From Doggy Daycare to Bourbon Lounge: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Kelvin Abrams

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My guest today is Kevin Abrams.

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He's a serial entrepreneur with 15 years of experience.

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He owns a doggy daycare, a coffee shop, a bourbon lounge, and a small gym.

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He recently released Get Uncomfortable or Change Course.

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Understanding what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

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With his hard work, tenacity, strength, and heart, he has created businesses that generate revenue and community.

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Some people are born entrepreneurs.

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It is in their DNA.

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When a going gets tough, they do what it takes to keep going.

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And there's no other option that describes Kevin Abrams.

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In his book, he shares not only his wins as a business owner, but also his failures so readers can learn from both.

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In the spirit of mantra.

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Learn, earn, and return, Kevin inspires and teaches new and aspiring entrepreneurs to be more successful and achieve their dreams.

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He enjoys fishing, golfing, biking, cigars, bourbon, and currently lives in Howard County, Maryland.

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We welcome him to the podcast.

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Well, Kelvin, welcome to the podcast, my friend.

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How you doing?

Kevin Abrams: 00:01:55

I'm doing great.

Kevin Abrams: 00:01:56

Thanks for having me.

Host: 00:01:57

Oh, it's so good to have you on.

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Now I'm going to ask you my favorite question and my toughest question.

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You'll probably get the entire podcast.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:04

Okay.

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What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:09

What's the best piece of advice I've ever received Is to reinvent yourself every three years.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:14

And that came from two business owners of mine, two clients, two former clients of mine.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:21

One had seven businesses and the other has or had 45 pizza huts that he sold.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:27

He had 45 pizza huts in the state of Maryland, and he sold them.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:31

And both of them gave me the same sound advice, which is every three years, you should reinvent yourself.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:35

Don't get comfortable.

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I like that.

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Yeah, because you got to keep growing.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:40

Correct.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:41

And not only that, when you get comfortable, you know, I refer to it in my book, when you get comfortable.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:45

It's kind of like the former champ, Mike Tyson.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:48

You know, Mike Tyson got very comfortable.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:50

And unfortunately, a gentleman named Buster Douglas came in and reminded Mike Tyson not to be comfortable.

Kevin Abrams: 00:02:57

And so that kind of comes to my mind every so often when we think about change and embracing change is that, you know, you can't get comfortable.

Kevin Abrams: 00:03:05

Because if you do, just remember Mike Tyson.

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I thought you were gonna talk about Paul in his last fight.

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He just had.

Kevin Abrams: 00:03:16

That's what we call making extra money when you need to.

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So you threw me off on that.

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I'm like, I had to go back.

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I'm like, he's gonna talk about the last fight.

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I'm like, that wasn't really a fight.

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That Was something.

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But anyway, I digress.

Kevin Abrams: 00:03:33

Well, I bet you he had a few tax bills he had to pay and he needed to fight.

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Because I don't know, I never seen him throw a fight like.

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Anyway.

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So I'm curious, you know, think about yourself and your life.

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You've had a lot of success, us and you've done a lot of important things.

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But who were some people in your life that served as a mentor for you or maybe an inspiration on your journey?

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I'm always curious.

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It's a chance to give them people a shout out if you want to talk them.

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I kind of give their name out there and thank them for what they did for you.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:07

I guess the list is kind of long, you know, starting with friends, you know, friends that I've known for 40 years.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:13

You know, I call them family members more than friends.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:16

Everyone from my banker, my first banker.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:20

We had an honest conversation.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:21

She was very honest with me and I'm still good friends with my banker.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:24

Ironically, you know, I talk bad about bankers in my book and things like that.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:28

I call them the devil in my book, you know.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:30

But this banker here, I, I had a great relationship with and we still have a great relationship to this day.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:36

Marketing person of mine, without mentioning any names because I don't want to leave anyone out.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:41

But this.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:41

There have been several people that have been big key influential in my life and in my businesses.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:47

A couple of them are people that are in the marketing field.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:50

A couple of business coaches I've dealt with over the years and more recently there's a really good friend of mine, I call him Uncle Willie.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:57

He's in my book, I mentioned him in my book.

