March 26, 2025
Embracing Entrepreneurship: Sumi's Journey from the Army to Business Success
Entrepreneurs face many challenges, and Sumi's journey illustrates this beautifully. Sumi emphasizes the perseverance needed to transition from military life into the competitive world of business, helping listeners understand the importance of community, adaptability, and self-belief.
• Importance of embracing the entrepreneurial journey
• Overcoming challenges and failures
• How military skills translate to civilian entrepreneurship
• The role of family support and community
• Cultural understanding in business practices
• Educational and professional benefits of multiculturalism
• Managing the balance of family and business life
• Long-term goals and vision for Phoenix Global
• Fostering a mindset of growth and resilience
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Follow Sumeya on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sumi_23s?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
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Episode Powered By Act Now Education
Chapters
00:00 - Warriors fall in
01:24 - Finding Purpose in Entrepreneurship
02:13 - Background and Journey of Sumi
02:56 - Why Sumi Started Her Own Business
04:03 - Challenges of an Entrepreneur
05:23 - The Role of Support and Community
06:40 - Navigating Cultural Differences in Business
08:43 - Facing Setbacks and Coming Back Stronger
10:13 - The Vision for Phoenix Global and the Future
Transcript
WEBVTT
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Warriors fall in.
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It's time for formation.
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I'm very fortunate today to have a guest who is here for the second time, and earlier in the year I guess two years ago maybe we had a conversation with Sumi and she was talking about her background being in the United States Army and then transitioning out of the Army, going to Customs and Border Protection, and then ultimately found a job Army going to Customs and Border Protection and then ultimately found a job utilizing Act.
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Now Education's services Just recently followed up with Sumi and she had decided to start her own business, becoming a very bold, very courageous entrepreneur, and we briefly spoke about what she was doing and I was absolutely amazed with everything and I thought that it's really important for me to share with the rest of the Morning Formation community on where Sumi is right now, because you know she's the type of person.
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She immigrated from East Africa when she was 11 years old.
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She speaks four languages, very impressive, professional.
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So today, sumi, I got you on board because I want you to tell everyone what you're into, what you're doing right now with your business and why you decided to step into entrepreneurship overall.
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Thank you, kp.
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So right now I'm doing product sourcing for T-shirts and hoodies for small companies who want to put their logos on them for branded apparels, and I'm getting those products from Egypt right now and I'm branching out to Bangladesh and my minimum is usually 50 t-shirts per design and normally the overseas companies their minimum is like 600 to to $1,000.
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But small companies like me they can't really, they don't have that many employees or they don't have that kind of finance to afford like to spend like thousands of dollars on t-shirts.
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You know, so I'm, you know, my business is just going on two years now and I'm trying to help myself and other small businesses also get up in the rise by helping them get affordable T-shirts with their logo on them so they could go out and sell those T-shirts or hoodies and make money from them and establish their small business as well.
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And recently, my clients I love my clients because they keep giving me new ideas they were like well, I am a moving company and I want to have like boxes with my logo on them and I want to have the wrapping sheets and the blankets, but I want them like at a cheaper rate than I could find in the United States which is found cheaper in Egypt, which I have family and connections which we're working on getting for them from Egypt to the United States.
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So the fact that I'm able to source globally to help small businesses here in the United States compete with bigger companies is something I take pride in.
00:03:02.248 --> 00:03:04.513
And I got into entrepreneurship because of my kid.
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I have a five-year-old.
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He's going to be six soon.
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He's diagnosed with autism.
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He was diagnosed when he was two years old, two and a half, and I used to take him to a lot of appointments and just so many activities.
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And it's really hard to keep a full-time job when you're taking a child to appointment like four or five times a day, like a week, and it's just when it comes to picking between your child and you know and your job.
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I chose, I chose my child and I was fortunate enough to do it because I was a military member and a veteran and had benefits.
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And I was able to leave.
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You know my positions and choose.
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You know being a business owner and take care of it it's hard to transition out of the military and find like an ideal job.
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Um, what has inspired you to go from the safety of government work into entrepreneurship?
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Because in entrepreneurship you take a huge risk and no one's telling you.
