SPEAKER_03 0:11

What's going on, man? We're in the in the booth. Right? It's a pleasure. I'm glad we I'm glad we we made it here. What's going on, man? Been a long time, long time in the works. Right? Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Uh here goes a question I was gonna ask you. Yeah, for sure. Uh why what made you want to do a podcast?

SPEAKER_04 0:34

Uh so this is only my second time doing a podcast. I've known Jay for a little bit just from the shop. Um know that you're friends with Paul. So people that I trust doing the doing the platform, doing something you love. So both helping you out, but also helps promoting myself and my business.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

Always wanted to do more podcast-like things, talk about serious or more or less just more fun.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

You know, but yeah, it's just a fun experience to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

I'm glad you decided to do it. Like I said, I I I'm saying it on camera again. This it's a dream right here to sit in a barber chair and do this. This is what this podcast was meant to do. Yeah. Stuff like this.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Oh, I'm excited, man. Very, very excited. I saw a little bit of what you guys uh did with your your stuff back in the booth, uh, your own home studio. And then you mentioned earlier you do the traveling stuff, so happy to be part of a group of uh special people that you've interviewed already. Hell yeah. I'm excited to be a part of it, man. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

I can't contain my excitement.

SPEAKER_04 1:33

It's a dope feeling, man. I appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

I can't contain my excitement. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I'm gonna do the thing now. This is why D Lead the podcast. Uh, it's just me right now, but I got a special guest. I'm gonna introduce him in a minute. Like, share, and subscribe. As always, shout out to the day ones, you feel me? And any brand new listeners, big up to y'all. Thanks for tuning in. And if this is your first, like I said, this is your first episode, this is a great one to start on. You understand me, man? Uh first thing first, why introduce the guests? Shout out to Norris Man and Nina Starr for that awesome interview uh y'all allow me to do with you guys. And in saying that, I need to say this. That interview is kind of sort of where I wanted to go with this whole thing. Uh the podcast is for everybody, man. You know what I'm saying? He may not be from Okinawa, but this young man right here that I'm about to interview, he is from here. And this is, you know, the kind of stuff that I want to do. This this podcast is for you, about the people. If you're a younger person about the older people that that made Okinawa what it is right now before you got here on this rock, and if you're a younger, if you're an older person to interview the younger people that are out here doing it now, so you don't gotta be in the streets trying to figure out what's going on. You can just tune to the podcast and they'll jump on and tell you what they got going on. That's right. Again, this podcast is for everybody. Like I said, like, share, and subscribe. Alright, like I said, we got a special guest going on right now. Uh Mikey. Man, I'm about to fuck this shit up. I'm I'm like, you nervous.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

Musubi. Mikey Musubi. What's going on, everybody? Man, how are you doing? What's up? I the name, bro. I'm nervous too, yeah. So Mikey Musubi. Just a barber name. My name is Mikey Kaiosink. It's nice to meet everybody. What's going on? Again, thank you for welcoming me on the podcast. Barber name is Mikey Musubi. You know, it's uh definition of who I am. I am a Musubi, mixed baby from Okinawa, Japan. Right. Military brat, dad's a marine, joined the military a little bit myself. Came back to Okinawa after realizing that's not what I wanted to do in life. And uh yeah, get to kind of like what you said in uh a second ago, I get to do my thing, hopefully influence a newer generation, maybe help them avoid some of the problems I created for myself, right? Moving forward in life, and hopefully, if there's any mixed kids watching this, you'll uh take my lessons and move forward in a better way for your own life, you know. For real. And for other people watching, just tune into the mixed people drama, mixed people fun.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

He went through that, so hopefully you ain't gotta go through that already, man. That part. Sh yeah, let's start, man. Uh for those who don't know you, tell everybody a little bit about yourself or a lot of bit about yourself as much as you want. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 4:45

So I'm a military brat from Okinawa, Japan. Uh grew up out here my whole life. Kind of moved around because of the military family a little bit. Um, spent a little bit of time in America during the elementary, middle school years. Where at in America? Uh started in North Carolina. Well, we're in Quantico, Virginia, then went over to North Carolina, and then came right back. It was a total of three years. Oh. Came back kind of like those impressionable years. Yeah. You know, and then had to deal with stuff over there, figuring out who I am. How was that? Uh it was interesting. I uh kind of having trouble finding out where you belong. Right. It's like you're a mixed kid, you're trying to fit in with everybody, and you know, without getting all into the drama of what you know America's got going on. You know, it just was hard for me to find friends, find, you know, mix in, fit in with people. Right. But luckily I found a good tribe of people that, you know, welcomed me in for who I am, and you know, I'm still friends with those people to this day. Gotcha. So yeah, I mean, it was definitely those impressionable years, like I said earlier, you know, kind of going playing manhunt on bass, doing nothing, nothing crazy, nothing, nothing, no, no, no crazy stories, just you know, right being young hooligans doing our thing on military. No, I feel you, stressing out MPs and I feel you. I feel you. Not really, just manhunt. Staying out past curfew and yeah, stuff like that. But yeah, uh, it was interesting. Yeah, just um I'm glad I'm every time I left Okinawa, I just found myself really wanting to come back. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's uh not not finding my ex just not connecting with the world. I don't want to say connecting with the world's the right thing. Just there was always something missing from my heart, and then couldn't uh not say couldn't be myself, just had trouble being myself because it was always a spectacle being mixed, you know. Got it. Every time you introduce yourself to somebody, it's like, oh, but you're white. Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

No, no fucking way. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 6:37

Never met anybody mixed before, and then it gets into the whole, well, where are you from? Well, how are you Okinawa? And it's like a full breakdown of your life. A million questions and shit. Yeah, it's like you know, but you're in Okinawa, you're around mixed people your whole life. It's not a well, it's like 50-50 on this next part, but you're not really uh spectacle here because you know some people most people know that there's a mixed culture here. You know, you still get it here. You speak Japanese good enough. Like, oh my god, how do you speak Japanese? How do you speak it? Right. Yeah, you know, throw in jokes there. It's like sometimes I'll if I don't know the person, I'll be like, oh, I practice a lot. You know, my friends will just laugh.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

If it's someone that, you know, having more of a deep dive conversation will explain, like, yeah, my mom, you explain the family situation, whatnot, how I speak and whatnot. I'm still not fluent, but really good good enough to, you know, have my wife fall in love with me, wife's from Osaka. Shout out to Osaka. Right. You know, she left. Yeah, one time for Osaka. Yeah, Osaka's a shit, man. Henry's pizza, no. But um, yeah, no, so I mean, we're you know, hopefully in a constant state of improvement when it comes to my Japanese. You know, but uh I think the kind of going on if I tangent, I hope that's okay. But yeah, just uh with the language thing, just finding a place, you know, being that there is a language barrier and a cultural barrier, you know, it's like I respect my Okina roots, but I also have the American side to me too. Right, you know, in relation to the barbers and stuff, I definitely do things a certain way that they're not really accustomed to when it comes to like scheduling works, my personal life, you know. There's a Japanese side of working work environment, and then you know, American work environment, and then there's the barber work environment.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Yeah, I think that's so your early years, uh like your early years growing up, uh how how would you describe them being mixed?

SPEAKER_04 8:20

Uh first of all, I gotta say that my parents did a great job. My mom and my parents had five kids. I'm the oldest of five kids. Wait, before you go, let me ask you a question.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Jessica's I'm a father of mixed children. Father around, great thing, father around, father not around. I mean, I'm I'm in all instances, that's a dumbass question, but in all instances here in Okinawa, having father around makes that better.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Oh, I mean, yeah, I think having two parents definitely is the ideal situation. Right. But um my pops definitely gave me good uh good moral grounding and how I should move as a man. Right. You know, a lot of there was a lot of responsibilities being you know, Chonang, which Chonang means the oldest son of a family. So Chonang would be oldest son, Chou Zhou would be oldest daughter, but being Chonan brought its own level of uh responsibilities. When I was younger, it was a little bit harder to, you know, uh meet those expectations. You know, I'm still a kid. Right. At the same time, you know, parents are doing their best. You know, he's got five kids, you know, I'm eight years old, I have five siblings. Right. Dad's always deployed with military stuff. So it's like how you know I think my parents are doing their best, and they did a stand-up job. I think my siblings are all killing it in the game, doing their own separate things. I'll talk about them later. But um, to answer your question, mixed kid in Okinawa with both parents around, definitely grateful. A lot of friends that you know have single mothers, single. Not you don't hear too much about single fathers, uh single father situation. I don't think I have any friends that just grew up with their their dad, but I'm definitely grateful to have both parents, you know, gives good perspective and think I'm doing okay. I'm not perfect, but I'm trying my best.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

For real. Hey, hey, stick around, goddammit.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

That's right. Stick around. Stick around. Not perfect. You're not gonna, you know, you can't no one's perfect, man. But being being present, I think, is doing a lot. You know, there's some lessons that you need to learn from both sides, both mother and father. And if you're around, it doesn't matter if you're a good father or bad father. It's not about good being a good or bad, you know. I think as long as we're just trying to stick to that route of being as best as we can, having both parents that are trying to do as best as they can, creating a loving environment for their family. I think that's all you can do.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

I I I'm I'm glad to hear you say that is because because you are mixed or whatever, and I and and I think that that's something that should be said out loud or whatever, you know what I'm saying? That both parents in the house, and I know sometimes culturally it might be difficult, it might not be.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

