The Significance of Relationship Capital

Summary

Podcast Title: Money And Wealth With John Hope Bryant
Episode: The Significance of Relationship Capital
Release Date: December 12, 2024
Host/Author: The Black Effect and iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction

In the episode titled "The Significance of Relationship Capital," renowned entrepreneur, executive, and philanthropist John Hope Bryant delves deep into the often-overlooked cornerstone of personal and professional success: relationship capital. Far from the conventional focus on investment capital or credit lines, Bryant emphasizes that the true foundation for building wealth, especially within the Black community, lies in cultivating meaningful, authentic relationships. Through a series of personal anecdotes and insightful discussions, Bryant illustrates how relationship capital not only facilitates financial growth but also fosters resilience and adaptability in the ever-evolving landscape of free enterprise.

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The Primacy of Relationship Capital

Bryant opens the episode with a provocative assertion that challenges conventional financial wisdom:

“Relationship capital is probably the most important capital.” [02:31]

He acknowledges the undeniable importance of investment capital, credit lines, and inheritances but posits that after securing basic necessities—such as shelter, food, and healthcare—"all other forms of poverty are mindset related." [02:31] For Bryant, money serves as a transactional medium, a means of exchanging value, whereas relationship capital embodies the intangible bonds and trust that underpin sustainable success.

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Personal Anecdotes: Building from the Ground Up

Early Ventures and Relationship Building

Bryant recounts his entrepreneurial beginnings, highlighting how relationships paved his way to success even without substantial financial resources:

“I grew up in the hood... I didn’t have inheritance, I didn’t have a trust fund... So my first relationship capital, I didn't realize it was with my teachers in school who did.” [04:15]

As a young student, Bryant leveraged his connections with teachers, administrators, and neighbors to sell Avon and Stacy Adams shoes through mail order. These early interactions were not mere transactions but the foundation of a network built on trust and mutual respect. By selling to people he knew, he solidified relationships that would prove invaluable in his later ventures.

Hollywood and Acting: Relationships Over Talent

Bryant’s stint in Hollywood serves as a testament to the power of relationship capital over raw talent:

“I became an actor not because I was talented... I became an actor because I knew these people.” [06:45]

Despite considering himself merely an "okay" actor, Bryant secured roles through the relationships he forged with classmates and industry professionals. His association with fellow actors like Tatum O'Neal and Griffin O'Neal exemplifies how being well-connected can open doors that talent alone might not.

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Transition to Business: From Relationships to Operations Hope

Building Bridges with Influential Figures

Transitioning from the entertainment industry to the business world, Bryant leveraged his relationship capital to establish and grow Operation Hope, his financial literacy nonprofit. His connections with influential individuals like Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles and financiers such as William Hanna and Harvey Baskin were pivotal.

“Relationship capital got me in the door and sometimes relationship capital got me the sale and sometimes relationship capital saved my rear end from embarrassment.” [16:03]

Bryant narrates how his relationship with Mayor Tom Bradley led to a delegation trip to South Korea, which broadened his international perspective and cemented his global network. Similarly, his rapport with William Hanna, the CEO of Cedars Bank, enabled him to secure crucial lines of credit for Operation Hope, even during challenging times like the government shutdown of 1994.

Overcoming Challenges Through Relationships

Bryant shares a poignant story about facing skepticism while initiating partnerships:

“He said, 'you're the only guy making any money over there. Why don't you just buy your own division? I'll help you.' And that's how I got in business.” [28:33]

Despite initial setbacks, including financial missteps and failed ventures, Bryant’s unwavering commitment to maintaining and nurturing relationships allowed him to rebound and scale his business operations successfully.

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Authenticity and Genuine Interest: The Cornerstones of Relationship Capital

Beyond Superficial Networking

Bryant makes a clear distinction between superficial networking and genuine relationship building:

“Relationship capital is the bridge to grace and mercy.” [16:03]

He criticizes the conventional notion of networking as transactional and often insincere, asserting that “only broke people network” and labeling traditional networking events as generally unproductive. Instead, he advocates for "giving business"—a philosophy centered on mutual support, genuine interest, and authentic connections.

Building Authentic Connections

Bryant emphasizes the importance of showing genuine interest in others, fostering relationships based on authenticity rather than ulterior motives:

“I was always just genuinely fascinated and interested in other people... authentic.” [28:33]

By focusing on others' stories, aspirations, and personal lives, Bryant built a network rooted in trust and mutual respect. His strategies include asking personal questions, listening actively, and offering support without expecting immediate returns.

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Insights and Lessons Learned

The Power of Giving First

Bryant underscores that genuine relationships often stem from a place of giving rather than expecting:

“What's happening in these relationships is not transactional, but transformational.” [16:03]

By offering help, support, and value without immediate expectations, individuals can cultivate deep, lasting connections that prove invaluable over time. This approach contrasts sharply with the transactional nature of traditional networking, where exchanges are often driven by what one can gain.

