Live Coaching with Morgan: Why Grant Needs To Hire NOW!

Summary

The Journey with Morgan DeBaun: Episode Summary - "Live Coaching with Morgan: Why Grant Needs To Hire NOW!"

Release Date: April 8, 2025

---

Introduction

In this episode of The Journey with Morgan DeBaun, host Morgan engages in a live coaching session with Grant, a dedicated career employee at Google and the founder of a thriving nonprofit based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The conversation navigates Grant's crossroads between maintaining his stable day job and expanding his entrepreneurial ventures, particularly focusing on the strategic decision to make his first hire to scale his nonprofit effectively.

---

Grant's Background and Current Situation

Grant introduces himself as a passionate individual juggling a demanding role at Google alongside his nonprofit endeavors. His nonprofit focuses on community upliftment in his hometown, Fayetteville, where he collaborates with notable figures like Vic Blends and Dennis Smith Jr.

• Morgan (00:00): "Today's episode... we're going to talk to Grant... he's at an interesting crossroads..."

Grant elaborates on his motivations, stemming from personal experiences and the desire to give back to his community, inspired by his interactions with J. Cole and his academic background.

• Grant (04:05): "When I decided to go [to Morehouse], playing baseball and doing research gave me the foundation... I want to get back in my community."

---

Decision to Keep Day Job and Entrepreneurial Aspirations

Morgan highlights Grant's stable position at Google as a significant factor in his decision-making process. Grant acknowledges the support from his VP, Melanie, which provides him the flexibility to manage his nonprofit alongside his day job.

• Grant (08:07): "I have a wonderful VP and Melanie... I don't think I'll ever get that umbrella or that blanket with anyone or anywhere else at the company that I work at."

Morgan advocates for maintaining his day job while growing his nonprofit, emphasizing the societal pressure to choose one path over the other.

• Morgan (09:29): "There's no rules... That's why the name of my book is Rewrite Your Rules."

---

Challenges in Scaling the Nonprofit

Grant discusses the operational challenges of managing his nonprofit without a dedicated staff, relying instead on friends and family. This approach, while initially effective, has led to inefficiencies and a lack of strategic focus as the nonprofit grows.

• Grant (16:20): "What does your team look like to support this other work that you're doing."

Morgan identifies the need for professional assistance to handle administrative tasks, suggesting hiring a virtual assistant or an agency to streamline operations.

• Morgan (17:19): "I actually think it would benefit you quite a bit having some sort of administrative assistant..."

---

Strategies for Time Management and Systems

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around Grant's time management issues. Despite his structured background from athletics and military-influenced family members, Grant struggles with maintaining focus and organizing his schedule effectively.

• Grant (13:29): "I need to be a little bit more systematic... find the systems that work for me."

Morgan introduces the concept of sprint-based time management, encouraging Grant to adopt short, intense work periods followed by rest phases to enhance productivity without burnout.

• Morgan (26:12): "How can I just spend 30 days to get to the next level and then just coast."

---

Content Creation and Outreach

Grant expresses his hesitation towards content creation, feeling the pressure of perfectionism despite having valuable insights and content that could benefit his followers. Morgan advises leveraging existing resources and adopting a structured approach to content production.

• Grant (28:33): "The perfectionist in me is like, yo, my content has to look like this."

Morgan recommends batch content creation and utilizing the enthusiasm of his nonprofit's youth to generate authentic content without overextending himself.

• Morgan (35:25): "Now you're preventing somebody not having their dream job and you should view that as an act of service."

---

Hiring and Team Building

The core of the episode centers on the imperative for Grant to hire key personnel to alleviate his workload and drive his nonprofit towards greater impact. Morgan stresses the importance of hiring both administrative support and revenue-focused roles like a grant writer to ensure sustainable growth.

• Morgan (46:53): "You have a lot of resources... but you need to signal a different signal that you're trying to go somewhere else."

• Grant (47:08): "It's time to do it."

---

Future Goals and Legacy

Grant outlines his vision for the future, which includes expanding his nonprofit, investing in real estate to foster economic development in Fayetteville, and building a legacy that balances professional success with personal fulfillment.

• Grant (50:27): "My family's healthy and happy. I have the time to do whatever I want to do."

• Morgan (56:48): "Real wealth is time and freedom. Work is optional."

---

Conclusions and Key Takeaways

Throughout the episode, Morgan provides actionable advice tailored to Grant's unique situation, emphasizing the importance of strategic hiring, effective time management, and leveraging existing resources. The conversation culminates in a clear roadmap for Grant to transition more confidently into his entrepreneurial role while maintaining the stability his day job offers.

• Morgan (58:58): "You are the prize. And really, you gotta be like, how am I operationalizing my biggest asset, which is me."

• Grant (47:45): "I'm the issue. I'm playing myself."

---

Notable Quotes

• Morgan (09:29): "You're team, keep your job."
• Grant (08:07): "I have a wonderful VP and Melanie... I don't think I'll ever get that umbrella..."
• Morgan (26:12): "How can I just spend 30 days to get to the next level and then just coast."
• Grant (47:08): "It's time to do it."
• Morgan (56:48): "Real wealth is time and freedom. Work is optional."

---

Final Thoughts

This episode serves as a motivational blueprint for entrepreneurs like Grant, navigating the balance between professional stability and entrepreneurial ambition. Morgan's coaching underscores the necessity of structured growth, strategic delegation, and personal investment in one's entrepreneurial journey. Listeners gain valuable insights into overcoming common challenges faced by purpose-driven achievers striving to scale their impact without sacrificing personal well-being.

---

For more empowering conversations and personal growth insights, tune into The Journey with Morgan DeBaun weekly.

Transcript

[Morgan Debon]

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Journey podcast. Today I'm really excited. I have an incredible guest here. We're going to do some live advising. I'm going to talk to Grant. Grant is an incredible career employee at a big tech company, and he also has a really amazing non profit that he's been working on for many, many years that gives back in his hometown. Now Grant is at an interesting crossroads where he could go full time in his entrepreneurial life or. Or he could keep his day job. So we're gonna get into that in today's episode and we're also gonna talk about how do you think about making your first hire? What does that look like as an entrepreneur? How do you have the discretionary income to make that first hire? And when you do, who should you hire? Is it someone who saves you time, or is it someone to help you make money? So I can't wait for you guys to hear this conversation and make sure you buy my book Rewrite youe Rules. Hey, everyone. I'm Morgan debon, a passionate entrepreneur and life advisor. With the Journey podcast, you'll discover that success isn't about the destination. It's about the journey I'm sharing of amazing people who've taken control of their lives. Join me on my own journey to discover the secret sauce behind reaching success with permission from no one else. Okay, so, Grant, what made you decide to join the show today?

[Grant]

First off, thank you for having me.

[Morgan Debon]

I'm happy you're here.

[Grant]

I was on IG and there was a post, and I saw you talking about how black people love nonprofits. Child, I have a nonprofit.

[Morgan Debon]

You do?

[Grant]

I run a nonprofit. So when I'm watching the video, I was seeing how people was, like, taken aback or just felt some type of way when. I don't think there was anything that you said that was wrong. It's just, I think that there's a lot of people who don't know the different instances and different ways of elevating the community, you know what I'm saying? In terms of business structure, in terms of what a nonprofit really is versus what it really isn't. And when I saw that, I was like, okay, this is dope. Like, I want to say maybe a day or two after you put on the story, like, yo, if you want to sit down on a podcast and get mentorship or just, like, have a conversation, I'm like, and it's in Atlanta. I'm like, bro, that's 20 minutes from me. Like, yeah, like, I'm in the a. So let's do it. Yeah. Literally just applied and went through that process.

[Morgan Debon]

Out of a thousand people, you're here.

[Grant]

A thousand people.

[Morgan Debon]

No lie. Okay. So one of the reasons I picked you, Grant, is because you have a day job.

[Grant]

I do.

[Morgan Debon]

You work at Google, for sure. Which we love. Shout out to Google. And although you've never been to Afrotech. No Shade. It's okay. You'll come this year. I got you. I'll sponsor your ticket this year.

