January 28, 2025 ⢠44 mins
In this episode of Butternomics, C.D. Moody shares how passion and perseverance helped him shape Atlanta’s skyline. From overcoming personal challenges to building iconic landmarks, Moody’s story is a powerful blueprint for turning obstacles into opportunities. Tune in for lessons on grit, growth, and dreaming big.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I started having some little wins where I had confidence,
but my confidence was only at a certain scale. You know,
I never dreamed. But a lot of that was because
from the generation I came from, in the industry I chose,
and also what happened to me as a child. I
realized all those things were impacting my ability to dream big.
(00:21):
And that's why I tell people of color, especially young
for us, say hey, don't limit yourself. Man. We can
do some incredible stuff, but we gotta really believe it.
And I'm a firm believer. We are what we see.
So it's so important that our children see people who
look like them doing some incredible stuff because then you
start believing, you know what, I really might be able
(00:42):
to do that.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Everybody, Welcome to another episode of Butter Nomics amy host
Brandon Butler, a found in CEO of Butter atl And
today we got a special guest. We got a legend
in the house. I've heard about this man in these streets.
He don't know I heard about him.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I heard about this man these streets.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So it's the honor to have the one and only
mister David Moody of CD Moody Construction in the building, sir,
how you doing today.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Hey man, I'm glad to be here. You know, I'm
excited to be here with a young man that went
to the neighborhood high school you know where I live,
and see what you're doing now, so I'm excited to
watch you do what you do. Hey man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
And for those that don't know, he's talking about the illustrious,
world famous Rida in high school in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
If you know, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
If you don't know, you better ask somebody, as they
always say, But yes, you know, you know, mister Moody David.
You know we're first stay in base now, so you
know what I'm saying. You grew up around the corner
from there. I know that area very well. You are
a very well known, prominent figure on the East Side
all over Atlanta. And one of the reasons why you're
so well done for Atlanta is because your fingerprints are
all over this city.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Man. You built every damn thing out here, well not everything,
but enough to make me go, yeah, we're done, all right.
So you know underground Atlanta, Mercedes been Stadium, Phillips Arena,
Turner Field, Olympic Stadium, Morehouse, Ray Charles before I'm in
our Center, the Cyclorama and the History Center, Atlanta Airport,
I mean all kind of stuff. I mean I am.
(02:06):
I'm living a dream considering I started a business with
no plan and look, you've.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Grown that thing again, y' y'all started back in the
late eighties and right, you know, MI understanding like this
is the Internet, says you keep me on the Internet,
says y'all have grown over seventy million dollars a year
in revenue.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Oh yeah, yeah, we're way over that. I mean, we're
in five states, okay, you know we're in Ohio, Virginia,
South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. Man, what's it like? What's
that journey been like? You know, I tell you something,
and this is the hard thing to admit to yourself sometime.
You know, I'm a kid born. I'm born in nineteen
fifty six, so I was raised in the sixties. So
(02:45):
you got to think when I was coming along with
civil rights there, you know, we didn't have the right
to vote. A lot of things and a lot of
opportunities we didn't have. So I really didn't think I
would do much other than get a decent job, so
entrepreneurship it wasn't even on my radar. And I thought
I was going to be a draftsman, because you remember
(03:05):
when I was coming on this before CAD and computers
and all that. And then I met a black architect
when I was fifteen, when we had moved to Antarbroam,
Michigan from Chicago. I was born and raised in Chicago
till I was fourteen, and then I met this black
architect who had went to Hampton University, and I said,
you know what I could do more than be a draftsman.
You know, I could be a designer architect. And life
(03:29):
just kind of moved on. But even when I started
my business, I started my business more so because I
needed a job, you know, and I had two young kids.
So I really thought I'd do this one project and
that would be the end of it, and I'd go
get a job. And then I said, well, let me
try another job. And you know, so I was always
in survival mode because I started undercapitalizing like most of
(03:51):
us do. I didn't really have a business plan. I
was just trying to survive. And I wish I would
have changed my mindset much sooner. I'm sixty eight now,
so I probably changed my mindset at sixty seven and
three quarters. You know about you don't have to operate
thinking big, believe in yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Well, you know what, I want to talk about that
and we'll get into the construction of the journey. But
let's talk a little bit about mindset because a lot
of people don't bring that up, like when you talk about,
you know, kind of having a positive mindset, but also
like a mindset of abundance, Like what was it like
when you were getting started and again trying to figure
out undercapitalized to the differences like you're in today.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Oh gosh, it's like night and day. I was thirty
one years old, you know, I'm sixty eight now. My
wife and I both same age, and I remember we
couldn't get ten dollars out the ATM machine and I
had to we wrote and this is probably the most
humbling time of my life. We had more money going
out than we had coming in. I was only making
(04:49):
thirty grand a year, and my wife we decided we
would struggle, you know. She stayed home with the kids
and then decided to go become an rin But I
had to write a letter to the More mortgage company,
to credit card people saying, look, we can't afford what
you be willing to cut our payment to this, and
I promised to pay. They all agreed and we kept
(05:09):
our word. And that was really tough. But I always
tell people that was also a great lesson because when
you learned to live off a little, and then if
you start making some decent money, you realize you don't
need a lot. So therefore you can invest, you can
do you know, put away for college for kids, put
(05:31):
away for your retirement. So I learned a lot in that,
you know, And even though it was hard. I remember
going to my tenth reunion in college. I'll graduated from
Morehouse and I also graduate from Howard for architecture school.
But I went back for my tenth reunion and all
my classmates have finished mad School, law school, nbas, you know,
(05:51):
having these great careers, and my business was just starting
and we were struggling, and I remember feeling a little embarrassed,
you know, looking at my class mates. But at our
twenty three union, it was a different ball. So it's amazing.
If you run your own race, yeah, run your own race. Well,
(06:13):
they always say, what is it comparison is a thief
for joy. And I think, you know, especially in this
world around social media, where all you see is other
people's highlights all day long, you start to really make
weird comparisons. I know.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
One thing I've kind of noticed is that people find
like this, I think, additional meaning in like these birthdays
for some reasons, like for some reason, twenty five is
a big birthday and you know, thirty and forty five,
And I get it. But I always tell my friends,
even when they're twenty five and they're you know, depressed
or we were coming up, I said, well, lot of
that's because you're comparing yourself to Lebron James, right, Like,
let me tell you, Lebron is not was not a
normal twenty five year old, right, and sure he's done
(06:46):
all these things, but like you ain't Lebron bro like
wein six ' eleven, two hundred some pounds, you know
what I mean, You don't do what he does. But
I think, with a lot of sounds because of social media,
because all we see is the highlights, we compare ourselves
and so I think part of the thing that might
even help you out more is you didn't have to
deal with a lot of that stuff, you had the
ability to ring your own race right.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You know, it's funny. I always tell people the best
thing about being a C student like I was with
nothing was expected of me. I didn't had nothing to
prove to anybody. So you're right. It made it easy
for me as far as what the world might think. Well,
you know, in your little circles, nobody expected me to
(07:23):
make it anyway. You know, my biggest thing when I
started my business, I said, man, if I can just
make it five to seven years, when I don't look
like a complete failure, I would have done. Okay. I
never the big thing and I'll tell you as part
of it is then depending if we get into it.
You know, I'm a survivor of something from a childhood trauma,
(07:43):
and I don't want to trigger anybody, but we can
decide how we deal with that. But they can read
and understand what that trauma was. But it's something that
no child should ever have to go through. But I
realized because and I buried it, and you know I didn't
tell anyone. I realize how my self esteem was stolen,
(08:05):
when my innocence was stolen. So I realized when I
started my business that much later in life, I realized
how I didn't shoot big because I didn't think it
was possible. And also I didn't really see people who
look like me doing what I'm doing other than a
(08:25):
handful of people. So I realized how I really limit myself.
So one of the things I tell people, especially young
folks of color, man dream big, don't I mean, but
you got to put the work in, absolutely, But you
also got to deal with the things that are impacting
your performance. So often we all got a story of
different things from childhood. Some are bad and some things
(08:48):
you can kind of get over quickly. But we got
to be able to be aware of the things that
really impact our performance. And I'm a big proponent of
getting therapy because it was I hope you tremendously. I
actually had a complete nervous breakdown in nineteen ninety two.
My business was only four years old when I finally
(09:08):
kind of addressed what happened to me as a child,
and I actually said out loud to my wife what happened.
And I thought I was okay, But within four or
five months I started having panic attacks, I mean bad ones,
which I never had where I actually had to call
an ambulance on the side of the road, and then
I had a complete breakdown a couple months later, and
I didn't have any idea what happened to me as
(09:30):
a child could be affecting me at thirty six years old.
So the therapy idea was just to understand panic attacks.
I was sixty five before I went and got a
trauma therapist because I felt myself I had to break
down nineteen ninety two, and then I just powered through
power through, which you know, we as men were taught
just power through, power through, but we don't realize how
(09:53):
that beats us up and wears us down. So twenty
six years later, after night teen ninety two, I feel
myself I think doing COVID. So about twenty eight years later,
I started feeling myself wearing down again, like the breakdown.