Kevin Abrams: 00:04:59

He's a great friend of mine and he's a business mentor and I think he's been really influential with me because he is a self made man in the sense of several businesses.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:11

He went through some hard times and eventually he came through and is a self made man.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:17

And so people like that I really admire because you know, they, they can talk the truth to you.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:24

They can let you know about the hard times.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:25

They can walk you through the hard times because there are a lot of hard times and you just want to talk to somebody that's been there.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:32

So I would say Uncle Willie.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:33

And then last but not least, I would say my landlord.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:36

My landlord is a very giving person.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:40

His name is Don Pistorio.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:41

Very given person.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:42

He's been very honest with me and very helpful and supportive for all of my businesses.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:48

I've had a 16 year relationship with him.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:50

And I just.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:51

I just thank him.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:52

I wouldn't be here today without him.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:54

And my banker.

Kevin Abrams: 00:05:55

I would not be here because during some tough times, you know, I had to renegotiate lease and renegotiate bank loans.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:02

And, you know, if it wasn't for my banker and if it wasn't for my landlord, I wouldn't be here today.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:06

So I would say those two people are probably the biggest influence.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:10

My landlord and my banker.

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That's great.

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So let's talk about your book.

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You kind of mentioned it.

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What inspired you or motivated you to write Get Uncomfortable or Change Course?

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:20

This book has been in my head since I was 18 years of age.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:23

I knew I was going to write a book.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:25

I just didn't know what it was going to be about.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:27

I grew up, I would say, middle class, maybe lower middle class, you know, like most African Americans were in my neighborhood.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:34

We were.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:35

We weren't poor, but there were some times where we had some difficult days, like a lot of people.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:41

And so through that and through some challenges I had in college, funding, finances, things like that, I kind of knew I wanted to share my story.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:50

I just didn't know what it was going to be.

Kevin Abrams: 00:06:52

So the book I started writing 18 years ago, and it wasn't until the pandemic really hit that I actually knew what I was going to write my book about, which was Get Uncomfortable or Change Course.

Kevin Abrams: 00:07:03

And the title basically is just that is, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared to get uncomfortable.

Kevin Abrams: 00:07:11

And that get uncomfortable is a huge word and it means so much, or Change course.

Kevin Abrams: 00:07:19

And change course means it may not be for you, and it's okay if it's not for you, because being an entrepreneur is all about being uncomfortable and accepting it and being uncomfortable.

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I've had a lot of entrepreneurs on my podcast, and I always love to ask this question because there's a perception about entrepreneurs, and sometimes it's that they took advantage of other people to get where they are.

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I love for you to kind of address what makes entrepreneurs special and different.

Kevin Abrams: 00:07:51

I like to say, and I even said it in my book, I like to say, you can't make an entrepreneur.

Kevin Abrams: 00:07:55

You're born an entrepreneur.

Kevin Abrams: 00:07:57

That means, I mean no disrespect to those who, you know, have become entrepreneurs without being born an entrepreneur.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:03

I mean no disrespect.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:04

In my humble opinion.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:05

I just say that you're born an entrepreneur.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:07

And the reason why I say that is ever since I was a little kid, I always had a side hustle I was always doing something, I was always creative.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:14

So I say you're born an entrepreneur, but as far as being an entrepreneur, no, I don't think entrepreneurs right off the back of other people, I think entrepreneurs are those that want to set the path and have people follow them.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:30

And so what I mean by that is you have to be creative.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:34

So, you know, you're taking an idea and you're shining it, spit shining it.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:39

You know, you're, you're, you're cleaning it up and you're just going in a different direction.

Kevin Abrams: 00:08:43

So I think being an entrepreneur is all about being creative, and it's not about riding the coattails of someone else, but it's about guts and, you know, eventually, glory.

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I love that.

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I think the best description of entrepreneur was they're the ones who have the courage to implement, to act on their ideas.

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I like that definition.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:02

A lot of courage.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:03

A lot of courage.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:04

It takes.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:05

And you know, it takes a lot of sleepless nights, it takes a lot of prayer, it takes a lot of friends, family, it takes a lot of support to be an entrepreneur.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:14

Because, you know, there are times when you're going to miss weddings, holidays, you're going to miss birthdays, you're.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:20

I mean, you're going to be working.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:21

Family and friends won't understand it, you know, so it takes a lot of courage and guts.

Host: 00:09:27

Yes.