Reputation and Keeping One’s Word

A recurring theme in Bryant’s narrative is the significance of reputation and the commitment to keeping one’s promises:

“I made my highest priority keeping my word... My reputation was riding on that.” [33:09]

Whether it was repaying a loan to William Hanna or honoring commitments to business associates, Bryant’s unwavering integrity solidified his reputation, making others more willing to invest their trust and resources in him.

Leveraging Relationship Capital for Financial Growth

Bryant illustrates how relationship capital directly contributes to financial success:

“I built the relationship with Jim Butler... One of their attorneys was the pro bono free a law counsel for Operation Hope for at least 25 years.” [33:09]

These enduring relationships not only provided immediate support but also facilitated long-term growth and sustainability for his ventures. By fostering a network of reliable and supportive contacts, Bryant was able to navigate financial challenges and seize growth opportunities effectively.

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Success Through Relationship Capital

Operation Hope: A Case Study

Operation Hope stands as a compelling case study of how relationship capital can drive organizational success. From securing initial funding to expanding into international markets, the nonprofit's growth trajectory was significantly influenced by the strong relationships Bryant cultivated.

“I've transferred, transmitted, communicated, placed more than $4 billion worth of capital just through Operation Hope.” [33:09]

These figures highlight the monumental impact that relationship capital can have, enabling organizations to amplify their mission and reach broader audiences.

Scaling with Integrity and Trust

Bryant’s approach to scaling his businesses and nonprofit is deeply intertwined with the trust and integrity he maintained within his network. By prioritizing relationships over immediate financial gain, Bryant ensured that his growth was sustainable and ethically grounded.

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Conclusion: Embracing Relationship Capital for Lasting Success

John Hope Bryant’s episode on "The Significance of Relationship Capital" serves as a masterclass in redefining success beyond traditional financial metrics. By prioritizing authentic relationships, maintaining unwavering integrity, and focusing on giving rather than taking, individuals and organizations can build a robust foundation for sustained wealth and prosperity.

Bryant leaves listeners with a powerful takeaway:

“If you want to have a little grace in your life, you better show a little mercy. Grace is when you get what you don't deserve. And mercy is when some rancid SOB does not get the rear end you so rightly deserve.” [16:03]

This philosophy underscores the transformative power of relationship capital—not just as a means to financial ends, but as a pathway to personal and communal upliftment. For those seeking to thrive in a free enterprise system, Bryant’s insights offer a blueprint for success rooted in human connection and mutual support.

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Key Quotes with Timestamps

• On Relationship Capital’s Importance:
  “Relationship capital is probably the most important capital.” [02:31]

• On First Relationships as Capital:
  “So my first relationship capital, I didn't realize it was with my teachers in school who did.” [04:15]

• On Acting Through Relationships:
  “I became an actor not because I was talented... I became an actor because I knew these people.” [06:45]

• On Relationship Capital Saving Him:
  “Relationship capital got me in the door and sometimes relationship capital got me the sale and sometimes relationship capital saved my rear end from embarrassment.” [16:03]

• On Authentic Interest:
  “I was always just genuinely fascinated and interested in other people... authentic.” [28:33]

• On Reputation:
  “I made my highest priority keeping my word... My reputation was riding on that.” [33:09]

• On Grace and Mercy:
  “If you want to have a little grace in your life, you better show a little mercy...” [16:03]

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Final Thoughts

John Hope Bryant’s emphasis on relationship capital offers a refreshing perspective in the discourse on wealth and success. By shifting the focus from purely financial strategies to the cultivation of meaningful human connections, Bryant provides a holistic approach to building and sustaining wealth. His personal stories exemplify how authenticity, trust, and mutual support can create a ripple effect, leading to substantial personal and professional achievements. For listeners seeking to navigate the complexities of financial success, embracing the principles of relationship capital as outlined in this episode could be the key to unlocking their full potential.

