Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Welcome to the Victory Show.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Hey victors.
Welcome to this week's Victory Show. This is Travis Cody. I'm the author of 16 best selling books and I've had the privilege of helping hundreds of business consultants, founders and entrepreneurs ripe and publish their own best selling books as well. And in that journey, I've discovered a fascinating pattern. A lot of businesses hit a revenue plateau, usually around a million dollars, and they really struggle to break through that. So on this show, I sit down with some of the world's most successful CEOs, leaders and business owners to uncover the strategies that they've used to overcome those plateaus and scale their business to new heights. And more importantly, how you can do the same. Today my guest is Jaquan Lavender, who's a visionary and leader and the CEO and president of Jaquan Lavender foundation, the Prudent Man Leadership Academy. And I can't wait to dig into that more because it's fantastic ways doing. Shaquan has a profound commitment to youth empowerment and community development. And he's dedicated his career to fostering leadership skills and personal growth among young individuals. Under his guidance, the Jaquan Lavender foundation has launched numerous initiatives aimed at promoting education, mentorship and social responsibility. Jaquan, thanks for being here today. So happy to chat with you.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: I appreciate the invite. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: So you've got a lot going on especially for, for, for a young man. You think you said you just. We were senior in College in 2019, so you, you managed to, to come out of it right before everything shut down or right as it was.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: It was a crazy time. Yes, sir.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So we were talking before this and I want to talk, just chat a little bit about your history as a, an athlete and a high level athlete because I know a lot of that eventually dovetailed into what it is you're doing with, with both of your businesses today. So you, you competed at the collegiate level in track and field, correct?
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: And, and you were a sprinter?
[00:02:13] Speaker B: I was a sprinter, yes, sir. I was a long sprinter. So I ran the 400.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Was that your, your main event or did you, did you do any of the medleys or.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: So if we, I did the 4 by 4 to open 200.
If I wanted to step down just to get some speed work, 100, if I wanted to get some more training, I would do the 800 at times as well.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Wow. So you did a lot. So the reason I bring that up is because for the longest time, especially for most of your collegiate career, you had one goal and that was Olympics.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: And you wanted to do that as a sprinter.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: So I wanted to do it as a sprinter. I Remember watching it 2012 Olympics when they were in London when I was in high school. And I said, you mean to tell me that you can get paid just to run one lap and win a gold medal? Said, sign me up.
So that same night I went out to go work out with my brother and my teammate. And from that moment, the, the fuel was fired. I always wanted to make the Olympics.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Had you, had you done much running before then? Were involved in any competitions?
[00:03:16] Speaker B: Soccer. So I was a soccer player growing up. And then I got into track my seventh grade year.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: And you're. That's it. It was over.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: It was over.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: So what ended up happening then?
[00:03:29] Speaker B: So from seventh grade, I was horrible. I was the, the slowest on the team.
I remember people used to laugh at me the way I used to run.
And I, I remember after basketball season, eighth grade, I told myself I would never lose again.
After this season, I'm going to run a mile every day.
So my mom had a treadmill in her garage and after school I would get on the treadmill and just challenge myself.
And the first meet came months later and I won. And I was like, man, I won that pretty easy. And the coach was looking at me like, man, you got pretty fast. But they got mad at me because I pulled up. So when I mean by pulled up. So I got, I was getting close to the finish line, but I slowed down because I was so ahead of everyone.
So my coach was like, you need to run through the line.
So ever since that moment, I went from a minute to 57 seconds in the, in the 400. My eighth grade year.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah, that's a pretty big jump in one year time.
So when did you start thinking that you could make it work at the collegiate level?
The time or did you just set your goal going like, if I want to get to Olympics, I have to be in college.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Yes. So I always wanted to go to the University of Florida, LSU's side because.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Of the winners there.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Yeah, that and they have great track programs and they're very good for sprints.
So I figured that if you want to go pro, it's not like nowadays, nowadays you can go pro while you're in high school. Yeah. If you wanted to go pro, you gotta go to a solid program that's going to tailor you to be a great sprinter that's going to give you that Olympic training, the Olympic, all that Olympic stuff in college to take you to the next level.
So I figured if I wanted to take it to the next level, I need to go to the next level, which was college, and then go pro.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Okay, so you ended up then going to Park City to train for the Winter Olympics.
