okay Are you familiar with Robert Wallace? I'm not Okay, you would definitely want to reach out to Robert Eric. Robert would be a phenomenal guest He's been in the government space for a long time Actually, he started Building a hot the minority business program at dorkman The tough school of business and having minority home businesses to come there and and get insight from from dorkman business school Professors of house who really scale your business Is that uh staying in line with that same conversation is Is that's you know, when we talk about resources things that Helped you bro. Is that something you would recommend to small businesses that particular program? I definitely would I definitely would the program is not cheap and they do offer financial assistance So individuals are qualified so definitely So you'll listen to the garbage out to the uh to Dolphin It's a tough school of business at dark myth. That's correct. And then you actually go there and stay there That's for me. So it's really it's really an awesome program. Okay. Um any other Tools or resources things that you want to share that helped you Both in your journey. Sure. Sure. So, you know anytime that I can I'm always I'm uh, I love I'm an avid learner So I'm always reading always reading the wall street journal always reading the Washington Post New York Times The local city paper Baltimore Sun here It's looking at fortress. This is coming up. There's looking at Different ideas. You don't want to get stuck And in the industry that you're in because if you're not looking for new ideas and seeing what's coming down the pipeline You may miss some opportunities So, you know, artificial intelligence is going to be a huge player In all spaces and the internet of things is going to be a huge player in all spaces So let's look to see where you can, you know, get yourself in line to yourself In line to to to really being the forefront of these trends Okay Now the business growth symposium that was your event. That was that was right. Okay. All right. Can you touch on that? What was that? Sure. So, you know, just wanting to give back Uh to to small business community are here. So so in the DMV, uh, Maryland, uh, Virginia and the District of Columbia Most of the major events are held outside of the Baltimore metropolitan area They're held in the DC area or another Virginia area, you know, we're uh, you know, federal government is located at So, you know, we want to bring That type of program So it's a Baltimore city So, you know, we had dr. Raymond. Okay. He pink it Uh, the former one of uh, the princess was our keynote speaker and he's a major player in the uh, In the uh, federal government contracting space. Yeah, uh, you know, just just giving back to the business community Now I do know his story. Um, someone mentioned to me they heard him speak before So I know that he made his he said he made all this money doing the government contracts Yeah Um, and then then one thing our guy would definitely tell a lot of your listeners About the 8a program. So we're in a process of going after our 8a 8a certification Where a lot of companies go wrong with uh, the 8a service that they get it's too early So a lot of uh companies get their 8a certification very early in the game And then you know, there's only a nine-year program You know, you'll have five years pass and then you'll you know, you'll hit your mark And then you have like four years left in the program. So I would I would definitely advise Uh, your audience to to you know, it's to to wait until you know that your company is ready to really benefit from that program