S3E04 - Building Community w/ Naofall "Ming" Folahan

Subscriber-only episode

This week in The Biz Dojo, we're joined by Naofall "Ming" Folahan, Edmonton Stingers coach and entrepreneur (actually, a multi-preneur!)

Ming is building communities, not just at all levels of the game of basketball, but both on and off the court. We discuss his work with youth at his Halifax training center, the first of it's kind. Ming also provides his insights into the importance of community on personal development, mindset, and how pushing kids to success has worked for him.

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Transcript

Seth: Happy Tuesday, everyone. It's Seth here from the biz dojo. Did you know that for the first time in history, the internet is now listen, Hubble that's right. You can browse articles, podcasts, and some of the most relevant topics circulating on the internet today and have them read to you. You can start this journey by heading to the newsletter app as well as newsletter dot Emmy.

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JP: So we've talked about it a few times on the pod. My father getting me into coaching at a very young age. I was 12 and I was coaching ten-year-olds basketball for the YMCA. They had a program called YBC basketball, youth basketball camp. For some 

Seth: reason, I just thought of like Reggie Dunlop and slapshot, but I have no idea why anyway, carry on.

JP: Not one of the kids. I 

Seth: know you're like the 12 year old version, right? You're the player coach. Yeah. Yeah. That's an interesting, you made the jump to coaching at 12. Like that is a, 

JP: I helped my dad out. I hadn't been playing basketball a fair bit at that point in my life. Which sounds crazy. Cause like barely double dishes.

Seth: Oh, Linden is not yet 10 and he's already been planned for the better part of three years. Four years. So yeah, I get it. So, 

JP: yeah, so he he brings me on and I remember we coached, it was twice a week at this little elementary school, not too far from our house kind of central to the community. It was a prince Phillip elementary school for those wanting the full JP bastard and, and going deep.

Yeah. So it was 8:00 PM every Thursday. And he brought me in and I still remember all the little technical lessons for 10. There's a string between your elbow and your knee and bring your right knee up with your right arm and your left knee up with your left arm. All those fun. I think they 

Seth: call those fundamentals.

JP: Yes. But like he always made them fun.

Seth: He put the fun in fundamental.

JP: Yes. 

. I'm sure I put the mental and fundamental for him, but complimentary skillsets. Yeah, I remember that. I mean, the team, wasn't great. Not that you expected team of ten-year-olds to be amazing, but I don't think they want a game until the very end of the season when they finally won one.

And it was just like the most amount of excitement you can imagine from a bunch of 10 year olds. But I do remember that it was all about community. It was all about building the team. My dad took it as building a team of individuals and making sure to work on each of their skillsets so that the team as a whole could come together.

So he was, he, wasn't just the coach that says, go run the drills. And, you know, if you're the slowest then too bad for you, he would work with the slowest. He'd also worked with the fastest, but he would work with the loss and figure out why and, and help them get better individually. But he would also spend the time on building the community of the team.

And I remember just the parents just loved that team. We had, I think we had 13 kids on that team. And the following year we had 10 who were repeats and they requested to be on that same team again. So it was, it was incredible. That's awesome. 

I love the little subtle point you made there about working with the slowest and the fastest.

I think as leaders, you know, often our, our energy may be, gets directed to the slowest and you don't spend as much time with the fastest and you know, 

you think they're self-sufficient right. You feel like, Hey, they're good. They don't need my attention. And they might not need your attention, but they deserve your attention.

And, you know, spending that time with them can, can lead to so many better things. 

Seth: You know, coaching has a lot of parallels there. You know, I think my perception of coaching prior to, you know, getting a coach was that you needed to have a problem, or you needed it to be the slowest in order to get a coach.

And a lot of times it's people who are already the fastest, I want to get faster. They need somebody else to work with and create the space to help explore and find that next year. 

JP: There's a reason why, like we've interviewed a few Olympians and professional athletes. Now there's a reason why they all start to have individual coaches, whether it's mindset or working on their game, or some of them even have individual coaches for different aspects of their game, 

Seth: right! Strength, conditioning, nutrition, all these things, all these elements, you know, they show up in elite athletics obviously, but in, in a business context and a personal context, you have all these different elements to manage and it can be very difficult to do that without. Some support. But I, I love I love, I love that story, that anecdote, I can just picture a little JP with a little suit.

JP: That would have been hilarious. I want to go back and do that now. 

Seth: I should have, I think for me too, I only played one season of organized basketball and it was in grade 12. And up until that point, a combination of not being able to afford it and just not really having the opportunity to play prior to that.

But in grade 12 we moved to Wainwright and just sort of the quick story before we get to the episode here. I remember that all of the kids on the team or most of the kids on the team had T-Mac shoes. So this is back when Tracy and a Grady was, was at his prime. And I could just rustle up enough money from my job at KFC to pay for the fees to play and no, my leftover money for shoes.

So I actually went down to the local sands and I purchased a pair of I'm going to say some kind of no-name shoe. I don't know. They might've been sand store shoots. That might've been a thing. And I got creative and I wrote on them Simo, because at the time I went by Seth Malloy. So it was se M oh oh three, which was the year I graduated.

So CMO, threes they were, they were quite, they were not quite TMX. But that's, that's what I had to do to, to play. And I just remember, yeah. The coaches and the players, even though I had never played an organized basketball game in my life the majority of my basketball experience came from tripling on a piece of plywood out in a farm yard.

They included me and it was, it was probably the funniest organ. Sport and season of organized sport I've ever played. And, you know, it's carried me all these years. Like my love of basketball is girl. And sort of from 

JP: that point, it's amazing how that kind of sort of community development. We talk a lot about personal development, but it's amazing how getting the community involved and, you know, being a part of something that feels bigger than you can push you quite a long way.

Seth: Yeah. I, you know, I think of all aspects of my life and, and I mentioned in the preview for this episode, you know, I was out on the weekend helping with a community garden and there was probably, you know, 40 people from, you know, a pretty small community of Redwood Meadows out there putting in fence posts, Raycon gravel and just trying to put together a nice space for the community to come together and do some gardening, which is obviously great for everyone, especially to be able to have that type of place for kids to go and, and learn about, you know, organic matter and how things grow and all that kind of stuff.

So, you know, I'm continuously inspired by that and we've talked about it at length. In both of our personal development journeys, one of the key pillars that's helped enable us to get where we are is surrounding ourselves with the right people and being part of a great 

JP: community. They'll believe that you need to have some sort of major contribution or put away a bunch of time or money to contribute to your community or be involved.

And there are so many ways that you can be involved with whatever community you're a part of, whether it's your physical geographic community, or if it's a community of learners or people in the same role or at work, there are so many different things that you can get involved in, and it doesn't take a ton of effort.

