Tyrell Slappey, Markita Richardson, Terrence Crowell; August 24th, 2022

Tyrell Slappey, Markita Richardson, Terrence Crowell; August 24th, 2022

Tyrell Slappey, Markita Richardson, and Terrence Crowell talk about the creation of Round One gaming lab.

Detroit Historical Society

August 24th, 2022

Detroit Historical Society

en-US

Tyrell Slappey, Markita Richardson, and Terrence Crowell

Lily Chen

Detroit MI

8/24/2022

1:40:40

Taylor Claybrook

SlappeyTyrellRichardsonMarkitaCrowellTerranceAudio.mp3

Lily Chen [00:00:01] Okay. So today is. Wednesday, August 24th. It's around 2:15 p.m. This is Lily Chen and I am conducting an interview for the hustle at the Detroit Historical Society, and we are so excited to be interviewing our 36 honorees, just some of the coolest people in this city. So let's go ahead and introduce who we've got here today one by one, and say your whole name and then spell it out for us, too.

Tyrell Slappey[00:00:31] Got it. First and last. My name is Tyrell Slappey. And I am one of the co-owners of Round One gaming lab.

Markita Richardson [00:00:43] My name is Markita Richardson and I'm one of the co-owners of Round One gaming.

Terrence Crowell [00:00:55] And my name is Terrence Crowell. I'm also one of the co-owners of Round One Gaming Lab.

LC [00:01:07] Awesome. We have all the owners here today.

TS [00:01:09] All the owners here today.

LC [00:01:10] Amazing. And where is Round one gaming lab located?

TS [00:01:14] Round one gaming lab is a part of Metro Detroit. It's Mobile. So we go all around. We go all around. Most of our events that we have, we do in the city, but we also venture out to other places which people are always surprised by.

LC [00:01:26] Cool. All right. And what year was it founded?

TC [00:01:30] So we started round one gaming lab technically in 2020. During COVID, however, we got up and running in 2021.

LC [00:01:41] Okay. Wow, that's a crazy time.

TS [00:01:44] COVID stopped us, right? Right. COVID stopped us. We were ready. Yeah, we were really ready. And. Terrance said let's hang back. Listening back, because the world is just in a wild place right now. So, listen, let's hang tight. And he was absolutely right. I was I was I was sick that we couldn't do it. I was sick that we couldn't do it. But it was definitely the best call.

LC [00:02:06] Yeah. So let's take it all the way back before the business. Back to when you guys were kids or all three of you from Detroit?

TS [00:02:13] Yes.

MR [00:02:14] Yes.

LC [00:02:14] All right. And West Side?

TS[00:02:16] East side, from the east side of Detroit.
MR [00:02:19] I'm technically born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but has been raised here in Detroit, Michigan, since I was two years old. And I'm from the east side of Detroit.

LC [00:02:28] There you go.

TC [00:02:28] And I was born and raised west side, six miles south of you.

LC [00:02:32] All right.

TS [00:02:32] He really wishes he was from the east.

LC[00:02:39] Amazing. Okay, so we've got, um, mom and best friends. Is that the.

TS [00:02:45] Like, so pretty? Pretty much. When I. When I met Terrance his freshman year, we both went to Cass Tech High School. I met him freshman year. I can't pinpoint how we met exactly, but it was a connection ever since then. I'm sorry. It was a connection since then. So we've known each other for over a decade and a brotherhood formed. We always called ourselves God Brothers. That's what everybody knew was as and was by. And my mom just has a has a habit of pulling in all my friends, as you know, her sons as well, or daughters, depending on who it is.

LC [00:03:24] Amazing. So you guys both went to Cass Tech. Yes. All right. And did Mom go to Cass Tech too?

MR [00:03:31] No. I graduated from Denby high school in 1980. I'm the oldest here and they're fraternity brothers as well. So I'm really close to a lot of his fraternity brothers. And that's how and yeah, whatever friends that my son have, I do draw men in as my sons because I believe in keeping family unity, especially when you're close friends.

LC [00:03:52] Absolutely. Something that's very unique to people of color is that we have kinship. We have a strong community bond.

TS[00:03:57] Exactly.

LC [00:03:58] So we all raise each other as a community for sure. So let's start with mom. So, mom, what year were you born?

MR [00:04:05] I was born in 1962. I'll be 60 in December.

LC [00:04:09] Wow. It's a big birthday.

MR [00:04:11] Yes, it is. So that's when I was born. And like I said, I've lived here all my life. I was a single parent with two children. My son and my daughter raised on my own, very independent person and been married. But that didn't work out. I'm still looking if anybody's on the podcast listening, but that's okay. We don't have to go that far. Yeah. So I raised two who graduated from Denby, raised two children as a single mother. And I'm very independent and I just love life. I love my best thing. The best thing I love doing is going to church. Yeah. Rooted in Christ. That's the best thing I love doing.

LC [00:04:45] Absolutely. What church do you go to?
MR [00:04:46] Second Ebenezer Church, Bishop Becker Alban is the pastor. I've been there about 12 years and you won't believe it. But I'm over the hospitality committee because I'm a talker and I'm a people person and I have about 70 people on that ministry because we go to a big church and I'm the leader of that ministry.

LC[00:05:03] Wow. Well, thank you for the work that you do there. I mean, that's incredible. I know you guys run a successful business, but the stuff that you're doing outside of the business I've heard a little bit about, too, and it's it's really cool to hear. So, like you said, you grew up in Detroit and spent your whole life here and and raise a family. It's it's amazing to hear. Okay. So then what year were Tyrell and Terrance born?

TS [00:05:29] I was born in 1988, born and raised in Detroit, been in Detroit my entire life. So as she said, as she said, a single, single parent household. But we never we never wanted for anything. We had everything we needed. Hey. I thought. I thought everything was smooth sailing.

LC [00:05:55] Yeah.

TS [00:05:55] I didn't know the struggles. I didn't know the struggles until I got older and could actually see them and had children of my own. I have two son and a daughter, five. And then she will be three. She'll be three. So we've got a month, a month away, so it'll be three. She'll be three on September 25th. So we got the big three coming up for her, but I didn't. Now, looking at how much work. I do for my kids and how much help I need from her and, you know, from the village that's around my kids. I understand how much that she was probably going through raising me and my sister.

LC [00:06:29] Yeah.

TS [00:06:30] So.

LC [00:06:31] Absolutely. Moms are something else.

TS [00:06:35] A never ending job.

MR [00:06:36] Yep. I worked two jobs from time to time to help take care of them. I've never saw a child support check. I don't know what it looks like. I'm so independent. Till if I have to make somebody do something, I don't want it. That's the way I am. So I've never sought child support check. I did what I had to do because I have a saying as a parent, kids don't ask to be here because they don't ask to be here. It's my job to take care of them. If not, nobody else take care of them.

LC [00:07:05] Yeah, absolutely. So, Terrence, what year were you born?

TC [00:07:08] So I was born September of 1988 on the west side of Detroit. Um, I have both mother and father, twin brother and a sister. Wow. Um. And then in Detroit, I'll say the majority of my life, but my now wife, who's from Ypsilanti, so we moved kind of in a halfway point because all of my family are in Detroit and all of her family are in Ypsilanti.

LC [00:07:35] Yeah.

TC [00:07:36] But still, basically, everything I associate with is still in Detroit.
LC [00:07:40] Yeah.

TS [00:07:41] Absolutely. You can never. You would never leave your Detroit kids. You can't. You can't in the way this city is growing and bubbling. You just want to be a part of it. It's like a renaissance happening in Detroit right now. And you just want to you want to be a part of it for sure. That's why I'm happy we started this business at this time as well, because it's so many things are elevating and growing and innovative ideas and businesses is so much stuff going on downtown and I have absolutely no idea about it when I see it. I went to that game.

TC [00:08:10] Yeah.

TS [00:08:11] I want to go. There is so much cool stuff. So we started it. I feel like we started at the right time. Yeah, all of us love the city. You know it all our hearts.

LC [00:08:21] Yeah. So the two of you guys went to the best high school in the city?

TS [00:08:25] That's right. That's right. Like, I know she went to Denby, but we know two people in the world, right? The people who went to Cass, people who wish they did best.

TC [00:08:36] That's what it is.

TS [00:08:38] We are we are deeply rooted with Cass Tech. We love our high school. We love our high school.

LC [00:08:46] When you went, was it the old Cass or is it the new Cass?

TS [00:08:48] We were actually the last graduating class of the old Cass.

LC [00:08:52] Okay.

TS [00:08:53] It's been one year in the.

TC [00:08:54] New year, so we were the first class in the new building and graduated.

LC [00:08:58] Wow, that new building is crazy.

TS [00:09:01] It is even crazier than it was. They were still getting a lot of things together. But yeah, I'm glad we got to experience the old one as well. Yeah, you know, so much history behind that one. I'm glad we got to experience it.

LC [00:09:13] Absolutely. I it's so cool to hear how many people have come through some of these excellent, excellent schools in Detroit, because I feel like your education path absolutely played a role in where you are today.

MR [00:09:27] Oh, definitely.

TC [00:09:28] Definitely, for.

TS [00:09:29] Sure. Cass. Cass, definitely prepare me for for college. I would say a lot of the teachers, a lot of the teachers that are their Facebook friends with me now, I have, you know, relationship with my geography teacher and my AP English teacher. So they still so they still connect with you. And the things that they taught us there definitely prepared us for that next step. Education. Yeah, the work the work that they're doing in Cass is, is different. Yeah, it's different. It's a higher level of education for sure. And I'll always stand on that
LC [00:10:04] Yeah.

MR [00:10:05] And you think of all the great people who have graduated from Cass Tech, you know, when you go to Cass Tech and you see all these people like they were, they were right, you know, I mean, it's amazing. And what they went on to be, you know, successful, famous people. Sure. You know, so yeah.

TS[00:10:21] Yeah. We graduated with Big Sean. We were in his graduating class. Wow. So that's right. Think of how insane it is to see where he's at now. We've seen it when it was...we seen it. Yeah. We were sitting there.

TC [00:10:35] And and walking the halls with him and.

TS [00:10:36] Hanging out with him. And to see where he is now is is his journey. Watching his journey has always been crazy to me. Like any time something happened, I be calling my mom look it's Sean see what...on TV like this is is just nuts to see now. So it's it's amazing.

LC [00:10:54] I mean, it's such an honor now that he he's still here. He's still coming to our basketball game. He's still you're in. I mean, it's those roots are always going to be there.

TS [00:11:03] Very... He'll give back to the community.

TS [00:11:05] That's very active.