It's uh like I so I identify as an Okinawan American man in my family, you know. I in a traditional what I think of a traditional Okinawan home, the the oldest son or oldest daughter, there's a lot of responsibility thrown on them, but at the same time, I think the rest of the family kind of respect the the title of Chonang, which you know comes with its certain not pri I guess privileges is a good way to say it, but being that we're not full Japanese, you know, it's like, oh big brother said something, go do this. Right. It's like, no, no, no, you're big bro, you're not dad, you're big bro, stay in the lane. Right. So it's like, oh shit, you know, it's like uh trying to flip the Japanese mold of what I should be as a big brother versus being a mixed big brother in a world where I think there's very uh you should be a certain way depending on what cultural facet you come from, and it's not always the case. Yeah, you know, so okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

I don't know if I summed that up.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

It's just you know what I'm saying? The the the dynamic in every house is different. Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. And I just, you know, not trying to go deep into that about your family or whatnot, just asking you, you know what I'm saying, you know, yourself, you know how you sh it obviously fucking work, goddamn. We didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

I think I think that my parents definitely still to me is a good work ethic. It's like if you're gonna make it happen or if you want to make something happen, you have to do it. And as I've learned as a man, growing into more of a man, um, you know, you need people, good people around you to help you, you know, build a good foundation of you know your own dreams and goals you all contribute to that foundation so you can lift each other up. So there's you know, reference to my family and my parents and what they've done for me. I think I have a good I you know, it could be better, obviously, but you know I'm very happy with uh my upbringing and how I'm moving forward. I'm really happy with the circle that I've cultivated. Yeah, you know, I've met you, you're doing awesome things, and I'm really happy to be around people that are really trying to get after it in their own uh respective lives. So, I mean, hopefully it doesn't stop here, you know. Well shit.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

If you don't mind me saying, man, shout out to mom and dad. Y'all did a good goddamn job. Y'all did a good goddamn job, I tell you that. Trying. You know what I'm saying? So, anywho, let's get into the whole barber thing as as as much as you'll spill.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

Yeah, again, you'll have to help me guide me in a junk off in the cans. I will I will though. I'll I'd love to get in a deep dive on it. So I uh started as a barracks barber in the army. I uh shout out Brown. He's a homie of mine. We were in a class for the military doing certification on some stuff, and our first sergeant came into the room and got real pissed off that a couple people didn't have haircuts. So he's like, you know, if you don't come back after this lunch with a haircut, we're gonna shave your head. So convinced him. I was like, hey man, you should let me try this out. Right. Like I'll watch a YouTube video. I've got I've got clippers in my barracks room. He's a black man, Afro hair, you know, first client, first haircut on someone with Afro hair, you know, all the jokes you all probably already know. Right, right, right. Okay, we'll we'll let them do it, you know. And you know, the the clippers I had were a pair of wall balding clippers. So as I go, I play my how to fade, you know, it's like put it in your bald line. So I put the zero in, I make this bald line around his head, thick bald line. Next step, step two, open the lever, put the next section in, put your guideline in, is as they say in the barbering world. Look down at my clippers, there's no lever. Right. There's no lever to I'm freaking out at this point. Hey, how do I tell this dude? I just convinced him to sit in the chair. He's like, really hesitant about that. Something Hey, bro, uh uh we fucked up. I don't have a lever, and just you know, we made it happen. Obviously, he got made fun of a little bit. I told him he was like, Look, if I fuck it up, I'll pay for your haircut. After that, you know, I was you know, got a good pair of clippers, got the wall, color set, which is each every guard has a different color. Right. Just the beginner set, and then from there, any friend who would let me do it, I'd you know, just start with cuts that way. And then moving forward, uh, that was my first year in the military, you know, spot, you know, spotty with the haircuts, giving them to friends as they let me type deal. As I was getting out of the military, I actually got hired by a company in the Pentagon. I was supposed to go work, do some tech stuff with them, some I'm trying to be like a super spy. Right, right, right, right, right. I'm on my way, I'm making my making my way in the government, trying to do my thing, and then I got told on Friday that I won't be able to accept this job that I got hired for months before. I did the interview for it, went into the Pentagon, had a full interview, did everything for it. I had it, I got the approval letter, everything. They told me on Friday, because I was going through a divorce and I had the dates that I was gonna be missing, but because of that, sorry, you're gonna miss too many days, and it's a little bit, you know, if you're gonna work at some place like the Pentagon, I'm sure you gotta have all your personal life's rights in a row. Yeah, you shouldn't know it again. Yeah, yeah, so obviously I'm not, you know, I'm not jaded by that. I I understood, but it still left with still left me in the situation of just had a son, I have no job, I'm getting out of the military, I have no plan now. That was my plan. What the do I do? Am I allowed to cuss? Yeah, go ahead. Okay, so I'm I don't know. I'm not gonna just answer the number of. Yeah, so okay. Yeah, so I'm freaking out, you know, and then I have uh I have a good friend that I was uh he's like an older brother figure to me, uh, Shane. Shout out, Shane, good guy. Um he was in the military. He he was a paramedic at the time and he wanted to do something different with his life.

SPEAKER_06 16:19

Right.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Kind of told me he's like, well, I'm planning on going to Paul Mitchell Barber School. Why don't you go to the Ed Center and see if you can get hooked up with them? So during lunch, went to the Ed Center, found someone that was willing to help me kind of explain everything in a nutshell that I told you just a second ago. Freaking out. Please, I need help. There's the barber school. I already called the school, they were willing to accept me. And then uh, you know, they we did the packet, put my GI bill in, got accepted immediately. Like, so I packed up a U-Haul, drove eight and a half hours or seven and a half hours to upstate New York. It's up, upstate, up, up, up, upstate. You know, if you know where Albany is, north of Albany's Schenectady, north of Schenectady is North River. I lived in a place called North Creek, which for those that don't know, I think Teddy Roosevelt was like signed, he has raised his right hand to become the president in the town of North River. Okay. If you know Gore Mountain or uh Lake George, it's like upstate bougie, New York. Right, right. Vacation homes area. But um, so got out of the military, moved to upstate New York. I became a volunteer ambulance driver, working with my buddy who was a paramedic, I was his driver at nighttime. Got it. And then we'd drive from North River down to Schenectady, which was like an hour and a half, no traffic, took about two hours one way. So we'd go to barber school all day and then drive back up, take a shower at the ambulance hall, then sit, you know, kind of play games, relax, do our thing until the call comes in. Until the call comes in, yeah. And then you gotta go do your thing. But um, luckily, you know, didn't have too many calls at nighttime, and we were able to do schools really rough, you know. New York schools, uh, you know, you only have to do a certain amount of hours, but you know, it's up to you how you want to finish those hours. It can take as long or as short as you want. Okay. So we wanted to get the program done immediately. And it was a super stressful time in my life. I wasn't getting paid, I was on unemployment, wasn't getting the VA. You know, at the time I wasn't getting paid my installments for my GI Bill. Right. I was like, oh my God, what is happening? What's happening? Yeah, I'm just struggling. Started getting unemployment for a little bit, graduated barber school, you know, right at the cusp of when corona was starting, COVID was starting. So I finished barber school, I started working at a barber shop upstate, really nice shop. And you know, uh they mask mandates, all the rules started happening. So luckily, the guy that I was working with was very like pro-libertarian, no government, nothing. Right, right. Nancy Pelosi did this thing where she like made an appointment in a salon without a mask. And it's like if our government leaders are gonna do it, we're gonna do it. Right, right. We'll give everybody the option to keep their mask on or off. It's pro-choice type shops. I was like, okay, that's cool. So did that for a bit. I I must I'm still on the same topic, right? I think I'm good, right? I'm still talking about Barbara. Yeah, so no, you know, I go on rabbit holes and I'll just start talking about it. No, no, no, you didn't I'm I'm I'm keeping track. Go ahead, man. Conspiracies and so then, you know, I did my thing in upstate New York for a bit, and then uh, you know, I was waiting every week for the borders to open up because I don't know if you guys remember at that time Japan closed their borders off to the world. You know, me being mixed, I don't have Japanese citizenship. I can't just move back home even from Okinawa. Like, sorry, you know, you're gonna have to wait till the borders open back up. Okay, so I moved from New York to Washington State, lived with my sister and her husband who were stationed at the military base up there. And I was kind of doing odd jobs. I got hired by this lady named Allison who's a L'Oreal specialist. Okay. And uh, you know, I was like, look, I have a I'm I'm certified out of New York, you know, no barbershop in Washington would hire me because I'm a New York barber. So it's just a licensing thing, you know. You have to go to Washington school, do everything on that note, right? So uh shout out Allison. That's crazy though. She um she's like, Well, you can do shampoos and stuff like that, right? I felt like I was Zohan for a bit of shampooing old women doing my thing. Yeah, for real. And uh and then she was like, Well, the husbands that come in, you can uh start cutting the husbands, and then on the off days, you can cut here every other day, and then on the off days, I'm building a salon next door. So if you want to help my handyman out, I'll pay you cash, and then you can you know work for me there and I was getting an income that way. So that's what really helps me. I've just been so grateful to have good people in my life that have kind of helped me during these tough times. You know, it was a rough time for me because I wanted to move back home. I'm going crazy. I could have done an IT job, but every time I'd get hired for uh interviewed for anything serious, they would say, like, uh, well, how long you plan on being here? I'd tell them the whole story of Well, I'm gonna move back to Okinawa as soon as the borders open up. Oh, we'd love this interview, you're qualified, but sorry, we need someone that's gonna have more longevity. Right. So, you know, after that, I was like, okay, well, let me move all around the you know, I started moving from state to state, going seeing friends from the military, friends from high school, just having a just a go of what um you know different American cultural things, you know, right experiencing each state, each type of people. Luckily have good friends all over the this uh America too, so I was able to kind of kick it with a lot of different people. But um, yeah, and then as soon as the the border opened back up, you know, I goodwilled all my things, right? Bought my ticket within a day one way, and then I came straight back to Okinawa, and then uh still in the barber thing. So tried to get a job over here with the PX, didn't work out the way I thought it would. Right. And then, you know, uh my buddy Makoto, who's uh Makoto's.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Okay, now you now you swaying into the other question. So okay.