Transcript

[John Hope Bryant]

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[John Hope Bryant]

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[John Hope Bryant]

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[John Hope Bryant]

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[John Hope Bryant]

Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant, a production of the Black Effect podcast network and iHeartRadio. Hey, hey, hey. This is John Hope Bryant and this is the Money and Wealth podcast series. This one will be hard for people to accept. Relationship capital is probably the most important capital. People are like, no, no, no, no, no, John, we need investment capital. We need, you know, equity in our businesses or our lives. We need a line of credit, we need credit cards, we need inheritance. All this stuff is important. I'm not discounting it. But after sustenance, poverty, which is a roof over your head, food on the table, reasonable healthcare, all other forms of poverty are mindset related. Think about that for a minute. I covered in detail in my book up from Nothing and I talk about the five pillars of success and none of them are about purely money. Actually, none of them are about money. Actually, the money will come. The money is important, but the money is about communicating a means of value, right? It's transactional, it's trading. Let me not talk about what it's not about. Let me talk about what it is about. Relationship capital is literally everything and changed my life. I grew up in the hood, right? The hood d a hyphen, hod. And I didn't have inheritance, I didn't have a trust fund. I didn't have anybody hooking me up. So my first relationship capital, I didn't realize it was with my teachers in school who did? I mean, what did I do in school? Yes, I went to school. I was an okay student, but I sold mail order everything to anybody who'd buy it. Teachers, you know, administrators, the principal. But these weren't random people. These were people I knew. These are people who I built, hello, a relationship with. There was some connective tissue, there was some energy. They even maybe believed in me. And yeah, maybe there's a little bit of guilt while they made the first purchase. But after a while they're like, you know, this kid's got onto something and these are good products. And I saw Avon. I saw, yes, Avon. I so omni jewelry later on in my life, out of business. These are multilevel marketing companies. I don't do it anymore, but I did it back then. It was a great way to get started in business with no capital. But, you know, multilevel marketing, by the way, completely separate thing. I'll do a video on it. I mean, I do a podcast on it, actually. Not a long term play for you. I sold Stacy Adams shoes through mail order. It was a form in my briefcase with some visuals and remember layaway? Remember Sears layaway? Some of you, some of you remember that. And I would go and sell. I mean, I guess I'm decent at storytelling now because I had, I didn't have any real assets other than what was on my ass, my rear end, sorry. And I didn't have any physical inventory and I didn't have. Well, I had me and I had these slicks, these marketing slicks. And then I had the rapport with whoever I was talking to. So 90% of my sales came from people I knew. Yes. It started with my family, then it went to my friends, and it was my teachers at school, et cetera. That was the beginning of relationship capital. I didn't know what it was back then. Then I built a relationship with the banker in my classroom. And then I built a relationship with, yes, friends in the neighborhood. Of course, I built a relationship with the owner of Mac's liquor store. That's where my first business came from, the neighborhood candy house. Inspired by him discounting me as a young man talking to a man with a college degree, I'm like, yeah, but I've got cavities, man. I'm 9, almost 10 years old. I'm telling you, selling the wrong kind of candy, you wouldn't listen to me. I put them out of business, out of the candy. Business Relationship capital is how I first got my first acting gigs. I was an actor, wasn't a very good one. My father, Johnny Smith. I wanted to go to business school when I was a young man. And I said to my dad, who was making decent money, we didn't realize until later he was financially illiterate and technically broke. But we had