Warren Galloway of Phi Beta Sigma Joins Greekly Speaking
May 9, 2021
Warren was initiated in the Lambda Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma in 1985. He is an author, entrepreneur, and renowned expert in the Microlending space. Warren shares his Greek story and the inspiration behind Warren Galloway and Associates.
[00:00:00] Aric Tucker: This episode is brought to you by the new D9 Business Directory shot, greek owned brands from a variety of categories and if you are greek, author or business owner at your profile today at D nine business dot com honoring those trailblazers who preceded us is just as important as leaving a legacy for those who will follow us. Greek lee speaking is about highlighting Greeks today who are creating positive change for tomorrow. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Mhm Hi, welcome to Greekly Speaking. I'm Aric Tucker and joining me for this episode is author and entrepreneur. Warren Galloway of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated Warren was initiated in the λ γ chapter 5 80 signal 1985. He spent over 14 years in the banking industry at an executive level and because of his experience in the field, Warren has made numerous appearances on various media outlets. One of his more notable ventures, the micro loan conference is a national annual event that focuses on micro lending. Brother Warren Galloway, thank you for joining us on greek lee speaking, how are you doing today?
[00:01:20] Warren Galloway: I'm doing phenomenal, Thank you for inviting me to be, I guess
[00:01:24] Aric Tucker: the pleasure is all ours and we are delighted to have you spend a few minutes with us. We noticed some content that you were posting and generating out on social media and some of the initiatives that you had going on. And we just had to try to reach out to you to see if we can connect and just touch base with you and learn a little bit more about your brand and, and, and we're going to get into all of that, trust me. But as you know on greek lee speaking first we have to know who we're dealing with. I don't care what executive you are, we gotta get a little bit about your greek background, man. Did you have any greek influences in your life coming up?
[00:01:58] Warren Galloway: So, so the irony of it is that I became a member of phi Beta Sigma without having any greek influences in my life run up. And I say that because I'm actually a legacy, my father plays lambda chapter 1964 and my father was a civil rights leader down in Mississippi and he loved Mississippi and get involved with the black power movement. So as a result, my father really didn't talk a lot about his sigma life when he was at Virginia Union, he was always saying as a school fight song and he would talk about the civil rights movement, but he never really talked about black greek life for him as a student at Virginia Union. But I remember seeing his yearbooks and I seeing people standing in line, but none of that meant anything to me. I remember school days, that's what I, you know, I remember
[00:02:47] Aric Tucker: school days,
[00:02:48] Warren Galloway: But when I stepped on the campus of Central Michigan University in the fall of 1980 80 for met a gentleman named Jeffrey Malloy who end up being like a mentor to me on campus and he just so happened, he was a sigma, but I didn't know what the signal was, so it didn't really didn't mean anything to me. And then he started introduced me to all his friends and come to find out they are with signals. And I was like this P Wi school, 300 blacks out of 16,000 students and the sharp brothers on campus. And hey, I started asking him, hey, I'm looking at this upper class and like, hey, you know, hey, when you guys get together, I would love to just hand, you know, it wasn't fraternity thing. I mean, it was just some intelligent smart brothers. They were in the school of business, which is where I was planning on going into, they were on the basketball team, they were on the football team, they ran track, they were the science department or the education department. It was just a phenomenal group of black men that I just wanted to be around. And then they had these 40 young ladies around campus following and they were sick, my sweetheart. You know, I was like, okay, my, and then my, my girlfriend, first semester became a sick mystery head and I'm like, okay, well this must be a really good organization. But you know, I watched these guys and then watched out for me and help me out when I, whenever I need to help. So it was me that with the jump and say, you know, if you guys have anything, please invite me. I actually went to the step show. I saw signals that still didn't make the connection. But when I went to that smoker as we used to call him back in the day, I left out there, like I'm pledging immediately and at that time you can play as a freshman. So I was 18 years old when I went online, I was 18 years old when I crossed and I played that next semester and that was March 30, 1985 36 years ago.
[00:04:40] Aric Tucker: Wow. So you don't as they say, terry long when it comes to making your mind up. Once you see what you like you go for it. Huh?
[00:04:47] Warren Galloway: Exactly. And it wasn't until I was going through my probate stage that I came home, we had spring break and I was telling my mother that was joining us returning call five sigma and she said, well you know your dad is a sigma what they were separate at the time. So I called him up and tell him on pledge and he was all excited. And then I say you know what people look at his yearbook because his college yearbooks were still there and there was his mind and he was, he was detail on this big line at lambda chapter. And then after I crossed he sent me a picture of the following year's yearbook, which I have all of those yearbooks myself now of him as a brother. And so I played without any influence of my father because I played the right organization.
[00:05:31] Aric Tucker: Wow man. Uh yeah, I've been there man. I had a cousin named Zeta. I just thought it was a cool name. I didn't know that. Her dad, my uncle man. Just, you know, he plays at the exact same university. I did. I had told the brothers, hey, I don't have any, maybe Greeks of the family. I didn't know but come to find out after the fact his real name was my line named Romeo. And, and, and we, you know, it was just, it was eerie man. So I, I know that feeling that you and your dad must have had sharing in that experience man. So, so how many brothers came in and and cross with you?
[00:06:08] Warren Galloway: We started with five, ended up with three. The other two brothers actually were transfers and so they a little bit older than me. I was a freshman and they were going into the junior year and to this day we're still tight both professionally, all of us are doing well. It was just a blessing to not only become a member of phi beta sigma but to have line brothers that also had great aspirations and have been able to achieve them as fathers, as community leaders and as professionals. The other thing too and which I didn't know at that time, but I know now because I trapped and started in 79 I placed in 85 so they were still young. We had about 20 something brothers on the yard Since 1979. We've graduated 99 of the brothers who have come through our chapter,
[00:06:53] Aric Tucker: wow, it's
[00:06:54] Warren Galloway: like if you play a sigma at central michigan lambda Gamma chapter, you will graduate. And it wasn't like we were telling brothers to graduate what it was, we would, they will watch us graduate year after year and then you get that drink cause I remember going to graduation ceremonies and seeing the older brother's graduate, like man that's gonna be me next. So really how we walked and talked on campus influence how we did in terms of excelling on campus and graduating and, and we still have that legacy going on to this day with the brothers that are on the yard.
