This is a KUNV studios original program The content of this program does not reflect the

views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the

Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education Good morning and welcome to the grind I'm your

host extraordinaire Mr Eric James The grind Simply put the grind is a half hour

conversation that speaks to local business entrepreneurs and explores their take on where our local economy

is heading and asks them to tell us their own story of the sacrifices and work

ethic that it takes to have a successful business What Is it Sunday morning already

Good grief And I know I want to get up and get this show going before

this heat starts kicking our butts It is summertime in Las Vegas and we you are listening

to the grind the grind hashtag the grind Now I got something special for y'all today I've got 4 young

youth of America young entrepreneurs I want to share So we're switching up the show

Normally I have old folks like mine Myself coming on here trying to tell y'all about the world and

what they think and how they think they they should do it and how it should be done and

how the future's gonna work Now I got the young people that are actually gonna show us and

teach us and lead the future for the future So I'm gonna start off and give you a little

rundown of who we have today I have a young man who I've just recently met so I'm this show's

gonna help me get to know him a little bit better I'm Mr Harry Horta And

second I have a Miss Jordan Foster James and third I have him as Lauren Buchanan

and last but not least the Xavier James AKA Za Zavion Javier and Zayer and sometime even Bubs

So I got 4 young entrepreneurs ranging anything from 13 to Harry I think 19 and Lauren you're 23 if

I'm not mistaken So I got 13 to 23 a 10 year time span that can tell us old

folks at old school you know we like Call it old school that way we we don't feel

so old you know throwback yeah so I'm the throwback in the group here today

so I'm gonna talk to my young entrepreneurs today tell ask them about what they're experiencing what they see and

how they see the future and what kind of business strategies or thoughts they have and how

they think the world should change based on what they do And my two youngest uh

hosts here today just so happened to be two of my own children so they they they they better come

on point because you know I've been Trying to teach them and kick them a little knowledge

throw down a little bit of this this brain food I've been trying to kick out

all these years so they should know a little bit of something but they brought their business

plan today They have an idea not for their first but their 2nd or possibly 3rd business Well

actually I think this is their 3rd business So they have a business plan they're trying to pitch

dad and to see if he'll cough up some money and be an investor you know you you you

know as an entrepreneur you need that uh silent investor or that You know money money bags

to come help you get over the top So we're gonna see if their plan is good enough for

them to get a little uh capital seed funding from the old man So but we're gonna start

off with Mr Horta again he's new to me I just recently hired this young man in

one of my businesses as you know and I you know I put it out there because it's my

show I can put out whatever I want because it's my show I own a few businesses and we're in

the process of starting a new business a home inspection company called Veterans Next Gen Home and Inspections

but my State Farm Insurance agency and my real estate holdings or other things is what I normally talk

about and always if you want to reach out and and and reach out and

get a hold of me 702-836-0953702-836-0953 and we can talk a little business little hustle little hashtag

grind So first Mr Horta let's talk to you young man I have your information here in front of me

and see I'm gonna chastise him because young people think they're smarter than us all He gave me

his information He used chat GPT Now he thinks that uh us throwbacks don't know how to use chat beat

GPT So he he gave me a whole bunch of information all personalized in the third person and we all

know yes technology is taking over the world so he's probably in the right vein of

what he's doing and how he's doing it but I'm gonna break it down on him and see what he's

about and who he is So Mr Horta tell me a little bit about yourself sir Well um

I am 19 years old um graduated high School about 2 years ago from now

um wanted to step into uh sales in order to get my foot in the door Um I started

off with car sales Um car sales teach me a bunch of skills like negotiation

communication with customers and as well as um closing deals OK wait a minute Car sales You're 19

years old You barely been driving a car for 3 years 5 minutes ago you were sitting in the

passenger seat Now you're selling me a car How did You get into the car

uh car sales game Simply just put in an application Um I had a previous

background of customer service and I believe that was just enough to get my foot in

the door OK well so one other thing I know about you because I interviewed

you and you know I picked you over probably over 20 other candidates so I

obviously saw something unique or special in you One thing that I knew about you or I learned about you

or uh in the beginning is that you had an interest or an investment in Bitcoin

Tell me tell me a little bit about that So um I was first introduced to Bitcoin

back when it blew up in 2020 I believe it started off from 7000 and

went up to around 70,000 Um I missed that huge jump but I was informed of the cryptocurrency world

and that really piqued my interest because I just love the concept of if you put your

money in this place it will grow OK I like that I like that now see now what he's

