The Morning Formation (TMF) Podcast
In life, we all face battles—some are visible, and others are fought within.
The Morning Formation (TMF) Podcast dives into the journeys of those who have not only survived adversity but transformed it into strength, success, and purpose. Hosted by KP Phillips, a combat military veteran, Bronze Star recipient, law enforcement veteran, BJJ Practitioner, and proven leader with years of experience, this podcast explores stories of resilience, mentorship, survivability, and transformation.
From the frontlines of Mosul during Operation Iraqi Freedom to the heart of Southern California, KP knows what it means to adapt and thrive beyond struggle. Whether it’s about bouncing back from personal loss, rebuilding careers after setbacks, or finding new missions in life, TMF Podcast takes you beyond the struggle and into the heart of real-life triumphs.
Tune in, & discover how you, too, can turn obstacles into opportunities, survive the toughest of battles, and emerge a hero of your own story.
The Morning Formation (TMF) Podcast
Firefighter Jermol Edwards Saving Lives After Service
What does it take to balance the demands of a first responder with the entrepreneurial spirit of a media mogul? Join us as Jermol Edwards shares his inspiring journey from New Jersey roots to a multifaceted life as a firefighter, Air Force veteran, and visionary entrepreneur. Listen as Jermol recounts his compelling story of honoring his late grandfather through his military service and how a choice at a recruiting office set him on an unexpected path. Through candid reflections, we explore the transformative power of military discipline and resilience, alongside the intense camaraderie amongst servicemen that shaped Jermol's character and leadership.
Ever wondered about the emotional toll of being a firefighter? Jermol provides an intimate look at the stark realities of firefighting, detailing the adrenaline of battling flames while confronting the emotional weight of emergency response. His stories highlight the impact of trauma on first responders and the necessity for mental health support. From heart-wrenching rescues to the emotional challenges of desensitization, Jermol's experiences underscore the importance of peer connections and resilience, painting a vivid picture of the sacrifices and rewards in this noble profession.
Beyond the firehouse, Jermol’s entrepreneurial ventures with 24 Media showcase his dedication to impactful content creation. As we explore his balancing act between firefighting and fostering a media empire, Jamal offers invaluable insights on structuring productivity without burning out. Tune in to hear his strategic vision for podcasting, from supporting diverse podcasters to aspirations of building a school for budding content creators. This episode promises heartfelt and passionate discussions on authenticity, connection, and the pursuit of meaningful interactions both in personal life and through the creative lens.
Jermol's IG: https://www.instagram.com/spreadjerms?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
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Website: www.giveusashot.network
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Warriors fall in. It's time for formation. So, folks, today I have a very, very inspirational guest, at least from my opinion, anyways. This gentleman is a firefighter. He's also a co-founder of 24 Media, which is a branding and marketing agency, and I think, at the end of the day, being a podcaster, military veteran, full-time government worker.
Speaker 1:For myself, it's a juggling act. Oh, and I didn't mention also, too, being a father, a family man. It can be quite tedious to juggle everything, but the gentleman that I have with me today is going to share his journey and some of his insights, and just everything from firefighting to owning a business and entrepreneurship. So I have Jamal Edwards with me today. Thank you, sir, for joining me, thank you for having me. I'm really interested in learning more about you. I mean, I followed you on Instagram, I see your posts and your stories and everything like that, but I really haven't gotten two to three tiers deep into who you are, where your journey started, just found out that you're also an Air Force veteran too, so go Army with that right. But anyway, I just want to give you an opportunity to share your journey into what it was like in the Air Force and how you eventually became a firefighter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean, at the end of the day I'm just a kid from Jersey, Grew up right outside of Philadelphia, bounced back and forth between my dad and my grandfather who lived in upstate New York. So most of my elementary years a lot of back and forth. And then, once I hit about middle school, I stayed in Jersey permanently, just me and my dad living above a pawn shop in the urban streets of New Jersey just trying to make it happen. You know, grits for breakfast, lunch and dinner, that type of deal. And as I got older, graduated high school, I tried college, I tried all that. I got in a bunch of trouble, you know, and very cliche, nothing special. My grandfather had pushed me to join the Air Force. I mean, he knew ahead of time I needed a reset button. My grandfather was Army but he pushed me to join the Air Force and because I didn't want to listen to nobody, I wanted to join the Marines.
Speaker 2:So in Haddon Heights in New Jersey, old historical town, the recruiting office was in this old multi-use building. The Air Force recruiter and the Marine recruiters were in the same building, across the hallway from each other, and I would go in there and I would talk to staff Sergeant Holcomb and he'd rile me up and do all this stuff. And, uh, I would see Sergeant Caswell, uh, shout out to Cas he, uh, he also lives in North Carolina, now retired, but, um, I would talk to him in passing and he would always like I come over to the Air Force, I don't want to go over there. You know well, I remember the day I was supposed to go sign my name to get ready for the delayed entry program and get ready for MEPs and you know, do the actual sign my life away. I showed up and Sergeant Hulk, staff Sergeant Holcomb, was not there. Door was locked, lights were off. Sergeant Caswell said, hey, you looking for Holcomb. I said, yeah, I'm supposed to sign. You know, get this thing going now. You know I've been talking to him for weeks and I've been on the fence and and he's not here. I have the date, I have it written down. This is the day, it's the time he's not here. Oh, yeah, he hasn't been here since yesterday and today. You know, I think he had like a family emergency and he said, ah, what do you want to join the Marines for? You know those idiots. And I said I don't know. Just, marines are bad ass man. You know, you see it on TV. And uh, I ended up talking to him for about an hour and, right on the spot, just signed it. Like you know, I just signed I don't know what nothing. It was nothing. There was like not rays of shining light, there wasn't like the parting of the sea, nothing spectacular happened. I just said you know what? Yeah, I'm already drove all the way down here. I'm signing something.
Speaker 2:So I signed to the Air Force and go through that whole process and you know my grandfather had passed and things like that, and so I was super motivated to kind of honor him and do this thing the right way. And so I was super motivated to kind of honor him and do this thing the right way. And so, it's funny, I get to the MEPS program and MEPS so much has changed. It's like 12 hours of you in your underwear getting poked and prodded and a bunch of questions asked and it's a terrible process. But you know, I take the ASVAB, I score really good.
Speaker 2:And the guy said hey, we need space operation engineers. I said what is that? He goes. You just sit in a warehouse and build missiles and satellites and shout out to this guy. I wish I remembered his name. He did not want to be at wherever desk. They stuck him in flipping binders and telling because when you take your ASVAB test it's just a proficiency test, so based on your score you're only eligible for certain jobs. I'm guessing this is the way it works in all branches, but I'm just saying this is how it was in the Air Force. So they start with what they need, but they can't make you take a job. They let you pick, but you can only pick for what you're qualified for. So he said we need space operations engineers.
Speaker 2:And then he asked me he said do you plan on being like a 20 year guy and you know military for life? And I was like, no, not really. I just kind of need a reset. But I really didn't have a plan. I just said I didn't think about 20 years, but you know I'm not opposed to it either. He said well, you don't want to do that because then you're going to be stuck if you get out with only a government job and then you'll be tied to the government. And he kept it so real with me and uh, I said man, I don't really. I didn't really think about what I actually wanted to do. I went to college for a semester and a half for psychology. Uh, I wasn't really interested in that. There was just a cute girl in the admissions office that day and so I said I said, man, I don't, I didn't really think about that.
Speaker 2:He said my brother-in-law is a firefighter. He said the tech school, the, the um academy, it sucks, it's really hard, but after that you play Xbox. And he said, though, he said the magic word for me. I said, oh, you get to play Xbox at work. Yes, sign me up. And uh, so I went Lewis F Garland fire Academy good, fellow air force base.