[00:07:25] Aric Tucker: But you know, that speaks to that worth of example, right? When you know, sometimes the most powerful message is the example and the image that people that you don't even know see when they're looking at you and the organization and the company that you keep. I think, I mean just listening to you share that story about how you notice the friends that, that your buddy had, right and not knowing at the time that they were fraternity members. Right? So, you know, it's example, everybody's watching you, you know, So that that is good. Okay, so three of you guys went over and what, what number were you?
[00:08:01] Warren Galloway: I was number three. Originally I crossed at number one. I made sure we crossed at 10:59 p.m. March started 1985. I let us across the burning sands. Okay,
[00:08:14] Aric Tucker: I hear a story behind that bad, but let me start with this question, what was the name of the line?
[00:08:19] Warren Galloway: Hannibal's five was the name of the Lion after the great black warriors who defeated the romans and with such a rich name because we felt that we were part of royalty and that, you know, we were going across this burning sands,
[00:08:33] Aric Tucker: the
[00:08:34] Warren Galloway: like Hannibal defeated the the romans with his unique fighting style. And that's how we looked at things when we're online that we're gonna have this unique line, that's going to make sure that we crossed that Bernie sands.
[00:08:46] Aric Tucker: Okay, okay and what was your line name?
[00:08:49] Warren Galloway: Silk? That was my, you know, back then we had those corny names. It was Silk used to have a pledge to say greetings my brother Silk. Too serious with this is the single sigma phi beta sigma fraternity corporate is to you sir that the blue and white will make this right and we too can be established, you know, that's all that kind of corny stuff like Okay, so we
[00:09:09] Aric Tucker: are, we're going to have to go ahead and launch a greeting contest
[00:09:12] Warren Galloway: because
[00:09:14] Aric Tucker: I had an optometrist or not long ago
[00:09:17] Warren Galloway: he was you
[00:09:18] Aric Tucker: know, straight laced and he hit me with something called Chocolate thunder. Let me hear that one more time.
[00:09:24] Warren Galloway: Grand brother Silk. The serious will this thing is gentlemen, five days returning corporate through you sir, that the blue and white will make this right And we two can be as down as
[00:09:33] Aric Tucker: you
[00:09:34] Warren Galloway: Forehead 36 years later. I still remember. I should remember a lot of the chocolate brothers greets. That's what's crazy, wow
[00:09:44] Aric Tucker: man. I might have to have that as part of your intro or your episode man. This is awesome. Okay, so you're at this as you say, P wi your central michigan. What kind of community service projects were you guys known for man other than academics man? Which is awesome that you guys were all, you know, focused on that.
[00:10:03] Warren Galloway: Oh, we had a harvest drive. You see, I remember this because I was so engaged as a young brother because what I didn't tell you that, I mean I graduated in four years. I place I graduate in four years. I got into the School of business after my sophomore year, but I had such great role models and when we talked about time value, that to me was time management and I manage my time well to ensure that and I was on a full academic scholarship to money so I had to maintain good grades, but I still was able to get involved in the community activities. We have, we we did the harvest drive where we collect the canned goods for the community. Had a large at the time of a reservation, indian reservation. So we would collect goods and donate to the reservation and now it's a huge casino back there which is a reservation. We adopted this young man who is biracial at that time. And up in my pleasant, you know, at the time I had 1% african americans living in the community. We adopted him and mentored him while we're on on campus. We did scholarships, we did cancer walks. I mean we just did a lot of activity amongst all the school work that we're doing and the brotherly activities were involved.
[00:11:10] Aric Tucker: That is some pretty heavy service and you got to love that, that you guys were focused and that in tune with what was going on on campus and in the community. One final question in that space. If you were to meet someone who was considering going greek, whether it was fraternity or sorority, what advice would you give them?
[00:11:27] Warren Galloway: You know what? My son who was president of Detroit Sigma Beta club for three years, They elected him three times and I ran the Sigma Beta club. We have 50 young men in there and I had no influence on him getting elected, but they saw the leadership qualities that were in him. He's a sophomore now at the University of Toledo and people say, well, is he going to play a segment? He's made it very clear if you pledge anything, he will definitely play a sigma. But what I would tell him is you got to think about who has invested in you, okay, who has been there and mentoring you, coaching your, providing scholarships and supporting you and it's been nothing but sigma. And so if you're going to join the organization, if you have gotten that type of support from members of a greek letter organization, why would you look at someone else? If you had such a great opportunity? I'm talking about providing job leads for you, tangible things that impact your life. Now, if you haven't had that experience, then what you do is get to know the members and see what do they bring to the table that not only you will benefit you, but what you can also contribute as wealth to those members in those future. Members that are coming to your organization. Because there's a give and take. You know, most people say, well, I want to see what they're doing well. What can you do? Can you can you can you network with those brothers? Because I tell people the fun part is when you're collegiate brother, But the real hard work is when you graduate and guess what can that brother help you get a job? Is that brother going into a career that you might be interested in? You know, is that brother going to make sound decisions when they get out of the community? Are they gonna be community leaders? Now, sometimes it's kind of hard to see that at the collegiate level because some people turn their lives around, but you, you know who the brothers are there going to be successful and going to impact the lives of many people. Those are the type of brothers you want to be around. If they're knuckleheads, trust me, some of them will turn around, but if you're not go ahead now, probably a number here for a very long time. Do you want to be involved with it? Are they causing rockets on campus academically? Are they doing well? You know, I want to be around brothers that have potential and can grow from and the older brothers can they meant to you, can they support, you know, I'm not a party, not a step shop, we're talking about, you are going to college to get an education so you can have a career, what impact would they have? So if it's me, I want to know what impact you're gonna have. How can I network re where's your alumni chapter? Who's in your alumni chapter? That's in the career of one and two that who can help pull me over that fence where they say he ain't heavy. Those are the things I look for. You gotta ignore the parties, You gotta ignore all the rhetoric and get down to what that organization can really, how it can impact your life. And I can tell you Sigma has impacted me in incredible ways because I made the right decision. But to this day, those mentors I had when I was 18 years old, I'm 55 now, there's still my mentors to this day. So that's why I know I made the right decision.