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It's not like the military, where they tell you what time to show up for formation, what to wear, when to pivot.
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So as an entrepreneur you have to tell yourself when to pivot, when to when to do this, when to do that.
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Yeah, uh, can you talk about how you overcame?
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Because you were enlisted in the military right and you were a culinary arts or cook.
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Culinary specialist yes, Culinary specialist right.
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So, with that being said, how do you go from being a lower enlisted soldier to being an entrepreneur where, basically, you're having to pivot on your own, to being an entrepreneur where, basically, like you're having to pivot on your own.
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So my background did help.
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So my family, like my dad, when I was a kid he had his own store, like back in Saudi, saudi Arabia, and he had his own store and then when he was in the United States, like he had like this international store that he used to sell like clothing and stuff.
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So I have that background and I come from an international community.
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So the languages is like you're born, like you're automatically speaking two languages you know, and we're Muslims, so the Arabic is added to it and then it's just kind of like Arabic Tigrinya Tigrinya is our original language, then Arabic together and then you watch a lot of foreign shows, which I used to do, and then I learned Turkish and then English when I came to America.
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So just kind of like the languages.
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So me being an international person and learning languages, being a culinary specialist did not limit me or being an enlisted did not limit who I was.
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So when I was leaving or transitioning, I wasn't just like, oh my God, I'm just an enlisted, did not limit who I was.
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So when I was leaving or transitioning, I wasn't just like, oh my God, I'm just an enlisted.
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What am I gonna do Like no, I was doing other things and I had other skills and talents that I was honing that when I got out to be able to use.
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And I have this thing where, since I was a kid, where I don't like to give a certain power or position to an authority or to anybody, where they're my only source of survival, like I have to have like multiple ways, like I have to be able to survive without depending on one entity.
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So that drives me to move forward.
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And then with entrepreneurship, like the first year was really tough because I wasn't doing this brand, like this promotional products or this apparel.
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At the beginning I was doing consulting, I was going to, I was ready to export vehicles out of the country.
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Everything was set up.
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I arranged the people who are going to sell the cars here, the wholesalers in the United States, and then I traveled to Dubai and Saudi Arabia by myself and arranged the buyers over there and I removed the middleman, the auction folks, because that was their issue, and I was like, don't worry, I'll remove that fee for you.
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And I arranged the freight forwarders, the like, just everything.
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And I was so prepared on a high level, something that I prepared for, you know, years before I even started my business.
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And then it's just a fell through, you know, and I spent so much money, so much time and at this time my son was my sister, because I was first year of my business.
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I was like, okay, I'm doing this for my kid.
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So I was like I need to jump start my business.
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I was like I need this time.
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So my sister was generous enough to like take care of my kid.
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Well, you know, for that entire year, last year and while I was taking care of my business, so that business deal fell through.
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So for a few, for about a couple months, where I was just like why did I even get into entrepreneurship?
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I was just like I should just give up you know, I don't even want to do this anymore Like why did I even get into it?
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And then, in moments like this, there's this article, there's this book the Struggle is when Greatness Comes From which, I think the author by Ben Horowitz.
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There's even an excerpt that he talks about, like you know, he talks about how entrepreneurship is really difficult and it sucks and it's just a terrible thing, but at the end it's like greatness.
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You know, the struggle is where greatness comes from.
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So I kept rereading that and it's just I was reminded why I'm doing it.
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This is something bigger than myself.
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Is to help myself, my community, my kid, a small business owner.
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So just kind of like remembering that I'm doing this for something bigger than myself.
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And then the fact that my kid was overseas was I was like okay, cause then I was like, oh my God, the sunken cost fallacy.
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I was like okay, because then I was like oh my God, the sunken cost fallacy.
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I was like I sacrificed this whole year with my son.
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Granted, I was visiting him back and forth multiple times throughout the year, but I was like I sacrificed so much my retirement, you know, my military retirement, everything for this business.
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So it was just kind of like you know what am I doing, I froze a little bit, and but just, it was just kind of like you know what am I doing?
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I froze a little bit and but just, it was just kind of like I had to step back, which is which was needed, and I needed that two months to step back and just be like, okay, what am I doing?
