WEBVTT

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Everything we do is about mentoring people to

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realize their strengths, lean into their self

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-worth, thrive going forward, positive reinforcement,

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and then help people realize their struggle.

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Because people will struggle, but we have to

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sort of be there with them. I want to create

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more businesses or acquire more businesses. So

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I want more businesses so we can create more

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jobs and so that more folks can have a chance

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to make. a market -based wage and provide for

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their families. That's how you kind of really

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have diversity in the workplace. It's like, take

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your frontline workers, you groom a few up to

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be your frontline supervisors, you groom a few

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more up to be managers, you groom them up along

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the way. And they will hold the culture strong

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of what that social enterprise is about. About

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four or five years ago, I finally figured out

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something. Now I'm older in life, but my mantra

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every day is getting up. and seeking joy. So

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it's about helping the individual, working on

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it today, and leading in with investment. Poor

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in our society need help. Poverty rate in America

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has been the same for 45 years, same narrow 12

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% ban. Once you understand God loves you no matter

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what, and that you're made in God's eyes, everything

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else gets much easier. Hey family, this is a

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Throb Word journey. Look, life's too short to

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just get by. And 2025 is the year to persist.

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We're here to grow. build and thrive. This podcast

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is all about powerful stories, real talk, and

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practical steps to help you level up in every

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area of your life. Now, if that sounds like something

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you need, don't just watch. Be a part of the

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journey. Let us know you're here. Do us a favor.

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If you're listening on the podcast platform,

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download the episode. And if you're watching

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on YouTube, you know what to do. Hit that like

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button, subscribe, and turn on those notifications

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so you never miss an episode. And as we always

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say, Let's make thriving our new normal. Today,

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we're thrilled to have Tom Vozo, the visionary

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leader behind Homeboy Industries with us today.

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From corporate executive to the driving force

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of social change, Tom is here to share how radical

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leadership, compassionate business practices,

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and second chances can transform lives and business.

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So, you know, let's just dive into it. And Tom,

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how are you doing today? I'm doing wonderful,

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Michael. I was off on a vacation for a couple

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of days. I'm refreshed. Nice. I need one of those.

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I was just talking to my producer, like we need

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a vacation because working on social media and

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doing this kind of stuff in addition with business,

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it takes a lot. Yeah. Vacation is a must. So

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I lived in Los Angeles from 2003 to 2016. In

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that time, I actually started a nonprofit myself

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called I Love You That Foundation. It didn't

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last because I had to move and then I couldn't

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find anybody to keep it going. But I remember

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one time, I didn't know what it was, but I saw

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I was driving down. I don't remember what street

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it was, but it was like homeboy, you know, homeboy.

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And it said it right on the building. I was like,

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that's cool. And then a friend of mine told me

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it was a nonprofit organization and You are the

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leader of that organization. Can you talk about

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it a little bit? Yeah, sure. So Homeboy Industries,

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as you mentioned, we're based in Los Angeles.

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We're a nonprofit. And really our mission is

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to help gang members leave gang life behind,

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leave life of crime behind, and move their life

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forward in a very positive way. Started over

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38 years ago, our founder, Father Greg Boyle,

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a Jesuit priest. First stop as a parish priest

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was in East Los Angeles at the Center of Gang

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Violence in the 90s. He wanted to sort of change

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that dynamic and get these young men. out of

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gangs or really stop dying from the gang activity.

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And it hit upon this simple notion that if you

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can get them a job so they can make enough money

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for the basics of food and shelter, they're going

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to stop running with the gangs to make that money

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for the basics of food and shelter. And that's

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how we started. From there, we moved into social

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enterprises. But really, the last 20 years, it's

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about helping people heal from their conflicts,

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trauma. And so essentially, when someone leaves

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the prison system or jail system and they don't

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want to go back to that gang life, they walk

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through our doors and we help them and we help.

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them move their life forward and with all sorts

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of programs and services, but we have social

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enterprise and we can talk more about that, but

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essentially we're a gang rehabilitation program.

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10 ,000 people come through our doors every year

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for the largest gang intervention program. in

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the state, which means we're the largest one

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in the country, which means we're the largest

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one in the world. Yeah. LA has the most gang

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members than anywhere else. Yeah. Well, you know,

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LA was known for, for gangs. Well, two major,

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major gangs. Yeah. And did you find that some

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of those gang members from, you know, The two

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main ones came through the organization and short

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on their lives. Yeah, no. So in fact, look, listen,

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there are over 200 different gangs in Los Angeles.

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Yeah. Famous ones, three famous MS -13, all that

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stuff, right? But look, there's all the gangs

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get really a micro level of that many gang members.

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We pull from people all over the county with

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downtown Los Angeles, sort of gang neutral territory.

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And so the most important part of getting somebody

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out of gang life is getting them out of their

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neighborhood where their fellow homies are around,

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trying to pull them back into that side. And

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so people come to our place voluntarily. They're

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not court ordered. They want to change their

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life. They want to be employed. They want to

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have an honest day's wage. And they want to heal.

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They don't want their kids to be gang members.

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So they voluntarily come and we help them. And

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we help them in all sorts of ways. And it's been

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a very successful program. Me as the leader,

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I sort of brag on behalf of the team. We know

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how to help get men and women out of gang life

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and leave that behind. It's a wonderful team

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and a wonderful environment. And I say, anybody

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listening to this, please come visit us. at Homeboy

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Industries. Yeah, it's very interesting. I never

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got a chance to go to the location, even though

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I wanted to. I thought it was just when I read

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up on it, it was like back then, I think it was

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like 2007, 2008, something like that. Um, and

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I was like, man, this is amazing, you know, and

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when I started, I love you that I was like, I

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would like to have an organization that is as

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big and as cool and as, as making such a social

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impact as homeboy industries was. And so, but

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that wasn't your start for you. It was a transition

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and you were in corporate America, which is,

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I'm sure it was probably a lucrative for you

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and you transferred into. the nonprofit world.

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Why did you do that? Yeah. So right. A little

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bit about my background. Corporate America for

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26 years. My last eight years in corporate America,

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I ran a $2 billion set of businesses over those

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eight years. Very popular businesses. I was a

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part of a $13 billion corporation. We were a

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public company, private company, public company.

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So I got to be there for a few of those transactions

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and it did well for myself and my family. And

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I love business. And even when I do homeboy talks

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all the time, I talk about homeboy. off by saying

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I'm a committed capitalist. And I still believe

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well -run companies are good for our society.

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Sometimes it doesn't go over so well to certain

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audiences to say I'm a committed capitalist.

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But again, well -run companies are good for our

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society. They provide jobs. They provide good

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jobs for people. They can move their life forward,

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right? I agree. And so, but there's even why

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I had a very successful corporate career and

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rose up the corporate life, right? There was

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something a little bit out of balance, like shareholder

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value came before a customer. When push came

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to shove, customers and employees became secondary.

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It kind of bothered me. Somewhere in me, I was

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yearning to find, is there a way of running businesses

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where employees are as important as delivering

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profits and shareholder value? Because I've seen

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businesses where you can kind of do both, but

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somehow top. management ownership thinks about

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it differently. So that was what was behind some

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of my thinking. But listen, so all throughout

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my corporate life, we were encouraged while our

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business was national and international is to

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be local. And so I was on the board of Salvation

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Army of Los Angeles. And when my fellow board

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member, Fran, was on that board, on the Homeboy

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board, inviting me, he knew I left corporate

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America retired and inviting me to the Homegirl

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Cafe for lunch. Now part of Homeboy is we have

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social enterprise businesses. So we employ our

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folks every day and they provide purposeful activity.

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And so I go into the home girl cafe and have

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lunch with my friend. And I still remember this.

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It's now 13 years ago. I still remember this

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like it was yesterday. I'm having lunch. We're

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talking and I'm looking around at the employees

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and I'm seeing how they're attentive to the customer.

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They're taking direction from their supervisor.

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They're enjoying their own interactions. You

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know, back to my for -profit life. In my last

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eight years, I bought 40 companies and sold five.