[Grant]

Oh, see, there we go.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay, done.

[Grant]

Oh, we lit.

[Morgan Debon]

So you have a day job.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

So you're very stable, but you're thinking about making a move?

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

Tell me more about it.

[Grant]

100%. So on top of my day job, on top of my nonprofit, because of the work of both of those things, I've been asked to step into more of, like, a consultation lane. Right. And looking at doing more consulting based on my first couple of clients, based on just some of the way things have been going, I'm seeing that this is a real lane for me. Right. I'm someone who's been exposed to a lot of different business ventures, a lot of different influencers, celebrities, athletes, the whole nine. And through social impact, I think there's a lane for me to kind of own what it looks like to help people build their social impact strategies on top of being able to help, you know, continue to serve the community that I love. So been thinking about looking at making a jump into entrepreneurship and truly, you know, starting to invest in myself and have ownership in that way. Especially just looking at the climate of how everything's going right now and just in tech, just the world in general. Right. But that was. That's something that's been heavy on my heart. And between that and, like, my nonprofit, I'm like, yo. Like, I know how to, like, do it. I think it's just more so if I could get help on the steps to take to kind of set myself up in the right position or just get coaching around. Like, what does that even look like, making that transition? Because it would be a tough transition for me, for sure. Just finding that insight, I think will be really beneficial for me at this point in my life.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah. So tell me, what are the things people have been reaching out to you? Like, hey, can you help me with this? Can you work with me on this? I've got a budget. Like, what are they hiring you for?

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure. So to give context, my nonprofit is based out of Fayetteville, North Carolina. It's my hometown. That's where I'M from. If people don't know where Fayetteville is, I usually tell him, if you know J. Cole, you know that's where he's from.

[Morgan Debon]

True.

[Grant]

I was in a J. Cole video as a kid, by the way. So part of my social impact story was when I met J. Cole as a kid. I ended up meeting him again in high school, and we had a conversation around college, and I said, yo, I got a baseball scholarship to A and T and Morehouse. And when I said, Morehouse, he's like, bro, you gotta go to Morehouse. That training that I got at Morehouse, when I decided to go there, obviously playing baseball and doing research, doing all those different things, kind of gave me the foundation. I want to get back in my community. 2020 comes, I'm back home. It's a pandemic. Start this nonprofit. Because I knew that there wasn't really, like, an entrepreneur play there. It was like, I really just want to give back to the kids in my neighborhood and just show them some of the stuff that they can do through exposure opportunities. That led me to end up helping some of my homies who. Larger platforms. So not sure if you're familiar with Vic Blends. Vic Blends is a. He's a creator, he's an entrepreneur, but he's a barber. He basically goes around asking people if they want free haircuts. And throughout these haircuts, oh, I've seen his videos. That's one of my best friends. So Vic is from Fayetteville as well. I've been able to help Vic with most of his social impact work throughout his career. So we've done cool stuff with, like, Can Am, mlb, all these different brands. Same from my friend, Dennis Smith Jr. So Dennis was the ninth overall pick in the 2017 draft in the NBA. So getting access to the NBPA and just understanding how to help build his strategy, and I kind of run both of those things for them. I've been connected to all these different people across the NBA, mlb, NFL. Like, all these different places.

[Morgan Debon]

Yes. Social capital.

[Grant]

And they're like, yo, you're really talented at this thing. Like, there's different projects or different people who come from these different entities, which I'm connecting with people and beginning to start working on, like, their social impact strategy. So what does it look like?

[Morgan Debon]

It's a real business, my friend, on.

[Grant]

Top of the homies who are looking to give back. So one thing I love about where I'm from is that everyone wants to do something positive, especially when you're talking about kids. Like, where I'm from is so negative. So seeing my homies send me a dm like, yo, I want to do my nonprofit because I do this. Like, I work in the auto industry and I want to teach kids how to whatever. Like, teach me how to, like, I'm giving them game for free. But now I'm realizing, yo, there's actually a way for me to systemize it.

[Morgan Debon]

Yes.

[Grant]

And create income for myself and truly own some of the things that I want to do. So that's been like the kind of driving force to take this thing that started as a real neighborhood grassroots. Like, yo, let me just get back to my community with no real nonprofit training to like, yo, I actually can be a social impact strategist for different people, different brands.

[Morgan Debon]

Absolutely.

[Grant]

And it's really authentic and I really love to do it. So I think that's kind of where the foundation of the thought came from.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah, that's great. So your non profit. So you're running all of these programs, projects through your nonprofit.

[Grant]

80% of them, I would say, like 80% of them. Most of my philanthropic work for sure lies within the nonprofit. Those are 20%, I would say, though, the other 20% is with my homies. Right. So it's with Dennis. It's with Vic.

[Morgan Debon]

Right. So they're hiring you as a partner.

[Grant]

They're bringing me on. Yeah. They're bringing me for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

And then. But you're not running it through the nonprofit.

[Grant]

I'm not.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay.

[Grant]

Because some of them have no ties, honestly, to the nonprofit. Right.

[Morgan Debon]

It's just added stuff.

[Grant]

Yeah. Like example, Vic got an opportunity to do an interview with Roger Goodell for the NFL draft, I think, in 2023. So Vic brought me on. I flew out to the draft with him. I helped kind of curate the questions, help him feel comfortable with just the things that were going on and questions. He wanted to really talk about social justice. So making sure that those things were aligned in conjunction with the NFL. So good stuff like that NBA. Same way with Dennis. I run his camps, but some of the things he wants to do outside of, you know, the traditional stuff, like he'll have me run so things in that nature and those two kind of being like the test pilots. But like, I've had opportunities to do other stuff. I've worked with creating content for Adobe, teaching people how to get back to their community. Was a part of the Nike Yard Runner campaign and was able to connect with a lot of dope people just to learn about how to scale the story of Your business and what marketing can really do when you put it in the right when the visibility is there, like, obviously a lot of extra attention and business comes from that. So getting that visibility early on and those connections early on have kind of set the foundation for what I know I can do from an entrepreneurial standpoint.

[Morgan Debon]

Great. And tell me why you feel like you need to quit your job to be able to do this work.

[Grant]

See, I don't even feel like I need to quit.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay. I don't think you might need to quit either.

[Grant]

Look, so here's where I'm at with it.

[Morgan Debon]

Here's where I'm at with it, honestly.

[Grant]

Yeah. Here's where I'm at.

[Morgan Debon]

I'm not going to say that for everybody, but for you.

[Grant]

I have a wonderful VP and Melanie.

[Morgan Debon]

Parker, she's the best.

[Grant]

She's the goat. I've known Melanie since my junior year of college, and she's been like an aunt to me. She's from North Carolina, and she's always given me the flexibility, whether I'm taking my master's classes because I'm locked into my MBA right now, whether it's stuff from my project back home. There's never been a time where I couldn't work with my team to have time to do that. I don't think I'll ever get that umbrella or that blanket with anyone or anywhere else at the company that I work at. Right. So I don't even think the goal for me is really ending there, especially. Cause I feel like I have a really good trajectory at the company right now. I think the goal for me would be to really upstand this other business, have that secondary income, have like these different, like. And if I decide to make the jump, I can. But it just becomes a major plus one in my life, into my development as a professional and as a person, versus being this thing where I feel like I have to go all in. But I also understand the repercussions of not being all in. Right. There's going to be money that I probably might leave on the table. There might be opportunities I might turn down just to make sure that I can cover my bases in other ways. But, like, I think for the umbrella that I do have, I'm willing to take that risk just to see what I can build.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah. I'm team, keep your job. So I think that there's a lot in society that tells us, like, you got to be doing this or this, like that. That transition or that gray area. You know, you got to always be Moving towards being full time or you got to always be moving towards something and actually you don't. There's no rules. Literally. That's why the name of my book is rewrite your rules. There's no rules. There's no someone saying, hey, so when are you going to be like. I mean, maybe there are people in your life being like, so when are you going to be full time over here? When are you going to leave your job? But you don't have to.

