Transcript

Standing on Shoulders: The Polites’ Blueprint for Impact, Service, and Success

From Mick Unplugged Podcast · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 40 min · 7,670 words · 135 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Standing on Shoulders: The Polites’ Blueprint for Impact, Service, and Success", an episode of Mick Unplugged Podcast published November 17, 2025 (40 min, about 7,670 words). It mentions 52 people, works and ideas, including your because, coaching program, company car, credit repair, baked macaroni and cheese.

What this episode is about

Crystal and Dedric Polite have transformed a credit check from their first date into a thriving multi-million dollar real estate business, Be Polite Property, while emphasizing the intertwining of faith, family, and financial empowerment. Their journey reflects a commitment to building generational wealth and fostering community impact through their successes and resilient mindset.

Key takeaways

  • From flipping homes to flipping narratives, the Polites redefine estate and generational wealth—with faith as a cornerstone.
  • First date credit check? Romantic and fiscal, the Polites merge business with personal goals from Day One!
  • Overcoming Section 8 beginnings, they prove housing dreams can evolve into televised empires; the script is now theirs.
  • Dynamic duo 'because' story: from generational poverty to becoming society's 'shoulders of giants'—a standout testament to legacy.
  • Crystal's purposeful dating: Intentionality aces casual, reshaping the first date as a business meeting blueprint.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: your because, A&E's 50/50 flip, affordable housing, Be Polite Property
  2. – 10:00: credit repair, company car, credit cards, intentionality
  3. – 15:00: Amoris College, Big Pharma, company car, no money down
  4. – 20:00: coaching program, Damon John, Les Brown, Robert Irvine
  5. – 25:00: document your process, Merrill flipped out, mind shift, raising money
  6. – 30:00: sizzle reel, straight to series
  7. – 35:00: baked macaroni and cheese, Airbnb, smothered pork chop
  8. – 39:54: Be Polite Properties, coaching program, Mick Unplugged, You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give

Notable quotes from "Standing on Shoulders: The Polites’ Blueprint for Impact, Service, and Success"

  • From flipping houses to flipping the script on generational wealth, this dynamic duo turned a first date credit check into a multi-million dollar real estate empire. Stars of A&E's 50/50 flip and founders of Be Polite Property. They.
    about generational wealth · at
  • I usually start the episode by asking my guests like what's your because that thing that's deeper than your why. Simon Synic wrote a book called Start with Why. And while I believe that's really important, I also believe.
    about your because · at
  • My why. How do they correlate with each other? So, I would say my because I came from generational poverty.
    about generational poverty · at
  • Because we came from living on section 8 housing, right? Because I used to have food stamps as a kid and go to the grocery store. Because we've been evicted. So, we've been on the bottom.
    about Section 8 · at
  • Know, I went to a really nice university and I got a really nice job. I got a nice I got the company car. I knew he was gonna slide all that little stuff in there.
    about company car · at
  • DATE. It just would have been I would have been Okay, so we're going to do some credit repair.
    about credit repair · at
  • Both of you, about mentorship and being those resources and allies for others that you turn it into a coaching program. So talk a little bit about what you do in your coaching…
    about coaching program · at
  • So, smothered pork chop, baked macaroni and cheese, yams is definitely soul food.
    about baked macaroni and cheese · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Dedric Polite — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Please join me in welcoming the visionary, the resilient, the trailblazing Crystal and Dedric Polite.
  • Damon John — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Could really talk to, but then as I got older in business, I was able to be mentored by a Damon John, a Robert Irvine, a Les Brown.
  • Robert Irvine — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Could really talk to, but then as I got older in business, I was able to be mentored by a Damon John, a Robert Irvine, a Les Brown.
  • Les Brown — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Older in business, I was able to be mentored by a Damon John, a Robert Irvine, a Les Brown.
  • Crystal Polite — Person · 1 mention
  • Simon Senk — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

  • Start with Why — Book · 1 mention · first at
    Thing that's deeper than your why. Simon Synic wrote a book called Start with Why. And while I believe that's really important, I also believe we have a deeper mission. And I…

Companies & orgs

  • A&E's 50/50 flip — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Dynamic duo turned a first date credit check into a multi-million dollar real estate empire. Stars of A&E's 50/50 flip and founders of Be Polite Property. They blend faith, family, and financial freedom into a blueprint of success.
  • Be Polite Property — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Check into a multi-million dollar real estate empire. Stars of A&E's 50/50 flip and founders of Be Polite Property. They blend faith, family, and financial freedom into a blueprint of success.
  • Section 8 — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • food stamps — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Because we came from living on section 8 housing, right? Because I used to have food stamps as a kid and go to the grocery store. Because we've been evicted. So, we've been on the bottom.
  • Amoris College — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. So I went to college, graduated from Ivy League school, Amoris College, got good grades, got a corporate job doing sales, pharmaceutical sales, big pharma, had the company car, had the company AMX,.
  • Big Pharma — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Got good grades, got a corporate job doing sales, pharmaceutical sales, big pharma, had the company car, had the company AMX, all that good stuff, wore suit and title work. But…
  • Merrill flipped out — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Everyone knew about HGTV it was A&E with Fan Merrill flipped out 2008 the first one. So they were looking to now get back into the home space and they were looking for three show. They were greenlighting three shows. So they.
  • Be Polite Properties — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Where be Polite. So Be Polite Properties on Instagram on YouTube also our website dedricandcrystal.comrick and everything as well has all our information. Anyone who has.
  • Mick Unplugged — Company · 1 mention · first at
    You've been plugged into Mick Unplugged.
  • A&E (casting company / executives / producers) — Company · 1 mention
  • dedricandcrystal.com — Company · 1 mention
  • mickhuntofficial.com — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

