Triumph Over Trials: Janice Bryant Howroyd on Entrepreneurship and Personal Integrity

What this episode is about

Janice Bryant Howroyd, the first African-American woman to own a billion-dollar business, shares her journey of transforming a $900 loan into a multi-billion dollar enterprise and emphasizes the importance of teamwork, innovation, and personal integrity in entrepreneurship. She highlights her commitment to equity and technological solutions for workforce management, reflecting on the pivotal moments that shaped her entrepreneurial spirit from a young age.

Key takeaways

• From $900 seed to billion-dollar bloom: JBH proves a single loan can flower into legacy.
• Entrepreneurial roots run deep: Janice's rise reflects Southern barbecue ethics and familial grit.
• School year chaos birthed clarity: Integration struggle spurred JBH's vision for community upliftment.
• Poverty by data, rich by spirit: Janice redefined wealth from family teachings to global impacts.
• AI may drive transformation, but it's heart, not algorithms, that fuels ethical entrepreneurial success.

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: ACT One group, agentic solutions, ethical entrepreneurship, Mick Unplugged
2. 5:00 – 10:00: As Thinkketh, Christian, employees, integration of the schools
3. 10:00 – 15:00: West Coast, ancestors, appropriating, Ebony magazine
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Everyone and everything matters, Freedom to innovate, Excellence in delivery, security
5. 20:00 – 25:00: employees, internal customers, Start with Why, Time to understand
6. 25:00 – 30:00: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Ben Mandela, never chase the money, let the money chase you, Success is the worthy realization of a worthy ideal
7. 30:00 – 32:11: AskJBH, Greenville (North Carolina), live gratitude, living grace

Notable quotes from "Triumph Over Trials: Janice Bryant Howroyd on Entrepreneurship and Personal Integrity"

• Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Mick Unplugged. And this episode is very touching for me on many ways. I'm talking to the queen. She turned a $900 loan into a billion dollar enterprise, becoming the first.

  about Mick Unplugged · at 0:00

• It was the incredible team of people who worked within the ACT One group. And we're here we are now at a multi-billion dollar company operating in over 43 countries. And we are primarily providing technology solutions.

  about ACT One group · at 0:53

• Dora and my grandpa Dan were running a barbecue house over on Pola Street in Tarbor, North Carolina. And they served white people at their dining room table.

  about Tarbor, North Carolina · at 3:30

• The instructor gave some data that referenced what poverty line was. and I just as you're doing I tilted my head back and I thought oh my according to this data we are poor yet in my community I actually thought we were.

  about poverty line · at 4:27

• Businesses as well because I need all of my teammates, I don't call them employees. I need all of my teammates to understand I want you to be the best human being that you can be first and foremost because that's a part of our culture and.

  about employees · at 9:43

• Is when we understand who we are. And so I came to I'm sitting in Mexico right now. I left the east coast for the west coast in the 70s and the 1970s and I arrived in Los…

  about West Coast · at 12:19

• We have a ha have a credo that we stand on these feet and that's how we grow forward. And feat fee t is f freedom to innovate.

  about Freedom to innovate · at 16:41

• It's because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

  about I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me · at 25:06

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Mr. John Hardy Bryant — Person · 1 mention · first at 7:43
  And that's an illness they have. There was no pushover, mind you. You didn't want to get on the wrong side of Mr.
• Ben Mandela — Person · 1 mention · first at 25:53
  When the doors were locked. I get to decide. He learned from his studying of Mandela that his mind was so crucial to how he saw himself and how he saw himself was crucial to how he elevated himself above the.
• Zeia Islam — Person · 1 mention · first at 28:11
  And that is embracing of you that you can aspire to. Years ago, a young man in my company, Zeia Islam, shared something with me that I've kept forever. And Zia, I asked Zeia…
• Dora — Person · 1 mention
• Janice Bryant Howroyd — Person · 1 mention
• JBH — Person · 1 mention
• Shaka — Person · 1 mention
• Simon Senk — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

• As Thinkketh — Book · 1 mention · first at 6:59
  A couple of lines out of a book called As a Man Thinkketh. I gained the right to rewrite that book into As Thinkketh.
• Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus — Book · 1 mention · first at 12:48
  In the entertainment industry and I met so many stars, people who I'd read about in Jet magazine and seen on the cover of Ebony magazine and seen on TV. I was meeting these…
• Ebony magazine — Book · 1 mention · first at 12:52
  So many stars, people who I'd read about in Jet magazine and seen on the cover of Ebony magazine and seen on TV. I was meeting these people and I was meeting people who were…
• Start with Why — Book · 1 mention · first at 24:24
  Because that thing that's deeper than your why, right? Simon Synynic wrote a book, Start with Why, and I think it became a phenomenon. We talk about your why. To me, that's…
• As a Man Thinketh — Book · 1 mention
• Bible — Book · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