[Grant]

Right, so don't. Right. For sure.

[Morgan Debon]

You're very clear that you actually would prefer not to. Really? Like with the stability, the benefits, the wealth gains that you get having stock. Like, are you kidding me? Absolutely not.

[Grant]

Yeah, no, you should keep it.

[Morgan Debon]

You know what I'm saying? So now we really should have a discussion about how do you scale and build your legacy and build your assets and build your portfolio? I want you to think of your life as a portfolio where it's like, yeah, I'm spending my core eight hours a day doing my day job. But you don't have any kids. Single man. I mean, you're not a single man, but you don't have any kids. You're not married.

[Grant]

Not married.

[Morgan Debon]

So you, you have a lot of flexibility right now. And this is really the time where you should be building crazy assets so that you can build on that momentum. When it is time and you have kids and you're not traveling, you know, there will be a time where there's be a slower season in your life.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

But that's not right now.

[Grant]

Nah.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay, so we have a short period of time. How old are you?

[Grant]

27.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah. So you've got like a strong, like five more years before you really even have to.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

You know what I'm saying?

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

The girls may not like that, but we're just being honest. Okay. So my thing is, how can we maximize this next sprint for you that you're looking up at 35 years old at 33. 35. And you're like, oh, I'm good. Like, I. Work is optional for me.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

Like, I have assets, I have a team. If I want to go be in the south of France for a week, it can. I'm good. Like, for sure, right?

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

And I've got stock.

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure, right.

[Morgan Debon]

I got a 401k and I have stock. So let's talk about that. What does your team look like to support this other work that you're doing.

[Grant]

From a high level. My family's amazing. Like I have a really dope family that all bring value not only to me as a person, but just like to the different assets and stuff that I do have. I would say that like my friend group in regards to socially, professionally, like everyone's pretty. Everyone contributes definitely to my nonprofit, but definitely into whatever I decide to like kind of lay out. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, I would say the systems that I probably would need the most now are more like personal systems.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay, let's talk about that.

[Grant]

Super. Like in my head, can kind of remember my schedule. Like I'm terrible at writing things down.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay.

[Grant]

I think I need to be a little bit more systematic. I need to be a little bit more automated in terms of my scheduling, in terms of how I spend my time, in terms of when I'm spending time focusing on certain things. I kind of allow for everything to bleed into just like this one nuanced day or nuanced season and there's no real time to sit and focus. And I think for me, I think a life changing hack would be finding the systems that work for me that allow for me to really focus and be present during the times I need to be present for certain things. Like if it is everything before 10am is me, spirituality, working out, whatever, 10 to 4, 10 to whatever. Like I'm doing Google stuff and like just helping me kind of map out what that looks like and then finding. I know you're huge on AI.

[Morgan Debon]

You already knew where I was going.

[Grant]

I'll be tapped into the shows, understanding the systems from a technology standpoint that kind of allow for some of these automated things to work in my life. When it comes to content, when it comes to scheduling notes, just things like that, I feel like finding that balance for me, that system for me will give me the most opportunity to really maximize the thing that I value the most, which is my time. And I feel like that's the thing that allows for me to really make a difference is when I have true time to focus and sit and think about the best way to really approach problems, solve problems or help people.

[Morgan Debon]

What I hear you saying is that you don't have time for deep work, to work on the strategy or like on your organization and your business that you, it seems like you are like you're good at keeping up with all the work that is given to you and the things that are coming inbound 100% and you're like, I got it. But that means you're a bit reactionary throughout the week. You're like okay, this needs to get done. All right, I'm gonna do it if this needs to get done. Okay. I'm gonna do that today. Right. As opposed to more strategic, saying, this is how I wanna spend my time.

[Grant]

For sure.

[Morgan Debon]

So where does that come from? Have you always been that way?

[Grant]

Yeah, I've always. Like, even when I was a kid, like, in high school, like, I always played baseball and was in the FBLA and structured and was in the band, and, like, I just had stuff to do.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

And it was never an issue. Like, my grades was always good. Like, I always have had that. I think as an adult, I can see where my deficit lies, really is in my attention. Like, I hate the fact that sometimes I'm hanging with the homies and I still got, like, a million things going in my head. Or, like, I'm with my girlfriend and we're on a date, and she's talking to me about her day. And, like, I really want to, like, listen, but I'm still thinking about something that Melanie told me, or I'm still thinking about something, you know? Like, I'm thinking about the 26 project. I'm thinking all these different things, and it's like, because I don't feel like I've listed out my time to really think about those things, I allow things to just continue to carry over, and it becomes this culmination of constant thinking for me. And it's always been like that for me. And I think it was okay when it didn't impact people the way it does now. It's impacted me way more than anything.

[Morgan Debon]

Have you been getting feedback?

[Grant]

For sure. My girlfriend, for sure. But even my friends, they can just see the work has picked up a lot. We were super. My nonprofit, super grassroots small town. Now it's not over, like, half a million in, like, community support. And now we're looking at, like, larger grants. And, like, these things are really, like, we're starting a creative studio lab back home. Like, a free one that kids can just come during school. Like, we're doing all these cool things. It takes a lot more than my hour of, yeah, let's just do this. In order to really strategize a community center. All these different things. So the feedback has definitely been intrinsic, but I'm also starting to hear it from my mom, my girlfriend, the homies, People who matter. Yeah, for sure. And that's. I don't really care about, like, everybody else. Like, the outside. Like, I'm good off the noise. Like, but when it comes from certain people, it sticks and it's way heavier for me, for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

I mean, the people who know you most are the ones that you care about most. And also the ones you can say, look, yeah, we had a boundary, and you are now over the boundary that we're comfortable with, and we need you to make some changes for yourself.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

So when I asked you about your team, you gave me an interesting response. You mentioned all the friends and family and how great of a family you have. But those aren't employees. That's real, and they're not staff. That's real, and they're not people. You can say, I need this today.

[Grant]

We gotta find that.

[Morgan Debon]

So let's talk about that.

[Grant]

Yeah. So I would tell you, obviously, I ain't got no staff at Google. So, like, that's just Google's goal.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah, Google's fine.

[Grant]

My nonprofit, we don't have a staff. My team, they're like, everyone's like, my friend. Like, everyone who's joined 2 6.

[Morgan Debon]

But why? Why are we doing that?

[Grant]

Honestly, it was at a point where I was like, anyone who wants to help with this can help.

[Morgan Debon]

Anybody can get in.

[Grant]

And this was super early on. Right. And I think we've just built with that team.

[Morgan Debon]

So you just went with the flow.

[Grant]

We went. We built with that team. And honestly, for what it's worth, I think that if I do ask my team to do anything, right, it'll get done. But because I don't pay them because the money isn't there for me to really pay a staff, and also because I know that this isn't their dream, they're really doing it because they love me. But there's that, like, sometimes I feel bad. Like, yo, Okay, I don't.

[Morgan Debon]

You're throttling yourself typing, right? Yeah.

[Grant]

Ooh, let me not. Yeah. Cause I know you. I love you too much to be like, yo, I need this, this, this. Like, I'm not gonna do that. We have a great little system for ourselves, but because the funding isn't there for us to be able to really like.

[Morgan Debon]

But you can go get funding.

[Grant]

You're a smart man working on funding, for sure. Yeah, we're working on funding. I think we're not shying away, but we are looking for larger grants, six figures and up. I think moving forward, just because of the way things are shaping out now and the type of backing we've gotten from different companies, stuff like that. Like, we. We can go for those things now.

[Morgan Debon]

And this is where I want to challenge you for sure. You have a lot of discretionary income, actually, because you have a stable 9 to 5.

[Grant]

True.

[Morgan Debon]

So you can afford to hire someone, but you haven't.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

But I actually think it would benefit you quite a bit Having some sort of administrative assistant, a virtual assistant, a coordinator that works for the nonprofit, but someone to take away some of the administrative work that really shouldn't go to your friends and family, because nobody really.

[Grant]

Wants to do that stuff 100%.