[00:14:26] Aric Tucker: That is awesome, man. And and that's really what it's about because you have to, when you look at investing in yourself,
[00:14:33] Warren Galloway: the whole
[00:14:34] Aric Tucker: concept of self improvement, you know, whether it's enrolling in a college or university, that's a business decision. One of the first ones that you're going to make, and you have to learn how to market yourself, but you have to give people in your target audience some content worthy enough to be sold right to your point. You know what you do to build your career is part of everything you do every day, your experiences, your circle, because people what are watching you? There's a young warren, Galloway Junior watching you right now. Right, So that's what it is.
[00:15:11] Warren Galloway: Yeah. So listen here, at the beginning of the pandemic, when everybody was struggling, all of our love nights came together and we put together a life skill workshop that went over eight weeks. We had a brother and a different specialty that was training people and motivating people through this pandemic. We went on and launched an endowment at the University of First Black Greek organizations, a sub and endowment at Central Michigan University for scholarships for incoming freshmen students on campus. But these are the things that I learned from them when I was 18 years old. And so reinvesting back into your brother's, Reinvesting back into your school and making a better future for those who follow behind you. And that's why I say they still mentored me to this day at 55 years old. And that's just such a blessing because I know the things that I saw at 18 far exceeded my expectations once I became a member of the organization.
[00:16:07] Aric Tucker: So beyond college, obviously you have that business background, spent several years in the banking space, but now you have your own company, presidency of your own brand. Talk to us a little bit about your company and tell us about the motivation behind it.
[00:16:22] Warren Galloway: So I was one of those corporate young men coming up through the ranks. My banker career was just phenomenal. I just made the made the right decisions. But once again had a strong foundation, had the right mentors around me Sigma's and non sigma's and I reached the point where I crack that glass ceiling in corporate America actually ran the entire department E trade uh went to Virginia in the D. C. Area. I decided the very short period of time that no longer wanted to be in corporate America. So I came back home. I started a small business where I would help with housing developments and I would help with with small businesses would negotiate funding deals. I came back and I really went back to the people that I helped out for many years when I was here in the Detroit banking community and they started hiring me and from there that was in 2005. I have not looked back since. I've grown now. My company, which is worn gallery and associates to being one of the top business plan writers were now on capitol strategist. I'm known for helping for getting funding for small businesses. And all of that led up to me doing a few things, one becoming a published author. We talked a little bit about that, but also being an advocate for finding resources to put back into our low to moderate income communities to support business ownership. I've now become the face of that. When we talk about Michael linden, I'm known as being the micro lending expert, which led me to start hosting the first ever national microphone conference in 2019. I put that on all by myself except for the day of I needed somebody. And when we had that conference I brought together some of the top Michael loan lenders, some of the top bankers Plus entrepreneurs. I had 350 people in my conference for two days, had 70 workshops over two days and 70 speakers from across the country. They had never had this type of lending conference focus on connecting entrepreneurs to those who would lend money to them to help support them starting businesses in this country. That's an incredible, incredible experience. And it all started for me being in banking and decided to become an entrepreneur and become the face of micro lending.
[00:18:43] Aric Tucker: You know, it is so timely that you're sharing that that story. You recently joined the D nine Business Directory which features business owners and entrepreneurs such as yourself. But one of the first challenge is that business owners have is funding that we hear a whole lot during the pandemic about p. P. P loans and these grants and all of this. So I was happy to hear that you touched on funding in general. So I mean it's really good to see you in that space providing that knowledge and that insight. I want to touch a little bit on the publications that you have, you know, check out your website man and just great content. What services specifically do you provide and and outline in your book that can help that new business owner.
[00:19:24] Warren Galloway: So I've written 12 books since 2016, it's crazy. I've published four books in the pandemic and six of the books are focused on supporting entrepreneurship, six various other subjects. But when we talk about the business books, I wrote the first resource book of Michael lenders in michigan. If you need a mike alone, you buy my book and bam all the resources that are in there. And in that book also show you how to apply for a microphone. I that's going to be an annual publication. So what I did,
[00:19:59] Aric Tucker: I
[00:20:00] Warren Galloway: pulled out the resource book and I create my second book, microphone book, which has nothing but resources in but took that section where it shows you how to apply for mike alone. And I wrote a new book called How to successfully a platform microphone. That's a powerful book, because it shows you all the steps you need to take in order to put yourself in the best position to get a yes declination on a loan application. I do workshops on that exact same subject and I talk about those steps in detail. It's a powerful workshop and I believe I have it on my website as well, but in the book you have it in your hands and really the steps I teach you to really question that you asked of all the lenders that you want to speak to about getting funding to see if they are right lender for you, not only that lender interviewing you, you need to be interviewing that lenders that lend it might not be a good fit. And then I worked with another business partner minds, we jointly wrote a book about basic questions and answers about entrepreneurship. I have a series of books called Tennessee steps to start a business michigan edition and I have to. Energy Steps are starting their business youth edition. I'm in the process of finishing up 10 easy steps. Start to starting a Business Veterans edition. I'm doing I'm doing all 50 states, I'm doing a veteran version, I'm doing one for the visually impaired, I'm doing the spanish version. I look at it as being a dummy books. Okay, my tendency steps is gonna be something like that micro
[00:21:27] Aric Tucker: lindy for dummies. I love that analogy man, you know one question I have and and I want to get into the bookshelf that that we have coming up to, but when is the right time to start thinking about funding? As you start to formulate your business