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Another one told me that it's different when you got to sign the checks yourself.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:35

I could remember 16 years ago writing my first check, and I even framed it and put it on my wall.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:40

I'm like, wow, this is my first big business check that I signed.

Host: 00:09:44

Right?

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:44

And so it was so amazing, right?

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:46

And now it's like, oh, my God, I gotta write another check.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:51

So it goes from being excited to writing your first big check to, oh, my God, I gotta write another check.

Kevin Abrams: 00:09:57

Because in the back of your mind you're like, is it gonna bounce?

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Right?

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Exactly.

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As you think about this book you wrote, what are some key lessons in your book that you want people to know about your journey?

Kevin Abrams: 00:10:18

You have to be willing to constantly change.

Kevin Abrams: 00:10:20

And I started off by saying that, but you have to be willing to change.

Kevin Abrams: 00:10:23

And the reason being is if you get too, too comfortable, I think that's when you forget what you began and why you began your journey.

Kevin Abrams: 00:10:33

So getting uncomfortable is a part of being an entrepreneur.

Kevin Abrams: 00:10:38

So I think what I want people to learn or get from my book here is that we all have a journey.

Kevin Abrams: 00:10:44

Some of our journeys are not as hard as others, but we all have a journey.

Kevin Abrams: 00:10:49

And our journey is what makes us unique.

Kevin Abrams: 00:10:52

And my journey is about writing this book and helping other people not go through some of the issues and problems that I had to go through and to kind of help their journey be a little bit smoother.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:01

And so I think the biggest takeaway from my book here is learning little lessons from each chapter about how to be a good entrepreneur and how to be a good business owner and to learn from other people's mistakes.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:14

I've made a lot of mistakes and that's why I wrote them in a book and talked about it in a book.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:18

And I've had a lot of health issues and problems in my book.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:21

And so it's just about overcoming challenges and overcoming obstacles in your life.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:26

And I've been through a whole bunch of them, as I've indicated in my book.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:29

And so I think the biggest takeaway from the book is that everybody has obstacles in their journey and it's just a matter of crossing over those obstacles or knocking those obstacles down and moving forward.

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So you describe yourself as a serial entrepreneur.

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So tell us about some of the businesses that you've started.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:47

Okay, well, first, I think I have about six trademarks.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:53

A couple of them are not even being used yet because they're potential businesses in the future.

Kevin Abrams: 00:11:59

But let's see, Tiki's Playhouse is a doggy daycare boarding facility.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:02

I've had that for 16 years.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:05

I own K9 and coffee, which we're in the bar right now.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:08

You can see the logo behind us.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:09

Canine and Coffee.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:10

That was a concept because we're in the same building as Tiki's Playhouse.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:13

And so I wanted to bring dogs and coffee.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:15

And how I came up with K9 and coffee is, you know, back back then, nine years ago, when I came up with it, coffee was the number two traded commodity on the stock market and the other was oil.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:26

And so I figured dogs, coffee and dogs.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:29

At that point, it was like a $56 billion industry.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:32

I think it's probably 100 billion dollar industry now, meaning dogs.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:36

And so I put the two together and that's where canine and coffee came from.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:40

And we evolved into a bourbon bar.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:42

So now I do alcohol.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:43

I have bourbon.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:44

And we feature one of my favorite bourbons, which is Uncle Nearest.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:48

It's a great story.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:49

I don't know if you've ever heard about it.

Host: 00:12:50

No, I haven't.

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Tell me about it.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:52

It's a African American owned company, woman named Fawn Weaver and Keith Weaver, Uncle Nearest.

Kevin Abrams: 00:12:59

His name is Nathan Nearest Green.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:01

And and he was an enslaved man.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:03

And he actually has been credited in teaching Jack Daniels how to make whiskey.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:07

So it's a Tennessee whiskey.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:08

It's a beautiful story.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:09

I encourage all your listeners to go to the website.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:12

I encourage them to go and support Uncle Nearest.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:16

And the best thing about the Uncle Nearest brand that I really, really love is two things.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:20

One is they have it Uncle Nearest or Nathan Green's great, great great granddaughter Victoria.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:27

Edie Butler is the master distiller and.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:30

And taste every bottle and signs every bottle.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:34

So I do love that because it's part of history.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:36

The second thing I love is that Fawn Weaver, in the very beginning, set up a program where anyone who can prove that their blood of Nathan Nearest Green gets a full ride all the way up until PhD education paid for anywhere in the world, all the way up to a PhD level.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:54

So that's what I really, really love, love about Uncle Nearest so much.