  • company car — Product · 2 mentions · first at
  • baked macaroni and cheese — Product · 2 mentions · first at
  • credit cards — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Know, you do the first thing you do, your parents tell you not to do when you get to college. Get these credit cards.
  • VHS tapes — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Rich Dad Poor Dad in 2001. Matter of fact, it happened earlier than 2001. I got two VHS tapes right here. In the 90s, my mom had these VHS's, no money down, right? The late…
  • Airbnb — Product · 1 mention · first at
    We have a Airbnb division. We had all these divisions of real estate going.
  • smothered pork chop — Product · 1 mention · first at
    So, smothered pork chop, baked macaroni and cheese, yams is definitely soul food.
  • yams — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

  • your because — Concept · 4 mentions · first at
  • coaching program — Concept · 4 mentions · first at
  • credit repair — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • generational wealth — Concept · 1 mention · first at
  • generational poverty — Concept · 1 mention · first at
  • affordable housing — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Even if it's giving them a nice place to stay, even if it's a rental, even if it's providing affordable housing to a single mother or a single father, everything we do is…
  • the 1950s — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And our grandparents weren't allowed to even buy properties in certain neighborhoods back in the 1950s, 1960s, and before and before now we're buying properties on TV, right?…
  • intentionality — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Well, it definitely was intentional, right? And I always tell people, intentionality can take you a lot a far ways, right? and knowing and going into it with a purpose, a reason.
  • Start how you want to finish — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Start how you want to finish. That's one of our models is start how you want to finish. And that's exactly what we did on that first date.
  • no money down — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Fact, it happened earlier than 2001. I got two VHS tapes right here. In the 90s, my mom had these VHS's, no money down, right? The late night infomercials. And it was these…
  • mind shift — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Actually showing someone that he could relate to he said so for him. It was a mind shift where he's now like he won't he can accept responsibility that he and he alone got him…
  • raising money — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Investors. And the leader of that mastermind said, Hey, we hey, we're having trouble raising money to buy our first rental property. What do we do? He was Document your…
  • document your process — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    We're having trouble raising money to buy our first rental property. What do we do? He was Document your process. What do you mean? Go on social media. show people what you're doing.
  • straight to series — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    So yeah, took a while. But what we did was we went straight to we call straight to series where most people would get a TV show they'll do like a sizzle reel which episode.
  • sizzle reel — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Was we went straight to we call straight to series where most people would get a TV show they'll do like a sizzle reel which episode pilot but we went straight to series which mean they.
  • You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Through. I've had it written on everything. All books, you name it, is you make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give.
  • equally yoked — Concept · 1 mention
  • MLMs — Concept · 1 mention
  • pilot — Concept · 1 mention
  • risk-averse — Concept · 1 mention
  • work on the business vs work in it — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

  • Joe's grill — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Asked me out for lunch, I said, Okay, not a problem. We exchanged business cards and we met at Joe's grill.
  • Winston Salem — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Until we were in our 30s that we met our rich dad, which is our one of our mentors who lives right in Winston Salem, who had already achieved what we wanted to achieve, and we…
  • Denim — Place · 1 mention

Sponsors

Full transcript with timestamps

From flipping houses to flipping the script on generational wealth, this dynamic duo turned a first date credit check into a multi-million dollar real estate empire. Stars of A&E's 50/50 flip and founders of Be Polite Property. They blend faith, family, and financial freedom into a blueprint of success. Please join me in welcoming the visionary, the resilient, the trailblazing Crystal and Dedric Polite. How you both doing today,

Mick? We are doing awesome, man. Appreciate you having us. I am the honored one. You know, we were talking offline about all the cool things that we have in common. But what I wanted to tell you both, and I wanted to look you both in the eye and tell you this, is that I'm just so freaking proud of both of you and and and not just the work that you do, and we'll get into that, but more importantly, the human beings that you are, you know, I I'm a I'm a man of faith and I believe that that good is rewarded in good. And I just wanted you both to know just how freaking proud I am of of the human beings that you are.

A thank you so much. We really appreciate that. Yeah, I definitely appreciate that, man. I know that's from the heart, so we appreciate that.