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What can I do?
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This is not working.
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And then I'm part of Vistage and this is a network for like executive and CEO groups that they advise you.
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And I was talking to them about it and they were like, when you are dealing with this vehicle situation and this deal fell apart.
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It could be for various reasons, whether it could be sexism, because I was in the Middle East, or it could be of race, it could be of various reasons.
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You know that it doesn't concern me, because I did the best I could.
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If people want to be, if they want to treat me, you know differently, that's on them.
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You know.
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They were like why would you want to be part of that space?
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Why would you want to be in a space where you don't, you're not wanted?
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Why don't you go to spaces where you are wanted?
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So it was just kind of like letting go of that bad energy and just it was like I was like all right, so just having that community.
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They were like you need to let that go of that bad energy so you can move forward, so you could see what's in front of you.
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And when I did that, then my customers were like oh, I want product, oh, I want this, oh, I want this at an affordable rate because I can't afford it in the United States.
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So if you can get it for me from the other country, that would definitely help me, you know, build my business.
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And then I started realizing my son was improving with his autism because the food in Egypt is a lot better than here in the United States and he was getting a lot more community over there.
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He's like playing with kids outside all day, playing soccer and just so many, so much engagement.
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He used to have like a feeding disorder where he was like very picky with eating food and now he eats everything and he's a lot more social, a lot more verbal.
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He speaks Arabic now and he writes and reads in Arabic.
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He's a very, very smart kid and it's just in one year.
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I saw like a lot of difference in him.
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I saw a lot of difference in me.
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I even grew up as a person a lot, and it's just why I changed my perspective.
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I was able to adapt.
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And I was like, okay, the money's gone, but money will always come back.
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You know, my health is here, that's what's more important.
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My son is healthy.
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So I was like, okay.
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So I was just like my word for this year is abundance.
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Each year I have a word.
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So this year is abundance because I was worried.
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I was like, oh, money is gone, my son is gone, this, this, this.
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But this year is like abundance and I'm like in the state of like money will come to me, clients will come to me, my son is here.
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I finally brought him back at the end of last year, december 31st, and it's so good to have him back, just like in my corner and every like the world is all mine now and it's just money is coming, clients are coming.
00:11:59.171 --> 00:12:03.784
And now I'm even thinking like, when I have that clarity, I was like, why don't?
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I was like, instead of paying all the shipping costs to bring these products here to the United States, I was like, why don't I buy the machine itself, the?
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It's like it's called DTF.
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It's this heat printing machine where you get the shirt and you put it under like in the design, you press it and that's where you get the logo.
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So I was like OK, it's like $2,400.
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And then the shirts I was like I have connection in Bangladesh, I have connection in Egypt, I have connection in Dubai.
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I can just get them at a lower rate, probably like a few dollars, and then ship them via Ocean, have them here and then make them for my client.
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That way I don't have to pay a lot of shipping fees and I could have my own like brick and mortar.
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And that's something I was like, okay, I could do, you know, towards the end of this year.
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So it was just kind of like, when I'm like living in a state of abundance, so many ideas are flowing through my head, I have to be like calm down, one step at a time.
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It's like once you, if you are adaptable, ideas will flow and things will come your way.
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You know, money will come, ideas will come, people will come.
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You're positive and adaptable.
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I think that's adaptability is like very important, because I, like I said, I lost a lot of money last year and I had to be like OK, a lot of people would give up.
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I mean to be honest with you.
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You were under the safety of a government job where you could have just taken your rank.
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You weren't limited by where you were at, like your MOS or anything.
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None of that stuff limited you and a lot of it had to do with your background, where you grew up, and your worldly experiences.
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You were able to see beyond the end of your neighborhood and actually see into the entire world.
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And I wanted to highlight that about you because I think many times in the military, our rank or our MOS can limit us to what we think we can and can't do once we leave the military.
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And that's what I find most amazing about you is you're basically limitless.
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You're literally shipping things from halfway across the world and you've got all these connections and whatnot, um, and I not.
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On top of that, you're a woman working in the Middle East.
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Like that is not easy to do.
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Like I imagine you get a lot of hang up calls and and you know delete on your emails and stuff like that that you try to send.