LC [00:11:06] Very active. Yeah. He's I mean, he's organizing here in Detroit for sure, doing the right thing. So. So you guys went to college together?

TC [00:11:16] We went to different colleges.

TS[00:11:17] It's a different college.

MR [00:11:18] Let's see this fight.

TS [00:11:20] We still stay still. I'm sure he wishes that he went to Michigan State University. I am a graduate of Michigan State University. Go green, go white. Here we go.

TC [00:11:31] So I was you.
TS [00:11:33] Know, I'm sure I'm sure he wishes he went there. So we just stay connected. We stay connected. And we got really, really connected again after I pledged Iota Phi Theta fraternity incorporated. As soon as I did it, I was telling him about it and he went right after it. So that's awesome. And hey, every and we started to connect back again. I was down at Wayne State all the time or you would come up to Michigan State. We was just that that just got our bond deeper than what it was already.

LC [00:12:03] Yeah. So you went to school in the city?

TS [00:12:05] Yes.

TC [00:12:05] Yeah. Went to Wayne State University.

LC [00:12:07] Excellent. That's the place to be.

MR [00:12:11] So where did you graduate?

LC [00:12:15] I may or may not go to Wayne State. Okay. So that's cool. So what did you guys study when you were in school?

TC [00:12:25] So I graduated with a Bachelors in Criminal Justice from Wayne State back in 2013 and my first career path, I was actually a corrections officer in Jackson.

LC [00:12:35] Wow.

TC [00:12:36] So, so I did follow the career path. Um, but I did transition still with the state, but now I'm into child welfare.

LC [00:12:47] Yeah. Yeah. So we'll get into that more. And then. And then what did you study in college?

TS [00:12:53] I bounced around. Yeah. So I was in love with accounting. Okay. I guess my curriculum at Cass was business management, and I had a great accountant teacher and I'm like, I'm going to be an accountant and be an accountant. And when I got to Michigan State actually started to take the accounting classes and economics, I said, Yeah, this is not.

TS [00:13:17] I don't think this is.

TS [00:13:18] For me, but I still wanted to be involved with business to some degree. So I switched over to food industry management because we had to take some of the same courses as the Business College. But it was a specialization around food and that was cool to me. Graduated and did not follow a career path. Well, obviously I ended up working at Verizon as a sales rep and then I became a part of their manager trainee program and ended up being an assistant manager there later on. I stayed ever rising for a very, very long time before venturing off into what was actually my first video game driver. And we can get into the story about that and how we got here when you want unless you want me to throw that in there now.

LC [00:14:09] Well, so so you guys had these lives before your successful business, right? Oh, yes. And that's the case for a lot of people. And they kind of have to take a leap of faith to do what they're dreaming to do for sure.

MR [00:14:22] I graduated from college at U of D.

LC [00:14:26] And then what did you study?

MR [00:14:27] MBA. I have my master's and a business. I went that route, I started that. I got my associates and I was a single mother and I said, I just got to do this for me, you know? And then I got my bachelors and then I said, I got to do this for me. It wasn't for anybody else. I couldn't do anything because of two kids. And I said, I just need that self-satisfaction. Unfortunately, student loans I should have thought about. Yes, yes.

MR [00:14:57] And then I. Then I went and got my MBA. The reason I went into business is because it will cover any aspect of a business. Yeah, that's why I did that. No matter what business, you go in to that degree and business helps you. And I've been on my job 24 years in November. Wow. So?

LC [00:15:14] So year. Wow. Where do you work?

MR [00:15:17] I work at Promedica Senior Care there, located in Toledo. We're a skilled nursing corporation and I work from home training business, office staff, accounts payable, payroll business office and it's webinar training. I was working from home even before COVID kicked in and I used to travel for my job training people. I'm a people person, so I used to love to travel for them because you get to meet different people and not work with the same people every day. I'm not the same people everyday person. Yeah, I like to meet, venture out and train and people. It gives you a sense of like teaching, helping somebody succeed. Yeah. So that's what I'm a helping type person.

LC [00:15:58] So. And you're an expert at what you do.

MR [00:16:00] Yeah, I love it. I love it.

LC [00:16:02] Yeah. We were talking about before we started this podcast that women can accomplish amazing things and you are such a great example of that because not only have you raised excellent children and you've got your own career, that you've 24 years, do you say 24, 24, November time and.

MR [00:16:23] No write ups, no layoffs, no problems?

LC [00:16:26] Yeah. You have accomplished amazing things and it's it's excellent to see. Thank you. Yeah. Because really, you know, the three of you built this business together, but we got to credit a lot, too, man.

MR [00:16:39] Oh, of course. You know, of course. For me, I.

LC [00:16:41] Made it all happen.

TS [00:16:43] Yet we. The business wouldn't be here without her or without Terrance. The business wouldn't be here. It definitely took all three of us to make it. To make it happen. Yeah, to make it happen. We couldn't. We couldn't do it without her. Absolutely not.

LC [00:16:59] I always like to say to like for any for just life on earth. We could not be here without the women that made that possible, and especially for us women of color. It is the women of color before us that guided us to who we are today, to where we are today. So absolutely, yeah, we owe so much to all of our generations, absolutely amazing women that.

MR [00:17:23] Just what they went through in order for us to be here. Yeah. What? You know, we forget about who laid that pathway before we get here to where we at now. I couldn't have the kind of job that I have if it wasn't for that. And I have to let you know, any business that I've been in and I've been on my job 24 years, I'm the only African American person in that department. I've get I've got received two promotions since I've been here. And I still am the only black African American. The, you know, doing what I do LC [00:17:59] That's I mean, we need to see more more people of color, of course. But it's always I just admire so much the bravery of people that I have to be the first. Right. You know. Yeah.

TS [00:18:13] It's sometimes hard to walk into those spaces.

MR [00:18:15] Yeah, it's not easy. But I'm a corporate employee. We have like 200 and something facilities of the United States, and I'm considered a corporate employee. And when I go into these facilities, it's like the red carpet is rolled out cause I'm considered a corporate employee. I'm not a facility level. And you'd be surprised the kind of respect you get. And I'm like, okay, I'm just this little black girl from Detroit. And these people are like, Do you need anything? Whatever you need. You know, we got lunch on us and this and that. It's just it feels good that I've accomplished that. Yes, it does.

LC [00:18:49] Yeah, yeah.

TS [00:18:50] Feels great.

LC [00:18:52] So outside of the business, I know both of you guys work with kids. Absolutely. So tell us a little bit about your your jobs.

TS [00:19:01] Today, for sure. I also I forgot to mention I have my masters as well. You mentioned you mentioned do I forgot to mention mine. Right. So my my masters is an entertainment business. Okay. So I knew I knew I wanted to do something that was entertaining people. Yeah, I know. I want to do something with that. I am a fourth grade language arts teacher at Brenda Scott Academy. I've been in education about four years now, going on five. I started off substitute teaching for about two years and I've been at Brenda Scott for three right now. I love what I do love children and love mentorship. I feel like children need guidance. They need guidance, they need structure. They need to see people who look like them. So like you like you saying now we need people of color in the education system. We understand. We understand these children. We understand them way better. We can relate to them. That's why I want to work in the city as a teacher. I want it to be where I grew up, making sure that they had some of the guidance that I had my guidance, but a lot of my friends didn't have guidance and I don't believe teachers were. We're very hands on right now. And that's not to take away from my elementary school experience, but I know that I didn't have a teacher like me.

LC [00:20:27] Yeah.

TS [00:20:28] And in my whole teachers, I instill things and then I teach them about who came before them, whether they want to hear it or not. I try to make it fun, obviously, so they're not bored with it, but they need to know that they wouldn't even be able to sit in these seats. I wouldn't be able to even teach them if it wasn't for the people that came before them. But I love I love children. I love I love mentoring children. I love helping their growth. We talk to kids on the trailer. We always want to know how old are you or where you go to school? If they're acting up a bit, we we letting them know, hey, yeah, it's a better way. Better way to do a better way to do that. A better way to be We all about manners we all about respect. Any time you're teaching so our around children, we're trying to do something to help them grow in some kind of way. Just take away just take away something take away a little nugget from us. Even in this short time period that we got, maybe we got 3 hours together. Take something from this experience. You know, if you know you're having fun, just take something from it.

MR [00:21:30] And black male teachers are like, it's a shortage. It's a shortage of that. So when they see black male teachers, it's just like a different level of respect. Cause we're always used to seeing black women teachers, you know, where the black man teachers at. So a lot it is a lot of respect that goes into that.

LC [00:21:49] Yeah. You know, it's so important for young black men to see role models and to see like the level of excellence that's out there because they have something to kind of, you know, learn by.

TS [00:22:02] Absolutely.

LC [00:22:03] Yeah. So tell us about your job today.

TC [00:22:07] So this is probably one of the first times that I'll actually say it. Usually I tell people I work for, I work in child welfare because usually when I say or if a child protective services people are kind of standoffish because of the stigma and the bad name that CPS has. This is my sixth year in CPS actually, and has been an experience. And I know that because when I first. Got hired in. The supervisors will tell you, don't do more than three years because you're going to buy yourself out. Wow. So for this to be a six, I feel it, of course. But but there there's perks that come with it. And of course, I know that we'll probably get into this when we talk about the business. But one thing I look forward to, I often hear parents tell me when I first come up. Sometimes they're kind of abrasive because who wants CPAs at their house? Of course.

LC [00:23:10] Yeah.

TC [00:23:11] But. But then they'll say, you're not like the other CPS workers. You're not the usual CPS worker on. But I know that you have to be a people person to be accepted by whoever you're approaching. Yeah, I might not be coming for the best of situations, but there's no reason that we have to have issues. I'm just here to try to resolve a problem.

LC [00:23:35] Yeah.

TC [00:23:37] But I believe it also came from when I worked in corrections. You know, a lot of. Coworkers felt that I was too relaxed or too too comfortable in the prison. But in my eyes. I'm not around criminals. I'm around people.

TC [00:23:56] People who just need choices. So I never felt worried, scared, threatened. Because whatever you did is whatever you did, it doesn't have anything to do with me. I'm just here to do my job. Yeah. So I was one of the ones who were able to talk to prisoners, just regular, everyday conversation. I mean, and I'm sure that helped them because who knows how long they're in there for. So if they can have just a few minutes of good conversation, that helps a day go by.

LC [00:24:25] Yeah.

TC [00:24:26] So of course, working in CPS, you never know what a child is dealing with. So if you have somebody just talking to a kid or working with the kid, making them feel comfortable or dealing with the parent who might be at their wit's end. Yeah, but then you have somebody who who can relate to them instead of judging them or talking down on them. That that matters.
LC [00:24:49] Yeah.