[00:21:43] Warren Galloway: immediately, you need to start thinking about what is it that you can bring to the table to get your business started. Then you need to determine how much will you really need to successfully launch your business And if there's a gap now you got to think about how am I going to fill that gap between what I have, which can be my savings, which can be the earnings I get from the job I'm working right now. Which could be some investments, your own investments, but also investments of others who want to invest in your business. How much do you have? Once you find out that you have a gap now, you need to look at other resources and other resources could be a micro loan. It could be a traditional bank loan. It could be what we call a community loan. Community loan is Organization that lends more than 50,000, which is the maximum microphone, but less than what a bank will lend. They kind of feel that gap of lending. Do you need to do a crowdfunding campaign? That's that's another option for you. Are you going to use your tax returns? So you need to start thinking about how much you're going to need to launch your business. But guess what the reality of it is. And I tell business owners this all the time, you really don't know what you need for your business and to write that business plan if you do not have a business plan, which is the road map, you've been able to operate your business because in your business plan or financial projections, if you do not have a business plan, you you're just winging it, it's a hustle. But then no one is going to take you seriously. But once you get that business plan and I guess that's what not everyone is going to sit up and you've got their attention because you put it in black and white, you're going to present it to them, whether it's to a lender, whether it's to an investor or now because covid 19 they have all these grant programs. You might have to submit it to get a grant or something like that. So early on, you need to determine what you need in terms of capital to get that business started. And also not just get the business started because I think there's this misconception that all I want to do is get my business started and I flip my money back into the business. It's not quite that easy because the reality of it is you're going to have these projections in your business plan And you think you're gonna make $1 million dollars that first month. Well, guess what, at that ground open, You're gonna make a lot of money. But what we have to worry about is that next following monday when you really have to promote and market your business and get people to come to the door and guess what? Yeah, those projections look good, but you might fall short. What are you gonna do if you fall short and while you're doing the strip your money back into your business, there's gonna come a time where your expenses all right, gonna be far exceeding your revenue. So, I talked to business owners not only get enough money to open your business, but let's talk about working capital. Okay. Maybe it's gonna take based on your business plan. Maybe it's gonna take 3-6 months before your revenue exceeds your expenses. Well, guess what? You need to be able to cover your expenses. You need to pay your employees, you need to buy supplies, You need to do marketing. So when you go out and you're looking for capitals and launch it, let's think about working capital and take that and put that on top of your original need. Now, what is working capital? Working capital is, take a look at your expenses for about 3-6 months, depend on how long you want working capital for total that. And put it on top of your loan. And guess what that information is. It's in your business plan. So you can't do anything in terms of identifying how much you need for your business until you get that business plan does,
[00:25:03] Aric Tucker: it's part of the blueprint, right? Most lenders are gonna want to know that you thought things through. They're gonna want to see the evidence of that and they want to know that the numbers make sense, right projections or otherwise. Where can we find most of your publications?
[00:25:18] Warren Galloway: So most of the publications you get from me speaking, you should be to go to www dot warren Galloway associates dot com. And my bio, which were also linked to my business website is Warren Galloway dot com. So if anyone wants to see some of the workshops that I've done, I have all my videos on that. I collect everything when I speak. I collect all my videos and I put them on my website because you know as people say I try to give nuggets and I like to share those nuggets because I need to people around you. People support the system. So that information is free on my website Warren gallery dot com.
[00:25:54] Aric Tucker: But what's next for you?
[00:25:56] Warren Galloway: What's next for me is the show, my new show doing business with Warren Galloway. I'm excited about it because you know I've always envisioned myself eventually being on tv but when someone approached you which someone did and said let's hear I want to have a T. V. Show for you and that's what happened about a year and a half ago. That's what I'm excited about just taking me to another level. And also will allow me to get more of this information about access to capital and Michael linden and community linen to hopefully thousands and millions more people who need to know this information because here's the thing we didn't talk about this. One of the reasons why I'm a big big advocate of micro lending and getting it into a load of modern income communities is the ripple effect of supporting entrepreneurship. Give an example if I live in a low income neighborhood and I decided to open up a business and I get a micro law. Michael only help jump start me getting that business started. The ripple effect is now I might be the higher disenfranchised people from the community. I. E. Returning citizens, you seniors, low income people, they will have a place to work and earn some money to be able to now fix up their home. Or if they're renting they after working for a while they can look at purchasing a home and guess what those young kids that they have there watching this mama and daddy are walking to work or they're riding their bike to work because the job is in the neighborhood. So in my generation coming up in Detroit a lot of people left and never came back. But the impact of you circulating dollars back in community and employing people and communities that those young kids see this and guess what they're thinking like oh when I go to college I'm coming back home because I want to open up a business right down the street from where my mother and father working because I see that neighborhood coming back, I want to be part of the revitalization, so it helps retain talent. And now you begin to see the investment back into the community and the community come back and they come back stronger than ever before because large corporations are not going to go into the low income neighborhood. It would have to be entrepreneurs that we support right now. They're willing to take that risk and open up a business and keep those dollars circulating in the community and creating more jobs.
[00:28:14] Aric Tucker: And what happens when you're not only hiring people in your community, but you're actually influencing people in your community to do the same thing that you're doing right, They're going to seek that expertise and then you create that network, right? And you know, I'm excited for all the businesses you have a chance to touch and help. But you know what, I'm the most excited for your son because he has a positive black role model that he can look up to man. And I hope that image permeates throughout the pandemic. I hope we can use imagery like that to give a pandemic a vaccination and just make A whole lot of 400 years of yesterday's go away and I believe it can happen because you know, we didn't always have direct access to the concepts that you're speaking on.
[00:28:58] Warren Galloway: Well thank you. And you know, one last comment, I think it's important for the viewers to know that it's not all doom and gloom during the pandemic, it's actually a chance for opportunities. And I know of african american businesses that are thriving in the pandemic, they just create the right model that would fit in this pandemic and thrive. I got a business owner called Detroit Soul african american family owned restaurant owned by two brothers. Their model was fit for you know, carry out deliveries and I'm helping open up a second location in the midst of a pandemic, they're thriving so well, so no, you don't have to take this journey entrepreneurship by yourself, that there are individuals like myself that are spread across the country who are passionate about what we do, but more importantly we want to support you and being successful and turning around your community, providing economic opportunities as well as jobs for people who live near where you're going to have your business.