SPEAKER_04 21:34

So we're still on the barbering. Yeah, okay, good, good, good. Good, okay. Bring me back in, bring me back in. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

So pretty much, so pretty much if I can if I can sum it all up. So you you pretty much you you got started cutting uh your people's hair when you uh were serving or whatever. That's right. Yeah. And then from there you went to barber school in New York, upstate New York, and then from there you got to Washington, and that's how you got back to Okinawa. That's right now.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

Oh, you mind if I cut you? I'm sorry. Barbering thing was like uh I need to do something right because I do not have a job. And it's like, well, I had an interest in barbering, I already had my own kit, and now, okay, well, let's go be a barber at least. Well, that's what I was gonna ask you.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Like, what like what made you decide I'm gonna cut my man's hair? Like, where did that come from?

SPEAKER_04 22:17

You know, okay, so I had there was a guy in tech school, I I forgot his name, I do apologize, but I got a haircut from him in his barracks room, and I remember after the cut, I handed him 20 bucks, and then he like pulled out this wad of cash out of his drawer with the rubber band on. I was like, Thanks, bro. I'm like, what the fuck? Well, how much how much money is that? Man, he's like, he's a lot of money. He's like, that's just from this weekend. No way. That's what sparked like the innit. That was the initial spark of holy shit, this dude is in tech school just like me, hating his life just like me, going through this bullshit uh bullshit training, and this man is making some serious money. I'm talking like a wad of cash. Yeah, just oh my god, I need to I need to do something like that. Obviously, I didn't do any barbering in tech school, but that was the first initial like, oh, I wanna I wanna explore this. I want to wanna see where C. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Did you do this in school?

SPEAKER_04 23:06

Did you think you could, or did you already have like some type of like I didn't even think about I didn't even think about it that far. I just saw the money. I was like, oh my god, that's that's amazing. I want a lot of cash in my drawer.

SPEAKER_06 23:17

No, I I mean shit. That's one of the best motivations.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

Oh man, I was you know, I was like, I could do tech stuff, I could be an IT specialist and cut hair on the weekend and make cash and just you know, that was that was that was literally it. And then the barbering thing came as a escape from escape from my my situation. You know, I was going through some serious shit. We can talk about it in a in a sec, but I was not in a good place at all. I did not know what to do. I was backed up in a corner, I needed something. Barbering was that hey, we'll try this out. It was a bare minimum thing. As long as I know how to cut hair, I could always feed myself and I could at least put gas in my car, you know. And then even if I find a tech job or if I find some kind of career job, like I've done all kinds of jobs, man. Done. I gotta get into it. But I've done all kinds of different like handyman and jack of all traits type stuff, and I always had barbering. So it's like, okay, it's a bare minimum. Again, I said already, but I can feed myself as long as I give a haircut, I'll be okay. And that's where it started, and then it the things that I grow into grew into that we'll we'll get to, you know, just started coming through, you know, taking that first step of like okay, you know, like alright, well, I'm doing this now. I didn't think it would be this. Right. But I'm very grateful I took that step and I'm only hoping to see where it goes from here, you know. I have no idea, I have no plans on where I exactly want it to go. You know, kind of just riding the waves, see how it goes. You know, it's been nothing but blessings so far, so I'm just gonna keep it up until you know we gotta do something new. Or I do this because it makes me happy, not because I need to. There it is. It's a choice, yeah. There it is.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

I was gonna ask that I was gonna ask you, did does it is it is it therapeutic in a way or man, I it it it's something that if I start this haircut, I have to finish it.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Right. If I don't finish it, I'm not gonna make money, and I'm probably not gonna be in business. You know, I have to do a good job. In the beginning, you know, you you get better, you tune your craft, you uh refine your craft, and now I'm doing fairly well for myself. I'm you know, I'm an educator, I'm a sponsored barber by Andes, so I'm an Andes Japan sponsored barber. Um I'm sponsored by a couple pomade companies, you know, or a pomade company, excuse me. Um I'm getting trips paid for. Um it's been nothing but blessings for me. And uh I'm man, I'm just grateful that my life is what it is now versus where it was back in 2019 when I was going, bro. It was bad. It was so bad. Just my life will never get that way. I had to learn some lessons the very hard way, got a new reality, kind of got checked in a way of what I thought reality was and what how things worked, how certain systems worked, and it is not like that at all. And it wasn't, you know, I just have my whole world turned upside down. And barbering has always been that uh fans waving. I got a crazy story about that guy. Actually, that's a sidebar right there in myself.

SPEAKER_06 26:07

Never the first time that's ever happened. Go ahead and remember the story about that guy. Can we give you the caveat off that real quick? You know who that guy is? That is the CEO of X videos. Really? Yeah. Like X Video CEO. What do you mean, X video?

SPEAKER_04 26:31

Love Okinama. But um back, pulling me back. Um what was I saying?

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Um You're talking about the level of cut cutting head. No, no, man. No, I feel like you got me kind of fluffing on that one too. I want to know that shit.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

X video is on my mind. No, I'm just kidding. I'll jokes, I'll jokes. But um No man, I uh it's a release from me and an escape escape from my I don't want to say fucked up reality, but I got a lot of things going on in my head that I I'm trying to battle every day. You know, I'm like everybody, everybody's got their own things, but I um I have trouble getting through a lot of the stuff that I've been through, and it's hard for me to express it and talk about it. And it's like I can't I can't just tell, I can't drop all my trauma on you. Right. No, no, no, no. And expect you to understand or don't understand. I don't want it to even go there. It's more of a if I keep this conversation about them and I talk about you, and what can I do for you as my customer, not only giving you a good haircut, but if I can help you out in your personal life, help you out with like that we talk about VA stuff. I give VA advice, I give educational advice for soldiers that don't know certain uh like uh uh uh certain things that they can get from the government. Uh what do you call it? Uh oh my god, words escaping escaping me. Sorry. Yeah. Benefits. Right. Damn. Damn. It's all good. Yeah, just just tell helping helping guys that are active duty with benefits, you know, whether if they're getting out, give them a vision of how they, you know, organizing their life. You know, when you get out of the military, it's a very hard transition. A lot of people, you know, we have 22 veterans that commit suicide a day. We have a very bad homeless veterans problem that's going on. So if I can do something to help those issues as well as people's personal lives, you know, from big, big situational things to you know, individual, I can that makes me feel good, man. Um makes me feel good.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

That's my that's my why.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

I would figure that would be like the ideal barber when most people go to bar, when most guys go to barber shops. Thank you. Their barber is the person that they talk to.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

I mean, I take that very seriously, man. I uh you know what the Hippocratic Oath is.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Oh well, I know what that is, doctors-wise, right?

SPEAKER_04 28:36

So it's the same thing, you know. It's like uh we can talk about anything and everything as long as you're not gonna go kill yourself, kill somebody else, or you know, do something crazy. You know, it's not being a ditty, you know what I mean? I am a place where you know, if you want to say something or say nothing, I'm you're gonna walk out with a good haircut, regardless. Right. I've built a very good relationship with my community and my clients, and you know, I'm trying to make a better relationship with the people that I work with, younger barbers, older barbers, mentors. You know, I I just only want to improve as a person, and I feel like I improve as a person every day, little bit by little bit by meeting different people. And, you know, God has a funny way of teaching you lessons through other people, and it's very uh That's fucking facts right there, man. Yeah, man. It's uh it's uh it almost gets creepy sometimes. You know, it's like you won't you won't tell the client something you're thinking about, but then he'll bring up something you were thinking about yesterday. And then, you know, some sometimes I feel like God's playing jokes like think about this more, or you know, help this person, or you know, just uh it really does help me get through my day and help me do what's important for me. It's you know, my myself above all, that way I can help others, you know, my wife, next best thing in my life, and my family, my friends, and then my community and everybody in Okinawa, you know. Um as long as I can be a positive light, you know, I'm only 31, not a super young guy, but I'm not you know old head either. I've been not unk level, big bro, maybe. I don't know. But um, I'll think big bro, yeah. Yeah, I'll take I'll take big bro. I'm good with chon on chon on all day, man. Big bro, yeah, already. Yeah, just uh yeah, man. I just I'm I'm glad that I can leave a good impression and I try to leave a positive impression on everybody I meet. Yeah, I'm not perfect, but I do try every day to at least, you know, no matter how you come into this shop, hopefully it'll be better when you leave. At least with that being said, it it you know, I'll tell you a lesson I learned in barbering. Like I was going through that divorce, like I mentioned earlier. It's one of the biggest lessons I've learned in my barbering career. Like I have so much responsibility with what I say about what I talk about and what I say to these clients because they will take that conversation and leave. It's like, what kind of day will they have based off this conversation? So I'm telling this guy, you know, it's like I just lost custody of my son. And I just remember telling him, like, I remember being spaced out. I should not have gone to work that day. Right. I thought about going to work, I would get an escape from the day, but it was the wrong move. I man, I just got divorced. She took everything. I don't know what to do, man. I I'm doing this for nothing. Like, I've come I don't know this guy, right? I don't remember him, he's not my friend. Like, why am I the why the fuck am I telling this person my life story? I just as a younger man, you you know, you need to learn time and place, and that was one of those things where I let myself slip a bit in telling someone that had no business knowing any of that. There was no reason, whether positive or there's just no reason to have that combo. But I could see in his face, like, okay, man, I hope you feel better. What kind of data did that guy have? God forbid you end up singing this, man. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_06 31:36

