if you want your child to be successful, you gotta do just a few things. It's a 80% chance this is gonna work you gotta finish high school. Had that completion. I said, okay. The immediate time they're able to get a job. Let him start working. No babies before you're 25. And I'm pretty sure when they get 25, if they haven't had any kids, they're not gonna want nothing until they get married. So if you can instill just those three things into your children, they have a 80% chance rate of being successful. Welcome back to The Art of Connecting Podcast. This is your host here, Hayden, back with another episode for you guys. And today I am blessed to be with Anthony Byrd here. I always start the, the episode with how I ended up getting introduced to the person that I'm sitting in front of because this show is a web of my connections, right? And the people who I'm able and, and blessed to meet. So my friend Becky English, who was on the podcast probably about five episodes ago was like, man, you need to have Anthony on the, on the show. And, and you go by Byrd. So I'll just just say Byrd. Sorry. That's your, that's your government name. That's my, she's like, I like it. You need to have Byrd on this show. And and so we got connected and it's, it took a while'cause we're both so busy. But I got invited to his birthday party and man, that was an experience. I've never, it's crazy. Never. It was insane. It was, what, probably 400 people there. Yeah. We, we ended at 500. Suck out. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was insane. But excited to have you on the show today. Thank you. Thank you man. And glad we got introduced by Becky and I'm to be here. I'm happy to be here and thank you. And I love Becky. Thank you so much. Becky. If you're listening, you're awesome. Yeah, she does. I, she was like, Hey, I've been listening to you. She's like, was your laundry not clean today? Ah, because as I told her, I'm like, when I'm not wearing, I, I sit on my show. If I'm not wearing my Hawaiian shirt, my clothes are probably like, my, my shirts are probably dirty. Ah, so it's, so today is your longer day? Well, today, actually, it's not. I, I am, I'm going on retreat here in. In a few hours. And so I'm like, I'm just gonna be comfortable today. Oh. Oh man. Like, not that my Hawaiian shirt isn't comfortable, but I was like, I don't want wear a t-shirt. All right. I like your shirt. Yeah, thanks. All the, like people have said, it brings my eyes out. So does it, does like, I love wearing this shirt. But anyways you have nice eyes, hay ball. Oh man. So. Byrd, if you don't mind, if you go ahead and just do a quick intro. Tell, tell the audio to who you are. My name's Anthony Byrd. I'm a Chattanooga native, born and raised here in this amazing, beautiful city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Grew up and some of the inner city areas. Alton Park, ps Home then my mom, we Eastdale community. I was a part of several groups here. I was part of a group back in the day as children that did gymnastics throughout the city. Got Flip o Morris that did those things as a kid and then transferred into a group called the Happy Clowns. Mayor Jean Roberts gave us a key to the city. I was like, Hey, we, we, we traveled around and told kids to say no to drugs during the crack era. Hmm. And so I was a part of that group. Then we transformed into a group called The New Beginning usher, Raymond. And myself and several other guys, we signed our first record deal together, travel the World as a Boy Band. Wow. It was super crazy. Shout out to Usher. Then we became, I met a guy named Pete Waddington through that journey and he gave me two nightclubs here. So I was a nightclub owner. One was called Midtown Music Hall. It was the old yesterday's building and another one was called Cold Train. So IO owned those two clubs with Pete and we did that through that process. I worked at the sessions court. I worked there for probably 20, 25 years in general Sessions court under Gwen Tidwell, and now. Vince Dean through that process, some friends said, Hey, Anthony, you know so many people and you such a dope guy. Why don't you run for office? I'm like, I'm not a politician. I don't know how to run for office. They said, that's what makes it even great. Run for office. You're gonna be the first councilman. So I was able to win a council against a guy, a legend. Shout out and rest in peace. Moses Freeman. I won that election. And I became city councilman, and I had a good run for two terms under Andy Burke, mayor Andy Burke, and now under Mayor Tim Kelly. Tim Kelly came and said, Hey, Anthony, you worked for the courthouse for so many years. Why don't you consider being my city court clerk? I replaced Ron Swafford. He retired and Mayor Kelly under his watch appointed me to city court clerk. So I stepped down from City Council at that time. To become the city court clerk of Chattanooga. And that's where I'm at now, serving with Sherry Petty Judge Sherry Petty. And we're doing that now, so. Awesome. That's my life story. So it's so interesting, man, because. Like, so you're in city government? Yes. And why? I think of city government, I think of the most lame people on the planet. On the planet. Different, right? These people, it's like, it's like you ever watch that movie? That. Flash the slot. You know what I'm talking about? I never seen it. Zootopia. Zootopia. No, I haven't seen no. Dude. You gotta watch. I gotta watch it. Okay. You gotta go like watch Zootopia tonight. Okay, I'll do it tonight. Change your life. Me and my wife, we will watch it. It is hilarious. It's a great movie. Wonderful movie. Heartwarming. Okay, but I'll set the scene here. You guys know what I'm talking about, who's listening? All right. So they go into the DMV. Okay. And all the DMV clerks are sloths and I'm gonna ruin the movie for you. It's okay. But his name is Flash and he's the fastest sloth and he's like, hello, how can I help you? Right. And then he's like going to stamp a paper and it's like his like hand is moving so slow and then he stamps it and the guy's like waiting for it because he like, he needs something from the DMV. Right. And he stamps it and he like takes forever to pull up. Right. And it's like. And then he turns and he like, starts to smile and then before he can even like start to hand it, he like snatches the paper and runs out. Right. I love it. Okay, so that's just like a general, I I just went way too in depth in that, but like, that's okay. That's why I think I wanna take a city government, oh man. A bunch of lost in this bureaucracy. Like, oh man, it's some dope people. It is like unfortunately, a lot of those dope people don't get to tell their story or get to be seen. And if you got to interact with. 80% of, of city government, I give it 90, 90% of city government. You'll notice that 10% probably, eh, 90% are super dope. That's awesome. That's cool, man. And, and, and so I want to I wanna clarify or like ask some questions here. Okay? Okay. Alright, so you, you worked with the court for 20 years? 