Episode 1: Hello!

Hey there!
We're Dana Hali and Reggie Ballard of Rich People's Business. In our premiere episode, we discuss our journey towards success and offer advice on earning extra income and becoming rich. We believe that everyone can become successful as long as they persevere and surround themselves with positive people. We talk about our experiences with obstacles and Reggie's first big break on television. Follow us on social media!

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Transcript

Speaker 1

Hello, everybody.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

I am Dana Haley and I'm Reginald Ballard A K A bro man from the fifth floor Reginald ballad.

Speaker 1

We are Rich People's Business podcast.

Speaker 2

That's right. We're gonna try to attempt to enlighten people how they can become rich like her because I'm still trying.

Speaker 1

No, he's rich, he's rich in many things. He's rich in many things and, and, and, and I am not as, as, as rich as you are in a lot of ways. So we're going to talk about those, those types of things and we're going to enlighten as much as we can.

Speaker 2

We just try to get people paid the potential that you have already. You don't know. And we're gonna try to try to like just, just lift it up about you.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

We're not gonna try, we're gonna do, we gonna, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta stay in our positive as long as, as long as we persevere, we know that we can be successful in anything that we do.

Speaker 1

And so what we, what we wanna do is share our journey. We are both We are both tried and true in our, in both of our crafts, Our career choices, we have really, really persevered and pushed through a lot of different obstacles. And we just want to bring rich people's business to you. We're gonna talk about different ways to earn extra income, whether you work for somebody, whether you work for yourself, just different ways. We're gonna explore what we don't know.

We want to help now the gate and have fun doing it and have fun doing it and we want to learn with you because there we don't know everything but what we don't know, we'll bring in people to share and enlighten us that we'll bring in the experts to enlighten us. And please tell us as we navigate this journey, tell us what you want to hear. Let us know what you think, how we're doing where we can improve.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

We are just regular folks excited, excited, excited because I feel that, you know, if you love doing what you do and you make a living and love doing what you do.

Speaker 2

You never work a day in your life. And that's what it's about.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

I mean, you know, trying to let people see the potential that they have in themselves while getting rich, while making money, while being able to take, you know, trips that you want and you know, not spend money on unnecessary things that I mean, and I think rich is subjective, it means different things to different people it's whatever it means to you, it's obtaining the things that make your life easy. and I feel like at the end of the day everybody can do it anybody.

Speaker 2

I mean, if she can, I know anybody, she came by herself, I'm talking about, you know, all the things that you, you have done by yourself. I mean, like, no. Yeah, you are. I, I watched it, I, I'm an eyewitness to the things that this young lady has done and, you know, very proud of you, you know, 10 folk right here.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

My cous, you know, she put it down and came out to California and she had like two high, three houses now, something like that, something, something like that.

Speaker 2

But I don't even see no wedding ring on this here.

Speaker 1

You know, we won't talk about that. But I think for me, I think, you know, I had all the, I had all the obstacles in my, in my way. I, I really, really, really did and, and I think, you know, there are different ways that people can look at. oh, well, this person had this leg up and this person, you know, I come from educators, both of my parents are educators.

And so, but I, and so I think I had a, a bit of help in that way because I had an education. And so I do think that it did help, but at the end of the day it was what was inside of me. I don't know if I was born with it, but I always saw the brighter side. I will say this and I don't know what your obstacles are because I want to talk to you about that too. But for me, my mom, you know, they graduated, you graduate from college and you work a 9 to 5.

And so when I started my business, they didn't understand. It's like, what do you mean? Because they work for somebody else? That was the, that was how, that was what you do. You get what my grandmother used to call it a pension. You go, you go, you go and you get a pension and you work for somebody for 30 years. But it's different now. It's a different, it's a, I mean, and even when I was, even when I was in, you know, my earlier years I just knew I wanted to do something different.

I wanted to explore, I think by, by the time I was 30 I turned into three different people because I had three different careers. But my mom was one of those where, oh, you just gonna quit a job, you're not gonna work a job. And it's like, let me just see what I can do. I can bet on myself. When did you know?