• Mick Unplugged — Company · 2 mentions · first at 0:02
• ACT One group — Company · 1 mention · first at 0:56
• The White House — Company · 1 mention · first at 5:08
  Publicly. my mama was planting these gardens in her yard long before Michelle planted one at the White House.
• Peaches and Herb — Company · 1 mention · first at 14:03
  Was how people got the opportunity to move forward in that industry. How you look matter a lot. And Peaches and Herb who went out on the road singing weren't Peaches and Herb…
• United — Company · 1 mention · first at 19:24
  Deal. And so, everyone and everything matters. years ago when I would go into San Francisco on an early morning United flight from LA and then catch a United flight back that…
• AskJBH — Company · 1 mention · first at 31:22
  You got it. You got it. Where do you want people to find and follow you? And AskJBH is one of my favorite podcasts out there. So, we're going to have links to that out there as well, too.
• mickhuntofficial.com — Company · 1 mention · first at 31:58
  Subscribe, follow me on social, and get the full experience at mickhuntofficial.com.
• 3M — Company · 1 mention
• North Carolina A&T State University — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

• sticky note pads — Product · 1 mention · first at 17:23
  Mistakes, make them fast, be transparent about them, and let's all learn how we grow from them. sticky note pads that many people use to this day, even in this digital age…
• gum — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

• employees — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 9:47
• Freedom to innovate — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 16:48
• Everyone and everything matters — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 17:00
  E excellence and delivery. E because everyone and everything matters. T invest the time to understand.
• Time to understand — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 17:04
  E excellence and delivery. E because everyone and everything matters. T invest the time to understand.
• I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 25:06
• agentic solutions — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:17
  Companies to plan to hire and to retain workforces they desire. And we're also delivering agentic solutions as part of that how work gets done environment that we operate…
• ethical entrepreneurship — Concept · 1 mention · first at 3:55
  Cost. because they knew they get around to making it up somehow. I saw them practicing their version of ethical entrepreneurship. I saw them practicing their version of…
• poverty line — Concept · 1 mention · first at 4:30
• integration of the schools — Concept · 1 mention · first at 5:33
  You're referencing, my 11th grade year, I was one of the few students who participated in the integration of the schools in my hometown. And so I was it for the 11th grade. And…
• Christian — Concept · 1 mention · first at 7:22
  Within my capacity and my responsibility. And we were very Bible-based and Christian then as I remain today. and so he taught us that it was a responsibility as well as an…
• together we win — Concept · 1 mention · first at 7:56
  Together. One of the main themes in my company throughout the years has been together we win. That started that was formulated in my home. There were 11 kids, one mom, one dad.…
• appropriating — Concept · 1 mention · first at 12:00
  Certain that we don't, there's a lot of conversation about appropriating as well. And we can get so granular in how we look at relationships. What I found in my life, Mick, is…
• entertainment industry — Concept · 1 mention · first at 12:44
  Middle of what was very exciting time for my sister and her husband. They were in the entertainment industry and I met so many stars, people who I'd read about in Jet magazine…
• standard American English — Concept · 1 mention · first at 13:28
  On the phone with my mama because it took me two or three hours to get my standard American English back in place. And I looked at them and I realized I'm not going to be these people. I am me. I ain't gonna have straight water wave.
• ancestors — Concept · 1 mention · first at 14:51
  Had to understand about who's I was and not just who I was and the disrespect to my parents, to my ancestors, to my creator and to my opportunities by devaluing me and changing…
• Excellence in delivery — Concept · 1 mention · first at 18:23
  Excellence in delivery. The young man I talked with earlier today, Shaka, said it better than I can. I paraphrase him, but he said, Why settle for good enough when excellence can be yours? you know,.
• security — Concept · 1 mention · first at 19:35
  That in, a matter of a couple of hours. Now, it takes you a couple of hours to get through security. Wow.
• internal customers — Concept · 1 mention · first at 23:30
  You're giving it all to your external customers and never delivering it to your employees who are your internal customers. We're all customers to each other, and so we measure feet.
• never chase the money, let the money chase you — Concept · 1 mention · first at 28:26
  And he shared with me his father had taught him, Zeia, never chase the money, let the money chase you.
• Success is the worthy realization of a worthy ideal — Concept · 1 mention · first at 29:29
  Occurring in my life, then any measure of gold is not going to satisfy success for me. Success is the worthy realization of a worthy ideal. And I learned that through study.…
• live gratitude — Concept · 1 mention · first at 31:14
  Mick, thank you for this invitation and thank you for the work that you're doing. Live gratitude, living grace.
• living grace — Concept · 1 mention · first at 31:14
  Mick, thank you for this invitation and thank you for the work that you're doing. Live gratitude, living grace.
• 1978 — Concept · 1 mention
• because (purpose deeper than why) — Concept · 1 mention
• DM — Concept · 1 mention
• Faith without works is dead — Concept · 1 mention
• FEET — Concept · 1 mention
• pre-COVID — Concept · 1 mention
• seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you — Concept · 1 mention
• we think in secret and it comes to pass; environment is but our looking glass — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Tarbor, North Carolina — Place · 4 mentions · first at 3:37
• West Coast — Place · 2 mentions · first at 12:25
• the south — Place · 1 mention · first at 2:57
  Would be a light about who we are as a people. At that time, who we are was referring to us as black people in the south. Today, it refers to us as entrepreneurial people who…
• Pola Street — Place · 1 mention · first at 3:34
  I didn't value back that when my grandma Dora and my grandpa Dan were running a barbecue house over on Pola Street in Tarbor, North Carolina. And they served white people at their dining room table.
• Greenville (North Carolina) — Place · 1 mention · first at 30:10
  Allows you to continue to elevate. And you come from an environment, as I do, if you say you grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and I'm in Tarbor, North Carolina, we both…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Mick Unplugged. And this episode is very touching for me on many ways. I'm talking to the queen. She turned a $900 loan into a billion dollar enterprise, becoming the first African-American woman to own and operate a billion-doll business. She's a trailblazer in staffing, a fierce advocate for equity, and a leadership icon who's redefined what's possible. She's brilliant. She's bold, legendary. She is the queen. We're talking to none other Miss Janice Bryant Howy JBH. How are you doing today, dear?