Absolutely. It's the Carolina way, right? Way. I usually start the episode by asking my guests like what's your because that thing that's deeper than your why. You know, Simon Synic wrote a book called Start with Why. And while I believe that's really important, I also believe we have a deeper mission. And I call it your because, right? Like if I were to say, you know, Crystal Dick, what's your why? You're probably going to tell me your kids, your family, your community. But when I say why are they your why? That response is what I call your because so if I were to ask both of you individually like what's your cause today? What's that deeper purpose and mission that you have?

Wow, that's a great question and the first time we've ever been asked that. No because my because h and it's it's easy, but now I'm trying to figure out how to frame it around my why. How do they correlate with each other? So, I would say my because I came from generational poverty. Because we both came from generational poverty, we understand what it was like. So, we do what we do now to help someone else try to change the trajectory of their family tree. Even if it's giving them a nice place to stay, even if it's a rental, um even if it's providing affordable housing to a single mother or a single father, everything we do is really centered around because it's something that we experience directly in our lifetime that we're trying to literally make it a little better for that next generation.

And my mother always told me every generation should go one step further at least

than the previous. So for her it was like if my kids can just go one step further than I did, she would have done her job. So for us that's what I always keep in mind. If I can go one step further and lead my children to do the same. So I think that would be my because

I think you've gone a few more than one step further than than your mom. But you know we stand on the shoulders of giants. you like the previous generation. Mick, what I would say is my because is similar to Crystal. It's it's because we've been the underdogs, right? Because we came from living on section 8 housing, right? Because I used to have food stamps as a kid and go to the grocery store. Because we've been evicted. So, we've been on the bottom. And people see us now like, "Oh, you guys must always had it going on." No, we started from the bottom. And because we started from the bottom, we want to sh serve as an example to others who are starting from zero or less than zero of what's possible.

I love that. I love that. And I want to hit on something that you said talking about standing on the shoulders of giants. And this is a part of what I I feel like I need to tell you both too. You now are those shoulders that people are standing on, right? And I want you to always know that and remember that. And again, it's part of the reason I'm proud of you because

I have family members that look up to both of you. I have friends that are diehard followers of all the things that you do and you now are those shoulders. So again, kudos to you both for all the things that you do and I love both of your because

Thank you. I appreciate that. And sometimes I'm just amazed like you standing on the shoulders of giants just living in North Carolina, living in South Carolina. Look how far we've come in 50 years, 100 years where our parents and our grandparents weren't allowed to even buy properties in certain neighborhoods back in the 1950s, 1960s, and before and and before now we're buying properties on TV, right? So, it's just amazing. Again, I appreciate the sacrifices of the previous generations to allow us to do what we're doing and be an example.

Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. So, we're gonna go to where this started with you both. We're gonna talk about that first date, but but but maybe we call it the first business meeting, right? So, I'm going to let you tell the story, but I'm going to frame it up a little bit for the viewers and listeners. So, first date, you know, everybody's going in casual. We're at a dinner getting to know each other and and Crystal's like, "What's your credit score? What's your business plan? What you trying to be when you grow up?"

I I love put on the hot seat, man. It was It was true in the hot seat, but you got to flip it a little bit. So, we're going to talk about that. So, I don't know who wants to start first. Probably Crystal. Let's let's talk through what this first date was. Like, let's set that stage.

Um, well, it it definitely was intentional, right? And I always tell people, intentionality can take you a lot a far ways, right? and knowing and going into it with a purpose, a reason. So for me at that point in time in my life, I wasn't dating just to date, right? And I've done that, been there. At this point, I was looking to build and I had already started in that trajectory. So when I met Dick at a gas station

in Boston, uh in Boston, and he random asked me out for lunch, I said, "Okay, not a problem." We exchanged business cards and we met at Joe's grill.

Joe's grill in Denim at our fruit one. And when we sat down, I know he thought, you know, oh, she cute about to have a real look, you know.

I thought it was just going to be a little bubble gum conversation, you know, first date.

No, he thought he was going to get to slide in some lines and be real smooth with it and tell me about all on surface level that what he was doing. Well, you know, I went to a really nice university and I got a really nice job. I got a nice I got the company car. I knew he was gonna slide all that little stuff in there.

And I said, "We you ain't even about to waste my time." Soon as we sat down and started talking, it was just told me where he's from and stuff like that. I said, "Oh, okay." And then I said, he asked me, same little service. Oh, where are you originally from? And I said, oh, North Carolina, stuff like that. And I said, "Oh, okay. So, what do you do for work?" He said, you know, told me what he does for work. And I said, "Okay, do you plan on doing that forever?" And he was like, "No." I said, "Oh, well." I said, "Are you an entrepreneur? Have you done anything the entrepreneurial realm?" He was like, "Oh, absolutely." And then he started telling me about some of the stuff he did, which was a bunch of MLMs.

And I said, "Oh, okay." And I said, "Okay, well, what's your credit score?" And

I said, "Well, damn. We we get right to it huh? Let's go. Let's go." And he told me his credit score was like a 810, 815.