So when did that. When did that switch to. When did you have to pivot from. From going straight up being a track guy to going, you know, there's a. There's actually a.
A better avenue for me to accomplish that.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: So I was. I was realistic myself. I said, I'm not getting too much faster.
The competition is getting faster and faster.
So it was a guy.
I forget the coach's name. I met him when I first went to the first combine.
And I wanted to do bobsled originally, but they were like, your weight limit, can't do it. But they said you'd be a perfect skeleton athlete. So I did the combine virtually because that's when Covid came back.
So we had to do it from home, which was a plus.
Wow. So I did the sprints and everything, and I scored 100 points on everything.
So after that, I was like, I really got a shot at doing this. And I got invited to the Olympic center, did my training, came back, and I was like, it's not for me.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Just. Was it just too intense, too hard?
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Just really intense on the body? You would. You would think that it's not that hard, but the G force on your body and, you know, just. Just everything is. Is too much.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: So explain to this for people who don't know what the skeleton is, because it's a very specific event.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: So skeleton is where you. You are going down the ice 60, 80 miles per hour face first.
The sled alone is 70 pounds. So you have to hold the sled and then put it down. So imagine holding the sled after you are dizzy from the G force and trying to lift that up over the ice.
So when you get done with your run, there's someone literally waiting for you because you. At that moment, you're dizzy. So they'll lift it up for you and help you over, over the ice, because that's how much it is on your body.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: Like how you say you hold it down. Because when you watch the Olympics, it doesn't look like you're holding nothing down. You just, like, trying to hold your arms to your body that there's actually, like, levers that you're, like, connected into.
That's crazy.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: And it's all eye control. So if I want to go right, I Just look right. But if you lift your head up like that, you're right.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: So did when you were doing, when you were training, did you see anybody wipe out pretty spectacularly?
[00:07:56] Speaker B: My roommate actually got a concussion right in front of me.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Oh, really? Right before you went to run.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: So he got it. So I knew it was coming because he was scared. And I would. I was telling myself, you can't think like that. Yeah. So he kept saying, are you nervous? Are you nervous? Are you scared? Direct. I said, no, I'm about to make it down this ice.
So I got down with my run and I hurried up to the TV to watch him on the screen.
So as he's coming down on the last turn, he hits himself really hard, like face first on the bobsled. And he ended up getting a concussion.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: He dropped his head and hit the ice.
That's so crazy to me. Okay, so now. So you give up on the Olympic dream. Like, did that require some. Some recalibration and, like, what you were doing with life?
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Yeah, because that was my all in all. That's all I knew was the Olympics. I was training for decade, well, 12 years. 12 to 13 years of just training. So that's all I knew. Wow. For me to just easily give up, it was hard.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: You know, I was gonna say, that's half your life in a regimented, strict.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: And I. And I still work out in the weight room, but it's not like training for the Olympics. I still live crazy and everything, but I tell myself, you're not training for nothing. Just come in there, keep your body healthy, and, you know, maintain.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: So when did the idea for your foundation come?
[00:09:26] Speaker B: About 2020. So 2019, when I was leaving college, I wrote a note in my phone. The Jake. Jake Paul Lavender Foundation. And I locked it.
And then in 2020, Ms. Sandy Rue, which is a legend from here, she's currently alive still.
She told me that she had a dream that God showed her that I was going to start my own foundation and I was going to raise $100,000.
Now, prior to that, when she told me that I forgot everything about the foundation, I was just strictly focused on making the Olympics.
So when she said that, it took me back to the note. Like, I can't believe I really wrote this down and it's really happening now.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: So God was like, hey, buddy, tapping you on your shoulder.
You gave this idea for a reason. You forgot about it.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: So he gave me the idea, and I didn't follow through until she said that.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Wow. All right, so what was the process then, because it was just an idea. And then somebody reminds you, like, take me through the first year of like now that you've got this idea, you've got this nudge, like what was that, that journey like for you to, to get that off the ground?
[00:10:35] Speaker B: It was beautiful and ugly at the same time.
It was beautiful because I was young with a llc, with my own foundation and, you know, getting ready to give back to the community.
It was ugly because we didn't know what to do. We didn't know how to do it.