TC [00:24:51] So although it's hectic is worth it, it's definitely worth it because being able to feel like you've helped someone at the end of the day and them telling you, I appreciate you. Yeah, that that means a lot to me.

LC [00:25:09] Yeah. You know. Advocating for kids. It is. You know, my might be the most important thing that we can do. Kids don't get to advocate for themselves all the time.

TC [00:25:23] Right.

LC [00:25:24] So to put ourselves in that position and to say, hey, I'm going to put the kid first. You know, it's important and it's hard. Oh, yes. Yeah.

TS [00:25:34] They're going to be adults one day. You want to make sure you're grooming and having a part in the dots who are going to be here with you in the future and the people who are going to be moving the needle and moving the spectrum of the world. You want to make sure you're creating and healing good people. Like Terrance said, these are just people. We all have our flaws. We all make our mistakes. We need to learn from them. And somebody just needs to guide us and show us a better way. You want to make sure you are playing a role in the world that you want to be in.

LC[00:26:04] Yeah, so absolutely.

MR [00:26:07] But as I was sitting here and here and what each of us do, we're all helping people. You know, we're like minded in that wanting to help somebody succeed, want to help somebody do better and you don't know what. Like he said, one thing you can say that a stick with a kid and be like, I remember when the CPS person came to my house. I remember when my teacher told me this because when I'm training people, honestly, I'm not the only trainer. They will email me when you train in that session because the approach is all in approach and how you approach people. So that's why I think we do good with the business as well that people aspect of it because we have had people call and say, Yeah, I got that trailer, but it wasn't nothing like y'all. And we get a lot of referrals.

TC [00:26:54] A lot.

MR [00:26:54] Need a lot of referrals. So I was sitting here listening as we're all like minded in that aspect. I just want people to feel important and to help people.

LC [00:27:03] Absolutely.

TS [00:27:03] People feel like family when we pull up. Yes, we went to a house we had never met. We had never met this woman. When we pulled up over on the west side and she said, oh, my girl market adored her, so I got to come visit her. And that was just from them talking on the phone.

TC[00:27:18] On the phone.
TS [00:27:19] About about booking the trailer. When people call about the game trailer this, you're going to hear her or tears. Most times I'm busy and I feel like they worked the phones a bit better. So I'm more face to face. I feel like they work the phones. Great. So you're going to mostly deal with or hear her and me growing up with her already know how she is with people. So she's the same way over the phone. And if you even if you know, you need some financial help trying to get this going. Yes, we have our rules whereas you know, deposit down and all it is. But if you if you need some help we don't we don't mind. We don't mind. We thank you for the business. Okay. If you say you don't have it right now, when can you. Cool. We'll set that up. It's no issue. So we treat people like people.

LC [00:28:10] Yeah.

TS[00:28:10] We treat people like people. That's all. I mean.

MR [00:28:13] We treat people where we don't forget we been there and we still not too far from there. So, you know, you have to understand that I'm trying to give a birthday party for my eight year old. I can only give you half now, but I can give you the other half for you. Get there. Absolutely. For us, that's fine. Because the thing about it is, if you don't, the trailer doesn't pull up. You know, it's a trust factor. People, we are not far from that. And you have to realize in the economy that we're in and you're trying to do something nice for your child. Come on, we got. And you can't help to have some type of compassion with that.

LC [00:28:49] Yeah, absolutely. I can hear so many ways in which your upbringing and your background, your professional background, your education, you know, influenced the way that you do business today and the success of your business today. So it's it's so cool to hear. So tell us. So we're in 2020. This is before the world falls apart.

TC[00:29:11] All right.

LC [00:29:12] So tell me about the journey to imagining the business getting started and then full stop.

MR [00:29:20] It starts with this young man over this light rail. That's where it starts.

TS [00:29:25] So and it's a great story. So I love telling it. Yeah, I love telling this is true story. So when I was at Verizon. The workload became a lot. I have more responsibilities and the pay was staying the same.

LC [00:29:42] Yeah.

TS [00:29:43] So I wanted to do something else. I was just thinking I'm more than. Verizon. I want to do something different. So there was a gentleman in Lansing that had a young trailer. So my stepson at the time, he wanted it for his birthday. I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm like, Who would get that and why? You have video games at home. So when I saw. I was amazed. I was amazed and I was just asking him question after question after question, and he just worked only in Lansing, so nobody even knew that he existed. And he was fine in that pocket. He didn't need to go anywhere else. People will call him down to Detroit. It would be literally up to him whether he wanted to come down or not. He was good. So after he answered a few of my questions, I wouldn't research things for myself. A buddy of mine I went to high school with. I brought him in. We ended up coming up with something called a one up gaming lab, and we ran that for a couple of years. We weren't seeing eye to eye with the vision, so that one fell under. And I was in a really dark space when I fell under. I loved it. I love doing it. I love video games. I said, This is a great hobby of mine. But I was just thinking, I'm like, I'm never going to do it again. I'm never going to I'm never going to get it back. It's hard for a startup. Takes a lot of money to start start something like this. I mean, you see all of this technology takes a lot to start up. So we were at church one day and there was there was a speaker there and he said. Somebody is going to call you. Somebody is going to cost somebody about. That business is going to be a person, you least expect to get your business back up and going. I don't know why he was even talking about that. Right. This is.

LC [00:31:41] Pastor.

TS[00:31:41] Yeah. So. And we went down to the front and he pointed at me. And he said it's not going to be one business for you either. It's going to be multiple, multiple businesses, a see multiple businesses for you right here pointing to me. So I'm a static. I'm running through the charts, jumping up and down with my. Next day he calls and I'm like, What's up? Right. You ever think about getting that trailer back up and running? So I start tell it. It's probably sounded like a mad man telling them what happened. I'm like, Are you sick, bro? The pastor yesterday said this. He said that. You are definitely a person. At least expect to call me about this. You definitely are. And we started and we started to build from there and figure things out. I had an idea of what to do. We just needed to know how to how to, you know, just want to know how to find the funding to make it. To make it work. I already knew what to do and where to go, and I'm sending him pamphlets and things, breaking it down. So it was good that I already ran one before. So I knew what to do, right? I knew what went wrong last time. It's not repeat and how to make things better. So we got was we got the LLC in 2019.

LC[00:33:08] Right.

TS [00:33:09] We ready to roll?

LC [00:33:10] How did you come up with the name?

TC 00:33:13] I actually came up with the name.

LC [00:33:15] There we go.

TS [00:33:17] I'm like, I didn't.

TC[00:33:18] And I don't. I don't remember why. Round one stuck out to me. Um, but it's funny. If I could just backtrack just a little because one thing that Tyrrell didn't know, even when he had one up in my mind, I that I have to figure out a way to jump on. I need to be a a co partner or something because I saw how amazing it was doing. And it was something, like I said, that I just never seen. You did. No one had ID in Michigan except the guy in Lansing. So even when one went under, my mind was still know. No, we got to get this back on. We got to get it going.

TS [00:34:00] And I was in there like, I'm never going to do this again. That's me.

TC [00:34:06] But I finally called him. He said he was on board. And he came to my he actually came over to my house. We were speaking up different names, logos. And I think at first I said final round and we said nah. And that makes it sound like the end. Yeah. Round one say. Yep. Let's go with Round One. Yes, I like that
TS [00:34:32] I will give him a laugh.

TC[00:34:33] But it was crazy because then we have a promo video when we first came out and just being able to relate the main round one to the story of. Things that happened in life, things that happened with one wonder how we came together. Basically saying, you know, yeah, we we had a fight in that first round. But now we back up and we move it. Yeah, that was only round one.

LC [00:35:02] Yeah.

TC [00:35:03] So I felt like round one fit it perfectly.

TS [00:35:06] It did. It did. And before we and this was mom wasn't even pulled in yet, but she knew everything that was going on, but she wasn't there yet. And if we need it. We needed another person financially for sure. And me. And tears are very particular about who we want to invite into this space. And I was thinking her, but she wasn't saying anything. Right. I'm. She wasn't saying.

LC [00:35:35] Mom was winking at me.

TS [00:35:36] So I'm sitting here. I'm telling her all this stuff that we're doing and the struggle. And she's not saying like, hey, I'll I'll join on board. So I'm just sitting there, told her as far as I said, I'm gonna ask Mom. I said, listen, I think she'll do it because she saw how passionate I was. And I handle business. I handle business well. So it wasn't a situation where she would say, oh, no, I didn't like how you were. I didn't like I was rolling with that. So, no, I don't want to be involved. I called her and I think you said something. I might be paraphrasing something along the lines. It's like been waiting on you to, you know, ask me, like if she was like, you know, what it's like placed on my heart, what?

TC [00:36:17] I've been praying about it when.

MR [00:36:19] It happened with the business the first time. Yeah. Mothering thing. How can I help?

LC [00:36:26] Yeah.

MR [00:36:26] This is before him and Terrence even got together. That was my first thing. Thing I said, nope. God didn't tell me to jump in yet. Yeah, I have such a prayer life till I know when it's time. That went for, like, a whole year. I'm like, nope. God said nothing. God didn't say it. Nothing. And so then I started praying about it. And when he was talking to tears about, I said, Well, if he asks me cause God spoke to me after a year or so. And so I was walking, going to the park one day. And he called me. He said, Mom, what do you think about this? I said, Let me tell you a funny story. I said, I had already back in the day, wanted to help when it first didn't happen. I said, But God didn't tell me to do it. I said, So now that He's told me to do it, I'd be more than happy to join in with you. And he calls. You have to stop and look. A business is not something you just say, all right, I'm jumping into it.

MR [00:37:21] Right?

MR [00:37:21] That's not something and it's not. And so it had to be the right time. And I said I had prayed about it a long time ago, trying to figure out how to help you. So now that you're man enough to call me now, cause, you know, he didn't want to do it. He had to convince his self to act. Yeah, I said, I'm aboard. Tell me what I got to do.

TS [00:37:40] And it was. And it was great that I didn't because looking at everything, round one is having way more of an impact than one up did. A lot of doors that didn't open for me with one up are opening for round one. The vision I had, I always had a vision of bigger event, something more more than just birthday parties. So if this can be at a birthday party, this can literally add a unique experience to anything.

LC [00:38:15] Mm hmm.