a nice cash flow lifestyle. And so in the present moment, everything seemed fine. We didn't realize it was a house of cards at that time. And I told him I wanted to go to not just private school, I wanted to go to a business school. I was in my early teens. I wanted to go live with him and I wanted to go to business school when to move from my mother's house to his house. And so he didn't want to tell me that he didn't know how to get me in business school. So he told me, find the school and I'll get you in it, okay? I like a good challenge. So I went to what was the yellow pages. Now you call it the Internet search. Google search, whatever. I went to the Yellow Pages opening up, went to private schools, found the biggest ad in the Yellow Pages. Hollywood Professional School. That looked like a business school. Hollywood Professional School. Oh, that looks like a business environment. And I called up and spoke to the head mistress, head, you know, lady in charge. Person in charge. That Mrs. Mann is her name and what's her name. She's still passed since passed on the glory. She was 90 at the time. I was talking to her and hey, I'd like to, you know, hello. Not hey, blah, blah, blah. My dad wants me to get information. I got. I wrote down how much it was. She told me it was 8:45 in the morning to 12:45 in the morning and you're out of school. I'm like, whoa, whoa. I said to myself, what kind of school is this? I mean, I get to go to business school and I'm out half the day. Cool. It was in Hollywood and we lived in South Central LA. So my dad took me up there and Mrs. Mann just kept staring at me, just kept staring at me. I couldn't figure out why she was staring at me like she'd never seen a black person before. I stared back and she never mentioned why she stared at me or whatever. Later on when that we all. My dad wouldn't know how much it was and he could afford it. So he signed me up and I went down the hall of the school on my first day. And here's Todd Bridges walking down the hall. I think it was Todd Bridges, Jared Johnson from another TV series. It was called the Lost Saucer. Here's Tatum O'Neal. I definitely remember Tatum O'Neal and Griffin O'Neal, very famous actors, sons of and daughters of Ryan O'Neill at that point, who's a very big actor. All these stars from the small screen and some on the big screen at my school. What the heck's going on here? It was a school for acting professionals. Hello. And I just got it wrong, got the memo wrong. And they went from 8:45 to 12:45, because typically your mentored in entertainment on the set and you don't have a normal life and you don't know how to work with people and you don't have social skills and all that stuff. Well, I, I didn't have a set to go to after I got off. So after you went to school from 8:45 to 12:45, you then had at lunch went to your movie set, which was coordinated and you went and filmed your shows. I didn't have A set to go to. So, I mean, I, I just, I bounced and went home, right, and. Or hung out. I remember Tatum O'Neal gave me a ride home one day and didn't realize where I lived. And she, as we went from Hollywood Boulevard to Sunset Boulevard to Melrose to, you know, Venice and, you know, 18th street to 20th street, she got down to 35th street and dropped me off. I never knew a BMW had a turning radius like that in my entire life. Homegirl hit a U turn and burned rubber and got the heck out of there. But a very sweet lady. It was very nice of her to do it. Her and her troubled brother, Griffin O'Neill became. We became friendly. And this leads to my point about relationship capital. I became an actor not because I was talented, because I really, well, wasn't. I became an actor because I knew these people, got to know these people, and they would say, don't you want to come on our show? Sure. Or a casting director would show up to the school. And we were all pre qualified, if you will, because we were in this school, at least in their mind, we're pre qualified. So we had a relationship in this example through Mrs. Mann and the administrators at Hollywood Professional School and their preschooling process. So I got my first acting jobs, not because I was talented, had a great resume, but because of the right place, right time with the right people vouching for me. And then I turned out to be an okay actor, not a great one, and I had a, you know, decent but underwhelming career.