Our first board members were great people, but we're trying to go this way and they're going this way. Oh. So I'm like, mom, we gotta, we gotta revisit some things because if we're trying to make some moves, we can't keep half stepping because they're saying certain things. So I had to scratch that whole board.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: And then make a new one.
So once I made the new one, that's when the process began to roll. But of course, board members, they come and they go, they come in and go. Which is part of the non profit organization process. But that was the beginning stages of it.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: So what was the, the original like, intent and the purpose when you launched the foundation?
[00:11:39] Speaker B: To give back Mentorship.
We just didn't know how to do it because we were saying that. But we were in schools like I am now.
We wanted to, I think, mentor in person, like in libraries or things, something similar to that.
But we didn't have no structure, we didn't have no plan in place to be able to say, okay, we got this, now let's move forward. It was just a bunch of meetings with us just talking and nothing going anywhere.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: So when did the structure then start to come out of that?
[00:12:17] Speaker B: It was around 2021 in November.
But our first partnership was February 14th of 2022. I'll never forget.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Oh, you're almost at the two year mark then.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: So what happened on that date?
[00:12:34] Speaker B: So on that date, we initially locked in a partnership with my alumni high school to go into the school and start the, the leadership program called Lead Him Lee him program. That's what it's called.
So Lee him was the, the jump start to the pra man.
So Lee him, we had about 10 guys that they select and we were able to go in once a week and sit down and talk to them, teach them life skills, how to present themselves, how to dress, all the good stuff that a man should know.
And that was our jump start to the foundation.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: Wow. So Essentially, you're teaching real world practical skills versus book knowledge skills that when you get in the real world, you're like, why did I spend three years learning that thing? That's completely useless to me.
What, what was the, the turnaround like for the, the first group of men that you, you took through that?
[00:13:30] Speaker B: It was different because we were still trying to figure out exactly how do we teach.
We weren't really organized, just to be completely honest. We weren't really.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Yeah, you're just brand new. That's, that's a whole part of the journey.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: And we thought that this was going to be a long term partnership, which didn't end up happening, which is okay, because it, it made me look back at what did we do wrong and how can we do better?
Sure. So after that happened, things went silent for I think a year.
And then that's when I left my sales job. And that's when the Prudent man came in the picture.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: So let's talk about the Prudent Man. What, what was the idea behind, behind it? And then how, how is that operating today? Like, what's the, the goal and the purpose?
[00:14:19] Speaker B: So how it actually got started, I met Mr. Evan Frazier, who is now my mentor.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: He, I met him at my job at Rivers Club, downtown Pittsburgh.
And he has a very successful business that's for executive leaderships, for CEOs and vice presidents. It's called the Events Leadership Institute.
So I sat down and said, Mr. Frazier, how did you get your business started? He explained how he took off his business in a week.
And I was like, wow, that's interesting. So I kind of took back that information the same night and I began typing in Google Docs the Prudent Man Leadership Academy.
But what really helped me was I read in the Bible the books of Proverbs for 30 days straight. And it helped me to understand what the Prudent man actually was.
So that's where the concept comes from, the Prudent Man Leadership Academy. And I made that whole program 16 weeks in a week.
So after that, I took it back to him and I was like, Mr. Frazier, check this out. What you think? He said, you got something on your hands.
So once he said, I was like, oh, that's my okay to go ahead and move forward.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: But this was November of 2022. October, November. So I was still working at my sales job. But when I left in May of 2023, that's when I got the ball rolling.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: So what are the steps that you took to get the Prudent man foundation and Academy off the ground. Once you were committed, going, all right, this is it. Because you're pivoting from, you know, and this is journey a lot of entrepreneurs make. They were working, they used. A lot of people are in the corporate world for a while, and then they make the leap of from that into their own thing. So let's talk a little bit about that. First off, did your family say you were crazy?
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Trying to think.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: Probably thought it like you're giving up what job to do because I'm making great money.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Probably thought it.
When I left, I was lost. I remember calling another mentor. I was like, Mr. Sloppy, I don't know what I'm doing. I was looking at my computer. I was like, I. I have no idea what I'm doing. Then he's like, man, you just got to take it day by day and trust yourself.
So I forget how exactly to start it, but I started reaching out to schools in Houston, Texas. Oh, wow.