You just need to ask. So maybe in the next couple of seconds here, as we roll into this, really start to think about, you know, what are the, what are the things that I could get involved with to make a difference in life?

Seth: The this week we're joined by Ming, an assistant coach of the Edmonton stingers and the Canadian elite basketball league. Welcome to the show, 

Ming: man. Thank you. Thank you for having me guys. 

Seth: Yeah, no, we're very grateful that you made the time to hop in with us today. And just right off the top, I know that you're, you're, you're a basketball player.

That's that's your background, but I'm always curious. How would you describe yourself? Like what w w what do you 

Ming: bring to the world? Especially a great question. But thinking about it for the past few months prior to COVID me and my wife actually had a long conversation. Because usually when people ask me, of course, like you see, I'm a coach and I have a businesses, I have two businesses that I run in house, plus my wife businesses as well.

So I like to say that, I guess I'm an entrepreneur as a whole and, and, you know, really trying to, trying to change lives to the basketball side of it. I try to make everything better. So I would say probably mostly I'm more of an entrepreneur and just driven to be successful as much as possible.

That's awesome. 

JP: You've taken the time to think about it. I think a lot of people default, they, well, they default to kind of where you started there, which is I run a business. Well, that's what you do, but that's not who you are. So it's great to see that you've taken the time to really think about who you are and what you bring in.

Ming: Absolutely. I mean, you think about it coaching and why is the goal is to get in the kids better, get a team, better players individually. And on the business side of it, the thing I think is common, the same thing we want to get our clients better, whatever they need. You know, for example, I run a marketing company.

So the goal is to make sure the company is seen to the public or whatever the target market is. So this is, I'm doing the same thing in the basketball, you know, just to get them better. I think the goal is to, you know, to be driven together, the customer, whatever they, it is, the customers are the players to get people 

Seth: better.

I wonder you mentioned there that you're driven and obviously to get to the level that you're at and professional sports, and as well as running a company, I mean, you have to be driven. You have to be self motivated. You have to get out there and do stuff. And I know that you have a pretty inspiring story, you know, grew up in Africa, came over to the states, NCAA.

My ended up here in Canada that took place in pro ball, but I'm just curious, where does that drive come from? Like where, where, where did where do you think you got that? 

Ming: You know what, to be honest, I was the most laziest kid ever when I was young. So sometimes proud of myself, but you know what, I think the biggest thing that happened to me when I moved, when I was about 15, 16 years old you know, I, I was living in a comfortable home, you know, great, you know, we were enraged, everything comfortable.

And you know, I decided that I would chase my dream and basketball was the thing that I want to do. And, you know, kind of force my parents to let me go. Obviously somebody came down and Africa recruited me and once I leave acade, you know, the first four weeks, and I like to, you know, I'm very transparent about this, about this, the first four or five weeks I cried every night.

I want to go home. You know, it was, you know, I was actually kind of depressed. No just because you're not used to it. Right. So I, especially as a kid at 16 is free tasks and plus no parents around, I took the plane by myself. So really kind of mold me into who I am today in terms of, you know, obviously, you know, kind of struggling and trying to, you know, get to use the lifestyle they used to France, how to make friends maybe the language alone.

I mean, I did speak English to the states. So that alone was a challenge and you know, it made me, I guess you can say you definitely made me tougher having tougher skin and be able to like, you know, keep going, whatever, whether I'm failing. I mean, I fell out, you know, throughout my journey, but I kept going because I knew, you know, there was only one.

No, no, just mom next to me or that next to me, I had to 

JP: keep going. You mentioned your your move. You've moved a couple of times. The states you've, you've been out in the east now, you're out in Edmonton. What, what have you found about like each of those moves? We always talk about how the environment around you changes you and how have you found those different environments to change you?

Ming: I can say I'm very good to get customed to the new place. You know, after that thing, after I observe a lot and I ask a question, I see things and I, and I watched you, but I think again, it comes down to, from what I've seen and what I believe my first, you know, my first couple of months in the states and, you know, I landed in Baltimore, which was a very terrible area.

At that time when I went, it was bad. So I seen a lot of things, observe it, you know, make sure, you know You know, I guess you can say surviving things really then moved to Massachusetts, completely different area, right? You go from a to Z, it's just completely different. You know, you have more black people in Baltimore, you have more white folks in Massachusetts.

So that, that opened my eyes, right. So there is good people in the world. There's good things than bad. So you just got to figure out, you know, make sure they used to stay in line and your goals. And then after that moved to New York completely different. I mean, I would see that small diverse banks. So I will say, you know, each city.

Something different out of me. And I learned something from each city, same thing in Edmonton right now I'm blows so much. It's funny. I mean, you know how much I'm learning in terms of like the people, the culture and how people interact with each other. So obviously they bring something different than I did.

I just paid though. It sounded 

JP: like you moved from different paces of life to not just, not just the cultures around you, but you went from, you know, fast paced to slow down to really fast paced to Halifax St. John's like, that's a much slower pace of life than an Edmonton would be, for example. 

Ming: So, yeah.

Well, St. John is St. John is devastating. I mean, I'm the slowest, so there's really nothing. I mean, I get it too. You can just drive, you know, don't do this, but you can't drive with no license and nobody will stop you. And how fast, a little faster, cause the smell of a booming city and, you know, back to Edmonton was a little slow funny.

That's I think by Edmonton where I find it and chicken, it is big but not big. And you know, especially here, the sun goes down to like 11:00 PM. That blew my mind. I was like, I was lost for words for that one. Okay. 

JP: I was the same way when I moved out west for the record, I. Yeah, 11 o'clock sunset in the summer was crazy to me.

Okay. I 

Ming: can't comprehend that, but I love it. It's 

Seth: tough to get kids to go to bed when it's still looks like the middle of the day outside. Ming, just a couple of things. I think, you know, the topic that we were really gonna double down on in this episode was around community, particularly building community.

But you know, maybe before we get into that and some of the work that you've done with Halifax prep, which I'm super interested to learn a bit more about, you mentioned when you first came to the states, those, those first few weeks crying every night or emotional and, and not having, I'm going to guess a community to really gravitate towards.

And I wonder like coming out of that, w were there some communities that embraced you and, and what did that, you know, You don't have to go community by community like physical city, but how did you, how did you kind of get through that and what kind of community did you gravitate towards? Was it all through basketball or was it through other means or how did that go for you?

Ming: Definitely a lot of communities, email supporting me and, and I think one of the things that I've learned quickly again, like I said, first, my first place was Baltimore where I was a little bit, a little bit more reserved. I was tall kid, you know, kinda, you know, one of those like talkies, they, you know, you talk down and, you know, a little bit of bullying.