Kevin Abrams: 00:13:59

So I purchased my own barrel from Uncle Nearest.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:01

And actually I met.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:03

I have a picture here.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:04

I met Edie Butler.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:09

Butler.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:09

So I met her in D.C.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:11

let's cover my face.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:12

But I met.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:16

But I met her in D.C.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:17

so she's a beautiful woman, nice lady.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:20

And so.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:21

So that's part of the coffee shop in a bourbon bar.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:23

And the other business I have is a gym.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:26

And the gym came about as an opportunity.

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:29

And in my book I talk about opportunities, you know, and so the gym was an opportunity, came knocking and I accepted it.

Host: 00:14:35

So as a person, and I love your story, I love the fact that you connected with that story so much.

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How do you use your businesses to also make an impact on local community?

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Because I get a sense that you care about the people, you have your business in the area.

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How do you strike that balance of being a positive impact on the community as well?

Kevin Abrams: 00:14:59

That's a really good question.

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So that wasn't in the.

Host: 00:15:01

I didn't see you that one ahead of time.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:06

I think it's just a matter of trying to just connect with people by just sharing your businesses and just trying to invite them in your businesses here.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:15

And with the gym, we try.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:17

We're a small community gym and we try to keep it that way.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:20

With the coffee shop here, we do canine and coffee.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:23

So we try to bring people in the community with their dogs, allow them to bring their dogs here and socialize.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:28

And Tiki's Playhouse is a doggie daycare boarding facility.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:32

So we support our community by having the ability to, you know, provide boarding service or pet services for the community.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:40

Also this community that I'm in here is a very small community, western Howard county called Glenel, Maryland.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:47

And I think there's only about 548 homes out here.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:50

So it's a small community and I think it's a close knit community once you get to know them.

Kevin Abrams: 00:15:55

And I'm in this area here that I like to refer to as Downtown Glenn El, even though it's not officially downtown Glenn El.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:02

And all three of my businesses are right here.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:04

So I feel that the community supports me.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:06

And I support the community by having three businesses right here in this area.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:10

And I'm available basically 24,7 to my community because they, I sleep and live here at work so they know where I'm at all the time.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:17

I go to the gym and I work out at the gym and I'm here in a coffee shop selling my bourbon and things like that.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:23

So I just think people kind of adapt to me and people kind of just support me just because of who I am.

Host: 00:16:30

So which of your coffees has bourbon in it?

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:39

None of them came up with another great idea for me.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:44

So thank you.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:49

So tonight I'll be writing a pad at 2 o'clock in the morning, writing this note in the pad because that's what happens is the brain just doesn't stop.

Kevin Abrams: 00:16:56

So the middle of the night I wake up and I go, oh, that's a great idea, thank you, Doc.

Host: 00:17:00

And I'm sitting here, just make sure you, you give me know, a portion of that proceeds of that sounds good, 10%.

Host: 00:17:16

So you have a mantra, and I love your mantra.

Host: 00:17:18

Learn, earn and Return.

Host: 00:17:19

Tell us about that, what it means to you and your life.

Kevin Abrams: 00:17:23

That's a great question.

Kevin Abrams: 00:17:24

Learn, Earn, return.

Kevin Abrams: 00:17:26

I would love to say I was the first person that came up with it, but I heard about it somewhere, I read about it somewhere, so I really can't, I don't know who to credit, but what I adopted from Learn, Earn and Return is that as an entrepreneur, it's all about learning.

Kevin Abrams: 00:17:41

And so every day you learn.

Kevin Abrams: 00:17:43

And I think as you're an entrepreneur and as you grow, you're always learning.

Kevin Abrams: 00:17:47

And I kind of learned that from my father, to be honest with you, because he's always been reading books and picking up any kind of book or any kind of magazine and just constantly learning.