Speaker 2

No, no. But, but, but, but you did, you did? And I was, I was there to see it. I remember, I remember one time you, you asked me for what you like. I need $200 for my, for my rent. Now I can call her and get like 200,000.

Speaker 1

But let me tell you about this brother. I asked him for 200 to this day, I remember the amount because he gave me 3 50. Yes, he did. And, and let me tell you he drove, he drove it to me 30 minutes out of the way, in, in the middle of the night just to bring it to me. I met him outside and he was like, whatever you need, he was like, you always got it and don't pay me back cause I knew the potential.

Speaker 2

I knew what you was gonna be. Girl. I knew you was gonna be a success out here because you were determined and you had perseverance and you came through and you did what you had to do, you put it down. So, and that's kind of my story too. My story is, you know, I went to college, I majored in theater. Came out to California. I told my friends, I said, look, I said the next, I said, I'm, I'm going to Hollywood Hang with Stallone.

And the next time you see him be on TV, came out here, first movie I did with Stallone. Next time I seen him, I was on TV. That's it. Yeah. And, but you know, it's just something that you do is, you know, I mean, I started off playing football, I was a football player. I got scholarship at Southern Methodist University and, I was one of the top linebackers in the country at the time and, you know, it's a long story.

If you ever heard of the death penalty at S M U in 1987 the big scandal. I was a part of that. I was a part of it but not, not a part of it. I was there when it happened. So, and it worked out for me because I was able to transfer to University of Missouri and start majoring in theater. And that's how I got out here.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

What, what made you, what was it about ever since the fourth grade?

Speaker 2

Maybe the 4th, 2nd, 4th grade. I know I want to be an actor but I never, and it's nothing I never told anybody what I want to do. I always kept it in the back of my head. And then when I had the opportunity, I jumped on it and that's how it happened because sometimes you could tell people your dreams and they'll always try to pull you

down like, oh man, you, you know, if I have told my, my football player, you know, friend, but it's like, man, I wanna be, I'm in theater. What theater, man, that's for girls?

Speaker 1

Yes, I understand.

Speaker 2

I never told anyone. I never told anyone I had it, I had it written on my wall every time I walked out my door, my, in my, from my room it was football track and movies. So, you know, I know, I, I watched every time I walked out the door, I, I looked at that little, it was a little bit. I don't even think my mother ever realized what I had on that paper and I just walked out and looked at it every day and that's what I did.

Speaker 1

It, it was kind of like a vision board.

Speaker 2

Yes. Yes. Yeah. And made it happen and, you know, hey, the rest is history. You know, that's why, that's why we're here.

Speaker 1

It's important, it's important to write your visions down and to really have a plan. You know, I think, kind of what I was alluding to was that, you know, my mom who is, you know, I wanted her to be my biggest cheerleader and I love my mom, but she pulled from what she knew, they knew 9 to 5. This is what you do because she was afraid that I wouldn't be successful. And so she thought she, she didn't think she was deterring my dreams.

But I don't know if she knew fully what she had in me as, as her child. And, and so I had to just know what I had inside of me and I was by any means necessary within the confines of being honorable. I did what I had to do and I didn't care if I had to work 23 jobs, whatever it took so that I could, I could live my, my value and live my truth.

Speaker 2

And that's what you have to do. You have to step out on the limb. If you don't step out on that limb, it'll never happen, you know. just think if I would have decided to stay in Dallas after we got the death penalty, I mean, I wouldn't have been where I am now, but I decided, hey, let's do this. Let's go, let's move. My mother was like, boy, are you serious?

Go to the NFL. I didn't want to play in the NFL. I didn't want to get hit all the time. I didn't wanna do that. I wanted to go and do something that I wanted to do. And now, you know, I've traveled now, I'm on the road doing comedy and that's the business that I started, you know, being on the road doing comedy and making people laugh and speak, you know, around the country and, you know, because a lot of people want to know, you know, the character, bro, man, they want to know a whole lot about

that. So I made that a part of my business. It's something that I learned. I, I, I've, I've, I've worked for somebody else and I was able to take it and make it an entity, you know, a whole entity within itself.

Speaker 1

That's it. And do you think when you look at where you've been, is there anything that sticks out to you that you think could have changed the trajectory of where you are right now? Was there a moment like a pivotal moment where you said? Oh, maybe I shouldn't.