So I kinda a little got my stuff reserve and, you know, at one point I just, you know what, let me just get on my shelf and, and start off with everybody really, really, you know, cause I'm my wife was, I mean, I'm a butterfly that I write. So almost everybody go to people, houses and never stay in one spot.

That's how I. So masters, it definitely was a great community. I made their upper arm really, really of arm to me and, and, and that to meet a lot of people. And I think that's kind of like no way I am too. They were each, each place. And I love, I love doing this podcast, like get to know people and learn about them.

You know, I think life is a learning experience. If you don't learn, you can grow. And that's exactly how I see. I mean, moving from the Africa to different countries, to, you know, that, that kind of mold me, who I am today, where it's like, you know, you can't put me any places and I will find a way to make some happen, whatever, whatever that is.

You know, so I may going back to your question is, you know, with all those experience, you know, coming to Canada where I didn't know anybody and started a business where it kind of, it, it took, it took off after a year or two. Was obviously one of my heart of the work that I've put in, but two, mostly because of the people that I've met throughout my journey and the connection that I've made, and really it comes down to one thing and I was telling the kids this just be nice.

Doesn't cost money, you know, just be nice. It's so simple. It's, it's the most, it just blows my mind when I see, you know, I was, you know, one right now, you're not moms who was on our team. I talked to them all the time where it's like, you know, he has the charismatic, the character and he can do so much more, you know, I'm trying to push him to do more and more just because again, basketball, we know, we all know at the time, it's only for a certain period of time.

But what SKU bring to the world? Or what else can you do that will fulfill yourself? And to me, it's really talking to people, figuring out what they're, you know, what they want to do, or I have a problem. How can I solve. Right. How can I make them happy or whatever the case might be. So I think that's the biggest thing where Canada definitely embrace it in Halifax, essentially.

What was the first one to really, you know, build something in terms of a basketball prep. And I was the first one to also build a, a league out there. How sleek, because nobody kind of, most of the, as you know, most of the, the government basketball body kind of shut it, shut me down from the jump, but I kept going.

I was like, you know what, I'm not stopping it because I, then they, I saw those kids, they needed something different. And I was, I always believed this and I don't want to put them down, but mean, everybody brings something to the table, right? Like a food, everybody has different spice, whatever the case might be.

I think the biggest thing. We have to make sure that those kid or whoever we are teaching, make sure that they get the option to taste all the foods and not just one food. 

JP: Is that something that you've always kind of thought you would get into? Like you mentioned pushing moon and we've had me on the show, like, is that something you thought about even coming up that, Hey, I have to have a future.

Let me plan for the future or was it just something that came about and you found yourself being a, an unintentional entrepreneur and now you just love it and you're doing it 

Ming: more and more. I didn't even think about being a coach, to be honest, I was like, no. Well, I mean, I had a craziest coach. You can think of Bobby earlier, Danny.

It was good. It was, that was pretty insane. So no, I never thought about it, you know, but you know, I gotta say I'm always, I was always like one of those butterfly guy talking to everybody network can't talk and talking, but I never knew that it was kind of, I could have turned to the scale. We'll just meet, be me and be personable.

And I guess it'd be just being nice to everybody, really, to the point where it's like, you think about that, huh? Maybe I can, you know, kind of use my advantage a little bit and we get to know them all. 

JP: Was there a moment where it clicked for you that, Hey, I gotta, I got to open this business. This is the thing I have to do.

Ming: Probably Milan. I doubt my, my fifth, no, in, in Halifax, 

JP: the fifth tidy are told you shouldn't have a business. You were like, I'm doing 

Seth: this. Yes, yes, 

Ming: yes, absolutely. Because again, I came in, you know, obviously I start, you know, the global statue to do two years in Canada. And move back to the state and try to get, go to the dealer and go whatever the case might be.

But obviously I'm in my wife and I love, I love the environment Canada gives. I like the family environment. I'm a big family guy. Right. So that was like a no brainer for me. But yeah, I mean, you know, I I've, I've sent my resume, which was pretty heavy and I still got to know kind of like piss me off a little bit.

I'm like, really, you guys really don't want me to help. And at that point it was, again, I was a volunteer basis. I was just say, I just want to be around. Just want to be, be around kids or whatever. It keeps my, whatever you need. I can just help. I know I can't help. So after the fifth, no, it kind of clicked.

And actually my wife kind of smacked me in the back of the head was like, you know what. She may look at you. She kind of started giving me like a little pepper spray. So if you're tall, you have, you have a great resume. You have a graduate international business marketing degree. You know, you play at the highest level, you met some really, really cool people.

Why not? And I was like, you know what? Why not? 

Seth: It's interesting. Like, I think there's been a bit of a cultural shift or there's an ongoing cultural shift, I think, towards sports other than hockey. Cause I'm just thinking out loud here, but if you had played, let's say university division one for a hockey team and went back to try to help your local minor hockey association.

Like they would be all over you and you would have ample opportunity, but basketball is kind of. Still very much a niche sport in Canada. And I guess, how have you navigated that? Because you know, in, in Halifax, which is a pretty, pretty big city, there, there is no other academy other than, than what you're doing and, and no basketball, only facility, like some of the, the the things that you've put in place.

So what has it been like to sort of break down barriers and, and be on the forefront of, of growing basketball in Canada? 

Ming: Wow, that's a good question. I don't know if you've seen my, the CBC did a documentary on me. It was a part one and part two. And that kind of highlighted my journey a little bit.

And yeah, man, it's, it's tough. Eh, you know, now it goes back to, again, like my first show, you know, everything kind of revolved to my first associate communist state and all the struggles I've been in where it's not now, it's like, you know, I don't see as, as struggle, I just see it as like It's been tough as in how to fascinate, you know, trying to go to the game basketball, like you say, high keys, so huge in Canada where it's like, no matter, you know, no matter where you are, if you do something really good, most likely, you know, people are going to work on you and embrace you and things of that nature.

So you're right. Basketball is a little, it's still a little bit in back. I mean, we're moving slowly for sure. We still feel better than 10 years ago, I guess. For sure, but it is pretty slow. I had to bring a lot of barriers. That's, let's be honest. A lot of phone calls, a lot of emails. You know, I've been really, really great good point with the mayor of the Halifax, which gave me a little bit of a boost.

But even that. There was, there was still a lot of bears and just looking at a house that's portfolio, for example, we are the first and only prep program in Nova Scotia which you would think that will be allowed to support. She's the only one. There's nothing else. I mean, you know, you have a great game at home.

