00:00Charity Dean in studio with us. Charity, good morning. Good morning. What up, though, y'all?
00:04Hey, what up? You had a good week? I had an excellent week. And it's hot, so I like it.
00:09There you go. There we go. Yeah, I saw you on Facebook. You were with Jocelyn. Can you talk about
00:15that?
00:15Yeah, yesterday, Governor Moore was here from Maryland. Yeah, and we had a conversation with some black businesses at Morningside
00:21Cafe, a black-owned cafe on the east side.
00:23Love that place. Yeah, we were talking about just getting ready and what's necessary in 2026 and what we need
00:31in the state of Michigan.
00:33Man, he started talking about some of the stuff they're doing for black businesses in Maryland. I was surprised.
00:38Like what? What got you to believe? He was saying that they increased the percentage of contracts for minority-owned
00:43businesses from like 30-something percent to 70-something percent under his leadership.
00:48And they're like the number one state for black businesses. So we got a long way to go in Michigan,
00:52but it was dope.
00:53Tell people your official title. Yes, I am the president and CEO of the Michigan Black Business Alliance.
00:59You brought a guest with you today? I did. I brought my buddy, Damon. How you doing, Damon?
01:04What up, though? What up, Damon? Hi, Damon. What's up?
01:08All right, Damon, tell us what you do.
01:10I'm the founder and CEO of Hired Muscle Logistics Labor and Moving. We're a mostly commercial moving company in the
01:19city of Detroit.
01:20Wow.
01:21I tell everybody we lift, relocate, repeat. We demonstrate that strong guys with big trucks add value anywhere every day.
01:28That's how I add muscle.
01:29How long have you been in that type of business?
01:32You know what? I've been in the business for, we're going to say a solid nine years now.
01:37Okay.
01:37Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was just one of those things. You know, I believe inside of every problem is an
01:42opportunity.
01:43And I was in that Pingree Park area, you know, near Indian Village and all of that kind of stuff.
01:50Right.
01:51You know, basically Mack Van Dyke.
01:53Yeah.
01:53And we had people thought, you know, a lot of people felt like gentrification was a real problem.
01:59And in some instances it is, you know, but to address that, you have to see the opportunity as well.
02:04So these are a bunch of people who come from out of state or nowhere near Detroit.
02:10I've never been in Detroit their whole lives.
02:11Now they're living in Detroit and now they're a little scared, they're a little skittish, and they don't know anybody
02:16who can help them with goods and services.
02:18Wow.
02:18So I just said, okay, if I provide a quality service, because my background is international logistics, right?
02:24Right. So I was like, if I can coordinate air charters and ocean freights to the big three, I can
02:34figure out how to move your piano without tearing it up.
02:37Wow.
02:38You know what I mean?
02:39So that's what we did. You know, we saw the problem, we stepped in there and seized the moment.
02:43You almost had a 10-year anniversary.
02:45Yes.
02:46So now you said commercial mostly. Now can residential use you or how does that work?
02:52Absolutely. Residents can use me.
02:54Actually, have you ever gotten an opportunity and you were like, you know, you saw it in your mind and
03:00you're like, this is what I want.
03:01This is what I want.
03:02Yeah.
03:02And then it finally happens and you're like, I want this.
03:07I'm like, let's just do something else.
03:08So that's how the moving thing happened with me.
03:11You know, I was like, I was doing so many huge estates in Indian Village and I thought that's what
03:17I wanted.
03:18And when I realized those people did not align with, all of them did not align with my values or
03:26my mission or really embrace my communities.
03:30Some, but not all, right?
03:32Too many for my taste.
03:33So we started lining it up with the Detroit Housing Coalition more often and our primary customers, which is the
03:41city of Detroit and Wayne Metropolitan, right?
03:44And, you know, going from mostly moving mansions and high-end office space at KMAC downtown to going into situations
03:52where people are having their absolute worst day, when the bailiffs are at the door, when the dumpster is outside
03:58and people are crying and screaming.
04:00You know, my guys do a great job with the logistics, but a lot of times my primary thing, the
04:07main thing I need to do is hold somebody's hand.
04:12Yeah.
04:13You know, I need to hold somebody's hand, tell them it's going to be okay.
04:17We're going to take care of your things.
04:19That's right.
04:20That's when we like what you're saying.
04:22That is amazing.
04:23You don't hit that bill the whole time, man.
04:25It's awesome.
04:27So, Charity, how did you and Damon find each other?
04:31So, Damon is a member of the Michigan Black Business Alliance.
04:34Hey.
04:35That's right.
04:36That's right.
04:37And so he's participated in our programming, and it's just dope, right, to see a black-owned business doing these
04:45types of things, logistics.
04:46He's also got another company.
04:48Damon, why don't you tell them about your other company?
04:50That's it.
04:50You pitched.
04:51Okay.
04:52You pitched this.
04:53I'm going to hit it.
04:54Right.
04:54All right, so we, our biggest thing is creating jobs in the hood.
04:59I often say that we're on mission without permission, right, because when we launched, it was so many people.
05:05It was like, we had a great evangelical Christian organizations in my neighborhood.
05:10Mac Development is one.
05:13Taproot is another.
05:15But a lot of times they were like, you know what, we want you to be, you know, tied to
05:20the church, tied to religion.
05:21You know, try to, no, I said we want to be on mission without anyone's permission.
05:26Yeah.
05:26I don't care how you pray.
05:27I don't care what you do in your spare time.
05:30We want to be able to provide you gainful employment and put our arms around you so that you can
05:34come as you are.
05:35And we don't have to deal with anybody else's politics or however they feel about faith.
05:42So we, in addition to Hired Muscle carrying that torch, we launched Yard Boss.
05:48That's Yard Boss Detroit.
05:50Yard Boss Detroit.
05:52Got to be specific about that.
05:56Detroit's all-purpose landscaping solutions.
05:59So, yeah, Yard Boss, and we partner with probably the biggest property management company in the state.
06:05So you take care of property lawn care from, is it winter, summer, is it all year round, and then
06:13you hire people?
06:14How's it all work?
06:15Yeah.
06:15Absolutely.
06:16We go year round, summer, winter.
06:18You know what I mean?
06:19This is our first year, so my Yard Boss is a baby.
06:23You know, Hired Muscle in nine years.
06:25He's a preteen, right?
06:27So, Hired Muscle can take care of itself.
06:31You ought to be, so...
Comments