Hey, I had that Halle Berry credit, M. And I always like to tell people I didn't ask him his credit score as a factor in determining whether or not I would give him a second date or I would continue to talk to him or give him a shot. I asked him his credit score so I knew how how much work we needed to do, right? Where are we gonna start from?

That's what you say today, Crystal. But if this credit score was a 510 and not a 810, we don't even know if there would have been a second date.

Listen, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A SECOND DATE. It just would have been I would have been like, "Okay, so we're going to do some credit repair.

We both need credit repair, right? We both going to need some credit repair." Cuz you had just cleaned up your credit.

I had just cleaned up mine. So I was on the track. I know the important. And you know, you do the first thing you do, your parents tell you not to do when you get to college. Get these credit cards. So, of course, I did exactly that. So, I literally just cleaned up my credit score. My credit score was climbing back up and I was in the 600s. Told Dre, he was like 810. I said, "Oh, okay. Okay. So, we ain't got to do no credit."

Boom. We ain't got to do no credit repair with him. Excellent. But it have just been like, "Okay, so we going while I'm already done do done did mine, I know what I need to do for yours. So, we just going to pull that report and we gonna get to work." But he need that. So, I said, "Okay." Okay. I said, "Well, do you plan on living in Boston forever?" And he said, "Well, I mean, I I ain't got to. I ain't got no kids. I ain't really got nothing tying me to Boston." I said, "Okay, so anyone who's planning to be with me must be willing to move within the next year or two because I won't be staying here forever."

And that again, most people might be taking it back like, damn, she interviewed you, she grilled you. But it was refreshing to me. It was exciting because it wasn't the norm when you're in your late 20s, early 30s dating, first date. So, I was like, "Wow, this woman is ambitious. She's driven. She knows what she wants." That was like, "This is what I'm looking for in a wife." Now, I knew from the first time I saw that I was going to marry her, right? She didn't know that yet. But like, and again, when we met, I wasn't ready for marriage at that time, but I I that just further cemented like, man, she is a dynamic woman. This is the type of person that I would want to be with because we're equally yolked.

So, I'm going to summarize this first date, though. So, first date, you already know you're going in business together.

You know you're moving. You know you're getting married. All in the first 30 minutes.

Start how you want to finish. That's one of our models is start how you want to finish. And that's exactly what we did on that first date.

Yep. We knew everything knew if you wanted kids. We knew I asked about pre-existing conditions and the family. Like all of that came out at Joe's.

There it is. There it is. So, so Dedric, you were in you were doing several MLMs as as Crystal was saying, right? When did you know that real estate was going to be a jam for you? And and then more importantly, what made that that move happen, that switch happen for you?

Yeah. So I went to college, graduated from Ivy League school, Amoris College, you know, got good grades, got a a corporate job doing sales, pharmaceutical sales, big pharma, had the company car, had the company AMX, all that good stuff, wore suit and title work. But I knew that wasn't for me as a career corporate guy. I just knew I didn't want that, right? And really, I got the bug for real estate when I read Rich Dad Poor Dad in 2001. Matter of fact, it happened earlier than 2001. I got two VHS tapes right here. In the 90s, my mom had these VHS's, no money down, right? The late night infomercials. And it was these guys who get on there. Yeah, you can make millions in real estate and you can drive a Rolls-Royce, you can have mansions, but none of them look like me.

But I was like, man, one day I want to do what they're doing. I want to own properties. I want to drive a Rolls-Royce. All that stuff. And like 25 years later, I'm doing exactly that, right? That's the power of of, you know, intuition and planting a seed in someone. So, I always knew I wanted to get into real estate. just didn't know how. When Crystal and I met, she's the one who saw the entrepreneurial dreams and visions in me, right? But at that time, I was more of an entrepreneur because I had a safe corporate job. I grew up broke. I didn't want to go back to that. So, I was afraid of jumping out and taking a risk. So, I would dibble and dabble in a little network marketing here and there, make a few dollars, but I didn't make enough money allow me to leave my job until I met her.

I love that. I love that. So, so Crystal, you you both start business together. Talk through and and Dick, I love that you brought up the the entrepreneur because a lot of people don't understand the challenges and the adversity that that we face as entrepreneurs and growing a business. So, I'd love for you so talk to us about

some of those initial challenges that you you had to break through to to get to where you are today. H some challenges. What wasn't a challenge?

How many businesses have we started and failed? And that's what people don't understand, right? Like like they see the end result. They see the visibility,

but they don't see the grind. And they don't see I think to to what you're saying now is it's a continual

maybe not a struggle, but it's continual challenges and and sometimes the more successful you get, the challenges become bigger.

Absolutely. uh more money, more problems, right? Like they say, the challenges do get bigger. And for us, it was a struggle figuring it out, right? And especially when we got together early 2000s, mid200s, it was really you didn't have a lot of coaches and mentors out there. Though for us, it was trying to figure it out, figure out what we want to do. no mentors, no guides,

um figure out where we want to go. Starting and failing. The difference was I was never afraid to fail ever. Dedric not so much. Dedric was not trying to go back broke, right? My mentality was I'll lose it and I'll get it back again.