Speaker 2

Well, you know, I, I never was, I never was one that partied a lot. I never was one that, you know, I, I never drank in my life, never smoked in my life. And I remember when I started doing comedy, I, I met a couple of people and they took me to a part in Chicago that could have been detrimental because it's like I want to go partying because they told me, look, it was two women. They say, look, if you, if we go in this club and if you talk to another woman in here, we will leave you here.

And I didn't know why I was. So that could have been very detrimental to. I probably wouldn't be here right now because when I say that to say this, you know, when you focused and you have your, your eye on the prize, you know, you don't let stupid things sidetrack you and take you off of, of your game. And that was something that could have took me off my game, you know.

Speaker 1

So yeah, I, I think, I think we have those moments, you know. for sure, for sure. I think that for me, I, I really going out to L A and then being broke, there were many days where I felt like I felt as though maybe I should go home. What did I do? I was probably depressed for the first year. It was really rough and so the road to entrepreneurship, it had so many twists and turns and ups and downs. You know, you're in your twenties, you're trying to find yourself trying to figure out who you

wanna be, what you wanna do with your life. And then hitting a million different brick walls because when I moved out here, you were the only person I had and at the time you were across town. And so it just, it was very scary but I did it which I always advise people just do it afraid because you have to still do it.

Speaker 2

You have to, you have to, it's courage, man, courage of those who are afraid but go anyway. So I remember we came out my wife and I came out shout out to his wife.

Speaker 1

I would love to interview her.

Speaker 2

We were flat. We, we left Missouri, I think with maybe 400 bucks came out to California and told my aunt, I said, look, I'm coming out there, I'm trying to be an actor. She like, oh, don't come out here, you know, you need to go to the NFL. I'm like, no, we want to be an actor and came out and we didn't know we stayed with my aunt for a week and then we came into a little money.

unfortunate thing happened, you know, my wife, mother passed and left us, you know, a few dollars, not much, but we was able to get an apartment and then, you know, I got a job. I was delivering breaks, never forget me. I used to, I used to deliver, deliver breaks to different brake company. I mean, different places. And, then I, you know, got an agent started auditioning.

I used to, I love that job because I used to ride in the truck back and forth, delivering breaks and I used to rehearse my scripts and stuff, you know, like my auditions. So that helped me. Yeah. And then things start, you know, popping things, start popping, you know, but, you know, if we wouldn't have made that that first move from the University of Missouri.

Le left Missouri with 400 bucks. Didn't know where we're gonna land. He's like, hey, but we knew we didn't, I, I never had in the back of my head that I wasn't gonna make it. I never had that in the back of my head. I never had in, in, in the forefront of my head that I was gonna make it. I just knew that I had to make the, whatever it is.

Speaker 1

But, you know, for everything you try, you're gonna have a win at some point, you're gonna have a win. And I think that's what's important.

Speaker 2

Yes, because one thing, you know, for sure that if you keep trying something positive will happen but you know, this, for sure sure that if you stop nothing is gonna happen. You know, that, that, that's guaranteed.

Speaker 1

So how did it feel to have that first big break?

Speaker 2

Oh Wow. So that first big break was, it was amazing. It was Carol. It was, it was called Trouser Roso Neil and I was a bailiff and I just had to say she's sitting down, that was, that was my line. Do you remember how much you got paid? I think to probably what, 2 $3000 to say? Yeah, she's sitting down. Is that how you said it? She's getting witty and that was it.

That was it. I just knocked it out. And the next thing I know, I mean, I was calling everybody. Hey, yo, man on V I'm gonna be on TV, boo boo boo boo. That was my first. That was my first thing first. You, you felt like, no, no, I take that back. My first big break was working a movie called I Love You To Death with Kevin Costner. Kevin. I mean, not Kevin Costner Kevin Klein Trace Oldman and the late River Phoenix.

That's my first one and, and we love him. Yeah. And I was just supposed to be this story here is gonna trivia. I was supposed to be a, a stand in for Tommy Ford. Remember Tommy for Martin May rest in peace. That's my man. And he didn't show up to do the movie. So now I got the opportunity just to say something. I said, well, I'm, I'm gonna have to start talking because that's the only way you can get your sad card.