So I had enough sense talk to my wife and
she went online to psychology today put in you know,
(10:14):
trauma therapists, and I found a trauma therapist, really excellent therapist,
more house man doctor INChO and I finally did cognitive
behavioral therapy. And that's one reason why I went and
hiked Mount Killim and Jarl in twenty twenty three, I
wanted to test myself and push myself through all the
triggers of things that have held me back in my life. Yes,
(10:37):
my business has done well, but I could have done
so much more if I had spent so much time
wrestling with anxiety and the trauma that I dealt with
and just believing in myself. So that's why you will
always hear me tell people don't give up, dream big
and deal with the things.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's a roadblock for you. And it's usually in the mind. Yeah,
I mean that's where it all starts first. And you know,
first of all, I want to, you know, commend you
for taking that stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Again.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
A lot of people, you know, even when they've had
issues bat I batter you know, different issues and anxiety
and stuff in the past too. And you know, it's
taking me a while to go find the help you
need because, like I said, a lot of times men
were just told to power through things and kind of
figure it out. And yeah, people don't realize like how
much that kind of weighs down to you or how
lonely kind of the journey for entrepreneurship can be, especially
when you're kind of person that's building and get the
(11:26):
person everybody depends on, right.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Oh, I tell I tell people that's probably when the
loans and loneliest places to be as an entrepreneur. Now,
I am so blessed. My wife and I've been married
forty two years. I never had a lifestyle to feed,
you know. All my wife said, Hey, as long as
we got a roof over our head and a little
something neat and the kids are happy, you know, will
(11:51):
be okay. So I'm really blessed because even to this day,
I don't have a materialistic lifestyle. I gotta feed, yeah,
And it's funny. Then you get older you realize how
little you need anyway. Now you just want to be here.
I mean, I got friends who have you know, got
cancer and other health issues passing, and you realize, man,
(12:12):
I'm just thankful to be healthy and the material things
really don't even matter anymore. So I was really blessed
that I didn't have a material lifestyle to feed, so
we could struggle through those hard times. Like I said,
my wife went back to school and became a registered nurse,
and she did hospice for twenty five years just so
we could when we started the business, we could have
(12:34):
a steady income until the business took off. Yeah, that's partnership.
You know, we're a team. We all in. I mean
I always tease her, I say, girl, you pack your bags,
I'm going where we going. You ain't leaving me. I
wouldn't know how to do anything now.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
You know, as much as you want to talk about this,
and like I said, we want to let people know again,
you know, you did mention some some trauma and stuff
like that that you had dealt with, and I don't
want to just brush past and I want to kind
of open up a state if you do want to
talk about that stuff, right. You know, how did those
experiences kind of influence you know, the way you thought
about business?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
He said?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
A lot of times it made you feel a little
bit more limited or less versus when you when you
went through the process of doing the work. Now you
felt bigger, right, Like, how did these things impact you?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
You know that is a great question because I've been
really wrestling with that question, and I've been really being
honest with myself. It it my business. I ran my
business more so to make sure we could survive. I
never went I didn't go into business to think man,
I'm gonna have this big business and I can do
(13:38):
these things. I was like, man, I need a job,
because you understand. I was working for Bechtol Power as
an architect in nineteen eighty one, and I had a
great job. They were one of the largest privately owned
construction companies in the world. And my wife and I
got married in nineteen eighty two and nineteen eighty three,
I say, hey, babe, I'm gonna take you to Atlanta,
where I went to college and more house, and this
(14:01):
company offered me a job. It was a small company
and I'm leaving this big company that I was getting
ready to get transferred. I was in nuclear power division,
doing nuclear power plants, and I told my wife, Nah,
we're gonna take this chance. And man, two months after
we get here, that company goes bankrupt. Now I don't
have a job. So what I thought was a great idea,
(14:23):
you know, is looking pretty bad. But when I look back,
that was a blessing in disguise. Because that company had
not went bankrupt, I probably never would have won in business.
So I started working for some small construction companies, and
the one that made me go in business for myself,
the construction company owner also owned the bail bonding company,
and the construction company was in the billbinding office. So
(14:46):
one day they say, hey, go with us, and I said, okay.
I thought I was going to look at a project.
And we get to this house. I'm like, what are
we doing here? And they opened a truck and they
give me this blue windbreaker. I said, what's this? They say, hey, man,
you know you played football in college. When our bail
we think, when our bail jumpers in this house, we
want you to take the back door. And we got
(15:07):
the windows in the front door. I said, woa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
I'm doing what I said. Man. I went to architecture
schrew I didn't go to Bunty Hunter school. And I said, look,
he come out the back door. He's free. I'm telling y'all.
And so I went home that night and told my
wife what happened. And some people have been kind of
telling me about an opportunity that might be coming, and
(15:29):
I just kind of said, you know what, dear, I
think I'm gonna take this chance for this small project
and see what happens. And I really thought I'd just
do that project and go get me a job afterwards.
So it was them trying to make me a bounty
hunter that I was not prepared to be that made
me go become an entrepreneur. That's what I said. I
had no plan.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Who was that first time? Like when you started actually
because you kind of missed it again in the beginning.
You just want to get that first project out to
get to the next one. Like what was that first project?
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The very first one is it was underground Atlanta. When
Underground Atlanta was getting redone nineteen eighty seven, I did
a joint venture to build a bridge. You know where
the peach drops that tower will We built that bridge
that goes over the Martyr tracks, gotcha, And I did
a joint venture with a company I had known, and
they gave me an opportunity, and I really thought that
(16:28):
was gonna be it. Well. I did well enough, and
the owners who were doing the whole underground Atlanta was
impressed with how hard I worked because I was out
there every cause we had to build that train at
eight at night to four thirty in the morning. I
was out there every night working, you know, because I
one thing I learned, you got to really know your
industry just because I had to degree in architecture. I
(16:49):
needed if I'm gonna be a contractor, I got to
really understand construction and they offered me. So my very
first contract on my own was eighty eight thousand dollars
at Underground Atlanta. I made like three grand, and I said, okay,
I'll try another one, and another little project came and
before I knew it, three years had passed and I'm like, oh, man, no,
(17:10):
this is kind of working. But the job that really
made me say I got a chance is when we
won the Olympic Stadium. Okay, it was a joint three
way joint venture. It was Beers HJ. Russell and US.
And that was the job after we had been in
business eight years when we finished. That was the job
(17:31):
that made me say, you know what, man, you might
be able to do this, you know, because I really
had to start developing some confidence. And in nineteen ninety one,
I was the first black business person to ever win
Small Business Person Other Year from the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
That gave me confidence. So I started having some little
wins where I had confidence. But my confidence was only
(17:52):
at a certain scale. You know. I never dreamed that
I could really, But a lot of that was because
from the generation I came from in the industry I chose,
and also what happened to me is a child, I
realized all those things were impacting my ability to dream
beg And that's why I tell people of color, especially
(18:14):
young for us, say, hey, don't limit yourself this man,
we can do some incredible stuff, but we got to
really believe it. And I'm a firm believer. We are
what we see. So it's so important that our children
see people who look like them doing some incredible stuff
because then you start believing, you know what, I really
(18:36):
might be able to do that. Yeah, and you know
what I mean. It's important.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
And again there's those moments because like you said, it's
important that you see those different things. I think to
your point, a lot of times people have limited perspective
because they haven't seen big things. The one thing I
tell people is like, you haven't seen a big house
until you've seen a big house, right, and you know what,
it's an even bigger house somewhere else. And you got
to ask you something questions, right, like why would they
even build this house?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Well?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
They building somebody for a reason. And I think those
are the things kind of you know, increase your perspective.
But let me take it back for a second, though.
Now you're working, you're getting some projects in when you
make that first million, because I know you said, I
know you said right now. You know, it's just it's
common right now. But I'm just saying I'm not talking
about your first, you know, million dollar project because again,
(19:18):
those products had a very quick butact when you made
your first million, Like, what was that moment like for you?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Especially all the things you had worked to accomplish that.
You know what I all I always say is we're
doing okay, you know you're doing well. But I will
say this. I promised my wife when we were struggling.
I said, baby, if I can't ever get us out
of debt, we'll never be back in debt. That was
probably the best feeling to know that we could own
(19:47):
a home, you know, we could own our car, we
could own things and not worry about could we make
the payments. And we've stayed in the same neighborhood since
nineteen eighty four. Man, we moved like a mile or
so different places and finally built our own home twenty
nine years ago. But man, I stayed in the same neighborhood.
People said, man, how come you didn't move out? You know?
(20:09):
And I always tell people that neighborhood was good enough
for me when I was trying to make it is
good enough for me when we're doing okay. So I
just I just never left. So I never again. My
dad taught me son always lived beneath me me, right,
you know, So I just kind of stayed there. But
you know what making you know, having a few dollars
(20:29):
is great, But what really kind of woke me up
is when Steve Jobs of Apple died that one of
the richest men in the world, he couldn't buy one
more minute on this earth. Right, And you know, now
I'm a grandfather, you know. For what's important to me,
and it always has been, I want to be the
greatest father, the greatest husband, and the greatest grandfather I
(20:52):
can be and show what the power loved us in
our lives. The business part is great, but for me
at this stage, and it always has been, you know,
I coach my kids. One of the reasons I also
didn't expand my business, but so big I wanted to
be home. I never wanted my kids to say, man,
(21:14):
daddy was always gone working and hate the business, and
you know, both my kids work in the company. But
I just I made a decision I wanted to be
because my dad was like that. My dad, you know,
he was just his family was. That's what it was.