But you were still living at home, right? So you had a little more of a safety net. I had a house. I had a mortgage. I had a new car. I had a car note. So I had some bills.

Yes. And I'll tell you one of the best things, and I always try to tell this to young college students, high school students, especially parents. One of the best things my mother ever said to me was, "Once you got out of college, come back home. Live with me.

Don't rush to jump out there on your own. Come back home. Figure out what you want to do.

While your headaches are my headaches, your worries are my worries. Don't rush to get out there and put the weight of the world on your shoulders before it's time. So, out of her four kids, I was the one that listened. I came back home.

You had a safety net. I had that safety net. I was able to start a nonprofit. I was able to start my own business. I was able to fail at everything. And my mother was right there. Keep going. Keep going. Okay. I'm here to support you. And it allowed me to spread my wings. and allowed me to get out there and do things that got made me truly uncomfortable with it. So when I met by the time I met Dric and Dric was very riskaverse, it was just like

her mindset was totally the opposite. She's like, "No, we don't need a business plan. Let's just do it. Let's figure it out.

We'll jump in, grow wings on the way down is what I tell him." Nedric is like, "We need the structured plan. We need the details. We need step one and step two, and we can't go to step two." We need a smart analysis and we need a business plan for the business plan because that's how I was trained in going to college right in school.

Yep. I I love that. And you know, Crystal, you brought up not having mentors, not having coaches. And I would say for me, one of the things that later in my business career, because early on I was just like you, like I didn't necessarily have a blueprint or a person or people I could really talk to, but then as I got older in business, I was able to to be mentored by a Damon John, a Robert Irvine, a Les Brown. And I know that you're so passionate, both of you, about mentorship and and being those resources and allies for others that you turn it into a coaching program. So talk a little bit about what you do in your coaching program and and and you know who a good mentee might look like for you as well too.

Yeah, I mean we figured out we we solved real estate investing, right? We became very successful from real estate investing.

Then we got our own TV show, right? And then so many people would reach out to us like, "Hey, how can we do what you guys are doing?" We're inspired by watching you. How can we duplicate it? That's what made us start the coaching program. And the reason is is because we didn't have that rich uncle. We didn't have that rich dad we can call when we were coming up to be like, "All right, what do I do? How do I do it?" It wasn't until we were in our 30s that we met our rich dad, which is our one of our mentors who lives right in Winston Salem, who had already achieved what we wanted to achieve, and we were able to pay him for his time and expertise. And he gave us the blueprint. He gave us the road map. So we were like, "Hey, when we become successful, we want to turn around and do the same thing." We felt an obligation to turn around and do the same thing for others.

Yeah. And and you hit on something I want to double down on. I want to unplug, no pun intended, this piece

because I did the same thing. You paid for coaching. You invested in yourself. I'm going to hurt some feelings today and I don't want this to come across from Crystal and Dedric. This is purely the the commentary of Mick and Mick only. People need to invest in themselves. And and here's why I say that. And I want you to talk a little bit more about your coaching program, too. When I first started coaching and helping people, I was willing and and sometimes today I still do it for free. But the people that invested were more accountable to the success, to the results, and do the actual work.

And so, this is my message. This isn't coming from Crystal and Dick. So, don't at them. Don't yell at them. Yell at me. I take it.

If you're not willing to invest in yourself, don't always ask for free advice. Don't always ask for free mentorship because it's draining. I'm not going to lie. people that that want it for free over and over and over again are the ones who aren't going to be willing to commit to do the actual work required

to get where they're trying to go. They're always going to think there's an easy button that you can press and there's no such thing as a easy button,

right? And then I'm also going to say this, they want people to invest in their dreams, but they don't want to put that same investment into their own dream. So I I said that so you didn't have to say a dead dream. I said,

"Listen, well, we we we keep it real. We gonna agree with you a thousand% because we have been there. We've been on both sides. We've been the mentee and we've been the mentor."

We there now. Let me tell you, we are there now like today. And we tell people we still have

mentors literally that because we're not done, right? We are still building. We're still climbing. But we do believe in lifting as we rise.

