Jomaree 00:00
Good afternoon. Good afternoon. How you doing? Oh, sorry. How you doing?
Joshua 00:03
Oh, good. How good. How are you doing?
Jomaree 00:05
Nice to meet you.
Joshua 00:05
Nice to meet you, too. And is it Jomaree? How do I pronounce your name?
Joshua 00:10
What was it? Hold. On one second. Hold on. Let me put. My headphones in. Give. Me one sec. Audio. Source is not. Okay, One sec. One sec. Okay. Can you hear me? Okay, I got you. Sorry. Sorry. How do I pronounce your name?
Jomaree 00:52
That's all good.
Joshua 00:52
Jomaree. Okay, cool. What's up, Jomaree? Great to meet you.
Jomaree 00:53
All right. Sorry to mar your Ferraris.
Joshua 00:57
Jomare is still referring. That's good. I like that. Where are you based out of, Jomare? Okay, cool. Nice. And. And do you. Do you. I'm in Los Angeles, just down the street from. From Mark. Have you connected with Mark before?
Jomaree 01:05
Yourself. Okay. I have. I connect with him actually at bednet. It never works two weeks ago. We. We shared a mutual friend that we ran into on the street. And I got injected. And Chuck was like, Jack, you know, tomorrow. And we did the. We walked in. We're talking. I was like, cool.
Joshua 01:27
I love it. I love it. Yeah. I mean, it looks like you're. You're too. Your backgrounds are, like, eerily similar in. In the worlds of the circles you guys have run in. So.
Jomaree 01:37
Yeah. So we spoke for an hour the next day. We were just standing at them. They're just talking to the chat. We're like, so, yeah, we. We got to connect in a. On a few different levels, which is pretty cool.
Joshua 01:44
That's awesome. Super cool. And it looks like you're gearing up for another. Another launch here.
Jomaree 01:47
Yeah. Putting the operator hat back on again, back in the saddle. Yeah. So, you know, you wouldn't have passed in your life. Which part do I like? You're like, I like all of them, but, you know, it's not something that's time and the opportunity tells you swimming.
Joshua 01:53
I like it. I like it. I I hear it. Well, I'm excited to. To learn more about that. I want to make sure we get the most out of our time here. So just to kind of give you kind of a brief overview, I'll share a bit more about myself and kind of the work I'm doing with Mark right now, too, on with him and on his team. But I want to understand a little bit more about you and where you're at. I really appreciate the. The thought, the thoughtful application you put in as well. So that gave us a really good idea kind of where you're at. But I want to learn a little bit more about you, what you're working on, and then I will share if I think it might be a good fit what Mark is launching with this CEO incubator that we're taking applications for and filling some seats for. And so if I think it would be helpful for you, I'll. I'll let you know and I'll go over all the details of what that looks like. But first and foremost, want to just learn a little bit more and understand more about you. Does that sound good? Sound good for you?
Jomaree 02:40
Yeah. For sure. Absolutely. Absolutely always happy to share.
Joshua 02:54
Cool. Awesome. So, like, yeah, maybe give. Give me the. Give me the, like. I mean, I know we could talk for an hour.
Jomaree 02:56
Yeah. I mean. I mean.
Jomaree 03:02
Yeah. I try to give you the condensed version.
Jomaree 03:05
I mean, the way I like to tell it, sometimes it brings a more time to land. I'm talking to someone who's cool. I see the raw version, which is I come from New York City, Queens, New York. Super tough neighborhood as I grew up.
Joshua 03:10
Yeah, let's hear. It.