I mean, my dad had a great job at the
(21:34):
University of Michigan, but he put us first. And I
saw my grandfather do that, my dad's father, and I
just decided I wanted to be. I think that's my
greatest reward from God is being a great father, a
great husband, now a great grandfather. And the business just extra. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
You talk about growing the business a lot too, and
kind of keeping under your means, but like some of
the other things that you think are important to kind
of maintaining that balance, you know, and kind of overcoming
some of those constraints you work with, Like what are
some of the other key lessons you've learned to be
in business for so long?
Speaker 1 (22:09):
But first of all, all it takes is one bad
job and you out of business. Okay, So that's what
I mean about changing that mindset. I hated that because
I remember, you know, my son, he loves to go
with me to buy a car now and the only
reason why. When we were struggling. Man, them car people
used to kick my butt. You know, give me a
(22:31):
high interest rate. You know, so if I do buy
a vehicle, I tell them, if you tell me one time,
you got to go to your manager, I'm out of here.
And I don't mind you making money. Here's on willing
to pay. Can we do the deal or not? Yeah,
you know, and my son just likes to go to watch.
But you know, when I look back and I think
(22:52):
about it, the journey of entrepreneurship is a beautiful thing.
But not everybody's made to be an entrepreneur. You know.
One of the things I tell folks, if I knew
then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have did it.
I mean, the responsibility of making payroll every week. You know,
people say, what's your greatest project. My greatest project is
(23:13):
in thirty seven years, I've never been laid on mister payroll.
And I got people who worked for me with me
for almost thirty years. They've putting their kids through college paid.
I mean, when I think back, it was just me
and my wife, my younger brother who's the CPA in
the beginning. Then we got our first couple of employees,
some carpenters. Because in the beginning, I was the project manager,
(23:36):
superintendent and estimated because I was job calls. You know.
Too many people start a business and they want to
be president and all the money is going out and
they and they live off the problem. No, I was, man,
I was job calls. In construction, you can build for
your project manager superintendent. So I was billable because I
(23:58):
did the work, did the work man. I had on
a hard hat and jeans and boots every day with
dirt all over me. People look at me and laugh
at me, you know, and I would just chuckle and
they go, man, look all that concrete on you'all go yeah,
but that's money, you know. But one thing I've learned,
very few of us got enough money that if a bad,
(24:20):
really bad deal come and don't wipe us out. Yeah, okay,
all it take is so the bigger you get, the
more risks you take too. So those are the kind
of things I had to wrestle with. Then I also
had to deal with the guilt of being a little
bit successful. You know, I'm like looking at some of
my family members and friends and stuff, you know, because
(24:43):
of what I had been through as a child. I
realized I carry certain guilts of survivor, being a survivor,
and I think the greatest word you can learn is no,
you can't be everything to everybody. Yeah, you know, and
and family you got to know. Friends, you got to learn,
(25:05):
you know, the word knowing how much you're willing to
kind of well, I don't even call it loaning because
you don't get it back. So that's a whole nother
story that could be a podcast on itself. That's given,
let's get it. Yeah, but it's it's it's a beautiful
thing to look back. But also I have moments where
(25:26):
I realize fear and I'm not talking about this fear
like being scared, just there's a fear that comes a failure. Yeah. Man,
you just don't want to fail. You don't want your
wife or your friends, everybody, you know, because you you
always feel like everybody don't think you could do it anyway,
and you're like, man, I don't want to prove them right.
(25:48):
And you know, so living in fear is not a
good thing to be an entrepreneur, but most of us do.
And it's the fear if nobody knew and we wouldn't
care if we fail, I'll try again, but we're so
afraid of what people gonna think that half the time
we won't even try.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah, that drives people crazy all the time. And again
the crazy part is a lot of people don't even care,
you know, think we think they care more than they care. Right,
And you know, people ask me stuff all the time,
and I always say, like, what are they even gonna
do that information? Like, you know, like if something fails,
something happens, like what does that? How does that change
their life or affect them? So I might as well
make the best decision for me. But I got a
(26:26):
question for you, speaking of no, how you tell Michael
Jordan though, Man, Michael Jordan tried to invest in your company.
He tried to guess a partner be of an investor,
And you told Michael Jordan the Michael Jordan. There's a
lot of Michael Jordan's around here. I'm talking about the
guy with all the rings, you know, the play in Chicago,
Like how did that happen? And how did you end
up telling him?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
No? Hey, Mike, if you hear this, I changed my mind.
Come on back, man, let's do this deal. Man, you
know what, I'll tell you something. Michael was a good
friend of a friend who had a construction company in
South Carolina and he and I were talking about doing
some business together. So he connected me with Michael Jordan
and he had his finance guy come down checking me out,
(27:09):
and they were gonna invest in my company. And at
the last minute, now Mike and I talked on the phone.
I'm like, man, I'm talking to Michael Jordan. Then it Man,
I still have the autograph picture of you know him
and the slam dunk with his legs up and in
his knees a bent and he signs to David to
the success of our construction business. Michael Jordan. I still
(27:32):
got that picture. And at the last minute, I said,
you know what, I got to know what I can
do on my own, and you got to think about
something at that time. So that was like nineteen ninety one,
so I was thirty five years old. Nobody had I
don't know anything about how do you, you know, valuate
(27:52):
these kind of things. But I have to answer to him,
even though he won't go be majority. But still that's
Michael Jordan, And you know what kind of pressure would
be on me I don't want to lose somebody's money.
I don't mind losing my own because I ain't got
none at that time. Because I needed that investment too, bruh,
I mean when I tell you, I needed it. But
(28:14):
God had a plan that I was going to go
through something, because about eight months later, I had my
nervous breakdown from dealing with my childhood trauma. And I
always as years went by, in nineteen ninety two, people
did you know a break now? I was like, you
were weak because I felt weak. I was embarrassed, I
was ashamed. So I suffered in silence. Nobody knew other
(28:37):
than my wife and a couple of close friends. And
I always remind myself said, in nineteen ninety two, they
might have told you you can't run this company no
more because I thought, I mean, I was messed up.
So a part of me feels God was protecting me,
like turn this down, because bruh, I'm about to take
(28:57):
you through something that you might lose your business if
you say yeah. So that's so the answer I gave
him at the time was I want to know what
I could do on my own. But when I look back,
it's because I was gonna go through something that they
might have decided you're not capable of running this company anymore.
(29:18):
We're gonna have to replace you. And they rightfully saw.
And but I tell you, sometime, man, I'd be like, damn,
if I had a man, I would have built half
a Nike. I might have been up in the owner's
box smoking ciguar with my point to my money. So
you know, and you can't beat yourself up about that.
(29:39):
But I only have few things in my life that
I go I wonder what would have happened. But again,
because of that breakdown. You know, Mike's that kind of guy,
bru I might have seemed like a sign of weakness
to him, which I get it because I was like
that to have happened to me. And but I tell you, Mike,
if you're listening, big dog, my frat brother, you sight fight.
(30:03):
You know, Mike called me, let's do this deal. Still, broh,
it is only thirty let's say thirty two years, thirty
three years later, bro, come on, let's do this.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
You know, Mike, if you listened to come on the
podcast too, man, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
But you know, the thing that made me feel really good.
His financial guy said, you're the first person to turn
Mike's money down. He said, I'm proud of you because
you weren't just taking his money. But I don't think
I was ready for a Michael Jordan for me to
be responsible not to lose his money. It takes a look,
(30:40):
It takes a certain level of self away. And I
didn't You got to think about it, man. I had
never been in that kind of environment or been trained,
so I didn't even know. You know, man, And I'm
telling you, brouh, I needed that money. That was a
time period. I'm like, I don't know if we're gonna
make it past ninety two ninety three, cause it was
just the wear and tear in the you know, just
(31:03):
making enough to make ends meet. But Mike, call me,
how do you.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Think Atlanta has influenced the way that you just approach business?
And also your company has been so instrumental in kind
of the growth in the look and feel of the city.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Man, let me tell you something, only in Atlanta, because
I could I have done and doing I'm doing. I'm
telling you here's the part that kind of freaks me out.
I came to Moorhouse fifty years ago. Man nineteen seventy four.
I'm a freshman, eighteen years old. I come down here
play football. My first week football practice. I'm going to
(31:53):
Madam Robert Hall. It's nineteen seventy four to August nineteen
seventy four. I see this big blue convertible El Dorado
with the top down, and I see this man get
out in the same powder blue pantsuit. It's Hank Aeron.