[Morgan Debon]

Or you could hire an agency that works with nonprofits to do all the administrative work, the reporting, the compliance. I mean, you have to figure out what is the thing that drags down on time so that you can have more time to grow the business 100%. So what's the reason you haven't done that yet?

[Grant]

I was gonna say I'm cheap.

[Morgan Debon]

You like your money?

[Grant]

Yeah, I do. I think two.

[Morgan Debon]

It's not that expensive, though.

[Grant]

Nah, it's not. I think one of the things is, one, I rarely have conversations like this when the people that work with you are like, your homies and your friends sometimes. And it's your thing. Sometimes the conversations are, like, just tailored to whatever grant says. What we gonna do? Instead of there being like, a yo, why haven't we done this?

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

You know what I'm saying? So I think just having this conversation with you is eye opening because we're actually in the position where we do have enough money. Say, yo, we gonna throw a stack of somebody in the city. Because I think, too, I have a misconception of, like, the money element of it. I'm in this tech world where, like, everyone's making a bunch of money so much. I don't come from that, though. You know what I'm saying?

[Morgan Debon]

$60,000 is a lot of money.

[Grant]

Is a lot of money. Right. And I think I just had this conversation with my homie. Like, that's a lot of bread.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah. And it's more than $35,000.

[Grant]

It's the thing of, like, man, like, if when I do it, I think in my head, I'm like, when I do it, I want to put somebody, like, on 80. Like, I want.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

But that's just not where we are. And I'm cool with that. To your point. I think I'm, like, warming up to just saying, okay, look, let's sit down as a team. What are the things we hate doing which everyone. Like compliance, grant management. Like, if I get rid of.

[Morgan Debon]

Nobody wants to do it.

[Grant]

If I can get rid of that.

[Morgan Debon]

I promise you, I could go make a million dollars.

[Grant]

I need the time though. Right. And because I'm stuck talking. Nah, to your point, let's go out and find the right person that can lead us that wants to do it, who is a fan of our work. There's a lot of people back home who want to do it.

[Morgan Debon]

That's right.

[Grant]

I think just finding the right person to fix the system, I think is the big thing. And it's more so time. Right. Given the time to put something together, really put together job description, really push it out and let them rock. It's feasible for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

It's definitely feasible. And I would just say because you have a lot of people in your network and because you already have a very solid day job, you really have the capacity to, to make more time for yourself, to be strategic, like your organization and your career. At this point, you've done everything from like a bottoms up, like went through the mud, built it, did it. But you're like at a plateau. Like you're not going to be able to get to the next level unless you figure out how to be a more intentional CEO and owner. Like, you can't just go with the momentum or else it's going to be three or four years and you guys are doing exactly the same thing 100%. And like, for some people, that's more than enough. Right? Like, for some people, they'll be like, all right, cool, like, I'm with the homies, everybody's happy, I'm making money, it's fine. Yeah, but that's not you because you're on the show. So you said, I know I could be doing more, but how I want to get there, it's. I'm not exactly sure what I should do first. And I think for you, based off of your personality type, there's probably a lot of people who would want to help you, especially if you say, hey, $25 an hour. Do you know how much people make driving doordash and ubers and Lyft?

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

I'm saying, like, you don't have to give them benefits and make this whole thing. You can get there. But for someone who's sitting at home, who's underemployed right now, or unemployed, which is a lot of people, this is a dream job. I get to work remotely with, not a manager up their butt.

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

Who's just slacking them, have a 30 minute meeting once a week, helping people, that's a dream job for somebody, 100%. So you're preventing somebody not having their dream job and you should view that as an act of service.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

There's probably someone literally watching this. Like, literally pick me. Like, I get to work with athletes. I get, like, what? Like, this is. I get to work with kids. Like, this is amazing.

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

So you have to kind of retrain your brain to not feel like, well, just because I don't want to do it doesn't mean somebody else doesn't want to do it.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

And tiptoeing around your friends and things like that. They can still be involved and they can volunteer. They're volunteers, but you need staff people who get performance reviews, People who are taking their job very seriously. And it's what they think about when they're sitting at date night. They're thinking about, I need to fill this compliance form out. Because it's their job. We gotta get there 100%. So first thing for you is definitely gonna be within the next week. Job description out.

[Grant]

I know the person.

[Morgan Debon]

You already know.

[Grant]

I know the person.

[Morgan Debon]

You gotta interview more than one person, though.

[Grant]

I really know the person. I know it sounds crazy. I know the person.

[Morgan Debon]

So then what's up?

[Grant]

I just gotta do it.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay.

[Grant]

That's really how it is. I know the person, though.

[Morgan Debon]

Well, what is the thing that's holding you back from doing it? Like, is it just, like, you gotta set up like, Augusto. Like, is it that just setting up the compliance and the payroll or.

[Grant]

I think it's the time I really need to be able to sit down and give her, like, a playbook of sorts of what we've done. The things that are, like, up to kind of. I know exactly who it is.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay, great.

[Grant]

And sitting her down. It's the time. So part of it is I'm at Google.

[Morgan Debon]

You're busy.

[Grant]

I'm doing all these different things in my nonprofit place in North Carolina. So, like, finding that time just to really be. And I'm like, I love these types of conversations.

[Morgan Debon]

Right?

[Grant]

Like, I want to sit down with her. I want to really take her to lunch. I want to make sure she understands the. It's that. It's the time, but it's the. To me. To your point, it's the time to have the ability to think down, to just put that on a calendar, put the money up and do it.

[Morgan Debon]

Do you go on vacations?

[Grant]

I do now.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay, good. Tell me, like, let's talk more about how you're managing your time or what you're doing with your time. Walk me through, like, a normal week.

[Grant]

Normal week.

[Morgan Debon]

You said you Want to wake up in the morning, have some time for yourself?

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

And then core work.

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

And then what do you do at.

[Grant]

Like 6pm, am, pm, pm. Depends on the day. Either I'm working out, I'm in the gym, or I'm chilling at six. I like to chill. I like to chill. I like like watching tv. My girlfriend got me back into watching tv.

[Morgan Debon]

That's great.

[Grant]

She just got me. I, I haven't had a PlayStation or anything like that since college and I got one for Christmas.

[Morgan Debon]

Oh my gosh.

[Grant]

So I'm like starting to go, I'm starting to play games again and stuff. Like I'm starting to enjoy my time.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

Around 7, I'm usually on the phone. My mom and my pops or just somebody like. I like. Yeah, I just like talking to my people. Like at night I'm really like the most available.

[Morgan Debon]

Are you a night owl?

[Grant]

Nah, I like being in bed. I love the mornings. I'm up at the morning. I like being up at like 5.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay, so if you're not working out in the morning, what are you doing?

[Grant]

I'll cold plunge, I'll read the wellness. I'm really sitting, thinking I'm in thought a lot in the morning. I think really clear in the morning. But yeah, to your point, I think it looks different every day. Cause like I could tell you I wake up early, I tell you I try to go to bed on time. Anything in between, that is kind of like, bro, just wherever I am, that's where I'm at.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah. So we need a little more discipline on our routine.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

Even if it's just like on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I have discipline. It doesn't have to be forever and it doesn't have to be every day.

[Grant]

I love that.

[Morgan Debon]

Just simple.

[Grant]

I'm an all or nothing person. So I think that's where it becomes like a thing. Like in sports I was kind of forced to like, yo, you got, you gonna work out Monday through Friday. We got lifting here. We plant especially at Morehouse. It was just a very like regimented.

[Morgan Debon]

That's right.

[Grant]

They still get an education. So I didn't have that and I bought my crib.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

And I'm at Google.

[Morgan Debon]

Life is good.