TS [00:38:16] And. I'm not going to say that things are coming easy. But me and Terrence have a habit of just. Emailing people, knocking on the doors, calling people, saying, Hey, we exist, here's what we can add to your event. So we've done carnivals, weddings. We'll be at the auto show. We're everywhere. We were going to do Motor Bella, we were going to do Dream Cruise, but we were booked and the logistics didn't work for just one day. Yeah, but we're at. But we're at these, right. But where we want to be a part of these legendary events in Detroit. We want to be a part of it. We want to be at Comerica Park. We want to be at the auto show. We want to be motor dream cruise. We want to be a part of those seasons. So when you right. So when you go to these events, which I love, the auto show. So when you go to these events, I want you to remember that you saw round one there. You saw three people born and raised in Detroit at these events. You take it, you take it anywhere? Yeah. Not just for birthdays, for people to sit and enjoy. We're so far removed from sitting next to people and playing video games. That's how it was for us growing up. Now you pop online, you put headphones, or you talking to somebody across the world. And what is great? Well, that's great. It's nothing. Nothing like sitting right next to your friends or with a group of buddies and actually playing that game next to them to where you can talk, joke, talk, trash, have a good time. It's nothing. Human beings are meant to be around each other and communicate.

LC[00:39:54] Yeah.

TS [00:39:55] We bring that. We bring that right to you, and we bring it in a much cooler aspect than maybe your gaming setup is. You know, it's inside your home. It is. It's a whole you you just immerse yourself into a whole nother world when you walk in. We have kids walk off like, oh, it's like I just walked into to another world when I got off of here. Because you're on there and you're just immersed in this experience. Yeah. So, you know, we just create. We just create a different universe right outside your front door or any event that you're at.

MR [00:40:25] And we do a lot of adult parties.

TS [00:40:27] Oh.

MR[00:40:27] That's me. And parties. Bachelor parties. It's just parties, a lot of them not parties because they like to just get on and play too. You know, it's not just for kids.

TS [00:40:37] It's just, yeah, relax. I mean, video games is just something this all ages. That's something that connects people. I've always said it's something. It's a video game for everybody. Yeah, there's a video game for everybody no matter what shape, size or color. It's something for you that you love and enjoy.

MR 00:40:55] And I'm not even a gamer.

TC [00:40:57] Yeah, right.

MR [00:40:58] I'm not even a gamer.

TS[00:41:00] Right. Busy to see the reason I fell in love with video games for sure. I remember her coming home to old school Nintendo and a huge box. Of it had to be 50 to 60 Nintendos saying, wow. And I was like, Wow.

LC [00:41:19] I like that.

TS [00:41:20] That's that's my first experience. She always made sure I had the newest console when it came out because I was such a gamer. She always made sure I still don't know how she got this Dreamcast. She won't tell me, but whenDreamcast dropped, I mean, they were sold out. You remember people fighting on the news over just the last one minute. And I'm just. I made up my mind. Probably not going to get it. Probably not. And we went through Christmas. Still hasn't popped up like, you know, big deal. Got some nice stuff. It wasn't until I got to my grandmother's house and she came out with it with the dream guy. I cried like a baby. Happy tears. But like I was so I was so excited that that I had it. So she she always fed. She always fed my video game.

LC [00:42:17] Yeah.

TS [00:42:18] Energy. She never. You know, she never. It's a lot of people liked it, at least when we were growing up. Steer you away from that. You know, there's a lot of times where it was like, this is this is weird or you a nerd or is it cool? I always prided myself on being a nerd. Didn't care. That's not even care. Yeah. So I didn't mind. It was Cass. I'm coming in there with the Silver Dragon Ball tshirt on. Oh, I don't care. I don't care what you got to say about people. Nobody treated me any different. Right? Once you saw that, I didn't care. I pride myself on being this. Still me. I never you know, I never have. But everybody can't do that. So I'm actually glad that, you know, that stigma is starting to. Starting to go away a lot. Yeah. You know, if you don't play video games now, you look that.

TC [00:43:09] You don't like. You don't watch anime.

TS [00:43:10] You don't play video games. What? You know, it's I'm glad the world is going to a different place with that, for sure.

LC [00:43:15] Yeah. Um, so it sounds like, I mean, literally, your business is born by the grace of God with the blessing of God.

TS [00:43:23] Sure.

LC [00:43:24] That's. I mean, that's the only way to do it.

TS [00:43:26] And we keep him. We keep him in. And it's a meeting. That's cool. She's making sure she's praying before the meeting. I pray for prosperity for the business every day. I'm always thinking of something to do for the business every day. And so. So is he. We're just a bucket of ideas. Even our is just. You're always thinking of something you could do better. Just something to make a bit of a more unique experience for the people who are getting on there all the time. Like I sat there one day, so what if we had some Rugs video game characters on there? I say, Hey, what if we got some rugs and people loved the rugs and it just adds to the aesthetic of it.
TC[00:44:08] Other trailers reacted to the rugs from it.

TS [00:44:11] We got them, we got them made, custom made. Well, we always looking to do stuff we had idea which we got it we got to do since it's called round one. What if we had the birthday cake? Like take a pitcher and a round one box and cold boxing glue? Well, that's a great idea. Let's do it. Like, it's just like.

TC [00:44:32] Yeah, things to.

TS[00:44:33] Add to it. Yes. You're going to get the trailer in the video games. What separates you from everyone else? What separates you from everyone else? And it's those small things, the delays you plan with that kid who wants to play the video game with you, whether you know how to play it or not. You just hop on the sticks, the music, being involved, not just sitting. You got 3 hours and just sitting back. No, that's that's not what we do. We work, we get on there and we are active. We're talking, we're working, we're learning the kids, we learn the names. We we're involved. We in there, we and they're having a great experience with you. We So you get a party host with us.

TC [00:45:15] That was a few things that I wanted to touch on that like you say, interact with kids. But also, um, I was working in service in, in Detroit. Yeah. You know, if, if you heard him earlier, he's talking about the guy who won in Lansing. And to a certain extent, he basically said, I do not come to Detroit if I can help it, I'm not coming to Detroit. And we know trailers currently right now who said I do not want to do Detroit. So we notice we get calls from although we're in Detroit, they probably think that we're probably somewhere out or something. They said, Oh, do you guys come to Detroit. Pull up right, right. In those neighborhoods?

TC [00:46:00] And some people probably feel like, I don't know if I want to come to this neighborhood, but I think because this is where we're from. It doesn't bother us. I mean, we don't see anything wrong with it. Is it still happy? Kids don't want to have fun.

TS [00:46:15] That's it. That's it.

TC[00:46:18] But. The interaction, and I think that's what gets us the referrals. That's what gets us the return customers. Of course, I won't say their name out loud. The week that our trailer was was being shipped to us. There was a house in my neighborhood who had a game trailer pull up for open house for their senior that graduated from high school. That's it. I just need to go see what it looks like, what their inside looks like. So I walked down the street and, you know, the kids there getting in and also look. Okay, well. Was the owner. And I just happened to look. He's in the truck. Sleep. I see her. No. You're a part of the party. Yeah. You can't just pull up, say, just like you said. Okay, here you go. For 2 hours. Let me know when you're done. No, you have to be a part of the party. Yeah. And I think that played a huge role in how and why we were voted best in Detroit Amusement Center.
TS [00:47:26] Oh.

TC [00:47:27] That's because we we don't just pull up and say, here you go. Let us know when you're done. Oh, how the how you mentioned the the young lady earlier who never met mom, ever. Tell my girl, Markita . I mean, it's like, is that interaction you have to have that people person scale that that face to face, that that family vibe you have to. Because I feel that Detroit isn't just a city as a culture.

TS [00:47:57] Yeah, definitely.

TC [00:47:58] You want to have you like that family vibe. So if you're going to service Detroit, you have to bring that culture. You have.

LC [00:48:05] To. Yeah.

TS [00:48:06] I mean, a lot of times we live anywhere. We are part of the party and we're we're we in the back, Eden grabbing our plates. We are having a good time. We're talking we outside in the circle with the folks having a conversation. We're having a good time. We are part of the party and everybody's always so hospitable when we get there. And it's a reason for that. You're not going to be hospitable to just everybody. We've we've seen other things pull up, whether it's the ice cream truck or anything, and they're not being as hospitable to them as they are to us. But we immerse ourselves and into your family. I mean, we want to see you again and we want your support. We want you to tell other people. And like you said, we are part of the culture, too. We're from here. So your family.

MR [00:48:51] And we get that on our reviews a lot. The professionalism, they interacted with the kids, they were fun. And, you know, we got outside TVs on our trailer, too, and they'd be out there dancing with the kids, you know, on the dance moves. And that's important. And the other important part is kids and people like Bill, when you pull up, they'd be like, Oh, you work for us now. We own this. Every. Day. Every day is always like, Yeah, every time. They think they work or Oh yeah. Oh really? Yeah. It's shocking. Adele But that's something they can see. You can have ownership. Yeah. You know, they don't know anything about, you know, somebody only someday. Oh, you're rich. No, no, we're not there yet. We're not there yet. But it's good for them to even see that. Yeah, you know, and we take it to churches, you know, we get a lot of church events that way and it is, we get a lot more referrals than anything. Yes, a lot of referrals. Well, every time I take a call, this is Makita from round one gaming lab. Oh, yes. I'm trying to see if you have a game trailer before we go there. What's your name? I make it personal, personable with. What's your...Name?

TS [00:50:04] Yeah.

MR [00:50:05] And then I say, okay, that's okay, Terrence. And then what is your event about? And then they tell us. So before we go any further, let us check the date, because once you hear what we do and not send you to our website, you're going to be excited. So I don't want you to get too excited in the date's not available. That's fine. I'll talk to me like. Okay.

LC [00:50:21] Yeah.
MR [00:50:22] Okay. You know, you just be personable, you know, and I'll call you back. If there's any questions, just call us back. And ex you might get one of my songs, but if you want to talk to me, I'll talk to you. You know.

TC [00:50:33] I've had people call and say, Oh, I'd rather talk back to my people, but that's fine. That's right. Well, that's it...Is. And it's not just, you know, it's not just finance with us either. We we want to find ways and I want to find ways. We have found ways to to give back with the trial that we've done. Mike Morris Backpack Drive. We go to shelters and let them play on it for free for a few hours. Just ways to give back because you have kids who never experienced anything like this before and we want to make sure that you care. God blessed us with it. How can we bless other people with this? You know, the money will come. The money will be there. We want to make sure that we are really giving back to the city and being a part of the city. And as the money comes, I mean, people will be excited when they hear it round one as a part anything because we're going to give back the best we can. We're already thinking about, you know, what to do for Christmas and things like that. Like how can how can we what can we do to get a game?