Yeah. But it goes back to that saying, people who pay pay attention. And we've learned just giving information to individuals. It drained us. It was a waste of our time. No one ever acted on that information. And then you don't hear from them. They come back around in 6 months. Hey, I got a question real quick. Like, we ain't got time for all that. And then the people who pay, they pay attention. They're at every coaching session. They are emailing. They are actively taking action. And those are the ones who are constantly hitting us and DMing us like, "Hey,

I I just got my first deal locked up. I just bought my first rental property that I'll be passing on to my kids within two months time." And it's just as simple listening, sitting down, listening, following an instruction, and getting out of your own way. And I told Dick, one of the best things about that TV show was for me is the exposure to people who said they'd never seen one a show like ours where it was attainable as well as inspirational. So it was at a price point where people who worked at grocery stores, who were secretaries would reaching out and was like, I

in prison prison. Wow. A lot of brothers in prison have reached out to us saying

so many letters from prison. One guy, the most humbling letter I've ever read was from a guy in prison who wrote and specifically spoke about Dedric and he said for the first time watching your show has I've held myself accountable for my actions that got me here. He said because looking at you, we're the same age. We look the same. We come from the same neighborhood and to see where you have gotten my brother has for the first time shown a light on myself and said why could I have not done what you've done and we came from the same place we we came from the same background we're the same age you look like me he said so he really just wrote the letter thanking us

and thanking the t the network for actually showing someone that he could relate to he said so for him. It was a mind shift where he's now like he won't he can accept responsibility that he and he alone got him to where he's at and now he's prepared to do better

um even while there to get out to one day be able to do what we're doing for the family that he still has out there.

That's what I tell people the TV show did that was that was powerful to me. Yeah. It's just the fact that people can see themselves flipping a property or buying real estate and aren't millionaires.

Yeah. And again, I go back to what I said earlier when I wanted to give you both praise. You are now those shoulders, right? And that's why I'm proud of you. You are those shoulders that people are are standing on and looking to. So that's awesome. So

let's talk about the show 5050 flip on A&E. First off, A&D is a big network, right? Like it's it's a real legit network. So So talk about

that was on Hulu and and Hulu, right? Bought the rights and even bigger, even more distribution, right? More more views.

Let's go back to the beginning of the show. How did you get the call? What was it like when it was like a yes, we're going to do it? Like I'd love personally I just want to hear this story. So, well, yeah, let's go all the way back, Mick. It actually started because we invested in ourselves.

What do I mean? We joined a mastermind. We had not closed a deal. We were trying to figure out how to wholesale, make money wholesaling.

We joined a mastermind. We spent6,000 joining a group of highle real estate investors. And the the leader of that mastermind said, "Hey, we we like, hey, we're having trouble raising money to buy our first rental property. What do we do?" He was like, "Document your process." What do you mean? Go on social media. show people what you're doing. Every time you do a walkthrough, every time you meet with a contractor, document what you're doing. So, we started doing that, right? 2017, 2018. So, we built a following and as a result of that following, we started a YouTube channel and that's where the producers from A&E found us. They were looking for a couple in North Carolina.

Well, they were just looking for people period. They were greenlighting. They were getting back into the home space

which they were originally before everyone knew about HGTV it was A&E with Fan Merrill

Merrill flipped out 2008 the first one. So they were looking to now get back into the home space and they were looking for three show. They were greenlighting three shows. So they was looking and searching all over and they were looking at hundreds of people. They had ended up DMing us. I don't I at a certain point I just stopped going into the DMs. So I wasn't really looking at them. So one of the executives, the casting company contacted called our 800 number, got our secretary, made our secretary promise to give me the message and to promise to get me to call her back. So they had been DMing us for a year.

Wow. Which we had known. And I had seen it in there, but I one time I think it's spam. So, you know, I robbed it. And so, as soon as I walked in, our secretary at the time was like, "Hey, a lady name, I think it's Ally from Annie, she said, if you could uh please give her a call back. She really wants to speak to you." And I said, "Oh, okay." And I kept going on, kept walking to go into the office. And she came and she was like, "No,

she made me promise to have you please give her a call back." And I looked at I said, "And you promise?" And she was like, "Yeah." And I said, "Well, don't promise nobody else unless you calling him back." And she was like, "Please, I don't want I don't want to be made out a liar. Could you please call her back?" So, I was like, "All right, fine." I called her back and she was like, "First off, I want to say I am not a casting company." She was like, "I work exclusively for A&E." And I had no idea what that meant. So, it didn't impress me. I was just like, "Oh, okay. All right. So, what what can I do for you?" And she was like, "And we've been following you guys. I've been trying to get a hold of you for a year, past year." Now, this is during co

right after CO. Um, no, we started right after CO. They had started hitting us about a year during CO and stuff.

Then I was like, "Oh, okay." She was like, "We love your YouTube. We love your Instagram. We're looking for a couple to do a show. We're interviewing hundreds of people. So, we was like, at that point, I told Desick, I was like, "Okay, well, we ain't gonna really do it. Let's just see how far we can get."

We didn't think they was going to pick us. We was like, "Let's just see." And I'm super private. Like, extremely, if they had a TV show on extreme people who were private, I would definitely

FBI meet CIA. That's That's Crystal. Hey, I'm right there with you, Crystal. I I really am. So, it wasn't even a thought in my mind to do something like this. So, I me and Doug was like, "Yeah, we just going to get see how far we can go." So, then we can tell people like, you know, we won the finalist.