telling me is I gotta watch the Bitcoin market because if it goes up to

Much he might not show up to work He'd be like I don't need this dude no more

I'm paid I'm gonna go cash out some of these coins I've been mining for

weeks and months and I don't need this anymore and he's gonna move on So I gotta watch Bitcoin

now get me some stable coins and stuff like that so I can keep up with the

competition All right so we're gonna move on because we're gonna come back to Harry because there's a lot

more questions I want to talk to him about but I wanna I wanna make sure we give

time to everybody and I got two beautiful young ladies um here uh in in the studio So I

wanna make sure I get these young entrepreneurs uh a little time on the mic Miss Lauren tell me

about self See I know a lot about your daddy because your daddy and me you know

we go we go back for a minute But honestly I've watched you grow up from afar but you

and I have rarely had the opportunity to sit down and actually talk more Now you did come

on the show last month took over my microphone folks She came in I said just a little you

know introduce yourself real quick just say a little two bits about yourself because we had guest on

Next you You know she shoved me to the side I think I fell on

the floor hurt my leg you know I fall and I can't get up and she took over the

microphone She's a natural now She has her own podcast Now again I don't know why I haven't been invited

on Somehow I you know apparently I'm not good enough to be a guest on her show but she's good

enough to be on my show any any day So Ms Lauren tell us a little bit

about yourself and what you've been going through Hello guys My name is Lauren Buchanan I'm 23 years old and

I recently just I graduated from the University of Nevada Reno with a bachelor's degree in journalism Um

with my degree I am working towards creating my own media project around self-love and personal

wellness Um I'm also working towards learning how to better my skills behind the behind the camera in the

studio on radio on podcasts and everything like that I really want to bring awareness

to the world when it comes to people's mental health and their personal wellness and

create Movement around things like that when it comes to media OK so I probably need

some of that mental health because my my kids will tell you I'm crazy and their daddy is crazy

crazy but they don't they're not allowed to say that out loud because you know I get them

So why journalism What what is it about that particular field or that field attracted

you to and you know there's a lot going on in the world There's riots in

LA right now and folks is having problems What about journalism drew you to that

particular field I think what really drew me to that field is the idea of being creative when it

comes to my career space I've always been a creative person and I feel like when

it comes to journalism you're creatively telling stories and you're creatively making an impact when it comes

to the things that you make whether that be you write a story or you were to make a video

on something or you were to put a piece together you're basically telling the story in a creative

form or making or bringing awareness when it comes to certain things platforms OK I like that

I like that Now you graduated from UNR You know that's my my my old school too

Now I did graduate from UNLV in the end so I changed majors and changed schools but I did

attend UNR for a few years along with one of my other daughters Aja James She

attended UNR for one year and then came back home to try to finish up school here What made

you pick UNR as opposed to UNLV And I ain't gonna say it out loud but

you probably wanted to get from your daddy huh One of the reasons if I'm being

honest I know it but I think I picked UNR just because it wasn't too far from home I also

got in state tuition but I also wanted to leave home I didn't want to stay in

Las Vegas I wanted to expand my horizons even if it was still in state I

just thought that getting away from home would be a good idea and I'm really

glad I made that choice because it definitely put me into the space that I am today

and kind of made me into the person I am today as well OK so

tell me a little bit more about this podcast Learn to love you Is that correct Yes Where do we

find your podcast It is available on Spotify on Apple Podcasts and I also have

a YouTube channel where I mostly create videos around it OK you know I I I gotta

ask how many followers do you have You know I got to check your numbers

social media all that you know you bringing in those millions yet Because you know then we can start getting

you paid off if you got enough followers or subscribers Now I'm not really gonna ask you that but I

know you're a new podcast it sounds phenomenal sounds interesting It sounds like you're trying to

bring a little bit of love and self healing to the world and Lord knows

we need all the healing and love we can get during some trying times in our history

So I'm gonna I'm gonna still hold out some hope that you're gonna let me come

on the show and then I'm gonna come and bring some prayer beads and some crystals and some some something

so I can find some wellness and healthiness in my own self So I'm gonna switch to another

young lady here that we have with us today Folks I can tell you some stories about this

beast a whole different character Miss Jordan JJ James Good morning Ms James How are

you doing today Pretty good How are you I'm not bad I'm not bad Now given

that you're my fam and you're my daughter and you know only because you're with me

today you're my favorite daughter you know I'm just gonna you know put it out there Hopefully the others aren't

Listening right now but by the time you know they hear it it'll be too late So what can they

do about it Tell me a little bit something about your journey Tell me about you and

where you're at in your life and what it is you're trying to do with

with your future OK so I just finished my freshman year so now I'm going to

be a sophomore During my freshman year I decided to join the tennis team which was pretty fun I played

doubles which means I met a lot of great friends and then I'd also decided

to join the track team where I wanted to Learn hurdles which is now what the

event I try to focus and train in the most So I'm I'm training that this summer

as well as tennis and then I also do a lot of different aspects of high school so