MR[00:51:39] We have a game to some, you know, kid or something, do a raffle or something so that but I'm a true giver. I'm a giver. I've always been a giver because I know as a single parent it was hard for me. People used to help me and give to me. So I give back because I believe if you give, that's where the prosperity is going to come in. And because you're not selfish, once you're selfish with something, you'll never grow. Yeah, and I truly believe that. So yeah, they do the they do homes and you know we doing cots again next week. Yeah cots is coming up again that you know kids don't get the experience that like they say take they man off or where they're at right now going through a transition of being homeless coming out of a domestic violence situation. If you can give them two and 3 hours of fun, guess how much they will remember that later in life.

TS [00:52:31] You know, remember, if I ever.

TS [00:52:32] You know.

TS [00:52:33] Remember something like that, you know?

MR [00:52:35] And that's what we're about.

LC [00:52:37] So for those of us that, um, if we, if you haven't seen the trailer, can you guys describe it for us?

TS [00:52:44] It's 26 feet of steel is blue on the outside. And we made sure that we put very specific game characters that kids would know and adults would know so that when they see it, they're like, whoa! And not just video game characters. We put anime and comic book characters on here. So you're looking like, what is this? What is this big, huge thing? Yeah. Our logo is literally a neon sign, like in an old school arcade. It's a neon sign with O square K with the four buttons and a joystick arcade cabinet. So they're looking at that and when you walk in is completely black everywhere. When you turn it on those LED lights, it is colorful, is loud. It's a video game going on every TV, the music's blare. You got the comfortable seating he went in wintertime air. I love that air in the summer, for sure. I come here. Oh, I see why everybody is cool in here. What you are you are literally in with what most men would love to have is their man cave. They always come in like, So how can I get this in my basement? How can I get something like this? And that's what we we wanted to be. We wanted to be something that adults and children could both enjoy. So we didn't want to do a lot of a lot of colors and bright colors everywhere. We want to do something that fits for everyone. So it fits for the kids. And obviously, kids love LED lights. You open the door, they got LEDs. We got a PlayStation five. It's all about the LEDs. Oh, they got to be lights. They love those lights. And then the dots come in and they're like, This is really cool to just sit, sit and chill. Can we, could we throw something on here? You guys mind like we, you know, bring our drinks in here? Anything's like, no, come in and relax. We want to be a relaxing experience. That's how gaming should be, is to just take your mind off of whatever it is that you're doing. But as I always say to pictures, videos just don't do it justice. When you see it, when you actually see it pull up, they're always like, Oh, I did not know it was going to be like this.
MR [00:54:56] And as five TVs on the inside five big screens and then two on the outside. Wow.

TS [00:55:02] I want to get you active with the, you know, Nintendo switch sports and it just dance on those outdoor TVs for sure. And even that like we are outside dancing with the kids or just dance like, come on, let's get it. I'm out. I'm out here with you. I'm out here with you.

MR [00:55:17] And the parents pull up these lawn chairs and be outside barbecuing inside. So the whole family, a neighborhood, the neighbors come down, you know, and it's really nice. It's just a joyful time for everybody.

TS [00:55:28] You you get you gravitate to it. You gravitate to it. We did a we did a festival in Dearborn, and the gentleman was really he wanted it near a spot that would bring people to the vendors. And I was telling him, he's like, How are we going to get people over here? It was a weird question for me, right?

TC[00:55:51] Yeah.

TS [00:55:52] I'm like, What do you mean? But everybody doesn't understand what this really is and what it does. I'm said as soon as we park. People are going to come over, said one. They might not know what it is. Two, they know what it is, and then they're coming over here to be involved. I said, I promise you it'll be a lot of people over here. Don't you worry. So. All right, well, we'll try it out for the first day and we'll see how it goes. At first day we are going, Yes, but Nana's over there. I mean, we rotate in 20 kids is a line or day to get on this thing just to play for like 10 minutes. It's a line boy. And he came over and I'm inside. It's all 10 a.m. until you bloody I was wrong. It came out. I said, yeah, what's you saying. I said, I know. I said, but you were you.

TC [00:56:44] We were there few days. He came to us on his second day and said I was wrong.

TS [00:56:50] You got it. You just got something. You got it. Experience is, like I said, I was the same way. I said that game set for what played a game at home is different. I would play on there all day if I could. That's where I would do all my game and if I could do it, I would do it in there for sure. I would do it in there. I'm at home trying to get my set up like that at LED lights around the TV. I'm trying. To trying.

TS [00:57:16] To make it as if it is round one at home. What is it? It draws people there. Yeah, it draws people.
MR [00:57:23] And like he said, the pictures don't do any justice. And we are on Instagram. But when you get it there and people come in and say, Wow, I didn't know it was like this when we first got it, we took it to our church and let our bishop pray over. I believe in, God, be in and everything. So he prayed over it. When he walked in, he said, I've never seen anything like this.

LC [00:57:44] Yeah.

MR [00:57:45] You know, when you go on and you just, like, amazed, you just think you gonna see, you know, some video games, couple of TVs, and it's it just impresses everybody.

TS [00:57:53] You hear people, they get on, they say, we had a game in bus.

MR [00:57:56] But it wasn't like.

TC [00:57:57] There's nothing.

TS [00:57:58] Nice. And that's why I don't call it a game trailer, a game, a bus, we call it a game and let nobody else. Cause I've never seen anybody in the nation with something like this call it a game. And we are. We're creating. Yeah, we create moments in here. It's not. It's not arcade, it's not a trailer. No, this is a game and we're creating things in here.

MR [00:58:21] I like this game. We may have to put that on the website.

TS [00:58:24] We might always say it in person.

MR [00:58:26] That I like this.

TS [00:58:27] One. I say it and.

MR [00:58:28] Put it on our website. We're creating what are we creating where create, create and what kind of little moments. And, you know, we need to put that.

TS [00:58:35] Memories being creative.

MR [00:58:36] See how we start talking.

MR [00:58:37] So we need to put that on our website.

TS [00:58:39] We got you got it every night.

MR [00:58:41] All right.

TS [00:58:44] Next commercial. We next commercial.

MR [00:58:48] We have to solve each other like this. Something I didn't realize that we should put back. We create memories. And what kind of memories create? You know, we had discuss it now that he said it and that's how we do. If something bounce off one of us. Like one day I was like, okay, but we've been so busy as a school. Time is coming up. We need to give some school packages for schools that want to go back to school packages and put it up on the site and promote that. Well, we've been so busy, we have never.
TC00:59:16] Had a haven't have never had a chance.

MR [00:59:18] And then the International Detroit Auto Show has called us to be there for a full week. So now we're really busy, you know. So and that's a blessing in itself. Yeah. And like they both said, it's not about the money. When the auto show called us, we're getting exposure. Yes. We're not getting paid for this. But think of how many when you say international, I don't know how people don't take that. It's not Detroit Inter national. You know how much business we're going to get just from be in there. This is free marketing. Yeah. We look at things like that. It's not all about the the the money will come, the wealth would come. But you got to know how to promote what you're doing.

TC [01:00:01] And they told me that they're going to be doing work every day.

TS [01:00:05] Every day.

MR [01:00:06] That's hard work after leaving your family, your kids, and going to do that for a whole week because we know the results and the benefit that's going to come for, you know, with.

TS [01:00:17] And we know how much the auto show means to the Motor City. Yes. Something that you want to be be there for. They say, hey, we hit them up late. They say, hey, the buzz is already done. Already done. So no worries. Yeah. Find a spot for us. Give us some tickets. We'll be all right.

MR [01:00:32] Not next year. Put us on the bus.

TC [01:00:34] Right.

MR [01:00:36] But for now, cause once they see what it's about and how people gravitate, they will be calling back office. We will be in a budget. Sure. Mike Moore's gay back. He said how much you know we're giving back. You just like you're giving away backpacks and helping students.

TS [01:00:52] We want to be here.

MR [01:00:53] We just want to be a part of it. It's not about the way people give references from that alone, you know, like, hey, they came and did this as a community event. Shoot them some business. Yeah. The prize. What you get from just being a it's a blessing to be a blessing.

LC [01:01:08] Yeah.

TS [01:01:08] So it'll make you feel good.

LC [01:01:10] Yeah. So, I mean, here you guys talk like one of the coolest things that even though this is what you're doing all the time, you're still excited by games.

TS [01:01:18] Oh, yeah.

LC[01:01:20] Yes, yes.
TS[01:01:20] Boss. I'm this weekend, man.

TC [01:01:22] I know we.

TC [01:01:24] Get upset when we get home because a lot of times we say, Hey, let's hop on a game, we'll get home, okay? And we get home and we just now.

TS [01:01:31] We pull it away. Girlfriend pulling the driveway, wife pulling some somewhere. Kids, just like I said, I'll play the game right now.

TC [01:01:38] But that that's the actual that that person to to say that it's not just a business, it's not just money. This is what we like to do. So. If it's a small part and only a few kids will put the kids on TV's down here and we will have on a TV and even appearance like, oh, you guys play, too?

TS [01:01:58] Yeah, and.

TS [01:01:59] We're good at it. And they love watching us go and we are like going at it on there and they, they love it. And a lot of times, you know, you'll get a parent on it and say, well, my kid doesn't play video games. It's their first time as beautiful. Yeah, this is your first time playing a video. I still remember my first time playing a video game. And if you become a gamer, you remember your first time playing a video game. Hey, we got some recommendations. Let's put let's put you on something. Even if even if there's a kid who doesn't know how to play something. Hey, I got something for you. Let's, you know, let's. Let's figure it out. Let's always tell them try something new. I know they love Fortnite. I know. But you play it. You play it at home. They try. Try some other stuff. Sometimes they're like, Oh, no, I want to play it. I'll pop it in any way. Tends to be sitting there laughing. I'll pop it in any way. Put the controller in and say, I say, try it. And they'll stay on that game for the rest of the time. Yeah. It's like you. You got to try things. You got to try things. And then that's. That's a moment within itself. They're leaving.

TC[01:02:59] What was the name of that? That's.

TS [01:03:02] Yes, we've had like. Yeah. What is that?

TC [01:03:05] Where you playing? I think I want to get that for you guys.

TS [01:03:08] Yeah, we got you. You want to you know, you want to you want to create that. You want to create that.

MR [01:03:13] And then we have old school games for the adults that want to come on. Y'all don't have Pacman. Y'all have.

TS [01:03:18] Yes, we do. Every time they come in. Well, I haven't done this in a long. No, no. Play it. You said what you said.

MR [01:03:25] For old school games were built for them to come on with their kids and. And, you know, bodies being a part of.