Speaker 2:After, uh, I did my eight and a half weeks at Laughlin Air Force Base, where all the Air Force does their basic training, and then I got shipped off to San Angelo, texas, to Louis F Garland Fire Academy at God, what's that? Goodfellow Air Force Base? And in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Texas, like I'm talking red rocks and windmills. There was nothing going on out there but that, that fire Academy. And uh, yeah, I did a couple of years in the air force.
Speaker 2:Um, I ended up hurting my back, uh, during the Texas wildland fires. So that had to be what 2010, 11, ish, you know I go in in 2007, 2008, ish, and uh. So when Obama ended the war, iraq war in 2012,. Uh, you know, the military has this like weird rule whenever they, you know, they have an influx of people. And then they got to get rid of a bunch of people.
Speaker 2:I ended up hurting my back and I was on profile. For those who don't know, profiles just basically, um, light duty or something of that nature. You know, uh, and I was working in dispatch and my first sergeant called me in the office and said hey, we got to get rid of people. You only got a few months left on this enlistment. I can let you go now. Full benefits, honorable discharge. You leave a few months early because they're probably either going to medically discharge you or they're going to reclass you because you've been on profile too long.
Speaker 2:And I said, well, because I was trying to actively get off profile. I went through all the tests, but because now they had to get rid of people, he was like you're just an easy person to just discharge just for their numbers. I don't want to see you get caught up in that. Yes, there's a chance you can kind of make it through. But if you don't plan on, if you know, I wouldn't want you to risk it. And I talked to my wife about it and I said you know what it's cool If I get everything I'm supposed to get after a full enlistment. It's not like I was close to 20-year retirement, so it didn't really matter. So I said you know what Fine, I got enough out of the military that I wanted and I left and so I'm out.
Speaker 2:I thought about going to Philadelphia as a firefighter. All my certs were good, I had a good amount of certifications, had a good amount of experience at that time and my wife was not feeling me being a firefighter A bunch of dangerous calls and a bunch of bad situations and things like that. And my guy got me a job at Rockstar Energy and I said go do sales, drink some energy drinks. And I did that for a couple of years in Philly and I ended up moving down to Wilmington, north Carolina, and one of my neighbors ended up as he was a captain here at the fire department and I got to talking to him about my military stuff and he said well, listen, we're looking for volunteers.
Speaker 2:Talking to him about my military stuff and he said well, listen, we're looking for volunteers. You want to come volunteer? Give me your certs, we'll see if the North Carolina has a reciprocity and we'll let you firefight without going to an academy. Sure enough, they did. So I volunteered for about a year. Rockstar ended up getting bought out by Pepsi and the fire department was looking for a full-timer and I just that's. That's how I got into this fire department. I've been here now uh, january will be five years. So it's been. It's been a wild ride.
Speaker 1:That's amazing how that just happened. I mean the. Is it typical for the that military MOS to have the reciprocity with civilian firefighting? Is that, is that normal?
Speaker 2:No, not at all.
Speaker 2:I looked it up.
Speaker 2:North Carolina is one of the very few states that actually accepts it, and so I was extremely blessed.
Speaker 2:I'm not exactly maybe it's my wife rubbing off on me. I'm not exactly the most religious my wife and her family is but somebody, something, was looking out for me because I, honestly, I've been blessed and lucky enough to have a bunch of breaks go my way in terms of career path and something like you know, because at that point I had been out of the military for about seven years at that point, so for it to just circle back and just be of use to me, other than just sitting in a box and taking up space in my storage unit, I had no use. I have all my military stuff, my whole life is in two boxes in my storage unit and, you know, on a regular, random Tuesday afternoon I dug them up and, uh, I was able to restart my career from it. Man it's, you know, it can only be God for me, Like that's, that's, it's insane to think about and uh, I feel, I feel extremely lucky and blessed for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, to have that level of gratitude, spirituality, I think, is extremely helpful, because it seems like at a young age you were very aware, very self-aware of where you were, because you talked about reset. You talked about knowing that you needed that reset, knowing you needed that discipline, no-transcript, like someone not showing up to work, and then you just sign up for whatever. Like I went into the army and the only reason I did was because my dad was in the army. I didn't know what I was signing up for, I didn't know what I was going to be doing, I didn't even know what basic training consisted of. And that's funny because my dad spent five years down at Fort Knox as a drill instructor, and so when I went to Fort Leonard Wood, I mean it was like a smack in the face to meet a drill sergeant. I wasn't expecting that at all.
Speaker 1:But, um, you know, I think it has a lot to do with you and just who you are. Man Like you, you understanding that you needed to reset, having the discipline to uh, to the military, um, and then I love the story about meps too, man, like walking in your underwear and all that stuff, yeah, and talking, hey, what about? What about the day before you. You ship out and they take you to that really shitty uh, motel six. So here's the thing.
Speaker 2:Okay, they set this up nice, I don't know if it's just the air force has a better budget than the army. They took us to this like four star. We had the whole floor locked down. They gave us the conference room. They had x boxes on these giant projectors. We had brisket and the prime rib buffet dinner like they we thought we were going into like club fed, like some just cushy.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, we knew it was the military, but we thought it was, we thought it was sweet man. And you know we fly in and um, you know we're up early and then I mean you ride the bus and everybody, you know everybody's so nice, the military, the military people at the airport that are escorting you, so nice, lining you up, making sure you're good, and then you step off that bus, man, and it's like it's I mean it's. They do it on purpose, they, they lulled you into this, you know false sense of security, and then they just start eating you up. Man, I mean there was people like from the bus did not want to complete it. We had a dude. I remember our first night and for some reason, maybe my, maybe my TI picked up on my maturity but he made me the dorm chief, who's in charge of the entire barracks. You know, you get your dorm chief and your four element leaders and you know he just picked me up at random. Hey, you're going to be in charge. Man, we had this kid I couldn't even remember his name and you know we're panicking. Hey, be up. You know revelry plays, you line up, go to PT and this kid.
Speaker 2:I'm looking down making sure everybody's beds are made, and this had to be like day two or three. And I look down and there's this giant hump on the end, very end of the second row of our barracks and I was like, oh, who is this guy? And the, the instructors, they wear these little metal clickers on the back of their heels so you can hear them and it's like snapping. So, and you know we're upstairs so you can hear them come on up the steps and it's like this, it's it freaks you out. Because then it's like and it's like this, they, it's. It freaks you out. Because then it's like, and it's like, oh my god. And like, uh, sergeant riley man, uh, he was a, he was a little pitbull man, he did not want to make him mad. And uh, why are you not downstairs in formation? No, no, no. And you know, uh, whatever the trainee edwards reports his whatever his name is is not getting out of bed. Who the hell is that Get out of bed man?
Speaker 2:This kid, visually, was hilarious. He flips the blanket over his head and only his head is showing and he just looks at Sergeant Riley and goes no, covers his face back up with the blanket and I mean you couldn't help but laugh, but you're not allowed to laugh in basic. So you know, and like it was so off-putting that sergeant rob, he cracked a smile and looked at me and we both caught ourselves smiling because it was funny. But it was just like, and I like I snapped it. You know, all right, just go to pt. And I mean that was the last we seen of this kid. I guess he just didn't want to do it and he quit. We by the time we got out of pt and, um, his, all his stuff was packed up and he was gone. His bed was empty, they took off the blankets and everything.
Speaker 1:So you know as much as much crap as the air force gets for being like chair force and everything else? I've heard a lot about basic training being fairly difficult, fairly challenging anyways, and uh, did you think that it was a challenge for you?
Speaker 2:so the thing about basic and again, I don't have anything to compare this to other than stories from people from other branches that I talked to I don't think it's any more physically difficult than any of the other ones. Yeah, the PT standards may defer a little bit, but you're still doing pushups and burpees and sit-ups and you're walking and you're running all the time for eight weeks, like that, doesn't that's hard for anybody? Uh, the thing about basic training that people don't understand physically I don't think it was all that difficult, but I've always been in pretty good shape, uh, just playing sports as a kid. But mentally, man, like that mental, how they break you down affects how you perform physically. So things that may not have seemed hard to you, like, yeah man, I could do a hundred pushups, no problem. But you know, after about four or five weeks and you know they're just ragging on you every step you get. And you know, because no matter how perfect you are in basic, you're not perfect They'll figure out something to pick at you on. And and that's the mistake people have when they go into the military they're so afraid of getting yelled at or getting called out on something. They're trying to be perfect. That makes you more of a target and they don't want that right. Their job is to break you down. So by breaking you down mentally, it does break you down physically, so it makes these tasks seem harder.
