[00:00:02] Speaker A: Ramping up your business. The time is near. You've given it hard. Now get it in gear. It's passage to profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: I'm Richard Gerhart, founder of Gearhart Law, a full service intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
[00:00:20] Speaker C: And I'm Elizabeth Gerhardt. Not an attorney, but I do marketing for Gearhart Law, and I have my own startups and podcasts.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Are you one of the two in five Americans wanting to start your own business or already a business owner? Stay tuned. This show is about starting and growing your business. Welcome to passage to the road to entrepreneurship, where we learn why and how ordinary people, just like you, started and grew their businesses. And we also talk about the intellectual property that helps protect your innovations.
[00:00:48] Speaker D: I am Kenya Gibson, and we are joined in the studio with some very special guests today, Justin Crosby and Jason Anderson of the Dream commission. Welcome to passage to prophet.
[00:00:58] Speaker E: Hey, how are you doing?
[00:00:59] Speaker C: Good.
[00:00:59] Speaker F: Thank you for having us.
[00:01:00] Speaker D: Good. Very good today. So we kind of stole you out of the hallway because you were here, you know, kind of visiting some of our other radio stations and talking to some other folks about what you're doing. So tell us about the dream commission and how you all are involved.
[00:01:14] Speaker F: Yeah, sure. The Dream commission really got started again out of necessity, being from Mississippi, one of the most impoverished areas in the United States, and also doing a lot of work in Memphis, Tennessee. Again, we grew up probably second generation students that graduated from high school. And again, we had education but not financial literacy. Right. So again, even as we progressed in our careers, we were still struggling until, again, we learned about financial literacy. So one thing that we tell people is that we cure cancer, and people's like, oh, well, how do you do that? And it's really, again, systemic cancer. And again, I'll pitch that to Justin. In it, you figure out the answer to hard questions.
[00:01:53] Speaker E: Sure. So when you talk about curing cancer, right, that can be kind of a catchphrase. But what we're really talking about is the systemic issues involving financial wealth and equity and making sure that everyone has that path. What I talk about a lot of times is that many of us were given an equation, but an incomplete equation. You were told to go to school, get a degree, get a job. Then what? There was no more roadmap.
[00:02:22] Speaker F: Right.
[00:02:22] Speaker E: And many of us that went to college. Right. We were on the highway of success. And you get to graduation, and then that road goes to gravel, and then it goes to mud, because no one has told you anything about how to actually exist in the world beyond that. So that's what we try to do is whether, again, you make 20,000 or 20 million, what's the plan? What's the education? What's the. The vehicle by which you're going to have success?
[00:02:46] Speaker C: So what are some of the vehicles that you help people with? Are you guys financial advisors yourselves?
[00:02:51] Speaker F: No, no, no. Absolutely not. Please do not hit up our.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: I was going to ask you for stock picks later in the show.
[00:02:59] Speaker F: So what we do is we throw, we do financial literacy programming, and we work with municipalities and institutions of higher learning. And again, we bring in resources. So we bring in banks. We work with the city of Memphis financial literacy coordinator. We bring in, again, people that are financial analysts. We do bring in attorneys, we do bring in small business owners, and we bring in celebrities. And like Justin said, it's a systemic issue, because, again, when you talk about financial literacy, it's at the heart of everything that our country is dealing with, specifically in a black community. For large black cities like Memphis, which is one of the top five cities. Right? So, had over 390 murders last year, 397 murders. Those murders were directly tied to poverty, which has an over 30% poverty rate in the black community. So again, what we do is we say, hey, the only way to address this and health disparities in the community is to address the economy. So what we do is we bring in celebrities, we bring in financial analysts, we bring in free resources and get sponsors and provide free summits for the community and for students. So they have the vehicle to change that diaspora for their families and for the next generation. And so that's what we do. That's a little bit different than others, because how are you going to tell someone or charge someone 300 or $3,000 to come to a summit when they're living in poverty to change their lives. Right? But banks understand that, hey, if we donate to this cause and other organizations, that people are going to have more money to invest in their banks, to help small businesses, and we know what banks do with that money. So again, they're happy to help change that dynamic because it's good for us as a country.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: So to what extent do you emphasize entrepreneurism as opposed to maybe more traditional corporate paths for earning a living or having a career?
[00:04:48] Speaker E: So that's a great, great point. That's actually something that we're working on more. But this being our second year, I think we understand that we're better together. So one of the things we've been working on is trying to approach that, that go up. Me, myself, I have an Amazon freight partnership based out of Atlanta. I do not have a background in logistics. I went to school for journalism and psychology. Oddly enough, however, I realized that after 16 years of working in telecom, there was a dead incoming. And so what we try to do is make sure everyone understands that education is important, going to school is important, every resource of the tree you can grab is important. But what about having your own? And what about taking your best friend or your sister or your brother or whoever and say, let's do this together? I think that's a part in wealth generation we're not considering and not taking to advance. So yes, that's a big part of our platform, to let everyone know that, yes, you can do it, even if you have to do it by yourself.
[00:05:43] Speaker C: So I have a question for you. Thedreamcommission.org is your organization. How are you funding this? Are you getting sponsors? Because it's not cheap to put on events and bring all these people together.
[00:05:53] Speaker F: It's not. So you can say that as many times as you want.
We were lucky. The city of memphis worked with us last year, and they brought in resources such as venues. The national civil rights Museum. Tennessee Valley authority was a great sponsor, autozone. So again, too many to name, but those play a huge benefit in what we're doing.
[00:06:20] Speaker E: I'll say this. So, yes, we do all the fundraising ourselves. And last year was a learning curve for us because we were so happy to have all those groups come and we had individuals give us discounts to fly in and all of that. And jason won't say it, but I'm a realist. We still lost money. Jason and myself actually wrote checks to make sure we cleared the balance because we believe in what we're doing, which is why we definitely hope people will come find us on thedreamcommission.org dot. I'm always ask this question, what would have happened to me had someone given me this opportunity?
And I'm thankful for the life that I have. I'm thankful for where I am. But I have to ask myself, how much further would I be? How much further will the next child be? I have a three year old daughter. Do I have her further enough along? And so that's my goal, my inspiration, and my drive for doing this.
[00:07:08] Speaker C: And what brain power are we leaving behind? Because there's some really smart kids that don't get opportunities.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Do you have another event planned or.
[00:07:16] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So again, we're having a juneteenth dream summit this year, June 14 and June 15. Definitely go to our website, thedreamcommission.org, to find out more. But again, we're looking for partners. If you'd like to be a speaker, definitely submit an inquiry. But juneteenth dream summit is definitely again the first thing on our list. Again, we're looking to partner with even more HBcus to have an HBcU dream summit. And we're working with a few more organizations, Knobco and a few other organizations with their events this year. So just really excited about the year.
[00:07:48] Speaker D: Justin Crosby and Jason Anderson.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: The Dream Commission passage to Profit is a nationally syndicated radio show appearing in 31 markets across the United States. Thank you to the P two P team, our producer Noah Fleischman and our program director, Alicia Morrissey. Look for our podcast tomorrow, anywhere you get your podcast. Our podcast is ranked in the top 3% globally. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram x, and on our YouTube channel. And remember, while the information on this program is believed to be correct, never take a legal step without checking with your legal professional. First. Gearhart Law is here for your patent, trademark and copyright needs. You can find
[email protected] and contact us for a free consultation. Take care, everybody. Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week.