We pack the crowd, we may history and bill what we call it, the NSSL, which is the Federation of, you know, high school basketball sports, the United basketball, just sports in general. Or I still trying to like say no, Hey, no, you guys can't play no regular team. You can't do this. You can't do that. So we had to really, you know, to be honest, we had to be out of meetings after meetings, after meetings.

And, but that like me, I kind of see through the BS sometime. And when I see that I just, you know what, let me work something else out. So that just one of the bears you know, there's so many on me that here, to be honest, to really be honest, being an AF African and black as probably the hardest thing, especially when you go to a different one to a different country and to the city where nobody knows you.

So that, that, that barrier was tough. But, and I was, I was walking. We must smile connecting, being above cloud that I have. That's kind of what I always tell the guys. There's no more, same thing, you know, and that's why I liked them once a month. Cause he's always smiling. He's very enjoyable. I mean, you seem, you want to come see me, one of the tops of them and that's, you know, there's not even a skill it's just being you.

And I think that's huge. It always going to turn, you know, even somebody who doesn't like you, you will get so much positive that the negative, just going to be, you know, whatever crazy 

JP: that a basketball doesn't have, like it was invented by a Canadian. Why, why is basketball not more popular? Like it's, it's certainly on the rise of, to your point 10 years ago.

Probably a very different environment than it 

Ming: is today. Oh no, it definitely is. I just want to add split just when I started training kids, especially in Halifax, I saw the town level, the town levels was there. No question about it. It was just like, like, like I said earlier, No, the drama was necessarily there, but the skill level was definitely there.

And I think to top it off in the states, basketball's such a big culture. If you play basketball, it's like, you know, they'll want to make sure that you are doing it. Whether it's your neighbors or there's your high school coach, or even your math teacher, you just want to see a game. They want to see how you doing.

Do you know what I'm saying? Like where it's kinda, it's a little bit still, like you don't have to do the job and that's it. Right. And, and, and what I've done is my first year right away, I, you know, I kind of started a sentence to the kid. If you do this, you're going to get a gear. If you have a good grade, I'm going to take you here.

If it stay state is kind of same thing. When I play, when I sucked, I didn't get nothing. When I started getting better and get a lot of looks, well, he, this was him, some shoes this, well, now I'm like, I'm going to work even harder. It's not one more. So I think that's the only thing that we need in Canada.

And we. Why there's still no full scholarship available. Right? So like those small incentive needs to happen so that the kids feels like, Nope, I'm more working my butt off for a reason, not just to be here, to be 

JP: here. Can you really look into, try and change the culture around basketball and not just basketball?

I'm sure. Like culture around sport, like to your point a university scholarships, or like those would help, not just basketball, but pretty much every sport 

Seth: I've asked this question a million times, even in the hockey world, why is it that, you know, unless you go play the WHL you have to go down to the U S to play college sports.

Like why don't we have the, the infrastructure we have the best players in the world, the best coaches, the best hockey infrastructure, like this is what we're best at. And yet if our, if our top end kids want to go get an education and play at the, at the highest level, they have to go down to the states for it.

It doesn't make any 

Ming: sense. And that's true. I mean, I've sent about. Oh, my gosh, probably 15 kids away and three of them in the states. And that's kind of where I started. And obviously it was great if the family was happy, there was again, a huge scholarship. The kids was gone away, but at one point after my second year, third year, I was like, you know what, why now?

Keeping them in Canada? I mean, yes, Kent state is great, but it all good enough to stay home and still be able to compete. So that in that, and that's where half the class private came in. Right. So you, right. Like at our level, we have the town level. We have to find a way to just keep him in. And that's kind of what I love about this.

CBS. Where it's like even a useful guide to playing here. Again, you know, again, a little touch of what a pro pro life look like and, and, and keep, keep your Tonya at home. Right. And it makes them make it better. Not just the Americans, not even though I live in America, but let them know that we are coming from them.

Seth: Something that caught my attention when you were talking there is, or I guess one of the things that really impressed me when I was reading up on your story is, you know, with Halifax prep in particular, It's all about the kids, right? Like you, you, you say it multiple times, it's all about development.

It's all about helping people get to the next level. And, and, you know, I believe there's authenticity to that. Like, it just it's genuine. And so I love that, but I think what a lot of people would see on any team, like you see the gym, you see the kids in there having fun. You see you know, that you've created this great community, but a lot of people don't see all the, all the stuff that happens behind closed doors to make that happen.

And I spent some time in the hockey industry for, you know, eight, nine years. And it's an all year thing just to people don't think about things like ice rentals and transportation and, and sharing ice with other groups. And like, there's so much stuff happening in the background. And, and you mentioned, you know, How, you know, not only were you a new immigrant to the country, you hadn't been here before, you didn't know anybody also being African.

W what did you find were some of the barriers specific to you? Was it that people didn't take you seriously or that they weren't interested in your cause? Or like what, what did you have to overcome? And is there any like, stories that you could share? Because I think that behind the scenes stuff, it's so hard to make what you're doing happen, and that's why it doesn't, that's why no one else has done it.

So just curious, like, are there some specific challenges that you w you want to 

Ming: share? I will say one word. And and I use quite, quite some time, even with my team. Buy-in right. So buy-in, and maybe if you don't buy into it, or if you don't think that it's right away, somebody to something new, I think that's a, and I hate to say it, but then that's the problem with a lot of in Canada in general, when you, when Canadians see something.

Yeah. They're really reluctant to leave it in trying to see what's going on or what's happening if they're not used to it. No, if they're not, they don't see it. No, it's a, it's a, it's a pushback instead of, you know, in America, American cars, we're more like, okay, that's interesting. Let me find out why, why are you doing it?

Okay. What's the point? What's the plan, et cetera, et cetera. At questions where, and again, I think a lot of times, especially in sports, in general, even in business, actually, to be honest, it is almost like a first no. Or like, you know, we'll, we'll check it out. We see those then I think what I've done and what we've done with was great was year after year, we have been successful in terms of sending kids away.

We should, they graduating, help them out, you know, put them on a social media platform and things of that nature. And then it's like, people saw it like, oh, okay. Oh, okay. Yeah, she done it. Hey, you know, it's nice. More like, okay, we will support it. You know, cause now we buy an end and we deliver it and we see it, et cetera.

So I think that was probably the biggest challenge to get them to buy in it, to support it. After year one and year two, it was like, you know, it was, it got a little easier, but the first year was, it was tough. It was rough. I mean, I had five kids and CarGurus in my house with my wife, my kids. That's a handful.

Yeah. I'm surprised I only get the boards. So yeah, it was, it was trust me guys. It was not, it was not fun, but you know, once I'm on the call with those guys, you know, And, and my wife knows that I'm searching, like, cause that kind of see that myself and them again, we live in Africa to another country inspired to play bass way, hopefully do something cool basketball.