Kevin Abrams: 00:17:57

And he's a serial entrepreneur himself and just constantly learning.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:02

So that's where the learn comes in and the earn to earn for me is earn, you know, your potential, earn your, your wealth or whatever it is that you're Looking for earn it and then return.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:18

So it's about earning, you know, going through your good days, your bad days, going through your blood, sweat and tears.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:28

Earning and then return.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:29

Return is giving back.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:31

Giving back to those, helping those, paying it forward, helping other young entrepreneurs achieve their goals and helping them with their journey.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:42

So that's where Learn, earn return comes from.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:44

And I even have a bracelet that I wear on my arm and it has learn earn return on a bracelet as a reminder for me to learn, earn and give it back.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:52

And there's a famous quote that I think Muhammad Ali, gosh, I have it on my phone here somewhere.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:58

I don't want to mess it up.

Kevin Abrams: 00:18:59

But it's something about your servant's towel.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:02

Gosh, I'll find it here in a second and tell you what it is.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:05

But it's something about your servants towel.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:07

Oh, here it is.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:08

Sorry, I hate to be looking at my phone here but I don't want to mess this up.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:12

Muhammad Ali, I love this quote of his is service to others is the rent you pay for the room here on earth.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:19

So I keep that on my phone.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:21

So service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:25

And that's where return comes in for me.

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:27

Service to others, giving back.

Host: 00:19:29

I love that.

Host: 00:19:30

That is, that is so, so meaningful.

Host: 00:19:32

I'm curious as you think about to advice you would have, I know you wrote this book for entrepreneurs to pick up and read but if you have a young Calvin who is thinking about the this is a path they want to go on, what advice do you have for the young entrepreneur?

Kevin Abrams: 00:19:52

I like to always say don't do it, walk away, don't do it.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:00

A nine to five is stable.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:02

Stay with your nine to five.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:06

But I would say the one advice that I go back to again I go back to this advice which is be willing to change.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:15

You can't be too stubborn and too set in your career.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:18

You can't be too stubborn and set saying it's my way or the highway.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:21

You have to be willing to adapt and move every three years, you know.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:27

And a great book that I like is who moved the cheese.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:30

I don't know if you've read that book or that's a great book and I've read that book about three or four times now about who moved your cheese.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:36

And it's all about adapting and not getting comfortable.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:40

Like was it him and hall in the book it's about who moved your cheese.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:45

And so the only advice I would get, the best advice I would Give somebody is.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:48

Don't get on.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:49

Don't get comfortable.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:51

Be willing to move every two, every three years.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:53

Be willing to reinvent yourself every two, every three years.

Kevin Abrams: 00:20:57

And embrace people's suggestions, embrace people's comments, and embrace a mentor that has been there that.

Kevin Abrams: 00:21:06

That can help you through the good, the bad, and the ugly times.

Host: 00:21:10

Yeah, that's powerful.

Host: 00:21:12

I love to ask my guests my second favorite question.

Host: 00:21:15

What do you want your legacy to be?

Kevin Abrams: 00:21:19

I would love to have a legacy where when people talk about Kelvin Abrams, they talk about, number one, how hard of a worker he was, how creative of a person he was, and then also how he tried to give back and to help others.

Kevin Abrams: 00:21:42

I generally like to say it.

Kevin Abrams: 00:21:43

I'm a very generous person, a very giving and caring person, and I am.

Kevin Abrams: 00:21:47

And at times, you know, I get pushed to my limits, for sure, especially being a business owner, you know, you have a target on your back, so at times, you get pushed to your limit.

Kevin Abrams: 00:21:55

But I'm generally a given and caring person.

Kevin Abrams: 00:21:57

So I would love for my legacy to be a serial entrepreneur who was giving, caring, and wanted to help others.

Host: 00:22:06

I love that.

Host: 00:22:07

And that's good to know.

Host: 00:22:08

People say it about you when you're gone.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:12

It's a tough road, you know, and that's one of the things that my banker told me years ago, this is why I really love her, is that it's a dark road.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:20

You know, being an entrepreneur is a very dark road.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:23

There is no light at the tunnel.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:25

At the end of the tunnel.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:26

There is no stop.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:28

There is no okay, here's a finish line.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:31

There is none of that as an entrepreneur.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:34

And so, you know, you have to be willing to walk in the dark, and you have to be willing to walk alone.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:40

And that's the challenging part.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:41

And I would encourage people, before they want to become an entrepreneur, to actually talk to an entrepreneur and learn about the good, bad, and ugly.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:50

Because there are a lot of days where you're going to be walking in the dark alone, and you have one person to look up to.