I was also the assistant stage manager in one of the theater productions um but

I also like to research medicine biology and neurology because I want to be a neurosurgeon in the future So

what a neurosurgeon You got to be pretty smart to be a neuro Surgeon I'm not saying you get it

for me because your mom is pretty smart too but I'm saying you get it for me But um

you went tell me about your middle school real quick because we're gonna talk about how smart I think

you are and how smart the world knows you are What school did you go

to middle school I attended Nasri Academy for gifted children For gifted kids huh Like special ed kids you ride

a bus you know we need a helmet to protect you or was there some kind of other special gift

Not that The type of special educationally special OK Now you're certified Yes I am

What does that mean for people like myself that you know aren't so smart What does that

mean Well so the school enrolled me in juniora so we would be able to be

a part of programs and learn to connect with other young gifted children and learn more

advanced education OK All right now in your current school rumor is you're fairly High ranked in your

current high school is that correct What you know remember you just finished your freshman year

What is your ranking in your high school Right now I am in I think 21 out

of 600 kids That's not bad That's not bad 21 out of 600 Tell them other kids they

need to step up their game That's what I'm thinking you know you just need to put

it out there You can run faster and think smarter and do You're nationally even ranked in mathematics if

I'm not mistaken And I should know this because I'm her father but uh you know I'm trying to play

it off because we're on radio but you're nationally ranked in mathematics Do you know what your ranking

is Not completely I know that when we take we took our state tests that I got into like

the 95th percentile in my score That's not bad So smart beautiful talented and a track

star I think we can get this neurosurgeon thing going Well now we're gonna switch we're gonna

switch to our our Our last guest now again we're gonna come back to each one of our guests

as we go along and but we got a a a young man here I got nothing but love for

this young man he is he is my only son and so he's different I have 3 daughters and

son and I had raised daughters before I thought I had this thing figured out when

it comes to parenting and then I was like boys are different than girls and he does

stuff all different than my girls And I've had to adjust I've had to monitor I've had

to check myself because as a young man he's getting taller than me and I don't like that at

all Now he hasn't caught me yet but he's only 13 he but he's about

looking down at me and what because his voice is getting deep and everything like

that and he's gonna be like dead I'll be like clean your room But dead I'm like don't make me

climb up there because I could see it coming right now So but this is Mr Xavier

Donald James Now for some of you guys don't know my middle name is Donald so I

actually when he was born I actually put down Eric James Junior and then I made

them change it because I decided I wanted him to have his own identity and be his

own person and be his own man so I changed the birth certificate information to change it to

a Xavier Donald James So Mr James introduce yourself to the folks and tell him

a little bit about yourself Hello I'm 13 and I'm going into 8th grade next year

where I'll be The vice president of my class and I'm very involved with my school where I run the

green team and what is the green team Tell people what the green team is at my school's green team

I don't know about other schools but we mainly have been focusing on well in this year this prior

year we have been focusing on trying to keep our school clean as it's then um

students have been getting more relaxed this year with leaving their everywhere So we have

been putting up more signs and helping redirect the students during lunch Now because you're going to be

vice president of school now can you pass like some laws or some rules to force

the kids to do stuff I mean you'd be vice president and like can you make

like a little mini jail at the school or something like that make them do what you

want you know you could you could be a little mini boss because you're gonna be in charge of things

How do you get kids to uh as a leader how do you get people to move in a certain

direction If it's not a direction you think they always want to go Well I'll certainly try but we have

been giving out rewards Like at our last green team event we did we gave out little flower

pots and other recycled toys If students put their lunch in the quick bin and

brought us 5 pieces of trash OK well see now that's a technique Sometimes reward system works and

sometimes punishments So you know if somebody does something wrong Time they're put in jail that's

punishment or in your case if somebody does some good you give them a reward so each

way can incentivize or dissuade somebody from doing something you've chosen a positive aspect so Lauren would

probably appreciate that because I think that falls within her uh uh uh emotional and mental

wellness uh philosophy about life Go with the positive aspects and positive attributes Now as far as the future

there's a hint that you know that's been going around your family that you might wanna be a

lawyer Is that true Yes I want to be a lawyer or an attorney when I

grow up but my dad was talking to me about his friend the attorney General with

Mr Aaron Ford But I I got somebody here on the on our on our

in our station here that's got a pretty successful father that's a lawyer Maybe y'all might you