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[John Hope Bryant]

So I had a relationship with entertainment in Hollywood, which went on to help me later on in my life, where I learned, you know, to communicate and to compel and to storytell, probably. I'm sure that's where I picked up some of it. And ultimately I decided that, or maybe the industry decided for me that's. That didn't get any meaningful work after a while, that this was just not for me. And I didn't want to be an also ran. I didn't want to be one of the guys who was just an okay actor. I wanted to be excellent at what I did. Dr. King once said, if you're going to be a trash collector, be the best trash collector the world's ever seen. So I want to go find my, you know, my destiny, which I knew was in business, which is the reason I went to the school in the first place. So fast forward now. I have befriended Will Marshall and Bill Raphael at the mayor's office in Los Angeles. And Mayor Tom Bradley. He's pre Internet, so you wouldn't know that he was the first black mayor who was mayor of the city for 20 years. The city of Los Angeles. And he was international. He was common knowledge in Asia, specifically places like Korea. Just an incredible guy. Mayor Tom Bradley of the city of Los Angeles and through Bill Raphael and Will Marshall, who vouched for me in my. In my entrepreneurial zeal. I got to meet mayor Tom Bradley. And then Mayor Tom Bradley invited me on a delegation trip to Korea, South Korea. I didn't have the money, but I hustled and I, you know, found the money. So the money you're spending on vacations or buying a stereo or, you know, buying the newest iPhone or that couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars that could be redeployed. The bank of you to invest in your dream. Well, I deployed money I would use to floss and hang out. I deployed that for things like a trip to. Well, it was a government trip, but you had to reimburse the government for its cost. And I remember one of the mayor's assistants, which was like the unofficial mayor for Los Angeles. I mean, he was like. He used to say to Will Marshall, who is this little nappy head kid? I had a little computer with me. I mean, all back in the day, I used to have a computer from Radio Shack. Like, you could even see the diodes and all the little moving parts. I mean, I mess around with technology my whole life. I used to have computer. I used to have a Casio computer. And I had a portable computer. Hello, portable computer that was £50. I used to travel with a. A computer box, a leather box that had. And it was a little coach seat, right? And the front would come down as a keyboard and it was a screen and the back would flip out. And it was a printer. Yes, full printer, full computer, full keyboard. And can you imagine people sitting next to me and around me like, what's going on with this dude here? And. But I was always. I was a. I was really. I was about my. I was about my grind. It's about my business. So Bill Rafael was like, sorry, the assistant to the mayor was like, who is this little nappy head kid? Kid? Why is he here? And Will Marshall was like, well, the mayor likes him, but really, Will Marshall and Bill Raphael like me and a couple other people there in the Mayor's Office of Small Business Assistance. And then in time, the mayor did learn to like me and so everybody else had to tolerate me. And that introduced me to international. And I got that bug. And I've now been to 100 countries and I built a relationship with Mayor Tom Bradley. And later on, I went on to help the city of Los Angeles. Before I founded Operation Hope create a city lending agency, I innovated a private public partnership with the city of Los Angeles and the private sector thrift and loan banks in the city of la. But I was told I was too young to run it, so they gave. They let this other guy run it, who resented me, by the way, and didn't want to acknowledge that I was actually the founder of this idea. But I knew that I had done it and Tom Bradley knew that I had done it. And he was appreciative that I wasn't being a bully or not a bully. I wasn't being pushy in trying to make sure I got credit for it. I just was happy that the city was doing it. So that built more rapport with me and the mayor. And other than the fact that I was repeatedly late for meetings, I remember one meeting with the mayor, Please don't Do this. Please do not do this. If you're black, you're born on probation in America, you're like twice as smart, twice as intelligent, twice as well dressed, get up twice as early, step twice as late. Please don't do what I just what I'm about to tell you, for some reason I'm sitting in my office in West Los Angeles at the Irvine building at Sepulveda in Santa Monica, the southwest corner, not next to the 405 Freeway. Sitting in my marble office building for what was in Bryant Group Companies and looking out south through my floor to ceiling glass windows, feeling self important. And I had a meeting with Mayor Tom Bradley. I was a young kid, you know, 21 years old or something. I had done a measured buyout, bought this company that I had previously worked for and I'm sitting in my own office, I'll tell you that story later. And I had a meeting with the mayor. But the problem was this was one meeting and it was 1245. Why in the world I was still sitting at my desk at 12:45 when I had all day to finish what I was doing, which was not really all that important and get my little behind in my car. You know, we all know traffic in LA is ridiculous. Of course I was forget late. I was disastrously late and the mayor still was graciously saw me. Will Marshall and Bill Rafael wanted to wring my neck but they gave me, they gave me a pass. They knew I meant well, but that was a lesson. And of course I still remember to this day. I'm just telling you this story and that has to be now. I mean that's 30 plus years ago and I'm still embarrassed. But relationship capital got me in the door and sometimes relationship capital got me the sale and sometimes relationship capital saved my rear end from embarrassment. Let me put it another way. If you want to have a little grace in your life, you better show a little mercy. Grace is when you get what you don't deserve. And mercy is when some rancid SOB does not get the rear end are telling off that he so rightly or she so rightly deserves. Again, mercy is when somebody who has offended you in the worst way does not get the cursing out or whatever that they so rightly deserve. But grace is where you and I get the blessings and the gifts that we don't deserve. If you want