[Grant]

I'm like, bro, I really don't gotta do that no more. I really can wake up and I think to your. I just gotta get back and really challenge myself.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah, I think you need to put yourself on a, on a 30 day regimen. It's just simple. I mean it Literally could just be Tuesdays and Wednesdays when I'm up, I'd spend the first hour doing my thing and then I'd spend the next three hours like building the business. That's what I do 100%. And people will wake up, they will get these pre scheduled messages from me. I mean, it's not like you have to be right. I mean you can do it, whatever makes sense for you, but you need to find more time to work on the strategy and getting to this next step. And one of the things that we talk about a lot in tech is like sprints and the agile methodology and design thinking. And one of the things I talk about in my book is how to do a sprint for your life. Because one of the things that I think is hard for a lot of us is we feel like it's all or nothing. We feel like it's gotta be okay, I do this and I do it forever. And that's just like you do nothing forever.

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

So how can I just spend 30 days to get to the next level and then just coast? Then how do I spend another 30 days getting to the next level and coast? Yeah, right. And then it's done. And you can rest without the guilt and without the mental load of like constantly feeling you should be doing more and more things on your to do list, but actually creates those big leaps for yourself. I call that step change growth. But I think a lot of times people try to approach it with I'm going to do a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow, a little bit here, a little bit there and then they don't do it or it takes forever. Instead of saying I'm just going to go hard for 30 days and then I'm done. I'm with that, you know, and you tell everybody, tell everybody around you, your mom, your dad, your girlfriend, everybody knows, look, I got a lock in for just 30 days, I'm a lock in. We're not going to do all this, but we lock it. Okay, Just going to lock in and then you're really clear about what you want to accomplish there. You say, I'm going to hire this person, I'm going to onboard them, they're going to come to Atlanta, we're going to sit there, we're going to do the things. I'm going to update the website. Like you literally just like you just do it.

[Grant]

Okay.

[Morgan Debon]

But then it's done.

[Grant]

But then it's done. Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

You know, instead of a year from now, we're sitting back here and I'm like, how's it going? And you're like, well, yeah, no, nothing has changed. Really.

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure. For sure. Which I found, I think from a nonprofit standpoint, that's been the case. So I appreciate you for that because I think that that is definitely the route I gotta go.

[Morgan Debon]

You know, that you, because you're an athlete, you know.

[Grant]

Yeah, I didn't get into that.

[Morgan Debon]

It's a clear goal.

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure. That makes sense. I think you brought up a really valuable point even before then around like me not doing it as a disservice to other people. And it kind of leads to like something I definitely want to talk to you about as well. So scaling the business, part of what I think my business is also is doing content teaching, for sure. And I have kids. It was a, it was a student I had named Darius. He said, gb, I wish you posted more, bro. Like I, I wait. Like I go on Instagram sometimes just to like wait to see what you were doing, bro. Cause you be in different countries. Like, bro, you went to London, you've done this. Like, you be at Google, bro. Like, that's fine. Like, I want to. He said, you don't post nothing, bro. Like, yeah, why? Like, why don't you post stuff? And I'm like, dang, I do. And he said, bro, when you do post, you have like a brand deal. Like you the only person I know that like, don't post for two months and like Adobe will pay you to most content. So like, why don't you just do it a lot and see what happens?

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

The perfectionist in me is like, yo, my content has to look like this. It has to be. But the reality is, I think, and I would love to ask you, like, how you went about just really diving deeper into content. Like, I think I'm hurting a lot of the people who do follow what we do because I'm not giving the game that I want to. And that could be the way I do get free game. Right. If it's not through this entrepreneurship, like this business, like, which I feel like there's a way to do something there too. But like, if I can find ways to put out content and have some type of. And to your point, I think it is like a. I do need like a 30 day sprint or like a program that can help me just like, I don't know. Yeah, for sure. Cause I have the content. I have things to say. I just haven't had the structure or like the.

[Morgan Debon]

That's right.

[Grant]

I would say Coaching even to, like, structure. Right. And just put it out and let it flow. But when you were going into content, like, what were some of your reasonings, but also, like, what were some of the things you wanted to accomplish through the podcast? Just through all the different things you were starting to do? More on socials.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah, I started with myself first, which is very selfish. I wanted to help people, but I didn't want to be outside. I'm an introvert, so y'all don't see me, like, outside, right? Like, I'm not at the Red Carpets. I'm not at the screenings. I'm not running around. Like, I'm not outside. In Atlanta, I moved to Nashville so I could be inside and that still, I wanted to be able to meet people where they were and still be helpful and still be accessible and still be grounded in the people who made me wealthy, like the black community, and make sure that I was being of service, you know, not just with the work that we do at Blavity, but with me as a person. Like, I. My identity as CEO and owner, founder of Blavity is very different than who I am as a person. And I really had to separate. Like, that was part of. It was, like, making sure that there was room for Morgan to bond the person and creating space so that my legacy and where I'm going in my future wasn't just dependent on it being the CEO of Blavity. Like, it's hard now because I've already separated it, but there was a time when I would wear Blavity gear every single day. And you could have been like, hey, Blavity. And I would have turned around and been like, hey. Because that's how ingrained my company identity was with me. And everything we did was a reflection of me. I had to let that go because that was not sustainable for my mental. That wasn't sustainable for where I wanted to be in terms of the type of success that I wanted. Right? I'm still CEO, so I'm in the mix every day with the company. But I was able to build my own framework and my own community outside of the company, which has fueled me in so many different ways. Like, I don't know that I would be 10 years, 11 years in, still CEO of Blavity if I didn't separate myself from the company and have my own identity. And I think the other part that's been motivating is knowing that I really am helping people, because so many of us grew up and we just diyed it. Like, it's not like our parents were entrepreneurs or our parents were working at Google, making six figures at 24. Like, you know, like, I remember when I got my first salary into it, it was like, $75,000. This was 12 years ago. People don't make $75,000 now. I knew nothing. Like, I can't believe they hired me, you know, but they did. And that's a privilege, you know, like, we are incredibly privileged to have the world that we live in. I mean, the fact that you can call Melanie up front, like, that's crazy work. Right? There's people who are like, we don't even know who y'all talking about. And that's okay, you know, but we know who we're talking about. Yeah. And so when you accept and really live in the fact that that is a privilege and that really, if you look at the odds, we're not supposed.

[Grant]

To be here 100%.

[Morgan Debon]

Like, at all.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

Like, not even a fraction of us. And I hear you that you say you're cheap, but you're actually probably not that cheap. You probably do spend money because your version of cheap and somebody else's version of cheap are very different. That's real. You are maybe frugal.

[Grant]

Very frugal.

[Morgan Debon]

You know, you're not buying a bunch of Gucci left and right, right? Like. But my point is, all of that motivated me to say, how can I be of service, but in a way that fits my lifestyle? And the Internet is a beautiful tool, and it's a great way for me to reach people who want to be reached. Like, if you don't like my content, you don't follow me for sure. If you don't like my podcast, you don't listen. So I assume anybody who's following me or anyone who's listening wants this 100%. So that removes all that pressure of, like, perfection or I'm not good enough or, I don't know if they want to hear this or do they even want to hear me talk about being a mom? Or, like, do they even want to see that I got engaged? They only follow me for entre. No, if they follow me, they want it. If they don't follow me and people unfollow me all the time, but I gain more followers than I lose. Right. But I am okay with, like, cool. I'm in a new season. You don't want to see that anymore. Bye. You got to let that go 100%. So I think for you, because of part of what you value and what I'M hearing is you actually do value having time for rest, time for kicking it, time for just existing and not like all this crazy structure. Probably because you grew up with a lot of structure as an athlete and that's okay. So I actually think sprints really should be a part of your flow, where it's like, I'm gonna go hard for a week, two weeks, a month, whatever the interval is, that works for you. And for that week, I'm just going to do this one thing and I'm just going to make progress there. So same thing for content. So you might say we're in a beautiful studio, we're in Atlanta, just going to rent it and I'm going to come here three days out of this, one week, I'm going to prep for three days, then I'm going to do interviews for three days. Now I have content for the whole quarter. So one quarter, one week out of every quarter, you do three days. Done.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

That's 12 days out of the whole year. And you've got content for the whole year.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

Right.

[Grant]

You can do that 100%.