But um, are you gonna cut my hair again? Shit. I mean, did he ever come back? Shit. Oh my god, I cut some forever. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 31:57

I was see, you know, it's shit. That's my that's my responsibility, man. I I I I feel so bad that I left that bad of an impression on that guy. So now moving forward, it doesn't matter what kind of day I'm having. If I'm having bad enough a day, I'll just take the day off. Take a day off, right? But I have the power to create my reality of both my reality and the reality that people see me. And it's only our responsibility to give our best face to other people so that we can, you know, we can help multiple reasons, but just stay good, you know what I mean? Like stay a stay, be a good person, you know. Um yeah, so just your original question, you know, like why why the barbering thing? It it definitely helps me just work on myself and be solid with myself with others. Right. You know, that way I don't have crazy women in my life, I don't have bad people that are trying to take advantage of me, you know, by you know not being your true self and trying to be wholesome and help people, you can run into some serious bad characters, you know. And when I was younger, that's how that's what led me to meet a woman like my ex-wife. That's what led me to, you know, ultimately work with certain people. Like I've been screwed out of thousands of dollars because I you know I'm too nice, I've been told I'm too nice. Too nice. But which I don't think is a bad thing, but I think there's a there's a line that I've learned growing up as a man to you can give as much as you can give, just there's a limit. Don't don't do too much for the wrong people, you know. And that's I think a lesson that everybody will learn at some point in their lives. But if you can learn it here, definitely just be as best as you can as a person and do what you can within your limits and just keep it keep it pushing there, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

I'm glad you said that, man. Because I I I find myself lately being guilty of that being too nice to people. You know what I'm saying? Or how you what how you think? And I because it's I don't nothing wrong with being too nice, man. I mean it there is nothing wrong with being too nice, and that's something I had to learn over time, yeah. Because I ain't gonna hold you. I was a mean motherfucker, man. You know what I'm saying? But I think living and learning or whatever, and and being more sympathetic towards people, and I and shit. I ain't gonna hold you. I got daughters. So that kind of softened me up and changed my reality in the world. You know what I'm saying? About how I not only look at women, but how I look at people. You understand?

SPEAKER_04 34:26

I was just about to ask you, I was gonna ask if it Okinawa had anything to do with that, but daughters is uh that's a solid reason to change that.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

My daughters made me change how I look at folks, bro, because it's like I ain't gonna hold you, man. I and I hate to hate that it came over to me or whatever, but we have this conversation. No, you you you a goddamn good barber, you ain't cutting my hair, you got me opening up and shit. And pull the clippers out right now, bro. Right now, no, dead ass. But no, you so what you when you when you the way you're talking, man, about you know being a nice person, man, it's I I I ain't gonna hold you. I when I first got here, military, got out of military or whatever, I was a piece of shit, bro. You know what I'm saying? I was I I I'm I'm just just just me critiquing me. I was I was a piece of shit. Because I was young and dumb and I was just trying to take advantage of every fucking thing I could. You know what I'm saying? There was no plan of action. Doesn't lead you anywhere good, right?

SPEAKER_04 35:22

Doesn't lead you anywhere good.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Right, no, nowhere good, you know what I'm saying? And but like you like you said, for some reason I always found good people, you know what I'm saying, to look me out. I can I can write a book about my motherfucking time being out here. But as I as I as I like I said, I got daughters now, so it made it softened me up and made me look at people different to the point where it takes a fucking great act of something to bring out that old me. You know what I'm saying? And I be trying to tell people all the time, like, you don't understand, man.

SPEAKER_04 36:00

I am I'm you did having seen this growth, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:03

You know what I'm saying? Like, I I'm I'm I'm I'm not saying I'm that guy, but I I am the guy that knocks on your door, bro. You know what I'm saying? Like fuck with me.

SPEAKER_04 36:13

Well, I know I bro I get I get lessons from the younger barbers all the time about drinking and stuff, and it's like hothead tendencies, right? I was like, right, you know, there's a lot of reasons why, but it's like you know, I got younger barbers ten years younger than me. It's like, hey man, don't don't give that guy attention. Right. Fine. You know, I was like, I got younger barbers that I gotta make a good impression on if I start, you know, addressing every wrong thing that happens to me in my life, then if they start doing that, what kind of culture am I creating? Young man that's and that's how I feel, bro.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Like if I start going out and I I'm gonna be no better than the people that piss me off. Yeah. One, I don't want to stoop down to their level. I don't want to, you know what I'm saying? I don't want to play these games. You have to do, man.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

It's a big step to take, but it's I mean, it looks like you took a couple big steps, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

I mean, that's why I stay in the house now mostly because of the because because uh that like people piss me off and and and I I I'm gonna be, I think I said a couple times on the pod, I do not like people like that.

SPEAKER_06 37:08

Yeah, I saw that pod.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

If I see you block away, I do not like people like that. And and it's not a joke, it's just I I I you know I if I fuck with you, I'm gonna come say what's up. I'm gonna go out my way to come say what's up if I fuck with you. You feel me? Yeah, but if I if if you're just a passerby or somebody I know I've seen like a couple of times or whatever, an acquaintance, I guess. Yeah. I don't Oh, you know what's up or nothing.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

Bro, that's a great point. It brings us back to what we were originally talking about. It's just you can do as much as you can for anybody, but it's better to do it for people you know. Like why why not to say you don't do things for strangers, but just stay in your lane. Was it was no new friends, you know? Just you know, just do you do your thing, and then if you can help people and you find yourself in a position to help more people, then definitely do it. But you know, you don't gotta go out of your way to be the best person for everybody. Everybody spread yourself too far thin and then like you know, it's just yeah, things sleep. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I mean it's a great point, man. It's um seems like you've come a long way with what you're doing. This awesome podcast, awesome. I appreciate it, man. Awesome platform. You know, I'm definitely proud to be a part of it. Um, you know, I'm just let's let's keep doing what we're doing now, man, and keep being around good people, keep you know, creating more of a reality that we want to be a part of versus reacting to reality. I I have I have choice over my surroundings. You know, I I have power over all that I can do and be. So let's you know, let's just keep talking to people and keep doing good things for the people that we love, man.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Hey yo, dead ass man, Mikey just saved somebody's motherfucking life, boy. I ain't gonna hold you. I had something to my mind. I'm not gonna say it now because we this is this is supposed to be all about you. But being the good barber that's right, being the good barber that you are, you get you dragged it out of me, goddamn. So all right, so let's get into how you got started, how you how you how you got the shop, how the whole barbershop thing comes, how to stay good.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