know Lauren might hook you up with her pops and maybe get you a little inside track on that

legal thing I'm just Saying you know it never hurts to hook a brother up right Lord I'm saying

that Daddy knows a few people but I do have to know the Attorney General and

Mr Aaron Ford happened to serve with him for several years on the Urban Chamber of Commerce board of

directors and so we've we've developed a relationship over the years So if that's a direction

that you're looking to go into I'm sure we can find some folks here in the community um

that could help you out and make you achieve that So that probably means you're gonna have to go

to college at UNLV isn't that right He's what are you laughing about I mean that

would just make sense Like if you came went to college at UNLV stayed close

to the family right Jordan That that makes perfect sense to me doesn't it Well you have been saying

that I should go to UNLV and I've been thinking about it OK well that's

a start You know baby steps baby steps All right so before we get back

to uh Mr Harry we want I want to talk a little bit about this business plan that you and

Jordan came up with or one of So my understanding is that the two of you have had other

businesses in the past so you guys might have to share the microphone a little bit

here The two of you had other what was your first business that you guys

had as entrepreneurs Because remember this show is more about entrepreneurialship uh business hustle and business grind

So both of you have had the opportunity to learn from your parents that both have their own individual business

hustles or businesses What was your first business OK so technically our first business was a garage

sale We decided to host at nighttime so we could raise money to buy our sister a

birthday gift That's not bad That's not bad What did you give Whose stuff did you

give away I've been looking for some golf clubs that's been missing for a minute Did y'all so much

stuff We did go around the house so we might have accidentally sold stuff No OK What

was the second business I believe that our business was our spice business where Xavier here

formulated a bunch of different Spices and it actually worked pretty well on a large variety of foods

So we decided to advertise that at one of my mom's friend's birthday dinners at the

Cheesecake Factory where we actually made a couple sales OK now how much did you make in

sales and how much did it cost your parents for you guys to make these sales I mean because part

of owning a business you gotta know your bottom line costs wholesale retail what what

all did you uh uh make profit wise because I I don't think I ever got my cut of

anything so how did that work Yeah So we made around $50 profit wise but all

the stuff we used to make the spices was um free because we took it from your kitchen That's a

beautiful business model right there Free product and sell it at a gross and your net is all

the same number Oh that's not a bad deal OK now we're we're we're starting to get

short on time so I want to get to your latest business venture Now I have it here They gave

me a printout It was an assignment I'm assignment because I'm that kind of parent So I

don't mind having some fun We we're we're planning on doing a white water rafting trip in Idaho

this summer Last year we did the um uh we went on a cruise on the world's largest

cruise ship so you know my parents didn't do that type of stuff when I was a kid but

they went on what was the the icon of the sea was the cruise ship had a

great time this year we're doing white water rafting but there's part of their summer

assignment was come up with a business plan and their business name is JX Pet Swag I'm assuming that's

Jordan and Xavier pet swag abbreviation Domain is JX pecswag.com owner Jordan and Xavier teen entrepreneurs vibe

fun stylish pet accessory brand with uh personality and drip I like it I like it so you know they

they look like they did a little homework did some Googling did some things Korgo drive traffic to

Shopify store using organic and viral social media strategies uh key angle youth led brand that feels cool relatable

and modern OK OK I'm with you so far I'm with you so far Let me

see primary audience pet type dog and cat owners especially those who treat pets like that you know

some folks be taking that stuff a little too far Lord I see some dogs in some

baby carriages and strollers I see the baby walking and the dog in the stroller I'm not sure

I understand that Does your family or friends do that Harry Do they put babies in strollers

and whatnot and uh and then lead a kid walking the streets in the hot summer I'm I'm sorry repeat

that It was really confusing I was saying there's some people that Treat their pets better than they treat their

children I see dogs with four legs in a stroller getting uh uh strolled around

with little babies walking on the ground but it was a joke Harry missed it so we

will we're gonna move right past that Anyway so let me see spending habits uh uh comfortable spending $25 to

$75 per order on pet accessories niche parents buying gifts for their kids pets or teams buying their own

pets Wow OK wait wait Social media handle JX pet swag Instagram TikTok Talk Pinterest uh Pinterest uh

YouTube shorts and OK OK I'm impressed so far I'm impressed the future entrepreneurs I told y'all we don't

play around here These kids gotta make some money because life is expensive Let's see behind the brand day in

the life of a teen pet CEO or packing orders after school yeah because you gotta put in work many

tutorials how to style your pets bandanna three ways pet leash for the pullers I like pet leash for

the pullers That's got a little I think that's marketable I think we can market that OK so