[00:29:59] Aric Tucker: Hey that is the sign of an exciting future and a culture that can adapt is one that will survive and I think you speak very well on that topic man and once again, thank you for taking a few minutes to share with us your greek journey mr smooth as silk
[00:30:17] Warren Galloway: uh
[00:30:20] Aric Tucker: or in Galloway. Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated man. We appreciate you sharing your subject matter expertise and that micro lending space and don't hesitate to let us know when you have more exciting news coming up in the future. Okay,
[00:30:36] Warren Galloway: definitely. Well thank you again for allowing me to be on your show.
[00:30:39] Aric Tucker: Our Pleasure. Have a good one.
[00:30:41] Warren Galloway: You as well. Take care.
[00:30:48] Aric Tucker: Yeah. Mm.
[00:01:20] Warren Galloway: I'm doing phenomenal, Thank you for inviting me to be, I guess
[00:01:24] Aric Tucker: the pleasure is all ours and we are delighted to have you spend a few minutes with us. We noticed some content that you were posting and generating out on social media and some of the initiatives that you had going on. And we just had to try to reach out to you to see if we can connect and just touch base with you and learn a little bit more about your brand and, and, and we're going to get into all of that, trust me. But as you know on greek lee speaking first we have to know who we're dealing with. I don't care what executive you are, we gotta get a little bit about your greek background, man. Did you have any greek influences in your life coming up?
[00:01:58] Warren Galloway: So, so the irony of it is that I became a member of phi Beta Sigma without having any greek influences in my life run up. And I say that because I'm actually a legacy, my father plays lambda chapter 1964 and my father was a civil rights leader down in Mississippi and he loved Mississippi and get involved with the black power movement. So as a result, my father really didn't talk a lot about his sigma life when he was at Virginia Union, he was always saying as a school fight song and he would talk about the civil rights movement, but he never really talked about black greek life for him as a student at Virginia Union. But I remember seeing his yearbooks and I seeing people standing in line, but none of that meant anything to me. I remember school days, that's what I, you know, I remember
[00:02:47] Aric Tucker: school days,
[00:02:48] Warren Galloway: But when I stepped on the campus of Central Michigan University in the fall of 1980 80 for met a gentleman named Jeffrey Malloy who end up being like a mentor to me on campus and he just so happened, he was a sigma, but I didn't know what the signal was, so it didn't really didn't mean anything to me. And then he started introduced me to all his friends and come to find out they are with signals. And I was like this P Wi school, 300 blacks out of 16,000 students and the sharp brothers on campus. And hey, I started asking him, hey, I'm looking at this upper class and like, hey, you know, hey, when you guys get together, I would love to just hand, you know, it wasn't fraternity thing. I mean, it was just some intelligent smart brothers. They were in the school of business, which is where I was planning on going into, they were on the basketball team, they were on the football team, they ran track, they were the science department or the education department. It was just a phenomenal group of black men that I just wanted to be around. And then they had these 40 young ladies around campus following and they were sick, my sweetheart. You know, I was like, okay, my, and then my, my girlfriend, first semester became a sick mystery head and I'm like, okay, well this must be a really good organization. But you know, I watched these guys and then watched out for me and help me out when I, whenever I need to help. So it was me that with the jump and say, you know, if you guys have anything, please invite me. I actually went to the step show. I saw signals that still didn't make the connection. But when I went to that smoker as we used to call him back in the day, I left out there, like I'm pledging immediately and at that time you can play as a freshman. So I was 18 years old when I went online, I was 18 years old when I crossed and I played that next semester and that was March 30, 1985 36 years ago.
[00:04:40] Aric Tucker: Wow. So you don't as they say, terry long when it comes to making your mind up. Once you see what you like you go for it. Huh?
[00:04:47] Warren Galloway: Exactly. And it wasn't until I was going through my probate stage that I came home, we had spring break and I was telling my mother that was joining us returning call five sigma and she said, well you know your dad is a sigma what they were separate at the time. So I called him up and tell him on pledge and he was all excited. And then I say you know what people look at his yearbook because his college yearbooks were still there and there was his mind and he was, he was detail on this big line at lambda chapter. And then after I crossed he sent me a picture of the following year's yearbook, which I have all of those yearbooks myself now of him as a brother. And so I played without any influence of my father because I played the right organization.
[00:05:31] Aric Tucker: Wow man. Uh yeah, I've been there man. I had a cousin named Zeta. I just thought it was a cool name. I didn't know that. Her dad, my uncle man. Just, you know, he plays at the exact same university. I did. I had told the brothers, hey, I don't have any, maybe Greeks of the family. I didn't know but come to find out after the fact his real name was my line named Romeo. And, and, and we, you know, it was just, it was eerie man. So I, I know that feeling that you and your dad must have had sharing in that experience man. So, so how many brothers came in and and cross with you?
[00:06:08] Warren Galloway: We started with five, ended up with three. The other two brothers actually were transfers and so they a little bit older than me. I was a freshman and they were going into the junior year and to this day we're still tight both professionally, all of us are doing well. It was just a blessing to not only become a member of phi beta sigma but to have line brothers that also had great aspirations and have been able to achieve them as fathers, as community leaders and as professionals. The other thing too and which I didn't know at that time, but I know now because I trapped and started in 79 I placed in 85 so they were still young. We had about 20 something brothers on the yard Since 1979. We've graduated 99 of the brothers who have come through our chapter,
[00:06:53] Aric Tucker: wow, it's
[00:06:54] Warren Galloway: like if you play a sigma at central michigan lambda Gamma chapter, you will graduate. And it wasn't like we were telling brothers to graduate what it was, we would, they will watch us graduate year after year and then you get that drink cause I remember going to graduation ceremonies and seeing the older brother's graduate, like man that's gonna be me next. So really how we walked and talked on campus influence how we did in terms of excelling on campus and graduating and, and we still have that legacy going on to this day with the brothers that are on the yard.
[00:07:25] Aric Tucker: But you know, that speaks to that worth of example, right? When you know, sometimes the most powerful message is the example and the image that people that you don't even know see when they're looking at you and the organization and the company that you keep. I think, I mean just listening to you share that story about how you notice the friends that, that your buddy had, right and not knowing at the time that they were fraternity members. Right? So, you know, it's example, everybody's watching you, you know, So that that is good. Okay, so three of you guys went over and what, what number were you?