20 years, okay. 20 plus, right. And so did you own the nightclubs before you started working in the court or after? During, so before Pete I was 19 when I started working for the courthouse. And I met Guy Pete Waddington and he said, Hey dude I bet you we was talking, he was bringing a show. You ever heard of Rapper Dougie Fresh? You never heard of Doug Fresh? Oh my gosh, no, I haven't. I gotta show, we got a YouTube Dougie Fresh one. Okay, so we was talking about Doug Fresh and he was bringing him to the city and he was like, man, my show is about to sell out. And I was like, no, it's not this. I'm working at the courthouse during this time. And he was like, yes it is. And I was like, I bet you it's not gonna sell out. He said, I'm gonna, I give you a bottle patron and a hundred dollars if you, if it don't sell out. I said, okay. I came back the next day, he lost all his money on the show. He was like, dude, how did you know that? I was like, I'm in the city. Like I know everybody. Nobody was talking about your show. He was like, dude, here's a hundred dollars. Here's your bottle. You ever thought about running a nightclub? And I was like, yes. So I talked to my boss, Gwen Twell, and I was like, Hey how would you feel if I was running a nightclub? And she was like, I don't, I don't care, as long as you don't hurt your job. So I started working the nightclub while I was doing it, and Pete later made me a partner. Wow. On and popping. And so you were working, what, what kept you working in the court system? Like why didn't you just man, be like, all right, I'm doing this. You know, because the, the it's crazy, man. I think I was you know, we all are here to, in my opinion, we're here to serve people. You know, I didn't get the gratification. Of serving people. I was serving alcohol and partying, but I wasn't serving people and so the job at the courthouse allowed me to serve and help people. On top of, I was able to grow my pension on top of, I was able to have insurance and those things of nature. You know, I made great money. With the nightclub situation, but I just always loved the service of helping people. Man, you know how many people I done helped get their driver's license back or even get their kids outta jail who maybe was arrested wrongfully? You know what you just said? You're the connector so people can call you to get to get to someone else. So people will call me while I was in that job and say, Hey, Anthony, my son just got arrested, but he's already been, he's already been arrested for that. A week ago, they picked him back up. I would be able to go talk to the judge and say, Hey judge, can we just take a look at this? I believe this guy was arrested wrongfully. And the judge would look at him like, oh, the clerk messed up. I see what you're talking about. Okay, let him out immediately. Mm-hmm. You know, that gratification of just helping somebody and the lady's son was able to get outta jail for that. So that's why I never quit the courthouse because of. That, that process of helping, I loved it. Mm-hmm. Has Becky connected you to, to Jabre already? Like you already know? No. Ah, okay. I'm gonna do that after this. He's been on my show. You promise? I promise. Right? He's the lieutenant governor. He's the lieutenant governor. He was, yeah. Young, young black guy and like that would be so dope. He, he, he is in insane, like amazing. Okay. Okay. Amazing. I would love, I love meeting Amazing. I met you. That's so you amazing Jabre. He, he know, he's in Nashville. He's like, okay. He knows everybody. I would love to connect, please. All the politicians. Oh my God, yes. Oh, we had him on our show. We had a good conversation. Alright. Awesome. So you were able to make a difference serving in the courthouse. Yes. And, and so talk to me about like the, the, the nightclub scene like. Was that something that was fulfilling? Like was that something that, oh my god, that you, you felt fulfilled in, in doing that? It was awesome, man. Well, the best thing about the nightclub scene in Chattanooga is that me being African American it ain't many places for us to go and feel welcome. Mm-hmm. And that's, I'm not trying to be cliche-ish or funny, you know, but it's just not places how to say it. Like it's, it's places in the city that don't really need. Need people to come to patronize for their business to stay open. And so I was able to create a, a safe environment for people that look like me to come have a good time. Yeah. So it was very fulfilling and the stigma of us causing problems where downtown we're not in little pockets of urban communities where we can go party. Pete allowed me to bring my culture and my. Situation to the heart of downtown Chattanooga. Unfortunately, you know, we didn't own the place and some of the situations changed to where we didn't get released. We didn't get leases renewed, and so we would have to leave, but we had very minimal issues. And, you know, one of the things that was so crazy is that one of the clubs before it was. A purely African American club. You know, you had problems with fights and stuff, or issues that kinda, I ain't gonna say went unseen during that time, but during that time, didn't get the publicity that it should have gotten. It was kinda like we'll take care of it was done, but I could man. Drop a bottle on the street and it was like, oh, what are you doing? What's going on? It's a problem. It's a problem. And it was just like, it showed me during that time I was able to see the subtle issues of, I don't disrespect or not equalness of sometimes I was able to see a couple of those things during that process. But as I built relationships and proved that. I want a safe, clean fund, just like the next club down the street or just like the other area. I was able to build relationships and people was able to respect what we was doing and allowed me to function. So, mm. It worked out. But just the process of proving myself, it was a, it was a big hurdle to deal with. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, I was on, on the bus last night. I was telling about this before we got started, and we were talking about like, why is there not a nightclub in Chattanooga? Right. Why, why doesn't want to, you know, there's, there's not one, and I, I'm not over here fighting for once. I don't even drink anymore. But like, there's people that live here and, and are like, come here. And they're like, man, I wish there was something to do at night. I can't you, you know it's a guy here, John Kinzie. Mm-hmm. A good friend of mine we opened up a when I was a councilman, we passed a thing to get Station Street to be what it is today. Yep. That was the birth child of him. And we worked hard getting it up and going, but a lot of times, when you don't have the proper security and proper intentions or proper safety measures in place sometimes things can go left, but like I told you before when we were. Working. One club can do something and it kinda go unseen or unheard, but if this club does something, it's blown up and like, oh my God, what is going on? And it's like, wow, what's the difference? Mm-hmm. And that's been the thing I've never been able to to figure out. So we do have spots in the city where it's very mediocre. Nightlife for, you know, African American clubs. But like the bars and the club scene here in Chattanooga is so a lot of stipulations that go on top of it. And due to some of our own actions, we put those stipulations in place because we have to govern different because you're doing these things or because we're having so many calls. I get it, it does happen. But that's where whoever opens a nightclub or have a place for us to party and enjoy ourselves. Because we have a huge tourist system. When people come to Chattanooga, they want to enjoy themselves. So if we have a place that's there that can have those boundaries to say, Hey, we're gonna make sure this place is ran correctly, and I think we will have a lot more places. And if you're not just doing it for the money. But, you know, we all want money, but you're doing it to make sure that people come have a good time. Leave, come safe and leave safe. Yeah. So that'd be the issue. Yeah, it's, it's an, yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of what I said. Probably not as eloquently of terms but it boils down to issues, you know, from what I've seen of. Security. Right? Yeah. And in Nashville there's people walking around. They got earpieces in, you know, making sure if somebody's getting too crazy, they're kicking them out. Yes. And in Chattanooga, I mean, we, we, I don't think we ever had anything like that. Maybe we have. I I have. That, that life has passed for me. Has passed for you. Okay. I, I don't live that life anymore. I gotcha. I gotcha. But. You know, when I did go to Nashville, I just noticed that stark difference of like, you know, when