Kevin Abrams: 00:22:56

And for me, I look up and I have my cross, and I pray on my cross, and I have it here, my shirt, and I kiss and I pray my cross.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:02

And then every day, I hold my cross and I thank God for another day, and I thank God for another opportunity.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:07

So every day I wake up before my feet hit the ground, I thank the Lord for another day, and I thank the Lord for another opportunity.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:14

And I say that because every day is an opportunity.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:17

As I see it, every Day is an opportunity.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:20

As an entrepreneur, I love that.

Host: 00:23:22

I always, someone always told me about the train.

Host: 00:23:24

It's like, make sure that light in the tunnel is not a train.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:29

Yeah, I've been hit by a few.

Host: 00:23:30

Trains.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:33

But you got to get back up.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:35

You got to thank the Lord.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:36

You got to get back up and know that you're going to be all right.

Host: 00:23:39

That's right.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:39

And that's.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:40

I mean, I've been hit with.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:41

I got hit with Mercer.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:42

I had a hip replacement and I was in a hospital with Mercer for two weeks.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:47

They removed my hip.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:48

And so that was a challenging, difficult time.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:51

My mom was there to help me.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:52

You know, it was a tough time.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:54

I was depressed and, you know, they sent a priest down to talk to me because I wasn't eating.

Kevin Abrams: 00:23:58

And I was just depressed that I was 38 something years old in the hospital with Mercer.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:03

You know, then I had a severe infection.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:05

I thought I was going to die.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:06

So, yeah, there's some challenging times, you know.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:08

And so again, my mom was there to support me and then I had to rely on faith.

Host: 00:24:13

Exactly.

Host: 00:24:15

So as we wrap up our conversation, what key takeaways do you want the audience to get from our conversation?

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:23

Anything is possible.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:25

Anything is possible.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:27

At the age of 18, I did not think I would have three, four businesses at the age of 55.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:36

So anything is possible.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:38

The other thing is, is I want the audience to hear what I have to say, which is being an entrepreneur is a beautiful, wonderful thing.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:47

I mean, you write your own checks, you write your own hours.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:50

The freedom.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:51

It's a beautiful, wonderful thing.

Kevin Abrams: 00:24:54

But make no mistake about it, it will be the most difficult challenge of your life.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:02

So that's the one big takeaway is it's a beautiful thing, but it's going to be a very, very difficult challenge.

Host: 00:25:10

Yeah, that's good to know.

Host: 00:25:12

Where can people find your book and connect with you on social media?

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:16

I have a website, Kelvin Abrams dot com.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:19

That's Kelvin Abrams.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:22

A B R a M S dot com.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:24

The book is also on my website.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:26

You can find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:29

You can just Google get uncomfortable and change course.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:32

You'll see it.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:32

There's.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:33

We have a Facebook page for get uncomfortable or change course.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:36

There's a Facebook page for all of my businesses.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:39

K9 and Coffee, Tiki's Playhouse, American Fitness Express.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:43

So yeah, if you just Google Kelvin Abrams, I'm pretty much on the Internet, so I'm out there.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:48

So if you just Google Calvin Abrams, you'll be able to find me and.

Host: 00:25:51

The new business coffee brewski.

Host: 00:25:52

That's coming up next.

Kevin Abrams: 00:25:54

That's going to be coming up next.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:00

So at 2:00 in the morning, I'm going to be emailing you my initial impressions about what we're going to do, what we are going to do with this coffee and bourbon.

Host: 00:26:12

It's called the Warmth and Comfort.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:15

Warmth and comfort.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:16

I like it.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:17

Maybe we can smell it to Uncle Nears.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:23

I mean, since I got the hookup and all.

Host: 00:26:24

Right, you got the hookup.

Host: 00:26:26

That's right.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:28

Warmth and comfort.

Host: 00:26:31

It's not your daddy's Starbucks.

Host: 00:26:32

What it would be.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:36

That's right.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:37

Forget about Starbucks.

Host: 00:26:41

Well, Calvin, thanks so much for being a guest on the podcast and giving us an enjoyable look into what it means to be an entrepreneur and blessings on the work you do and the businesses you're starting and the impact you're having in the world.

Host: 00:26:52

So thank you.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:53

Thank you very much.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:54

I really appreciate your time today.

Kevin Abrams: 00:26:55

Thank you very much.