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Um, that that's very challenging and you know all these ideas that you have.
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The toughest part is taking action.
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Everybody's got ideas, but you actually step out, take action, make it happen.
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And that's what's most impressive Can you talk about?
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You talked a little bit about it already, but talk about some of the trials and tribulations, the dead ends, the mistakes, the fall down.
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Pick yourself back up again.
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What was your worst moment, you think, when you thought you know what, I could just quit and go find an hourly job or a salary job somewhere and you had to dig deep to figure out, like, how do I get out of this, how do I make this right?
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that's a great question.
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So first the the government.
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I was tenured as well, so it was really hard to fire me, unless I really, really messed up right, so it was just kind of.
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I was just like are you crazy?
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I'm like, yes, you have to be crazy to be an entrepreneur.
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A little bit, um, and the part, the trial and tribulation, where you're like I'll just go get another job.
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That's every day, every day.
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I'm just like you know what, why don't you?
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Just, you know you need to go apply for a job and because, like, what are you doing?
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Are you crazy?
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You know, I think it's just like when, for example, like I, because not everything is going to work out the way I want it to work.
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Like I mentioned, the biggest one was when I lost, like you know, like thousands and thousands of dollars in my the Middle East endeavor and when they were just kind of like, oh, you know, because you're a woman, or when they told me, yeah, this is what happened.
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They were like when I was in the Middle East and I was struggling with all this and I came back and I had a coach here who was like part of the small business, I was just like, oh, they're telling me this, this, this.
00:16:38.822 --> 00:16:51.221
And he was like, well, what you can do is you can have your brother be the face of your company in the Middle East or your nephew, and have him represent you.
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I was like, first, that's fraud and second, this is a woman-owned business company.
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No, this is the worst idea I've ever heard.
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And it was just kind of like.
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And then when I came here, they're like oh, you're race.
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And I was just like I'm like my identity was questioned.
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So I was just like I'm the problem, my religion Because now that I'm wearing the hijab again, it's like my faith, my race and me being a woman is like being an issue, whether it's in the States or in the Middle East, mostly in the Middle East, being a woman like.
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When I was in Saudi Arabia, I made an appointment and I went and I was introduced to these individuals by really high level people, like by companies that have been in the business for 100 years old, and they they were like yeah, let's meet up.
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And they just ghosted me Because they thought I literally flew across the country just so I could meet them and have this meeting, and they ghosted me and I was just like my heart sank.
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I was like, ok, and then it's just kind of like, all right, I was like, forget this.
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And then, when I'm in the States, I was just like then, when I was like, when I shifted to this apparel part and I go like, for example, one of them is like my broker license.
00:18:03.770 --> 00:18:06.236
I applied for my broker's license.
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I passed it in October 2023, I believe it took a year to get my license and that cut me from doing any business as a broker, because originally I was going to be a customs broker, but without license I couldn't do anything.
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So in the meantime I was like I'm going to do consulting.
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In the meantime, I was like I'm going to do branded t-shirts and then I get my license.
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They're like, well, you can't really do business unless you have your permit, so that's probably going to be like another year.
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So then I have to shift again and I'll be like, all right, then I have to charge my what do you call it, this branded apparel thing and keep getting clients because I need to make money and because I took the exam I was preparing because that exam is really really difficult Only like 5% pass rate 5 to 15% pass rate and I was studying for it.
00:18:55.522 --> 00:19:02.132
And I still have neck pain a year and some change later because I was like studying for it and I still like go to physical therapy.
00:19:02.132 --> 00:19:07.462
So it was just more of like whatever, like a task I take.
00:19:07.542 --> 00:19:26.246
It's like I take the military saying where, like like you have to want it as much as you want to breathe, and when I try to translate that to civilian people that I work with, they look at me like something is wrong with me because they I would be like okay, um, you want to.
00:19:26.246 --> 00:19:27.875
Yeah, like you want to lose weight.
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I'm like okay, because I lost about 40 pounds since between 2022 till 2025 now, and I was like, but I was like I want it as much as I want to breathe.
00:19:37.911 --> 00:19:44.694
So I was like if I don't exercise or go on calorie deficit, like this means death, so literally like I, that's how I look at it.