to have a little grace, learn to show a little mercy. Relationship capital is the bridge to that. You know, people obsess about networking. It's a waste of time Only broke people network. I hate to tell you, but, you know, you go into a meeting and you can't get. You can't get your business card out because it runs into the person aside on the other side trying to give you their business card. And then you go home and you put all those business cards in the desk and you never look at them again. And you certainly don't follow up. So what were you there? You were there for the free food for happy hour. I don't know why you were there, but you'll never see whoever. Pick somebody you admire. You know, Oprah Winfrey or Robert Smith or Bill Gates or Strive Masayi was the six richest man in Africa. Or, you know, whoever your heroes or she rose are, you won't see them at a networking recession. Right? That's a taking business. You want to build relationship capital. That's a giving business. So who are my relationships? I'm gonna go through this pretty quickly. You know, I don't, I don't want to bore you or myself. And you're smart enough to get the gist here. Dave O'Meara was a guy who owned Malibu Cinemas. I don't know. I met Dave. I think he just went into his theater one day and struck up a conversation. He owned Malibu Cinemas back then. And we got to know each other, went to go visit him at the theater. I never asked him for a thing. At some point he started asking me about my dreams. And then, you know, I didn't have a car, so he sold me a car, a little Triumph, I believe it was, convertible British job. And I had some dreams and he invested a few dollars in my dreams. And one of the dreams was a mobile detailing business that didn't work. Another one of my dreams was a concert promotion company that didn't work. I was a manager for one of the lead singer of the Platters, J.C. parrish. That certainly didn't work. I ended up signing for. When I, When I started signing for. At power of attorney, started signing for his dental work, the dental office, I knew something was wrong. And I mean, I got. I got cleaned out. He meant well, he's a good guy, but I got cleaned out and, and I would. I hold a concert at Rialto Performing Arts Center. I was the first client of the Rialto Performing Arts Center. You can look it up now. It's been there for 20 years plus. But I was the first client ever to rent the place. And I had an actor come out in a limousine as a VIP guest. And I Had flyers all over the city of Rialto and I had JC Parish of the Platter singing. And the real concert promoters in the area went and tore all my flyers down as I put them up. Gangster, gangster stuff. And it was like literally one person in the audience and that was my mother. And that was, I think, one of two times I got a loan from my mother. She, she loaned me $5 to just as encouragement. I was completely devastated. But everybody gave me a pass because they knew I meant well. Again, relationship capital, even the people who sponsored me who allowed me to rent this performing arts center, didn't hold me accountable for the whole contract. It would have bankrupted me. So fast forward now. Again, I didn't pay David Mayer back. Okay? So David Mayor said, look, in order to pay me back, you need a job. Like, you know, you're not really good at this entrepreneurship thing at the moment. You need a job. Let me introduce you to Steve, Stephan Cotter Miller. Steve Miller who owned Wade Carter and Company. And I went and met Steve Miller. He offered me a job because of Dave O'Meara. I had nothing about lending a brokerage or whatever. And they sent me to South Central to basically to lend a little old ladies. They weren't racist. This is where I found the first definition of non conscious discrimination. They weren't racist. They just wanted a high return on their money. Above average return, their money for their private investors. And they found the people in South Central who had a lot of equity in their houses, would take a loan for the equity to get the cash and wouldn't mind high interest rates and high points because they were financially illiterate. Well, once I figured out what I was doing, like, I can't do this. It's immoral. It's not, you know, you don't mean to be racist, but this is, this is unethical and I can't do it. So once I figured out what I was doing, and I'll do another podcast just on this business model, but the fast forward, I end up convincing Dave O'Meara, sorry, Steve Miller, I would give him his salary back. I couldn't take Dave O'Meara that. Cause I said I was gonna pay his money back. I was giving him a salary back and his car allowance back and his food stipend, I'd work for free if he made me a partner in the company in a new division that I would lead. And to humor me, Steve Miller said, sure. He was a capitalist. He's like, sure, I get a free employee. I Don't need to pay. And he left. And within, I think, you know, I failed the real estate, California real estate test three times. You can only pass it, fail at four times. If they think you're too stupid and won't let you fail, won't want to let you take it again. I passed the fourth time. First year, did zero in business. Second year, I did 9 million 30 or 15 million. Fourth year, 24 million. I did a measured buyout and bought my employer. And I'll get into that in another podcast. I'm 20, you know, early 20 something at this point. And Dave O'Meara was proud of me and Steve Miller was shocked. And how did I get that deal done, by the way? I opened the Yellow Pages again, found the biggest ad for a law firm in Century City. It was Jeffer, Mangoes, Butler and Marmaro. And I couldn't say Jeffer and I couldn't say Mangoes without mangling it, and I couldn't say Marmaro. So I called and asked for Jim Butler, partner. He answered the phone and I told him what I was calling about. I was going to do a management buyout. He says, you can't do that. You can't tell me what I can do. I'm not, you know, that's racist. He says, slow down. He said, I'm telling you, I know Eve Miller and you don't want to buy that business. Let me make a phone call. So he hung up, called me back and said, look, you're the only guy making any money over there. Why don't you just buy your own division? I'll help you. And that's how I got in business. Initially in that business again, I built a quick relationship with Jim Butler. I still have a relationship with that firm to this day, 35 years later. They're One of their attorneys was the pro bono free a law counsel for Operation Hope for at least 25 years and a great relationship.