I'm standing there. Hank Aaron had just broke Bay Roof's record,
(32:16):
and I'm standing there next to Hank Aaron. He's talking
to me. Then I meet Andy Young, Jose William, I
was playing football with Jose William's son. I meet Daddy King,
John lieud Man. I'm meeting all these Maynard Jackson, I'm
meeting all these folks. I went to Herman Russell's house
as a freshman because I went A buddy of mine
took me by there and I meet Herman Russell. Then
(32:38):
I ended up living in one of his apartments in
nineteen seventy seven. My senior year nineteen is the summer
nineteen seventy seven. I'm a Martyr bus driver. Marty used
to hire college students to relieve a vacation and bus
drivers best summer job I had made five forty I
lived off I lived in Dogwood two off Bankhead Highway
by the Blue Flame. I never went in, but he's
(33:00):
about of Blue Flame. My wife might hear that time.
But my point being, I watched Atlanta grow just and
Maynard Jackson was the first black mayor. He had only
been a mayor a year when I came. And then
I remember Jimy Carter running for president. I helped John
Lewis run his first election. He lost because they would
(33:23):
come to the frat house and ask us to help.
And it was Earl Grays who came because he's a Q.
He came to frat house and asked us to come
out and help. So we did. And I got a
chance to see Atlanta in a way very few people
got to see. I got to watch it grow, and
I got to watch black people really get an opportunity.
(33:46):
And that's kind of what made me come back to
Atlanta just to give it a shot. And I'll never
forget when I been my first project at Underground Atlanta.
Andy Young was mayor and he came to meet me,
and I still got a picture of him that he wrote,
you know, congratulations and he said, you know, state of course,
don't give up. Then we end up being on the
(34:07):
board together at more House, you know, Hank Aaron, I
were organizations together. Herman Russell and I were on the
board together, Citizens Trust Bank and so people I used
to look up to and admire and being all of
I end up either doing business with them, on boards
with them, but I always still called them mister you
know whatever. And so I I've lived and I'm living
(34:33):
a dream that only in Atlanta can you live this dream.
I mean, I mean other cities do well, don't get
me wrong, but Atlanta they ain't nothing like it. I mean,
it's it's it's a it's a beautiful thing, particularly.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
In Atlanta and particularly in the area that you're in,
you know, you know with construction. I mean, yeah, Herman
Russell is a legend, and you had the opportunity not
only to you know, to know him, but actually collaborate
with him, but to know right, I was like again,
especially with you all working on things like the Olympic
Stadium together, Like, how did that relationship help you, you know,
and help guide you and help me grow your business?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
You know. One of the things I think that really
helped me with mister Russell, I never asked him for
anything other than knowledge. I never said, herman, can you
loan me money, give me some work. I just wanted
to pick your brain. So we became we became really close.
He really helped me a lot because he knew I
really wanted to do this. You know, I've been wanting
to do what I'm doing since I was a child.
(35:29):
I used to play with lego building blocks of rector
sets and all that in the sixties, and I just
made a pivot from architecture to construction. But mister Russell
was very, very supportive all the time to me, and
I'm close with his sons and daughter and his grandkids.
I've had some people who are really supportive like him,
(35:53):
and I had some folks who weren't helpful, you know,
they out of whatever reason. And that's why I go
out my way to try to always be approachable and
share knowledge with anybody, because I know how it feels
when you're trying to make it, when you're when you're struggling,
and somebody you look up to ignoredge you won't even
(36:14):
give you the time of day or blow you off.
And that's why I always respected mister Russell because he
he always took time, and a lot of other folks
did too.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
What excites you around the corner? Like what do you
get excited about as far as the future of your
business and construction and you know all the things you
have going on.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
You know what excites me the most is can I
ever leave my childhood trauma behind where I'm not wrestling
with anxiety during the day and just really be the
best builder I can be and remove that fear because
(36:52):
what happened to me is a child, When your innocence
is stolen, it does something to you of belief in
yourself and stuff, and especially when you hide it, when
you suppress it and you hide it and you try
to bury it for decades, it changes a lot of
how you think that you don't even realize. So for me,
(37:13):
like when I went to Africa last year, spent them
eight days on kill Him in Jarro, my buddy whose
idea was on the third day he got sick and
he had to come off the mountain. So I spent
the last five days as me and the guy and
it was four other people, but I didn't know them,
so they were doing their thing. And I spent a
lot of time just talking to God and on that
mom and I never forget. I was talking to God about,
(37:36):
you know, what I went through as a child and
different stuff. And I heard God tell me, he say, bruh,
when have I ever left for you? Look at you,
you standing in Africa on Mount kill Him in jarro Bro.
You not only survived you through. Now I've been there,
you know, and it kind of helped me change how
I looked at things in Africa. Then my wife flew
(37:57):
over on my last day, and then her and I
spent twelve days living in the bush and treehouses, intents,
chasing animals. Man, it was that trip was the first
time I felt I had a history before slavery, because
I can't go back probably more than eighteen seventy. But
when I was in Africa, man, it was the most
(38:18):
fringing thing. Living in the woods and the bush like that,
with no windows, the screens so you can hear the line,
You can hear everything at night. And once you go
in your tent or your treehouse, you do not leave
till the sun come out. They make that real clear.
Do not leave and the first night to hear the lions,
(38:38):
knowing you ain't got no glass, you just got screen,
kind of freaked me out. Then they said, look, bruh,
you way out here. We're in the Serengeti and stuff.
They like that lion is probably two three miles away,
but that sound just travels. But it was just so
relaxing and my wife and I for the first time
and being in business, I didn't find the one email.
(39:01):
I told everybody, I'm out. If something happened, y'all figure
it out. And it was so cleansing to the TOCs
like that, man, to just just me and my wife again,
you know. And man, it was the most romantic trip
we ever had because our showers were outside, so man
were taking showers outside with monkeys jumping over here. And
(39:21):
I told my wife, so when of these monkeys jumped
down here, we're gonna have a problem. But it was
just so freeing to just be out in nature, in
wildlife with the animals and just watching them. I mean,
it was incredible. I can't even put words with it.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
What's one piece of advice you would give a younger
David Moody.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Oh gosh, the one piece of advice I would give myself, Yeah,
what happened to you is a child, was horrible, but man,
don't let it consume your life. It has consumed me
because I keep reliving it. Every day. I'm triggered because
there's something on the news or something that talks about
what I went through and suffering in silence and thinking
(40:09):
it was my fault even though it wasn't. I was,
you know, preyed upon and groomed, and you know, you
just I would tell my say, hey, man, yeah it
was bad, but it's a small piece of your life.
You survive, You're gonna be okay. That's that's the part,
because you know, I couldn't even go to my mother
and father because you know, my mother thought something had happened,
(40:31):
and she went and my mother love her. They both
passed away in twenty nineteen, but my mother, and this
is why we had to be careful. We say to children.
My mother said, don't let nobody touch you. He had
already touched me. So now I think it's my fault,
so I immediately shut down. Now I don't know if
I'd have said anything in the sixties what happened anyway,
because man, I would have caught more hell than in
(40:51):
the neighborhood if the word got out. You know this,
an adult had did this. So what I would tell
myself was like, man, yeah it was bad, but boy,
you so much stronger than you realize. You got this
dream big. Don't don't be ashamed, you know. So that's
what I would tell myself. And you know, the other
(41:13):
thing that I really think about is we have to
believe that we can do something great. Now, I'm going
to say this, and it's important. My faith is really
is what got me to where I am, and I
really work on that to believe even more. And I
realized most of my life, even though I'm religious and
(41:35):
I believe in God and I believe in the higher Being,
I still felt I had to do it on my
own often. And in reality, we always got people, you know.
Even though I had other people helping me in the
business and stuff, I always felt I had I had
to rely on me because I didn't want to put
it all on my wife. And my wife is the
(41:55):
most strongest person I ever met. Because I always tell people,
you know, you got the right person. When I had
that breakdown, my wife ran to me and not from me,
and when she's gone through things, I've ran to her,
not from her. And I've seen relationships when some bad
stuff happen, the other person runs, They flee, it's too
(42:16):
much for him. And that's why I always will have
the respect and give my wife her flowers, because she
ran to me when I was at the lowest point
in my life. And that's what it takes.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
That's what partnership is all about. Oh yeahy y'all celebrating
forty two years. Forty two years. Man, that dog man.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
But when I first met her at sixteen, couldn't stand her.
She couldn't stand me. But I told her, I'm number
twelve in your program, but number one in your heart,
and she blew me off. So that's how we talked
in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Well, look, mister Moody, we appreciate you so much for
pulling up and coming out. You've had an amazing story.
Congratulations on all the amazing things you've accomplished, and also
for just again putting your fingerprint on the city of
Atlanta for all the work you've been doing.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
I've definitely heard about you over the years.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
I've seen it on you know, different sides, billboards and
things being built. Was the honor to have you in
here on the podcast, and we can't wait to see
what happens next.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Man. Hey, thanks for having me and I can tell
you right now the future, guys, Grace and Mercy. Man,
I'm just getting cranked up in business because I'm finally
freeing myself to believe that we can do something. This
this outstanding.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Absolutely well, you know, congratulations. Can't wait to see it
and we out y'all.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
That's the pod. Peace.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
You've been listening to butter Nomics and I'm your host,
Brendan Butler. Comments feedback. Want to be a part of
the show, send us an email today at Hello at
butterdomics dot com. Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia
at iHeartMedia by Ramsey, with marketing support from Queen and Nike.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Music provided by mister Hanky. If you haven't already, hit
that subscribe.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Button and never missed an episode, and be sure to
follow us on all our social platforms at butter dot
at l. Listen to button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Pount Pump, Pump Out out
I started having some little wins where I had confidence,
but my confidence was only at a certain scale. You know,
I never dreamed. But a lot of that was because
from the generation I came from, in the industry I chose,
and also what happened to me as a child. I
realized all those things were impacting my ability to dream big.