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You get a feeling for what companies are going

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to be good combinations, shared values, and good

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workforces. Just sitting there, eating lunch,

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I'm seeing this is a good workforce they have

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here. I'm also realizing in my for -profit role,

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I would have not hired not one of those folks

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because they had tattoos on their face, they

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were felons, and they were gang members. And

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so it kind of challenged me right then and there

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that, oh, here's this hot shot business guy I

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think I am. And that is a part of society I knew

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nothing about, and part of the workforce I knew

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nothing about. In that, at Homeboy, in the context

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of a job, we're helping people dramatically move

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their life forward. And so my friend asked me

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to get involved. He wanted me to be a board member

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and that type of thing. But I had done enough

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board member, board director work. wanted to

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know if my business skills could be used in a

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different way. And so I started volunteering

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at Homeboy. They have social enterprise businesses.

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At the time, they were going through a financial

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crunch. They needed a guy with some gray hair

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and some experience. Some experience, yeah. And

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so I volunteered and, you know, just like you

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fall in love with places, good energy, people.

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care, people want to move their life forward,

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and it's great to be part of that community.

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And listen, I thought I would do it for six months

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to a year and help them out and move on and go

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off and do something else. But just beautiful

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environment. And here I am 12 and a half years

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later, still loving homeboy and loving being

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part of that community. Yeah. What was the thing

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that made you stick around? I know that you said

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the environment. Was there just a moment? that

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said, you know what, I think I want to get more

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involved into what homeboy is about. Yeah, so

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it's in all our folks, it is like, like, I came

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to homeboy, like a typical corporate America

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guy, typical middle class guy, typical all that

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stuff, right? Not really knowing what the struggles

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of the poor in our society are, not really knowing

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anything about gang life, not knowing anything

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about being incarcerated. So I had all those

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sort of stereotypes in mind. But you come to

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learn at Homeboy that like all our folks are

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victims of complex trauma. They got jumped into

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a gang when they were young. They're second generation

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gang members. Their parents jumped, their mother

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jumped them into the gang. Their father, their

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uncle, their cousin, you know, they've been abused

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as young people. They join a gang thinking that's

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going to be their family because their family's

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not really protecting them anyway. False hope.

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They do something bad. They go to prison. They

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come out. You know, they're damaged. They need

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healing. They need help. What's sort of magical

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about Homeboy is we have a team of people who

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help people through their trauma and help people

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form positive relationships for the first time.

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You walk into Homeboy, you go through our doors,

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you hear laughter, you see cries. People are

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authentic. They don't have to have that hard

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exterior that a gang member has when they're

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out on the streets. They can kind of just be

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themselves. And along the way, even like a guy

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like me from corporate America can actually help

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them, obviously through helping running the organization

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and getting us resources and doing all those

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things, but just... Like Father Greg, our founding

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would say, just being willing to move each of

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us to go to the folks who are on the margins

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of society and be in relationship with them,

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not wag our finger, tell them what to do, just

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be in a relationship with them, help them heal,

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helps them move forward. And so people are with

00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:33.240
us for 18 months at a time. So you can see their

00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:35.539
growth. You can see their transformation. And

00:11:35.539 --> 00:11:38.139
just being part of that is very endearing and

00:11:38.139 --> 00:11:40.120
heartwarming and helpful. And it's, you know,

00:11:40.220 --> 00:11:42.960
a little bit of God's graces are just so visible.

00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:45.539
So that's the sort of emotional part. And then

00:11:45.539 --> 00:11:47.820
the me being the competitive business guy part

00:11:47.820 --> 00:11:50.220
is seeing that the people who are poor in our

00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:52.440
study have no resources or so many challenges.

00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:54.399
And so part of my thing was, hey, can I help

00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.440
this organization grow, bring more resources

00:11:56.440 --> 00:11:59.659
and help solve problems in a tangible way in

00:11:59.659 --> 00:12:01.700
addition to our team helping solve problems in

00:12:01.700 --> 00:12:05.080
an emotional way? And so it was a very interesting

00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:07.299
job. I mean, it was very strategically, very

00:12:07.299 --> 00:12:10.299
difficult. The hardest job I've ever had, mostly

00:12:10.299 --> 00:12:12.299
amongst the hardest job I've ever had, but fulfillment

00:12:12.299 --> 00:12:14.399
wise, just the best job I've ever had for sure.

00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:17.700
Yeah. I mean, I'm sitting here and I'm moved

00:12:17.700 --> 00:12:20.399
by the fact that you saw the possibility and

00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.500
the promise, not necessarily the building, but

00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:24.559
the people who made it, what it was and what

00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.440
it is. What it is, yeah. You use your skills

00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:32.100
as a, you know, corporate guy, bring it to the

00:12:32.100 --> 00:12:34.639
nonprofit world. And we talk about when we're

00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:37.330
going to talk about social. Social enterprises.

00:12:37.629 --> 00:12:39.490
What is a social enterprise? What's the definition

00:12:39.490 --> 00:12:41.409
of a social enterprise? Yeah. So what we do is

00:12:41.409 --> 00:12:44.409
we run businesses. We have a bakery, we have

00:12:44.409 --> 00:12:46.570
a cafe, we have a social community operation.

00:12:46.889 --> 00:12:48.210
Now, we'll get to this in a minute, but we have

00:12:48.210 --> 00:12:50.730
about 10 social enterprises. But the way Homeboy,

00:12:50.889 --> 00:12:52.929
why we call our businesses social enterprises

00:12:52.929 --> 00:12:55.330
is because we don't run our businesses to make

00:12:55.330 --> 00:12:57.429
money. We run our business to provide jobs. So

00:12:57.429 --> 00:12:59.990
we don't bake bread to hire homies. We hire homies

00:12:59.990 --> 00:13:03.309
to bake bread. So our business model is not about

00:13:03.309 --> 00:13:05.289
bread. Our business model is about employment

00:13:05.289 --> 00:13:07.950
and getting people, for our folks, the first

00:13:07.950 --> 00:13:09.789
job they've ever had, structure in their life,

00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:12.649
teach them job skills. And so our social enterprise

00:13:12.649 --> 00:13:14.970
was, that's the purpose. Now, when I first came

00:13:14.970 --> 00:13:17.070
in, it was sort of, they were losing a lot of

00:13:17.070 --> 00:13:19.169
money. It was a real struggle. And I try to get

00:13:19.169 --> 00:13:21.970
our business managers to understand, you got

00:13:21.970 --> 00:13:23.269
to wear two hats, you got to wear the mission

00:13:23.269 --> 00:13:25.110
hat, and you got to wear the social enterprise

00:13:25.110 --> 00:13:27.899
leader hat. So I said, listen, we have to run

00:13:27.899 --> 00:13:30.440
this like a for -profit business, good product

00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:33.220
quality, good cost of goods, control shrinkage,

00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:35.940
good customer service. But the one line I'm not

00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:37.500
going to hold the business manager accountable

00:13:37.500 --> 00:13:40.759
for is the labor line. And for us, we have two

00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:43.259
to three times as much labor as a comparable

00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:46.200
for -profit business. But our model is about

00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:48.220
having more employment to have more purposeful

00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:50.360
activities so people can heal. Thankfully, we

00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:53.299
have donors. who help us offset those losses

00:13:53.299 --> 00:13:55.860
in the business, the labor line. So definition

00:13:55.860 --> 00:13:58.240
of social enterprise is a business that's run

00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:00.879
for some type of social good. For us, it's applying

00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.000
employment for the people who have never been

00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.519
employed before. Other business may be the green

00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:08.789
economy, maybe environmental issues. And so you

00:14:08.789 --> 00:14:10.669
have to be really clear what is your part of

00:14:10.669 --> 00:14:12.950
your mission of your social enterprises. And

00:14:12.950 --> 00:14:15.490
again, back to why we have a bakery and a cafe.

00:14:15.789 --> 00:14:18.269
There's nothing better. How do you gang members

00:14:18.269 --> 00:14:21.309
to not have rivalries any longer? Food. If you

00:14:21.309 --> 00:14:23.409
can personalize, like you don't demonize somebody

00:14:23.409 --> 00:14:25.169
in relationship with. And so there's nothing

00:14:25.169 --> 00:14:27.850
better than going, walking into our bakery, seeing

00:14:27.850 --> 00:14:30.029
our, going to our bread table, seeing two guys,

00:14:30.330 --> 00:14:32.529
rival gangs, standing shoulder to shoulder, rolling

00:14:32.529 --> 00:14:34.190
dough, making bread. Cause they know how much

00:14:34.190 --> 00:14:36.450
bread they got to make that day. They got to

00:14:36.450 --> 00:14:38.480
get along and they got to get it done. And that

00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.240
breaks down barriers and they start forming relationships.