Jomaree 03:18
Where food and beverage, mainly food was a love language in the family. And I think in a lot of ways, when there's a lot of have nots, the pink turn household became the refuge for people who didn't have Thanksgiving dinner or didn't have a clean place to stay. And so food was their vessel that everyone got to be vulnerable and take their mask off at the dinner table. And talk about things they maybe couldn't talk about with their father, their parent and mom, that mom would, like, the lottery. Right. So you think the barbershop or the salon and how it goes down in there, but over food in a safe space at home. And so little, you know, denotes to myself that that seed was planted for many years. The corporate thing as a consultant for Marshall McLennan, making sure that broker traveled the world and do that. Food always was, like, in the background running a mill of, like, wanting to eat in places. Right. And so went to business school to kind of, like, rediscover myself and said, okay, what would I do when I want to grow up? And I think a lot of the things I saw at the time are still true today were about access. Right. Mainly not accessing the capital and entrepreneurship because that's what I was thinking was to solve. I think for me, it was right. But, like, I didn't know exactly what that meant. And so my discovery from business school was about, around really having a theory about it, but then going to apply. My knowledge and the next exercises towards operating understanding whether it was true.
Jomaree 04:38
And. Right. And so wanting to kind of act under unlock the capital stack, the access to network sack, relationship stack, all of those things that had to go do it for myself. And I said, what would I do this exercise? And so now you come back to food and beverage and be like, well, you know, there's nothing like sitting at the bar and talking to the bartender and, like, going back to that. That kind of seat. And so me and my buddies ran a company called the helicopter company for, for a long while. In the cocktail space. And so I think na before anyone cared about it in theaters, things like that. That are maybe not a billion dollar exit, but, but just put us in the game at all kind of intersections.
Jomaree 05:15
Right from the out space and an add on space through, you know, hospitality, food service, Etc. And so Granite operating play for quite some time. And along the way, realize. That as a black American coming from that neighborhood, I was probably one of the only ones in that seat on the regular basis, and that felt funny. And so now enter my other access hat, which was like, okay, equity. And so I think in between, obviously operational at loaning the design equity is a nonprofit called included CPG that helps. Get underrepresented founders access to space. And a more structured atmosphere. Because oftentimes, you know, the bev nets and the, the, the fancy fruits, they exist, but no one knows that that's where the system starts to take shape and form. And so how do I unlock that for others? We're just going to give this space like how it works. So build the nonprofits about six years old.
Jomaree 06:03
Helping platform kind of entrepreneurs that are interested in the space.
Joshua 06:05
That's amazing. What's the name of that? What's. What's the name of that?
Jomaree 06:08
And at the same time, it's called. Including CPG.
Jomaree 06:13
If you're going to include it cpg.com, you'll see it. And along that same journey, the diageo folks came looking for a venture fund manager to run their newly formed fund in 2022. And so as I was doing this work, I was like, yes, the capital stack is the last piece. All right. Like unlocking doors, retailers, networks. Capital is what I don't have. My relationships. And so going to build the VC from scratch, a 200 million dollar VC in the gyro was like, okay, this is what I was trying. This is the last piece of the stack. Right? To really understand how the machine works. It's got to do that for a few years and then said, okay. Kind of feel like I built it all out. I felt it a lot. I knew where the tricks are. Who's who, what's what. And then stopped for 25. I'm like, let me just. I haven't stopped since I was 16.
Jomaree 07:00
Do I even retune, right, and reload? And let the world talk to me again like I've always loved to talk to?
Jomaree 07:09
And this time I think it's a disruption came in life science. It was like, okay, I'm too early for everything all the time, which is a gift and the curse.
Joshua 07:15
Yeah, totally.
Jomaree 07:17
And this time the world speaking to us in a lot of ways needs to be protein and now fiber and say, okay, there's something here. And people that had worked with that was also set on the specialty food Association board with a few people. And it kind of brought me into something they were working on. In life sciences. I was like, that looks like something we could work on together. And introducing them in 2026 at some point soon with the operator to have back home because it's kind of, it kind of called me again to, like, all the things, you know, go break some more.