00:19:44.694 --> 00:19:56.996
Or if I like this business doesn't go right, this is what it means, and it's just it doesn't translate well in the civilian life because they're just like no, you're too like, you're too much or you're too this, and I'm like that's fine.
00:19:56.996 --> 00:20:01.036
Then I stop just apologizing for being myself and I'm like that's OK.
00:20:01.369 --> 00:20:16.269
Like being militaries, like we're like the hardcore individual, like the one percent, we have this skill that we do not see, the 1% we have this skill that we do not see, like we undermine it, that the civilian people rarely have, that the military gives us.
00:20:16.269 --> 00:20:20.518
Like the military doesn't just give us trauma, it gives us a lot of skills and it's just.
00:20:20.518 --> 00:20:34.714
It's like I feel like veterans and soldiers do not recognize that Like being so disciplined and I'm a very, very disciplined individual, you know and it's just kind of like I learned that from the military.
00:20:34.714 --> 00:20:42.538
Being fearless, I learned from the military and it's kind of like even like I'm going to the east by myself and it's scary.
00:20:43.180 --> 00:20:49.922
But the first time I faced my fears was with the military, because when I was was joining, I was like, hey, what if I die?
00:20:49.922 --> 00:20:52.435
I'm just like, well, the Lord fits in, whatever, you know.
00:20:52.435 --> 00:20:55.810
So if I could face death, then I could face anything.
00:20:55.810 --> 00:21:07.676
So I think it's all in our head and if we can change, for like we literally fought for our country, we're very brave individuals who can translate that into this world, like in the civilian world, like we can handle anything.
00:21:07.676 --> 00:21:08.500
Civilians have nothing.
00:21:08.500 --> 00:21:11.272
World like we could literally handle anything would like civilians have nothing.
00:21:11.272 --> 00:21:12.838
Like we have nothing on us.
00:21:12.838 --> 00:21:15.628
We're like super humans in the civilian world.
00:21:15.628 --> 00:21:22.262
Like think of it that way where our skills translate in this is just it's kind of like you're.
00:21:22.262 --> 00:21:25.641
You're a lot better than a lot of civilians.
00:21:25.641 --> 00:21:27.647
I think it's time to recognize that.
00:21:27.708 --> 00:21:33.561
As a veteran, and you're skilled and you're trained, I mean I thousand percent agree with you on that.
00:21:33.561 --> 00:21:35.770
I thousand percent agree with you on that matter of fact.
00:21:35.770 --> 00:21:43.359
I had a conversation with someone the other day and we were discussing something and they were trying to tell me how it was.
00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:55.451
And I'm like I was deployed there, like, why are you telling like I was in the military my boots are still dirty, but you're a civilian, you've never been to the Middle East, you never served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
00:21:55.451 --> 00:21:57.660
Why are you telling me what it looks and smells like?
00:21:57.660 --> 00:22:04.818
It's crazy how you come back here and you talk to civilians and they act like you're the crazy one.
00:22:04.818 --> 00:22:08.837
But in reality I think they're crazy because we have a world view.
00:22:08.837 --> 00:22:11.153
When I went to basic training, for example, I think they're crazy because we have a world view.
00:22:11.153 --> 00:22:20.869
When I went to basic training, for example, I got an opportunity to meet as a battle buddy during basic training a guy from Vermont, a guy from Louisiana.
00:22:22.281 --> 00:22:30.238
All these different people you have to work with and you get stressed out and put under time and tension and you have to figure it out.
00:22:30.238 --> 00:22:31.012
You have to work together.
00:22:31.012 --> 00:22:41.753
A lot of people don't get that experience and even once you get stationed at your permanent duty station, you have to overcome a lot of things that most people don't have to deal with, and you have to figure it out for yourself.
00:22:41.753 --> 00:23:04.601
The only thing is is I think a lot of veterans struggle with doing what you've kind of mastered, which was taking action and being fearless and then also pivoting when you know it's right and no one else is telling you when to pivot or when to make a decision, whereas, like in the military, I think, a lot of times you're told when to pivot, when to do things.