00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:43.820
So they start seeing each other as people, not

00:14:43.820 --> 00:14:46.179
as this member of this gang, member of that gang.

00:14:46.340 --> 00:14:48.799
And that's why we have our social enterprise

00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:51.200
is just to provide that structure. First of all,

00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:54.399
I find that just crazy amazing when, you know,

00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:56.659
I mean, I've never been in a gang, but you see

00:14:56.659 --> 00:15:00.720
the world of what gangs and like, they might

00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:03.000
not have an issue with each other, but it's because

00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.519
they're in that gang set. That's right. They're

00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:07.879
told to have an issue with the gang, right? Right,

00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:10.519
exactly. And so to be able to experience that

00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:12.559
and witness that and actually create that and

00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:15.220
cultivate that culture is pretty phenomenal.

00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:17.539
It's crazy. It's really great. And it works.

00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:19.919
That's the amazing thing. We all grow up wanting

00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:22.159
to know that there's goodness in everybody. And

00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:23.600
you see that every day at Homeboy Industries,

00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.720
there's goodness in everybody. And we help people

00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:27.899
develop positive relationships for the first

00:15:27.899 --> 00:15:32.080
time in their life with the other. And so the

00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:34.259
social enterprise's mission -driven business,

00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:36.779
what advice would you give to entrepreneurs that

00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:39.320
want to do that for their business? Yeah, do

00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:44.179
it. First of all, yes. Have a business that has

00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:46.220
a mission. Now, listen, again, I say this as

00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:48.179
a committed capitalist, it's okay to make money.

00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:49.759
It's okay to have a business that makes money.

00:15:50.100 --> 00:15:51.659
Honestly, they'll obviously stay within the rules,

00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:54.200
but if you have a product or service someone

00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:56.519
wants to pay you money for, you're not forcing

00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:59.720
them to buy from you. Do it, make money, but

00:15:59.720 --> 00:16:02.539
also take care of your employees. It sounds almost

00:16:02.539 --> 00:16:04.860
so obvious. I hate having to say this, but I

00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:06.159
think over the last couple of years, it's shifted.

00:16:06.659 --> 00:16:09.379
Well -run businesses are good for their, have

00:16:09.379 --> 00:16:11.179
good employees that will stay there for a long

00:16:11.179 --> 00:16:14.259
time. If you can have a business that you have

00:16:14.259 --> 00:16:17.179
not just competitive wages, but good wages, market

00:16:17.179 --> 00:16:19.080
-based wages, and people can make their life

00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:21.100
teams come through too. Perfect. If you're in

00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:24.139
a business, you know, so much, or let me take

00:16:24.139 --> 00:16:26.059
this another way. If you're... In so much of

00:16:26.059 --> 00:16:28.179
our capital markets, our private equity -owned

00:16:28.179 --> 00:16:29.960
businesses, privately -owned businesses, you

00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:32.200
have to get the highest profit level out there,

00:16:32.220 --> 00:16:34.100
or else you're considered not a good business

00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:37.480
person. Right. But listen, I know it. As opposed

00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:41.480
to making 12 % profit, make 10 % and have the

00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:44.200
2 % for the employees. That 10 % is still a lot

00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:46.679
of money for you as the owner. Think about how

00:16:46.679 --> 00:16:49.240
you can grow a business and have people grow

00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:51.600
along with you. And that's where the fun and

00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:55.100
the... affirmation and the motivation takes place.

00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:57.720
And that's, that's what if you're an entrepreneur,

00:16:58.019 --> 00:17:00.080
come up with a great idea, but bring people along.

00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:02.019
Look, running business is not easy. I'm not saying

00:17:02.019 --> 00:17:04.819
it's an easy scenario. How we work with people,

00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:07.559
everybody can afford to do with that. Yeah, it

00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:10.460
seems like it would need to be like a mindset

00:17:10.460 --> 00:17:13.619
shift of, you know, who you're being as an entrepreneur,

00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:15.819
or someone who believes in capitalism, but how

00:17:15.819 --> 00:17:19.099
does a business owner integrate the social responsibility

00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:22.420
into, you know, a business model of not necessarily

00:17:22.420 --> 00:17:25.440
sacrificing that possibility, that 2%, but, you

00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:28.680
know, being okay with taking less of a profit

00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:31.140
to build, you know, to build that kind of social

00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:33.039
enterprise. Yeah, I mean, it comes down to your

00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:35.240
values and it comes down to what you want to

00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:38.059
accomplish in your life and do. Again, make money.

00:17:38.099 --> 00:17:40.720
Go make money. I'm okay with that. I just want

00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.319
to say bring people along, right? I can tell

00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:45.079
you a story about a couple of our homie stories,

00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:47.559
right? Please do. And this will kind of get to

00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:49.740
the point of your question. Back to our bakery.

00:17:49.869 --> 00:17:52.609
our homeboy bakery. We have bread routes so we

00:17:52.609 --> 00:17:55.049
deliver bread to bakeries, to restaurants around

00:17:55.049 --> 00:17:57.890
the city. We also have farmers markets, right?

00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:01.329
And so we send our guys out to the farmers market

00:18:01.329 --> 00:18:03.849
and they go out with the bread. It's a sort of

00:18:03.849 --> 00:18:05.230
a great experience where they're talking to people

00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:06.809
that they've never talked to, they're selling

00:18:06.809 --> 00:18:08.250
their bread, they're taking the cash, bringing

00:18:08.250 --> 00:18:12.329
it back in, right? All homes doing this. No outside

00:18:12.329 --> 00:18:14.029
management watching and they just do it on their

00:18:14.029 --> 00:18:17.269
own. One of our best farmers market guys, George.

00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:19.349
This is early in my time a homeboy. I was walking

00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:22.609
through the bakery management by walking around

00:18:22.609 --> 00:18:24.730
and overheard George talking to the bakery manager

00:18:24.730 --> 00:18:27.970
asking for the weekend off, which is a big ask.

00:18:28.329 --> 00:18:29.549
Particularly farmers markets, that's where all

00:18:29.549 --> 00:18:32.849
the volume is. So the manager gave him the weekend

00:18:32.849 --> 00:18:34.809
off and then I went up to George afterwards and

00:18:34.809 --> 00:18:37.450
chit chatting, making small talk. I say, hey,

00:18:37.470 --> 00:18:40.009
George, what are you doing? Very light things.

00:18:40.150 --> 00:18:42.309
He said, I'm reporting in. And I say, well, what's

00:18:42.309 --> 00:18:44.549
that mean? He said, I'm reporting to county jail.

00:18:44.670 --> 00:18:48.829
I said, why? And he said, well, I owe money.

00:18:49.049 --> 00:18:51.650
And at that time in LA County, you can be born

00:18:51.650 --> 00:18:54.450
into county jail and retire some of the debt.

00:18:54.670 --> 00:18:57.569
Now, a little bit of a side. It's not a nutty

00:18:57.569 --> 00:18:59.470
thing for our society. People do a crime, they

00:18:59.470 --> 00:19:01.690
go to prison, right? They have restitution costs.

00:19:02.190 --> 00:19:05.349
Okay. That debt piles up while they're in prison.

00:19:05.410 --> 00:19:08.529
Are you in prison? Role costs, probation costs,

00:19:08.829 --> 00:19:11.309
court costs. How can, how does society think

00:19:11.309 --> 00:19:13.390
that so as they're accumulating debt while they're

00:19:13.390 --> 00:19:14.710
in prison, they can come out and start paying

00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:16.470
off that debt right away when they barely can

00:19:16.470 --> 00:19:18.650
make enough money or can't even get a job to

00:19:18.650 --> 00:19:20.670
make enough money for food and shelter. So it's

00:19:20.670 --> 00:19:22.769
just nutty, nutty, nutty. But at that time in

00:19:22.769 --> 00:19:25.309
LA County, you can go to report into county jail

00:19:25.309 --> 00:19:29.190
and earn off money. So I drove home that night.