TS [01:03:30] Yeah. Those two guys check mobile. They was going at it. They said you have to check mobile. Yes. They were
TS [01:03:34] On here for like.

TC [01:03:35] 2 hours. Atlantic Mobile have been having a blast. Yeah. And that takes you back to, you know, your child. It bring it brings you back. It brings you back. So it's a wonderful experience for everybody. And you love seeing those smiles and that happiness is as long as you win it right there, then you might see you might see something else. I see something else there. I'm getting off of here.

TS [01:04:04] So.

LC[01:04:05] You know, you guys are experiencing so much success. It it's so cool to see. Do you have any advice for other people that are trying to start businesses? It is not easy in the beginning. And, you know, people have the highest of highs and they have the lowest of low.

TC[01:04:22] We've been there.

MR [01:04:23] We've been there. We just had. A lot of....

TS [01:04:24] Good. Yeah.

LC[01:04:25] Yeah.

TS[01:04:26] A lot of stuff was just going wrong that we had to pay for and it was just a bad spot.

LC [01:04:31] Yeah. Tell us about those lows and then how do you how did you get through them?

TS [01:04:36] So we've we've had situations where recently. Oh, my. What was it? Oh, it was the. It was the train. No it wasn't the transmission, it was the trailer Cor. No. The keys were locked in the trunk. Oh, the keys were locked in the trunk? Yes, we had an event. I didn't have time to wait, so we had to get a truck. We got a truck leave. Unlike the trail record to start, it is in the truck. So now I got to go buy one. And Mom's constantly on the phone, you know, with this woman letting her know, hey, he's on his way.

TC [01:05:19] For 6 hours, I think. Yeah, it's probably one of the only ones who really booked and I mean, a large time.

LC [01:05:28] Yeah.

TC [01:05:29] So of course we're like, there's no way we can refund her than we have to make. We got to....Go. We got to make this happen. And I'm at stores, I'm doing everything I can possibly do. And it just got to the point where it was like, this event's not happening for her today is not? It's just too many things going wrong. Yeah. Because then the trucks aren't that the brakes on the truck that I had were very bad and I said I can't make it 40 minutes on these brakes with this. I'm, I run into somebody. It was it was just something that we couldn't do. It was something that we couldn't do. And as upset as I know that she was. Mom made sure. Made sure everything. She was very appreciative by the time her event didn't even go through. She was very appreciative. Yet we had to refund some money. You know, we had we had some hardships. We weren't able to do that event because it was a large she was having like a mini carnival. So we meant we missed something big here. We missed out on something big. And then you have the you know, the repairs or tire may go bad and use this Sunday. And you build for three events. Nobody's. You can't do anything. And now, before you're even buying a tire, your refund and thousands of dollars for for one day back to people. And not only that but I mean these people are upset. This has been planned for a very long time. But we try to make sure we do things. Hey, next event 50% off its been times next event on us hey just let me know the date will be there because we under and you can get your money back once we understand a plan and planning something and then the star of the show doesn't show up. What do you do now when this is what you said would be here? Car repairs like transmission going out? I mean, our truck was down for about two weeks and then that was we had to get a transmission rebuild. That's money. We're just sitting there like, oh, what are we going to do? And then I.
TC [01:07:34] Think I think we're probably the only trailer who has an older vehicle pull in the truck.

TS [01:07:40] Yes, yes. Yes. We're brand new truck.

TC [01:07:43] We've you know, we had to go off of what we were able to give funding because.

MR [01:07:47] We have it. Yeah, we have. And get to the part where we can get a new truck. So anybody listen to from the auto show be okay.

TS [01:07:54] Right. Oh we Ford anybody. Hey, we will slap we will slap a logo on the side of that trailer and pull it pulling with grace.

MR [01:08:01] We're trying to look for a blessing in that cause. Our truck is really old house after we pay for the trailer. Of course you know the truck and you saying and what advice do you have for people first of all get if you're doing it by yourself or if you're doing it with somebody, do your research.

TC [01:08:17] Yes.

MR [01:08:18] Don't jump in. Do your research. He had a lot of knowledge, but still, Terrance was doing research before he even came to him. You got to do your research. You just can't jump in here at first, you know, and we had a lot of people, you know, telling us different things when we went to a company and they told us, you can do this, you can do that, do your research, stop. Pray about it, talk about it. Don't just jump in. And with us are being like, mind it that way. That helps because people like, Oh, I want to do this, just jump in and then you lose a lot. So I believe research and infers being with like minded people, that's what happened with him before. It wasn't like mind. We are like minded for the same goal. Even though you have different people and maybe in the smartest you know, even though you have different people, you still. We are like minded in the goal we're trying to reach. Yeah, we do not make a decision without everybody saying okay, right. If one person say No, I don't think so right now we just got it back.

TS [01:09:19] You have to be receptive.

MR [01:09:20] You got to be.

TS [01:09:20] Out of me.

MR [01:09:21] You can't get mad. Oh, he don't want to do it right now. Our mom saying this and trip and they can see it if they want to perhaps back. I don't care. But we all be like minded before we make any decisions. That's even paying the bills.

LC [01:09:33] Yeah.
MR [01:09:33] Do we have a right now to get to. Yeah. They not going in just pull him out on paid his bill. We on one accord and that like minded in itself cause you're going to have some lulls you're going to have some highs but when the low come who's ready to jump ship? None of us. Yeah, cause lulls are common, you know, whether you're profitable at this time, when the time comes, that's the slower money. What we got to do to stay on top of it. We got to promote some more. We got to let people know we're open all year round. People don't think that's come in in the winter time. People look.

TS [01:10:05] Make sure we...

MR [01:10:05] Let them. We make we're open 24 and we send out what I like. We like I say, we're all like minded. We send out e-mails, send out emails for Father's Day to all our customers. We send out emails on Mother's Day to our customers. We send out emails just thanking them for the referrals. We just go in a database. You have to let your customers know. We appreciate you just as much as you appreciate us. So yeah, I'm a big person about praying, being on one accord. He prays prosperity every day. I do to Terrence pray. We're praying about succeeding and always pray to God let us stay like minded because this is three different people, you know, three different personalities, you know. So and I do I believe it starts with light mindedness, doing your research, knowing what you're going to do in that jumping in and he at first yeah.

LC [01:10:55] And–

TS [01:10:56] Prepare prepare for those low moments and take a lesson out of out of everything. So anything that may go wrong can go wrong. We try to arrive to events way earlier because something could go wrong. We could get a flat, anything, anything could just go bad. And you want to make sure you have enough time. You want to make sure you always have a backup plan. Generator could go out, right? What do we do? Have a backup generator that we could just load on the truck and keep going while we're dealing with this. Be prepared for those things. You got to think about it. What will we do if that happens? What do we do if that happens? So. Flat tire we got next. Not seriously said we're going to get a spare and we're going get a jack. And if if it's a Sunday, I'm changing the tire. That's so. So we did that. So learn. Learn from those mistakes. And just also try to be prepared for them to happen and be receptive to your team. And if you're so low, I think you should get a partner at least for something. Even if they're not being directly involved with the business, try to bring them in, I think. I think having a team really, really, really helps. It really helps for sure. I read that in Kevin Hart's book. He was he was doing comedy. He needed somebody to bounce these jokes off of. He needed people to, you know, keep him in line, hold him accountable, all those different types of things. So he had a team with him. He had five different people. They started doing comedy with him as well. But before that, they were literally just there to assist him. Do these jokes work? What can I do? What should I do? What should I do with this money? Should I perform at this club? All those types of things. If it's just you, you're just going to think like you.

LC [01:12:48] Yeah.

TS [01:12:48] You can't just. You can't just think. Think like you. You have to have a different perspective for sure.

MR[01:12:54] And that accountability, I believe in I don't know if you share with Terence and I'm not going to share it, but he did something I didn't like at the Spirit of Detroit. I brought it to his attention. He said, You're absolutely right, Mark. So you got to make him you know, you got to make each other accountable. So, yeah, you know, and.

TS [01:13:10] He'd be re...Be receptive. To that. Nobody's telling you anything for absolutely no reason. It's always for your benefit.

MR [01:13:16] And it's all of our business. So we have to make sure we're keeping each other accountable, you know? So yeah, that that's important accountability part and just sharing ideals and thoughts. Terrance had the idea about putting all the game trailers that we knew about down to Spirit of Detroit. This happened in two Sundays ago, so everybody knows we're out there. Nobody's charge and nothing. Just people just come and play for free. And that got business for us and everybody being down there now. We got a couple of places that won't all be game trailers at one time at an event, but we did that for free for marketing, but now we're getting what blessed behind it. So, you know, he's always he can come up with something.

TC 01:14:03] He come away.

TS [01:14:04] He does he sits and comes up with some wow, I. Don't even. Think about it. I'm just like, wow, I don't want to do that. Let's do it. Let's, let's, yeah, let's do it.

TC [01:14:14] I've been preaching team since earlier this year. Team teams and just like how we see it, not necessarily a business partner, just somebody who is in support of you or can help you in some type of way and you help them. We have a certain guy who basically does all of the work on our truck. That's who we always go to. Yeah, he will always promote our business. We go to this one person that does all of our pictures, videos, social media, graphs. We stick with him. Yeah, he promotes. We have a team of different people who do different things that has nothing to do with the trailer. But we know how to support each other and how to work off each other. And that's what I've been trying to tell people. Find your team, find those people who aren't a part of your business, but help your business and sometimes.

TS [01:15:09] Keep your business going.

TC[01:15:11] Because I feel like so many for a long time, some people have got into the mindset of I don't need nobody is just me, me against the world. And it's like it doesn't have to come. There's not nobody. They don't want your money. They don't if you're worried about split money with somebody, that's not what it's about. Just have somebody in your corner to help you. Yeah. Oh. So I think of having this solid team and we tell people so much like the people who we work with and deal with, we probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. But then we have a close friend. He was. He was at the party with us. Um. Last week. He's been trying to get into media and things like that. And he used a video that he did of a bus driver. Mm hmm. And he brought it to the media company that he applied for.

MR [01:16:09] And got.

TC [01:16:10] The job. Wow. And he told us he say anything you need. I got you. But at the same time, we never will say the word. Never. Anytime he's done anything for us, we never expect him to do it for free, ever. Even though we're close to him, we're cool and we talk to him every day. No, you have a business.

MR [01:16:30] Business is.

LC [01:16:30] Business.

TC [01:16:31] Yeah.