I'm gonna give him probably a good strong B plus maybe a minus on this I think

we got something here So how much funding are you folks gonna need to get this uh new

venture off the ground OK so our business is mainly around drop shipping so we would only really

need money to keep the store online which is looking around like $50 The stores already bought so we're not

putting as much money in and then they'll supply and ship it out for us and this is also

helpful because right now the um Um market is worth around $56.2 billion So for

us not needing to have as much cost we'll be profiting more than spending And I like some

of your taglines when your dog's outfit is better than yours again OK and uh uh your cat thinks she's

Naomi Campbell I like that one and her cat's collars are so cute even dogs

are mad OK I like it I like it you know Alright Harry we're coming back to

you now because we gotta wrap up here in a few minutes and I want to end on

this Lauren over here Here but Harry what's the plan What I mean you're 19 you're an intelligent

intelligent young man with nothing but a bright future What what's the end goal for somebody

like you because I know you've dabbled in entrepreneurship and stuff in the past and now you're kind of coming

back and trying to learn from the masters one of the masters how to really put

the foundation of a business together You've got the hindsight you've got the intelligence but now you've got

to learn the fundamentals of business So what's the plan for you Well the plan is to find a

Mentor a mentor that can show me the path that I am supposed to take and my end

goal would be being as successful as the mentor and to finally retire is to purchase companies OK I like

that I like that All right Miss Lauren as I'm gonna take a selfie with you can't see it

on on camera I'm gonna take a selfie with her uh I mean on radio but my eyes are red

Oh that's not good but anyway she looks good I'm I'm just take it to her

because she looks fabulous today Tell me what is the long term goal for you You

you You've got your podcast you've got a degree you've got a family that has uh uh

and your mother your mother is is an educator and so you've got an educational background you've got a degree

you've got entrepreneurial spirit Where are we trying to go or what is the what what is what do we

want to see ourselves in 10 years Um I really want to see this movement that I'm trying

to create really turn into something And the thing is it doesn't just have to stay

on the podcast It could be made into books it could be made into courses

that people take it can be made into retreats even just bringing healing and bringing

personal wellness to the world in some form of way and as many ways as I possibly can with

it um I feel like all those things can be a great source of income if anything and

a great source of um things that can help people in various different ways if people don't just

want to listen to a podcast they can also come to a retreat or read a

book or something like that So I just want to make it into something that can reach

as many people as possible and gives People the opportunity to relate with it in whatever way feels best

to them Now do we have a business plan Because I I got two people that you could

hire over here that you know been working on putting together one for you know one together that that's

got some good stuff So I'm just saying you know a little collaboration work might not hurt but

I I love the energy because I don't hear a lot of young folks I do

hear a lot of young folks talk about mental health and and and personal uh uh spiritual health and uh

mental health you know it's really everybody says mental Health is important to you How do you feel you

handle your own mental health because everybody has challenge everybody has demons everybody has a little bit of crazy in

them How do you think you manage or deal with your own personal health and wellness Um it's really

just all about mindset if anything at the end of the day If you're always feeding yourself negative content or

thoughts or anything like that it's going to manifest into your life They call that a death spiral don't they

I think so I think that's the term for it um so I just try

to keep myself encouraged Most of the time keep yourself busy do things that you like

to do every single day exercise is really important taking care of your mind and

your body um I'm not really religious but I definitely do pray I definitely have a connection to a

higher power to some extent and I feel like that's also really helped me and then

just also finding a community finding other people who are supportive of you and actually want

to see you thrive is very important because not everybody wants to do that if

anything so you have to find the people that are real and the people That really want to

be there for you and help you to succeed OK so I think that's a that's

a message I want to end the show on today I think mental health finding your own

personal religion or beliefs and finding a way to bring some positive energy to the people in your life

to your community and to humanity I think anybody that has an entrepreneur that can

embody some of those beliefs and some of that I think you've got a winning formula to have a successful

business and a successful life so I wanna thank all my young guests today And I

I will hope in 10 years I'll be able to bring you back on the show and you can

tell me where your journeys have taken you and how you've managed to build off

of your current successes and what you what successes lie for you in the future So thank all four

of you for coming today I hope you had a little bit of fun maybe learned a few things but

I hope it in today you found a little bit of mental wellness and healing and if I can help

bring that to the world and maybe hashtag the grind uh serves its purpose Thank you

all Have a beautiful day Thanks for listening to the grind Again my name is Eric

James We hope that today's show was two parts entertaining with a dash of education Feel free

to reach out to me at my office at 702-836-0953 and remember to always stay on your