00:19:29.339 --> 00:19:31.680
They go, that's pretty amazing that George chose

00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:34.339
to do it the right way. Well, society wants him

00:19:34.339 --> 00:19:36.079
to do it the right way. He didn't go to a loan

00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:37.980
shark. He didn't go to his homeboys, ask for

00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:40.579
the money. He didn't go sell drugs to make the

00:19:40.579 --> 00:19:43.200
money to pay off his debt. He did it. He wanted

00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:45.660
to do it in an honest way, right? And so he was

00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:47.220
reporting and all week and long, I'm thinking,

00:19:47.259 --> 00:19:48.920
oh my gosh, maybe I should just pull money out

00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:51.279
of my pocket, help them out. And it was sort

00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:54.319
of, you know, that was rolling in my brain. Tuesday

00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:57.180
morning, I make a beeline to go see George. I

00:19:57.180 --> 00:19:58.579
said, George, what happened? And I could see

00:19:58.579 --> 00:20:00.799
the stress on his face. Well, interesting. He

00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:03.599
was an unusual case where after he got out of

00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:06.039
prison, within months, he was able to get custody

00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:09.019
of his two children, 10 -year -old Nate. And

00:20:09.019 --> 00:20:11.880
the caregiver who was supposed to watch his children

00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:14.900
while he reported at the county jail last minute

00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:17.000
called in and couldn't make it. He had no family

00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:20.059
support. He didn't have his neighborhood support.

00:20:20.359 --> 00:20:22.880
So he reported to the county jail and left his

00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:24.980
10 -year -old and eight -year -old alone in their

00:20:24.980 --> 00:20:27.910
apartment. for three days. What's up Thrivo Journey

00:20:27.910 --> 00:20:30.990
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00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:51.019
time, www .theoreansgroup .com. All right, we're

00:21:51.019 --> 00:21:53.519
done with the spot. Let's get back to the podcast.

00:21:54.279 --> 00:21:56.779
So imagine this as a parent leaving your child

00:21:56.779 --> 00:21:58.519
alone in their apartment, you're incarcerated,

00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:00.279
you can't get out, you can't make the phone call,

00:22:00.380 --> 00:22:02.720
you can't check up, and the stress that brings.

00:22:03.079 --> 00:22:05.039
Let me just quickly say, the kid turned out okay.

00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:08.319
It was fine, but the stress of a parent. Right.

00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:10.480
Now, why do I tell that story for two things?

00:22:10.660 --> 00:22:12.880
Those of us in the rest of society, we judge,

00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:14.640
we quickly judge, wow, he shouldn't have done

00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:15.900
it. He should have figured another way to pay

00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:17.680
the money. He shouldn't have sort of put his

00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:20.119
children at risk. But I'm saying people we serve,

00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:22.579
people who are poor in our society have impossible

00:22:22.579 --> 00:22:25.920
choices to make every day. And the rest of us

00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:28.420
shouldn't judge them for the choices they make.

00:22:28.539 --> 00:22:31.059
We just need to lean in and help. So how does

00:22:31.059 --> 00:22:33.259
this relate to your question? So if you're social,

00:22:33.369 --> 00:22:35.450
enterprise if you're an entrepreneur and want

00:22:35.450 --> 00:22:37.809
to hire some of the folks we hire just recognize

00:22:37.809 --> 00:22:40.130
that they're coming to the job all these other

00:22:40.130 --> 00:22:42.670
challenges in their life and give them some latitude

00:22:42.670 --> 00:22:45.230
they may need an extra day off they may need

00:22:45.230 --> 00:22:48.329
to take a payday loan from you all earlier and

00:22:48.329 --> 00:22:50.450
they'll pay you back because they have challenges

00:22:50.450 --> 00:22:52.890
that the rest of us can never imagine and they

00:22:52.890 --> 00:22:55.069
do a good job at their work they want to do a

00:22:55.069 --> 00:22:57.769
good job but sometimes they have stressors outside

00:22:57.769 --> 00:23:00.150
whether it's a parole officer demanding something

00:23:00.150 --> 00:23:02.630
of them, or baby mama drama, or the landlord

00:23:02.630 --> 00:23:04.730
shutting up their power. So what am I saying?

00:23:04.890 --> 00:23:07.869
So if you're a entrepreneur, want to help out,

00:23:08.089 --> 00:23:11.269
hire the working poor, paying what you pay normal,

00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:13.710
everybody else, right? But just recognize you're

00:23:13.710 --> 00:23:14.890
going to have to give them a little bit more

00:23:14.890 --> 00:23:16.990
latitude, and they're going to be super loyal

00:23:16.990 --> 00:23:18.950
employees, and long term, they're going to do

00:23:18.950 --> 00:23:22.730
a great job. Yeah, you know, that does lead into

00:23:22.730 --> 00:23:26.349
the question I was going to ask about entrepreneurs,

00:23:26.930 --> 00:23:29.230
small businesses, actually employing people.

00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:32.859
giving them second chances and being okay with

00:23:32.859 --> 00:23:36.839
that because sometimes you look at application

00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:40.579
and have you been incarcerated or are you a felon

00:23:40.579 --> 00:23:44.059
or whatever and then it's marked yes, some people

00:23:44.059 --> 00:23:47.000
won't give that person a chance. What do you

00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:49.880
say about that or how can entrepreneurs look

00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:51.720
at that and say, you know what, let me give this

00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.519
person a chance or maybe put some things in place

00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:57.240
where they can give these people a chance. Yeah.

00:23:57.740 --> 00:23:59.299
I would say, and hopefully this doesn't sound

00:23:59.299 --> 00:24:01.019
like I'm contradicting myself, but first let

00:24:01.019 --> 00:24:03.359
me say, don't even think about whether they have

00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:05.759
a felony or not a felony. If you interview them

00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:07.920
and you think they can do the job and you want

00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:10.059
them to do job, give them the job. Let's not

00:24:10.059 --> 00:24:11.759
judge somebody for the worst thing they've done

00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.559
in their life, right? Right. But also know that

00:24:15.630 --> 00:24:17.970
If you do have that knowledge of this hemorrhage

00:24:17.970 --> 00:24:19.789
background, you're probably going to have to

00:24:19.789 --> 00:24:21.730
give them some latitude, like I said, a couple

00:24:21.730 --> 00:24:23.609
of more days off. The parole officer is going

00:24:23.609 --> 00:24:25.329
to call at some point and say, you need to report

00:24:25.329 --> 00:24:29.049
tomorrow. Oftentimes, most businesses, if you

00:24:29.049 --> 00:24:30.789
call in a day in advance, you can't get the day

00:24:30.789 --> 00:24:32.230
off. But parole officers are going to demand

00:24:32.230 --> 00:24:33.589
that. So you've got to give them some type of

00:24:33.589 --> 00:24:37.190
latitude. But don't be fearful of what the felony

00:24:37.190 --> 00:24:39.549
was or that they've been incarcerated. If they're

00:24:39.549 --> 00:24:42.109
showing up at your place looking for a job, they

00:24:42.109 --> 00:24:44.220
want to do it. They do a good job. They want

00:24:44.220 --> 00:24:46.500
to have an honest day's pay for an honest day's

00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:48.980
work and give them that chance, for sure. Just

00:24:48.980 --> 00:24:50.420
don't hire them because they're a felon. Hire

00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:51.900
them because you think they can do the job. They

00:24:51.900 --> 00:24:53.500
can do the job. Yeah. There's some innovative

00:24:53.500 --> 00:24:57.440
ways that can be put in place to hire someone

00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.400
who's been incarcerated, if I can talk today.

00:24:59.779 --> 00:25:02.220
Yeah. Incarcerated, yeah. Well, you know, I mean,

00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:04.799
look, in LA, for sure, the people who've been

00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:07.099
in our Homeboy program do well. So almost like

00:25:07.099 --> 00:25:08.660
we have good housekeeping seal of approval. If

00:25:08.660 --> 00:25:10.589
they get through us and our businesses, then

00:25:10.589 --> 00:25:13.109
they're ready to work, for sure. And so, if we

00:25:13.109 --> 00:25:15.130
ever listen, there's other organizations that

00:25:15.130 --> 00:25:17.250
do re -entry services around the country. You

00:25:17.250 --> 00:25:19.609
know, if they've kind of spent time going through

00:25:19.609 --> 00:25:21.869
a re -entry program, helping them get through

00:25:21.869 --> 00:25:23.470
some of their challenges, that's an important

00:25:23.470 --> 00:25:27.710
part of it. Sure. Mentorship with anybody who's

00:25:27.710 --> 00:25:30.450
been incarcerated, do you have a membership?