0:37 Wonderful, Mick. What an introduction. Wow. Thank you. It's a revisit for me, actually. You mentioned staffing. You mentioned a billion dollars. And I think about what that meant when I first realized that was happening in the company. By the way, it wasn't just me. It was the incredible team of people who worked within the ACT One group. And we're here here we are now at a multi-billion dollar company operating in over 43 countries. And we are primarily providing technology solutions and the technology itself to enable companies to plan to hire and to retain workforces they desire. And we're also delivering agentic solutions as part of that how work gets done environment that we operate within. So, thank you for the revisit as well as an incredible introduction Mick.

1:29 Absolutely. So innovative, so cutting edge in everything that you do. And you know, I've been a huge fan of you all of my life. Studied you. I became an entrepreneur a lot based on some of the wisdom and teaching that you were showing, not just telling. And that's why I love you with all of my soul. And I know that entrepreneurship for you didn't start in 1978 when you started the company. I know that you had a moment in the 11th grade when you realized there was something for you. I'd love for you to just talk to us a little bit about those beginnings, but in particular when you knew that there's something bigger. You know earlier I was talking with a gentleman who has had an amazing transformation in his life and by doing so has transformed the lives of others and transformation is a big word right now. All companies are doing it.

2:29 AI is encouraging it sometimes forcing it but always providing a support to it for us. Now it's not a new thing although people talk about it is new. It's been around for a while and that's how I look at my journey of entrepreneurship. Well, I really became inspired that I would do something with my life that would be a light about who we are as a people. At that time, who we are was referring to us as black people in the south. Today, it refers to us as entrepreneurial people who want to do good. I'm sitting right now in conclave in Mexico with entrepreneurs who are looking at how we build democracy forward in an ethical and inclusive way.

