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00:00Attorney Charity Dean, good morning.
00:02What up, though, Mason? How you doing today?
00:04Good, good. Tell people what you do.
00:08Absolutely. So I'm the president and CEO of the Michigan Black Business Alliance.
00:12We serve black businesses all across the state.
00:15You have a special guest with you again today?
00:19I do. I brought Mr. Tidwell with me today.
00:22Dr. Tidwell. I already gave him a DR. Dr. Tidwell.
00:26That's right.
00:26Welcome.
00:28Thank you. Thank you for having me.
00:29What do you do?
00:30We're a construction company, a painting and construction company out of Detroit.
00:35We've been in business since 2007, and we've been serving Metro Detroit since 2007,
00:41providing commercial and residential construction services and painting services.
00:46Wow.
00:46So you do regular houses?
00:48Yes, we do. Yeah, we do residential.
00:50So we provide...
00:51Look at Angie trying to sponge in front of the other customers.
00:55She trying to sponge in front of the other customers.
00:57It's okay to be done.
00:58It's okay.
00:59Call me and sip your coffee while we do the interview, Angie.
01:06Mr. Tidwell, what high school did you go to? This is home for you, Detroit?
01:10Yeah.
01:11Yeah.
01:11I've been in Detroit my entire life.
01:12What high school?
01:13Went to Cooley.
01:14Oh, you went to Cooley High School.
01:15Yeah.
01:16I went to Cooley High School.
01:17Yeah.
01:17Represent them Cardinals.
01:19Cooley High.
01:20How did you manage into construction?
01:25So entrepreneurship has been a part of my family since the 70s.
01:29My father started his company in 1978.
01:31It was called Tri-County Lock and Door.
01:35He worked in the city for many, many years and continues to.
01:39And then in my family, we also have other businesses.
01:41My sister, who is also part of the MBBA, she has a company called D-Town Vinyl.
01:47That's also in Detroit.
01:49And then also I have another brother who is also in...
01:53He has a company called High Society, a lounge over on Living Noise.
01:57A lot of people go there.
01:58Oh, High Society.
01:58Yeah.
01:58That's my brother, Sean.
02:00Yeah.
02:00That's your brother.
02:00All of them said well.
02:01For those that are listening, you do exactly what?
02:05So we do commercial and residential construction.
02:09So we've been working in the city doing commercial construction.
02:11We've done a lot of work downtown on a lot of the buildings downtown.
02:15So since that resurgence, we've been doing commercial work, build outs for many clients down there.
02:20But as mentioned, we also do residential.
02:22So since 2007, this company has been working for many homeowners, fixing up their homes, property management companies.
02:30We do it all, pretty much.
02:32We're a licensed builder.
02:33What has changed since the pandemic in your business to make your business more difficult to run?
02:40Difficult to run?
02:42I think it's more so the atmosphere of how people work today.
02:49The pandemic changed people.
02:50I mean, it changed the way people work.
02:52A lot of people work from home.
02:54A lot of people found different ways to work.
02:57So finding good quality employees has been a challenge.
03:01So one of the things that we've done is we started hiring their interns.
03:05We actually got some interns through the MBBA, through the Up Next program.
03:09And what we do is we take them in as interns.
03:12They work with us.
03:13And then we hire them in.
03:14And that's some of the best employees that we've had.
03:16Wow.
03:17That's great.
03:17Mr. Tidwell, what's the funnest thing about what you do?
03:21The funnest thing I would have to say is really training.
03:25Like, I really enjoy training.
03:28Like I said, I got a lot of younger people who we bring in and we teach them the trades.
03:33And that's really kind of the best part about my job is really getting to see people who've never learned
03:38anything about the trades.
03:40And then I bring them in and then they flourish.
03:43They learn the trades and then they're able to go out and provide excellent work for our clients.
03:47But they also got work skills that just last them forever.
03:50For a lifetime.
03:51Yeah.
03:51Yeah.
03:52That's that giving somebody a job for a day and teaching them something for a lifetime.
03:56Yeah.
03:57That's exactly what they do.
03:58It is like the funeral home business.
04:00It is always going to be in existence.
04:03You can have a building, but sooner or later it's going to need work.
04:06Houses need to be redone.
04:09Commercial properties need to be upgraded.
04:11It is forever and forever.
04:13Attorney Charity Dean, pull that mic a little closer to you again.
04:17But tell me how you two cross paths or was it with his other family members?
04:23Yes.
04:23Tell us the story.
04:24So Aaron is a member of the Michigan Black Business Alliance, along with his siblings that he just shouted out.
04:30Jessica just joined on the live right here.
04:33Hi, Jessica.
04:34Hi, Jessica.
04:34I told him you were coming, Jessica.
04:36Yes, Jessica.
04:37But and so one of the programs that Aaron participated in is our summer internship program.
04:42So that's where we take black businesses and then we take young people ages 16 to 24 and we pay
04:49them to work for a black business for the summer.
04:51So we teach them entrepreneurship.
04:54Hold on.
04:54Hold on.
04:55Talk to me.
04:55Say it.
04:56Go ahead and tell me.
04:56Say it.
04:57Y'all crack me up.