00:25:30.769 --> 00:25:33.450
I can't talk today. A mentorship program. Well,

00:25:33.490 --> 00:25:35.470
you know, it's funny how you say it. Everything

00:25:35.470 --> 00:25:39.119
we do is mentorship. You know, over time I've

00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:41.740
worked hard. Now two thirds of our management

00:25:41.740 --> 00:25:44.819
team are people who are former clients. So men

00:25:44.819 --> 00:25:46.759
and women who were in the gangs, men and women

00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:49.299
who are incarcerated, become the homeboy. They

00:25:49.299 --> 00:25:51.299
get through our 18 month model, our program.

00:25:51.619 --> 00:25:53.839
We hire them on as regular employees. They rise

00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:56.559
up to different levels of management. And so

00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:59.759
it's everything we do is about mentoring people

00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:02.640
to realize their strengths, lean into their self

00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:05.859
-worth, thrive going forward, positive reinforcement,

00:26:05.859 --> 00:26:08.519
and then help people. Why is there a struggle?

00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:10.759
Because people will struggle, but we have to

00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:13.420
sort of be there with them along the way. So

00:26:13.420 --> 00:26:15.759
it's a great deal of mentorship along the way.

00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:18.420
Which I think it helps. Now, we talked about

00:26:18.420 --> 00:26:21.119
this a little bit. You've launched several businesses,

00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:23.319
social enterprise businesses. What's your approach

00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:26.660
to identifying like a viable business opportunity?

00:26:27.380 --> 00:26:30.579
Yeah. So for Homeboy, let me first say why we

00:26:30.579 --> 00:26:33.160
want to keep launching businesses. So people

00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:35.599
come to our Homeboy program for the most part.

00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:37.920
They've never had a job elsewhere before they

00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:39.700
show up at Homeboy. So they come out of prison,

00:26:39.799 --> 00:26:41.640
we help them heal. We help them become resilient,

00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:43.779
take on what society throws at them. And then

00:26:43.779 --> 00:26:45.559
we try to get them a job outside of Homeboy.

00:26:45.980 --> 00:26:48.200
And not that many family -friendly employers.

00:26:48.259 --> 00:26:50.700
So it's always frustrated me. A lot of our guys

00:26:50.700 --> 00:26:53.900
ended up at minimum wage jobs after Homeboy.

00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:56.160
In L .A. County, it's hard to live on minimum

00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.900
wage. And then at the same time, I've seen that

00:26:59.900 --> 00:27:02.839
our own Homeboy businesses, I see how they've

00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:06.339
grown. every one of the managers within our homeboy

00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:08.799
business is our former client. So I know our

00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:11.660
folks can do the job at all levels, frontline

00:27:11.660 --> 00:27:14.039
supervisor, director, manager, VP, all that,

00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:16.839
right? And so part of me then put my business

00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:19.619
background to use and especially when I sit in

00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:21.660
the for -profit world, I bought 40 companies

00:27:21.660 --> 00:27:23.940
and sold five. I wanna create more businesses

00:27:23.940 --> 00:27:26.480
or acquire more businesses. So I want more businesses

00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:28.680
so we can create more jobs and so that more folks

00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:31.400
can have a chance to make a market -based wage

00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:33.640
and provide for their families. And so to your

00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:35.140
question then, what kind of businesses would

00:27:35.140 --> 00:27:38.059
that be? And it's funny, I'm a little bit agnostic

00:27:38.059 --> 00:27:40.680
because I need, but I need a business that needs

00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:45.220
physical labor, hands, feet, head, right? I can't

00:27:45.220 --> 00:27:49.559
be an IT company, right? So I can't, so. What

00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:51.740
we need is sort of whether it's a manufacturing

00:27:51.740 --> 00:27:53.920
business or food service businesses. So a number

00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:56.380
of years ago, we acquired an electronic recycling

00:27:56.380 --> 00:27:58.660
company where, you know, in the state of California,

00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:00.680
there's all these rules in place about how to

00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:03.180
recycle electronic cell phones, computers. And

00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:05.460
so we acquired that business, which is kind of

00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:08.180
innovative before a nonprofit acquiring a for

00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:09.700
-profit business. At the time, they're about

00:28:09.700 --> 00:28:12.000
a half a million dollars in revenue each year.

00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:13.980
We acquired it and now they do about three and

00:28:13.980 --> 00:28:16.049
a half million dollars of revenue. bring on a

00:28:16.049 --> 00:28:18.210
homeboy band and homeboy name. It's been a great

00:28:18.210 --> 00:28:20.930
job for our folks. They can pull apart computers

00:28:20.930 --> 00:28:24.250
and reassemble them and resell them. And so that's

00:28:24.250 --> 00:28:27.150
a business that needs physical labor. Yeah. And

00:28:27.150 --> 00:28:30.250
that also kind of kind of can produce a profit.

00:28:30.470 --> 00:28:32.470
This past month, we opened up one of our newer

00:28:32.470 --> 00:28:35.049
businesses, dog grooming. There's not enough

00:28:35.049 --> 00:28:38.230
dog grooming spots in LA County. And it turns

00:28:38.230 --> 00:28:40.109
out these are pretty good jobs. We're paying

00:28:40.109 --> 00:28:44.150
our folks $21 an hour plus tips. They love grooming

00:28:44.150 --> 00:28:46.670
dogs. They learn how to cut hair in prison. Yeah.

00:28:47.109 --> 00:28:50.309
Yeah. And LA loves dogs. LA loves dogs, especially

00:28:50.309 --> 00:28:54.170
small foo -foo dogs, right? Yeah, exactly. So

00:28:54.170 --> 00:28:56.150
there's that one. And then we're thinking about

00:28:56.150 --> 00:29:00.069
an automotive shop along the way. A few more

00:29:00.069 --> 00:29:02.789
food businesses because we have a homegrown cafe

00:29:02.789 --> 00:29:05.069
and bakery. We know that. So I'm looking for,

00:29:05.130 --> 00:29:07.710
the dynamic is... with labor, needs physical

00:29:07.710 --> 00:29:09.710
labor, so I need to employ people. And the other

00:29:09.710 --> 00:29:12.750
thing is, I hope to find businesses that can

00:29:12.750 --> 00:29:14.849
contract with the government. We get very little

00:29:14.849 --> 00:29:16.549
government funds to do what we're doing. We're

00:29:16.549 --> 00:29:19.309
mostly 90 % privately funded between donations

00:29:19.309 --> 00:29:23.630
and business revenue. But government was willing

00:29:23.630 --> 00:29:26.009
to contract with us. And so if I can find a business

00:29:26.009 --> 00:29:28.170
that a third of the volume will be contracted

00:29:28.170 --> 00:29:30.430
with the city or the county, I mean, that's what

00:29:30.430 --> 00:29:33.230
I'm looking for as well. Now I'm hearing you.

00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:39.519
And I keep looking at the nonprofit I started,

00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:42.619
and it keeps popping up in my head because there

00:29:42.619 --> 00:29:46.519
was someone who was working with me to help build

00:29:46.519 --> 00:29:50.700
it. And everything that you're saying makes sense,

00:29:50.740 --> 00:29:52.599
but it was so foreign to me. And she was like,

00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:56.019
you know, it was four young men and women who

00:29:56.019 --> 00:29:57.920
grew up in homes without fathers. And she said,

00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:00.099
it's great to have that social thing, but you

00:30:00.099 --> 00:30:02.430
know... just give them some jobs, you know, they

00:30:02.430 --> 00:30:04.710
want to make some money as well. And, you know,

00:30:04.750 --> 00:30:07.529
keep basically keep their minds going. And I

00:30:07.529 --> 00:30:09.430
think that's just such a phenomenal thing that,

00:30:09.450 --> 00:30:12.470
you know, like, I think that would just be a

00:30:12.470 --> 00:30:14.390
great thing for nonprofits to really take that

00:30:14.390 --> 00:30:18.549
take that on and look at how, you know, nonprofits

00:30:18.549 --> 00:30:20.549
are not just, you know, take, take, take, but

00:30:20.549 --> 00:30:23.400
there's a there's a give. in that situation as

00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:25.920
well. We're building up people to give back to

00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:29.579
society in a great way. I just think it's amazing.

00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:33.700
What are the misconceptions about running a social

00:30:33.700 --> 00:30:37.539
enterprise? Well, let me say missteps. Again,

00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:41.740
people aren't clear about what is their mission

00:30:41.740 --> 00:30:44.440
succinctly, that they now try to do too many

00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:49.920
things at once, number one. Number two, A misstep

00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:52.920
that I keep advising people to avoid, it's fine

00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:54.819
to run a non -profit social enterprise, it's

00:30:54.819 --> 00:30:56.500
fine to run a for -profit social enterprise.