[00:08:01] Warren Galloway: I was number three. Originally I crossed at number one. I made sure we crossed at 10:59 p.m. March started 1985. I let us across the burning sands. Okay,
[00:08:14] Aric Tucker: I hear a story behind that bad, but let me start with this question, what was the name of the line?
[00:08:19] Warren Galloway: Hannibal's five was the name of the Lion after the great black warriors who defeated the romans and with such a rich name because we felt that we were part of royalty and that, you know, we were going across this burning sands,
[00:08:33] Aric Tucker: the
[00:08:34] Warren Galloway: like Hannibal defeated the the romans with his unique fighting style. And that's how we looked at things when we're online that we're gonna have this unique line, that's going to make sure that we crossed that Bernie sands.
[00:08:46] Aric Tucker: Okay, okay and what was your line name?
[00:08:49] Warren Galloway: Silk? That was my, you know, back then we had those corny names. It was Silk used to have a pledge to say greetings my brother Silk. Too serious with this is the single sigma phi beta sigma fraternity corporate is to you sir that the blue and white will make this right and we too can be established, you know, that's all that kind of corny stuff like Okay, so we
[00:09:09] Aric Tucker: are, we're going to have to go ahead and launch a greeting contest
[00:09:12] Warren Galloway: because
[00:09:14] Aric Tucker: I had an optometrist or not long ago
[00:09:17] Warren Galloway: he was you
[00:09:18] Aric Tucker: know, straight laced and he hit me with something called Chocolate thunder. Let me hear that one more time.
[00:09:24] Warren Galloway: Grand brother Silk. The serious will this thing is gentlemen, five days returning corporate through you sir, that the blue and white will make this right And we two can be as down as
[00:09:33] Aric Tucker: you
[00:09:34] Warren Galloway: Forehead 36 years later. I still remember. I should remember a lot of the chocolate brothers greets. That's what's crazy, wow
[00:09:44] Aric Tucker: man. I might have to have that as part of your intro or your episode man. This is awesome. Okay, so you're at this as you say, P wi your central michigan. What kind of community service projects were you guys known for man other than academics man? Which is awesome that you guys were all, you know, focused on that.
[00:10:03] Warren Galloway: Oh, we had a harvest drive. You see, I remember this because I was so engaged as a young brother because what I didn't tell you that, I mean I graduated in four years. I place I graduate in four years. I got into the School of business after my sophomore year, but I had such great role models and when we talked about time value, that to me was time management and I manage my time well to ensure that and I was on a full academic scholarship to money so I had to maintain good grades, but I still was able to get involved in the community activities. We have, we we did the harvest drive where we collect the canned goods for the community. Had a large at the time of a reservation, indian reservation. So we would collect goods and donate to the reservation and now it's a huge casino back there which is a reservation. We adopted this young man who is biracial at that time. And up in my pleasant, you know, at the time I had 1% african americans living in the community. We adopted him and mentored him while we're on on campus. We did scholarships, we did cancer walks. I mean we just did a lot of activity amongst all the school work that we're doing and the brotherly activities were involved.
[00:11:10] Aric Tucker: That is some pretty heavy service and you got to love that, that you guys were focused and that in tune with what was going on on campus and in the community. One final question in that space. If you were to meet someone who was considering going greek, whether it was fraternity or sorority, what advice would you give them?
[00:11:27] Warren Galloway: You know what? My son who was president of Detroit Sigma Beta club for three years, They elected him three times and I ran the Sigma Beta club. We have 50 young men in there and I had no influence on him getting elected, but they saw the leadership qualities that were in him. He's a sophomore now at the University of Toledo and people say, well, is he going to play a segment? He's made it very clear if you pledge anything, he will definitely play a sigma. But what I would tell him is you got to think about who has invested in you, okay, who has been there and mentoring you, coaching your, providing scholarships and supporting you and it's been nothing but sigma. And so if you're going to join the organization, if you have gotten that type of support from members of a greek letter organization, why would you look at someone else? If you had such a great opportunity? I'm talking about providing job leads for you, tangible things that impact your life. Now, if you haven't had that experience, then what you do is get to know the members and see what do they bring to the table that not only you will benefit you, but what you can also contribute as wealth to those members in those future. Members that are coming to your organization. Because there's a give and take. You know, most people say, well, I want to see what they're doing well. What can you do? Can you can you can you network with those brothers? Because I tell people the fun part is when you're collegiate brother, But the real hard work is when you graduate and guess what can that brother help you get a job? Is that brother going into a career that you might be interested in? You know, is that brother going to make sound decisions when they get out of the community? Are they gonna be community leaders? Now, sometimes it's kind of hard to see that at the collegiate level because some people turn their lives around, but you, you know who the brothers are there going to be successful and going to impact the lives of many people. Those are the type of brothers you want to be around. If they're knuckleheads, trust me, some of them will turn around, but if you're not go ahead now, probably a number here for a very long time. Do you want to be involved with it? Are they causing rockets on campus academically? Are they doing well? You know, I want to be around brothers that have potential and can grow from and the older brothers can they meant to you, can they support, you know, I'm not a party, not a step shop, we're talking about, you are going to college to get an education so you can have a career, what impact would they have? So if it's me, I want to know what impact you're gonna have. How can I network re where's your alumni chapter? Who's in your alumni chapter? That's in the career of one and two that who can help pull me over that fence where they say he ain't heavy. Those are the things I look for. You gotta ignore the parties, You gotta ignore all the rhetoric and get down to what that organization can really, how it can impact your life. And I can tell you Sigma has impacted me in incredible ways because I made the right decision. But to this day, those mentors I had when I was 18 years old, I'm 55 now, there's still my mentors to this day. So that's why I know I made the right decision.
[00:14:26] Aric Tucker: That is awesome, man. And and that's really what it's about because you have to, when you look at investing in yourself,
[00:14:33] Warren Galloway: the whole
[00:14:34] Aric Tucker: concept of self improvement, you know, whether it's enrolling in a college or university, that's a business decision. One of the first ones that you're going to make, and you have to learn how to market yourself, but you have to give people in your target audience some content worthy enough to be sold right to your point. You know what you do to build your career is part of everything you do every day, your experiences, your circle, because people what are watching you? There's a young warren, Galloway Junior watching you right now. Right, So that's what it is.