I said, start speaking. The only thing they could do it. But I knew, I said, the only thing they could do is tell me to shut up or go home. I knew they could put their hand on me. So I was like, I started talking and the director Lawrence casting of the Big Chill and not, he came in and they gave me a country. I signed the contract and that's how I got my union card man.

And River Phoenix was so happy for me. He was more happy for me than I was. He was, he was, he was a good soul man dude where it may rest in peace, but he was jumping, he was punching me in my arm, man. Good, good man. Good man. Good for you man. Good for you.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

And but you, but you see, that's the, that's kind of the thought you stepped out on faith.

Speaker 1

You were like, well, I'm gonna try. This was, it.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

Don't ask for permission long, as long as long as they, you know, but you know, as long as they can put their hands on me.

Speaker 2

So, but, but now when you made that first sale from your business, what was, how, how was that? You know, when you got that first, you, you can actually say, man, this money right here is mine from, from stepping out on that limb and doing what I wanna do. How did that feel?

Speaker 1

Well, let me tell you this. So I remember, I remember going to a conference where they had all these companies set up, they had tables and you walk in and you pitch your business. And I just remember walking in feeling though. It was my only suit that I had and, and I, and I just remember walking in feeling, feeling as though I was an impostor that they would see.

Oh, she doesn't belong. She does, you know. And so it was really, really, I was really fearful going in and as I started to sell the company, I got Honda was one of my first clients. And, when I got that first check it, it was, it wasn't all that. It was just like it wasn't all that, but they gave me a shot. They did, they, they believed in me and they went out on a limb. They, they started a mentor program to help me to help navigate.

And when I got the first payment from them, it I felt validated just like I just like probably as, as you did, it felt it felt good. But I just want to tell a quick little story when so I've been working with Honda for maybe what, 33 months and they said, oh, we're gonna come do a site visit and I was working out. Do you remember my apartment? I was working out in a one bedroom apartment.

Speaker 2

What was the size of my pocket? It was about this.

Speaker 1

He knows this apartment very well because every time his wife kicked him out, he slept on my couch. He probably still has the key to that apartment that I don't have anymore. Yeah, he probably still has it. But I would work all night. So then he'd be like, I'm going back to my wife. I can't, I can't get any sleep here.

But Honda came and they wanted to do a site visit. And so the lady on the way to the site visit, she said, oh, what are we gonna do when I get there? And I'm thinking she gonna, you gonna come in, you gonna turn around or you won't go back to the office because there's nothing to see here.

Speaker 2

There's nothing to see here.

Speaker 1

She walks in and she said, oh, I, and I said, oh, I good. Oh, I bad. And she said, if you made me feel like you are a multimillion dollar company out of this one room apartment, she said I want to help you. And I'll never forget that lady. She was amazing. She did everything she could. And that was the start.

That was the catalyst as, as well as my mentor and who is the most amazing human being. Charles Harman at Honda, who helped navigate much success for me and help me understand how to work with corporate really invested in me. And I think that's the thing. You got to find your tribe.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

You gotta, you gotta to find people that will pour into you just to, just to pay it forward and your merchandise wasn't even in an apartment.

Speaker 2

You had your merchandise across all in a little bit like a shit garage.

Speaker 1

I had set up like a warehouse. I was very proud of it.

Speaker 2

And you used to wrap all the stuff up together yourself and, and, and mail it and send the baskets and all that stuff to people. That was amazing. I used to see that girl do it.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

And I used to be like, wow, I used to big boxes upstairs downstairs and I did it by myself for a very long time.

Speaker 1

I didn't give a dag.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

It could have weighed £100 and I was going to unpack the box at the end of the stairs and make while managing the apartment complex she lived in, she managed, she managed that.

Speaker 2

That's what I'm saying. This girl, this girl knows what she's talking about. So when it comes to business, I've seen, I've seen people work but I have never seen outside of James Brown, the hardest working person. This girl right here, I, I, I've seen it with my eyes. So, I mean, she's up early in the morning and late at night, still trying to make deals and it paid off, it paid off.