Speaker 2:I loved basic training when I got out of it. I would never do it again. But coming out of it I've learned so much. I've completely transformed my mindset and who I am. I didn't go into the military to see what I was made of or to see who I was. I went into military to see who I wanted to be. It showed me who I wanted to be as a person and I've taken that from. Like my life is legit split pre-military, post-military. I'm a completely different person in terms of my outlook and how I view things, from basic to the last day I served man. I really, you know I wanted to. I picked. I talked to a lot of people when I wanted to. I wanted to be somebody you know coming from where I come from.
Speaker 2:You know it's. It's literally that town where, like the guy's 48, 50 years old wearing his Letterman jacket outside the liquor store oh yeah, talking about you know what he used to do driving his Pontiac. You know, sunbird, whatever, you know what I mean, like still talking about things he used to do and no-transcript go out and play. So I couldn't play sports cause I had to go work so me and my dad could have rent money. You know, I used to sweep up like leaves and stuff outside the flower shop. I used to take out the trash and I would sweep the barbershop across the street and I would just do odd jobs around the neighborhood. I mean, we were collecting cans. I was picking cans out of people's garbage so we can take it to the recycle spot.
Speaker 2:Like we had to make it happen to live and you know I moved out of my dad. Me and my dad never really got along. So I moved out when I was 17. That was when my granddad was like go to the military. You know you're couch hopping. You got these roommates. You know I worked.
Speaker 2:I got fortunate enough to get a job at a very upscale diner Like these Greek people owned it. They were millionaires and this wasn't like the diner you go and get a tuna sandwich. This was like the diner the millionaires went to. It was very upscale and I was making $150, $200 a night, working 10, 12 hours. I was living with my roommates.
Speaker 2:I was like, what am I going to college for? And that goes, oh, I'll make up this class. But then your car breaks down. So now you got to work extra hours. You find out you're working extra hours, you're making more money, now I can fix my car.
Speaker 2:But now I got all this money, know, I'm basically living in a frat house, so we're partying and drinking every day. I can make my, I can make my rent in two or three days, and then the rest of my money I'm not saving as I should, I'm blowing it, being an idiot. And uh, my grandfather ended up dying. And uh, that's when I said you know what, man, I got a, I got, I got a reset. I need to. This is like I'm, I'm not in a good way, and so that's kind of what spurned that. You know, living life, not having a life to begin with, and then living it really fast, basically in my college years, to okay, it's enough. Now I want more from this life and and that's where the air force came in I'm very, very appreciative of it.
Speaker 1:You have a lot of gratitude, man, because, at the end of the day, I've always said that when people go to bat for you, when people sacrifice for you, you owe it to them.
Speaker 1:And it sounds like between your father and your grandfather and just your family in general. You know, that's what motivated you to make something of yourself. And, um, you know, I understand your, your situation, your circumstances, but at the end of the day, you had choices, man. You could have went the other way, you could have started doing drugs, you could have kept down that track, but something inside of you told you that you needed that reset. And the one thing that I want to highlight, too, is I really think that we need strong fathers, strong men, in this country to help with our, with our upcoming generations. Man, um for sure, for you, it was between your sounds like between your father and your grandfather that that really helped instill that mindset, that that, uh, that winning mindset that has allowed you to be where you're at today. Overall, yeah, and I just wanted to ask you, so you've been a firefighter for you said about five years now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been here. So between the military and then where I'm at now, I know there's a pretty big gap, but I have about nine, 10 years of experience firefighting.
Speaker 1:So what do you think has been some of your most challenging and rewarding experiences that you've encountered as a fire, as a civilian firefighter?
Speaker 2:You know what's funny. Dealing the firefighting part is the fun part Seeing seeing that smoke in the flames. And again, the thing about being a first responder. Whether you're police, fire, ems, law, you know anything. People aren't calling you because their days are are are a blast. You know what I mean. People are calling. When I get called it's generally somebody's worst day, so the challenging and rewarding is the same thing.
Speaker 2:When I get to impact somebody's life, you know, um, the tough ones are usually always kids. Anything dealing with kids is always tough. Um, we've had terrible, terrible accidents Um, parents drunk driving, killing their kids, kids being irresponsible, um hurting each other. Um, you know. And then and then also dealing with elderly. You know people aren't taking care of our elderly. You know these people are living by themselves. The state can't help them. They're not getting the right care.
Speaker 2:You know I show up to some of the most terrible, terrible um living conditions for older people and you know a lot of the times they're falling on the ground and nobody's there to pick them up. So we go and pick them up and you know. But you can tell like we got a lot of frequent flyers and it'll be two, three weeks and they're still wearing the same clothes. I saw them in. There's the same dishes in the sink, same, the house just smells and it's just like. You know, dealing, you know, as a cause at my fire department, you have to be also a medic, you have to be EMT certified, so we run a lot of EMT calls. So dealing with kids and dealing with people who don't have support is very challenging but it's rewarding because they're very grateful. The fact that I can help them every day and at least be some sort of positivity for them, at least for a few minutes, um, really, uh, puts things in perspective for me right, makes me more appreciative of my life and makes me, you know the kids, the annoying things that kids do, that they break or they mess up in the house. I, you know it's like it's really not that important because you know, mr and Mrs Jones's kid unfortunately fell or did this or have this disease and you know he's no longer with us. You know, um, you know, last Christmas, around Christmas time, it was like beginning of December like these parents, these kids have these airsoft rifles, you know, and people are having fun. They go on YouTube and watch the airsoft battles. This 13 year old shot his 15 year old brother in the chest, pierced his heart with an airsoft rifle by accident. They were cleaning up and I guess it just went off and they were standing too close to each other.
Speaker 2:You know it's that's terrible to walk into a house to screaming parents and a brother who's traumatized. You know it's that's that's challenging, it's hard to kind of recoup. But I leave that call and then I have to go to another call. I have to go to an elderly woman who just needs help off the toilet or needs help out of bed to get to her wheelchair, and I can't bring that last call with me, no matter how hard it is, and so doing that. Or maybe we have a terrible call like a bad accident, but we have to go to the elementary school to do fire prevention. So now I got to be laughing and happy but I just left this terrible call.
Speaker 2:And those and those aren't frequent at all. These are not, these are every once in a while type deal Like we're not. You know this is a New York city where something bad's happening every five seconds. But those days are especially hard and challenging and you have to, you have to kind of compartmentalize, uh, especially when you're a first responder, and that goes for law enforcement or medical and fire department. It's just learning how to compartmentalize, trying to separate your emotions and rely on your training, because it's easy to say, hey, we got a car accident, this is what I'm trained to do, I'm going to go do this, this and this, but then you show up and a nine-year-old is hanging out of a tree because she got ejected and things are messed up. It's like it's hard to do that when I have a kid who's eight. You know my daughter's 13. I have a.
Speaker 2:I have a 19 year old stepson.
Speaker 2:I've been married to his mom since he was four, so I've literally watched him grow up and he's out there driving and he's out there doing these things, and then I show up to these wrecks and his girls just her and her friends are driving in the back of a pickup truck like they're not supposed to, but she hits a curb and her leg gets severed because the truck rolled over on her 20 years old 19, 20 years old and she, you know she doesn't have a leg now.