3:15 And so my journey though to entrepreneurship started before I was born. And I didn't realize it, Nick, until much later in talking with my mom. I didn't value back that when my grandma Dora and my grandpa Dan were running a barbecue house over on Pola Street in Tarbor, North Carolina. And they served white people at their dining room table. And they delivered plates to black people based on what the black people's income was, not based on what the food cost. Uh because they knew they get around to making it up somehow. I saw them practicing their version of ethical entrepreneurship. I saw them practicing their version of building forward for their family and taking care of their community in ways that certainly became a part of my emotional mindset. My academic mindset didn't capture it all until I was later sitting in a class at North Carolina ENT State University. Aie

4:24 pride, let's go. The instructor gave some data that referenced what poverty line was. and I just as you're doing I tilted my head back and I thought oh my according to this data we are poor yet in my community I actually thought we were rich I we certainly were enrich by what mom and dad were teaching and giving to us and we ate better than many wealthy people do now because we were growing food we figured out how to grow stuff four seasons out of the year back there in the deep south and we I I fed often publicly. You know, my mama was planting these gardens in her yard long before Michelle planted one at the White House.

5:10 And so, you know, I just really thought about life differently sitting in that class. And that was an epic moment for me that again, as you mentioned, fed back to the 11th grade when I was, and for your listeners who are not familiar with what you're referencing, my 11th grade year, I was one of the few students who participated in the integration of the schools in my hometown. And so I was it for the 11th grade. And it was probably the worst year of my life aside from the year that people who I've loved have the years people who I loved have transcended. But it was worse even than that in ways because it was the killing of dreams and my soul that occurred in that room. And my dad was so brilliant at building me back up. And dad had this incredible way. I think it was a blessing actually that he had a gift of not just with me but in particular me in this moment building a person up from a

6:16 really low and sad place by painting the picture of their potential and giving them the evidence of how they could move forward. And that's what he did for me that year. It was one of the most building years of my life as a human. And I think it impacted how I look at humanity today. My dad taught me to love people who were actively, physically, socially hating me. And I learned something from him that later was epitomized in a in in a couple of lines out of a book called As a Man Thinkketh. I gained the right to rewrite that book into As Thinkketh.

7:02 Um, and what those two lines say is we think in secret and it comes to pass environment is but our looking glass. And he taught me that if I didn't like what I was seeing around me that it was within my capacity and my responsibility. And we were very Bible-based and Christian then as I remain today. Um, and so he taught us that it was a responsibility as well as an ability to build forward and to be inclusive. And don't hate people because you hate them because that's a sickness and that's an illness they have. There was no pushover, mind you. You didn't want to get on the wrong side of Mr.

7:44 John Hardy Bryant. He he could do what he needed to do. I think importantly, he loved his family and he taught us to be together. One of the main themes in my company throughout the years has been together we win. That started that was formulated in my home. There were 11 kids, one mom, one dad. That's how we did it back then. And and together we win was kind of a Bryant household theme. And that meant that if your if your siblings weren't getting good grades in school, then you couldn't brag about the grades you got until you helped them get it. If somebody didn't finish cleaning the kitchen properly, then you had to get in there and help them. And each of the older ones had a younger one who we were responsible for.

8:28 And it wasn't just about getting homework done. It was about making sure they were clean, they were properly practicing hygiene, that they were completing their chores, and primarily they were holding a positive attitude toward life. Never did I imagine how mom and dad so so absolutely fanatical about us keeping a positive attitude would impact my life as I journeyed away from that small hometown and now as I've said have opened in over I said 43 countries we're actually in over 47

9:02 47 that's amazing that is never had a girl from Tarbor North Carolina let's go let's go Tarbor stand Uh JBH, you don't know this, but you're probably the most quoted person in my household. I I have looked up to you, like I said, as a business leader, as an entrepreneur for a quite a long time. And you have something that's a core pillar in not just my household, but the four companies that I run, too. You have this quote and you say, "Never compromise who you are personally for who you want to be professionally. And that's a pillar for who we are in my businesses as well because I need all of my my teammates, I don't call them employees. I need all of my teammates to understand I want you to be the best human being that you can be first and foremost

9:55 because that's a part of our culture and culture runs our business. Not me, not you. It's who you are as a human being. And I would love for you to elaborate on that quote because it changed my life. It it made me when I started my first company, it made me understand you have dreams, you have visions, but don't compromise who you are. And then who I am is who my business is, too.