So I'm going to succeed. I'm like, no one, no, nobody, nobody was there for me, obviously that has some people, but it was very hard for me to do it by myself. So you know, it's kind of like minded click in my mind. Like, you know, I gotta, I gotta figure this thing out, but sometimes he would buy me an ass, of course, cause people I'm helping, but 

JP: you, you opened your school.

It's you know, it's not that old in terms of a business and similar for the CBL, it's not been around very long. Are there a lot of parallels between the two on the, on the things you have to overcome and the challenges that you're facing and that you're learning in one space and able to apply in the other and, and 

Ming: vice-versa absolutely, absolutely.

I think. I'm learning a lot, actually, some CBL should have few minutes, you know, few talks with Mike on commission. I mean, everybody, like I say, I'm a butterfly to everybody pick their brain and really, really learn how they run it. Because at the end of the day, yes. You know, I've run it myself, my house, but this is even on the biggest stage and this even more work here.

So I like to know I always like to think I'm a big learning guy. And CBI, I think, you know, I love it. To be honest, completely. Exactly. I think I was shocked to see how well there was structure. You know, I play obviously in the NBL kind of out there. So coming here was completely different. I maybe, you know, I loved it.

That's kind of, you know, what it was, it was the perfect match, but that's kinda how I like to. My organization and my company in general. So I just, you know, fell in love with it. And and of course, you know, why it learning and seeing things you pick up some few things there, you know, okay, maybe you should do this.

Maybe you should add this to sort of team that takes the initiative. But I mean, it was a, it was a fellow, a pretty good transition, I will say. You know, I was able to really, really get accustomed to it pretty fast. 

Seth: Yeah. I, I'm a big fan of the CBL. I, I really would love to see expansion down in Calgary at some point.

It's it's you know, we can talk about the business side. Like we, we got to know Mike A. Little bit. We had him on the podcast and he just seems like such a great leader, innovative, open to new ideas. Like I think you'd be a great person to, he seems like an ideal person to run the line. And, and the ball is great.

Like I went to a game earlier this year. I was think the one where Xavier had 38 pounds and, and it was awesome. It was, so my son he's nine and he plays basketball here in Calgary. And, and he, you know, that's, that's his sport and he spend NHL games, MLB games. I've taken them to sports his whole life.

And by far, the most he's ever enjoyed a sporting event was the Harlem globe Trotters and the Edmonton stingers basketball game. He just, he loved it and the atmosphere was great. The basketball was awesome. Like just a great fan experience. And I, I feel like once people in Canada, like get tuned into this.

The sky's the limit in terms of how big this could get. Yeah, yeah, 

Ming: no, I listen. And I'm saying this one more time. I did not expect this out. I mean, you know, you seen it, you know, especially obviously living in Halifax, you know, I never really watched the game or anything like that, plus Colby lash. So it kind of starts on, on that part for the league because they doubt this.

She was supposed to be like, kind of like the breakout year, but now that kind of going back to year two, to be honest, a year last year was in didn't really count as much those people did. You know, Tim didn't play their own Regina really, really put that punish, put a short, but you know, like you send me the potentials of it's it's very high.

I mean, you know, and like I said, like the way they run things is so professional and I, I cannot do the same thing where even back in Halifax, Halifax prep, I try to. College and be a lifestyle life in terms of like basketball and how we were like poaches and water managers and things, because the whole point is, especially with basketball, you want to make the player feel special while they're still training.

Very hard. They'll feel special. The product kind of goes down a little bit. So the same thing with CBL, I mean, they, they want to make sure they feel special. All the players, you know, they're taken care of you know, especially at this level of perfection. So why not? When I make them look at the best players in a word.

Yeah, you right, man, if they can keep going. And I think they will, and hopefully we have a team in house that will be, that'll be a game changer for 

JP: sure. I gotta, I gotta ask as a coach. Much has your heart pounded through your chest with the ELAM ending?

Ming: I mean, I'm not sure if you guys watch a lot, the last weekend we had, other than regular season, 

Seth: I missed it. It wasn't, but it looked like it was a close one. Was that it was like one point or 

Ming: yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, we'll, we will up by at one point 12. Right. And it was cruising was playing well fourth quarter comes down to three minutes left.

They start coming back like really, really slowly. Right. We kind of hit shots and they were like, well, what's going on? Right. Like, okay, we've got store here then. Like, okay, this is great. You know what I mean? It comes down desktop chip and I mean, it was, I think it was 80. Can can't remember the score. I think by two, we need to score two more points.

And meanwhile, those guys are coming back as, and score is boring. And at that point, the whole crowd just stand up, everybody stand up, man, nobody sat down. They would just wait. And we going back and forth, back and forth calls. And then finally we hit a huge shot. So I mean, if I wanted to follow them in and we had Frito John Baker hill free to do when they get in, but that was the most stressful out of all of them.

That was the most stressed. I will actually think about it. You know, I was, as you probably know, I always like to dress and I was stressed up. I was like, okay, I can't lose this girl. I'm going to burn these shirts. 

JP: How much does the ELL mending do for like play or confidence for crowd interaction? Like I know the intent is to really get the crowd going and to make the end exciting every game.

But I'm curious from your perspective as a coach, I'm sure there's some challenges with it, but what are like, what, w w what's your experience? 

Ming: Yeah, no. As a coach, as a coach, as coaches, we it's 50 50. We like it. We don't really like it. As the crowd obviously has spans, I mean, this is. Beautiful thing ever.

I love it. 

Seth: I love it. I 

JP: know. It's what you play when you're a kid, right? Like you're out on the basketball court and you could be up by 80 and its next basket wins. Yeah, yeah, 

Ming: yeah, absolutely. I mean the game before last game, I believe it was the game before the game. Now the shot at three eight away from the three point line ended for him as a player.

When you think about it, those were the shots that you shooting a backyard every time, 3, 2, 1. And like, you know, you feel, I mean, that's huge, right? So like I was gonna play a two I'm sure those guys, when they hit those shots, it's like, I feel like LeBron James, so there's this mixed emotion. There definitely is mixed emotion.

You love it. Sometimes you kind of don't like your last game cause you could've won the game already to get prior, you know, shot a crazy three and finished the Ironman. And that was a amazing to have. So. It's it's definitely mixed emotion.

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Seth: this is the the segments we're adding to the season of the podcast.

Ming is questions from listeners on the suggestion of my mom she we needed a little more listener interaction, so, and yeah, so I have now put her on the spot to ask questions on every episode. So question from mama. Seth is. When you are so gifted at something, how do you deal with the pressure to live up to that expectations?