(00:21):
And that's why I tell people of color, especially young
for us, say hey, don't limit yourself. Man. We can
do some incredible stuff, but we gotta really believe it.
And I'm a firm believer. We are what we see.
So it's so important that our children see people who
look like them doing some incredible stuff because then you
start believing, you know what, I really might be able
(00:42):
to do that.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Everybody, Welcome to another episode of Butter Nomics amy host
Brandon Butler, a found in CEO of Butter atl And
today we got a special guest. We got a legend
in the house. I've heard about this man in these streets.
He don't know I heard about him.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I heard about this man these streets.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So it's the honor to have the one and only
mister David Moody of CD Moody Construction in the building, sir,
how you doing today.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Hey man, I'm glad to be here. You know, I'm
excited to be here with a young man that went
to the neighborhood high school you know where I live,
and see what you're doing now, so I'm excited to
watch you do what you do. Hey man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
And for those that don't know, he's talking about the illustrious,
world famous Rida in high school in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
If you know, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
If you don't know, you better ask somebody, as they
always say, But yes, you know, you know, mister Moody David.
You know we're first stay in base now, so you
know what I'm saying. You grew up around the corner
from there. I know that area very well. You are
a very well known, prominent figure on the East Side
all over Atlanta. And one of the reasons why you're
so well done for Atlanta is because your fingerprints are
all over this city.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Man. You built every damn thing out here, well not everything,
but enough to make me go, yeah, we're done, all right.
So you know underground Atlanta, Mercedes been Stadium, Phillips Arena,
Turner Field, Olympic Stadium, Morehouse, Ray Charles before I'm in
our Center, the Cyclorama and the History Center, Atlanta Airport,
I mean all kind of stuff. I mean I am.
(02:06):
I'm living a dream considering I started a business with
no plan and look, you've.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Grown that thing again, y' y'all started back in the
late eighties and right, you know, MI understanding like this
is the Internet, says you keep me on the Internet,
says y'all have grown over seventy million dollars a year
in revenue.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Oh yeah, yeah, we're way over that. I mean, we're
in five states, okay, you know we're in Ohio, Virginia,
South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. Man, what's it like? What's
that journey been like? You know, I tell you something,
and this is the hard thing to admit to yourself sometime.
You know, I'm a kid born. I'm born in nineteen
fifty six, so I was raised in the sixties. So
(02:45):
you got to think when I was coming along with
civil rights there, you know, we didn't have the right
to vote. A lot of things and a lot of
opportunities we didn't have. So I really didn't think I
would do much other than get a decent job, so
entrepreneurship it wasn't even on my radar. And I thought
I was going to be a draftsman, because you remember
(03:05):
when I was coming on this before CAD and computers
and all that. And then I met a black architect
when I was fifteen, when we had moved to Antarbroam,
Michigan from Chicago. I was born and raised in Chicago
till I was fourteen, and then I met this black
architect who had went to Hampton University, and I said,
you know what I could do more than be a draftsman.
You know, I could be a designer architect. And life
(03:29):
just kind of moved on. But even when I started
my business, I started my business more so because I
needed a job, you know, and I had two young kids.
So I really thought I'd do this one project and
that would be the end of it, and I'd go
get a job. And then I said, well, let me
try another job. And you know, so I was always
in survival mode because I started undercapitalizing like most of
(03:51):
us do. I didn't really have a business plan. I
was just trying to survive. And I wish I would
have changed my mindset much sooner. I'm sixty eight now,
so I probably changed my mindset at sixty seven and
three quarters. You know about you don't have to operate
thinking big, believe in yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Well, you know what, I want to talk about that
and we'll get into the construction of the journey. But
let's talk a little bit about mindset because a lot
of people don't bring that up, like when you talk about,
you know, kind of having a positive mindset, but also
like a mindset of abundance, Like what was it like
when you were getting started and again trying to figure
out undercapitalized to the differences like you're in today.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Oh gosh, it's like night and day. I was thirty
one years old, you know, I'm sixty eight now. My
wife and I both same age, and I remember we
couldn't get ten dollars out the ATM machine and I
had to we wrote and this is probably the most
humbling time of my life. We had more money going
out than we had coming in. I was only making
(04:49):
thirty grand a year, and my wife we decided we
would struggle, you know. She stayed home with the kids
and then decided to go become an rin But I
had to write a letter to the More mortgage company,
to credit card people saying, look, we can't afford what
you be willing to cut our payment to this, and
I promised to pay. They all agreed and we kept
(05:09):
our word. And that was really tough. But I always
tell people that was also a great lesson because when
you learned to live off a little, and then if
you start making some decent money, you realize you don't
need a lot. So therefore you can invest, you can
do you know, put away for college for kids, put
(05:31):
away for your retirement. So I learned a lot in that,
you know, And even though it was hard. I remember
going to my tenth reunion in college. I'll graduated from
Morehouse and I also graduate from Howard for architecture school.
But I went back for my tenth reunion and all
my classmates have finished mad School, law school, nbas, you know,
(05:51):
having these great careers, and my business was just starting
and we were struggling, and I remember feeling a little embarrassed,
you know, looking at my class mates. But at our
twenty three union, it was a different ball. So it's amazing.
If you run your own race, yeah, run your own race. Well,
(06:13):
they always say, what is it comparison is a thief
for joy. And I think, you know, especially in this
world around social media, where all you see is other
people's highlights all day long, you start to really make
weird comparisons. I know.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
One thing I've kind of noticed is that people find
like this, I think, additional meaning in like these birthdays
for some reasons, like for some reason, twenty five is
a big birthday and you know, thirty and forty five,
And I get it. But I always tell my friends,
even when they're twenty five and they're you know, depressed
or we were coming up, I said, well, lot of
that's because you're comparing yourself to Lebron James, right, Like,
let me tell you, Lebron is not was not a
normal twenty five year old, right, and sure he's done
(06:46):
all these things, but like you ain't Lebron bro like
wein six ' eleven, two hundred some pounds, you know
what I mean, You don't do what he does. But
I think, with a lot of sounds because of social media,
because all we see is the highlights, we compare ourselves
and so I think part of the thing that might
even help you out more is you didn't have to
deal with a lot of that stuff, you had the
ability to ring your own race right.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You know, it's funny. I always tell people the best
thing about being a C student like I was with
nothing was expected of me. I didn't had nothing to
prove to anybody. So you're right. It made it easy
for me as far as what the world might think. Well,
you know, in your little circles, nobody expected me to
(07:23):
make it anyway. You know, my biggest thing when I
started my business, I said, man, if I can just
make it five to seven years, when I don't look
like a complete failure, I would have done. Okay. I
never the big thing and I'll tell you as part
of it is then depending if we get into it.
You know, I'm a survivor of something from a childhood trauma,
(07:43):
and I don't want to trigger anybody, but we can
decide how we deal with that. But they can read
and understand what that trauma was. But it's something that
no child should ever have to go through. But I
realized because and I buried it, and you know I didn't
tell anyone. I realize how my self esteem was stolen,
(08:05):
when my innocence was stolen. So I realized when I
started my business that much later in life, I realized
how I didn't shoot big because I didn't think it
was possible. And also I didn't really see people who
look like me doing what I'm doing other than a
(08:25):
handful of people. So I realized how I really limit myself.
So one of the things I tell people, especially young
folks of color, man dream big, don't I mean, but
you got to put the work in, absolutely, But you
also got to deal with the things that are impacting
your performance. So often we all got a story of
different things from childhood. Some are bad and some things
(08:48):
you can kind of get over quickly. But we got
to be able to be aware of the things that
really impact our performance. And I'm a big proponent of
getting therapy because it was I hope you tremendously. I
actually had a complete nervous breakdown in nineteen ninety two.
My business was only four years old when I finally
(09:08):
kind of addressed what happened to me as a child,
and I actually said out loud to my wife what happened.
And I thought I was okay, But within four or
five months I started having panic attacks, I mean bad ones,
which I never had where I actually had to call
an ambulance on the side of the road, and then
I had a complete breakdown a couple months later, and
I didn't have any idea what happened to me as
(09:30):
a child could be affecting me at thirty six years old.
So the therapy idea was just to understand panic attacks.
I was sixty five before I went and got a
trauma therapist because I felt myself I had to break
down nineteen ninety two, and then I just powered through
power through, which you know, we as men were taught
just power through, power through, but we don't realize how
(09:53):
that beats us up and wears us down. So twenty
six years later, after night teen ninety two, I feel
myself I think doing COVID. So about twenty eight years later,
I started feeling myself wearing down again, like the breakdown.