Speaker 2:So it's like I think about that man, I come home and it just it's very hard to, and then you also don't want to be overprotective now, like I see all this bad stuff. So it's like you got to make sure. You know I can't just not let my kids do anything. I have to, especially my 19 year old. He has to go live his life, he has to figure out who he is now, you know, and and it's hard to let him venture out and I'm not in a rush for him to get out the house or anything, but you know I also understand like he has to leave at some point and I can't protect him from everything.
Speaker 1:So he's, he's got to do life. I mean, whatever that is, he's got to do life. That's. That's really tough man, and as a father, I feel you on that because even when I deployed to Iraq and some of the things that I've done in my full-time job, it's it's hard not to see the face of your own in the like, in the bodies of other folks that you're working with or working for or supporting, so like I've.
Speaker 1:You know, seeing my own kids in the face of you know, kids that are that are, you know, less fortunate or in those terrible situations and circumstances. Would you say that overall I mean this is kind of a personal thing, but would you say that that overall understanding of like taking those calls with you to your, the baseline of someone who's been to war, but then the baseline of someone who's a first responder, who sees what you, what you've seen, is what probably 99% of the public never sees Would you say that that is probably one of the underlining things in today's world is just general folks who aren't first responders or combat military veterans, understanding like 100, because you know you, being iraqi vet first responder, seeing death or seeing wounds or like just trauma, right, right, you get decent.
Speaker 2:Not desensitized is such a it's the word to use, but it's not really the right word, you know what I I mean.
Speaker 2:It's like yeah, like we're, just we grow. We have, like a um, a tolerance for it. Right, our tolerance for it is just heightened, right, just like anything else, right, first shot of whiskey is terrible. A hundred shots of whiskey later not too bad, goes down pretty smooth, it's. It's just a tolerance that we have because of the nature of our jobs or the nature of what we're doing.
Speaker 2:So you know, uh, you know, my mother-in-law is telling me about, like this, this thing, and I'm just like yeah, oh, yeah, okay, you know, and she's shocked at you know how, how easily I can digest that and I'm like you have to understand, I see way worse stuff all the time and it's and and so I guess it is desensitized. But I don't, I don't want to seem insensitive to people's trauma and stuff and and, yeah, it's, it's hard to, especially, you know, a job like mine. I don't. You know, especially in my marriage. I don't have a job anymore where I can tell her about my day. You know what I mean. What I do is not exactly great dinner table talk Like how was your day, honey? Oh well, you know, this guy got into a really gnarly car accident and I had to grab his arm from behind his body that got severed and by the bone, and then we had to put in a bag of ice and like, that's not something you know, but I can freely talk about that. And when I talk about it to my friends in the group chat, I say, yeah, this is what happened. And they're just shocked at how nonchalant I can be about it and I just said, yeah, man, it's just experience and time, I'm just used to it and I forget sometimes that that, like you just said, it's not something they deal with or see. So to them they're like, oh my God, like that's, that's insane. And I'm like, no, not really. That's like the fourth most interesting thing that's happened to me this week. So, uh, it is hard to deal with, you know, and I think that's why a lot of first responders or military personnel always get involved with each other. Um, and I do think it's important.
Speaker 2:Uh, I'm part of the North Carolina peer support team, you know, especially for the newer people, we had a kid just start with us. Well, he's been here for about a little over a year, but when he first started, his very first call on his very first day was an eight year old who tried to hang himself because the neighborhood kids were bullying him because he was deaf. And this kid is a 19 year old kid, fresh out of the academy, and that was his first call and he freaked out like a normal person would. We have to remember, the academy is just teaching you how to be a firefighter. This kid has no life experience to begin with because he's 19, but he has no fire experience. He's not used to it. Yeah, he went to EMT school and it's one thing to deal with the mannequins and deal with the. You know, deal with the, the, the, the little electronic devices and training props. But to see it in real life, to show up on a call, and this kid is just hanging there, you know, um, the, that's just the thing. Now the kid's a pro, he goes all, he goes all types of crazy calls. You know he's only been here a year and some change. So, um, building that tolerance, you know people, people have the. You'll be shocked when you have to do it, how quickly you can acclimate and get used to it.
Speaker 2:Um, but it's still. It's still tough, like kids. Again, kids are tough, because I have kids. It's something I relate to. But when I see adults all messed up. I don't feel it, it's okay.
Speaker 2:What do I have? What are the symptoms? What can I do? As a first responder, I only operate at a basic level. It's very limited in what I can do, but what life-saving measures can I take? And it's boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Just know, just relying on training and trying to focus on the training, and that'll keep your mind off of what's really happening there.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I think, I think people who don't have that they watch a CPR class for their job. You know it's a little different, you know, but when CPR happens at the job, people are scared to do it because it's, it's not the same. They don't have it's, it's just not something they have to deal with. So, um, I don't, I don't blame people, it's, it's just, it's just a tough thing. And I think that's why it's important for um veterans, first responders to to get into these peer support groups, right, because we are the only ones that understand no-transcript, that we can put you in contact with Um and and more times than not, nobody reaches out. But there have been, there have been a handful of times where people have reached out and I think that's growth. I think that's terrific.
Speaker 1:There's just so many angles to it too. I mean, we haven't even talked about personal life, like people going through hardship in relationships, loss of family members, and then you're having to go to work and put on this face and this professional face and be professional in these first responder roles. So, again, when I first caught up with you on Instagram and I was reading some of your posts on there, man, it really kind of hit home for me and, like I said, I didn't even know you were an Air Force veteran. So, man, that just adds more to everything your character and what you're about Overall. I mean, mean, do you have any memorable stories or anything like you'd like to share with folks? Uh, like, maybe your worst day, your best day or anything like that since you've been in firefighting in general?
Speaker 2:yeah, so one of my first days I might have been, I might have been on base. You know, um, maybe a week it of my first days I might have been on base. Maybe a week it was my first real call like fire call. Barksdale Air Force Base is in Shreveport, louisiana. It's a decommissioned nuclear base. We still run a flight line there. We had A-10 Warthogs. I believe we had a B-52. We had A-10 Warthogs. I believe we had a B-52.
Speaker 2:But most of the land there once it I think I can't remember what year it might have been somewhere in the late 70s or 80s it was decommissioned and it turned into an airman family readiness base. So all the wild land that was out there that they had to use for clearance, they turned into parks and they built base housing and they did all this fun stuff. Well, um, all the natural gas lines ran back there and one of our first calls in the middle of the night I'll never forget Uh, one of the old retired, uh, uh, gs guys was out there working. Uh, something happened and the gas main exploded and you know we're, we're ripping and running around the flight line. I mean, you can see it. You can see it's a straight line of fire. It's straight in the air, clearing the trees out. We get about a quarter of a mile away. We had to stop the truck because the heat was so intense. Our deputy chief said we can't get closer, we're already feeling the heat. We're a quarter of a mile away from the main. There's no way, and at that point we knew that whatever guy that was out there working probably didn't make it.
Speaker 2:But again, I'm 20 something young, 20 something year old kid First. This is like you know and I'm talking about. I grew up in Jersey where I thought I was. I had it handled because my friend's brother was killed in front of us. I've grown up, I've lost friends to gun violence Like I've oh man, this ain't nothing. Fire man Feeling that heat for the first time in a real situation. I, I mean, I felt like a baby, I really did.
Speaker 2:And we had to wait for the gas to run out. Once they shut the gas off, we had to wait for the gas to run out in the, in the pipes. The flame finally went down. We get over there and it looked like a movie. I'm talking scorched. The trees are all gone. We see a chassis of a pickup truck and all it was, it was just the chassis and it was still red from the heat.
Speaker 2:And, uh, one of the uh, one of the majors from medical came. That was his brother-in-law. That was the guy that was responsible for fixing it. So he's freaking out.