I just would email schools about the Prudent Man. Seen a detail message, and then the school district got back to me, and I was like, okay, finally. So we had a meeting with them. They hound me.
I was not prepared for those questions at all. They hound me very well, but they were trying to see how legit this program is.
So it took a while to get back to me. And as that process was going on for them, I went back and I said, okay, let me email some more schools local.
So as that process go on, I got my first connection with Al Alpa High School in Aliquin, Pennsylvania. And then I end up getting a private school, Ly School, which is in Welling, West Virginia. So those are my first two schools. And then now I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, Maryland.
We're branching off in Washington, D.C.
and we're working in many different other states now. But it was off of that start that I took the leap of faith. Wow.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: So how many people, like, so have you brought people on now that you've trained and they're going out to these schools? Or are you still the one going from school to school?
[00:18:03] Speaker B: I have people that works with me in the local schools, but when we start going out to different states, I try to be the forefront so people know who exactly who I am.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: So what is the Prudent Man Academy and what are. What are some of the things that you're, you know, some of the objectives for the people coming into it.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: So the Prudent Man Leadership Academy, our biggest focus is teaching them how to become prudent for those that may not know what prudent means is to be wise and knowledgeable and to make careful decisions.
So one thing we teach them is character, integrity, to teach them how to be sober minded. When people hear, you know, when they hear sober minded like you talking about being drunk, you know, we talking about being clear headed. So if a young man could think, if he can let go the weed, can be sober minded, he could think for himself.
We teach them that, you know, if you want to present yourself well to the world, read some books, let go of the, the cussing, let go of the, the rap music because their environments was influencing them to be that young man.
So we teach them, you know, take the hood off, comb your hair, brush your teeth, put on clothes that's presentable so you could present yourself well to the world.
Because you know, society always puts a standard on men. Yeah, we have to beat that standard.
So there's the standard of being a prudent man, which is a high value man. We tell them, and to be able to pay the cost, man, you gotta, you gotta go through some things, let go of some habits, some behaviors, and you have to let go of some family and friends to be able to become that prudent man.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, sometimes that's the, the sort of the, the curse of personal development. Right. Sometimes you're going to outgrow the people around you and also learning to be okay with people who choose just to stay where they at and not want to evolve. When I, when I became my, started my personal development journey, that was probably one of the things that became the most confusing to me of like, what do you mean you don't want to become better? What do you mean you don't want to evolve or, you know, some people are like, this is my life and I'm okay with it.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: Even if they, sometimes they don't even like it, but they're like, yeah, but it's, I just don't want to change because this is, this is consistent. I consistently know what I'm going to get here.
So that's, that's pretty interesting. So what are your plans with the prudent man for this year? I mean, it sounds like you're, you've grown pretty good. Are you gonna, is this something you want to turn into kind of like a national organization?
[00:20:33] Speaker B: Yes. So the goal is to be in all 50 states.
Who knows how long that would take?
I'm pretty surprised that we're in. I can't really think of the number of people right now but surprised we're in that amount right now in just a year and a half time, France. So it's been an amazing journey.
Of course it's been hard.
You'll get some rejections, you'll get some people that just not familiar with the program. So they'll just straight up just say no.
But I would say I'm doing a great job so far.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: Well, what a great, great training ground for it being in sales.
[00:21:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: So you kind of got used to the fact of like oh yeah, a lot of people are just going to say no because that's what they do.
So the, the prudent man is it, it's this sounds like it's all hands on. Is this something you come in and it's a couple of day program and you get them everything they need and then like is there follow up or is it just kind of like on hands workshops and you get them what they need.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: So it's like a, a cohort. So we do 16 weeks to close to a full school year, which would be 52 weeks. Wow.
So every week is about a different man. So the very first topic is the cost of becoming a prudent man. So we teach them and go through what it's going to take to become a prudent man and what you're going to have to face. Diversity, the different things, the uncomfortable transformation. And then we go into the next phase of who am I? And we teach them that they have a life purpose and that they have a mission that they must complete before their time is up on earth.
So every week is a very detailed lesson that's going to help them and challenge them and create them to be critical thinkers.
Wow.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: This is fantastic and certainly needed right now.