So I had enough sense talk to my wife and
she went online to psychology today put in you know,
(10:14):
trauma therapists, and I found a trauma therapist, really excellent therapist,
more house man doctor INChO and I finally did cognitive
behavioral therapy. And that's one reason why I went and
hiked Mount Killim and Jarl in twenty twenty three, I
wanted to test myself and push myself through all the
triggers of things that have held me back in my life. Yes,
(10:37):
my business has done well, but I could have done
so much more if I had spent so much time
wrestling with anxiety and the trauma that I dealt with
and just believing in myself. So that's why you will
always hear me tell people don't give up, dream big
and deal with the things.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's a roadblock for you. And it's usually in the mind. Yeah,
I mean that's where it all starts first. And you know,
first of all, I want to, you know, commend you
for taking that stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Again.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
A lot of people, you know, even when they've had
issues bat I batter you know, different issues and anxiety
and stuff in the past too. And you know, it's
taking me a while to go find the help you
need because, like I said, a lot of times men
were just told to power through things and kind of
figure it out. And yeah, people don't realize like how
much that kind of weighs down to you or how
lonely kind of the journey for entrepreneurship can be, especially
when you're kind of person that's building and get the
(11:26):
person everybody depends on, right.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Oh, I tell I tell people that's probably when the
loans and loneliest places to be as an entrepreneur. Now,
I am so blessed. My wife and I've been married
forty two years. I never had a lifestyle to feed,
you know. All my wife said, Hey, as long as
we got a roof over our head and a little
something neat and the kids are happy, you know, will
(11:51):
be okay. So I'm really blessed because even to this day,
I don't have a materialistic lifestyle. I gotta feed, yeah,
And it's funny. Then you get older you realize how
little you need anyway. Now you just want to be here.
I mean, I got friends who have you know, got
cancer and other health issues passing, and you realize, man,
(12:12):
I'm just thankful to be healthy and the material things
really don't even matter anymore. So I was really blessed
that I didn't have a material lifestyle to feed, so
we could struggle through those hard times. Like I said,
my wife went back to school and became a registered nurse,
and she did hospice for twenty five years just so
we could when we started the business, we could have
(12:34):
a steady income until the business took off. Yeah, that's partnership.
You know, we're a team. We all in. I mean
I always tease her, I say, girl, you pack your bags,
I'm going where we going. You ain't leaving me. I
wouldn't know how to do anything now.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
You know, as much as you want to talk about this,
and like I said, we want to let people know again,
you know, you did mention some some trauma and stuff
like that that you had dealt with, and I don't
want to just brush past and I want to kind
of open up a state if you do want to
talk about that stuff, right. You know, how did those
experiences kind of influence you know, the way you thought
about business?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
He said?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
A lot of times it made you feel a little
bit more limited or less versus when you when you
went through the process of doing the work. Now you
felt bigger, right, Like, how did these things impact you?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
You know that is a great question because I've been
really wrestling with that question, and I've been really being
honest with myself. It it my business. I ran my
business more so to make sure we could survive. I
never went I didn't go into business to think man,
I'm gonna have this big business and I can do
(13:38):
these things. I was like, man, I need a job,
because you understand. I was working for Bechtol Power as
an architect in nineteen eighty one, and I had a
great job. They were one of the largest privately owned
construction companies in the world. And my wife and I
got married in nineteen eighty two and nineteen eighty three,
I say, hey, babe, I'm gonna take you to Atlanta,
where I went to college and more house, and this
(14:01):
company offered me a job. It was a small company
and I'm leaving this big company that I was getting
ready to get transferred. I was in nuclear power division,
doing nuclear power plants, and I told my wife, Nah,
we're gonna take this chance. And man, two months after
we get here, that company goes bankrupt. Now I don't
have a job. So what I thought was a great idea,
(14:23):
you know, is looking pretty bad. But when I look back,
that was a blessing in disguise. Because that company had
not went bankrupt, I probably never would have won in business.
So I started working for some small construction companies, and
the one that made me go in business for myself,
the construction company owner also owned the bail bonding company,
and the construction company was in the billbinding office. So
(14:46):
one day they say, hey, go with us, and I said, okay.
I thought I was going to look at a project.
And we get to this house. I'm like, what are
we doing here? And they opened a truck and they
give me this blue windbreaker. I said, what's this? They say, hey, man,
you know you played football in college. When our bail
we think, when our bail jumpers in this house, we
want you to take the back door. And we got
(15:07):
the windows in the front door. I said, woa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
I'm doing what I said. Man. I went to architecture
schrew I didn't go to Bunty Hunter school. And I said, look,
he come out the back door. He's free. I'm telling y'all.
And so I went home that night and told my
wife what happened. And some people have been kind of
telling me about an opportunity that might be coming, and
(15:29):
I just kind of said, you know what, dear, I
think I'm gonna take this chance for this small project
and see what happens. And I really thought I'd just
do that project and go get me a job afterwards.
So it was them trying to make me a bounty
hunter that I was not prepared to be that made
me go become an entrepreneur. That's what I said. I
had no plan.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Who was that first time? Like when you started actually
because you kind of missed it again in the beginning.
You just want to get that first project out to
get to the next one. Like what was that first project?
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The very first one is it was underground Atlanta. When
Underground Atlanta was getting redone nineteen eighty seven, I did
a joint venture to build a bridge. You know where
the peach drops that tower will We built that bridge
that goes over the Martyr tracks, gotcha, And I did
a joint venture with a company I had known, and
they gave me an opportunity, and I really thought that
(16:28):
was gonna be it. Well. I did well enough, and
the owners who were doing the whole underground Atlanta was
impressed with how hard I worked because I was out
there every cause we had to build that train at
eight at night to four thirty in the morning. I
was out there every night working, you know, because I
one thing I learned, you got to really know your
industry just because I had to degree in architecture. I
(16:49):
needed if I'm gonna be a contractor, I got to
really understand construction and they offered me. So my very
first contract on my own was eighty eight thousand dollars
at Underground Atlanta. I made like three grand, and I said, okay,
I'll try another one, and another little project came and
before I knew it, three years had passed and I'm like, oh, man, no,
(17:10):
this is kind of working. But the job that really
made me say I got a chance is when we
won the Olympic Stadium. Okay, it was a joint three
way joint venture. It was Beers HJ. Russell and US.
And that was the job after we had been in
business eight years when we finished. That was the job
(17:31):
that made me say, you know what, man, you might
be able to do this, you know, because I really
had to start developing some confidence. And in nineteen ninety one,
I was the first black business person to ever win
Small Business Person Other Year from the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
That gave me confidence. So I started having some little
wins where I had confidence. But my confidence was only
(17:52):
at a certain scale. You know. I never dreamed that
I could really, But a lot of that was because
from the generation I came from in the industry I chose,
and also what happened to me is a child, I
realized all those things were impacting my ability to dream
beg And that's why I tell people of color, especially
(18:14):
young for us, say, hey, don't limit yourself this man,
we can do some incredible stuff, but we got to
really believe it. And I'm a firm believer. We are
what we see. So it's so important that our children
see people who look like them doing some incredible stuff
because then you start believing, you know what, I really
(18:36):
might be able to do that. Yeah, and you know
what I mean. It's important.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
And again there's those moments because like you said, it's
important that you see those different things. I think to
your point, a lot of times people have limited perspective
because they haven't seen big things. The one thing I
tell people is like, you haven't seen a big house
until you've seen a big house, right, and you know what,
it's an even bigger house somewhere else. And you got
to ask you something questions, right, like why would they
even build this house?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Well?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
They building somebody for a reason. And I think those
are the things kind of you know, increase your perspective.
But let me take it back for a second, though.
Now you're working, you're getting some projects in when you
make that first million, because I know you said, I
know you said right now. You know, it's just it's
common right now. But I'm just saying I'm not talking
about your first, you know, million dollar project because again,
(19:18):
those products had a very quick butact when you made
your first million, Like, what was that moment like for you?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Especially all the things you had worked to accomplish that.
You know what I all I always say is we're
doing okay, you know you're doing well. But I will
say this. I promised my wife when we were struggling.
I said, baby, if I can't ever get us out
of debt, we'll never be back in debt. That was
probably the best feeling to know that we could own
(19:47):
a home, you know, we could own our car, we
could own things and not worry about could we make
the payments. And we've stayed in the same neighborhood since
nineteen eighty four. Man, we moved like a mile or
so different places and finally built our own home twenty
nine years ago. But man, I stayed in the same neighborhood.
People said, man, how come you didn't move out? You know?
(20:09):
And I always tell people that neighborhood was good enough
for me when I was trying to make it is
good enough for me when we're doing okay. So I
just I just never left. So I never again. My
dad taught me son always lived beneath me me, right,
you know, So I just kind of stayed there. But
you know what making you know, having a few dollars
(20:29):
is great, But what really kind of woke me up
is when Steve Jobs of Apple died that one of
the richest men in the world, he couldn't buy one
more minute on this earth. Right, And you know, now
I'm a grandfather, you know. For what's important to me,
and it always has been, I want to be the
greatest father, the greatest husband, and the greatest grandfather I
(20:52):
can be and show what the power loved us in
our lives. The business part is great, but for me
at this stage, and it always has been, you know,
I coach my kids. One of the reasons I also
didn't expand my business, but so big I wanted to
be home. I never wanted my kids to say, man,
(21:14):
daddy was always gone working and hate the business, and
you know, both my kids work in the company. But
I just I made a decision I wanted to be
because my dad was like that. My dad, you know,
he was just his family was. That's what it was.