It'll be a cool story at the dinner party, right? To the final. All of a sudden, maybe six, seven months later at Zoom after Zoom after Zoom, they called us and they was just like, "Hey, can we get on another Zoom?" Sent us an email. We like to hop on another Zoom with you guys. We was like, "Yeah, sure." And we got on the Zoom and it was even more people on this one and they was like, "Hey, we wanted to offer you guys a slot for this upcoming season for one of the TV shows." And me and Dick looked at each other was just like,

"Oh, like literally a fake smile and everything like get a copy of that recording to get our reaction." Oh, like couldn't we were literally like stonefaced like

and then we got off and D was like we're not really doing a TV show are we? I was like we kind of have to now. He was like why?

I was like because like they've already chosen us. He was like so now I'm having second thoughts. I'm like we really want to do this.

He was like I was like we can't go back on our word. Like we done got this far. They done eliminated all these other people like we we got to do what we say we were going to do. He was like babe I never said

so we were just here to see how far we were going to get. I said I know we gonna have to just do what we going to have to do it. I know. I know we don't. And it was really us like we didn't think

cuz you know you dream about being on TV one day but you don't think it's going to actually happen. So we were shocked. I mean we were just like man God works in mysterious ways. And after like months of contract negotiations, we had to, you know, you got to remind the TV show uh network that you ain't a starving artist when you ain't starving.

We're already successful. We have a successful real estate company. We own bunch of rentals. We

flip. You go, they sent over the starving artist contract. So yeah, took a while. But what we did was we went straight to we call straight to series where most people would get a TV show they'll do like a sizzle reel which episode

pilot but we went straight to series which mean they they as soon as that contract was signed

they had boots on the ground within two weeks and started filming which never happens in the industry

literally and they was like oh it' be like two or three days a week. It went to from two or three days a week to five days a week

filming. Filming 10 hours a day straight for like seven months, seven, eight months.

Wow. And the first season, you don't know what you don't know. So, first season broke us. When I tell you it broke us, it broke us. After that last day we wrapped, we sat in that bed and looked at each other and said, "We will never come back for a season two." But look at you now.

Look at you now. What are some of those things really quick that you learned after or during the first season that you now know what to do differently, better, ask for, say no to? What are some of those things that that you learned?

Well, the first thing we learned is that we had to do 10 houses. We ended up doing six because our team just wasn't big enough at the time to handle 10 houses. But I want I I wanted to I didn't want to do it because we'd have to raise about two or three million dollars in investment capital in order to pull it off.

And I didn't think we could do that because I'd never raised that much money before.

But when you stretch yourself and you challenge yourself, it's amazing what you can accomplish. And we ended up getting it done. So that was a big thing for me is like doing something I I was afraid of doing.

I was terrified, but we we got it done and I grew in immense ways. Yeah. and understanding that we definitely learned from season 1. It was literally three of us doing the work of 10 people. So, we understood that we couldn't do everything. We learned that we couldn't do everything ourselves. Like, we I think I lost 15 pounds that season.

We both lost a lot of weight. Um I went from like two gray hairs to like 10. It was crazy. Um, and we learned that we had to

find a team and delegate some of these responsibilities and tasks. And I remember we had talked to a couple people who had already had TV shows in flipping. And they had said, "Oh yeah, the TV show is going to be your new business. So if all that other stuff is going to fall by the wayside, this is going to become your everyday." And we was like, "Yeah, all right. They don't know. We we can handle this. They don't know what."

Yeah. When I tell you baby, we were up there like what I told you. Remember what they said cuz we was we were suffocating

cuz we still had wholesale and flipping company. We still have a rental company. We have a Airbnb division. We had all these divisions of real estate going. Plus, you had a TV show which is another 50 60 hours a week.

So, it was intense. So, season two, the only condition we came back on is that we had a team. We had project managers. We had designers. We had 10 people doing the work of of 10 people versus three who were overstretched.

There you go. That's what's up. That's what's up. So that's that's awesome to hear and that's great insight. I think that also correlates into the business world too that I think a lot of leaders we tend to put everything on our shoulders.

Yep. Right. Right. And and I would say for me the the hardest lesson I had to learn was delegation because I wanted to do it all. But

I can't scale if it's just me. I can't scale if all the major responsibilities and I'll be honest too, the major headaches can't just be mine, right? Like I need other people to deal with those too.

You got to have a team. That's one of the big things we've learned is that again you you know as an entrepreneur self-employed you feel like hey if it has to be done if it is to be it's up to me

and you can't work on the business if you're working in it to that. Amen to that. One of my mentors said you can't read the ingredients when you're inside the box. Right

there you go. That's a good one. I love that. One thing I had to learn. All right. So you both are very busy. You've been gracious with your time. I'm gonna get you out of here with my quick five rapid fire so you can determine who wants to answer the question.

Okay. So, after the credit score reveal from Crystal, I guess the first going to be, were you nervous at all? Did you get nervous when yours was a 810 and hers was a a six something?

No, I wasn't nervous at all. I had the 810. So, I'm good. That's it. All right. You've had a long day of filming, a long day in the office. What's your favorite comfort meal?