[Morgan Debon]

I mean, you know how to run that 100%. So it's just deciding that that's what you're going to do. I believe when you create content, creating a core piece of content and then chopping it up and making different things for the different profiles and different social channels is the best way to do it. The people who wake up every morning and they're like, good morning, da da da, da, da, da da. Those are full time content creators.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

We're not, I mean, I don't know about you, I'm not trying to be a full time content creator.

[Grant]

I'm good out there.

[Morgan Debon]

You know, my full time is doing a lot of other things for sure. So you should view your content creation in batches and then figure out ways that you can do things that can be repurposed and also decide what platform really matters. Right. Like, what is the real purpose of this? Because if you're doing Instagram, you're going to be reaching, you know, potential clients because athletes and stuff, they're hanging out on Instagram and Snapchat. I mean, they're not really like on LinkedIn.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

Right. But you're also going to be able to reach the kids that are looking up to you who are like, this is crazy. Like, you live a crazy life. Right.

[Grant]

For sure.

[Morgan Debon]

And so you get two birds, one stone there. For other people, I would say go where your customers are for some People. That's gonna be LinkedIn for some people. It's gonna be a newsletter for some people. Podcast is good, but I think Instagram is your core platform, you know, what are you thinking?

[Grant]

100% to your point, I don't want to be a content creator. Like I know a bunch of them, it's fine. Yeah, it's cool. It's not my thing. But to your point, I just need to set some time aside to like do all these things that I need to do. Honestly, it's more of a thing of making a decision. And the way you framed that for me, I think made it very clear I did grow up with a lot of structure. My pops was in the military, my mom's an educator.

[Morgan Debon]

You didn't tell me that.

[Grant]

I like being able to do what I want to do, but to that point I think that it's easy for me to just flip that button and just get back into that grind. And I think that's probably what I just gotta do is find the best time for me to just go and do that.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah. And is there anyone in your life that enjoys content creation?

[Grant]

The students I work with, honestly, they love it. They, they basically, we do exposure trips. We like take em from Fayetteville to like New York and like Atlanta. We like bring em places and we don't even really need a content creator. Cause the kids are like so fire at it. They're so good. They're so good. Like they're good enough to go get jobs. But I'm trying to tell them like y'all don't even really need like, like if y'all want to do this, y'all can just do this. But I would say the kids I work with, I mean, I know like people here who could help me with it for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

But why even, why not just use the kids? Like, why not like make that one of the projects? It's like for sure. Like, okay, you guys produce the show. What are the questions you want to ask me? What are you curious about? Like, and then you actually get to spend more time with them.

[Grant]

Yeah. Which is what I want to get back to. Honestly, I think a huge part of me starting a non profit was I was like obviously every part of it, but I was with the kids and I was able to really be hands on with their impact and like their growth and their development. I miss that. I don't get to do that as much. So finding innovative ways to do that where it's helpful, I think is an amazing route and definitely something I know the kids would be excited to tap into.

[Morgan Debon]

Oh yeah. They'd be like, oh, we could do like, you guys take over my Instagram for a week.

[Grant]

Lord have mercy. That'd be dope though.

[Morgan Debon]

I could do all types of stuff.

[Grant]

That'd be dope though.

[Morgan Debon]

People would love that. I would tune in, I'd be like, what are they doing with his Instagram account today?

[Grant]

I ain't gonna lie. The kids be turnt though. Like, they great at all of that. To your point, it's the mindset for me. Like taking myself one. Okay. I'm not just this Googler, this two nonprofit. Like, nah. Like I'm Grant and there's a space for me to lean into content that really projects the things that I want to project versus it being a true extension of just the business. Right. So I've never heard it framed like that, but I needed to hear that, honestly.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah. And I think another thing for you that would be really good is if people were asking you questions, you could answer them. So just creating space for people to submit questions for you. For people to ask questions, whether it's lives or it's just like a live audience with them asking you questions and then you're just recording the answers so you're just not overthinking. Like, what should I be talking about?

[Grant]

For sure.

[Morgan Debon]

One of the things for me that I've underestimated is because we live such a privileged, weird Silicon Valley tech world life. Like for us it's the norm because we're doing all day the jargon, agile, sprints. Like, that's design thinking. Like, that's just, that's just tech talk. The average person has no idea what we're talking about. You know what I'm saying? So because we're so in it and we've had to conform and really embrace it, we don't know what's actually spectacular about what we've been exposed to. And so it's really helpful to have other people ask you questions because something that may seem so simple and so obvious to you may be revolutionary and life changing for them.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

So you've got to let yourself just be vulnerable and just be like, what do you guys want to know? Send me a DM. Okay, cool. I'll answer that question 100%.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

They might be like, how do I get a job at Google? And you'll be like, oh, yeah, that's.

[Grant]

What you want to know. Okay, that's a great point. Because the DMs I get or just the texts I get, like, bro, can you. Yeah, for sure. I just tell them. I could tell everybody.

[Morgan Debon]

You could tell everybody?

[Grant]

Yeah. Like, that's a. Yeah, I could run that up for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

And when you're talking, the other thing to keep in mind is instead of being like, what does everybody want to know? Just talk to that person.

[Grant]

Yeah, right.

[Morgan Debon]

Like, I'm just talking to you.

[Grant]

Right.

[Morgan Debon]

There's gonna be other people being like, yeah, for sure. Right. It's much easier to just be like, I'm just talking to this one person. I am. The person in my brain is the kid back at home. That's who I'm talking to. So every time I'm talking, I'm talking to that kid. And then that grounds you and not the overthink. You know, things simplify, and it allows it to be more human in how you're communicating a hundred percent.

[Grant]

That's everything to me. The human connection, like, me being a person. Just like a person first. I think I've always, like, leaned on that and just. I also feel like that's why people rock with me whenever I go to do projects or anything. It's just. Cause we gonna do the work. The work gonna be good. But are you good? Is everyone in the room straight? Is there stuff we need to talk about? Just get into the nooks and cranny of, I don't know, people. I feel like it's a lost element to a lot of.

[Morgan Debon]

Absolutely.

[Grant]

Business and work. And I tend to think that that's a strength for me.

[Morgan Debon]

You know, you should lean into it and not try to be any. Anybody else.

[Grant]

For sure.

[Morgan Debon]

Let's talk more about the nonprofit versus for profit.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

So we have an LLC or what do we do?

[Grant]

We do have an LLC and we have the 501C3, but they're two different entities, obviously.

[Morgan Debon]

Great.

[Grant]

Yeah, we have both.

[Morgan Debon]

And the nonprofit, you already did the work. And you don't have, like, a fiscal sponsor. You did, like, all the paperwork and got a real nonprofit.

[Grant]

Yeah, that's me. I did it. I was 21.

[Morgan Debon]

Crazy work.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

Like, for most people watching this or listening to this, get a fiscal sponsor. You don't have to. You don't have to be like us. Blabby.org is also a full nonprofit. And I'm like, it's.

[Grant]

It's chop. Yeah. So I didn't know what that was at 21, though.

[Morgan Debon]

Why would we know what a fiscal sponsor was?

[Grant]

It was one of those things like, well, I want to do good. What do People do. People do. I'm 22. People do non profits. I gotta. I'm on YouTube. I'm like, I'm calling like the local lawyers and stuff. Like. Like how, like, what's an ein, bro? I don't know. Like, I'm learning it all. And I feel like, to your point, if I can learn how to do all that running a business and I can spend all the money the way I need to spend the money is probably like heaven in comparison to all the stuff I gotta do for the 501.

[Morgan Debon]

That's right.

[Grant]

So I'm excited.

[Morgan Debon]

And for a lot of your clients, I'm sure they don't really care.

[Grant]

No.

[Morgan Debon]

Like, there's grants and there's programs and the programmatic elements can always be run through the nonprofit. That's great. If Adobe or certain brands, they have social impact 100%. So you want to take that money. That's why blobby.org exists. Because we have certain partners who are like, we're gonna give you this for Afro Tech. But we also have like 25k over here. If you want it to just give out tickets, like, yeah, we'll take that because we were gonna give the tickets anyways. So we might as well keep the money in our pocket and do the right thing. Right. So how can you like reframe how you're working or how you're working with your partners so that you put more energy into the for profit business?