10:21 You're you're so on point there. And you know, thank you and thank God that you find something that I do that is worthy of expressing that forward in how you live in your home and how you live in your business. That examples a lot about your own personal culture. May I in preface to talking about that statement because that is my life mantra. Um just talk a little bit about culture. Culture is often referred to as something we can get around to or something we can have a marketing team design for us when we're in business. is often referred to as a very social singular thing when we're talking about communities or individuals when in fact it encompasses everything about us. Uh it is how we live you know and so culture is important because it also is a very threadable and a very expanding thing for us. And you try to sell something into a community without understanding its culture, you're going

11:30 to go flat broke. You try to sell an idea, you try to sell a relationship into someone's home or someone's person without understanding their culture and you're going to get closed down. And chances are you'll be closed down long before you realize that your trying is in vain. And so how that feeds into who we are personally is about making certain that we don't, you know, there's a lot of conversation about appropriating as well. And we can get so granular in how we look at relationships. What I found in my life, Mick, is that we need to get in touch with who we are. That's where all the strength, that's where all the growth, that's where all the pain can be healed is when we understand who we are. And so I came to I'm sitting in Mexico right now. I left the east coast for the west coast in the 70s and the 1970s and I arrived in Los Angeles in the middle of what was very exciting time for my sister and her husband. They were

12:44 in the entertainment industry and I met so many stars, people who I'd read about in Jet magazine and seen on the cover of Ebony magazine and seen on TV. I was meeting these people and I was meeting people who were mixing, marrying, working, building across races as a well as well as across their talents. And so it was an exotic time for me as well. And I looked at them and I felt so different than them make because here I was, as I mentioned earlier, a navheaded color girl from Tubber, North Carolina talking very southern. And my husband used to say he could tell when I'd been on the phone with my mama because it took me two or three hours to get my my my standard American English uh back in place. And I looked at them and I realized I'm not going to be these people. I am me. I ain't gonna have straight water wave hair. I ain't gonna have bright white skin. Ain't gonna have light eyes. And

13:47 you know, I'm probably gonna keep the hips and boobs too, you know. And so I just thought that was so surface about how I was looking at myself because that was how people got the opportunity to move forward in that industry. How you look matter a lot. And Peaches and Herb who went out on the road singing weren't Peaches and Herb who were singing in the studio. And so right,

14:12 you know, I thought to myself, what am I going to do? And my brother-in-law said to me, "You owe it to yourself to prove yourself before you go back. Mind you, I come to the West Coast on a vacation. Still on that vacation, Mick. Look at life. Look at God." And so I determined that I couldn't value myself out of opportunities because of how I looked. I had to understand about who's I was and not just who I was and the disrespect to my parents, to my ancestors, to my creator and to my opportunities by devaluing me and changing me to look a certain way or behave a certain way in order to get ahead in life. And I'm so glad that my sister and I had many evenings, many of them with tears, many of them with laughter, working on me, doing the work on me to help me to realize that that person who I was in Tarbor, North Carolina was the person I was designed to be. And it's how far I thought I could take her that made the difference,

15:31 not how far someone else thought. And so I decided that I would never compromise who I was personally on my values in order to become who I wish to be professionally. And it enabled me by doing that to let go of the hostage I held myself to around things like appearance, things like personal culture. I was able once I accepted my culture was good and then once I celebrated that it came from a strong and enduring place to be able to identify who I was inside and some people that's a flip side journey for them. When I arrived in Los Angeles back in the mid70s, it was a very visually stimulating place. And so it threw me in the face and it gave me an opportunity to decide who am I? What do I stand for? And in my company today, we have a ha have a credo that we stand on these feet and that's how we grow forward. And feat fee t is f freedom to innovate.

16:55 E excellence and delivery. E because everyone and everything matters. T invest the time to understand. F E T. Now when you give a person freedom to innovate, you are basically saying you have permission to make mistakes, make them fast, be transparent about them, and let's all learn how we grow from them. sticky note pads that many people use to this day, even in this digital age, were an accident at one of the one one of the uh h a national entities where we do exploration and it was an attempt to look for how to put planes together with glue.

17:44 And some folks from 3M walked in and they said, "Wow, this we can commercialize. we can monetize it. They didn't see the value in it as scientists because it wasn't achieving what they looked at having it to solve. But 3M said this is exactly something we can innovate from and built a multi-million dollar empire on somebody else's mistake. And so giving people the freedom to innovate and allowing everyone that opportunity is valuable whether you're doing that in a personal or a business relationship. Excellence in delivery. The young man I talked with earlier today, Shaka, said it better than I can. I paraphrase him, but he said, "Why settle for good enough when excellence can be yours?" you know, and so we look to deliver excellence by encouraging each other to be our best in our company. And I think it works well in your personal life. And then everything and every everyone and everything matters. It's in the details,

18:57 Mick. It's in the details. You think you rolling. You think you're doing so great, but it can be that one little thing that you were thoughtless to, unaware of, or had no knowledge about that can paralyze the opportunity, can hurt somebody, can can lose you the deal. And so, everyone and everything matters. years ago when I would go into San Francisco on an early morning United flight from LA and then catch a United flight back that same day. You could do that in, you know, a matter of a couple of hours. Now, it takes you a couple of hours to get through security. Wow.