[Unknown Speaker]

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[John Hope Bryant]

Okay, let's get into the real deep waters now. So now I build Operation Hope and the government shuts down. And my banker was in a bank called, I think it was called Cedars bank has changed names several times, but William Hanna was the CEO. Don't call him Bill. His name was William. And I had a relationship with William Hanna and I convinced him to give us a $25,000 line of credit for Operation Hope. Now, Operation Hope had, you know, no budget like $100,000. I mean, we had no, we were just starting out and the government shut down maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars. I think the government shutdown was 94, I believe. And, but certainly we couldn't. We couldn't justify us. Line of credit. He gave me his line of credit. We ran through it pretty quickly. We had a government grant, but the government had shut down. So I went to William Hanna and said, look, all I've got is my word. All I got is my name. You've known me a little bit here. I won't let you down. He, unbeknownst to me, he went to his chief financial officer, a woman, and again, luckily for her, I can't remember her name at the moment. And she told him, he told me later that you, William, you'll never get your money back. Do not make this loan. I wanted $100,000 line of credit. And William overrode, his chief financial officer at the bank. He, under his own authority and I guess if I defaulted, he'd been liable for it. He gave me that loan, that extension, and I said, I'll pay you back. And I, not only did I pay him back, I paid him back early because I knew that my reputation was riding on that. So I went and hustled, hustled, worked hard and I made my highest priority keeping my word to William Hanna. And that then turned me keeping the word about a $25,000 line of credit, which turned into $100,000 line of credit, which turned into a, to me paying the whole thing down to zero, then turned into a million dollar line of credit. Hello. And then it then turned ultimately into them leading a consortium of banks for a multimillion dollar line of credit. At that point, the largest line of credit to a, an unsecured line of credit to a nonprofit organization in California at that time, community based nonpr organization. And that was William Hannah and that certainly was relationship capital. And I love William and appreciate him to this day. I worked for Harvey Baskin. Again, I'm just giving you the crib notes on this. Harvey Baskin would be a billionaire today, by today's standards, worth a couple hundred million dollars. He was in the financial business. I met him because I wanted to. I was aspirational and I was, you know, I'm not sure which era of my life this was, but I was, I was, I mean I was leaving, I was living, I think in South Central la and I did not have a dependable car. So I was catching the bus. Rapid Transit district we call rough, tough and dirty. And I, and I got a job initially at Gladstones for Fish. Again, I didn't have any capital, so I needed to lean on somebody else's capital and credibility. So I needed some credibility and I didn't have it. So I rode the bus, got a job at Glass for Fish as a bus, bus boy. Worst shift, seven in the morning, breakfast shift. And I had to catch the bus to get there. I had to get up and get going at 5 in the morning. And after a few weeks I'm like, oh no, this is not my crowd. Lawyers, it was doctors, it was, you know, all good people. But they were the folks serving the people that I'm trying to access. I'm trying to get to the folks that they are clients to. They were vendors to wealthy people. I didn't want to be a vendor. I didn't even a high end vendor at A couple hundred dollars an hour as a lawyer or whatever. I wanted to be the dude, right? So I quit. And then I went and drove further up the coast to Malibu to glad to. Joffrey's restaurant just been opened. Joffrey Etienne. Beautiful man. Great human being since passed on the glory. Harvey Baskin was his lover and was his financier. And Harvey, this is the first time I'd ever seen this. Harvey just got. Gave him the restaurant as a toy. Like, this is a gift. He was just like, oh, here's a restaurant for you. You want to be in a restaurant business Here. It's called Joffrey's Malibu. It's still there. And I got to know Joffrey. They gave me a Monday evening shift as a busboy, then a waiter. Translation, I was a really crappy busboy and a waiter, because a Monday shift is horrible. You put your worst performance there. I didn't care. I worked, got to know Joffrey. But Joffrey wasn't the financier. He was just a face. I got to know him. I had to get to know Harvey. So I got to know Harvey a little bit. And Harvey had two black Caribbean assistants, okay? What? Harvey's got a little soul in him. He's got. He's got a little flavor. He's got these two brothers who are his assistants. So I got to know them too. And enough people vouched for me, and I got to know Harvey. And then he's like, well, you want to come work for me? Yes. So I took a pay cut, if you can believe that, from being a waiter, because I got tips to go become effectively a $20,000 a year, a personal assistant to a guy worth $200 million. Now they'll start talking about fairness and, oh, you know, I'm not being paid enough. No, hold on to the story. Now. I got to work in this beautiful mansion on the beach. I saw ocean crashing in every day. I saw this guy walk around in a Jesus robe. I call it a robe. I'm sure he didn't have any underwear on. That just was Harvey. Long beard, some sandals, and he did as he liked. But I saw him cutting deals and on the phone doing his thing, and I'm like, okay, this is the way to roll, right? And I worked there for a little bit, and then I had somebody questions for Harvey. I'm like, can I take you to dinner? Sure. So he told me what restaurant he liked. I put him in my broke down. I think it was Audi back then. He had broken his foot. So he needed like driving me, Daisy Miss Daisy had to sit in the back seat with the front passenger seat pushed forward, you know, front seat pushed down. His leg was up. He was in the back. I'm in the front again. Looked like Driving Miss Daisy. I didn't care. And so I drove him from Malibu down to Venice, the restaurant that he loved. And the bill comes. I'd ask him all kind of questions. Bill comes and he passes the bill to me. It's a hundred bucks. I mean, 100 bucks back then, making 20 grand a year, take home pay, I don't know, $15,000 after taxes or something. And he's, he's got worth $200 million, right? He's giving the guy a restaurant hello. And he passes this hundred dollar