And I'm going to say, you know, you tell me that's why you started the whole thing. So with the foundation, what's the goal with that for this year and are the two of these working in tandem with each other or they have different purposes?
[00:22:35] Speaker B: People always say it works together, but I think it's completely different. You know, the foundation is more community based for that's. That's things like if someone's in need of a bill, we pay that and help them out.
We help the homeless. You know, we have community events that are upcoming. Third annual gala is coming up for our fundraiser.
Just different things that's in the community to help the community continue to thrive and always have something to do for the younger kids here as well.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Wow.
So are there, what are the challenges for you Being the president of both of these organizations because they got two different ones, primarily community based fundraising. The other one obviously is a for profit. Like have those each come with their own challenges and if so, what are some of the things that you've done as a leader to. To meet those?
[00:23:25] Speaker B: I would say for both, the hardest part is funding, finding the right grants, you know, meeting the deadlines for the grants. That's the hard part.
I would say separately the amount of no's that you get a lot of nos. Then yes, I have this big list I wish I can show you. I probably emailed about 300 schools and maybe out of this the 300, maybe 10 to 15 respond. Wow. So you see how much work you put in. But not every school is interested in, sad to say, helping young men to develop.
So when you see that that's a problem alone itself, that you know, they're so stuck on the budget, I think if you really dig deeper and look at the trauma that these kids are carrying the school, a program that's X amount of dollars shouldn't hurt your budget if you're really that invested in the kids like they said they are.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: And so when you go into a school, do you just, do you set up anybody who wants to come in, can come in. Or does the school kind of choose who they want to be part of the program?
[00:24:39] Speaker B: That used to be a thing when they used to select. But I didn't think that was fair because there's more than X, Y and Z says, just random names, Johnny, Josh and Jonathan. Just those that were needed out of 100 plus other young men that's going to need it.
So I will come in and do an introduction day, introduce myself, introduce the program and the reason why we have this program and where we can help them develop.
Wow. I love it.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: So if somebody's listening to this episode and they want to get involved in what you're doing, what are some ways they can do that? How do they find you? How do they get involved?
[00:25:21] Speaker B: So they'll reach out www.the prudentmanacademy.com or Jaquan lavenderfoundation.com and is that J A.
[00:25:30] Speaker A: Q U A N lavender.com yes. Foundation.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: And they can just fill out inquiry form and you know, just write in their detail message if they want to donate, if they want to be a part of it, anything that can be assistance. It's more than welcome.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: So normally on the show we're talking about leadership and from a business perspective and scaling, but you've got Your hands on and in like, you know, a huge need in society right now, which is just giving the younger generation direction more than anything. Right. And assistance.
So if we've got young men that are, you know, high school age that are listening to this, like, what's some pieces of advice that you would give them as a prudent man, what are some things they can do to, to, you know, either make their situation better or if they're already in a good situation, like what are some ways they can evolve that and see more success?
[00:26:23] Speaker B: Listen, number one, be yourself.
We have too many followers. We don't have too many leaders nowadays.
And I would say never could promise your integrity or your character just to be light or to follow a certain group. You know, just always stick to the standard, stick to your morals and principles.
And if people don't like you because of what you stand for, you have to just move on.
Not everyone's going to support you and you're going to have to be okay with that.
So the main focus is, you know, keep your. I watched a movie called Sprinter.
The coach told the Sprinter, he said mental blinkers.
So your mental blinkers have to be on at all times. Because when you think about blinkers, sometimes they gonna flash red and say, hey, that's a warning. Like don't go down to that party. Don't go near those people. But sometimes you want to get a green light and say move forward. So you have to make sure that you are in the right mind frame. As I was saying earlier, you have to make sure your mind is sober.
You can't be, you know, clouded by video games and doing substance abuse and everything. You have to make sure that you're in the right mind frame to be able to be successful in life.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think that's important, right? It's about the, the amount of noise.
That mental noise more than anything. Everything's climbing for our attention and it's really easy to just have that all gets sucked up. So Shaquan, this was a fantastic conversation. I appreciate it. So people want to check it out. That's the Prudent man leaders. So what was the website again?
[00:27:59] Speaker B: The prudent man academy.com.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: The prudentmanacademy.com.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Awesome.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Cool, man. Thanks so much.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