Jomaree 07:47
Right. But I think, I think to the point of the conversation here. I've been someone who worn all the hass. I think every founder would say that. And so, like, how in hell I get on my own rent, because where I failed continuously and all these Endeavors is not that the things don't make noise. And that the things are not known, except they don't scale. Right? Because I'm wearing too many hats. And so I, I figured out a lot of ways, right, you know, right but right seats. Which is fine, but, like, now do it, right? How do you really actively get out your own way and, like, express it and are able to have those conversations or find or ask that hard question, which is like, I'm looking for, like. Right. And so now I think I just want to be able to. To be freak in that space. And I spoke to you, right? So I read the, the first big vlog that he put out, you know, a while back. I was like, this is speaking to the, but the video, I was.
Jomaree 08:41
Like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This, this, this was, this is what you understand what I'm going to. And then I met him and I was like.
Joshua 08:41
Give it to me. Yeah.
Jomaree 08:47
Yes, you, you're actually saying the same thing. But I just saw you that I read. And I had no idea that the cohort thing was even there. And I was like, oh, there's a thing you're going to do.
Jomaree 08:56
I'm in it right now. I'm in the same, in the pocket.
Jomaree 08:58
So, yes, I don't like, like, fit the bill for the revenue account and all that stuff if you, if you aggregate all my stuff, fine. But, like, in this project, I don't. And I, and I kind of get that. But, like, where I'm at and what I'm working towards is the, is like exactly in that, in that moment. I think that's going to be delta between having, you know, a true exit that at that scale. And this next exercise and maybe something that's, like, a little bit off kilter.
Joshua 09:21
So good. Love it. Well, that's awesome. Thank you for the. The overview. Love it. Very, very inspiring story. I love. There's a couple things you said there that really resonated with one. I love how you said in this next exercise, like talking about this next adventure as, like, in this next exercise, I just love the language of that and then let the world talk to me. I resonate with that very, very deeply in my own kind of entrepreneurial Journey as well.
Jomaree 09:23
So. Me and my family call them seasonings.
Jomaree 09:47
Right? Like, it's a new season. And so, like, what, what, how we can describe, what's the theme of the season? What, you know? And so I think about the exercise of the season. Right. So, like at home during the exam, like, what season are you in? You're like, you know, come up with something catchier fun.
Joshua 09:52
So good. Yeah. That's so good. That's so good. I I wrote a book called cosmic breadcrumbs, which is like my. Which was my kind of entrepreneurial journey before I hooked up with Mark and the business that I ran that built it up really big and then crashed really hard and. But just how. How that all came to be was, like, really letting the world talk to me and, like, allowing the right people the. The perfect opportunity. Everything just unfolding. I think when we really can collaborate with. With life, with the universe, with God, with whatever you want to call it.
Joshua 10:28
Like, things open up and it sounds like that's been a big part of. Part of your. Your journey as well, which I totally resonate with.
Jomaree 10:35
That's awesome. Yeah. I talked to some of your background. I'm super impressive, but I'd love to learn more at some point because I was like, okay, yeah, yeah, I see why you're working together. I see it. I can see it.
Joshua 10:39
For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. That's super good. And. And to your point, I think it's. It's a. It's an amazing opportunity we're at right now because this is, you know, you're at the starting blocks of building the foundation. If you can lay the foundation right this time, it's going to make all the difference, like, right out the get go. So I think that is something that is, is pretty, pretty, pretty unique on the, on the timing piece with, with this next exercise.
Jomaree 11:10
Yeah. And just on full transparency, I also spoke to a market about, like, advisor investing in the, in the project. We, we don't have a meeting on the books, but he sent me to, to set one up for, for early August. I just wanted to put that in transparency. I don't, I didn't, I didn't connect it to dots in the, in the design because I don't know what's going to happen. But I just wanted to let you know that that's something that's in the, in the works.