[Grant]

One, I need to go talk to Ms. Crystal back home who can really alleviate some of the more administrative stuff on the nonprofit side. Two, I need to schedule specific time. To your point, just being the high level strategist that I am on all the stuff we want to do, I think we're very reactive as an organization, partially because we don't do it full time.

[Morgan Debon]

Yes.

[Grant]

But the other half is because I do think that so much of it has revolved around me and my interest and not like a group or a team or my board of directors. Right. So. But I think finding a way to really sit down, and I think the perfect time would be in a couple months when we have this ribbon cutting for this innovation lab we're doing back home. Really sitting down, people letting people know where I'm at. I feel like people hearing me say certain stuff like, oh, Grant's for real. He about to, like, it would put the charge in everyone else to be like, okay, yo, this is an opportunity for me to grow, for me to scale, for me to run this thing. And if we do get to that point where we're getting enough. There's employment opportunities for sure. We could do with the nonprofit side, I think on the front end, I have to be okay with allowing that stuff to be whatever it's going to be.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

And giving myself the grace to go build a business and get clients and continue to just kind of be willing to grow in that way. Right.

[Morgan Debon]

If you had a million dollars in unrestricted grant funds.

[Grant]

Oh, with the nonprofit, who would you hire?

[Morgan Debon]

What would you do?

[Grant]

Easy for me. I need to go get a COO for sure. Because if I didn't have to do administrative stuff and operations stuff, I go grab that. I go get two part time staffers. Because the amount of work that we're doing isn't like full time work. Like, I go get two part time staffers to run all of our youth programming. Like literally every ounce of what that looks like. On top of that, I probably say for the most part, I look at probably doing some type of endowment and working with our city around, making sure that we'll have funds just for the future and putting it away. Because learning that you can do that with nonprofits. Right.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

I'd also probably say too, I would really look at finding different ways to leverage the million dollars to get more money.

[Morgan Debon]

Right.

[Grant]

If I go to Dreamville and their team like, yo, because I'm close with the foundation team, like, y'all got a meal. Cole about to drop. At some point he gonna drop this album. Like, what's y'all plan with the foundation this year? Cause we just got a meal. How can we double that? How can we take this to my people at Nike, My people at Google might like, yo, we got a million dollars. How can we make this stretch and make it more of a sustainable.

[Morgan Debon]

Well, that would be your for profit business would actually do that part, actually.

[Grant]

For sure.

[Morgan Debon]

Just to be clear.

[Grant]

For sure, for sure. But I would find ways to make that million stretch. Y essentially use that million to help go.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah, yeah. So the way that you'd make that money stretch is to hire a grant writer 100% too. Right. Like.

[Grant]

Cause I'll be writing them too. I write those too.

[Morgan Debon]

You're doing too much. You're doing too much. You are doing too much. Not you writing the grant.

[Grant]

It be quick.

[Morgan Debon]

No, it's not quick.

[Grant]

It be quick when you do it enough. And the grants we go get, it'd be like, like, bro, let me take this 25, 30 minutes and just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Let me get the paperwork. I'll say I write 80% of the grants for my nonprofit.

[Morgan Debon]

That's crazy.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

So what are the friends and family doing? The programs.

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay.

[Grant]

And make sure the kids have people to see.

[Morgan Debon]

They're doing the fun stuff.

[Grant]

They. Yeah, for sure. They going on the trips with us. They making sure that the kids have programming.

[Morgan Debon]

Okay. So Crystal has a job.

[Grant]

Crystal has a. Oh, my goodness. What?

[Morgan Debon]

Ms.

[Grant]

Crystal got a job. Ms. Crystal gonna see this. She gonna start laughing. Ms. Crystal is my. She. She's the goat.

[Morgan Debon]

But it feels like you need another person for sure.

[Grant]

That's why I said the. The.

[Morgan Debon]

You need a moneymaker. Yeah. Because if. Think about it this way, and this is what I. When people are like, who should I hire first? If you have discretionary income and you need more time, then you hire the administrative person. Right. Which is your world. Right. It's like, if I had more time, I could make more money because I can work on the business. I can do business development. I can do marketing. I can have time to think about content, which then is going to make people know what I do, which is going to make more people come in and sign up. Right. So that's option one. But if you're like, I actually don't have the time and we still. And I don't have the discretionary income, then you hire the rainmaker. You hire the person who's going to be closest to the revenue or closest to the income, which is a grant writer for sure. Because a grant writer costs not that much money. But if they're good, they make money for sure. So they pay for themselves and they fuel the business. So you actually could hire both, because you actually have the privilege of both.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

If you hired a grant writer, even if you pay that person $30,000 for six months of work, they could probably close two to three grants, and it's going to be way more than $30,000 for sure. So why aren't we doing it?

[Grant]

It's time to do it.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

That's what this has been, is that it's time to do it.

[Morgan Debon]

Well, that's why you're here.

[Grant]

100%.

[Morgan Debon]

You already know. You just need someone to say it's time to do it. But then you need to find the time to make the work happen, because that is a training somebody on how you want the grants written. You know, getting organizing all your previous grants, which Ms. Crisp can help you do, into a foldering system so that you have all the things organized so that they can just be like, honestly, just take this paragraph from over here and this paragraph from over here. It's the same programs we're already running. Right. What are you noticing through this conversation so far?

[Grant]

That I'm the issue. I'm playing. That's for real.

[Morgan Debon]

But, yeah, you're your biggest blocker, for sure.

[Grant]

Yeah, for sure. In that I have way more time than I think I do, and I can make more time for myself by using the resources I.

[Morgan Debon]

You have a lot of resources.

[Grant]

I have a lot of resources, and I got a lot of people who want to help. I'm never going to make it seem like it's always just me, because no one. Nah, there's a bunch of people who.

[Morgan Debon]

But that's most people. Most people have a lot of people who actually want to help. It's just that people don't. People are only going to help if you give them the signal of which direction you want help with. Right. So you've signaled early on I needed help with the programs for the kids. So that's what everybody did. Because that was like, that's what he wants help with. That's what we're gonna do. This is great. You now need to signal a different signal that you're trying to go somewhere else. Right. That's great. Everybody can stay there, but I'm trying to go over here. And this is what this next vision for myself looks like. This is what the next vision looks like for my life and the impact that I wanna make. And I'm committed to continuing to be a good corporate professional over here, 100%. And I'm comfortable with that, at least for another two years. Two or three years. I never agreed to anything forever, but another two to three years, I'm comfortable here. I like it here, but I got a lot of discretionary time and discretionary income. How can I build more assets? Do you want to retire early? Do you know, like, what your end game looks like?

[Grant]

Yeah, it's a multitude of different things. Obviously, I want to run my own thing. I really love real estate. And they're about to put $100 million in the neighborhood that I grew up in back home. And I'm cool with people in city council. I'm in that realm of potential people who can come and help in terms of economic development. So I think for me, a huge play would be taking some of this bread, reinvesting in the properties and obviously making money, but doing it in a space that I really care about.

[Morgan Debon]

Invest housing. Exactly.

[Grant]

For sure. Especially with the nonprofit being in that Same neighborhood. That would be amazing for me to sit back and at least have some of that discretionary passive income on top of that. I think that I still see myself maybe not in a chief impact officer role, but some maybe advise more like a paid board or something where I'm still working on really high level projects with really cool clients and really dope people that allow for me to still get that creative energy going. I always see me working with young people and I always see me working under my own way, under my own business or nonprofit, whatever the case may be. I still see that, but I see me having time. Like, I see me owning my schedule. I see me obviously with a family, but as someone who is really able to kind of pick and choose when I want, I think to me that's like wealth. Like, to me that's like, yeah, that's making it. I watch my pops now, he's retired military. He still works, but just because he wants to. He got that disability. He got that. He got a retirement. It don't matter what I see. The way he sits down and like, does stuff, it's a different feel.

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah.