Absolutely. So I uh I started working at a barbershop called New Fatema Barbershop originally. Already, shout out to New Fatima, you know. Shout out to New Fatima, yeah, Fatima all day, baby. Concrete jungle. Oh, yeah. And uh, you know, I get back to Okinawa, it's in the first month, and I was trying to get a job on base, it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. And uh my mother Michael Tusan is uh Michael Tosan is uh owner of the the barbershops out here. Yeah, shout out Michael Tul. Shout out Michael Tussan and uh he was a friend of my family, he used to actually cut my dad's hair, he used to cut my brother. Yeah, he used to be a big thing. So he he actually opened up a barbershop called Frank's Shop Shop back in the day. And my family used to go there, my sisters used to work there doing the register and whatnot. And uh, you know, I started working for him at New Fatema. I was working there for a couple years, and I actually I saw a random Instagram video one day. It was uh, you know, if you want to excel in the barber game, you gotta partner with the person that owns the shop and open up another shop, you know, just keep keep it going, keep it rolling. And I uh you know took heed to that and you know just a couple drunk conversations at Ezekiah's later is like you know, we should do another shop. And he was uh in a good place for himself too where he wanted to do that as well. And uh, you know, but we didn't have the location set at the time, but you know, after a couple weeks, he actually had someone uh shout out Big Not and uh they you know they told us they were originally gonna try to do something in here, but their deal fell through, and you know, but we heard you were trying to open up a barber shop, why don't you check out the location? Right. Initially the idea was just to do a simple three-chair shop with half of this location. Okay, but when we came in and looked at the spot and we were just looking at each one, like which one would you want to do? And we came to the decision of like, let's just send it and like fuck it, let's let's do both, you know. Instead of a three-chair shop, let's do six chairs, right? And you know, we'll work it out. You know, we didn't have the the staff for it at the time. It was like, you know, things will work themselves out. Um I was given a lot of free uh rein on the the the design of the shop, you know, from you know helping out with the logo, the color scheme, the actual layout from how the windows are aligned in the shop. Right. You know, initially we were just gonna do a blacked-out building, no windows, just a door barbershop, but then you know it occurred to me you know, this road that's right next to us, it's so much traffic on this road every day. There's just thousands of people coming by. That's a free advertisement, no need to pay for ads or anything, no commercials, nothing. So it's like, let's put a big window right here. You know, the color scheme, there's a couple motivations behind the color scheme. You know, one being that you know I'm I'm a Kubasaki dragon, go dragons, you know, the the green, white, silver, black, you know, it's uh it kind of falls into my roots a little bit. And then um, you know, with the color contrast theory in in itself, and you create a out, you know, darker outer perimeter type building, but uh a well-lit interior, it'll create a contrast where during those uh twilight hours or the evening hours it'll you know really pop out and rush out into the uh out into the road and it's kind of like a light for people, you know. Um so that was the that was the original thing, you know. We've done a lot of special things here at Stay Good. You know, we're obviously a stellar barbershop, but uh a couple of things that make us special compared to other barbershops is we have a special service here. We do a subscription service. Right. So instead of paying for every haircut, each time you come in, you know, you can subscribe, pay once a month. 6,500 yen comes out to $40, just in case you're wondering. Um you know, pay pay uh one rate once a month and you get four haircuts every 30 days. Right. So for our active duty military guys who absolutely need a haircut, yeah, you know, as part of work, they shout out US military. Thank you for doing everything you do. Thank you to those who have served and are continuing to serving. Stay safe and come back to your families. Um we wanted to give a good service for the people that need it. Right. And it's like we don't only serve as military people here. It's if you subscribe, you will be saving money. We'll we'll have family subscribe. The husband, like you know, Air Force guys, they don't need a haircut every they're not as strict as the Marine Corps. Right. So you know, you can pair up, you can get one haircut and split it between your kids. You know, that's great for families that are, you know, yeah, the military gets paid good, but not, you know, when you have kids and stuff, it goes quick. So it's something that helps the community out with that. Um you know, not to mention it's good for business, yeah, keeping people coming in, but you know, it's just something that really allows us to do what we do better, you know. If you want to bring in the haircut aspect to it. If I cut you on a weekly basis, you know, I can get you in and out of the door in 15 to 20 minutes, versus you know, you're coming in once a month, every month and a half, just looking rough every time, only coming in for a haircut when you need the haircut, right? You know, you know, I don't know if you've ever heard, but it's like you you know you weren't depressed, you just needed a haircut. Have you ever heard that before? So it's like you're you might be having a bad day or you might be down and depressed, but you're not actually depressed. You just need to do some self makeover, so self love, you know. So by bringing that concept into barbering, if you come into the barber shop once a week and you're looking fresh all the time, you're less likely to have those uh depressive moments where it's like at least you're looking good, you feel good about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 43:58

I'm about to say a good cut does does. Change your change.

SPEAKER_04 44:02

They should call me the Cupid Barber, bro. I make I make relationships happen, bro. I uh I get people married, bro. We had a guy come in, he's like, I'm about to jump in some girls' DMs, so I need a fresh cut. Right. He actually was he was serious. He I can show you screen. If you go to Google, go Google reviews, check out Stay Good Barbershop, check out the Google reviews, scroll down a bit, you will see a guy's comment on there. You will see everything I'm telling you. Right. No bullshit. And then he came into that same comment like a year and a half later. He's like, I alright, from from trying to jump into her DMs, I'm now about to marry her, and now that now they're married, you know. But just little jokes about, you know, just from what the service can do for you, you know, just feeling confident about yourself. We get guys feeling so good they can go jump into girls' DMs and now get married, you know what I mean? So we power haircut. You know what I mean? Yeah, for real. Power of a haircut. Hell yeah. Go grocery shopping after your appointment. Uh-huh. Already, man. Ladies, make sure you come to the barber shop with your man, wait in the car. You don't have to wait inside the shop. Don't want to embarrass him. Just joking. Come in here.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

I'm about to say, come on inside, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

That's almost a call. You know, that's they make a lot of barber jokes about that on Instagram. You know, it's like, it's like, oh, your girl's in here with you. It's like, you I want this haircut. No, no, no. You should get it a little higher. I don't know about that type of girl, but all jokes. You know, just uh make sure you don't let your uh your partner go out with a fresh day good haircut, you know, it could problems could happen. Oh, really? Maybe I cut that out.

SPEAKER_05 45:41

That's not so bad.

SPEAKER_06 45:42

That's not the good.

SPEAKER_03 45:43

You trying to say that's how good to cut it, I mean.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

We build confident men and women in this barbershop.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

That's you trying to you saying that's how good to cut it. The cut, the cut. Yeah. Hey, hey, if hey, we give super power. Stay good, he's saying already, man.

SPEAKER_04 46:03

You will you will be looking great. Now we'll have you looking great. But yeah, that's how uh that's how Stay Good originally started. You know, from from me and just one assistant working in here, we now have, I think, eight total barbershops, or excuse me, eight total barbers that work in here full time. And then we even have other barbers that come here from other shops on island. Shout out Dig It Barbershop, New T New Fatemma Barbershop, and Walk In Barbershop. Right. Obviously, Stay Good. You know, we have a we have a network of barbershops on island located at different spots along the island. Uh Digit Barbershop, New Barbershop, just opened up outside Camp Kinzer. Check them out if you're at Camp Kinser, everybody. But um, you know, just from Stay Good, a lot of these younger guys, a lot half of them have started as assistants and now they're stylists. You know, they they are really coming into their own as barbers and as young men. You know, you get you get these guys that they're becoming friends with their clients, man. They can go and party with their clients. Yeah. One of our barbers, he's got close with his client who's a DJ, and next thing you know, his stories, he's behind the booth at parties. You know, it's like, did he expect for that to happen? I don't know. I haven't asked him, but I'm but from what he tells us and the times that he looks like he has, he looks like he's having a very good time. So um, you know, we're building uh a generation of young, you know, young fantastic barbers that you know are creating their own mold of who they want to be in life, and I'm very proud to be a part of that. You know, just I don't do anything for them other than just be myself and hopefully they can take those lessons and become their own barbers, you know. But this is definitely a good foundation of a you know, good place to start if you want to start as a barber. You know, if you're a young and up and coming barber just getting out of barber school and you want to come work for us. Um really cool thing I learned from Makoto, it's uh you know my mentor in barbering out here. He uh I was bringing up, I was like, well, maybe we should put out a uh a call for barbers to come out and we'll do interviews. And he's like, No man, we don't do it that way. Right. If you want to work for us, you got you gotta put in the work, you gotta come to us and let us know you're interested. You know, I that really stuck with me because it's like you could put it out to people that you know were looking for barbers, but then are they gonna be 100% loyal to you? Are they gonna be are they gonna stay when it gets rough? You know, it's like we've we've interviewed like we had one guy came from uh mainland Japan, he's my age, probably 30, 30, no older than 33 years old, but right it just didn't pan out because you know the manager here, he's 23, 22, 23 years old, but he's a fucking killer barber. The dude don't fuck with Fumiki, man. Shout out Fumiki. You know, he's just he he's got his game on lock. He has a good, you know, he's a good mentor, not mentor, but uh good leader when it comes to these younger barbers. And right, he's a young guy himself, but he's you know, I definitely learn from him every day. You know, I think we were talking earlier about just going out and you know, the hot head mentality, you know. He's the guy that I was talking about, like, ah man, we don't need to worry about them. Don't don't put your energy into that. It's like I'm learning that from a guy 10 years younger than me. Right. So it's like I get to learn from my mentor Michael Tosong, and then I'm learning from my manager Fumiki, and then all these other barbers, they teach me all kinds of stuff from haircuts to just being just being, I guess that said that correctly. But you know, just being in a shop that is able to create such fantastic individuals, I'm very proud to be a part of that, you know, because it is my true belief that you know being the best individual will create, you know, a room of a room of in superb individuals will create you know what can those people create. You know, I don't want to everyone has, you know, it's like it's a team team game thing, but I think as far as barbering, everyone needs to be there on their own track, you know. But but having each chair have their own individual barber own style. Like we got a skater, we got rappers, we got models, right? You know, just this everybody, man, just just superb barbers that are, you know, we would we if we were not barbers, would we be hanging out?