Favorite comfort meal for me other than mine would be soul food. So, smothered pork chop, baked macaroni and cheese, yams is definitely soul food.

Making me hungry. Mine is whatever my wife cooks. She is an amazing cook. Now, when we first started dating, my baby couldn't boil water when we first started right?

But her condition was she'd say, "Right, until you put a ring on it, that's where I'm going to start cooking." And that's exactly what happened once I put a ring on it. And really, once we had our first child, her cooking is amazing. So, that's my my favorite comfort meal.

Okay. All right. So, then let me parlay that into question number three for you, Crystal. What's your favorite dish that you make? Um, well, my kids would definitely say baked macaroni and cheese. It's like every week things have gotta have it. So, I would say I'm the same way. I'm a mac and cheese snob.

Oh, yeah. Like, and it has to be baked. Like, cheeses. No, ain't no out the box. Like, it has to be baked macaroni and cheese.

Yep. Okay. I love it. What's one word that you would use to describe your partnership? H

that's a first. Yeah. My word would just be powerful. I like that. I like that.

One word. Mine would be intentional. I think everything we do with each other from the day we met has been very intentional. you know, dating him from the beginning, I made it so that he understood he never had to lie to me. We can work through whatever we got to work through. Be intentional. Be respectful of my time. I'm be respectful of your time. He don't be late. Like I we've been very intentional with each other along our entire journey.

You know, intent intentional and powerful sounds like a great book title for you, too. I'm just going to

I like that. All right, last one. When the story is written for the polites, what do you want that legacy to be described as?

I mean, I would say people look at us and think, you know, we've accomplished everything. I would say we're in like our second inning out of nine innings. We're just getting started with us. It's about impact. It's not about how many doors we own. Crystal always likes to say it's about how many doors can we open for others to walk through, right? How how big of an impact can we have? So that's really our goal is to marshall enough resources so that we can give massive amounts of resources away.

Yeah, I definitely would say a saying that I learned 10th grade. I read it somewhere on something and it is literally been the whole basis of my existence from 10th grade in high school all the way through. I've had it written on everything. All books, you name it, is you make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give.

And I've lived my life that way my entire life. and my mother tell people from four years old it's been what can I do for others. So I think for us that's what we try to embody. What how can we be of service? How can we open a door for some other family, some other individual to be able to walk through to change the trajectory of their family tree? Because like I tell people, our children are going to be okay because we're going to teach them not only how to live in today's society, but get it out the mud if they got to all over again, right? We're not raising those privileged children. They going to learn how to get it out the mud just the same way we did. As well as responsibility for what they have now, but also and more so to be a blessing is what we're teaching them. To be a be a blessing means to be blessed. And you are blessed. So it's more important for us to teach them how now to be a blessing

to others. Wow. I love that. I love that. You two are so awesome. Thank you. Thank you. are you are the epitome of good. You're the epitome of like who we all should strive to be. So just again thank you for being who you are. Means the world to me to have you on the show. Where can people find and follow you?

Where be Polite. So Be Polite Properties on Instagram on YouTube also our website

dedricandcrystal.comrick and everything as well has all our information. Anyone who has questions about real estate or how to get into real estate, how to build wealth, feel free to reach out to us and our team and we'll be glad to help. And we appreciate you. Thank you for having us on, Mick. And uh we got to do this again.

Make sure you guys go and watch the TV shows either one, two, before we hit you with a third one.

There it is. We will make sure we have links to all that in the show notes. I'm going to make sure weekly I'm promoting the show and when it comes on I'm going to also promote the coaching program that you all have because I think that's amazing and it's honorable that you are mentors to to so many. So again thank you from the bottom of my soul for all that you do.

Oh thank you for having us Mick. We appreciate you. You got it. For all the viewers and listeners remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.

You've been plugged into Mick Unplugged. Don't just listen, take action. Rate and subscribe, follow me on social, and get the full experience at nickhuntofficial.com. Keep building, keep leading, and most importantly, keep dominating.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Standing on Shoulders: The Polites’ Blueprint for Impact, Service, and Success"?

Mick Hunt (Host), Crystal Polite (Guest), Dedric Polite (Guest).

What is "Standing on Shoulders: The Polites’ Blueprint for Impact, Service, and Success" about?

Crystal and Dedric Polite have transformed a credit check from their first date into a thriving multi-million dollar real estate business, Be Polite Property, while emphasizing the intertwining of faith, family, and financial empowerment. Their journey reflects a commitment to building generational wealth and fostering community impact through their successes and resilient mindset.

What is mentioned in this Mick Unplugged Podcast episode?

52 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including your because, coaching program, company car, credit repair, baked macaroni and cheese, generational wealth. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Standing on Shoulders: The Polites’ Blueprint for Impact, Service, and Success"?

The episode runs 40 min; the transcript is about 7,670 words in 135 timestamped sections.

More from Mick Unplugged Podcast

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated December 15, 2025.