Speaker 2:Um, and yeah, we had to walk around and I stepped on this dude's skull because they told us to look for bones if we could find him. And, uh, I stepped on something and the crunch was loud and I freaked out because, you know, and of course everybody, um, you know, I stopped and I said I think I just stepped on a bone and we looked down and I was, it was a skull. And that was the first time for me, something like that. You know, it's one thing, I guess, as a kid, you know, you grow up and your friend gets shot in front of you and you're just, it's still a body there, but like seeing a skull for the first time, you know, especially in those circumstances, that was tough for me, like that was a wake up call. Going through basic and going through tech school and all the hard physical and mental, um, training that I went through didn't prepare me enough. Like nothing can prepare you for that, uh, other than just going through it and living through it and uh, yeah, just having to walk around and collect this guy's bones and we didn't collect much, but, uh, and then having to just hand it to somebody, while a family member is sitting there trying to figure out how he's gonna explain to his wife because that's his wife's brother how he's gonna explain to his wife that her brother died tonight.
Speaker 2:You know, just watching it all unfold, man, it felt like I was in. I felt like I was watching a movie of about myself. Like it just didn't. None of it seemed. And, and what really shook me was, coming back, how nonchalant everybody's joking in the truck, laughing, uh, not not at the guy, but like just about anything, just making jokes on each other. And I was like y'all did, hey, you know, did y'all see what just happened? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, it sucks, man, like I feel so bad for the guy. Like they just I forget that I'm new here, right, like I'm the new guy they they've, they've seen this stuff before. So, um, that was like a real wake up call. I remember, and that's why I remember it's so vivid. It happened so many years ago. I remember the like I remember the trip, like I remember how long it took us to get there. I can, I can tell you how many road signs were on the way, like it was that vivid of a memory, um, cause I'll never forget something like that. Uh, so that was for me like one of the main things.
Speaker 2:Uh, more recently in this side of my career, um, my kid was having an allergic reaction that the? Uh grandfather thought was, um, like a chest issue. This kid he was like five or six years old stopped breathing and we performed CPR and we saved him. Like this kid it was, and again in the moment it's like, oh, no, a kid, but it like it kicks you into overdrive and you do everything you can and you know, we had our young firefighter jump in the back. We drive the ambulance to the hospital so the medics can actually work on the kid. And they saved him and we thought his heart stopped because his anaphylactic reaction caused oxygen to shut off and so apparently, he was allergic to the new cats and dogs that the parents brought in and, yeah, he had a really bad allergic reaction. Uh, that caused his heart to stop and and we saved him and I was so happy I was working.
Speaker 2:It took me days to figure out what happened. You know, we reached out to the fire chief hey, we want to update, we want to update. And then, maybe like two weeks later, uh, the parents and the kids show up to the firehouse and the dad was crying, thanking us, hugging us. The kid was shy, we let him jump in the fire truck. I drove him around the fire station with the lights on. He was so happy man, it was such a great feeling. It was a great like. It's things like that, things that I can do to help people, that makes it worth it. All the bad stuff. I see, you know it comes and goes, like it's just going to happen, but moments like that is exactly why I do what I do and I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, that is so damn interesting man. You know anyone out there that's thinking about cause. I talked to a lot of young young adults and they're always asking me about the military and first responder stuff and you know those types of careers. But I don't know a lot about careers. But I don't know a lot about firefighters. I don't know a lot about firefighting, but would you have any advice for folks that are thinking about getting into that career?
Speaker 2:yeah, the biggest advice is it's, it's. It's a job. It's tough. It's tough on you physically and it's tough on you mentally. It's just like anything else, though, um, I didn't think I was going to be a firefighter. I had no inkling on being a firefighter until I started doing it and I fell in love with it. You have to love the job. It's not a job that you can half-ass. Then you'll try it and, and you know, maybe go volunteer somewhere, see if it's something that interests you. From there, then you can pursue it as a career. But if you go volunteer, most places only require you to do what? 24, 12 to 24 hours a month. So you can pick and choose where you go, um, and, and trust me, volunteer firehouses are always looking for volunteers. They'll train you, uh, but see if it's something that you really like, because it is a job you have to fully be in, because you're responsible for life.
Speaker 2:Our job is life preservation, right, life and property preservation, you know, um? So it's not a job, it's not. It's not something you watch on tv. This is a chicago fire where you, you know, you run calls and you bang the medics Like. That's not what the job is. People are relying on you to save to. They're calling you on your worst day. Uh, the people on your truck. Your life and their lives are in your hands and your life is in there. So my advice is, if you, if you're generally interested in it, go for it. It's great. Um, if it's something that you're kind of thinking about, go volunteer and figure out if you love it or not, because if you don't love it, then don't do it, because you're going to get somebody killed, you're going to get somebody hurt.
Speaker 2:Fire, being a firefighter, to me, is the best job in the world, man, for that reason I just told you for the story I just told you that five-year-old kid is going to have a life now because we relied on our training. We didn't half-ass, we did what we were trained to do. And, yeah, sometimes we do what we're trained to do and people die. But at least we know we did everything we possibly could and there was nothing else we could do. But in those instances where that kid would have 100% died if we didn't know what we were doing or if we didn't intervene, and that right, there is why we do the job. That exact moment we had a fire, a little fire. A lady was doing some yard work and I think she was trying to burn some trash and I guess the wind changed direction on her in her burn barrel and it caught her detached shed on fire. That thing was burnt up and we put it out and we're spraying water and one of the guys said wait, wait, hold up, and we start digging through stuff, 're spraying water. And one of the guys said wait, wait, hold up. And we start digging through stuff. Everything in this shed was burnt up. But he somehow had the wherewithal to stop start picking apart some of the charred stuff to find stuff that wasn't burnt yet. And in that pile was a photo book that had her dad's military photos, her wedding photos, all her kids baby pictures, all her her whole family album. And she just broke down and started crying. I mean this, this shed was done Like it was, but this thing was perfectly uh, it was singed a little bit on the, on the binding, but for the most part it was everything. All the pictures were in perfect shape and she was so grateful. Everything in that shed was was gone. You know, definitely worth money, things, things are, I'm sure, a value to her, but the only thing she cared about was that photo album and, um, you know so it doesn't always have to be as drastic as the five-year-old surviving like those memories that she can't replicate, you know, because you had to take photos back then. We don't have the cloud, as this is an older lady. Has that now because we are trained. Let's just put water on everything. No hold on. Our job is to preserve property as well. If there's something we can save from this shed fire, let's try to save things, and we ended up finding a bunch of stuff that were valuable to her maybe not valuable to other people, but you know, it's just an awesome feeling that we can give people, like I said when they call us on their worst day.
Speaker 1:You know, in the first responder line of work, I'm sure that you have witnessed a lot of miracles and blessings and it's hard not to be spiritual, in a sense, because of the things that you've seen, the lives that have been saved and the things that have happened. You know, it's so interesting to hear just your perspective as a firefighter, but there's so many angles to you, and one of the things that I want to talk about, too, is 24 Media. And how do you? How in the world do you balance Because I know being a podcaster, working full time, a father and and volunteering for nonprofits and things like that For me it's a juggling act. But how do you meet the demands of being a firefighter and then also being an entrepreneur as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, biggest lesson my grand, my grandfather, taught me that I'll always remember is don't count time, make time count, right. So literally I just divide my time. I said, hey, these are work hours for me. If that means I get a little less sleep because I have to be a dad and I got to stay up from 11 to 2 AM working on my business, then that's just what it's going to be. Luckily for me, my kids are all of school age, so the days that I'm off I have all day to do my work. I know I have these eight or nine hours. So, no, I can't sit there and watch sports center all day Like I really want to.
Speaker 2:If I have podcast stuff to do, if I have graphic design stuff to do. You know, on top of 24 media, which is me and my cousin's company, what we've run and we've helped dozens and dozens of businesses get up off the ground. You know Our podcast network that we run with our buddy Mike, who has a contract with iHeart, with Fox Sports in Philadelphia. Everything has stemmed from 24 Media. To balance that, I just honestly just budgeting my time. I try to treat it like a nine to five. When my kids are at school. That's my time to work. On my days off? Uh, I'm lucky enough to be a firefighter where I only work at the firehouse 11 days out of the month, so I have those other 10 or 11 days to do what I got to do. Plus, at the firehouse, when we have downtime, I have my computer and I'm working there too. But when my kids are home, um, I'm, I'm, I'm dad, and when my wife is home, I'm a husband. Things are just going to have to wait. And for somebody who's running businesses or trying to get stuff off the ground, I get that you have to work extra, but for me, the podcasting could go away. Graphic design stuff can go away.