Joshua 11:21
Cool. Yeah, for sure. Sounds great. Thanks for heads up there. Cool. Well, I mean, listen, I can tell you right off the bat that you'd be freaking awesome fit for this while we're launching and that Mark would absolutely be the, the perfect. Guide to support you in this journey. And I'll tell you a little bit more about this and the timing, I think, is, is really perfect. And I'll also make sure that you two connect based on whatever other pieces you're talking about, you know, in your August conversation as well. I'm meeting with Mark tomorrow, so obviously fill in on all this, but, but I think that they're all, they all can work together in this way. But I'd love to kind of overview what we're, what we've built out with this, with this incubator specifically so we can go over all those details and then take the conversation from there. Is that cool? Sweet. So, and just by quick backstory of how I hooked up with mark after my last business shut down, I started doing some Consulting here and there, and I have a experience in online digital programming and course delivery and, and building some AI tools as well. And so I hooked up with Mark to help him take, he had just launched his book and entrepreneur's guide to Freedom. And I've been working with him over the last year to help really, how do we take these principles and what he's so good at being able to do with his experience? And how do we translate that in a way that can be really effective for other founders out there? Cuz this is like the next Arc.
Jomaree 12:15
Absolutely. Dude.
Jomaree 12:53
I've tracked, I've tracked what you did, and I didn't know it was you. It is remarkable. It's dope. Like, I love it. Like, I follow each piece of it, the, the, the, I mean, the design of it, at least from the design to the content, the tutorials, to the toolkits. I'm like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Joshua 12:56
Appreciate that. Oh, thanks, man. Appreciate that. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks, man. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, right here. No, I appreciate that. That's, that's, that's really great feedback. That's sweet. So he's, you know, he's, he's really, really, really good. And that's why I partnered up with him because I'm like, he's lit. And I've seen him do this time and time again. We did like a, like a beta cohort almost a year ago, right when he launched the book in October. We did like a beta cohort where he was working with like 15 different founders and really testing some of these things. And then since then, we've really dialed in these tools. And basically what he's done is he's created this, like this, he's systemized in a practical toolkit these, these tools for freedom and, and demystify this concept of freedom of just like, what does it actually look like as an operator, as a founder, making that transition to be a CEO who's driving the strategic vision, who's not the bottleneck in everything, who's not, who's getting out of their own way, who's actually putting the people in the right seats on the bus and then, and then empowering them to do the thing. And he brings an incredible level of, I would say accountability and support within the implementation of that, which is really important. Not only the tools of, like, here's what that actually means and looks like, but now, like, go have the conversation. Did you have the conversation? How did the conversation go? Or what is the resistance you have about this conversation coming up? Let's work through that. So he's, I've worked with a lot of different coaches and people in my life as well, and being able to work with him and see it up close and personal. I'm, I'm, it's like, it's definitely this next phase of his career is he's gonna, he's gonna blow up doing this in a very positive way because he's, he's truly talented at it on top of his, his operating experience. And so, so what, what the cohort is basically this, this, this founding cohort we're doing for the CEO incubator. So we're, we're going to keep it really tight and super hand selected to make sure, first and foremost, it's like, it's a, it's a vibe fit and energy fit first and foremost with the people. And that's why I get on these calls, of course, too. And you already know, Mark as well. And there's obviously, there's, there's no questions I have about that. We're looking at it as a, as a 90 day implementation Sprint. So a three month container. And within the three months, there's a few different things that are going to happen working with Mark. One is direct access to mark.
Jomaree 13:06
Who did that? Yeah.