Only 

Ming: from my mom. That's, that's amazing, you know, we all, I think we all have pressures, whether it's, you know, having a kid, being a dad, but it'll work. You know, I think the most important thing is just to know it may sound stupid, but I think to just be yourself really worry about yourself now so much worry about what other people think or what people say, obviously listened to it.

I think, you know, listen to the negative is always good cause they push it. I mean, as I say early, it pushed me to be the best I can. But again, going back to yourself, you know, just to be above that. 

Seth: Yeah. I think. A hundred percent like the expectations. A lot of times we've put on ourselves, our projections of how other people feel.

There's a concern, you know, there's a constructive way. You can use that. Like you mentioned for motivation. If someone gives you feedback and you're like, I want to get better, but when you start to ruminate and dwell on what other people might expect or think of you, it's, it's, it's never usually really 

Ming: productive.

So yeah, no

negative and positive construction. When first I thought a program Halifax, just even the league along. So if, if I had to listen to all of them, I wouldn't be here right now. 

Seth: Second question from a longtime listener and former guest of the show, Mr. Xavier moon. He, he would like to know where do you get your game fits from?

And are you the best? Are you the best dressed coach in the league? People want to know me, 

Ming: I'm going to change every day, two times a day today, just for that.

Well, I'm going to have to let the popular people decide you know, personally, I think I'm the best friend. I mean, of course even Mike told me that my window, if they have an award for best dressed, cause I probably going to win that

as far as it's actually hard to find my clothes, to be honest. And that's probably why. When I buy some clothes, I want to buy the gold one because I wanted it to last longer. I know, unfortunately I can't, I can't just go to Marshall or winners and just pick up the clothes. It doesn't work for me. So 

Seth: I would venture a guess being seven feet tall in Edmonton not the easiest place to find a really nice clothes, 

JP: find clothes for me.

And I am nowhere near seven feet tall. So I can only imagine how much of a 

Ming: struggle that is. I got to give it a shot in the Chino. They're really, really good to me that there were no partners with, with us and how to find spread. They give us a once a year and he's all cost estimate. So, you know, I love those guys.

Seth: That's awesome. Joking aside one of the things that I took away from the game that I went to and having the chance to get to know Xavier a little bit. That first quarter of the game. And I I'm drawing a blank on the team. I think it was the Honeybadger. He looked like a, I'm going to say like Allen Iverson, like he looked like a legitimate NBA player.

Especially in that first half, like he was crossing guys over daggers threes, like he was doing it and it wasn't even just the on ball. Like he was, he was controlling the offense. And then I think you guys made a switch to put a different point guard in there. He was playing off ball. He was making shots.

I remember at one point he turned the ball over and then he got back first guy. Yes, yes, yes. Coaching him. And what do you think his ceiling 

Ming: is so fun? Salt soul. I mean, you cannot get ADME as a coach is a dream player, right? You can almost just sit down and drink and Dockery and just enjoying watching bland, just kind of give him some few point pointers.

Now I'm at the kid that the guys driven, man, you know, it's, it's just in you know, he has the mentality for it. It's just a matter of like patrolling and kind of guide him to, to be as perfect as he can be. But you know, moon is, is definitely special at the time. I mean, man, he's very good. I mean, he he's, no, there's a reason why you probably even better this, like, to be honest, but the kid is special and I know what, what makes it special, even more special?

He listened, he lost. You know, the first, when I first got the job, the first day I looked at him, I was making, you know, I was kind of like, I, him, and like, I heard you nice, but I want to play you one on one and I want to see what you got wrong to you that night. He laughed. He loved it. And since that we became really, really tight.

We don't know we have handshake for the game because I challenged him. Right. So not just because I saw he was too tired. I don't care say myself. Right. I'm like, I don't care who you are. Let's see it. Let's do it. So yeah, it's very fun to close a guy like him. Right. And, and to be honest, the team in general, this is my.

There might be, this is the most specialty med van. I have a special, I have special team, even my hottest last prep team, but this is a very, very special team. No ego characters are a hundred percent. I mean, you can, if you have to wash them, you don't have to chat on them. I'm very professional. Everybody plays for them for, for each other.

That's the biggest thing I think while we winning, because if you really looking at, you know, on the roster, you know, looking at all the rosters, Honeybadger to the team, they have really, really like, you know, NBA caliber or like, you know, big names and things. What you're looking at us, you have CAMBA, right.

Got John and baker. He's a legend, but still, it's not like an NBA, you know, you know, who went to the D league or anything like that. But the fact that those guys can gel together and play for each other, that's what makes us special. And now it's, you know, kinda like if you have a washcloth. My favorite quote, you know, you want to be a fit.

Have a stronger punch than just if one person is off, you can't really punch it. You just won't break a finger. If everybody all together, you can go to 

JP: anything. That's awesome. One of the things that, that we wanted to really touch on as well, like you're, you've got the coaching that you do at a higher level, and then you've got the coaching with the youth.

What are some of the things that you are talking to? You, you talked about being nice, but what are some of the things you talked to the youth about to really get them ready for that next level of success and, and aspire to be the next person that you're facing. One-on-one in a practice at, in the Edmonton facilities.

Ming: You know what? I'm actually really crazy or with my youth I'm very hard on them. You know, at first, when I first started, my wife was like, you know what, no kids are ever gonna come see you, man. Cause you just too crazy. And I'm like making you what my, but my, I think my job, you know, being a father is my jam as a coach, especially with the youth.

It's to prepare them is to mold them. And if I don't do that, then I'm not doing my job. If the, once they get older. And pro-level, nobody's going to tell you what to do, forget about for a level where we become your own father. You want to get your own job, nobody's grabbing your hand. So I'm a firm believer in teaching them early.

And be Harley and still giving them love. You know, so, you know, I play against them. I kick the ass and I talk smack to them. Cause I want them to feel not to feel it, but I want them to be ready for it. Do you know what I'm saying? So, you know, I first practiced, I was doing traps, you know, half a, they really did it to trap, especially at a young age that I don't really do that.

I'm like, you know what? I'm taking gas to the states. We don't travel working on this pushing guys on pulling the line. Somebody has a bad grade. The whole team is running. If I see a, I just feel like so we had like a Friday night report. Every parents would come to the gym and tell me how the kid has behavior.

Just in general. If the kid said it's mousy, I'll take this plate to the kitchen that he did. Listen, there we go. The whole team is freaking around and they fall for a long time. So I think, you know, I'm, I'm hard. I'm definitely hard on the youth. They just, because again, I want them to be ready for the for that.

So the next thing, the next slide. And you know, there's no better time to start a young and you know, a Ashley works at, so my parents love it that, you know, essentially to be another father to them and be able to renew, really pay attention to everything they're doing. 