TC [01:16:32] But that's the professionalism. And the respect goes a long way because you never want to feel like, Oh, we know each other. You should just do it for me. Right. So I appreciate the other business owners that we are around and I do feel like we kind of formed a team with. Those are the trailers we had that day. I presented that idea to say, Hey. I basically brought it up as like a food program. Yeah, I said, but it's just all video game trailers. I said. And one thing that I have to notice usually were food truck rallies. Food trucks have to pay to be a part of it. So you guys don't have to pay to be a part of it is look at it as free promo. So yes, you're going to be running for some hours for free. So if if you don't that you can do it for free. I understand. I get it, obvs. But we've already done.

MR [01:17:29] How many.

TC [01:17:30] Countless number of events for free solved....

TS [01:17:32] Business if you get one person from it. Yeah that's that's what's your time there today.

TC [01:17:38] So after we have that event could have been maybe two or three days later got a call saying, hey, we want to do this with you guys again, but we want to pay you guys. And I just sent the emails. I said, I just told you guys trust the vision.

LC [01:17:55] Yeah.

TC [01:17:56] You just is just trust. I get it. You know, here now we're free of it, but I think I know what I'm doing.

LC [01:18:04] Yeah, absolutely.

TS [01:18:06] Do that type of stuff.

TC [01:18:07] Yeah, yeah, he really does.

TS [01:18:09] And we and we try to make sure we're working with businesses like minority owned businesses. Yeah. We try to make sure where we get our graphics printed, where we get our trailer fix, who makes our logos and does our videos. He's trying to do something where we shoot and something where it'll be. It'll be a fake party at his house. It won't. It won't be fake. It'll be all of us there. And my friend has a hooker business. He'll be there. Set up. We got to. But he has bounce houses. He will be set up and they will be set up. And then our buddy who does media, he'll be set up. We'll make it one. Be a commercial. Say what if you had all these things together and...

LC [01:18:48] Yeah, yeah.

TS [01:18:49] What if you had all these things together? It's our event. Just to help. Help them out and help us out. I'm like, That's a great idea. Let's do that. Because most events you go to, those things are there. Yeah, yeah. It's like, Hey, we have people to do that too. So, you know, just having pull up. So he's always coming up with something.

LC [01:19:06] One of the best parts about black businesses is that they often support each other. Right? And make sure that everybody comes up together. Everybody flourishes together. So it sounds like you guys absolutely try to support black owned, minority owned businesses in your own journey.

TS [01:19:24] Oh, for sure. Even the rugs. I was on Etsy and I said, let me pause for a second. I think I know somebody that makes rugs. That's black.

LC [01:19:32] Yeah.

TS [01:19:33] And we did.

LC [01:19:34] Yeah.

TS [01:19:35] I'd just rather give the business to you. Absolutely. They're fine. And they work for mobile five stars. I see. They're doing great.

MR [01:19:42] And they were promoting themselves. Now another game. Charlize, where'd you get it from then? When we first met.

LC [01:19:47] Absolutely.

TC [01:19:48] But that's one thing that I've been thankful for. You know, sometimes you are skeptical. Let's say, you know, we get booked for an event that's somewhere way out. So it's like, okay, how will they perceive us? How do they even know that we're black before we pull up? Yeah. And you can tell us in some of the areas like oh, but then of course at the end of the part of it, they confirm.

TS [01:20:15] Come on, come on. Oh yeah, they're okay.

TC [01:20:17] Yeah.

TC [01:20:17] The first one is, you know, but it's like, yeah, that means a lot because of course we, we want to support the black community, want us to support black businesses, but to be able to say that. All communities, all businesses. That's why I like them. That's right.

TS [01:20:34] Like literally all communities. And that's the thing. Video games are very, very diverse. There's a lot of inclusion.

TC [01:20:42] A carnival in Dearborn.

TS [01:20:43] It's a lot of inclusion with that.

MR[01:20:45] Yep. That was the era of.

TC [01:20:46] Predominantly Middle....

MR [01:20:48] East.

TC [01:20:49] So it's like, okay, you know, how will we be accepted? You know, we want to make sure that we don't violate any type of anything dealing with any type of cultures or anything like that.

TS [01:21:00] So we didn't. So we didn't. We noticed that the music selection was what it was. Make sure I didn't play any music. We respect whatever community you know that we're in. I made sure I didn't just go on a music playlist I wanted to because it's my business. No, you booked this for this. This is your event. We'll follow suit with whatever it is it's trying to build here. Yeah. So you definitely. That's another thing. Respect your customers. You're not.

TC [01:21:23] Thank you.

TS[01:21:24] You don't have a business without them. You don't respect them even when it's hard to you respect respect them even when it's hard to treat these customers with respect. Because if you didn't have any, you wouldn't have a business.

MR [01:21:38] That's right. And there's a lot of people when I'll always it's just me. X How did you hear about us? Always that's how did you hear about us? I went on Google looking for black businesses and you popped up. Some people don't want to deal with anybody but black businesses, and we appreciate that. And you know, some people somebody referred me. Who was it that referred you? Because we want to send a thank you to that person that referred us. We don't like our customers that think we take anything for granted or even forgot about them, you know? So and that goes a long way. That goes what? Like when he sent out the Father's Day email to people like, man, thanks for thinking about things.

TC [01:22:14] Like what?

MR 01:22:15] Expect an open email from you. You know, business are not personable like that anymore. Everything is so cut and dry and.

TS[01:22:22] It's not just Happy Father's Day. Yeah, right. No, I'm actually is actually me typing to you just like I'm talking to you. Yeah. It's not just, you know, Father's Day from round one. Keep it, push it. Not you get a you get a warm you get something warm from us for sure.

LC [01:22:38] You guys, we're touching on something important, you know, as people of color and, you know, opening your own business, you come into a lot of roadblocks. And some of those can be because of, like, what you look like. Mm hmm. You know, just speaking from personal experience, there are a lot of days when you feel really crap because because you feel like there are social things that you can't control. So what advice do you guys have for when you're faced with those moments when you're like, This is not right? How do you get through it?
TS[01:23:13] Those moments are going to happen and be vocal about them as well. Yeah, it's not going to be an experience where I feel something was racial that I won't. Speak out about and say, hey, this. This isn't.

LC [01:23:29] Right. Yep.

TS [01:23:31] And that that goes you know, that goes with anything. Even if it isn't about race, like, hey, this isn't this isn't right. But we know that there are doors that are closed as far as whether it's funding.

LC [01:23:43] Yeah.

TS [01:23:44] Whether it's the cards you were dealt because I was born with the skin color you were born with, you know, you're going to face those adversities, know that you're going to face them and know how to get around them. And that's why it's important for us to support and work with black businesses and make sure that you, you know, that they exist is very important to do that because this a lot of is funding out there and hey we having a hard time finding it too. But it's funding out there is grants for minorities. It's grants for women. Thing is, if people don't know about them and aren't applying for them, what do they do? They take that money away and they don't they don't use it. If the money isn't getting used, they take it away. So researching is a part of that going research what black grants there are, what minority owned grants that there are, is things out here for you. You got the Motor City match this out here. Find out about these things and be a part of them. Motor City match, for example. Like this isn't racial, but it says it's for brick and mortar. Mm hmm. I talked to somebody from the city of Detroit, and she said, What's stopping you from applying anyway? Maybe they didn't think of you. Maybe they didn't think of mobile. Make them think of it now. Apply when it opens up. I said you right. You didn't tell me because I stopped. Because I just stopped there. Hey, you got to save some for the cameras. So you so.

TS [01:25:15] But yeah, Pam said that she called. I said, what's stopping you? You know, from from doing that. Yeah. So you'll be face you'll be faced with those things. You will just. Let people know how that made you feel. Educate them if anything offends you, because a lot of times some people just don't get it. Educate them and push forward and just be vote. Be vocal. Be vocal. I'm very vocal with things like very vocal. It's extremely you're going to get you're going to hear about it. I'm I'm waiting waiting to email town before as well. And just just based off of just based off of how the contest goes, I personally don't feel that. Even though we won that we should have been up against Dave and Buster's a national chain. That's not a local business. There are way too many local businesses that should have shined in that contest. Right. That that people could have learned about in that contest. And you have somebody who doesn't know who we are or anybody else and they like. But I know Dave and Buster's click Yes, the nation does, because it's a national chain. It is not a local Detroit business. Checkers is not a local Detroit business. They shouldn't be going up against best fries from Mike's Bar, who's been in business for over 30 years. He should get the he should get the shot McDonald's. You know, it shouldn't be like that. That's not a racial thing. But we're a local business and it's way too many local businesses in Detroit. That's the song. Keep it local, especially if I look at all these local businesses. Checkers is a local McDonald's. It may be your local checkers. Right. But no, but that is a franchise. Yeah.

MR [01:27:05] Keep it fair.

TS [01:27:06] That's a franchise. Keep it. Keep it fair. Because we have I was a bit worried. Oh, yeah. I said, man, we going up against Dave and Busters and C.J. Barrymore is this is okay that's of.

TC [01:27:20] We figure Comerica Park had a sign outside the door like.

TS [01:27:23] Yes that's kind of.

TC [01:27:25] First, you know.

TS [01:27:26] You mean C.J. Barrymore's? That isn't in Detroit. That's C.J. Barrymore. That's where, you know. So that's what I'm thinking. That's what I'm thinking. Oh, the one they wouldn't even welcome. You know, they wouldn't even welcome some people from Detroit out there like Celeste. Let's be serious, Celeste. Support the people who are opening doors up for us in a sense.

MR [01:27:45] So Detroit.

TS [01:27:46] Busy. Right. So, you know, I'm waiting I'm I'm waiting right now. But they'll receive something later like, hey, how about we rethink this a bit and wait on them to send out, like, any comments? You guys got any comments? I'll send something out. Like to let them know.

TC [01:27:59] We had a time when we first kind of when we first opened, there was a guy who. He kept messaging us, kept texting us back and forth. We were trying to figure out if he was going to book us. And I would say, hey, you know, we know you reached out. You said that you were interested. You know, did you want to book that? And this was mom talking to him. So she finally called and said, hey, you know, we've been going back and forth. I just wanted to finalize some things which he's yeah, I messed up. The company I'm thinking of was a white guy. I want the one with the white guy. I don't want you guys.

LC [01:28:36] Wow.

TC [01:28:37] But now, of course, anybody could have gotten upset. What do you mean? But, Mom, she said that's fine. He'll call us back.

MR [01:28:46] Cause I'm this. Yeah, if.

TC [01:28:47] I'm not mistaken. Yeah. A few months later, he called.

MR [01:28:50] Back. All money is not good money.

TC [01:28:53] You know, we don't. I don't do business with you.