Speaker 2:My, who want to be entrepreneurs or call themselves entrepreneurs, uh, the mistake they make is they grind 24, seven. They watch all these stupid people on Instagram. Man, you got to work old, 20. You got to work 25, eight. Man, this is eat, sleep, breathe. This thing, no, no, you don't have to. Actually, you don't like.
Speaker 2:I literally set a timer, like I, on my days. I get off shift at seven. My, uh, my daughter gets on the bus before I get home, but my youngest son gets on the bus at seven. 45, from eight to eight to three o'clock I work, cause that's when my kid gets off the bus, or no, I'm sorry. Uh, about four, four, 30. So basically, from eight to four I'm working on whatever I got to.
Speaker 2:I take a lunch break and everything. I split my time up. I work in blocks and I have to do that because it keeps me honest. I know I only have this finite amount of time. It makes me more productive because when four o'clock hits, I got to help EJ do his homework and then I got to cook dinner and then I got to clean and make sure the house is clean for my wife, cause I don't want to hear her mouth because I've been sitting at home all day.
Speaker 2:So it's the best thing I can, the best advice I give to entrepreneurs, and the thing that's helped me. And it trust me. This isn't something I just got out the gate I. It took me years of getting yelled at by my wife and arguing and fighting, because I had that mindset. I want this to work. So I have to work all the time and I learned you really don't know like, hey, four o'clock I'm done. Don't hit me up for nothing unless you're going to pay. If you're going to pay extra, cool, then yeah, I'll stop doing what I'm doing and I'll do that. But if not, it can wait till tomorrow, because my kids need me, they want to watch a movie, or I need to help them with homework, or we want to go get some frozen yogurt. Those things are important to me. One I don't want to burn myself out, and I think that's why I'm able to continue to do it at the clip. I am because people, uh, are so focused on trying to make it work right now, not really trusting the process.
Speaker 2:You know, you get a system just like everything else. You gotta, you gotta find a system that works for you. Um, for me it just works perfectly that I can kind of do banker's hours. But, uh, when I was working at Rockstar, I had to adjust my time because I was working Monday through Friday. So the weekends was tough because the kids are out of school. So basically I forced myself to just stay.
Speaker 2:Hey, everybody went to bed at 10 or 11 o'clock, dad was up until two, three o'clock and I was working. And now I don't have to do that. But my wife appreciated it, even though she wanted me to sleep more, but she appreciated that I wasn't doing it while everybody was home. You know like I used to do so, just finding that, finding that, those gaps, you have to find the time to do it. There's 24 hours in the day, there's plenty. There's plenty of time to accomplish what you want to accomplish. You don't have to go at it all the time and neglect what's really important, which is you know your family and your own sanity. To be honest, yeah, underline that.
Speaker 1:Uh, your own family and your sanity Cause that. That is huge, because sometimes you can burn yourself out. Uh, when you're doing this sort of thing and I've I've been guilty of that before where I've really burned myself out and I was just like the taste buds in my mouth were like dull and I'm like I don't even know if I want to. I want to do this, I gotta stay in this, but I gotta figure out how do I preserve myself to do this. But I jumped right over it. I didn't even talk about it, but 24 media. Can you tell us about what that's about? I know you started it with your cousin. Uh, taishan, right, yep, taishan so 24 media is a.
Speaker 2:It started off as just a graphic design. You know, back in jersey we were making mixtape covers and everybody wanted to be a rapper when we were kids. So we're like, yeah, man, we'll make your mixtape cover, you know, we'll do this. We'll make, you know, party flyers, you know. And um, we got really good at it and we were like, yeah, we can, we can make logos. And so we started making logos for people who wanted to start businesses.
Speaker 2:And it stopped there and me and him talked one day. I said what you know, people want to start a business. So what do they do? They get a logo. All right, then what's next? What do they usually? Uh, they need business cards, while they need promotional stuff. They need a website. Hey, let's learn how to build a website. Let's be a one-stop shop. They need a website. Hey, let's learn how to build a website. Let's be a one-stop shop. Why give them a logo so they could take it to somebody else who's going to butcher it and misuse it? We can build something where you don't have to go nowhere else.
Speaker 2:24 Media can do everything for you. And so over the years it kind of morphed into that. We've kind of learned different skills. So we kind of divided the work to multiply the success type deal. So he's really good with the video editing and he's really good with the camera, photography, things of that nature. I'm really good at graphic design, I'm really good at brand identity, things like that. So we kind of combined our skills. I'm good with audio editing, identity things like that. So we kind of combined our skills. I'm good with audio editing and so you know, we kind of combined our skills and we've helped so many people.
Speaker 2:It's and again, that was like a hobby that we both really enjoyed and that's kind of how we stayed close. As you know, I left for the military and he's moved from this place and now I'm in North Carolina, so that's for us. That's kind of how we stayed connected. Uh, but in that, in that journey, I mean it's we've parlayed that into the podcast network. Now to the partnership with I heart, to helping. You know, um, like Tyrese Maxey from the Philadelphia 76ers is about to do a podcast with I heart and we are going to help produce that because of 24 media and all the stuff we've done for iHeart. And we didn't go to college for that, we are self-taught. And to the point where, like the president of iHeart in Philly, is like, why is Mike and his buddies so good at this when I have college people and people who grew up in radio? You know, even their podcast sounds better than some of the stuff I have on the radio Like it's and I'm. I'm just like hey, you know, when we're invested, you know we're invested.
Speaker 2:If I, if I'm going to be doing the sports podcast, I want to be the best version of that that I can be. You know I want to. I want to be the best at it. You know, if I want to do a graphic design or if I want to help people build their business, I want them to say, hey, this is the guy to help me do it. That's always been the motivation. It's so funny.
Speaker 2:Uh, uh, we were just talking at the firehouse. I don't believe in motivation. I don't. I believe you either want it or you don't want it, and if you want it, bad enough, you're going to figure out how to get it. Uh, you don't need to be motivated by anything.
Speaker 2:People who need motivation, uh, are the people.
Speaker 2:Don't have discipline to me.
Speaker 2:Like, don't have discipline to me.
Speaker 2:Like, what do you need to be motivated, for If you want to start a podcast, go get a microphone, go do the research, make it happen. You don't need to feel motivated to do that. If you're about it, you know. So, uh, and and, and all my cousin, uh, all the people that we work with, we're all like-minded that way. Hey, is this something you want to do? Just let you know if this is what you want to do, this is what you want to do, this is what it means.
Speaker 2:If you're not about that, then you can't roll with us. Period. It's not personal, it's just like we're trying to get here and I can't be dragging you along trying to talk you into doing it. You either want to do it or you don't want to do it, and so we all decided we want to do it, and so, all right, cool, let's do it. Hey, weekly podcast. If you can't do it every week, try to make content. Just whip out your phone. It doesn't have to be professional, nobody cares, you know. But you have to be consistent. So, whether that's graphic design, whether that's doing a podcast, whether you're selling vacuum cleaners, which is, you know, I'm dating myself, but door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, you know, you have to be consistent at it and eventually it'll come. All the all the all the fruits of that labor will come if you're consistent enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's well said. Consistency is extremely important and it's something that I've struggled with over the last I think two years been doing this, three years now. I was consistent for a real long time and then work. It's just. I feel like there's ebb and flows with this, but the one thing that's been important for me is to always keep a pulse and to always keep it going, to never step away. Don't take the break in the semester at college, because you'll never go back again.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, and that's been my, that's been my fear is like if I stop recording, I'm going to stop altogether. And then all this I mean you know as well as I do, bro there's a lot of time, energy sacrifice, late night just teaching yourself how to do the audio side of this, the video side of this that people don't see, and I was telling a friend of mine today that I said there's a lot of times when you're out drinking, having a good time, going out, doing stuff, and I'm sitting in my little studio, my little shed here, and I'm unhooking things like running wires and it's 11 pm at night, going on 12 and and freaking. Nobody sees that stuff, man. So, uh, hats off to you for that man and understanding the discipline and consistency, especially having your cousin.