00:30:56.720 --> 00:30:58.819
But you have to have management in place who

00:30:58.819 --> 00:31:01.720
knows how to run it in a for -profit way. I mean,

00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:04.519
if you can't run it as a for -profit, you're

00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:06.660
never going to be able to succeed long -term

00:31:06.660 --> 00:31:08.380
running as a non -profit. You've got to have

00:31:08.380 --> 00:31:11.220
the dynamic of understanding the cadence. It's

00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:13.720
a cash -type business, understand money in, money

00:31:13.720 --> 00:31:16.359
out, cost of goods, all those things that's on

00:31:16.359 --> 00:31:18.759
a P &L along the way. And the other thing is,

00:31:18.750 --> 00:31:21.309
And many nonprofits who do social enterprises

00:31:21.309 --> 00:31:24.849
rely upon their mission to bring customers in.

00:31:25.009 --> 00:31:27.230
And I kind of had to force our team saying, no,

00:31:27.670 --> 00:31:30.450
our product needs to be as comparably as good

00:31:30.450 --> 00:31:33.329
for the price. Because we can't rely upon people's

00:31:33.329 --> 00:31:35.670
charity to give us business. Because we'll do

00:31:35.670 --> 00:31:37.529
it once, but they won't come back a second time.

00:31:37.670 --> 00:31:41.309
Right. Right. You want to kind of sort of build

00:31:41.309 --> 00:31:44.410
those repeat customers. And then the other thing

00:31:44.410 --> 00:31:46.859
is... a little bit off from your question, but

00:31:46.859 --> 00:31:49.059
it's like, work to build a management team from

00:31:49.059 --> 00:31:52.920
within. And look, that's how you kind of really

00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:55.059
have diversity in the workplace. It's like, take

00:31:55.059 --> 00:31:58.099
your frontline workers, you groom a few up to

00:31:58.099 --> 00:32:00.660
be your frontline supervisors, you groom a few

00:32:00.660 --> 00:32:03.359
more up to be managers, you groom them up along

00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:06.039
the way. And they will hold the culture strong

00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:08.480
of what that social enterprise is about. If you're

00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:10.579
constantly hiring outside people, you're not

00:32:10.579 --> 00:32:13.420
gonna get the right culture. Right, right, lose

00:32:13.420 --> 00:32:16.519
the quality. So you have a researcher that you

00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:20.319
guys started launching homeboy threads, right?

00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:24.680
What impact does that have on the fashion industry

00:32:24.680 --> 00:32:28.059
or has it impacted the fashion industry yet?

00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:30.039
Well, we want to impact the fashion industry

00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:32.259
a little more than a half. Oh, listen. So what

00:32:32.259 --> 00:32:35.099
we're trying to do is Fashion brands have come

00:32:35.099 --> 00:32:38.180
to us and said to us, listen, they got a lot

00:32:38.180 --> 00:32:40.799
of unsold merchandise in warehouses and they

00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:43.279
don't want to necessarily just dump that into

00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:46.880
landfill. We said, okay, this was an outgrowth

00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:49.200
of our recycling of electronics. Now we're going

00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:51.319
to recycle apparel. So we said, okay, bring it

00:32:51.319 --> 00:32:53.700
to us. We have a labor force. We've got people.

00:32:53.900 --> 00:32:56.279
We can put them to work to deconstruct some of

00:32:56.279 --> 00:32:58.440
the fabric or the clothing in different ways,

00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:00.579
take the labels off and kind of repurpose that

00:33:00.579 --> 00:33:03.079
fabric downstream. And that's the kind of the

00:33:03.079 --> 00:33:05.259
thinking behind that business. It's been slower

00:33:05.259 --> 00:33:08.640
at growing than we would like. Brands have sort

00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:11.319
of given more lip service. Some brands are pretty

00:33:11.319 --> 00:33:13.299
good at it. Other brands are going to give lip

00:33:13.299 --> 00:33:15.099
service to it all because it's too easy for them

00:33:15.099 --> 00:33:18.140
is to buy cheap and dump the stuff into land.

00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:21.839
It's going to change. We think the landfills

00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:25.039
are filling up. You can't just have 10 % of that

00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:26.819
landfill be apparel. You should do something

00:33:26.819 --> 00:33:29.980
different along the way. We may be ahead of the

00:33:29.980 --> 00:33:33.000
curve here, so we'll see how it plays out, but

00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:35.019
they've been good jobs for our folks. Yeah, I

00:33:35.019 --> 00:33:39.880
think so. I don't know. I'm just at all. at other

00:33:39.880 --> 00:33:41.920
things that you're doing as a non -profit with

00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:44.000
for -profit kind of things, social enterprise.

00:33:44.220 --> 00:33:46.740
And I just think it's amazing. What kind of leadership

00:33:46.740 --> 00:33:51.000
qualities can an entrepreneur take on trying

00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:55.220
to build a social enterprise? Yeah. Listen, it

00:33:55.220 --> 00:33:57.440
sounds almost cliche. It's about empathy and

00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:01.279
compassion. I mean, I learned this much more

00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:03.279
now than I did in my for -profit role. In my

00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:05.720
for -profit role, I thought I had to be command

00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:09.699
and control and quickly making decisions. And

00:34:09.699 --> 00:34:11.239
I can learn a homeboy, I can quickly still make

00:34:11.239 --> 00:34:14.639
decisions, but it's about being more empathetic

00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:19.159
and listening more and having the team buy into

00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:22.739
the decision in a much more fuller way. And it's

00:34:22.739 --> 00:34:24.579
a shift that entrepreneurs need to make, because

00:34:24.579 --> 00:34:26.699
entrepreneurs are generally, they're sole practitioners

00:34:26.699 --> 00:34:29.840
for a while, and they got everything at stake

00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:32.099
in terms of what they're doing. So they're hard

00:34:32.099 --> 00:34:35.239
for them to give up trust, trust issue. letting

00:34:35.239 --> 00:34:38.860
go or delegating. I had that for a while. I wrote

00:34:38.860 --> 00:34:43.440
a book called The Homeboy Way. What I did is

00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:46.559
I started writing because what lessons did I

00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:48.440
learn at Homeboy that I would take back to the

00:34:48.440 --> 00:34:50.599
for -profit world? There's a whole bunch of stuff

00:34:50.599 --> 00:34:53.119
in there. Also, I talk about my own spiritual

00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:56.420
journey along the way. But this, I think, will

00:34:56.420 --> 00:34:59.139
line up between the two for entrepreneurs. About

00:34:59.139 --> 00:35:01.260
four or five years ago, I finally figured out

00:35:01.260 --> 00:35:03.659
something. Now I'm older in life. But my mantra

00:35:03.659 --> 00:35:07.280
every day is getting up and seeking joy and looking

00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:09.820
for joy and experiencing joy. And then all my

00:35:09.820 --> 00:35:13.340
other worries are secondary to that. And associated

00:35:13.340 --> 00:35:16.280
with that is you find joy through others. And

00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:18.360
so as an entrepreneur, as a business person,

00:35:18.500 --> 00:35:19.880
it's like, OK, I wake up every day. How do I

00:35:19.880 --> 00:35:21.860
find joy through others? How do we work at this

00:35:21.860 --> 00:35:25.110
together and see each other? find joy. We're

00:35:25.110 --> 00:35:26.909
committed. It's a team. We're doing the same

00:35:26.909 --> 00:35:29.630
kind of thing. But it's about in a day checking

00:35:29.630 --> 00:35:32.369
out how much joy that I have. What was it? And

00:35:32.369 --> 00:35:34.550
it's in a sort of a sort of good mental checklist

00:35:34.550 --> 00:35:37.829
all throughout the week. And because being a

00:35:37.829 --> 00:35:40.130
guy who thought about homeboy, almost like an

00:35:40.130 --> 00:35:42.429
entrepreneurial issue or family -run business,

00:35:42.929 --> 00:35:45.070
it's a stressful thing. It's full throttle. You're

00:35:45.070 --> 00:35:46.789
trying to make payroll or you're trying to keep

00:35:46.789 --> 00:35:49.130
things alive. You're trying to move things forward.