19:36 Those were the days, Nick. I'd go into the large buildings there and I'd notice people rushing by and signing in. They had receptionists at the front entry and I never noticed people saying hello or engaging well with the receptionist. And we'd always stop, my team and I, we'd take time. How you doing? You know, how's how's Joe, your little boy? Oh, last month you said he did he did, did he make it? Did he get make it on the team? Those kinds of things, you know, and one lady said, "Oh, you always smell so good and your breath is so fresh. I never thought about the impact of people's breath on a receptionist, right?" And I handed her a packet of gum that I had. I said, "This is what I use." And she loved it. And you know, so when I came back, she said, "Ah, I looked in chatting with it."

20:23 She also told me everybody who'd been in before me to make a presentation, what their energy was, you know, etc., etc. And I didn't ask her for that. She felt that we were in a community. She felt we had a culture of shared experiences. She bothered to read about me. She knew that I come from humble beginnings, as had she, and she knew that I was an example of who she could become. But most importantly, she knew she mattered. She knew she mattered in my life. And boy did she prove it because actually we won a contract in large part because of that young lady being so thoughtful and so caring to help us to understand that one of the people we were going to be going in to present to had a particular crisis they were dealing with. And we were able to be sensitive to that. that showed that company that we were going to be sensitive to how we demonstrated our expertise and not just go in there and

21:14 try to, you know, show them stuff. And that kind of leans into time to understand, you know, time is the most precious commodity. Yet, it is one that all of us have

21:27 and we share that same amount by day depending on how we separate our days. Sometimes I think we work five day weeks and have longer hours in a day when we blur the lines of when we start and finish. Um time is something that is so important. We have but amount of it but a certain amount of it on earth. And I think how we invest it is so important. I no longer spend time. I invest time. When I talk with my employees, I remind them, you know, it's okay if you want to spend stuff, but make sure you're only spending 10% of it. 90% of it has to be invested. You have to be thoughtful. You have to be intentional. You have to be caring about how you invest your time.

22:16 It's your it's one of your most precious gifts. And and I'm really grateful for the time that you're allowing me to share with you, Mick. This is a master class. I'm over here taking notes on everything that you because again you you are like that mentor that you didn't know that you were to me. And so we're going to have a one of my companies. We're having a team meeting tomorrow and we're going to talk about feet.

22:42 Oh, beautiful, beautiful. You know, it's a measurable thing for us. oftent times you go into environments and uh you you see things on the wall especially precoid and you see how people brand themselves and you know it's it's it's kind of sad when those occurrences happen that they are purchased ideas but they're not practiced ideals and companies put logos and mods up all around because they're catchy. They catch the attention. They catch the niche that someone's looking for. Or you're giving it all to your external customers and never delivering it to your employees who are your internal customers. We're all customers to each other, you know, and so we measure feet.

23:37 It's it's it's how we get paid. It's not just what we tell clients about how we operate.

23:44 I love it. I love it. I mean, again, this is something I'm going to incorporate because it's it's one of those must-have things if you if you really have a culture of trust, if you have a culture of transparency. To me, it starts with your feet. No pun intended. I think

24:00 absolutely. That's how you get each step of your growth is determined by your feet.

24:08 Yes. Absolutely. Again, this is a master class. You know, I I normally ask this question at the beginning, but I wanted to ask you this now. You know, I asked my guest, what's your because that thing that's deeper than your why, right? Simon Synynic wrote a book, Start with Why, and I think it became a phenomenon. We we talk about your why. To me, that's cute. But your because to me is deeper. Your cause is your purpose. It's that mission that drives you. Right? If I were to say, you know, what's your why? People tell me their kids, their spouse, their family.

24:43 But when I say but why, it usually starts with, "Well, because blah blah blah blah." I care about the because. So if I were to say, "Miss Janice, today, why do you keep doing what you do? What's your because what's that purpose that keeps you igniting and inspiring the millions that you do?" It's because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Staying close to my basic belief. We started our conversation, Mick, around my personal mantra, never compromising who you are personally to become who you wish to be professionally.