SPEAKER_01 49:49

I mean you know what I mean. It just sounds like you just I mean you you're around like-minded people, so yeah, that's exactly you know what I'm saying, and y'all all you know, bar being a barber or being in a barbershop has its own culture in itself, yeah. You feel me? And all of them, all of them dudes you just named, and all of them separate uh things that they do have something to do with that culture, you understand? So yeah, man, it's how you around like-minded people, and when you're around like-minded people that's all going toward the same goal, you know what I'm saying? That's right. Everybody's gonna learn from each other, everybody's gonna go. That's right, bro.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

Yeah, and it and it compounds on itself. So we started Stay Good two years ago, and it's it's you know, we're we're fully booked every weekend, right? All the time. I'm me personally, I'm booked out for a month and a half. I think I'm booked until the end of April right now. You know, starting barbering, going from working in a New York shop, having no clients for a week, wondering why the fuck am I doing this. Right. I'm j I'm paying to work, and I'm I'm unemployed at that time. You know, like I'm getting unemployment and shit. Like I'm not making money. And um going from that to being booked out a month and a half and people just wanting my services, seeking out my services, not to mention me, but this shop and what we create for this area. You know, this is the Araha Beach night market. Yeah, yeah. You know, I I bought my first Game Boy from a lady that used to have a booth out here, you know, the gray Game Boy with the purple buttons, you know. I had uh the first game was Castlevania, you know, I was just going from that being in this area of that gave me such powerful core memories of what Araha Beach is, what Chaitana Araha Beach is, to now being a part of that culture and also giving a new generation of core memories, just like I want a kid to ride their bike by here and say that's where I get my car. And we I definitely am confident in the fact that we do give that impression to people. And uh I'm proud to be a part of that, man. Back in the day, Araha Beach Night Market, this place used to be booming, just red lanterns linking each booth, you know, that used to stretch stretch across the street. None of these buildings were here, you know. It was like the impromptu Okinoa black market, you know. And it's like what I mean by black market, folks, is uh, you know, just buying deodorant and Haynes t-shirts and stuff, you know, nothing crazy. Right. You know, for so going from something like that to now ha owning a business within the night market and just doing as good as we are doing, it you know, like I said earlier, it's getting like it's compounding on itself. Now I'm looking at other locations to put a stay good location. Okay, you know, get up closer to these bases that are up farther north. We have bar we got people that drive an hour and a half to come here just to get a haircut. Really? Like it's like you know, the guys from the up northern bases, Shroab Hands and whatnot, they they take the time out of the day, they know what kind of services they're gonna get here. It's a pitch and a half to drive down here with traffic and whatnot. But if I got guys that are willing to drive that far, I need to go a step further and open up a business up there. Right. I want to open up a business down the street, I want to call it Stay Good Lux. You know, it's like put three chairs in there, just white tile floors, white white walls, everything, just bright green chairs, silver, chrome popping out, you know, have like a a receptionist, you know. Like I wanna I want to take it to that level and have this stay good location be a a spot for young guns to come in hard charging barbers to make their make their way assistants to become stylists and then have something to aspire to. Right. You know, I'm I'm a Andes Japan sponsored barber. You know, I've had a couple barbers tell me, like, oh, like you know, when I first started working here, we were nervous to talk to you because you know we didn't know who you were, just some random guy in here, but then they get to know me and they realize that. And it's like I'm I'm glad to just give a positive impression on these guys' lives. And I don't know if they aspire to be like me or not. That's not what I want to get at. It's more of I want you to be able to do this yourself. Yeah, you know, it's like I want you to do what I did and branch off. It's like if we open up another barbershop, I can't be at every location, but hey, you've been busting your ass for two years. Let's put you up here, let's get you into an apartment building, let's get you out of you know, mom and dad's house. Let's let's let's have you set your way, let's create more strong young men out here that are just confident in their self to be able to take care of themselves so that you know whatever life throws at them, whatever life they want to create for themselves, they have a foundation because they have a core, you know, a core belief that I I know who I am and I'm a barber that gives good to people, you know. But the bar at least for me, the barbershop did that for me. This has given me almost an identity to branch out for myself and find out who I am. You know, and you know, I want to give that to younger guys.

SPEAKER_01 54:02

Shit, uh it don't sound like you're just paying it forward, bro.

SPEAKER_04 54:04

That's for that's it, man. That's all we get, that's all we can do in life, man. I don't uh I I I don't want, you know, hopefully buy these podcasts and stuff, you know, and then I do it in the chair every day. I just want to give a good impression on these guys if I hear a crazy story or something, you know, a younger guy going some down some path or something. I'm able to kind of reel them in in a good direction and send them out the door looking good and feeling good about themselves, whether it's just educational things that we talked about earlier or you know, just life advice. You know, I'm not really the advice giver, but based off of my bullshit and my mistakes, right? I can teach you don't do what I did. Don't do this. It's like I'm telling you right now, it sounds good. And like, you know, I I know where exactly where all the problems are caused by me. So with that being said, going forward, it's like if I hear something, I'm just like, hey man, maybe maybe don't do that. Don't do that, right? Maybe, maybe, maybe do it this way instead of. You know, I don't want to sound like a guy that's giving advice and you know, who likes uh unsol or no unsolicited advice, or what's the there's a term. You asking the wrong person. Me too.

SPEAKER_03 55:04

I'm a barber, I'm not a no, I feel you. Yeah, you know what I feel you know I was just not playing.

SPEAKER_04 55:09

I I'm just yeah just uh you know you gotta get into detail, just don't do that shit.

SPEAKER_01 55:16

I don't know about that one. Been niggas done that, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:18

No, just but but that that that in itself feels good for me to to to do. I just feel like I'm doing something positive for somebody, you know. Sometimes, you know, it's a another joke in the shop is like I I do a fishing style tactic of conversation. You know, someone new sits down on the chair, like, hey man, how was your day today? Oh, it's good. Oh, where are you from? Uh North Carolina. Oh, okay. I'm just cut your hair. Right, right, right. Like I'm gonna ask a couple filler questions, and you know, if you want to ask me something, obviously I'll we'll have a conversation. But you know, sometimes guys just want to sit down on the chair and have a good cut. Yeah, get a good cut. That's uh that's something definitely just time and place you gotta learn, you know. But it helps me by meeting different people, I'm I'm able to expand on myself. And if I see good qualities in people that I can learn from and I can take forward into my life, it's like I definitely do that. If I see some things that and I'll see young guys that, you know, they're making mistakes that I made when I was younger, and if I can help it, I will, but if I can't, it's a lesson for me to oh shit, man. I used to be I used to be like that. Right. I'm thinking about this guy the way I'm thinking about him. What were people thinking about me? Right, right. And it's just a full circle back moment of damn, I'm glad I realized certain things now. But you know, it's that's what barbering's giving me. And that's what meeting people is gives me. Just just constantly making myself better for other people. Right. You know, and then by doing that, my life is beautiful, man. I'm I'm I'm so happy with the things that have happened in my life. I have a beautiful woman who loves me. I have a family that is there for me no matter what. I have good friends that I can rely on. You know, I have a good community of people that, you know, based off of my work, my input, my reputation, you know, people come see me, they seek me out because bro, I found out I'm on Reddit. I'm on I'm on TikToks that I didn't even know about. Like I, you know, I like I had so many people come in here like, oh yeah, I found you on Reddit, man. Like, never thought I'd ever be spoken about like that. What do you mean, Reddit?

SPEAKER_01 57:13

People would what referred you or referred to shop about on Reddit?

SPEAKER_04 57:16

So people will just come to Japan and visit, and then like I'm looking for a barbershop in Japan that can do beards or can do my hair. I'm looking for this. Like I have I have waves, I need someone to do my hair, I have a beard, you know, vice versa. And uh it's like, oh, my name pop just type type in barbershop Okinawa. Like you can just go through the threads. Right. It pops up a lot. My name pops up a lot. Stay good pops up a lot, and just that in itself, I'm very proud of that. You know, that's just you know, like I'm I work hard on this, and you know, barbering gives me more than I could ever give barbering. Right. You know, like I I need to do this, like we were talking about earlier. I I I cannot function without barbering. So seeing the things that I'm doing have a direct positive effect on somebody, whether it's their recurring client or someone that just visiting and got a cut, you know, like we're we found out we're on some guy's TikTok and he's shouted us out, and somebody else was like, Oh, we found you on TikTok. We're like, what the what do you we don't have a TikTok, what are you talking about? Showed us the video, like, oh shit, I remember that guy from six months ago. Right, right, right. You know, just stuff like that, man. That gives you the energy to motivation to do more. Like that's that's really fucking fucking cool, man. Like I never thought it would ever be like that. Never be like that. Yeah, man. It's it's just I'm nothing but blessings, man. And I hope that you know I can keep on the path of you know, I don't know if righteousness is the right word, but just keep on the the right path, the right path, yeah. Doing doing as best as I can, and you know, by by doing that, you just see the the positive outcomes, you know, that that the pebble in a pond theory. You throw a pebble in a pond, the ripples go. You know, and I'm seeing the the fruits of our labor really, you know, it's it's really shining right now, it's really coming for it, and I'm really happy to see the cause and effect really taking place. You know, two years later, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

It just sounded like you it just sounded like the the name of the barbershop is just it speaks for itself. Stay good. Stay good always, baby.

SPEAKER_04 59:02

There's always a choice. There's always a choice. And there's always uh, you know, you don't back to what we were talking about earlier, you don't have to be a super nice guy, but you can be a straightforward guy who's kind. Kind and I don't know if kind and nice are are different or the same. I don't know if I'm not a philosopher, folks. I just just you know, I just you just try to be a good person every day, you know, take it, stay good for what you want to take. You know, right stay good, stay looking good. Right. You know, it just has a lot of meetings, you know.

SPEAKER_01 59:29

Whatever it means to you at that time, man, stay fucking good. You feel me? That's what we at. We in a raha, you understand me over here by the at where the night market used to be. What is it like now if you're my mommy at the time?