MR [01:28:56] You know, you're prejudiced about it. And Terence used to say, Do you feel we don't get businesses when they call and hear that we're black? I said, probably not. I said, Some people call them they're black and we're black and they don't want to deal with black.

TC [01:29:07] People, you know? And that's true.
MR [01:29:09] That's the true. So we can't get offended about what God has for you, is for you. And you say, how do you feel about it? Like he be ready to voice his opinion. When I wake up every day, I'm still this color. Mm. I don't have no kind of. I don't have no kind of insecurity about it. And I'm gonna still do what I do and be proud about it, so it don't bother me at all. It used to bother him. Real bad idea. Some of these people, they don't call back because they know we black. We don't want it. Okay, that's good, cause we don't want to put our self in a predicament of going. And you have that problem. And we were the only cause, you know, we have such a great gang, Charlie, but we black. So I really don't know if I want you or not. And we get there and we're treated a certain type of way we can pull off and refund you.

LC [01:29:54] Yeah, absolutely.

TS [01:29:55] We will.

MR [01:29:56] We will not be uncomfortable.

TS [01:29:58] We pull up to some suburban places and they're like, so how long have you guys been working here?

TC [01:30:02] Every time we work.

TS [01:30:04] Here and work here, buddy.
TC [01:30:05] We all on this. Oh. Oh, also, I'm sorry. You guys don't.

TS [01:30:09] Also, how long have you. Yeah, well, so why is that your first thought or stop working for that? No, this is us. And they know. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, well, then I want to know more because they want to know more or. Right, right now you want to know. You want to know more. But it's always funny that you get.

MR [01:30:29] That's the.

TS [01:30:29] Fact that we work here instead of on in this. Like you just automatically perceive that.

LC [01:30:36] Yeah, absolutely.

TC [01:30:37] Yeah. I love it, though, because I mean, kind of like how you asked earlier, you know, about, I guess, advice for other businesses. Yeah. For us to be able to deal with that and work with. Then we can we know a lot of people who either have been businesses or getting ready to open a business and we can say, hey, this is something that you're going to deal with. I'm not going to say you you're going to deal with this. This is the best way. Without a doubt. This is the. Because, of course. You don't want to see anyone be that business. That's. On the news. A business owner fired employee because he didn't like what he said. It's like you, although we're not saying take disrespect, but you also have to understand you're not going to like everything I said. You're not going to like every situation. You're not going to like every scenario. But for the most part, you have full control of how you go about whatever happens.

TS [01:31:36] Because it's your business, because.

MR [01:31:38] You got to let it roll off your back.

TS [01:31:40] And they have to sign a document where if we feel unsafe or disrespected or anything.

MR [01:31:46] We will.

TS [01:31:46] Shut it down. And you we've had to shut down one party and it wasn't for anything. Races is the fight broke out and I'm said, we're not safe here. Yeah, let's go. Like, there's too much equipment. I say, sorry, we turned it down and, you know, no refund and do not call for one because they're fighting inside. Who was going to pay? It would have been more. Yeah. If something broke, you would have been coming out of your pockets. More money. So let's just. Let's just all part ways here. But we, you know, you. So when he said you can go about it the way you want, that's one of our exits. If I feel like I'm not safe, I will let you know. Or if I feel offended to that point, I'll let you know. And I'm disappearing. And you sign something that's.

MR [01:32:27] Signed a Waiver. You agree? You agree if this if this occurs. But we haven't had too much of of of that. We haven't had too much of that. I do think certain suburbs in the area don't work with us because of our color. But like I said, it's fine. I want to be a part of the Detroit growth anyway, you know. But yeah, I do feel feel like some doors are set on us and it's like your core is going to be to the point where you're going to have to, right? Yeah. You're going to have to. You're going to be your Interview on Channel four. I seen your interview all seven. Oh, you guys did so great. Are you two people come on out.

TS [01:33:09] Yeah. You're going to be you're going to be at a meeting and they're going to say, hey, we need a game trailer here. And is this is the one to call?

LC [01:33:16] Yeah, absolutely.

TS [01:33:17] You know, you're going to you're going to have to call the one that's you know, that's that's the staple. You're going to have to I mean, that's the people people want the best for their event. You're going to. You're going to have to. Yeah. Or, you know, I mean, because somebody else is just may not be the same experience. And that's and that's, you know, that's that's what you that's what you all have to deal with there.

LC [01:33:37] Yeah.

MR[01:33:37] And also they are pull up and it's just like a sense of entitlement.

TC [01:33:43] Mhm.

MR [01:33:44] You know they, they really get upset like they think they entitled this is our business, you know, they want to, they want to come in and tell you what to do.

LC [01:33:52] Yeah.

MR[01:33:53] And they have to slow them down like we got.

TS [01:33:55] It under control. Yes. Yeah, we got everything under control. We, we just say, hey, we appreciate it. We got it under control. Your event is going to be great. You. You don't run one of these. I'm sorry. You do not know what to do. Like you. You just don't know what to do. So let us. Let us handle it. We're professionals. Yeah, we're professionals. We know what we're doing.

MR [01:34:17] And before it's over, they offered you food and drinks. In a typical day, we go, you know, cause they see that they didn't take it that way. How they had you react, how do you react to something? Gets a reaction. You got to be careful how you react to things. So they very professional with it no matter what, because at the end of the day you're going to have a good time. You already paid for it. So hey.

LC [01:34:38] Yeah, so I have three annoying questions for you. So one is, what does hustle mean to you?

TS [01:34:46] Oh. So like he said, that's that's embedded in Detroit. That's embedded in Detroit culture. Hustling. Getting it by any means necessary. Making something that is your own. And even if you're not, you know, even if you're not making something that's your own. It says hard work is dedication. That's what Detroit was built on and founded on. And that's still what we're going through now. Like I said, we're growing right now. Everybody remembers the growing pains that Detroit went through. We all over national lose as the worst city. We got things going on with our mayor. I mean, look at his growth. So it's things it's things that are going to hit you. But you never stop going. You never start that hard work. You're going. You're hustling, you're grinding to get whatever success it is that you want, no matter what it is. If you're trying to get a in school and you're studying every day, going to tutoring you, hustling to get that a you are, it's whatever it is. And that's that's something that Detroiters pride themselves or anything that we do. It's a hustle to get to it. We just automatically know we have that. We have that about ourselves, our sports teams have that, our businesses have that, our officials, our elected officials have that. It's just hard work and dedication and whatever it is, whatever you're doing, you're going to make it happen by any means necessary. Yeah, for sure.

LC [01:36:09] What about Hustler?

TS [01:36:14] Go ahead. I'll take it.

MR[01:36:15] Well, no, I mean, when you were talking, I was thinking a hustler is somebody who has a drive to do it. I'm a hustler. I'm going get it. You know, I'm a get it. And I've been a hustler a long time being a single mother. And that's what I look at. Somebody has to drive to get to where they want. They got to have cause he told his ass on me the other day. I said, I'm a hustler. Okay, so it has that drive to make it happen. What you your dream is a drive to make your dream happen. I'm a hustle and do what I have to do. I'm a hustler. I'm a dreamer, you know? And we all had this dream, you know, and imagination. Don't let nobody ever take your imagination. That's your drive. Cause up here that imagination nobody can take away. So a hustler to me is somebody. What? Drive to get to what they want. Their dreams and their imagination and what they know they can build.

Speaker 2TSnot because to make this business to happen, we had to lose. We had to hustle to make it happen. We had to do the things that we had to do to get it here and make it work. And we still have to hustle every day. We're not you know, we're not like we're not where we want to be right now, where we want to be. And we still hustling to get there. And if you never lose that, I mean, it's it's glass ceilings. Yeah. You just keep you just keep going.

TC [01:37:34] I think the best example of that with us in our business, I want to say we had a week where we just had a list of people and businesses that we were going to. We also we said we're not going to wait for people to reach out to us.

MR [01:37:49] That was not where.

TS [01:37:50] You want to go. Yeah.

TC [01:37:53] City officials, apartment hall, recreations, different school districts where, hey, this is who we are. This and that. Not even necessarily. Hey, do you want to book us? Is this is who we are? This is what we are. If you're interested, let us know you.

TS [01:38:10] Know what's going on, I said.

TC [01:38:11] And I think that there are travelers who ask, oh, how did you booked for this hot. And we have no problem.

TS[01:38:18] We we hustle, man. We knocked down.

TC [01:38:20] I couldn't wait for them. For them to come to us. Yeah. We're going to you. We're going to show you why you want us.

TS [01:38:27] They don't know we exist. How do you know? So you have to tell people you exist. You have to show fireworks. That was a hustle.

TC [01:38:35] He's the guy who was over said, Oh, we already have a game trailer booked for this. Said, I guarantee you it's not like ours. I promise she was nothing like, oh.

MR [01:38:46] They dropped that one.

TC [01:38:47] Dropped other one. But wow the fireworks and he emailed us the next day. So I want you all back next year. Wow. It's like you have to have that hustle and that, that, that because I think that the word pride has a bastard. You have to have that be your best to say we're the best I know we're the best. And this is why we're the best.

TS [01:39:07] And that's why you need us here. You got some? Yeah, that's fine. Well, you don't have us.

MR [01:39:12] We don't have we don't have a $3,000 billboard on the expressway. We don't have $5,000 worth the commercial. So the hustle is us going to get it, not it coming to us.

TS [01:39:25] Yeah. You know, so hustlers go to active talking just you you got to do you have to do the legwork. We we don't have the I think we do more than a billboard could ever do billboards if we drop a drop as billboards all the time. I can't name a time where I did something because a billboard said it. I can't. It's just. It's just a billboard.

MR [01:39:48] And you don't have time to read it anymore, right?

TS [01:39:50] I'm driving. It's like, Oh, okay. Yeah. Look at this law firm right here. I'm good most times where people going nowadays, where they see a billboard or not is word of mouth. It's referrals or they're Googling it. That's that's always happen. And we're not even a top on Google. If you just type in game trailer we'll pop right it is you know so we still hustling to get to get up there with that we talk about.

TS [01:40:12] That after how do we get to that number one spot on tape and video video game trailer and.

TS [01:40:20] It is right there. Yeah. So we be hustling to get there. But yeah, we do what we have to do. We do that legwork is our work. But I mean, you got to do it. You got to get your feet. You gotta get your feet wet, guys. Hands dirty with.

LC [01:40:32] Yeah, absolutely. Well, this was so fun and cool to talk to you guys.

TS [01:40:38] It was. Thank you.

LC [01:40:40] I'm going to hit the stop button.