00:23:04.710 --> 00:23:07.617
Oh, yes, To answer your question about the take an action part.
00:23:07.617 --> 00:23:09.261
There's two parts to this one.
00:23:09.261 --> 00:23:26.451
Oh, yes, To answer your question about the take an action part, there's parts to this one.
00:23:26.451 --> 00:23:39.319
First, it's innate because, like in my bones since I was a kid, I don't like people telling me what to do, which is like ironic, considering the organizations I went to the army, the government, you know but, like I, I genuinely do not like people telling me what to do, Cause I'm just like I come from a culture.
00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:40.161
I love my culture.
00:23:40.780 --> 00:23:44.844
And at the same time it's not, you know, um, at the same time it's not, it's very male centered.
00:23:44.844 --> 00:23:58.010
The United States gave me a voice that I felt very, you know, independent, like you know I have.
00:23:58.010 --> 00:23:59.554
You know I could say this I could live this way.
00:23:59.554 --> 00:24:01.157
I have a chance to live this life, to get this education, to get this job.
00:24:01.157 --> 00:24:12.994
And I look at it from this point of view, where, in my country, we don't have this opportunity that the United States gives us and we shouldn't take that for granted, you know.
00:24:12.994 --> 00:24:15.922
So it's just kind of like, whatever opportunity I get, I'll grab it and go.
00:24:15.922 --> 00:24:20.913
So that's one of the reasons where I'm like you know, I take action and I don't like people telling me what to do.
00:24:20.913 --> 00:24:25.349
So I go ahead and do it and the other thing is like the other thing.
00:24:25.349 --> 00:24:37.546
The other reason why I take action is, and why I feel like other members have a hard time, you know, doing or taking action without somebody telling them what to do.
00:24:38.070 --> 00:24:42.362
It is easier when somebody tells you what to do, because if you mess up, it's somebody's fault.
00:24:42.362 --> 00:24:46.240
It's also taking responsibility and accountability.
00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:54.337
So now I'm all on my own If even if my employees in Egypt mess up, it's my fault, like I have to take responsibility.
00:24:54.337 --> 00:25:00.464
I have to go to the client and be like oh yes, I messed up and sometimes it has to come out of my own pocket.
00:25:00.464 --> 00:25:05.859
There were samples where I'm like I messed up, so I'll have to come out of my own pocket and get you new samples.
00:25:05.859 --> 00:25:07.202
I'm sorry.
00:25:07.202 --> 00:25:13.638
And you know, saying I'm sorry doesn't make you small, it just makes you a bigger person and people appreciate that.
00:25:13.638 --> 00:25:18.435
So accountability if you're willing to take accountability, then you're willing to take action.
00:25:18.435 --> 00:25:23.653
That's one of those Because before I used to be like I want people to tell me what to do.
00:25:23.733 --> 00:25:30.285
But then it was just kind of like no, because I want to blame it on them, like well, if you hadn't told me what to do, I wouldn't have done this.
00:25:30.285 --> 00:25:32.458
But now it's just like there's no one I could blame.
00:25:32.458 --> 00:25:37.719
I have to take all accountability and it sucks because I don't like critical feedback.
00:25:37.719 --> 00:25:39.403
But I will take it and implement it.
00:25:39.403 --> 00:25:40.996
I never liked it because it hurts.
00:25:40.996 --> 00:25:53.882
So I tell my bosses I'm like give me a feedback sandwich, tell me something positive, tell me the negative sandwich, the negative feedback and then the positive, and then just let me feel better and then that way I could take it.
00:25:53.882 --> 00:25:57.246
But it's just, I always take it and implement it.
00:26:00.609 --> 00:26:01.932
But if you, want to take action.
00:26:01.952 --> 00:26:03.737
You have to be willing to take accountability Back.
00:26:03.737 --> 00:26:04.097
Sandwich.
00:26:04.137 --> 00:26:05.580
I'm feeling I'm stealing that one.
00:26:09.089 --> 00:26:09.632
Yeah, feedback sandwich.
00:26:09.632 --> 00:26:10.232
It's very it, it's so helpful.
00:26:10.232 --> 00:26:10.934
You're just like you feel good.
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