25:29 The beauty, the joy, the freedom of Shaka said to me earlier today, you know, I was in prison when there were no walls and I was free when the doors were locked. I get to decide. He learned from his studying of Mandela that his mind was so crucial to how he saw himself and how he saw himself was crucial to how he elevated himself above the circumstances, above the past and beyond the limitations. And that's so important to know. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's my because. That's my because, Mick. And when you do things through Christ, you've got to study the whole text and the context.

26:40 Yes. Okay. I'm not saying I can do all things cuz some things aren't proper for me to do as me, you know, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. When I seek to and and and and you know, I'm Bible ba based and we are taught seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. People often will speak about me in terms of what they see I've done in my life. I measure my success by what I've done with my life. And I do believe that it's so important for us no matter where we find ourselves whether that is in the context of society in the context of politics in the context of finance and business wherever we find ourselves seeking first the kingdom of Christ for me is important. If that's not your measure, find out what that thing is that is higher than you that is bigger than you

28:03 and that is embracing of you that you can aspire to. Years ago, a young man in my company, Zeia Islam, shared something with me that I've kept forever. And Zia, I asked Zeia, "How do you find your strength, Zeia, during certain circumstances?" And he shared with me his father had taught him, "Zeia, never chase the money, let the money chase you." And I've thought on that for years because people so it find it complimentary think it complimentary and find it so casual to speak about my success in terms of the billions of dollars that my company generates a year volumes out at a year or the billions of dollars that the entrepreneurs who I've mentored aggregate over a year.

29:04 The truth is, if those entrepreneurs aren't happy, if they're not going home to families they treasure and who know they are treasured, if my grandbabies don't know me because my children don't want to know me. If those things are occurring in my life, then any measure of gold is not going to satisfy success for me. Success is the worthy realization of a worthy ideal. And I learned that through study. That wasn't me, you know, who thought of that. Earl Nightingale put that in front of me years ago. And so when you when you live with that measurement, make no mistake, we got to do the finance. We've got to keep the numbers if you're in business. We're not talking about, you know, just working on faith. Faith without works is debt. But it it's about finding that balance about where you are and who you are that allows you to continue to elevate. And you come from an environment, as I do, if you say you grew up in Greenville,

30:12 South Carolina, and I'm in Tarbor, North Carolina, we both come from a community and a mind and a culture that taught us we can do well and do good at the same time. And in my house it was if you're doing well be certain you're doing good at the same time. So I don't know if I've answered you but I shared with you transparently my truth.

30:37 JBH again this has been a master class. I have so many notes. I have so many takeaways. I know the viewers and listeners are receiving this as well too. I also know you talk about time being your best asset. you took time to to be with us today. And again, you have no idea what that means. I just I I owe you upon owing you upon owing you because you are one of those figures in my life that I've always tried to shape myself. I I I owe you that gratitude.

31:10 Mick, thank you for this invitation and thank you for the work that you're doing. Live gratitude, living grace.

31:18 You got it. You got it. Where do you want people to find and follow you? And AskJBH is one of my favorite podcasts out there. So, we're going to have links to that out there as well, too.

31:29 All right. Well, if they're doing that, they can follow me through that. I'm on all the social platforms, so they're very welcome to do that. And if they're urgent to any communication, they can DM me.

31:40 Look at that. DBH, thank you so much. And to 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 mickhuntofficial.com. Keep building, keep leading, and most importantly, keep dominating.

Questions about this episode

What is "Triumph Over Trials: Janice Bryant Howroyd on Entrepreneurship and Personal Integrity" about?

Janice Bryant Howroyd, the first African-American woman to own a billion-dollar business, shares her journey of transforming a $900 loan into a multi-billion dollar enterprise and emphasizes the importance of teamwork, innovation, and personal integrity in entrepreneurship. She highlights her commitment to equity and technological solutions for workforce management, reflecting on the pivotal…

What is mentioned in this Mick Unplugged Podcast episode?

60 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Tarbor, North Carolina, employees, Freedom to innovate, Everyone and everything matters, Mick Unplugged, West Coast. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Triumph Over Trials: Janice Bryant Howroyd on Entrepreneurship and Personal Integrity"?

The episode runs 32 min; the transcript is about 4,903 words in 43 timestamped sections.

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