[00:15:11] Warren Galloway: Yeah. So listen here, at the beginning of the pandemic, when everybody was struggling, all of our love nights came together and we put together a life skill workshop that went over eight weeks. We had a brother and a different specialty that was training people and motivating people through this pandemic. We went on and launched an endowment at the University of First Black Greek organizations, a sub and endowment at Central Michigan University for scholarships for incoming freshmen students on campus. But these are the things that I learned from them when I was 18 years old. And so reinvesting back into your brother's, Reinvesting back into your school and making a better future for those who follow behind you. And that's why I say they still mentored me to this day at 55 years old. And that's just such a blessing because I know the things that I saw at 18 far exceeded my expectations once I became a member of the organization.
[00:16:07] Aric Tucker: So beyond college, obviously you have that business background, spent several years in the banking space, but now you have your own company, presidency of your own brand. Talk to us a little bit about your company and tell us about the motivation behind it.
[00:16:22] Warren Galloway: So I was one of those corporate young men coming up through the ranks. My banker career was just phenomenal. I just made the made the right decisions. But once again had a strong foundation, had the right mentors around me Sigma's and non sigma's and I reached the point where I crack that glass ceiling in corporate America actually ran the entire department E trade uh went to Virginia in the D. C. Area. I decided the very short period of time that no longer wanted to be in corporate America. So I came back home. I started a small business where I would help with housing developments and I would help with with small businesses would negotiate funding deals. I came back and I really went back to the people that I helped out for many years when I was here in the Detroit banking community and they started hiring me and from there that was in 2005. I have not looked back since. I've grown now. My company, which is worn gallery and associates to being one of the top business plan writers were now on capitol strategist. I'm known for helping for getting funding for small businesses. And all of that led up to me doing a few things, one becoming a published author. We talked a little bit about that, but also being an advocate for finding resources to put back into our low to moderate income communities to support business ownership. I've now become the face of that. When we talk about Michael linden, I'm known as being the micro lending expert, which led me to start hosting the first ever national microphone conference in 2019. I put that on all by myself except for the day of I needed somebody. And when we had that conference I brought together some of the top Michael loan lenders, some of the top bankers Plus entrepreneurs. I had 350 people in my conference for two days, had 70 workshops over two days and 70 speakers from across the country. They had never had this type of lending conference focus on connecting entrepreneurs to those who would lend money to them to help support them starting businesses in this country. That's an incredible, incredible experience. And it all started for me being in banking and decided to become an entrepreneur and become the face of micro lending.
[00:18:43] Aric Tucker: You know, it is so timely that you're sharing that that story. You recently joined the D nine Business Directory which features business owners and entrepreneurs such as yourself. But one of the first challenge is that business owners have is funding that we hear a whole lot during the pandemic about p. P. P loans and these grants and all of this. So I was happy to hear that you touched on funding in general. So I mean it's really good to see you in that space providing that knowledge and that insight. I want to touch a little bit on the publications that you have, you know, check out your website man and just great content. What services specifically do you provide and and outline in your book that can help that new business owner.
[00:19:24] Warren Galloway: So I've written 12 books since 2016, it's crazy. I've published four books in the pandemic and six of the books are focused on supporting entrepreneurship, six various other subjects. But when we talk about the business books, I wrote the first resource book of Michael lenders in michigan. If you need a mike alone, you buy my book and bam all the resources that are in there. And in that book also show you how to apply for a microphone. I that's going to be an annual publication. So what I did,
[00:19:59] Aric Tucker: I
[00:20:00] Warren Galloway: pulled out the resource book and I create my second book, microphone book, which has nothing but resources in but took that section where it shows you how to apply for mike alone. And I wrote a new book called How to successfully a platform microphone. That's a powerful book, because it shows you all the steps you need to take in order to put yourself in the best position to get a yes declination on a loan application. I do workshops on that exact same subject and I talk about those steps in detail. It's a powerful workshop and I believe I have it on my website as well, but in the book you have it in your hands and really the steps I teach you to really question that you asked of all the lenders that you want to speak to about getting funding to see if they are right lender for you, not only that lender interviewing you, you need to be interviewing that lenders that lend it might not be a good fit. And then I worked with another business partner minds, we jointly wrote a book about basic questions and answers about entrepreneurship. I have a series of books called Tennessee steps to start a business michigan edition and I have to. Energy Steps are starting their business youth edition. I'm in the process of finishing up 10 easy steps. Start to starting a Business Veterans edition. I'm doing I'm doing all 50 states, I'm doing a veteran version, I'm doing one for the visually impaired, I'm doing the spanish version. I look at it as being a dummy books. Okay, my tendency steps is gonna be something like that micro
[00:21:27] Aric Tucker: lindy for dummies. I love that analogy man, you know one question I have and and I want to get into the bookshelf that that we have coming up to, but when is the right time to start thinking about funding? As you start to formulate your business
[00:21:43] Warren Galloway: immediately, you need to start thinking about what is it that you can bring to the table to get your business started. Then you need to determine how much will you really need to successfully launch your business And if there's a gap now you got to think about how am I going to fill that gap between what I have, which can be my savings, which can be the earnings I get from the job I'm working right now. Which could be some investments, your own investments, but also investments of others who want to invest in your business. How much do you have? Once you find out that you have a gap now, you need to look at other resources and other resources could be a micro loan. It could be a traditional bank loan. It could be what we call a community loan. Community loan is Organization that lends more than 50,000, which is the maximum microphone, but less than what a bank will lend. They kind of feel that gap of lending. Do you need to do a crowdfunding campaign? That's that's another option for you. Are you going to use your tax returns? So you need to start thinking about how much you're going to need to launch your business. But guess what the reality of it is. And I tell business owners this all the time, you really don't know what you need for your business and to write that business plan if you do not have a business plan, which is the road map, you've been able to operate your business because in your business plan or financial projections, if you do not have a business plan, you you're just winging it, it's a hustle. But then no one is going to take you seriously. But once you get that business plan and I guess that's