04:59Angie told me that was a dream of hers.
05:02Yes.
05:02And I told Angie it already exists.
05:06She tried to burst my bubble.
05:07But so she got mad and didn't want to speak for the rest of the day.
05:11But I told her it already exists.
05:14We're doing it.
05:14This is a great mind.
05:15Because no, seriously, people wonder what to do for teens, you know, and all the little issues that we're having.
05:21But I feel like if you give them a job and give them some money, money overrides all that.
05:27All of that.
05:27OK.
05:28And the thing about it is young people now, even more than ever, don't want to work for anyone.
05:33So we're teaching them entrepreneurship.
05:34So on Mondays, they come and they learn about what it means to start a business and own a business.
05:39And then Tuesday through Friday, we match them with the black business owner.
05:42Aaron is one of them.
05:43Wow.
05:44And they work.
05:45And then it provides for our members.
05:47They don't have to pay an extra employee for the summer.
05:49We got it.
05:50We take care of it.
05:51But it also exposes the young people to entrepreneurship.
05:54And then we end the summer with a pitch competition.
05:56So they have to solve a business.
05:58They have to create a business solution to a problem.
06:00So last year, they had to create a tariff-proof business because we were dealing with tariffs.
06:04This year, we're talking about affordability.
06:06How do you, as a small business, stay affordable in the middle of an affordability crisis?
06:11So I'll invite you guys to the pitch competition at the end of the summer.
06:15But Aaron has participated in that program a couple of years.
06:18He's got the same intern this year that he had last year, right?
06:21Yeah, we do.
06:22Martez, he's been an excellent intern for us.
06:25He's in school to be an architect.
06:27Oh, wow.
06:28He actually fits our company very well.
06:30He's working today.
06:31Yeah.
06:32Working with Attorney Dean has helped your company do what?
06:37Give me one thing.
06:38I'm sure there are multiple things.
06:40Well, it's helped us to grow as a business.
06:42I mean, that's really kind of what they do.
06:44They help companies to be able to know what they need to do to grow.
06:49They give us resources that helps us in business.
06:51And that's been an amazing thing for us.
06:54Now, like I said, we've been in business for about 20 years.
06:56But just because we've been in business does not mean that we know everything.
07:00We constantly educate ourselves and partner with other institutions that are able to help us continue to grow.
07:07And they've been a very helpful resource for us, especially with the interns.
07:12Because as I mentioned, during COVID, we lost a lot of employees during COVID.
07:16And it really changed my mindset on, you know, my employee base.
07:20I look back at how I learned the trades, and then I started doing that same thing.
07:25I started taking in young people, teaching them about the trades, teaching them about what it means to be in
07:31the trades,
07:32teaching them about business, not just learn the trade, but learn how to be in business.
07:36Learn what it takes to be a man or a woman in the trades, because we also have young ladies
07:41who work for us as well.
07:42And those are the things that really help young people to grow and flourish forever.
07:47Not just right now, but forever.
07:50Aaron, that's great.
07:51And before we go, I want you to give your platforms, how people can reach you for services for both
07:59residential and business.
08:04Okay, so as mentioned, we do residential and commercial construction.
08:09You can reach us at our website, newdaydetroit.com.
08:14We are on all social media, so you can reach us as well on New Day Detroit, on Facebook, Instagram,
08:21TikTok.
08:21We are on all platforms.
08:23And we also have a brick-and-mortar location at 15201 Grand River.
08:28We have a showroom there, so people can actually come in, meet with us, meet with our team, learn more
08:35about us,
08:35and they can be able to see what actually will be inside their house, which a lot of people don't
08:40do anymore.
08:41We wanted a brick-and-mortar so people can come there.
08:43Pew, 15201 Grand River.
08:4715201 Grand River.
08:50All right, Aaron, thank you very much for coming and sharing today.
08:54Attorney Charity Dean, thank you as well for coming today.
08:59Good to see you as well.
09:00Good information.
09:01Any closing thoughts from you?
09:03Absolutely.
09:04Always.
09:04I always want to tell people to follow Black Biz Alliance on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn.
09:09It's at Black Biz Alliance, or you can go to www.blackbizalliance.com.
09:14We have a community membership that's just free.
09:16And so if you're an entrepreneur or you want to be an entrepreneur or you want to be connected to
09:20our community,
09:21and then we've got a couple of events.
09:23You can go on our website and see we'll be in Flint tomorrow with some of our members there.
09:28And then on July 15th, we'll be at Duo.
09:30And that is a meetup for any entrepreneurs that are in food and beverage.
09:34So if you are of a coffee shop or if you have a restaurant, if you're a caterer,
09:38we're doing a hospitality meetup at Duo on July 15th at 4 o'clock.
09:44Beautiful.
09:45Aaron, closing thoughts?
09:47Support Black businesses.
09:49All day.
09:50Yeah, all day.
09:51You got to support Black businesses.
09:52That's the only way that we as a community can continue to thrive.
09:56We've been doing it for a long time.
09:58We support other Black businesses.
10:00We encourage everybody.
10:02Support Black businesses.
10:04Beautiful.
10:05Thank you all.
10:07Beautiful.
10:07Yeah.
10:08Beautiful.
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