I mean, my dad had a great job at the
(21:34):
University of Michigan, but he put us first. And I
saw my grandfather do that, my dad's father, and I
just decided I wanted to be. I think that's my
greatest reward from God is being a great father, a
great husband, now a great grandfather. And the business just extra. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
You talk about growing the business a lot too, and
kind of keeping under your means, but like some of
the other things that you think are important to kind
of maintaining that balance, you know, and kind of overcoming
some of those constraints you work with, Like what are
some of the other key lessons you've learned to be
in business for so long?
Speaker 1 (22:09):
But first of all, all it takes is one bad
job and you out of business. Okay, So that's what
I mean about changing that mindset. I hated that because
I remember, you know, my son, he loves to go
with me to buy a car now and the only
reason why. When we were struggling. Man, them car people
used to kick my butt. You know, give me a
(22:31):
high interest rate. You know, so if I do buy
a vehicle, I tell them, if you tell me one time,
you got to go to your manager, I'm out of here.
And I don't mind you making money. Here's on willing
to pay. Can we do the deal or not? Yeah,
you know, and my son just likes to go to watch.
But you know, when I look back and I think
(22:52):
about it, the journey of entrepreneurship is a beautiful thing.
But not everybody's made to be an entrepreneur. You know.
One of the things I tell folks, if I knew
then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have did it.
I mean, the responsibility of making payroll every week. You know,
people say, what's your greatest project. My greatest project is
(23:13):
in thirty seven years, I've never been laid on mister payroll.
And I got people who worked for me with me
for almost thirty years. They've putting their kids through college paid.
I mean, when I think back, it was just me
and my wife, my younger brother who's the CPA in
the beginning. Then we got our first couple of employees,
some carpenters. Because in the beginning, I was the project manager,
(23:36):
superintendent and estimated because I was job calls. You know.
Too many people start a business and they want to
be president and all the money is going out and
they and they live off the problem. No, I was, man,
I was job calls. In construction, you can build for
your project manager superintendent. So I was billable because I
(23:58):
did the work, did the work man. I had on
a hard hat and jeans and boots every day with
dirt all over me. People look at me and laugh
at me, you know, and I would just chuckle and
they go, man, look all that concrete on you'all go yeah,
but that's money, you know. But one thing I've learned,
very few of us got enough money that if a bad,
(24:20):
really bad deal come and don't wipe us out. Yeah, okay,
all it take is so the bigger you get, the
more risks you take too. So those are the kind
of things I had to wrestle with. Then I also
had to deal with the guilt of being a little
bit successful. You know, I'm like looking at some of
my family members and friends and stuff, you know, because
(24:43):
of what I had been through as a child. I
realized I carry certain guilts of survivor, being a survivor,
and I think the greatest word you can learn is no,
you can't be everything to everybody. Yeah, you know, and
and family you got to know. Friends, you got to learn,
(25:05):
you know, the word knowing how much you're willing to
kind of well, I don't even call it loaning because
you don't get it back. So that's a whole nother
story that could be a podcast on itself. That's given,
let's get it. Yeah, but it's it's it's a beautiful
thing to look back. But also I have moments where
(25:26):
I realize fear and I'm not talking about this fear
like being scared, just there's a fear that comes a failure. Yeah. Man,
you just don't want to fail. You don't want your
wife or your friends, everybody, you know, because you you
always feel like everybody don't think you could do it anyway,
and you're like, man, I don't want to prove them right.
(25:48):
And you know, so living in fear is not a
good thing to be an entrepreneur, but most of us do.
And it's the fear if nobody knew and we wouldn't
care if we fail, I'll try again, but we're so
afraid of what people gonna think that half the time
we won't even try.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah, that drives people crazy all the time. And again
the crazy part is a lot of people don't even care,
you know, think we think they care more than they care. Right,
And you know, people ask me stuff all the time,
and I always say, like, what are they even gonna
do that information? Like, you know, like if something fails,
something happens, like what does that? How does that change
their life or affect them? So I might as well
make the best decision for me. But I got a
(26:26):
question for you, speaking of no, how you tell Michael
Jordan though, Man, Michael Jordan tried to invest in your company.
He tried to guess a partner be of an investor,
And you told Michael Jordan the Michael Jordan. There's a
lot of Michael Jordan's around here. I'm talking about the
guy with all the rings, you know, the play in Chicago,
Like how did that happen? And how did you end
up telling him?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
No? Hey, Mike, if you hear this, I changed my mind.
Come on back, man, let's do this deal. Man, you
know what, I'll tell you something. Michael was a good
friend of a friend who had a construction company in
South Carolina and he and I were talking about doing
some business together. So he connected me with Michael Jordan
and he had his finance guy come down checking me out,
(27:09):
and they were gonna invest in my company. And at
the last minute, now Mike and I talked on the phone.
I'm like, man, I'm talking to Michael Jordan. Then it Man,
I still have the autograph picture of you know him
and the slam dunk with his legs up and in
his knees a bent and he signs to David to
the success of our construction business. Michael Jordan. I still
(27:32):
got that picture. And at the last minute, I said,
you know what, I got to know what I can
do on my own, and you got to think about
something at that time. So that was like nineteen ninety one,
so I was thirty five years old. Nobody had I
don't know anything about how do you, you know, valuate
(27:52):
these kind of things. But I have to answer to him,
even though he won't go be majority. But still that's
Michael Jordan, And you know what kind of pressure would
be on me I don't want to lose somebody's money.
I don't mind losing my own because I ain't got
none at that time. Because I needed that investment too, bruh,
I mean when I tell you, I needed it. But
(28:14):
God had a plan that I was going to go
through something, because about eight months later, I had my
nervous breakdown from dealing with my childhood trauma. And I
always as years went by, in nineteen ninety two, people
did you know a break now? I was like, you
were weak because I felt weak. I was embarrassed, I
was ashamed. So I suffered in silence. Nobody knew other
(28:37):
than my wife and a couple of close friends. And
I always remind myself said, in nineteen ninety two, they
might have told you you can't run this company no
more because I thought, I mean, I was messed up.
So a part of me feels God was protecting me,
like turn this down, because bruh, I'm about to take
(28:57):
you through something that you might lose your business if
you say yeah. So that's so the answer I gave
him at the time was I want to know what
I could do on my own. But when I look back,
it's because I was gonna go through something that they
might have decided you're not capable of running this company anymore.
(29:18):
We're gonna have to replace you. And they rightfully saw.
And but I tell you, sometime, man, I'd be like, damn,
if I had a man, I would have built half
a Nike. I might have been up in the owner's
box smoking ciguar with my point to my money. So
you know, and you can't beat yourself up about that.
(29:39):
But I only have few things in my life that
I go I wonder what would have happened. But again,
because of that breakdown. You know, Mike's that kind of guy,
bru I might have seemed like a sign of weakness
to him, which I get it because I was like
that to have happened to me. And but I tell you, Mike,
if you're listening, big dog, my frat brother, you sight fight.
(30:03):
You know, Mike called me, let's do this deal. Still, broh,
it is only thirty let's say thirty two years, thirty
three years later, bro, come on, let's do this.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
You know, Mike, if you listened to come on the
podcast too, man, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
But you know, the thing that made me feel really good.
His financial guy said, you're the first person to turn
Mike's money down. He said, I'm proud of you because
you weren't just taking his money. But I don't think
I was ready for a Michael Jordan for me to
be responsible not to lose his money. It takes a look,
(30:40):
It takes a certain level of self away. And I
didn't You got to think about it, man. I had
never been in that kind of environment or been trained,
so I didn't even know. You know, man, And I'm
telling you, brouh, I needed that money. That was a
time period. I'm like, I don't know if we're gonna
make it past ninety two ninety three, cause it was
just the wear and tear in the you know, just
(31:03):
making enough to make ends meet. But Mike, call me,
how do you.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Think Atlanta has influenced the way that you just approach business?
And also your company has been so instrumental in kind
of the growth in the look and feel of the city.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Man, let me tell you something, only in Atlanta, because
I could I have done and doing I'm doing. I'm
telling you here's the part that kind of freaks me out.
I came to Moorhouse fifty years ago. Man nineteen seventy four.
I'm a freshman, eighteen years old. I come down here
play football. My first week football practice. I'm going to
(31:53):
Madam Robert Hall. It's nineteen seventy four to August nineteen
seventy four. I see this big blue convertible El Dorado
with the top down, and I see this man get
out in the same powder blue pantsuit. It's Hank Aeron.
I'm standing there. Hank Aaron had just broke Bay Roof's record,
(32:16):
and I'm standing there next to Hank Aaron. He's talking
to me. Then I meet Andy Young, Jose William, I
was playing football with Jose William's son. I meet Daddy King,
John lieud Man. I'm meeting all these Maynard Jackson, I'm
meeting all these folks. I went to Herman Russell's house
as a freshman because I went A buddy of mine
took me by there and I meet Herman Russell. Then
(32:38):
I ended up living in one of his apartments in
nineteen seventy seven. My senior year nineteen is the summer
nineteen seventy seven. I'm a Martyr bus driver. Marty used
to hire college students to relieve a vacation and bus
drivers best summer job I had made five forty I
lived off I lived in Dogwood two off Bankhead Highway
by the Blue Flame. I never went in, but he's
(33:00):
about of Blue Flame. My wife might hear that time.