Speaker 1

I appreciate that. And I think, you know, I think that goes back to why I want to do this and why you and I are collaborating on this because I do believe that saying to whom much is given much is required. I think if you ask many entrepreneurs, their, why it's not, you would be surprised that it's not really about money.

It's about the other things that come with it, the ability to pull others up to set good examples for your culture. And I think that's something that I think you've done extremely well.

Speaker 2

A lot of times, you know, the, the money, like when you don't look at it in a, in a money, you know, on that side of the, of the, of the spectrum, you realize that money just started happening, it just start falling in because it's like you, you, you busy doing this and doing that and doing that and next thing you know, you're like, wow, man, I'm, I'm getting this from something that I just love to do. I love doing what I do.

Speaker 1

You know, and you, you see that more than, more than not and that's when the flips, the, the, the switch kind of flipped for me when I saw it, it just happened before my eyes, you know. But I think when you do good works when you're a good leader, which we'll definitely talk about in the upcoming episodes.

When we talk about how we, how we move through the world, how we lead others, how we touch others. It's important and I think that's why, that's why Reggie and I, we are going to say the wrong thing, but we do that all the time.

Speaker 2

We have a lot of people coming in that will guide us in that right direction to help you follow that right direction. So, you know, that's the cool thing about it because, you know, we don't know everything.

Speaker 1

I know, I don't know everything and we're not gonna, we're not gonna say everything correctly correctly, we're gonna put our foot in our mouths.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

But I think if you understand, if people connect with us and understand our why and the why is we just want to be a resource, we just want to help and whatever, whatever we don't know, we want to find ways to get you the information you need and we'll grow together and they can help us, you know, you guys can, write in, call in or whatever, however we're gonna set it up so that you can say, well, you know, how about this, how about that?

Speaker 2

And if we can't answer somebody else can and if we don't know if, you know, let us know.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I think that's, that's the biggest part of why we want to do this. And, we'll be here until you guys don't want to hear what we have to say anymore when we run our course. But we just want to share and we are on all social media platform.

Speaker 2

Yes. Yes.

Speaker 1

Yes, we are.

Speaker 2

We trying to help everybody understand, you know, the, the, the how money works, how you could set up yourself to do things that you love to do and how you can get paid for doing things that you love to do. That's that, that's the most important thing.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

So that is true and you love your, I love what I do.

Speaker 1

I love what you love what you do. But we're going to talk about too on an upcoming episode. We're gonna talk about you know, having extra streams, extra streams of income coming in. What's your, what's your secondary passion?

Speaker 2

Well, comedy stand up and I got this little thing now I do cameo. So a lot of times, you know, people request for me to do birthdays and, and Halloweens and, and, Merry Christmases and things like that.

Speaker 1

So, yeah, and mine, I love, I love real estate. That's, that's always been my, that was gonna be my, my, my, go to first and then I never had enough money to, to, to buy real estate.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

but it's been something I wanted to do since I was young and I'm in the stock market, man.

Speaker 2

I, I made a nice little change. I've been the stock market, but it's been a little down lately. But you know, one thing about the stock market, it goes back, it eventually comes back.

Speaker 1

So, and I think too, you're starting to get more into real estate and I, and I'm starting to want to dip my toe into the stock market. So that'll probably be a journey. Yeah, that'll be a journey that, that we take each other on. And I think the biggest thing is your tribe is who you surround yourself with and their mindset and how they, how they promote positive thinking in your life and support you. So I read somewhere recently that you want to be, you want to surround yourself around

people that light up when you walk in the room. There's where that connection where they're always where they're, they're uplifting. You know, I hear, oh, this is a hater. This is, I don't even know what that, I don't even, I know what it is, but I don't, I would never even have those words come out of, out of my mouth because I don't, I don't even think about that. It's all positive. Thank you guys. We are Rich People's Business podcast. Thank you for tuning in.

Speaker 1, Speaker 2

I am a Dana Haley and I'm Reginald Ballard. Check us out Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and tiktok, youtube too, youtube.

Speaker 2

OK.

Speaker 1

Yeah, tiktok is Rich People's Biz. Check us out guys. Thank you so much for tuning in.