[Grant]

Because of the work he put in when he was my age. Right. So I think finding that route for me is like everything, you know, that's real wealth.

[Morgan Debon]

Real wealth is time and freedom. Right. Work is optional. I think what you didn't say is you need an executive director.

[Grant]

Oh, for sure, right? Yeah, for sure.

[Morgan Debon]

You need an executive director. You're on the board and you can hang with the kids if you want to. You've got consulting gigs. Right. If you're doing, I mean, so many of these big companies, they're never going to not have a social impact arm. Right. Hire consultants. So even working in house at a company is prohibitive when it comes to time and freedom. So eventually you might be like, yeah, hire me. Hire my company to be the comp. The company that comes in and builds the brand, builds the strategy, makes the connections, access, basically an agent to connect you with the people on the ground and the celebrities and then hire us to implement it. And it's basically white labels. Right. You got to build your framework. That would be my next challenge for you. You're not quite there yet. Like, first you got to take care of this stuff first, but within a year, you should build your framework for what does it look like to copy and paste your brain onto an organization. And you already know these steps. Like, if I were a celebrity and I was like, hey, I want to build the Morgan Debon Foundation. And I want to give back and do art classes with kids in St. Louis. And I want to. And I go on the news and my book and I want to do all. How do I integrate it? If I said that to you, do you know the steps you would guide me through?

[Grant]

Yeah.

[Morgan Debon]

So you have a framework. You have intellectual property. You could write a book, right? Like you literally could be saying, like, this is the framework. These are the steps for people who have wealth or social capital to leverage it for good. And then you could be running workshops. Not you personal 100% you org.

[Grant]

We're not writing. No more grants.

[Morgan Debon]

No more grants. Okay, no grants for grants. No more grants. Right. But you have a lot in your brain that people really could leverage, and that's a real business right there.

[Grant]

When you went to think about formulating that lifestyle for you, did you operationalize it in terms of an actual formula? Was it, I don't know, some type of. Maybe it's in your book. I can't wait to read it. What did that look like for you? And how did you. I don't say how you scheduled business, obviously, I'm sure that could be super long. But how were you able to put your brain into all of the different. Cause obviously Blavity being a baby. But there's so many different things that have sparked from that that are carbon copy of the way you think or the way that you do business. So how was that process for you?

[Morgan Debon]

Yeah, so the first thing that I did was just talk to people and just have an outlet to talk and then realize that, oh, I literally said, I'm a broken record. People are asking me the same questions, I'm giving them the same formula every single time. Because that's how I think. I actually think in systems. I think in a linear way. Right. It's like, okay, let's talk about his time. Okay, we're gonna talk about his time. We're gonna talk about what is he doing now? What does he wanna be doing? Right? Like, I have a framework for that. The way that I learned that I had a framework was by doing group coaching. So similar to what I was suggesting where I just had, hey, today we're gonna talk about time management. I would talk for like 10, 15 minutes, then I let them ask me questions. And then I took the transcripts. This was back in the day before AI So I gave the transcripts to a virtual assistant in the Philippines, 100%. And they took all the questions and they organized all my answers. And that was the basis of the Worksmart curriculum and the basis of the pillars that I live by, that those pillars are in the book. And all of the frameworks that I came up with and all the tools that I came up with were to solve the problems that I kept seeing come up in conversations. So I've got the step change growth formula, which is instead of incremental, we do these sprints. You grow and then you coast. You're resting, you're chilling, you're reconnecting with all the people. You let go for five days while you were working really hard, you're doing the things, and then you do another sprint and you jump up. That is a reflection of how I live my life and how I built blavity. To you all, it looks like we're just doing this, but we're actually working two years out. So when people were complaining about Austin and Afrotech not having enough space and there's not enough room, I'm like, like, you don't know. I've already booked Houston for the next two years. I already knew there wasn't going to be enough space. And then when you all are complaining about, I already knew tickets were going to sell out. But y'all keep wanting to buy these tickets, so what do you want me to do? Not let you come? Even though you bought your hotel and your flight and you're already in Austin and you really want to come in the convention center? We already knew this was going to be a problem 18 months ago. Y'all are just experiencing it, and you want to give me all this feedback, but I've already solved it because I already booked a different convention center for next year. Right? But I have to operate that way to operate at my level with the kind of, like, business that we have. We gotta be two, three years out. That's my job, right? So. But accepting that, that's also my core competency. That's my superpower, is really being like, okay, we're trying to go here. The reason I started my podcast two years ago was because I was writing a book, because I wanted people to. They needed to hear me. Like, people didn't know who I was. Like, people didn't know. They were like. Like, I don't know who owns Flavia. I don't know who owns Ever Tech, because that's. That was by design for that phase of the business. But I needed to build real relationships with people where people would trust me to understand who I am. The reason I'm doing this live podcast is because the team realized that my superpower is in live conversation and being able to quickly, like, digest information and use the frameworks for the books and apply it into real life. But if you never talk to me, you don't know that 100%. So now we're doing a live show. Always be two steps ahead, right? Two steps ahead every time. And I think, for me, when I really accepted that, I am the prize, I am the asset. My brain is the asset. If Blavity runs out of money tomorrow, it would be really sad and terrible, but, like, I would be okay, and we would build something new because it's my brain. It's not. It's not that. It's not a name. It's a person.

[Grant]

Right?

[Morgan Debon]

Right. It's the people that I work with. If Blabby goes under, my CFO is still an incredible person. My CRO is still a fucking killer. Like, we'll go make more money and build something else 100%.

[Grant]

Right?

[Morgan Debon]

So I can't be attached to this. I need to be attached to the people and attached to myself 100%.

[Grant]

I love it.

[Morgan Debon]

You know? So that would be my thing for you is like, you are the price. And really, you gotta be like, how am I operationalizing my biggest asset, which is me. And then doing what you need to do with your schedule to make time for yourself, because you're the thing that's gonna drive the most wealth for your friends, for your family, for the kids that you're supporting, for the future family that you're gonna have. Like, it's you. And you're not really operating like that right now. You're a little laissez faire with the vibes. Okay? And I get it. You worked hard. You had a lot of things and a lot of discipline. So you needed probably some time to just, like, chill for a second, you know, because you did the sprint, you built the nonprofit, you were in the thing, and you're kind of in your coast season. It's time to ramp up 100%, you know? So in three years from now, just in closing, we're sitting down. We're sitting in the south of France at Cannes. Life is good. You got some athletes there to be at, you know, the beach to talk about their social impact and their marketing deal that they just did with capital1 or MasterCard. And you're just chilling, and you're like, life is good, Morgan. Like, life is good. What would life is good look like for you?

[Grant]

My family's healthy and happy. I have the time to do whatever I want to do. I'm still working in agenda, like, freedom agenda spaces. Like, I love freedom agendas. Like, anything associated with that, I'm tapped in, and I'm not running the nonprofit anymore. Like, I'm just.

[Morgan Debon]

I'm bored.

[Grant]

Yeah. I'm on the board. I'm giving advice, and I have a real business. Not saying I don't have a real business, but, like, I have, like, systems and, like, a team, and, like, it's a real thing. And I've had. I've accumulated some of those assets that we've talked about in terms of beginning to build toward our wealth journey and not just being rich. Yeah. I think that's what it looks like for me.

[Morgan Debon]

I can see it now.

[Grant]

Okay, so three years.

[Morgan Debon]

Three years. I think you could do it sooner, actually.

[Grant]

For sure.

[Morgan Debon]

I think you actually could probably get most of the things in place by the end of this year, and then you gotta, like, let it flow for another year. But, yeah, I think you could probably do it faster.

[Grant]

I'm down.

[Morgan Debon]

All right, let's do it. I'll see you soon.

[Grant]

For sure. For sure.

[Morgan Debon]

All right, Grant, thank you for being on the show today.

[Grant]

Thank you so much.

[Morgan Debon]

All right, y'all, we'll see you next time. Bye. Thanks for listening to the Journey podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a review and head to our Instagram and YouTube to leave a comment. I look forward to hearing how this podcast has made an impact on your own Journey.