Joshua 15:17
So being able to have Mark, like, in your corner and having that direct line of access to him for one-on-one time as needed. And he, it's going to be anchored by these, by one-on-one and group session. So there's going to be a once a week. Group session with the kind of small, intimate cohort that we've put together, which brings a really amazing flavor of other people in different industries that are also going through these things. Like, there's so much value and so much learning in that process that we found to be very effective. So every single week there's going to be one concept, one tool and one action that you take. So it's, it's very driven. You saw from some of the website or the tools, like in the course itself, it's actually even next level of that where it's all driven through, like, you're kind of online portal where how you have your, you know, start with, like, your onboarding, like, personality assessment, and it kind of maps out your 360 and you're able to, all the exercises that you do feed into this, the software essentially that is, that allows you to, to actually make these changes. So that all happens throughout these AI powered tools and then, and, and really, it's like you get the, the once a week group session and then mark around that with the tools. And this is the founding cohort we're doing for this specifically. And so just like between you and I, like, is so committed to making sure that whatever he needs to do to make sure that everyone has, like, a 10 out of 10 experience is, like, of the utmost importance. I mean, it always is, but specifically for this first one and some of the things that we're working on doing here, which I know you can appreciate from your, your VC lens as well is, like, we're working on how can we quantify the ROI on this work based on time back, based on Enterprise value created based on certain decisions that are made. And so we're really planning on tracking things and also setting that in the beginning of, like, so we can clearly track that way at the end of this cohort, we can be able to say for future cohorts, for future things we want to do of, like, hey, look at the real results of the ROI, and then we can put a, you know, 10x ROI guarantee on this investment. Like, we know that this is going to lead to a 10x ROI or this is the average ROI that we see on this. So Mark's always thinking from the investor lens on that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jomaree 17:28
Thanks. What are the kbis around human talent? Human capital. No, it makes sense. I love it.
Joshua 17:31
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So, yeah, so that's, that's, that's it. It's, it's pretty simple, three month kind of container. It's going to be starting. I guess we're in July already. So starting next month in early August running through three months. So like August, September, October time frame. And, yeah, any, any questions on that type of, that's just the structure and how that all works.
Jomaree 17:56
Yeah, that makes sense. My last question would be timing, but you covered it right away.
Jomaree 18:00
So timing. And then I think what's the, is it, is it at your own pace for some virtual toolkit things and, or then as I imagine as a fixed time for the, the community to get together and do go through some sessions.
Joshua 18:11
Correct. Yeah, exactly. So, like, we'll, we'll, it'll be like set weekly recurring for those, for those 12 weeks. And then, and then they'll be like, each week will be like, here's your tool, here's the concept. They'll be supplemental, you know, videos and whatnot or voice notes from Mark as well. And then that one-on-one channel with mark WhatsApp is, is what we've used in the past, which I'm pretty sure Mark is going to use again for this for, for WhatsApp. So you can have that, that line of support.
Jomaree 18:41
One last question. So, so I have, you know, I have a bunch of kids. It was like start daddy duty for most weekdays when I have them at like 4 30 eastern time. So I was wondering when, when the window of the community group sessions in theory might be.
Joshua 18:43
Yeah. Sure. Yeah. TB. Yeah. TBD during the work hours TBD and depending on typically what we'll do is we'll, we'll pull the, like, we'll, we'll put some different options out and pull the group. That's what we did for the beta at least. And we'll pull the group up. But we'll make it work. So, like, typically, I feel like it's been like 1 p.m. is what we did last time. Pacific time, which would be 4 p.m. eastern.
Jomaree 18:59
I know you guys on the west count of. Okay.
Joshua 19:23
But I, I won't see that being an obstacle. We can make that work. Around your schedule.
Jomaree 19:27
Got it. Got it. Okay. No.
Joshua 19:28
Yeah. So that's, that's that. I'll go over the investment with you now as well, just so you have a sense and idea of it. And then I'm going to make sure that you connect with Mark as well because I just want to make sure that he'll have that conversation with you. So are you talking with him around potential, like for ground force capital investment or him personal investment? What have you talked or advisor shares or what, what are you talking about? Okay.
Jomaree 19:52
We didn't. We didn't go that far. We just talked about concepts and then do we want to talk about it more, you know? And he was like, yeah. So I sent him a note with the kind of thinking back. He sent me to, to get the colleague's name that wants to do the scheduling.
Joshua 19:57
Okay. Cool. Yeah. Nicola, probably.