JP: It's awesome. My basketball coach when I was younger was maybe six feet tall.

So he wasn't swatting anything out of my hands. Maybe, maybe I needed a little more of that in my life. 

Ming: Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, you know, 

Seth: I I don't know if this is on the approved list of coaching dad to son techniques, but since Lyndon was little when we play in the backyard, if he does, if, when he takes a shot, if I can block it, I do.

And I'm like, get that garbage out of 

Ming: here 

Seth: every time. And now he's gets, he's better. Like he can, he can get a shot over me and like he's only nine and he can. You know, he can do the pump fake. He can stick a set, like 

Ming: I'm a for I'm a firm believer that kids are so smart. They will figure it out. If you don't do it, they're not going to figure it out right away.

So you have to do certain things to make them think know to make them like really, really think. Right. So like, if we always, it goes back again to like, you know it goes back to Canada, VSU USA, you know, Canadian players, very well. The kid is talented as hell. Right. But he moved to the states. Right. And then he got the mentality that he switched and this added to this skill and made him him.

Right. So, you know, our kids get same thing. I see a lot of young guys they're very, very talented. It's just a motor. They don't have like the driven aspect. And I hate to say most too, because either the parents are always called them right. Or kissing their butts. Are you looking at hockey folks? I'm asked.

I know some parents are crazy about their kids and hack and yell at them. Like, come on, practice, practice, do this. No, you're not getting better. You got it. Right. So it's become a culture where it's like, I can of do you, can't go to hike and just, oh, it's okay. No, no, no, no. It's not happening. Right. So we need the same culture in basketball.

We didn't start with, obviously our parents goes to the teacher, to the coaches to cause the, towards the family, a kid, the whole, the whole village. Right. 

JP: So many lessons and those failures, right? Like if you're just, if you're just able to drive in and make a layup after layup, after layup, when you're at practice and you think you're the greatest thing ever the first time you face failure, It's going to break you, you got to face failures in your practice so that you can get better for your game too.

Ming: Absolutely. That's a great, that's a great point. Right? 

Seth: How do you how do you approach a mindset with the kids? Cause, I mean, if I'm, if I'm just sort of distilling what you're saying, I mean, we've got there's kids with skill for days but it's that resilience that grit, that mindset that, you know, they can get through it.

How do you approach that with with the youth and, and w what separates, like the Xavier moon type kid versus, you know, the kid with the talent that just, just doesn't get it. Yeah, 

Ming: yeah. Yeah. It's tricky. It's tricky. You have to be, you have to be careful. And actually we did a canvas and Saskatoon and I have more like, you know, you told me to come here cause he wants to see how I change it and things like that.

But and I give a few pointers, you know, with the kids is very, very tricky. I've been doing this for quite some time. You really have to watch them. And I talk to the kid first trying to figure out what first thing is, what makes him tick. Right. If each kid makes, has the, has something that makes going, you have to find the, see, it can be hard sometimes to find out if a kid is very shy, doesn't talk, right.

So you have to open up. So I'll make it like those kids are really make a lot of the jokes. I make them comfortable, like loosen it up, you know, tickle them or whatever, whatever that is to let them like, you know, be themselves right. To open up. And it also depends on the age group, you know, when they very, very young, you know, you don't want to go too, too hard.

You kind of go easy on them, but still kind of like for the young age, more of like don't tell them about the life lessons, right. To get them kind of ready for, you know, license and really more about my life. And I was talking about my life because

right, right. Make some money off that day. So not kind of those younger guys, more about life, the older guys, more by life. The push it and push, it can be in different ways. You know, the pushing can be different. You know, I saw, you know, make layup or, you know, running the 17 or not talking back. So for example, I will do, let's say a kid's a little bit high school level, unless we're doing a drill or whatever the case might be is not going as hard as it should be.

I would definitely push them and, you know, probably punishment or something of that nature. But after training, how we make sure that we have a long conversation and make sure that, that tell them that the love is there. But when we on the chord, you know, my best friend, but off the court, we're fricking best, but we can the go, whatever you want to go, we can go to the movies, whatever on the court is different.

So the goal is to teach them how to flip the switch because it's real life. No one cares. And when I say that, it's like, oh, there's a lot of people, you know, again, parents, oh, we love you. Like no, no one cares in real life. When you get older, you gotta get a job and he has to get a job. You both are fighting for her.

No one cares who you are. You've got to get it done. So, and that's kinda my job where it's like flipped the switch where it's like, you go to work or whatever you gotta get done. Or you go to school, flip the switch. This is business time. This is school time. Gotta get it done. Practice on this is practice time.

When you off you off with the switchback, you enjoy yourself, Joe, everybody times, you know, and just be you. But when it's time to take care of business, it's time to take care of 

JP: business. So many people struggle with that. Like just even in the business world, people struggle so much with the switch. It's always in that middle position where they can't, they can't separate work from life and life from work.

And I know Seth and I have talked about this. We've we've both gone through it. It's, it's tough. It's not easy to overcome. 

Ming: And to be honest, I still, you know, I'm, I'm pretty good at it, but I'm still learning. Right. So, you know, and especially having a wife, actually, no, she makes you realize her thanks to having kids for sure.

But yeah, I mean, I struggled when I was young. Right. So, you know, I was again and I was six and 17. My first game was against the DeMarcus cousin and he just. Kill me. You just pull me, like I was, I looked like, you know,

yeah, yeah. 

Seth: He's a big 

Ming: cat to the markets, this an equal meal. He just put his ass to me. I was like, yep. Get him out of there. And that's kinda like my first revelation. I was like, wow. Okay. This is a little different than coastal music. We got through the switch and I started watching Kevin. Right. And like such a nice guy on the call.

He was different. I was like, Jesus, this is, this is different. And all the other people that he's planning gets like, don't smile a gambler. Like, no, he's a nice guy, but not really. 

Seth: And like, he's, he's big in the sense that he's tall, but not the thickest guy by any means, but, you know, so he needed 

Ming: that. So the, the mindset, the mindset, that's what he changed.

And I was like, okay, this is, I just got to figure out how to change my mindset, how I think the game. And, you know, I started like, actually, you know, I said, you know, this is my little secret. Nobody I should people know about this. You guys will know now, but I used to always in my room before games.

Right. Cause I was such a nice guy. I was smiling. I was so nice to everybody before a game and start talking to myself and just like, kind of pumped me up and just got to talking trash to myself, acting like when I go to the game, I will look at my opponent, especially the bigger that I have to guard.