you go to one of the, the big bars here where you have hundreds, if not maybe a thousand people there. Mm-hmm. There's two security guards out front. Right. And that's it. Did you notice, did you notice the security guard at my party? Did you notice the security there? Yeah. I mean, you have people in the front and then there was walking around in the hallway. Yeah. Right. And I think that's part of it is like you, you can't just have'em at the front door. Oh, you gotta have'em all through it. I even had'em outside because I wanted to make sure. That a whatever stereotype or whatever, you may, somebody may think that's not gonna happen, but b, make sure everybody comes and leaves safely because things can't happen. But I go the extra mile to make sure everybody's safe and that's what more places need to do. And they don't. And then when they get shut down or something happens, they're like, I can't believe you doing this to me. I, I pay taxes, I do this. And it is like, dude, come on. You didn't put the proper measures in place so. Yeah, that's the issue. Yeah. Well, cool. I I'm glad you got to talk to talk about that.'cause it's, it was literally last night we were talking about it. It's so funny. This guy, he's, he's from Miami and he was here and he was like, I really like Chattanooga, but I just wish there was something to do at night other than go to like the one bar that is country. You know? Yeah. So if we need, I think we need to do that. If somebody's listening, we need to make sure, we need to get together and create. A place where we can have good dance music. A nice place to go have fun. The code trains used to be the cell it's on in the talent building. That place is still down there. Maybe one day we can open it back up. It's just a cool place to have fun, nice music and keep it safe. That'd be a cool thing for Chad. We need it. Yeah. We need it. Yeah. Absolutely. So we talked about this before too. You just mentioned your party. Mm-hmm. So I went to this man's birthday party. There were 500 people there. So let's talk about that. Okay. You know, you, you mentioned you've, you've been around the block man, many, many times. Right? Many times. And so you, you grew up, I, go ahead. In the hood, you grew up in the hood, in the, yeah. All right, so I'm a hood baby. Yeah. You grew up in the hood, right? And so I, I try to be better about saying things a certain, this is just, I, I say what I, what comes to my mind sometimes, you know? But it's true. You grew up in the hood, right? Yes. I respect. And, and, and so, and I don't mean that in disrespectful way, you know? I know that. Yeah. Yeah. And so. When you, you grew up in that environment and, and this is a conversation that as a white guy, like Okay. Cannot understand. Like, I, I, I've never lived that, and I don't mean like in a way of like, I don't understand why things are the way they are, but like I, I've never lived through, you know, walking past a house of me and looked at a certain way and like Right. Fearing my life. Right. Right. I've never lived through somebody saying like, you're either gonna do this or you're going to, you know, could get shot. Right, right, right. That has not been my reality at life. I got you. Right. I got you. And. It's so interesting because there's, there are people out there like really trying to figure out like. How do we create a society where we all can succeed and where we like, we can provide opportunities to everybody no matter what they look like, no matter where they grew up. And it's so interesting because there's a, a, a friend of mine who's started, so something to try to do. This is 500 students that, you know, pull pulls from the inner city and you know, last year he just had a hundred percent graduation rate. Right. Go to college. Congratulations. Yeah. That's that's dope. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah. And I mean, they've got d like D one athletes getting recruited, chat prep, just shout out. It's so amazing what Ted is doing over there. You know, it, it, I, I have a point of saying all of this. It's like, so you grew up in that environment Yes. But you were able to come through it and, and come out, right? Yes. And, and be successful. Yes. And run a business and, and show leadership in our city. What do you think was behind all of that? My mama. You heard me? Mm-hmm. My mama. It's like, man, I I'm probably gonna get. Kill for this. You don't talk about people you love. So I'm not talking about or saying I have the answer to fix any of that, you know, because I don't, I know my story. I had a mom who loved me. I had a mom who understood that you're not going to do this, you're not going to do that. I had a, you know, I heard a situation where they said to have a to be in a broken home, like without a father in that situation. You know, I'm a product of a, of a teenage mother who had to start a lot of it, right? Did I have father figures or people in my life who loved me as well? Yes. But my mom took the brunt of everything and she just wanted the best for me, and she instilled things into me. She told me how to look at you. And look at you in your eyes when I'm talking to you. How to articulate myself when I'm talking to you. How to say not just to a white man or a black man to anybody I'm talking to. Yes sir. And no sir. Who's my elder? Yes ma'am. Or no ma'am. And you'll be surprised how many doors that opened for me. Just by me being able to be a young man talk to you. It was respectful. Respectful. Yeah. And articulate. Yeah. They opened so many doors for me. And to know how to act. When I'm in a place to know how to have my inside voice and my outside voice, those things, she held me to a certain accountability that got me here, you know, and there's a roadmap to anywhere we want to go. And there's a road and there's a map. So all you have to do is follow it. I answered some people before that, made that happen, brother, man, that got me emotional. Man, singing about like. You, you're just talking about that. And it's like, those are the same. I mean, my parents taught me the same thing. There you go. You know? And there was someone last week, she was like, she was from New York or something like that. And I was like, yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. No ma'am. And, and she's like, you keep saying ma'am, you know, this is crazy. Like, it's crazy, you know? And I was like, my parents taught me to be respectful. That's it. And, and I, I think that, I mean, that, that's, that's why I got emotion. I didn't grow up in a rich family. We didn't grow up with, you know. We, we weren't, I wasn't eating, sleeping on a dirt floor, but we also were not like going on Disney vacations. Right, right. Neither. I gotcha. And, but they, they taught me that and that has gotten me to where I am today. You know's, it's like. So maybe someone who's a new parent listening to this could be like, teach your kids. Say Yes ma'am. No ma'am. I promise. Make like, make them be respectful'cause it will get you miles and connections. The group I was telling you about, it's a guy, Darrel Wheeler. Shout out to Darrel. He started the group. I was in the Happy Clowns who transferred to the new beginning. And that's the, that's how you got, you know, the big star Usher, Raymond. Mm. That's how we got Usher because of Darryl. Like Darl is the founding father of that group. But everywhere we went, brother, when we go into a room, darl would grab us, there's a man and say, we are going in here as little pro little stars. You gonna say, yes sir, and no ma'am. When you go in here? Yes ma'am. And no. Do. If I hear anything different, you're doing 50 pushups. You're sitting outside like, you're, you're, you're gonna have to eat cereal tonight instead of Wendy's. And I used to be like, man, but Darl was on us so bad, but every radio station we left, every concert we went to, people invited us back because they said those little guys were so mannerable and