what not everyone is going to sit up and you've got their attention because you put it in black and white, you're going to present it to them, whether it's to a lender, whether it's to an investor or now because covid 19 they have all these grant programs. You might have to submit it to get a grant or something like that. So early on, you need to determine what you need in terms of capital to get that business started. And also not just get the business started because I think there's this misconception that all I want to do is get my business started and I flip my money back into the business. It's not quite that easy because the reality of it is you're going to have these projections in your business plan And you think you're gonna make $1 million dollars that first month. Well, guess what, at that ground open, You're gonna make a lot of money. But what we have to worry about is that next following monday when you really have to promote and market your business and get people to come to the door and guess what? Yeah, those projections look good, but you might fall short. What are you gonna do if you fall short and while you're doing the strip your money back into your business, there's gonna come a time where your expenses all right, gonna be far exceeding your revenue. So, I talked to business owners not only get enough money to open your business, but let's talk about working capital. Okay. Maybe it's gonna take based on your business plan. Maybe it's gonna take 3-6 months before your revenue exceeds your expenses. Well, guess what? You need to be able to cover your expenses. You need to pay your employees, you need to buy supplies, You need to do marketing. So when you go out and you're looking for capitals and launch it, let's think about working capital and take that and put that on top of your original need. Now, what is working capital? Working capital is, take a look at your expenses for about 3-6 months, depend on how long you want working capital for total that. And put it on top of your loan. And guess what that information is. It's in your business plan. So you can't do anything in terms of identifying how much you need for your business until you get that business plan does,
[00:25:03] Aric Tucker: it's part of the blueprint, right? Most lenders are gonna want to know that you thought things through. They're gonna want to see the evidence of that and they want to know that the numbers make sense, right projections or otherwise. Where can we find most of your publications?
[00:25:18] Warren Galloway: So most of the publications you get from me speaking, you should be to go to www dot warren Galloway associates dot com. And my bio, which were also linked to my business website is Warren Galloway dot com. So if anyone wants to see some of the workshops that I've done, I have all my videos on that. I collect everything when I speak. I collect all my videos and I put them on my website because you know as people say I try to give nuggets and I like to share those nuggets because I need to people around you. People support the system. So that information is free on my website Warren gallery dot com.
[00:25:54] Aric Tucker: But what's next for you?
[00:25:56] Warren Galloway: What's next for me is the show, my new show doing business with Warren Galloway. I'm excited about it because you know I've always envisioned myself eventually being on tv but when someone approached you which someone did and said let's hear I want to have a T. V. Show for you and that's what happened about a year and a half ago. That's what I'm excited about just taking me to another level. And also will allow me to get more of this information about access to capital and Michael linden and community linen to hopefully thousands and millions more people who need to know this information because here's the thing we didn't talk about this. One of the reasons why I'm a big big advocate of micro lending and getting it into a load of modern income communities is the ripple effect of supporting entrepreneurship. Give an example if I live in a low income neighborhood and I decided to open up a business and I get a micro law. Michael only help jump start me getting that business started. The ripple effect is now I might be the higher disenfranchised people from the community. I. E. Returning citizens, you seniors, low income people, they will have a place to work and earn some money to be able to now fix up their home. Or if they're renting they after working for a while they can look at purchasing a home and guess what those young kids that they have there watching this mama and daddy are walking to work or they're riding their bike to work because the job is in the neighborhood. So in my generation coming up in Detroit a lot of people left and never came back. But the impact of you circulating dollars back in community and employing people and communities that those young kids see this and guess what they're thinking like oh when I go to college I'm coming back home because I want to open up a business right down the street from where my mother and father working because I see that neighborhood coming back, I want to be part of the revitalization, so it helps retain talent. And now you begin to see the investment back into the community and the community come back and they come back stronger than ever before because large corporations are not going to go into the low income neighborhood. It would have to be entrepreneurs that we support right now. They're willing to take that risk and open up a business and keep those dollars circulating in the community and creating more jobs.
[00:28:14] Aric Tucker: And what happens when you're not only hiring people in your community, but you're actually influencing people in your community to do the same thing that you're doing right, They're going to seek that expertise and then you create that network, right? And you know, I'm excited for all the businesses you have a chance to touch and help. But you know what, I'm the most excited for your son because he has a positive black role model that he can look up to man. And I hope that image permeates throughout the pandemic. I hope we can use imagery like that to give a pandemic a vaccination and just make A whole lot of 400 years of yesterday's go away and I believe it can happen because you know, we didn't always have direct access to the concepts that you're speaking on.
[00:28:58] Warren Galloway: Well thank you. And you know, one last comment, I think it's important for the viewers to know that it's not all doom and gloom during the pandemic, it's actually a chance for opportunities. And I know of african american businesses that are thriving in the pandemic, they just create the right model that would fit in this pandemic and thrive. I got a business owner called Detroit Soul african american family owned restaurant owned by two brothers. Their model was fit for you know, carry out deliveries and I'm helping open up a second location in the midst of a pandemic, they're thriving so well, so no, you don't have to take this journey entrepreneurship by yourself, that there are individuals like myself that are spread across the country who are passionate about what we do, but more importantly we want to support you and being successful and turning around your community, providing economic opportunities as well as jobs for people who live near where you're going to have your business.
[00:29:59] Aric Tucker: Hey that is the sign of an exciting future and a culture that can adapt is one that will survive and I think you speak very well on that topic man and once again, thank you for taking a few minutes to share with us your greek journey mr smooth as silk
[00:30:17] Warren Galloway: uh
[00:30:20] Aric Tucker: or in Galloway. Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated man. We appreciate you sharing your subject matter expertise and that micro lending space and don't hesitate to let us know when you have more exciting news coming up in the future. Okay,
[00:30:36] Warren Galloway: definitely. Well thank you again for allowing me to be on your show.
[00:30:39] Aric Tucker: Our Pleasure. Have a good one.
[00:30:41] Warren Galloway: You as well. Take care.
[00:30:48] Aric Tucker: Yeah. Mm.