00:35:49.650 --> 00:35:52.789
Very stressful. When I finally shifted through

00:35:52.789 --> 00:35:55.289
the help of our founder, Father Greg, it's about

00:35:55.289 --> 00:35:58.250
seeking joy. And then I was like, that really

00:35:58.250 --> 00:36:00.489
helped. What is it? It's phenomenal that you

00:36:00.489 --> 00:36:03.409
said that because just today, like you said,

00:36:03.750 --> 00:36:06.750
like in the entrepreneurial world and in this

00:36:06.750 --> 00:36:08.929
bubble, it could be stressful. And there's a

00:36:08.929 --> 00:36:11.809
vision that we want to create and a vision that

00:36:11.809 --> 00:36:13.570
we're future that we're creating and working

00:36:13.570 --> 00:36:16.570
for, but it doesn't always work out the way that

00:36:16.570 --> 00:36:19.670
we see. And this morning I was like, Mike, are

00:36:19.670 --> 00:36:22.150
you having fun? Are you still having fun? You

00:36:22.150 --> 00:36:24.769
know? Good question. And I had to ask myself,

00:36:24.929 --> 00:36:28.269
like, am I still having fun? And even when I

00:36:28.269 --> 00:36:30.630
have moments when I'm not having fun, is there

00:36:30.630 --> 00:36:32.869
still joy in what I'm building and creating?

00:36:33.010 --> 00:36:35.889
And I had to ask myself that. And I can be like,

00:36:35.969 --> 00:36:38.070
you know what? Yes. Because I don't see myself

00:36:38.070 --> 00:36:39.809
doing anything else at this moment. You know,

00:36:39.869 --> 00:36:42.070
this is, you know, this is what I live for, every

00:36:42.070 --> 00:36:44.929
aspect of it. And I think that's, I think that's

00:36:44.929 --> 00:36:47.980
where I have to continue to use. the questions

00:36:47.980 --> 00:36:50.599
for myself to keep myself alive in what I'm doing.

00:36:51.559 --> 00:36:53.800
Yeah. Yeah. And I was going to talk about the

00:36:53.800 --> 00:36:56.079
homeboy way. What are the core principles of

00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:57.940
the homeboy way? I know you talked about, you

00:36:57.940 --> 00:37:00.539
know, bringing joy, but do you have corporate?

00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:03.559
It's in the corporate world, the business world,

00:37:03.800 --> 00:37:06.099
you sort of particularly in the bigger corporation

00:37:06.099 --> 00:37:09.260
side, you're rule -bound, you know, you worry

00:37:09.260 --> 00:37:11.119
about setting precedent and doing the same thing

00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:13.820
for everybody. At Homeboy, we have our freedom.

00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:16.400
We help the individual in front of us in the

00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:18.300
way they need. It may not be the same tomorrow,

00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:21.380
so you may come to me today and then you need

00:37:21.380 --> 00:37:23.739
help, you need money for rent, because, you know,

00:37:23.739 --> 00:37:25.639
we know your story, we know you've been trying,

00:37:25.760 --> 00:37:27.789
but you come up short. right? Well, give me the

00:37:27.789 --> 00:37:29.889
money. Tomorrow another guy may come and we won't

00:37:29.889 --> 00:37:31.250
give him the money because we know his story.

00:37:31.309 --> 00:37:33.469
We know something else. We know another situation.

00:37:33.530 --> 00:37:35.630
So we're not worried about setting precedent,

00:37:35.650 --> 00:37:39.349
right? And so that's pretty freeing, not worrying

00:37:39.349 --> 00:37:41.429
about setting precedent. And so it's about the

00:37:41.429 --> 00:37:45.269
individual, not about the whole thing. And the

00:37:45.269 --> 00:37:47.110
other thing is about doing what's needed for

00:37:47.110 --> 00:37:49.130
that to help that person today. And I really

00:37:49.130 --> 00:37:52.329
mean today. In the corporate world, business

00:37:52.329 --> 00:37:54.210
world, I did this all the time, you know, you

00:37:54.210 --> 00:37:56.179
would be in the in the office and you'd be walking

00:37:56.179 --> 00:37:57.960
out hall, you see a colleague, you're sitting

00:37:57.960 --> 00:37:59.760
inside the chit chat, and as you're talking,

00:38:00.059 --> 00:38:01.739
you still got nine things rolling through your

00:38:01.739 --> 00:38:03.539
brain as to what else you need to work on, right?

00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:06.019
Or someone may bring a prop to you and you realize,

00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:08.239
okay, that's probably number four on my priority

00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:10.440
list and you'll get to it, right? But a homeboy,

00:38:10.539 --> 00:38:12.679
when someone needs help, you help them today.

00:38:13.019 --> 00:38:16.179
You don't put it off. You can't do that all the

00:38:16.179 --> 00:38:17.739
time, I get it. I know I'm sounding like I'm

00:38:17.739 --> 00:38:19.679
making this perfect world here, but it's like,

00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:22.320
it's a sort of a... If it's a philosophy of how

00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:24.559
you go about life, how you go about running your

00:38:24.559 --> 00:38:26.539
business, that permeates everything and that

00:38:26.539 --> 00:38:29.760
makes a difference. So it's about helping the

00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:32.300
individual, working on it today and leading in

00:38:32.300 --> 00:38:34.409
with investment. Poor in our society need help.

00:38:34.690 --> 00:38:36.309
Poverty rate in America has been the same for

00:38:36.309 --> 00:38:39.449
45 years, same narrow 12 % ban. And I think what's

00:38:39.449 --> 00:38:41.250
pretty amazing at Homeboy is we're helping people

00:38:41.250 --> 00:38:44.090
who are very poor and incarcerated lift them

00:38:44.090 --> 00:38:46.250
out of poverty by helping them get a job outside

00:38:46.250 --> 00:38:48.070
of Homeboy. So if Homeboy can lift people out

00:38:48.070 --> 00:38:49.929
of poverty, I think the corporate world can do

00:38:49.929 --> 00:38:52.489
that. And so it's about hiring the poor and understanding

00:38:52.489 --> 00:38:54.590
the challenges they have and providing some support

00:38:54.590 --> 00:38:56.929
services around it. I agree. In that, there's

00:38:56.929 --> 00:38:59.250
some compassion. So how does an entrepreneur...

00:38:59.420 --> 00:39:02.579
with compassion drive a long term business success.

00:39:02.579 --> 00:39:05.460
Yeah, well, they're not like I asked the question.

00:39:05.940 --> 00:39:09.760
But one doesn't stop the other. One does not

00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:11.880
stop the other. Whatever your product, if you're

00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:13.440
making a product, you got to make the product

00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:14.840
you're doing a service, you got to do the service,

00:39:14.940 --> 00:39:16.739
you can still be compassionate with your people.

00:39:16.800 --> 00:39:18.880
I'm not saying not hold them accountable to do

00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:22.579
x, y and z. You have compassion how you talk

00:39:22.579 --> 00:39:24.380
about it. If someone's falling short, you still

00:39:24.380 --> 00:39:26.280
have compassion how you talk to them about why

00:39:26.280 --> 00:39:27.659
they're falling short. They're falling short

00:39:27.659 --> 00:39:29.280
because something else is happening in their

00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:31.440
life. Or maybe they didn't understand X, Y, Z.

00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:34.059
Very few people, I think, sort of don't do a

00:39:34.059 --> 00:39:36.039
good job because, let me say it in a different

00:39:36.039 --> 00:39:38.219
way, most people do a good job. And if they're

00:39:38.219 --> 00:39:40.440
not doing a good job, they have stressors in

00:39:40.440 --> 00:39:42.940
their life. And maybe you have the wrong person

00:39:42.940 --> 00:39:45.320
in the wrong job also, but you still bring compassion

00:39:45.320 --> 00:39:47.199
to every one of those conversations. And these

00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:50.199
are a lot of, okay, so a lot of businesses, I

00:39:50.199 --> 00:39:52.219
mean, everything is like a transaction relationship.

00:39:52.539 --> 00:39:55.219
Sure. That's the whole key. Don't be transactional.

00:39:55.300 --> 00:39:58.539
Right. And so how do you, yeah, how do you do

00:39:58.539 --> 00:40:01.360
it in a transform transformational kind of way

00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:05.380
and make a transformational impact? in your business.

00:40:05.619 --> 00:40:07.579
Well, listen, so we have sort of a number of

00:40:07.579 --> 00:40:09.760
years ago, I sort of had some outside, we got

00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:11.679
a lot of volunteers to help us and some business

00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:13.760
academics guys came along. And so we sort of

00:40:13.760 --> 00:40:16.519
framed it this way that a homeboy, which is different

00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:18.780
from the rest of the world, we have sort of relational

00:40:18.780 --> 00:40:21.820
accountability, as opposed to consequential accountability.