Jomaree 20:05
We didn't go down the rabbit hole. Yes. Yeah. Nickola. We didn't go down the rabbit hole.
Jomaree 20:08
At like. Are you even interested at the level of investing or we just, you just want to give me feedback on it? Because I know he, he was definitely like, let's talk about it more.
Joshua 20:16
Okay, sweet. Okay, cool.
Jomaree 20:18
So it's one in person without product or tasting or anything like that.
Joshua 20:19
For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Makes sense. So what I'll do is I will make sure we get you set up sooner with him. And Nicola, like, sometime in the next week or two or whenever your schedules, we'll make sure we get that moved up. That way you can talk about this. That way, if doing this incubator, something that you want to do or however it ties in, like, marking, you can figure out whatever that looks like.
Jomaree 20:35
We. Re great.
Joshua 20:43
So I'll just give you the base level investment for what this is actually going to be. Again, maybe that changes depending on whatever you guys are doing together. But we're, again, we're driving everything for ROI driven and to be ROI trackable. And Mark's putting a guarantee on everything. So, like, if you show up to 100 of the work and you don't feel like you've gotten your ROI, he's going to either keep working with you until you do or just give your money back because he's, like, not in this just, you know what I mean? He wants to drive impact with stuff. So it's all fully ROI money back guaranteed, full investment is 12K for that three month container or three payments of 4K per month. And that toolkit that you get, all the tools stays with you, all the access to mark and the group sessions, all that is included within that container. So that's the overall structure and how that works.
Jomaree 21:10
Yeah. Got. Him.
Jomaree 21:31
Makes sense. Okay.
Joshua 21:32
Sweet. How, how, what are, what are your thoughts on that? How's that, how's that sound? I know there's more moving pieces.
Jomaree 21:39
Yeah. No, that, that, that's, that's not a back breaker, but would love to know how maybe to your point now, I see where you're going with it.
Jomaree 21:45
How can you integrate it into something else would be amazing.
Joshua 21:46
Yeah. For sure.
Jomaree 21:49
Yeah, that'd be like being like, that would be the Holy Grail. Like, and I didn't know that part existed. So if it, if it, if it can be somehow part of some advisory, whatever it'd be, I'd be like, that'd be.
Joshua 21:52
Yes. Totally, totally. So I'm, I'm in with Mark tomorrow, so I'll catch them up on our conversation and, and then I'll get back to you with next steps as well around that and, and your scheduling with him, too. But glad to be able to connect. I think he would be a complete Stellar fit for this exact type of person that we literally created this in mind for, especially with your background, with your experience, with your mindset. And, like, I, I can tell, like, you're a go-getter as well. And so, like, I know that some of it's like these little things, these little shifts, these little unlocks that are just.
Jomaree 21:59
Very, very, very wise. Thank you.
Joshua 22:31
Like. And, and I, I see Mark make these with people week over week, and it's just like, it's next level, especially when we add in some of these AI power tools to it. It's just, it's insane. So I think it would be amazing fit, especially for where you're at right now, laying the foundation for this next exercise. Like, I think it'd be incredible, incredible timing, incredible impact.
Jomaree 22:51
I love it. Love it. I'm excited about what, what's possible here.
Joshua 22:53
Yeah, same. Cool. All right, well, you can expect to hear from me.
Jomaree 22:54
Yeah. Cool. All right.
Joshua 22:57
My major them later tomorrow, so if not tomorrow night, for sure. Friday.
Jomaree 23:05
Should I still check in with Nicola first, or should I, should I hold up for a second?
Joshua 23:07
Wait. Yeah, just. Yeah, hold off. Hold off, because I'll probably intro you, Nicola, if, if that's the way we go in that direction. So hold off until you're back for me in two days. Sweet. All right, brother. Say so. So, so great to meet you and glad to be connected. I'll talk to you soon. We'll be in touch.
Jomaree 23:19
Joshua. This is dope. We got work. Appreciate it.
Joshua 23:23
Take care. Bye.