Speaker 2:That's, that's huge man, that's it helps, trust me, it helps me a lot. I I'm very grateful, and also my buddy, mike and and burt, who I do stuff about sports with, and then, yeah, everybody who's joined the the network. It was hard to run a network when it was just us and we got people to join. So now the burden to make content for me is less because I push everything through the network, and that was very important to me. Yeah, we all have our own separate entities, but I need everything to go through the network. That way I don't have to make content every day.
Speaker 2:Or if I know, like Bert travels a lot for his job, so if I know we're not going to do a show for a week or two, I make sure I take one of the days that I know I'm going to be home and the kids are at school and that's my content day. I'll sit there and I'll record five to seven things and then I can just post it. Now I'll schedule posts that way. I'm not, I don't have to. I don't feel that pressure of doing something every day.
Speaker 2:I'll just make sure I take a day to do research and then I'll take a day to record and I'll put out reels or I'll make up stories or I'll, you know, make up posts, and then that that kind of helps me for what you were talking about days that you're kind of burnt out and, um, you may not feel like doing something right then, and there, uh, I kind of preload that stuff for me and then that way, uh, a day that I'm a little busy or I know I can't get in front of the microphone, I at least have something I can post uh for for any particular day. So that's learning. Things like that is just something you come with experience and time like like, damn, you know, I don't have to make a show every day or I don't have to do it every week. I can, I can figure out ways to make content for people to look at and, um and and and do it that way. So, yeah, it's just everything's like learning curves, right, like just trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1:So talk to me about some of the big milestones that 24 media has, uh has come across, I guess, since you started it around 2006, right yeah?
Speaker 2:So I mean literally just from building our first computer. Uh, uh, ty's dad is a computer engineer and I remember in high school we had asked him for a computer. You know, back in 2004, five, you know, in. In that time computers weren't, as I mean they were getting accessible, but they were still pretty expensive. Um, he came home with and he, I learned a lot from him.
Speaker 2:He was the type you know you learn by doing, not coddling, right, you don't? You, nobody's giving you anything. He showed up from work one day with a box of computer parts and said put it together. Here's your computer. It's every part you need. Uh, you can use my computer to look up what things are if you don't know, and look up how to put it together. And it looked like a piece of crap, like we had the. I mean it did like all the parts looked old and. But by the time we looked up every single part and figured out what part goes to what. I mean. It took us about two weeks and, uh, come to find out he's got us the parts you couldn't even get in stores. We had the best computer like that. You, a computer that we built from the stuff he gave us, you know, would have cost thousands of dollars and but it taught us to work for it and I think a lot of that discipline for me started then and I've always been like that, like no, we'll take it apart, we'll figure out how to put it back together, and that's how you learn as far as milestones. You know from that moment. That's what helped us with our business.
Speaker 2:We have to work now. We have to do a bunch of free stuff and uh and give and give people like a taste and then work from there. And then now we have the town that we grew up in. We're doing their um, their water and port authority website and all their social media. The deal with iHeart, the deal with Fox Sports in Philadelphia working with Todd Frazier, new York legend for baseball, helping the children's centralized hospital. It's always something that we're adding to our resume because we're helping these people and it's just getting bigger and bigger. Frankie darcelle is a legendary voice in philadelphia radio and we help with them. We've helped with the um, the, the national suicide hotline, doing they did a series, a podcast series, and we help them produce that through iheart. So like, just bigger, bigger opportunities for us are leading to more opportunities and again, it's just us doing it and being good at it and being confident and just kind of. You know, every, every opportunity we get, learning for something so we can take it to the next thing, and I'm excited to see what next year brings. Man Like now we're working with, you know, tyrese Maxey, star player for the Philadelphia 76ers. Right now he's starting a podcast throughout heart and we're going to help with that and that's going to. That opens up another door to us.
Speaker 2:Now you know what I mean Athletes like that's something that we haven't really tapped into. A lot of it has just been small business. Particularly for me and Ty, it's important that we help small black business, so helping them get off the ground, because a lot of them don't really know. They just, oh, I just need a logo and a business card and I'll figure it out. No, there's, there's a lot more to it. Like you know, there you need creative direction. It's not just having a logo and slapping it on some water bottles and now you have a business, you need a, you need a plan, and so helping people develop. That has been a very beneficial when we use it in our corporate side, like with iHeart and everything that kind of stems from that. So yeah, it's been a crazy journey. To be honest with you, it's been crazy for us.
Speaker 1:For anyone out there listening, though, that might be interested and they're looking for some brand identity. Can you talk about how you assist the small businesses in developing that brand identity and their digital presence as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so typically it starts off with a meeting right, just helping create the brand and figure out what you need from us, right, like some people literally have no idea where to start. Right, like they just they don't know where to start. So we can honestly help from us, right, like some people literally have no idea where to start, right, like they just they don't, they don't know where to start, so we can honestly help from there. Okay Well, tell us about your business, tell us what you want to do, tell us what you want to achieve, what's your goal? Right, and um, and, and then from there we kind of come up with, we kind of come up with a plan for you, right? So, like some people, they know exactly what they want to do and so we uh, they just don't have the ability to make it look good and we just do that, right. Uh, like urban youth right, urban youth is a, is a, is a racing school in Delaware and they wanted to teach, uh, um, kids in the city about NASCAR, about racing, how to build the cars, how to do this. Jim Brown from CBS is partnering with them and a bunch of the teachers found my cousin Ty and we helped them create a documentary that Jim Brown's going to narrate, and the whole school's purpose is just to teach kids about NASCAR and building cars. So, whether you want to race or you want to be part of the pit crew, they're teaching you how NASCAR and how NASCAR vehicles are made and how they run, and it's it's an awesome thing, and so we're in the process of doing that for them, creating that documentary for them. But they, they had, they had an idea. They just didn't know how to execute it. And we have people coming to us hey, I just want to sell shirts, all right, well, what kind of shirts are motivational? Okay, well, kind of motivation Like what do you? You know? Um, and we, we, we help them come up with stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Uh, in Memphis, we had these two people that wanted to create their own mail carrying service and they would just basically deliver packages like the Uber of delivering packages, and, uh, so we helped them do that. Like it's just from the ground up, everything from a website, and some people just want a logo, and that's fine. Uh, I try to ask them all right, well, what are you going to do with the logo? You know, and that's where the salesman part of it. Right, you got to upsell it. All, right, you got a logo. Now, now, what, like? What are you going to them? Um, and then, if you can't, if you can't do, if you can't do that, then, uh, we'll, we'll figure something else out.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I mean everything from graphic design, website development, video production, even social media strategy. Um, you know, just consulting anything like we honestly it's uh, I hate to say it, like this, anything we, we literally anything to do with media, we can do it. And so, um, again, the podcast production. We've done live streams for iheart. That's really how we got our foot in the door. We, you know, we, we were like doing live streams and then they realized we had a podcast and we were going to like mets games, because a lot of half of us are mets fans and half of us are yankees fans. So we would do these events, uh, in Philly, whenever the Mets would play the I mean the Phillies would play the Mets or the Yankees we would just go there, set up a table and go live and, um, people started catching on. Man, it's just, it was, it's been, it's been a wild, it's been a wild journey, considering that we just started from making like mixtape covers on a computer we built in high school.