SPEAKER_04 59:40

Uh so when it's glory day, we already mentioned, you know, the lanterns and the magic and stuff. Now it's um uh a bunch of hardworking young bachangs out here that are doing their thing. You know, they're they're they come together. Every Saturday, Sunday, these group of young women come out here and just try to sell their clothes and sell knickknacks. So the flea market still does? Yeah, every weekend, Saturday and Sunday. They open up uh probably like 10 to 12 is when they're open when they trickle in and they'll go until like five or six, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

I know traffic still be heavy round about that time. So I didn't I figured maybe, you know what I'm saying, maybe something else, maybe come to the beach, maybe leaving the beach. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:20

But if you're ever coming to if you're ever coming to a raha beach, there's so many things to do in this area. You know, we've got you know, this plaza alone, just talking about the plaza, we've got a Brazilian grocery mart, we've got a Filipino restaurant, we've got a Bugari, it's called Bugari Cafe that sells bomb tacos, there's a cafe by the beach that you can go to. Sunset box has bomb locomocos. There's like speakeasy bars that open up what seems like when they want to. I don't know their schedule, I haven't asked, but no disrespect. Just that they have their niche clients, and this is just a this is where culture starts, man. This is this is this is this is people doing their thing because they want to. People every I think everybody that owns a bar or or owns a booth in this plaza has their own career and they just do it because they want to. They want to, yeah. And it's fun, you know, and that's that's so I'm so proud to be a amongst a group of a collective of people that want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

I'm about to say they probably appreciate that you you guys are here.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:13

Oh I I definitely try to do my best to to shout out all the businesses out here. We like shout out potafel. Potafel is a place that just opened up next to us. They take a potato in a waffle maker and make like a baked potato meat, veggies, all that on top of a potato, but it's a waffle. It's potafel, you know, like just stuff like that. You know, it's just just it's funny stuff like that. There's uh the Brazilian roast chicken, man. Like, I go buy that maybe a couple times a month where I just buy a whole chicken with veggies. It's bomb, you know, it's so good. And then you know, you got a lot of other, you know, cultural things around the area. There's Chirugua Soba. I've been going there since you know I was a baby. I have pictures of me in a stroller in that restaurant, in a car seat in that restaurant, same menu, shit, same staff, some of the staff members, same cooks. Um, best beef fried rice in Okinawa, Chirugua Soba, right down the street. Already. Um, y'all heard him. You got so many just just just heavy hitters. There's a place called Stick By Me Espresso down the street, in my opinion, has the best Americano. Really cool couple staff, and they have their friends that are doing their thing out there. Um, you know, Adachia down the road. Adachia, it's like a Okinawa and Izakaya where everybody sits in a room, just chefs are in the middle, shouting your orders, you know. And it's uh I'm I'm so proud and happy to be part of this community. And you know, back on what we were touching on earlier about being mixed and whatnot, man. It's um I don't know if I have to try harder or not. Maybe that's just a thing I've told myself I need to try harder, but working for the company I work with, the people that I work with in the uh area that I work in, it makes me proud to be who I am as an Okinawan American man. I'm very I get pride working here and it, you know, by working here, I just have so many positive things that happen. I would think so. I would think so. It's it's uh it's been nothing but positivity here and nothing but lessons. There's never a loss, always a lesson. You know, you don't you don't take losses in life, so it's all a mentality thing, how you want to look at it. But this place is a very easy way to to go about doing so. Yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:11

Well shit. I well we we made it again. Let's get to uh let's let's what shit. Let me let me say this first. First, first thing first, and we're gonna close in a minute, and I need that story. Oh yeah, definitely. We need that story. Absolutely. But uh we were talking earlier or whatever, and and I'm gonna say this before I say this out loud to Mikey, man. Uh, as far as the podcast is concerned, I I say that at the top of the show. This is the type of shit that we want to film. This is the type of podcast I want to have. I want to talk to the movers and shakers of Okinawa. This he is obviously one of those people, and that's why we're here. That's why I'm here. Uh so um I said it so good the last time. I'm saying killed it last time. We have the capability, if I we I see other podcasts popping up, man, and and and and big up to them, and I hope they do good, the more the merrier. You understand me? But uh, ain't no butt. As YBZ is not only a podcast, it is also a production. We we will we can produce stuff for you if you need the help or whatever, you need the cameras, you need the mics, you need the sound or whatever, you need the editing or whatever, we will, we can do it. Uh y'all holler back. Like I was saying in the Mikey, yeah. I'm saying he was talking about he wanted to do something with the the barbershop or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:50

Yeah, man, that'd be you know, if I could do a you know podcast called From Behind the Chair, where I just talk to clients about you know daily life stuff, kind of like what we're doing now. Right throughout the duration of a haircut, but I don't have the time to do editing and stuff like that. You know, you you you obviously put hard work into this and you put your time into it. So YBZ Production presents stay good barbershops from behind the chair. And I'm all for that shit. I mean, bro, but you you said it great earlier, and I'd like to touch on what you said. You you your focus is on it's not about gate guarding what you have and you know holding it tight and not not not sharing with bro. You you are being an inspiration and a a tool for others to do what they want to do. And if you're smart, you will use someone like Jay and the uh YBZ Podcast to you know help further your own goals. You know, you don't have to do everything by yourself. Obviously, you said it earlier where you probably have your own click of people, you want to do your own thing, power to you. But you know, what's wrong with making your community bigger? What's wrong with making connections with people that you didn't originally know? What's wrong with building more branches and building a better foundation so you know when you go forward? You know, you have nothing but people on your side to help you succeed. You know, so much of this culture, you know, we think we can't share m knowledge with each other and we have to gate guard certain things. You don't have to be like that at all. No, you don't. No, you don't. Not at all, man. Yeah, you don't.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:12

Matter of fact, a to be honest with you, when I was younger, I think that's where not only myself, but a lot of people that was out here doing things, and I'm just gonna say things, went wrong. Gatekeeping, trying to hold it to themselves or always never ends good, bro. Right, it it it it because you know what I'm saying, uh people grow out of it, one person might still be into it. And listening to you talk about how you, you know, the barbers come in and they work and they learn and everybody grows together and stuff like that, and then you you just you have a big opportunity and you want to put one of them on or whatever. That's how this shit's supposed to be all the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:51

Absolutely, man. I get we get so many barbers that come in, whether it's military barbers, younger barbers, you know, a lot of guys that want to learn barbering. I teach barbering on the side. Um, we got a lot of military guys that come in and say, I will never tell you you can't do business here, that you have to stay out of my area.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:07

Right. No, no, never that.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:08

But it's like, well, I will I will send you clients, you know. Right. I will I will help you. Like I'm friends with a couple base barbers and other barbers that I send clients to. But you know, there's another barber shop in tsunabe. It's called Miyagi Barbershop. It's a fantastic barber shop right on the beach. You know, if we if we can't cut them, if New Fatemma can't cut them, it's like, well, if you don't mind driving over there, they're not involved with us, but they're also a great barber shop. It's like I might lose that client forever. But hey, at least my boys are eating, at least people from working out, like another barber is eating. Another barber's eating, yeah. The thing is, like, if you can cut better than me, you deserve my client. You know what I mean? Like, I I it's not just the haircut, you know. It's I uh there's so much more to me than just the haircut. Like, I obviously will give a great service. I'm obviously trying to be the best barber I can be personally, but I I it's not uh I'm not I'm not a gate guardian when it comes to this stuff, man. I just want to I do this for myself. I do it because it's fun. Right. And if you want to do that too, you should do it too. That's it, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:04

I do this, I do this. I I I dn I had to come to a realization that I'm doing it for myself. Yeah, bro. You know what I'm saying? Now you enjoy it. And I do enjoy it, and whatever may happen as a result of it, yeah, fine. If we fuck around and get a million fucking sub sub subscribers, that is fucking out, fucking standing. You know what I'm saying? If we only get two subscribers, we got more than that. But if we get two, if we got two subscribers, if we had had had two subscribers and that's all that we were doing it for, I would have been fine. Because I enjoy it. Like you said, doing this is sort of like it's it's it's it's it's my therapy. Yeah, bro.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:41

And you need to do it, man. It just helps you get it. It helps me, yeah. Yeah, I'm saying. It's not about whether it'll attain to be anything, it's just doing it. Just doing it talking outside. You you doing the action of setting this up and doing this, bro. This is amazing. Like you, I think, I think you're so fucking cool, bro. I appreciate it. You guys, you guys are doing something amazing and you are creating something based off of your own vision, you are making it happen. So never sell yourself short when it comes to your stuff. And you giving a platform to other up-and-comers that are trying to do it, that just speaks volumes about yourself. Like always know that, at least from my perspective, you guys are doing great things, man. That's really cool. And I I think it'd be a uh uh a bonus for anybody to work with you when it comes to just people talking from life lessons and learning for what you've been through to the things like podcasting. Actually, based on what you just said a second ago, I do want to caveat. I uh I I'll give an example. My first two years of business here, I I do branding or I sell other people's brands. So this is Wrath. It's reaching all-time highs. This is a friend of mine, Shima, he owns Valon, right? I don't charge any commission for them to sell their things here. We do a cash-based thing where I just hand them everything. But naturally, based off of helping my my brother, I will eat based like they have their they are bringing me clients, but I'm also selling their brand. It's like we all are helping each other. So but but you know, whoever you decide to work with, whether it's under the YBZ production or just someone you're helping, that person that you helped will always they will always know in their heart that you helped them. And by that, you will get so many good things that come based off of that. You know, um that being said, if you want to sell your stuff here, come through. But um, no, but it it's just it's just that little point of, you know, if you work with people that want to make it happen, these wrestlers that are doing things, you know. You don't have to get a gain like a financial gain out of everything. It's just bro, I've hooked up my barbers with dope merch. We've done photo shoots. We have had so much fun. I've able to hire photographers that does promotion for me, promotion for themselves, right? Videographers, it just it goes and b big it's just moving and moving and moving, and the circle's only growing bigger, and I'm so proud to be a moving part in that circle. You know, I just but it sounds like you're doing it, man. And I think if we just keep trying and stay on the path that we're on, bro, I think we'll good things will come.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:57