nice. And that was just something that, you know, my mom started that, but Darryl made sure we did it, bro, and it just took us so far. So just think if we started in the homes with just that little thing. This guy, Jonathan Turner, he told me one day, he said, Anthony, if you want your child to be successful, you gotta do just a few things. It's a 80% chance this is gonna work 20% but 80% chance of your child being successful. I said, what's that first finish high school? You gotta finish high school. Had that completion. I said, okay. The immediate time they're able to get a job. Let him start working. I started when I was 15. I started when I was 14. Yep. See, start working time. You can get a job. Put him in to put him to work. Yep. Finish out to finish. And I said okay. What's the next thing? No babies before you're 25. Make sure you instill into your kids, you work with'em, teach'em about birth control, everything. No babies until you're 25. And I'm pretty sure when they get 25, if they haven't had any kids, they're not gonna want nothing until they get married. So if you can instill just those three things into your children, they have a 80% chance rate of being successful. And I'm like, wow. And everybody I talk to that's has a mediocre, decent life, I ask them, did they do those three things? And they're like, yep. I did, I had, I waited till I was in my thirties and had a baby. I was working when I was 14, 15, 16. I finished high school, not college, not this, not that. Just those three little things, man. Yeah. And everybody, I haven't seen it fail yet. Everybody I've talked to say Yep. In the same boat. See, there we go. 24. 24. See, I turned 25 in October, so I'm not having a baby. See? See, now we go, we mark. We're working man. Yeah, no, it's, it's so true. And. I think maybe if you added a four thing, it's like, okay, make your kids work for what they want. Period. Bro, if you, I like that. If you want an Xbox, if you want an iPhone. Figure it out. Figure it out. Go mow lawns, sell lemonade, whatever you gotta do. Oh, you know what, do you know what, what that would instill in them? Like, you know what that does to a kid? If you, it creates an entrepreneurial drive, man. You know how much they're gonna love that Xbox. You, you, mm-hmm. You're not gonna have them tearing it up. Leave it on the floor because I, I had to pay$400. Yeah. That controller, if you touch it, they're gonna be like, that's my controller. Don't touch it. There you go. Exactly. I love it, bro. So that's it, man. And if you buy it, guess what? They be like, mama, my controller broke. What you talking about? It's like, it is like in two pieces and it's like they got mad and threw it at a wall or something like that. But guess what? If they bought that controller, they're not going throw it, they're gonna throw it. And if they do. They can only be mad at themselves. Only be mad at themselves. Just listen. I'm gonna add that to my fourth one. That's gonna be four. We need to find five. I guess fifth can be learn how to say yes sir. And no sir too. I mean, that helps out a lot. But that fourth thing, I like that. Make'em work for what they want. Yeah. Make'em work for it. Yeah.'cause it, it, that's the, I I I had a argument. Not argument, not even disagreement. Discussion. Okay. Yeah. Politician right here. Discussion. I had a discussion and I was talking with someone about, is, is are, are people born to be an entrepreneur? It's actually with the board for the real estate club. Are you born an entrepreneur or do you become an entrepreneur? And I talked about this on my show before. I don't think you're born to be an entrepreneur. Okay. I don't think so at all. I think you, you as humans, we learn what we're around. Okay? Right. We absorb the ecosystem that we're in and we can get out of that. But you like. To live the life you live today. Mm-hmm. You had to change your environment. Right. Right, right. And, and, and so if you give your kids everything that they ever want, they're not, they're probably not gonna be entrepreneurs. Right. Gotcha. Unless you hand them your company and then, which they will be because they have to be. But they're probably not gonna be like these huge entrepreneurs because they've never really had to work for anything in their life. Right, right. So in my opinion, you are not born an entrepreneur. You become an entrepreneur. Become an entrepreneur. That's just my opinion. I got you. Because I look at both sides. Like when you said you, you environment, because 90% of the people in the environment that I was raised in. They're natural born hustlers. Mm-hmm. And hustler is not in a bad way to where they're taking or doing something detrimental to somebody. I'm talking about a hustler to where I'm going to figure it out some way because I'm in the, I'm in the dirt. Like I don't have anything. Right. Let me figure out how to turn this into something. And if you go to a lot of those inner cities and places, a lot of people turn nothing into something because they're hustlers. But that hustle. Can make it go left sometime and not keep you going. Right? But there's so many people that comes from that environment, go, right, you know, I'm, I'm a product of one of those. But then so many people go left because that's all they have. They're not walking around the communities with guns or stuff like that. A lot of'em not doing it because they wanna hurt somebody. A lot of'em doing it because they wanna make it home. You know, and people don't understand it sometimes, and you see a little dude with a gun or in a situation, it's because he just, I wanna go home, or I'm hungry. I trying to just get to the store to buy some milk and cereal for my little brother and sister, and I don't wanna have no problems. Mm-hmm. But they get caught up and now they're in the system and it changes their lives. So, yeah. It's a whole nother issue we can deal with. Yeah. A hundred percent yes. But yeah, I, I don't think that people were born entrepreneur. That's my, like, I don't know if you agree with that or not. I like when you say they say the environment you're in. So I think your surroundings create that well and how you're raise, like I was raised that like, hey, if you want a car when you're 15, my parents pay for half of my first car. Mm-hmm. And they said, we're not paying anything else. You know, half your first car. And so my first car was. Three grand, I think. Okay. So$1,500, that's all my parents have ever contributed towards my cars. Gotcha. I owned 15 cars in high school. You go, what? Because I was like, I love cars. Gotcha. And I was like, I worked at Chick-fil-A making whatever,$8 an hour,$11 an hour when I got promoted. And I was like, I just figured out like, oh, hey, you know, I figured out the value of things, you know, oh, this is like three grand under what it should be worth. Right? Like, let me go look at this. Right. Let me go, let me go take a look at it, see if it's a deal. And I got, you know, would put together deals. Oh, hey there. It's me again. I know you expected Morgan Freeman to come on and talk about the biggest company in the world. Well, I'm sorry, but you get the next best thing. This show is sponsored by the company that I co founded, Acadia Capital, and acadia is a hard money lending fund originating loans in Southeast Tennessee and Northern Georgia on residential one to four unit renovation properties. We are regulation D five Oh six C fund and are actively seeking accredited investors. We provide fantastic first position real estate back returns. If you're ready to get your tired and lazy capital to work with a minimum 8 percent return, go to Acadia loans. com backslash invest. Not only do we accept standard investments, but we can also accept self directed IRAs and other self directed retirement accounts to take advantage of tax advantage investing. Thank you so much for listening to Art of Connecting now back to the show. and that wasn't though, because like if my parents had just been like, yeah, do you want a Mustang? I'm gonna buy you one. I'm gonna buy you Mustang. I would never have done any of that.'cause I would've been like, I would've had my Mustang and I would've been happy. Right. He, I would've tore it up probably. Well, I hope not. I mean, I hope not, but because it's given to you. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I tend to. I, I, I like to treat things well, but I don't have the same perspective it's given to me. You're exactly right. Excuse me. Lemme ask you this though. What if, what if that, that's one side to look at. What about this side of the coin? What if your parents didn't have the 1500 to put down on a car because they rode the bus and didn't have a car? I would've figured it out. I would've had a$1,500 car. I would've had, I would've had a car. You turn it on, the fumes, puff out the back. But I would've had a car. You would've figured it out. I would've figured it out. And I think that's the, and I, I like that. I don't, and I, I don't, I think I count that to your parents that you would've figured it out, but I guess that they empowered me to figure it out. I like that. That's another thing. Empower, and that's something that you can't, I like, that you can't change is like, you shut me down on that one. You, they empowered me to figure it out out because when I have four cars in the driveway. I was like most of my friends' parents, I grew up, I was homeschooled, so we, I had some friends that were dirt poor, some friends, their dad was the richest guy in town, like, like, not even a joke. He's building a castle right now. Mm-hmm. On like 40 acres in the middle of the city. And I went to school with his kids. So it's such a wide range of like kids I went to school with like, right, like this family that had like 12 kids. They were all up in the min, like in the vi, like. Homeschool van and just seeing the differences. I saw a really wide bass array, but probably 90% of the parents at the school that I went to, like, they would not have let their kids have four cars in the, like, in their driveway. Right. Like, and now I think about it. I don't know that I would like, I would be like, get one of those damn cars outta here. Like, you know, it's like there, I had a, a, just a, a car dealership basically out of our house. Dope. Dope. It's dope. My parents just were like, all right. If you're gonna make money, do it. I don't care. Do it. They empowered me to do that. And I think I saw it in my friends, you know, it's like they had an idea to make money or go do something, and their parents were shut down. Mm-hmm. Oh, that's not gonna be successful. Right. You know? Why would you do that? Like. Don't, don't do that. Like, and then lemme, what's the point? You, you make a great point with that and I love it because some people are gonna listen to our conversation right now, and when I said, you shut me down with that, empower'em to do it, because I look back at my mother because the flip coin to that. People are gonna say, well, how dare y'all say that? Because some people don't have nothing to empower to do anything because they, they are without, and they have nothing. How can you empower somebody to have something that you never had or you don't have and they don't have? Like, how can I build something from nothing? I have nothing. And once again, I look at my mom, bro. My mom man, I love that woman. She had nothing. Nothing. She had a broke down raggedy car that we drove and she had to try to piece together where you can look through the, the bottom of it and see the street. Mine had fumes. Like you could, you could like smell the fumes. My parents, my mom had nothing bro, and she was like, baby, we gonna drive this car and we going to do it. And listen, I think she, it got you where you needed to go. Right. And she, she was able to get what she needed to go. And now she drives a nicer car, a really nice car.'cause she's been working and handled her business and about to retire from a lucrative job that she's been working there. But she worked for it. So that's why I said, you shut me down because I know people would be like, Byrd, why you letting shut you down? Because I thought of my mom. Yeah. And was like, she did it with nothing. What did God make us from dirt. From Dust. Dust. Look at us now from nothing, bro. Nothing. I read this book the, the Faith Driven Entrepreneur, and it talks about like being in business and creating things. You're living God's image because God is a creator. Right. I like it. I like it. And so we were designed in the image of our creator. Mm-hmm. And what did he do? He created, he created, he made stuff out of nothing. Right. And, and anyone can do it, man. Anyone, anyone. If you, if you. I don't care where you come from. Some of the most successful people in our country, they came from Haiti. Mm-hmm. Venezuela you know, all over the world, they come to our Indians. No, go to Guinea gas station. Those people that, you know, they own, they own where they're working. Right, right. I, you know, I hear that all the time. I hear that when they come here, they get hundreds of thousands of dollars just to come here to open these gas stations. And so I have several friends that own businesses and that's not true. It's funny. That's not true. That's not true. No. I talk, I was like, you got a hundred thousand dollars to come here and open this. They was like, no, no. I went to school. I worked, my sister works here, my uncle works there. That's my granddaddy back there. And I'm like, well, why are people saying that? And every, every Indian family I talk to that's doing stuff like that or yeah, any family, whatever relation that has that business, that type of business, it was, it was not true. No. And I was like, wow. Mitch Patel's dad, I had him on my show. Mitch Patel's dad came here with$12. Wow. And worked in a hotel cleaner rooms. Mm-hmm. And he's like, he worked in clean rooms, saved all the money they could. His wife worked, and then they saved up enough money for a down payment for his hotel, their first hotel, like a roadside, like 12 unit hotel in the middle of nowhere, basically. And look at what Mitch has taken, you know, the legacy he's created with vision, you know, 20, 26 hotels that they own, you know, and president of the American Lodging board. It. We make excuses. That's all it is. All it is is an excuse. Whenever it's like, oh, well, you know, he's from this place. Like Right. You know, he, he, he, he can't do that. It's like, we're putting it on that person. Right, right. You can do Will Smith. I got that from him. He said, you know what? Figure out what road you want to travel first. What, where do you want to go? Yeah. What do you wanna do? Once you figured that road out. The God, the universe will, will send you what you need and put things in place. He was like, birds are not just dying. I mean you don't see just a bunch of birds dead around the world because God provides. Mm. And in providing those things for you will get provided the necessary things you do, but you have to put the work in faith without work is dead. Yeah. You know, you have to put the work in. And so a lot of people, when it comes time, you wanna see a person that's not successful. You gotta see a person that didn't wanna do the work. Mm. That's it. That's it. Yeah, man, I love it. We, we haven't talked about connecting at all. Well, connecting is, but this was a very profitable conversation. I appreciate it, bro. And I, it's just, I, I hate that we live in a world where we almost feel like we can't have these conversations. Right, right, right. We, we look different, but you know, the only difference, like genetically between a black person and a white person, right? An Asian person and an Indian person, it's melanin. Melanin. That's the only difference between any of us. Huh. It is melanin. You're more handsome than me. I think that's, that's not true. Hey, it's