Just thinking like, oh, he's the one who's saying all this thing to me, like gave myself, go and get myself going, just making stuff up my mind, get mad. And I really ready to, to, to play. People are some people are like, why is he looking at me? He's crazy. Like nigga, this African guy who is, I don't think I want to play.

And 

Seth: now you're in his head a little bit. That could be the difference. 

Ming: Absolutely. Buddy, 

JP: during the Olympics, I was watching a bike racing, which might be one of the, the pursuit, bike races. They might be one of the most confusing sports I've ever seen, but the one thing that. A witness in that is one of the writers who is known to be super nice off the course before every race, she would just sit and stare at her opponent until the start gun went.

And like even on TV, she wasn't looking at me. I could see, she was looking to the side of her opponent. It was uncomfortable for me to witness, like, but it was just, that's how she changed her mindset. She just really focused on who she was racing against and it caused her to flip the switch. And I'm sure, similarly, to your experience, she's probably sitting in front of the mirror telling herself, like, you know, I know this isn't, this isn't usually how I am outside the court, but on the court, this is yeah, 

Ming: yeah, yeah, absolutely.

It's the same thing in life, right? You, you want to be able to like, you know, whatever you, your work force is, you know, you want to do it to fit the switch, whether it's like, you know, you want to be able to see what's going on around your area, your surrounding, and that's a lot of the kids. They kinda, they don't know what's going on around them.

You got to pay attention. You gotta, and that's kinda like what my goal is, really make them think more and see what's going on and, and be more 

JP: prepared, hard to separate the, like, I know we just were talking about flipping the switch and being someone a little bit different, but is it like, you're still being yourself.

You're still being authentically you, but is it hard to train that in kids? Like, I'm just thinking, even for adults, like I have conversations with adults about this all the time, and it's hard for them to separate. 

Ming: I would say in my case, I have, I have some tricks now to my sleeve. I know I have to, like I said, you have to know how to hit the pinpoint.

Like what, what make them tick. And I, and that goes back to all the time. Huge Houston, not just culture kids with culture kid. You have to know what makes them tick. You have to make, you have to know what's makes me get mad when it gets them happy. And how can you challenge that and just kind of pull it back, you know, when you need to put it back.

Right. So like, if you're hard on him, okay. What I need to pull back to make him happy so that he's still loved again, go back to the, you know, push them. So it's like, it's really tricky. You almost gotta be a psychologist. That's, it's really personal. It's mental. So yeah, I mean, for the kids, in my case, it's a little easier after, you know, I've been doing quite some time now, so it's a little easier for me to do it.

And to the point where it's almost too good to be too good, because I have requests not to some parents who, you know, kids are a little, you know, They need a little bit more help than just me being a coach. Actually, actually I've been in professional help and calling me now. It's like, no, the kids want you to eat needs you.

So this is a good thing. Of course, I love it. The fact that, you know, they want me, but sometimes it's like, okay, a little bit will be too much. Sometimes 

JP: the risk of success 

Seth: speaks to the trust that you're building and, you know, just furthers what I was thinking in terms of, you know, why you do this and, and I guess leads last couple of questions here for you, man.

But we talked a lot about the challenges in what you're doing. What would you say is the most fulfilling part of what you do? 

Ming: Wow. That's, that's, that's very simple seeing them success as succeed whatever that is. And, you know, if do you want to go to use for it? We'll make it happen. I'm happy if you don't, you want to work at a company or a media company and you're making it happen.

That's, you know, that's my goal. So I think the six that I was, I will say this I'm a firm believer in the product. The product is good as a matter perfect example. We all love McDonald's McDonald. Wasn't good. Bye. So as under the product to do that, taking care of the kids and really, I think we're in the business of servicing to be honest.

So, you know, servicing the kid, put them first, make sure they okay. And the wrestler was going to take care of itself. And you know, that's kind of how the things and, you know, I think that's what makes us pretty successful. Cause we don't, we don't really try to get into, you know, thoughtful with others and things of that nature.

I'm always like, you know what the product is good and we need to scale successfully. Well, that's my resume. I've done my job and next next kids and the next kid and those kids is going to talk about it. I don't even have to say anything. 

Seth: Beautiful. I love that. And last, last question. I think JP, unless you have anything, but what are, what are you working on personal development wise?

What are you trying to get better? How are you eating your mind? That's a good 

Ming: one. Have have a problem. I'm always thinking about it. The next thing 

Seth: you 

Ming: and us, both always most of the different I've built. I've started about gosh, about seven, seven companies. Now, you know, we have main company have a fast prep, came out.

We have the one speller hyb was locally obviously not training sessions. Did I say main marketing already? I started marketing fuse two months ago. I just, I learned that I'm pretty good at video flyers and websites. And I also, you know, part of my wife and our accounting firm. So as you can tell, see how about that.

I've been going on the editors thinkers, 

JP: your days have a lot more hours than, than, than my days. How you getting all 

Ming: that in entrepreneur. Right. I have a doula who schedule my stuff to manage and track, but I think my next thing, you know, obviously the biggest thing that I've, I think I've done some prefers to, to, to acquire my, my facility.

That was huge. I mean, I'm the first private owner , which is huge. And you know, I can go to the gym at midnight, we'll get some kids. I mean, a parent's like, yeah, we trust you, me, whatever. So I think the next thing is bigger. Somehow bigger, go home, go bigger. You know, obviously I'm definitely, you know, Mike knows it over in Halifax for sure.

That'd be awesome. I think Halifax is a great hub. I mean, everybody knows that would be beautiful by the water. You know, of sports. That will be huge to have that. So I think that's one of the thing that I'm working on and, you know, I was thinking about something, I mean, being here, man, it's it definitely, definitely got me thinking more.

I mean, okay. Let's this is exclusive just, I've been really thinking about how can I have something here and still be able to go back and forth with Halifax. You know, whatever that is. I don't know exactly what yeah. Kind of looking around, see, what's what's the market needs that's important.

Like what's needed, what's missing that. I can feel that way. Very great. 

JP: And you're creating your own farm system for the team. You're going to start up in Halifax, that's great?

Seth: Oh, thanks so much, Ming. We, this is a ton of fun, best of luck in the championship weekend, coming up and thanks. Thanks again. 

Ming: I appreciate it. Thank you guys for having me. I love doing this type of thing and I love, I love you guys graphic. Everything's good. It looks pretty professional. Probably the reason why I jumped in.

So thank you. No problem guys. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. Take care. 

JP: Hey, thanks for listening to today's episode. If you like what you 

Seth: heard today, and you'd like to tap into your inner wisdom, check us out on the bestows. yo.com, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook book, or send us a 

JP: message for a free discovery session to coaching@thebizdojo.com.

I 

Seth: hope to hear from you soon. See you next week.