Speaker 1:That's awesome man. I laughed when he first started talking about brand identity because I was that person. I had an idea, but I didn't. When they started asking me questions about you know, why are you doing this, and I felt so dumb. I was like I don't know, but you know, and I laughed when you said that just because that was me. I was like I don't know, but you know, and I laughed when you said that just because that was me. I was like I don't know.
Speaker 1:And people have to understand, like, if you're doing podcasts or anything that's in media, anybody can go to Best Buy and go purchase a camera, purchase a microphone, anybody. The challenge is is having a plan for that and having a brand identity and having some direction. That and having a brand identity and having some direction, so that's extremely important and that and that's where 24 media would come into play uh, to actually give you that foundation, that structure, because these microphones I can, you can get them anywhere, pay the money, get the microphone, uh. But the real challenge is is having a direction, uh, on what you want to do with that. So, um, that's that's why I laughed when you said that. You're probably like why is he laughing Because that was me and anyone out there listening. You should not feel bad, don't feel stupid.
Speaker 2:That was me too. Trust me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, don't feel stupid if you have an idea but you don't have it quite worked all out just yet. That's what 24 Media would be great for is to ask those questions, those important questions, because helping folks that are behind you, like on this journey, is probably one of the most fulfilling things that that I enjoy doing. You know, and I can tell you know a man like yourself that has worked his entire life in public service um, whether in the military or as a firefighter, whether in the military or as a firefighter, that wholeheartedly is at the soul of your business. 24.
Speaker 2:Media.
Speaker 1:Now going forward into the future. How do you envision the direction of 24 Media and your role with the company? You guys mainly talk about sports, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the Give Us a Shot Network is the podcast network, but 24 Media is the branding from that. Right now, a majority of the network are sports, but we've had podcasts that don't talk about sports at all. We've had two young ladies, one of them that worked at iHeart and one that wrote for the Washington Post, that talked about being single in their 30irties, living in the city, and they had, they had a whole podcast series about that. Um, again, we've had um, the suicide awareness podcast series. You know, uh, we have um, a professional wrestler, uh, like an independent professional wrestler, who is now kind of moving past professional wrestling but getting into training like physical fitness, and so we're helping him with that, like transitioning to that and starting that podcast. And so the podcast network, the Give Us a Shot Network, is literally giving podcasters a shot. Hey, if you don't know how to monetize your podcast, or you don't know how to start a podcast, you don't know how to monetize your podcast, or you don't know how to start a podcast, you don't know what microphone to buy, you don't know what, what, what to do other than talk, we can help you, you know. And so, luckily for us, a lot of our guys just needed a brand behind them, you know, to help them kind of promote what they're doing. So, and if that's all you need from us, sure, like you know and we can help you do that. But you know the future of it for 24 media, the future is to build a school. I want to teach people how to do this. Eventually, I want to teach um. I want to teach young people how to start doing graphic design and then also start getting into um like a branding agency. All right, this is how you, this is how you help people build a brand. This is what a brand is. This is why it's not just a logo and a business card. There's more to it. Know your why? Why are you doing it?
Speaker 2:Uh, I used to tell musicians all the time don't make music that you think people want to hear. Make music, you want to hear because you're not the only one that wants to hear it. So if you make something for you, so like for stuff about sports, you know me and Bert were trying to figure out what, how we wanted to do our show and I said I don't want to hear BS, I just want some dudes talking about sports. Man, I don't care if it's politically correct. I'm not the only one that feels the way I do about certain things that are happening in the sports world. So I'm going to speak the way I would I would. I would talk normally and it's worked out for us. You know, some people want to be buttoned up and polished and want to be ESPN. That's fine too, like if that's how you want to portray yourself. But you know why are you doing it? Because I just want real, authentic, not scared sports commentary. That's what I want out of my podcast.
Speaker 2:So, um, I'm actually going to be starting a podcast called the whole damn truth and each episode is going to be the whole damn truth about being a woman in corporate America, and I'm going to interview some lady who works at like my friend Jenny, who, um, has a high up job at her place and she's had to deal with a lot of crap as a woman in a male dominated workplace, and I want to know about that because she's not the only one going through that and I think it'll help people. I want to talk. There's an ex-con who had a beer business here in North Carolina and a bunch of people wrote some nasty stuff in a newspaper and it ruined his business. I want to talk to him about that. I don't think that's fair. I want to help him figure out what he can do to fight back. So the whole damn truth is something I've been working.
Speaker 2:It's a passion project of mine, because I'm not exactly sure how I want to frame it or how I want to do it. Mind, because I don't I'm not exactly sure how I want to frame it or how I want to do it. I kind of want a better uh setup for my house that I that I currently have Um, as I've had to move a couple of times in the last couple of years, so I couldn't settle. You know, I would love to have a setup like yours. Like, like that's the goal for me to have something uh like yours. But, uh, I definitely want it. I want it to be done right, because I want this to be something that truly touches people.
Speaker 2:Me talking about sports. Is me talking about sports right? Like it's, we all do it right. But this thing that I want to do is kind of similar to what you're doing Awareness and stuff that's important, like what you do is extremely important.
Speaker 2:I sat there and watched a bunch of your videos the last couple of days, from when we were first supposed to do it, completely forgot you were on Pacific Time, so I logged on at 3 pm thinking I'm like, oh man, it's been sitting here for 30 minutes. I have that problem all the time. Sorry, and I should have known better. But and then and then I just got busy at work. But yeah, what you do is extremely important and it's I'm very glad to know you and very glad to meet you and, honestly, be part of this podcast. It's a huge honor and I want to help you any way I can. And and I think like we need more people like you to do stuff like this, because it's real, it's not just BS, it's not recapping the bachelor or the last episode of some stupid TV show with dragons in it. Like this is important stuff and and I think, um, there should be more awareness for it you know, and underlining and highlighting people like you uh is an absolute honor for me.
Speaker 1:And I know you're a humble guy and you'll think, oh, that's not me and uh get all rosy in the cheeks and stuff. But in reality, man, like you've came from almost nothing to where you are now. So it's an honor for me to interview folks like you because you're doing so many tremendous things and I really think that our society as a whole is missing out on the real heroes in our society. You know, and what you were just talking about is real A lot of people are trying to get away from mainstream media and trying to get those real, uh, authentic voices out there and they want to hear like the no BS, like unpolished, uh reality. So I I think that's a huge market, uh coming over the horizon for you, man. But listen, we've covered everything from your military time to your firefighter career, to you being an entrepreneur as well. Is there anything else before we wrap up this podcast that you'd like to mention or talk about that I didn't cover?
Speaker 2:No, I mean just for anybody. Be yourself, man, the same reason people love me or the same reason people hate me. There's no need to be two versions of yourself. You know, just be as authentic as possible, treat people the right way, do things the right way and you'll have a fulfilling life. Give it. Give everything you want to do.
Speaker 2:If you want to do a podcast, do it to the best of your ability. You know, be in. If you want to be a firefighter, be in. If you want to be in law enforcement, be in it and and just be yourself. Like. There's no need to fake it. You know, just just. I want people to be themselves and and be the real version of them and not some version they think other people want you to see, and you'll go far. Trust me, I've. I'm not the most politically correct, I'm not the most professional, I know. You know there's a time to be professional, there's a time for business and things like that, but at the end of the day, I'm still me. There's no need to fake it. But no, I had a really good time doing this man. This was very fun. Time flew for sure.
Speaker 1:But, jamal, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. I want to make sure that I properly put the 24 media information on here, as well as your Instagram and any other social media platforms that you're on as well. So, if you're listening to this on a podcast, scroll down to the bottom, where the captions are there, and you can find the different links. If you're watching this on YouTube, same deal, just go to the bottom. There You'll find where you can get a hold of 24 Media and Jamal as well. So, man, it's been quite an honor to connect with you and I hope we get an opportunity to talk again. Man, 100%.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:All right, folks. As always, I want you to stay tuned, stay focused and stay motivated. Warriors fall out.