in the eye. The beholder, man. It's in the eye. The, yeah, it's, there's probably something. You're right, man. You're right. And I, I like that. And I think I, that's a connector I would like to do, I think in the future I would like to figure out how to connect people.'cause the resources are there. Chattanooga has a plethora of resources in areas where you can find your way. I will want, I want to be, I told people, I said one day I'm gonna be the mayor of Chattanooga. I want to be able to get people in a position to where, you know where this is. There's no excuses. This is where you go, if you want to get this, this is where you go. If you wanna do this, this is what you have to do. Yeah. And be the connector to get people to those areas so that it is no excuse for you, but you. Right. If you didn't want to go do the work, it's your fault. It's your, you're, you're the only excuse. You're the only excuse. Right. And, and I, I almost feel like we. I mean, we could do better, but we already have a system that way. It's a system that way. It is. We, we already have that in Chattanooga. I, I, I came here and, and are there, are there things that are not perfect? Sure, yes. Like have there been people that I've met and they're like, oh, where are you from? And I didn't say I was born in Chattanooga. And so in their mind, they're already writing me off. And I could tell, you know, the con the, the conversation changes. Oh, where'd you go to school? Mm-hmm. I went to UTC and what they're really asking is, did you go to Baylor and McCauley? That's it. That's what they're asking. And people who listen to this have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. They, I think only like 10 people are in Chato. Listen my show. Okay. Okay. Okay. But they're two local high schools. They're asking where you're going to high school. Right.'cause it's, that's. The prevailing culture in our city sometimes, right? But I've still been able to build incredible things in the city. Awesome. Without having that background. And honestly, that's why I'm creating owners club where I bring together 115 business owners and pair them with mentors in Chattanooga, okay? Is because we're going to change the fabric of the city, and you can do that. That's it. That's it. You know it. It's not in, in 15 years. No one's gonna care where you went to high school. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I mean, I don't think if I have anything to do with it in 15 years in Chattanooga, we are gonna have so much thriving wealth in the city from the communities that are being created. We already like, I already think that you don't have an excuse. We have launched Chattanooga, we've got the founders' forum, we've got all these places where if you just came in. And, and there was this, this amazing young lady that started a healthcare line mm-hmm. That came to the Founder's forum and she is at UTC and she's starting for African Americans like, like healthcare, beauty products specifically right. For African American women. And she came and was just like willing to ask questions and she showed up and man, there were like six people that were so interested in what she was doing and wanted to help her be successful. Right. And like, I like what you said. It's not perfect. You're going, don't let this be the driving force to stop you because it's gonna be people that's gonna shut doors. It's gonna be people that's gonna be discriminate dis discriminated against you. It's gonna be that. Yeah. I mean, I, I experienced it too. Like we, it's a human experience. It's gonna happen that, that people are going to, to hear something about your story or something about the way you look. There's probably people that see me in my Hawaiian shirts and they're like, I don't want to do business with a that guy. I don't look at that guy. Look at him. But you know what? It's just like in dating. It's a freaking numbers game, man. That's it. Screw that guy. Go to the next. If he doesn't wanna do business with me, guess what? In 10 years he may be coming back. And there you go. And ask him and ask him, Hey you remember me? I wanted to do it. And you are like, nah. Yeah. And, and maybe I will work with that person since they've had a change. That's what I would do. You have to do 100%. But that, that is a human experience. That's a human experience. That is a human experience. There are gonna be people that look down on you for some reason, and, and whether it be, whatever the difference is that we have between us as humans, right? Where we grew up, where we went to school, what we look like, what we wear, all these things. I would. I would like to do a study on that one day, like, because people will say my human experience being an African American male is gonna be different from your human experience being a Caucasian male. And it is that, how true is that? Like you said, it's all human experience and I don't never want to downplay anything that happens to anybody, but different experiences is gonna happen. So I would, I would love to see like. You and myself like try to navigate through this process of even Chattanooga and see can we connect on that same level when you walk into a room or when I walk into the room, how we're treated, how we're greeted, how does that connection look? Or how does that process work? I think that right there too will shed a light on, you know, it's some, it's some, it's some cruel people in the world. Yeah. But it also is some angels that God has on this earth. To protect us and to shield you and to help you out, you know? Yeah. I, I watched it in my own thing because I'm, I'm an odd Byrd like you are. I, I'm not the normal person. You're not. Right. If you're, if you see me, you're gonna see me in my Hawaiian shirt, and you're be like, what the hell? And, and I watch it for the first like five or 10 seconds. I meet people, they're already downplaying me. They downplay you. They, they're, they're, they're already like, what's up with this guy? Right, right. But after those first 10 seconds. They, like, I, I watched the shift happen when they, I do too, bro. When they realize that I am an articulate, intelligent, mm-hmm. And business minded person. There you go. That, that all fades away after the first 10 seconds. I promise you. I deal with the same thing every day. And we, we do the same thing. Yes. Right. We all do it. We all do it. I will, you maybe I need to rename his podcast to the human experience because the human experience, we're all living a human experience where people judge us for the way that we appear. Right. And, you know, I, I think that we, and, and like I am just as guilty of it. I've, I've met people. That look a certain way or dress a certain way. Right. And I've been like, this guy's gonna be an idiot. Yes. Like I'm just thinking in my head, yes. You know, and then you get that, you get in that conversation and you just find that person's most interesting, you know, beautiful mind that you've ever met. And like, I think Genesis is probably like a great example of this because he's been on my show. I can shout him out. This, it's so cool. Like when you first meet Genesis, you can be like. This guy's got paint all over his pants. You know, dreads like messy, like, you know, smoking a pipe or a cigar and you're like, this guy's gonna be weird, right? Like that's, that was honestly my first thought. You meet the man and he is one of the most beautiful souls you will ever meet in super dope. Like, just super positive, super well connected. Like super, super business savvy, man. He's gonna be one of my mentors at owner's club. And I think that is the thing is like you, you can't discount someone until you've met them, until you met them, until you've, and you've gotten to know them. And that's what I've had to learn through my connecting. We can like you go circle it back to, to that, back to connecting and really this conversation, all is, is all about like, how do we