bill to me. I'm like, no, no, no. I pass $100 bill to him. This is the bill for the dinner. He passes the bill back to me. I slid the bill back to him. He slid the bill back to me. He said, say, hey, hey, Johns, slow down now. Everybody listen now. He said, john, you got to figure out what business you're in. Do you want to pick my brain or pick my pocket? One lasts longer. Whoo, man. Because I asked, he said, you've gotten, you know, tens of thousand dollars worth of free consulting. If you've asked me every question on the sun here and I've been charging you for that, but you don't want to pay the bill. I mean, nothing in life's free. So I pulled that $100 bill back, and as much as it hurt me, I took everything I had and I paid the bill for this multimillionaire. You may not think that that's not fair, but life's not fair. You know, capitalism is a gladiator sport, right? Period. It's not fair and it's not emotional. And I learned not to take stuff like that personal. In fact, he was teaching me, he was helping me. Like, did I want something for free or did I want to, did I want to lean in, right? Do I want to invest and co invest? And he was trying to figure out what kind of character I had. So anyway, Harvey went on to endorse me, introduce me, help me out when I needed it, countless times after that. And again, he's pre Internet, so you don't see a lot of information on Harvey Baskin. But, you know, I suited him in this podcast because he changed my life and there's been so many heroes. And she Rose Ambassador Andrew Young I chased for 10 years Quincy Jones. I chased Quincy Jones. I talked about that in, in one of my other podcasts. I think about being homeless. Bill Rogers of what's now Truist bank used to be SunTrust, a mentor. Jim Wales before him, the CEO before him, Brian Jordan, the first Horizon Bank. People like Charlie Scharf at Wells Fargo, Doug McMillan at Walmart. The guy who made the biggest bet on me, I didn't know it was Mayor Getty who runs 350 billion dollar ARIES management today. CEO and Tony Ressler his the chairman of Aries Co invested in my real estate company which I then built with a $40 million investment. No business plan, no PowerPoint presentation, nothing but my credibility and my word. And I built that company from zero to $200 million in asset value, just under that $170 million in asset value. And I sold that company in December, Christmas Eve 2021 they say, clipped a coupon on Wall street and paid off $89 million worth of debt and equity, including my investors with interest that I promised him. And I still am proud of that to this day. No favors. And I've done $4 billion plus worth of deals. Did you hear that? I've transferred, transmitted, communicated, placed more than $4 billion worth of capital just through Operation Hope. Another few hundred million dollars through my private companies. And I'm up from nothing, right? Nobody gave me a thing. I didn't have a trust fund or a hookup or nothing. I did it all myself, up from nothing and I did it through what I'm talking to you about. And we can go on and on and on with this. There's so many people who's had an impact in my life. Steve Ryan, my counsel, lawyer, one of the lawyers at Operation Hope, I met him and he believed in me. And he's sitting in a government meeting one day and somebody, some company had a fine and they had to figure out where to send $5 million. And he just said, well you should send it to Operation. Oh, I got the $5 million through my nonprofit because he believed in me and I had a relationship with him. I can, I could do this all day and all night. And I might in the description list a number of these names. Dr. Dorothy Height, you know, wasn't just men, women too. Dr. Dorothy Height was a men, a mentor. It was civil rights, it was social justice, it was entertainment, it was business, it was banking, it was finance. All quarters of my life, relationship capital, right, that I honored and treated. And I go in a room. The first question I'd Ask is, you know, I look at the pictures behind their desk. Tell me about your children. Tell me about. People love talking about themselves. Most people want to talk about themselves, not asking the other person about, tell me about yourself. And I was always just genuinely fascinated and interested in other people. And it was authentic. Like, wasn't a game. And I never would ask for anything. And at some point, and it, yes, it took longer than you might like, but at some point in all these relationships, people say, look, what can we do together? I like you. Like, I had this conversation with this one billionaire, and I brought him a business deal, and he cursed me out. He's like, man, stop bringing me business deals. Like, I don't need to make any more money because I pay more taxes on income than I do on capital gains. It's a whole nother video for another time, another podcast, another time. Which is why this whole ridiculous political conversation about taxing billionaires is so crazy, because they don't, oh, you know, the secretary pays more taxes than a billionaire because the billionaire doesn't make any. Any active income. Billionaires make passive income. Okay, It's a whole nother thing, but it's. It's just. Look. Look up the word passive income. Look up, you know, capital gains. The tax on capital gains is 20%, and the tax on. On regular income is, you know, 35, 38. Yet this local tax could be as much as 45 to 50%. So anyway, he said, I'm good. I don't need to make any more money. The pain in the rear end, I got to pay a bunch of taxes on it. I'm good. I paid my debt. I'll do this because I like you. That's it. That's why I'll do this deal. So if people don't like you, don't respect you, don't admire you, they're not doing anything with you. They don't have to. Nobody owes you a thing except a hello and a goodbye. So I'm saying now, goodbye. I love you much. Go to Operation Hope. Sign up and get the silver rights you so rightly deserve. I believe in you. Money and wealth with John O'Brien is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Sa.

[Unknown Speaker]

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A it's the ultimate high stakes game. Biggest investment, biggest risk. But when you nail it, total game changer for your business. I'm Kan Patel, host of the MA Science Podcast where we cut through the noise and dive deep into what really makes M and A work. We're talking real conversations with top practitioners. No fluff, just hard hitting insights you can actually use. Stay ahead of the curve and learn what it really takes to close deals. Catch M and A Science on your favorite podcast app. Here's to the deal.