But my point being, I watched Atlanta grow just and
Maynard Jackson was the first black mayor. He had only
been a mayor a year when I came. And then
I remember Jimy Carter running for president. I helped John
Lewis run his first election. He lost because they would
(33:23):
come to the frat house and ask us to help.
And it was Earl Grays who came because he's a Q.
He came to frat house and asked us to come
out and help. So we did. And I got a
chance to see Atlanta in a way very few people
got to see. I got to watch it grow, and
I got to watch black people really get an opportunity.
(33:46):
And that's kind of what made me come back to
Atlanta just to give it a shot. And I'll never
forget when I been my first project at Underground Atlanta.
Andy Young was mayor and he came to meet me,
and I still got a picture of him that he wrote,
you know, congratulations and he said, you know, state of course,
don't give up. Then we end up being on the
(34:07):
board together at more House, you know, Hank Aaron, I
were organizations together. Herman Russell and I were on the
board together, Citizens Trust Bank and so people I used
to look up to and admire and being all of
I end up either doing business with them, on boards
with them, but I always still called them mister you
know whatever. And so I I've lived and I'm living
(34:33):
a dream that only in Atlanta can you live this dream.
I mean, I mean other cities do well, don't get
me wrong, but Atlanta they ain't nothing like it. I mean,
it's it's it's a it's a beautiful thing, particularly.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
In Atlanta and particularly in the area that you're in,
you know, you know with construction. I mean, yeah, Herman
Russell is a legend, and you had the opportunity not
only to you know, to know him, but actually collaborate
with him, but to know right, I was like again,
especially with you all working on things like the Olympic
Stadium together, Like, how did that relationship help you, you know,
and help guide you and help me grow your business?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
You know. One of the things I think that really
helped me with mister Russell, I never asked him for
anything other than knowledge. I never said, herman, can you
loan me money, give me some work. I just wanted
to pick your brain. So we became we became really close.
He really helped me a lot because he knew I
really wanted to do this. You know, I've been wanting
to do what I'm doing since I was a child.
(35:29):
I used to play with lego building blocks of rector
sets and all that in the sixties, and I just
made a pivot from architecture to construction. But mister Russell
was very, very supportive all the time to me, and
I'm close with his sons and daughter and his grandkids.
I've had some people who are really supportive like him,
(35:53):
and I had some folks who weren't helpful, you know,
they out of whatever reason. And that's why I go
out my way to try to always be approachable and
share knowledge with anybody, because I know how it feels
when you're trying to make it, when you're when you're struggling,
and somebody you look up to ignoredge you won't even
(36:14):
give you the time of day or blow you off.
And that's why I always respected mister Russell because he
he always took time, and a lot of other folks
did too.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
What excites you around the corner? Like what do you
get excited about as far as the future of your
business and construction and you know all the things you
have going on.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
You know what excites me the most is can I
ever leave my childhood trauma behind where I'm not wrestling
with anxiety during the day and just really be the
best builder I can be and remove that fear because
(36:52):
what happened to me is a child, When your innocence
is stolen, it does something to you of belief in
yourself and stuff, and especially when you hide it, when
you suppress it and you hide it and you try
to bury it for decades, it changes a lot of
how you think that you don't even realize. So for me,
(37:13):
like when I went to Africa last year, spent them
eight days on kill Him in Jarro, my buddy whose
idea was on the third day he got sick and
he had to come off the mountain. So I spent
the last five days as me and the guy and
it was four other people, but I didn't know them,
so they were doing their thing. And I spent a
lot of time just talking to God and on that
mom and I never forget. I was talking to God about,
(37:36):
you know, what I went through as a child and
different stuff. And I heard God tell me, he say, bruh,
when have I ever left for you? Look at you,
you standing in Africa on Mount kill Him in jarro Bro.
You not only survived you through. Now I've been there,
you know, and it kind of helped me change how
I looked at things in Africa. Then my wife flew
(37:57):
over on my last day, and then her and I
spent twelve days living in the bush and treehouses, intents,
chasing animals. Man, it was that trip was the first
time I felt I had a history before slavery, because
I can't go back probably more than eighteen seventy. But
when I was in Africa, man, it was the most
(38:18):
fringing thing. Living in the woods and the bush like that,
with no windows, the screens so you can hear the line,
You can hear everything at night. And once you go
in your tent or your treehouse, you do not leave
till the sun come out. They make that real clear.
Do not leave and the first night to hear the lions,
(38:38):
knowing you ain't got no glass, you just got screen,
kind of freaked me out. Then they said, look, bruh,
you way out here. We're in the Serengeti and stuff.
They like that lion is probably two three miles away,
but that sound just travels. But it was just so
relaxing and my wife and I for the first time
and being in business, I didn't find the one email.
(39:01):
I told everybody, I'm out. If something happened, y'all figure
it out. And it was so cleansing to the TOCs
like that, man, to just just me and my wife again,
you know. And man, it was the most romantic trip
we ever had because our showers were outside, so man
were taking showers outside with monkeys jumping over here. And
(39:21):
I told my wife, so when of these monkeys jumped
down here, we're gonna have a problem. But it was
just so freeing to just be out in nature, in
wildlife with the animals and just watching them. I mean,
it was incredible. I can't even put words with it.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
What's one piece of advice you would give a younger
David Moody.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Oh gosh, the one piece of advice I would give myself, Yeah,
what happened to you is a child, was horrible, but man,
don't let it consume your life. It has consumed me
because I keep reliving it. Every day. I'm triggered because
there's something on the news or something that talks about
what I went through and suffering in silence and thinking
(40:09):
it was my fault even though it wasn't. I was,
you know, preyed upon and groomed, and you know, you
just I would tell my say, hey, man, yeah it
was bad, but it's a small piece of your life.
You survive, You're gonna be okay. That's that's the part,
because you know, I couldn't even go to my mother
and father because you know, my mother thought something had happened,
(40:31):
and she went and my mother love her. They both
passed away in twenty nineteen, but my mother, and this
is why we had to be careful. We say to children.
My mother said, don't let nobody touch you. He had
already touched me. So now I think it's my fault,
so I immediately shut down. Now I don't know if
I'd have said anything in the sixties what happened anyway,
because man, I would have caught more hell than in
(40:51):
the neighborhood if the word got out. You know this,
an adult had did this. So what I would tell
myself was like, man, yeah it was bad, but boy,
you so much stronger than you realize. You got this
dream big. Don't don't be ashamed, you know. So that's
what I would tell myself. And you know, the other
(41:13):
thing that I really think about is we have to
believe that we can do something great. Now, I'm going
to say this, and it's important. My faith is really
is what got me to where I am, and I
really work on that to believe even more. And I
realized most of my life, even though I'm religious and
(41:35):
I believe in God and I believe in the higher Being,
I still felt I had to do it on my
own often. And in reality, we always got people, you know.
Even though I had other people helping me in the
business and stuff, I always felt I had I had
to rely on me because I didn't want to put
it all on my wife. And my wife is the
(41:55):
most strongest person I ever met. Because I always tell people,
you know, you got the right person. When I had
that breakdown, my wife ran to me and not from me,
and when she's gone through things, I've ran to her,
not from her. And I've seen relationships when some bad
stuff happen, the other person runs, They flee, it's too
(42:16):
much for him. And that's why I always will have
the respect and give my wife her flowers, because she
ran to me when I was at the lowest point
in my life. And that's what it takes.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
That's what partnership is all about. Oh yeahy y'all celebrating
forty two years. Forty two years. Man, that dog man.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
But when I first met her at sixteen, couldn't stand her.
She couldn't stand me. But I told her, I'm number
twelve in your program, but number one in your heart,
and she blew me off. So that's how we talked
in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Well, look, mister Moody, we appreciate you so much for
pulling up and coming out. You've had an amazing story.
Congratulations on all the amazing things you've accomplished, and also
for just again putting your fingerprint on the city of
Atlanta for all the work you've been doing.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
I've definitely heard about you over the years.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
I've seen it on you know, different sides, billboards and
things being built. Was the honor to have you in
here on the podcast, and we can't wait to see
what happens next.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
Man. Hey, thanks for having me and I can tell
you right now the future, guys, Grace and Mercy. Man,
I'm just getting cranked up in business because I'm finally
freeing myself to believe that we can do something. This
this outstanding.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Absolutely well, you know, congratulations. Can't wait to see it
and we out y'all.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
That's the pod. Peace.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
You've been listening to butter Nomics and I'm your host,
Brendan Butler. Comments feedback. Want to be a part of
the show, send us an email today at Hello at
butterdomics dot com. Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia
at iHeartMedia by Ramsey, with marketing support from Queen and Nike.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Music provided by mister Hanky. If you haven't already, hit
that subscribe.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Button and never missed an episode, and be sure to
follow us on all our social platforms at butter dot
at l. Listen to button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Pount Pump, Pump Out out
Host
Brandon Butler
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