connect with people? Yeah. Not because they look like us or because they act like us, but because they are a human right. And they're valuable. There you go. And, and also how do we educate one another on like, you have the opportunity, right? We live in the greatest country in the world. We do. We do. And if you live in Chattanooga, we live in the greatest city in the United States. Shout out Chattanooga, right? I love it. And so the only excuse is you. That's it, man. That's it. Like, that's, its, I said, and anybody listening, I, I challenge people to show love, you know? I think that's the main thing too. We show love. And so when that person like Hayden, or Anthony Byrd comes to you. Try to show love. Like I don't, I think that's the biggest thing, like treat people how you wanna be treated. Show people that you know you're welcome here, or you, I feel you, you know, or I'm here to listen. You know, a lot of times we don't show love because we so busy in the rat race of life. We don't have time to show love. I think love is a, is a big part of it. Yeah, I agree 100%. And then I thought of this too, like. There's probably gonna be someone that listens to this show and is not gonna like me because of what I said. Oh. You know, maybe because, because Zu y. Yeah, maybe because I said like black and white. Right, right. That's kind of, you can't say, can't say that. Right, right, right. You know? Or maybe,'cause I said the hood. Right. And they're gonna be upset about that. But they're gonna ignore the 99.5% of stuff that we said today. Wow. Yes. That could have changed their life. They could have changed their life. That's, that's crazy. Or could have changed their outlook. Right? Yes. And I think that's the world we live in, where it's like you hear someone say a saying or a word, a away that you don't like, and you automatically discount everything else that they have to say. Right. And that goes for everybody, man. There's like people saying really crazy cool stuff. Just as guilty as the next, you know? And then you hear him talk about one thing. I'm like, oh, mm, Uhuh I'm not listening to that person.'cause it just said that one little thing. So I need to be better about that too. But I, it's my prayer that like, people will realize that this is just a genuine conversation between two humans. So humans man. Now two friends. That's right. That's right. And I really appreciate you. I think you're an awesome dude, man. Your energy is amazing. You feel good man. And I think you're a genuine person, so. Anybody listening to this that takes anything negative that you said or take away that is may be negative and don't understand that you walk with God and don't understand that you are a great human being. They they may not need to be even on your listening to your show. You know, because you're just, you're a awesome dude man. And the people that love you will listen and understand where you came from. So you, kudos to, you're super dope cat, bro. Thank you man. Thank you. Yes. Alright, so worry over our time, but I don't care. I'm gonna do, I want to ask a question because. You know, I, I always want to like, just really try to give people some guidance and direction that Okay. That wanna learn how do I be a better connected person. Right. Okay. And, and what is the underlying reason behind that to be a better connected person? Well, if you're known by more people right? Right. You are able to have more influence, right? Right. You're able to make changes in your city, in your community, wherever you're looking to make changes. And so. As you've gone through your, your human experience mm-hmm. If you've mm-hmm. As you've walked through this life, what, what would you say would be a big driver behind the connections you've been able to make and the, you know, the contacts you've been able to build? So if you have a problem, right? Mm-hmm. You've got the resources most of the time, probably to be able to solve it or get pointed to the right person to solve it. Mm-hmm. What has been the main like. Like driver like or activity you've done to create those relationships with people. Making myself vulnerable. I had to be vulnerable, to be willing to go into a room of people that didn't look like me, that didn't act like me, that didn't talk like me, and allow them to hurt me. Mm-hmm. If that was gonna happen. And every time I went into one of those rooms, I found a person that loved me and connected me to another person, to another person in the grew from there. So making myself vulnerable to go into those rooms and understand that, hey, I might get hurt in here. I might get a door shut in my face. I may not. They may not like me. Mm. But every, I promise you, bro, every time I said, here we go, God. And I walk in, I'm like, Hey, how you doing? I'm Anthony Byrd. What's your name? Hey Anthony. I'm such and such. Hey man, I like your energy. Where you from? I'm from Chat. New. It just went from there. Hey, come meet Anthony. And I started making friends and relationships and. Those friendships and relationships connected me to people that will help me in the future. And I was able to pull those friendships out when I need them and say, Hey Pete, come help me. Hey John, come help me. Hey Mike, come help me. And they'll be like, Hey, what you need? I'm here for you, bro. Whatever you need. You know? And it just worked that way. So being vulnerable and allowing yourself to. Receive whatever's finna come. And you know, even if it's bad, you know, be ready for it and say, Hey, okay, I'm gonna take that on the chin, but I'm coming back. Yeah. And go back again. Well, learning from the bad, right? Oh my God. Learn from the bad. Yeah. Learn from it. Like that person treated me a certain way. You go and talk to other people. Did they treat everybody that way? No. Yeah. Oh yeah, they do. Yeah, they do. Yeah. You don't wanna be around that guy, right. He's an asshole. Right. Come over here, lemme show. Right. We don't even fool with him. Yeah. And, and then, then you're like, oh. Oh, I thought it was because I looked a certain way. No, it's just who I thought it was because it was something that I did wrong. And then all these friends that you have over here, they're on your corner. They're gonna be like, nah, bro, that guy just, no, that guy just sucks, man. He's terrible. Yeah. He's only here because we got business together, we, we do business in that city. He shows up when he's not invited. Right. Right. Or he's a member and we can't kick him out. Right. We can't kick him out, so. Right. And then you're like, oh, oh. Oh, okay. Got it. Yeah, that's why I got punched in the face. That's why I got punched in the face. And, and it's hard when that's your first interaction though. It is like if, if that's your, like you mustered up the strength there, you go to go and go into this room where you don't look like anybody else. There you go. Or you don't have the business that everybody else has, or you don't have the name or the school or the, whatever the thing is. There you go. And then you get punched in the face. That's hard. It's hard. You gotta go back. You gotta go back. You gotta go back because like. That first experience, I guarantee you, was not the norm. It wasn't. I've, I've been in too many rooms across the world that like mm-hmm. I should not have been in. You go that I should have been treated like less than because I was not in the right room. Like I'm around people that like their watch costs more than my house. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. They were interested in what I was doing and I'm like, what? Like I'm just trying to buy like two or three houses and like I am 22, you know? And it's like, dude, what? That's insane, right? And I'm like, your hou, your watch costs more than my house. Like what are you? And I think it's my head. But that was my experience and like, you know, that, that one, don't let that one bad experience leave you without, for the rest of your life. Exactly. So I love that, man. Thank you brother. That's great. Alright, so I'm gonna ask my final question here. All right. And that is what, what is the connection to a person or group of people that you would say changed the trajectory of your life or career? Say that again. What is the connection to a person or group of people that changed the trajectory of your life or career? What is the connection? Definitely the group that I was in as a kid, the boy band, the new beginning, that did something to me that that group man. It changed my, it gave me a, oh no, it changed my life. It made me a different person. And to see a person like Usher being as big as stars, he as like, he's like Michael Jackson. And knowing that we was in the same room on the same, but we performed together, we slept together, we ate together. That right there, I'm gonna say that probably that connection just gave me a drive like no other. Like when I want to be lazy, I can't be lazy. And then being in a room with people like the guy Pete I told you about, and John and these guys, and I see the success that they have. That connection with them inspires me to say, man, my friend Pete, I seen him at zero with nothing and now this man owns a distillery, a whole prison that he went and bought and changed into a distillery and have concerts there. He went from zero to that. That's like. How did he, if he could do that, I can do it. How do I get my coins and my life together like that? How do I put things into perspective? So I'm gonna say those little, those groups of guys that had more than me and showed me that let me in a circle, but had more than me, showed me things that I can do. And, and the crazy part about it's, they was willing to help me. Like, I remember when I built my first house well, I remodeled my first house. I, I couldn't get a loan. Mm. And I was like, man, I'm trying to remodel this house. And you know, Kevin was like, Hey me and John got you. I was like, huh, here's sign these papers. And I was like, why I gotta sign these papers? Like, I thought you had me. No, we doing business first. This is a loan. This is a loan, this is, this is not what you think it is. So I had to sign papers and make, this is the bank of Kevin and John. Dude. It was like, sign here. I'm like, okay. We did paperwork and I paid'em back and everything went. And it was just like, wow. They didn't have to do that. Yeah, but they were like, Byrd, we're gonna give you a, we're gonna give you a hand up, not a handout. That's it. That's it. I had a million what was a million, close to a million dollars of debt out with my mentor at one point. Wow. You know, at 22, 23 years old, I guess Uhhuh. But he knew the house is the deals that I got because I worked hard to find these. They were worth like way more than the debt he had on it. Right, right, right, right. And he, he did those projects with me'cause he trusted me and did a private loan. And we didn't even get to touch on that. Like that's a whole nother level of connecting, man. It's like a whole nother level. You start meeting people, they see your energy, they see your drive, they see you are a trustworthy person. Yes. Right. They see. And then whenever you run into a challenge. When you have the right connections. It's, it's, dude, it's amazing. You can get around it like, alright, a bank will gimme a loan'cause of what I look like,'cause of all the different excuse, whatever, you know, the bank will gimme a loan. I got these guys over here, they have 500 grand sitting around and let me ask them, you know, right. What if they wanna make 9% interest? Right? And, and or maybe even partner with me on this project. Listen. And you don't know until you ask. When I told you when I first, when I first came in relationships. It's the new currency dude. And I know we gotta have money, but. The relationships, man, I was trustworthy. I told the guys what I was gonna do and I did it. And that just changed my life, man. Just being in that room allowed me to build a house. Remodel the house. Yeah. That me and my wife stay in now, dude. That's right. Just'cause of relationships, bro. Yeah, because, and it was a win-win. It was a win-win. They deployed their money. They probably got paid some interest. Yep. Right? Yep. And they didn't beat my head in. They was like, Hey, we we're not gonna kill you. We can charge you 12%, 15% interest. We're not gonna do that. We're gonna give you a great deal. That's my business. That's what I do. I charge 13, 13. But yeah, I mean that's, it's so true. And, and I guess like it, it, it's cool to be able to be on the other side of that now with my, my business at Acadia Capital to be able to help people see their dreams become reality, dude. Right. And, and to, to be able to like, you know, I've had people, Hey, my Chris like five 50, you know, I'm like, that's all right. Get a good deal. You know, if it makes enough sense for me, if I have to take that property back, then I'm gonna be all right. Right. I'll be alone. I'll do the loan. I'll do the loan and, and you know you're gonna pay, yeah, it's gonna be expensive, but you're gonna be able to build yourself to be where you don't need me anymore. And that's my hope. I want you to, to get so rich that you want to invest in my fund. Look at you, man. So then I can go help other people. Get to where you are, you know? And, and that's it. I heard it ain't cool being the only millionaire in the room. Like if I can create 10 more millionaires, wouldn't that be dope? Like it's a tribe, man. It really is. It's a tribe. Like we all billionaires and we're all blessing people and all doing the right thing to help people. It's dope. Yeah. And well, what fun is it to be, what fun is it to be in a mansion by yourself? Hello? Hello, hello. I've been in a mansion by myself before. Yeah, it's kind of scary. It's kind of scary, right? Yeah. I'm in this 14,000 square foot house and the ceiling's like, wow, like 15 feet high, and I'm just like alone, and I'm like walking down this grand mahogany staircase and like by yourself. That was such a odd feeling, like you just feel like there's ghosts running down in the basement. The steam room's making a weird noise downstairs, and I'm like. This is kind of, kind of weird, you know, this is weird. You don't wanna be in a mansion alone. It, it kind of sucks. No. Have a family. Have it filled with the spirit of God and yeah, love and man, that's what it's about. That's it. And your friends can come and experience it with you. And they have the same thing that you can go experience with them. 100%. That's the key, brother. I love it, man. Oh, we've had such, this has been so much fun, man. Yes. And, and I, I really hope for the people that are still listening that. This provided something of perspective shift or value in, in your life, and that's the real aim of the show. I, I don't make money on this. It's, it's really just a fun project to get to, to meet new people, have, have amazing conversations and hopefully create impact. So if you enjoyed the show, share it with someone that. That would also enjoy the show or benefit from hearing what we talked about. And then the last thing that I ask of you, if you could just leave a five star rating review on Spotify, apple, wherever you're listening, that is how a podcast grows. So Byrd, thanks so much for coming on the show today, man. Thank you for having me, brother. I appreciate it. Absolutely, bro. Well I forgot too, if people ever like. Or inspired or wanna reach out, like what's the best way for people to get ahold of you? Like Instagram? Yeah. Instagram, LinkedIn Facebook, TikTok Anthony Byrd, or Anthony underscore dte. Please reach out to me. Just have a conversation and if I can ever be of service or help or I can connect you to something that I have, I will connect. I love it, man. All right. Well thanks so much for coming on the show. Thank you for having me, guys. We'll catch you on the next episode.