00:40:22.679 --> 00:40:25.159
Okay, well through XYZ, you get this. For us,

00:40:25.159 --> 00:40:27.239
it's about building relationships with our workforce.

00:40:27.699 --> 00:40:29.179
And because we're in that relationship, they

00:40:29.179 --> 00:40:31.619
will do what you're asking them to do, as opposed

00:40:31.619 --> 00:40:35.559
to say, if you don't get XYZ done. Right, right.

00:40:35.900 --> 00:40:39.019
It's a mindset shift. Now, we don't have traditional

00:40:39.019 --> 00:40:42.340
corporate review process where we measure people

00:40:42.340 --> 00:40:44.599
from one to five in a different scale. We don't

00:40:44.599 --> 00:40:47.500
believe in measuring people along the way. That

00:40:47.500 --> 00:40:51.179
makes sense. I mean, I love Homeboy. I haven't

00:40:51.179 --> 00:40:54.079
even been in the building, but just the way that...

00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:56.420
You've got a great energy. Yeah, I can sense

00:40:56.420 --> 00:40:59.280
it. I mean, I'm still having these visions of

00:40:59.280 --> 00:41:01.420
me driving past the building. Yeah, well, drive

00:41:01.420 --> 00:41:04.349
back to us. Yeah. You know, when I come to LA,

00:41:04.510 --> 00:41:07.369
I'll come to visit for sure because, you know,

00:41:07.650 --> 00:41:10.210
everything that you guys are standing for is,

00:41:10.210 --> 00:41:14.409
it's transformational in many ways and it supports

00:41:14.409 --> 00:41:17.969
people to do level up in their lives. And I think

00:41:17.969 --> 00:41:20.010
that's phenomenal. And so I have a question here.

00:41:20.150 --> 00:41:23.630
So if every business adapted one principle, from

00:41:23.630 --> 00:41:25.809
homework industries, which would have the biggest

00:41:25.809 --> 00:41:28.369
impact on society? Geez, only one? Well, you

00:41:28.369 --> 00:41:31.130
can name as many as you want. I mean, tangibly,

00:41:31.250 --> 00:41:33.730
I want to say, hire the working poor. That will

00:41:33.730 --> 00:41:35.809
have a massive impact on society. If we have

00:41:35.809 --> 00:41:37.630
less poor people in our society, we'll have a

00:41:37.630 --> 00:41:40.730
massive impact. But the other one, I guess I

00:41:40.730 --> 00:41:44.010
want to be more aspirational, recognizing that

00:41:44.010 --> 00:41:45.849
there aren't good people and bad people in our

00:41:45.849 --> 00:41:49.030
society. There's goodness in everybody. And look,

00:41:49.210 --> 00:41:51.380
I love, I learned... We all learned this, but

00:41:51.380 --> 00:41:53.599
I saw this homeboy from day one, through the

00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:55.380
teachings of Father Greg and the other homies,

00:41:55.639 --> 00:41:58.639
that God is too busy loving us to be judging

00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:00.840
us. So we don't need to judge. We just don't

00:42:00.840 --> 00:42:03.440
need to judge. And that will have a big impact.

00:42:03.480 --> 00:42:06.119
That's a study as well. Yeah. I think judging,

00:42:06.199 --> 00:42:10.659
it comes as being human, but I think, you know,

00:42:10.780 --> 00:42:12.940
not doing it, it takes work, right? It takes

00:42:12.940 --> 00:42:16.829
work. Totally takes work. it could make the world,

00:42:16.949 --> 00:42:18.489
I mean, and we're talking about entrepreneurship

00:42:18.489 --> 00:42:20.909
and business and social enterprise, but just

00:42:20.909 --> 00:42:22.750
being a little bit more compassionate, just being

00:42:22.750 --> 00:42:25.949
more understanding, just seeing the help that's

00:42:25.949 --> 00:42:28.110
needed. Especially as an entrepreneur, reaching

00:42:28.110 --> 00:42:31.070
out can make a difference, not in only your world,

00:42:31.090 --> 00:42:33.349
but the other worlds that you end up touching.

00:42:34.030 --> 00:42:36.750
Absolutely. Absolutely. So what's one piece of

00:42:36.750 --> 00:42:39.869
advice that you can give to an entrepreneur,

00:42:40.570 --> 00:42:43.730
aspiring entrepreneur right now that's looking

00:42:43.730 --> 00:42:46.019
to build their business, create the business,

00:42:46.219 --> 00:42:48.659
not just as a, like I said, transaction, but

00:42:48.659 --> 00:42:51.760
something that's purposeful and intentional and

00:42:51.760 --> 00:42:54.300
that can make an impact in the world. Bring people

00:42:54.300 --> 00:42:56.119
along with you. People want to follow leaders.

00:42:56.300 --> 00:42:58.480
They want to be part of it. You don't need to,

00:42:58.480 --> 00:43:00.539
you don't need to put a big distance between

00:43:00.539 --> 00:43:03.420
you and everybody else. And as your last words

00:43:03.420 --> 00:43:07.980
here on the podcast, what story advice or anything

00:43:07.980 --> 00:43:09.840
that you would like to say that's on your heart?

00:43:10.019 --> 00:43:12.000
Yeah. If you allow me to do it this way. Look,

00:43:12.019 --> 00:43:14.610
there's, um, I feel like my last 12 years at

00:43:14.610 --> 00:43:17.150
Homeboy has been full of God's graces and seeing

00:43:17.150 --> 00:43:19.750
people change their life because they found that

00:43:19.750 --> 00:43:21.730
they can start loving others because they start

00:43:21.730 --> 00:43:23.630
loving themselves and they start loving themselves

00:43:23.630 --> 00:43:25.449
because they finally understand that God loves

00:43:25.449 --> 00:43:28.300
them no matter what. It goes along with understanding

00:43:28.300 --> 00:43:30.380
not to judge. Once you understand God loves you

00:43:30.380 --> 00:43:32.420
no matter what, and now you're made in God's

00:43:32.420 --> 00:43:34.340
eyes, everything else gets much easier, and it's

00:43:34.340 --> 00:43:36.559
very much full of joy. And I sense that from

00:43:36.559 --> 00:43:39.199
you, so I appreciate you, Tom, for being here.

00:43:39.420 --> 00:43:42.179
Now, I know that, you know, you're in Los Angeles,

00:43:42.219 --> 00:43:44.659
but how do people support or get in touch with

00:43:44.659 --> 00:43:47.239
you, or even by your book? Yeah, great. The book

00:43:47.239 --> 00:43:50.760
is on Amazon, The Homeboy Way. Come to Los Angeles,

00:43:50.940 --> 00:43:53.639
for sure. We have our web presence at Homeboy,

00:43:54.139 --> 00:43:57.099
a lot of content on our Facebook page. We have

00:43:57.099 --> 00:43:59.460
so many of our folks talk about their stories

00:43:59.460 --> 00:44:02.539
and their voice and their authentic voice. And,

00:44:02.539 --> 00:44:04.280
you know, there's a lot of stuff out there about

00:44:04.280 --> 00:44:06.440
us. Come read it. Father Greg has four books

00:44:06.440 --> 00:44:09.199
as well, beautifully written books. And, you

00:44:09.199 --> 00:44:11.559
know, there's a lot to be said. Nice. Thank you.

00:44:11.699 --> 00:44:14.500
I mean, the impact that, uh, that you guys are

00:44:14.500 --> 00:44:16.880
doing, like I said it before, but it's, it's

00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:20.099
amazing. It's astounding. And, you know, uh,

00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:22.199
if there's other people who are watching that

00:44:22.199 --> 00:44:24.400
are looking to, you know, start a nonprofit,

00:44:24.679 --> 00:44:26.960
you know, this is a good way. Hey, they, they

00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:30.900
have, you know, they have a method here. Yeah.

00:44:31.179 --> 00:44:33.199
So for all the listeners and watchers, you know

00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:35.940
what to do. Go to Facebook, go to The Thrive

00:44:35.940 --> 00:44:37.900
World Journey if you want to see clips and other

00:44:37.900 --> 00:44:40.960
information. And as we always say, make thriving

00:44:40.960 --> 00:44:44.119
your new normal. Tom, thank you again. Thank

00:44:44.119 --> 00:44:44.619
you very much.