You know, it's just I I just feel like I just feel like I honestly feel like opportunities being missed by everybody segregating themselves off into here, into there, whatever. Like the some of the biggest things possible could could happen in Okinawa if if a lot of people connected. Absolutely. That's always been my mission because I remember and only reason why is because I remember back in the day when we were doing things and that was the big problem. If we had all just came together instead of trying to be, I don't know, gang-like mentality, if that's what you want to call it or whatever, separated in what we were doing. We were all doing the same fucking thing, though. Yeah, but if we had just all collabed together, we probably could have been doing a whole bunch of big things or probably had better, way bigger, better memories. But just being young and dumb or being, you know, there can only be one mentality. That's right, you know, what crabs in a fucking barrel now in a bucket. You feel me? That's right, bro.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:00

It's just it never a loss, always a lesson. Yeah, man. From here on and now we can always, you know, strive to be better and just let's always help the next next person. Yeah, let's always by by helping people you you you open a another door for yourself to just receive and get good things, you know. Yeah, and I'm all for it, bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:18

I'm all for it. I'm I'm I'm I'm all for it. I I I try to put myself out there as much as possible in that hearing what you again, hearing what you just said, talking about your barbers and how the how the rotation goes, you know what I'm saying? Come in, I'm opening something, or I'm gonna put you on over here, or I'm gonna- or if we can't handle you the dude down the street, got you. So you know, my recommendation. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:40

You think I look bad by recommending another barber?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:42

No, I'm not losing anything. To be honest with you, that's a that's that's good, that's good on you and them. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:48

Yeah, so they they do, you know, they're doing good work. I I want to recommend them, they're good people, so I want to I want to work with them and you know, I just to keep it simple, just it it keeps everything going right. If I was to block myself off, people would what would people think of me as? You know, it's like they can't come to me now. It's like I can come to him, he's a cool guy, but I can't talk business with him because he's gonna get mad about I don't want to do that, man. It's just too much stress on me. Like, I like going home to my wife and telling her cool stories, like, oh, I met this person, I I talked to this person today. We we've got this event going on. Uh, you know, I'm just I like creating positive memories so I can keep myself going and you know, keep those around me that I love and care about, have them thinking good things about me. Hell yeah. You know what I mean? Hell yeah. Actually, with that being said, I actually want to present a gift to you. Oh shit. Yes, podcast didn't do this last time, so good things happen for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:34

You know, good things happen. Already, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:37

Already Stay Good Merch. We have Stay Good Merchandise is our hat. Uh Stay Good, baby. Here you go, Jay. Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:42

I appreciate it. Oh shit. Appreciate you. I bet you was on it because they can start clapping and shit.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:48

We didn't have that button. That's just if that if we didn't we didn't have that misstep or then completely forgot that. So, you know, I'm really happy that happened.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:56

Damn. Hey, I appreciate this shit, man. Thank you, bro. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:59

Nah, you you catching genuine excitement. This ain't no put on, bro. Thank you, bro. Yeah, represent us well, please. Yeah. No, yeah. In the next motherfucking video, I'm probably gonna wear a way before the end, but in the next motherfucking video. Question for you You like black or you like camo? No, I'm I'm gonna stick with the black. Oh, the camo do go hard though. You like black?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:16

No, I'm gonna keep the black. I'm gonna keep it black. I'm gonna keep the black one. We got options, Jay.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:20

Oh shit. Hey yo! We got options, Jay. Y'all see genuine motherfucking happiness on camera, goddamn. I appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:28

Of course, man. Of course. I'm that pleasure. Yeah, my pleasure. I'm happy to give that to you, bro. Please and thank you. Yeah, that's.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:34

Hey, I'm really shocked. Dead ass.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:37

We got those made in bulk from uh another client's doing his own hustle thing. Shout out Ram. Appreciate you, big dog. Okay. Shows me the design for hats. Hey, I'll order 50. He's like, really? You're not mad? I'm like, no, bro, that's awesome. Thank you for taking that step. You know, so I ordered 50 of them and just selling them out to the people, and it's it's great, man. It's like never thought when I'm in barbersco, I'm gonna be selling my own merch. You know, it's just oh, that's cold, bro. Yeah, baby. Stay good. Hopefully, more color coordinations come soon. It's a good motherfucking stitchy, too. God damn. If you need a shout out, I put you on him. You want to make your own YBC merch?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:16

I'm doing shit. Hey, excuse me. Wait till the camera turned off. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:21

Business talk.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:22

Nah. Hold on. Hey, we're doing that thing I said we were finna do. Yeah, we're doing that thing. It's it's yeah, we're doing that thing. All right, anywho. Yeah, uh shit. Let's let's close it. Go ahead and uh if you got any shout-outs, this is the time. Go ahead and get the news, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:39

Uh shout out Stay Good Barbershop, Dig It Barbershop, Walk In Barbershop, New Fatemba Barbershop. Above all, uh shout out Grace Imi. That's my younger sister. She's killing her thing, doing her thing. She's coming out with a new single. If you don't already know who Grace Imey is, she's the one who released the single Okie Doki with a famous Okinawa rapper named Choji. Please check them out on all platforms, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, app, iTunes, excuse me. Uh, you got my shout-out Shima Vibes. It's a reggae band out here. My other sister's uh one of the co-lead singers in that. She's doing her thing. They're actually gonna be opening for the whalers that are coming in. Where's the flyers? The whalers and the inner circle will be coming to Okinawa. So you got if you don't already have your tickets, next Thursday they're gonna be performing in Naha. Definitely wish I could be there for that. I'm actually gonna be on my honeymoon. I uh went to work the day I got married, so I need to make up for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:30

But um, hey, better late than never, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:32

Now, shout out to the Wailers and the Inner Circle. Rest in peace, Bob Marley. Um, if you can go see the show, definitely go. I think it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance for sure. Uh, let's see, who else do I got? Shout out everybody that I mentioned in the video earlier, all the other businesses. Shout out to Rajast, Night Market. Uh, thank you to all those that have uh helped me get to where I am today. Michael Dasan, thank you everybody, all the staff, everybody you know who you are. Thank you very much, Jay. Thank you, YBZ Podcast, for the for the time and uh looking forward to making more magic happen. Thank you very much. My name is Mikey Mussubi. Thank you very much, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:03

Hey, now, now you now I I and and sorry about the the thing earlier. I am so sorry. Oh no, no, no, no. Good thing it happened for a reason. I feel you. I I appreciate this shit. No, dead ass. You gotta tell that story again, bro. Oh, okay. So look at it. You gotta tell the story again.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:19

We'll clip it earlier. He walked by earlier. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're sitting out, uh uh just get done with the day. We're having our uh post post-work cigarette, you know, and uh a good friend of ours comes by and he has this other older gentleman with him and um he has this videos uh uh t-shirt that says X Videos on it. It's like okay, you know, walks away, and then our friend is like, yeah, that's the CEO of X Videos. It's like brother, like excuse me, what? Like the the the adult site, yeah. X Video CEO, you just met him. I was like, holy shit. Where's my phone at? Let's see, put it pull it up for y'all. Zoom up on that. Look, I'm taking that. I don't know if you want to say just an icon living right here. Look at that. I uh quick story about my my wife happened to come up right as we were laughing about that. You know, everybody had their X videos up on the phone, just checking out what he does, you know. And uh told my wife, I was like, hey, I I'm about to get a new job. She's like, doing what? I was like, I'm about to get into acting. She's like, What? What are you talking about? I just met the CEO of X Videos, he just offered me a job. She just pauses and make that money, babe. Already that's my wife already knows I'm on the bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:30

Shout out to wifey, you feel me? Hey, she's a real one, you understand? That's right, baby. Only the real ones will say some shit like that. You feel me? That's right. Yeah, she's down with the shits. Already, man. She get that money she said, you understand?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:41

Uh different all types of characters walk by the barbershop. We talked all kinds of you know, decorated military guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:47

She got all you know. With this fucking big ass window right here, I don't under I I can totally understand you getting all types of characters walking through here or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:59

No need for advertisement. There's no questions on what we do here. This is it speaks for itself. Yeah, yeah. You check us out on Google, check out our Google reviews, would love that. But uh, we definitely take pride in what we do here, and I'm very proud to be a part of that. Alrighty, man. Come on. Shit.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:12

I appreciate you, bro. Thank you, bro. Appreciate you. Thank you. Yeah, man. Dead ass, bro. Hell yeah. We definitely do it again. Definitely do it fucking again, man. Hey. One time for Mikey, you feel me? This is your boy Jay. This is YBZ the podcast. Y'all be easy.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:34

Appreciate it, bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:35

Yeah, that was that was that was good.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:36

That was great. That was uh