Episode Transcript

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Rianka: 00:00 Johnny, welcome to 2050 TrailBlazers.

Johnny: 00:03 Let's get it. I'm happy to be here.

Rianka: 00:05 Yes, yes, yes. I love that enthusiasm. Love it. So, I'm excited to have you on this podcast because most of the time we have financial advisors or financial planners on 2050 TrailBlazers and sometimes I like to surprise the listeners and bring in people who are in the financial services landscape but not advisors. Because people like you bring a different lens and a different passion to why you're doing what you're doing. And so I attended one of your events, earlier this year with Google and, you are interviewing one of our mutual friends, Everett Taylor. Go Hokies. And while I know about Google coaches, which is something I'm sure you're going to tell the listeners about through, I know about Google coaches through another mutual friend Angelina, who's an amazing person. I was amazed at how many people still don't know about the free services and advice you all provide at these events, specifically the Google coaches events. Additionally, I've been keeping up with you through your nonprofit, the ShineHard foundation and you all just do, was this your third year for The ShineHard Family conference?

Johnny: 01:30 Yeah, that's our third year for the ShineHard Summit and our sixth year in operation.

Rianka: 01:37 Awesome. Please tell the listeners about that here in a second. Because I think it, especially in a DMV area, we can come out support, you know, and the ShineHard Foundation was created as you mentioned about six years ago and on a mission to close the racial wealth gap, which there's a lot of people who listen to 2050 TrailBlazers. That's a huge passion of ours. I thought it would be great to bring you on as a guest of 2050 TrailBlazers to share your best practices. As we know, there are many of us who share the same passion of closing the racial wealth gap. So instead of recreating the wheel, we are figuring out how to work together through to sharing our best practices and how to best serve our community. So if this is your first time listening to 2050 TrailBlazers because you're a fan of Johnny's welcome.

Rianka: 02:30 What's up y'all? What's up ShineHard fam.

Johnny: 02:32 What's up y'all? New Speaker: 02:33 Season four is all about best practices. So Johnny, I'm excited to have you on because as you just mentioned, you've, it's been six years that you've had the nonprofit, the ShineHard Foundation, three years for it, the ShineHard summit and now you know Google, they saw what you were doing in the community with the ShineHard Foundation and they brought you on as a Google coach. I mean there's so many ways that we, and things that we can talk about. Where do you want to start?

Johnny: 03:02 It really starts back with my upbringing. I am an only child from Petersburg, Virginia and if you know anything about Petersburg, you will know that it's a lower socioeconomic place to grow up. Not a lot of people make it out. It's predominantly black and it's slow urban America.

Rianka: 03:25 It's, it's very non city like too, right? Like I have family who, my great aunts and my grandmother actually grew up in Petersburg, Virginia. So this is, I didn't even know. We are family.

Johnny: 03:40 Well, if my aunt and my grandma was here, they'd be like, what street your family grow up on?

Rianka: 03:45 Right?

Johnny: 03:47 What's ya'll last name?

Rianka: 03:47 Do you know the Evans?

Johnny: 03:49 You grew up on St. Luke's street

Rianka: 03:51 Right. So listen, we gonna have to connect after to see if we probably some some third, third degree separation of cousins or something because Petersburg is very small. But yeah, I definitely hear you as far as the, just the social economics and not too many people leave, honestly the community. So what made you want to leave and expand your horizons?

Johnny: 04:16 Well, I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My grandparents were entrepreneurs. My parents were entrepreneurs. Unfortunately they never reached their full potential. Probably never fully manifested their vision for their, their career or their life. And I had that DNA inside of me. I think I've always been an entrepreneur. When people were selling candy, I was, people were eating candy. I was thinking about how I could sell it or you know, how I could distribute it to more people and, and add value to people through whatever it was that I was doing. I think I, I never really imagined myself staying in Petersburg. I always knew there was more for me. And I think that's something that has maybe stuck with me is that I always had a vision for myself that I was going to do something great and I was going to exceed the expectations that were set for me, whether it be from the community of Petersburg or my classmates or my own family.

Johnny: 05:21 I had a vision that was greater for myself and that was probably the, golden thread that took me and carried me out of Petersburg, Virginia. What if I want to talk a little bit more anecdotal as far as what happened? I ran track in high school. I played four sports, football, basketball, baseball and track. My first love was basketball. I was really good at football, but for whatever reason, track and field is what I excelled and dominated in as a high school athlete. My mother passed away. She took her own life in 2000 my freshman year in high school. And, naturally I was devastated, you know, as a, as a teenager, as the only child, it really, it really hurt me and confused me. But, when I was able to gather myself and pick up the pieces, I knew that even more so that my life needed to mean something. It needed to have a greater purpose. And I poured myself into sports. At that time all I knew was football, basketball, baseball, track and video games. So I wanted to be the best at everything I did and I focused on being a great athlete, even to the detriment of my, of my studies. But I excelled. I won the state championship for the long jump and triple jump on multiple athletes of the year. And, through that experience I was lucky enough to gain a scholarship to Hampton University.

Rianka: 07:05 Is that the real HU? If that is that,

Johnny: 07:07 Are you, do you have to ask? What type of question is that? Is that a joke?

Rianka: 07:13 I had to throw that in there. For those HBCU, those who went to HBCUs, you, you kind of get that joke, for those who don't hit me up on Twitter and I'll explain what we're talking about.

Johnny: 07:25 A HBCU is a historically black college or university there. There's that, that's done. Okay. So I gained a scholarship to Hampton University and coming from Petersburg and then going to, an all white high school. So I didn't really talk much about that. But my grandparents who I was living with in Petersburg divorced. So I moved with my grandmother to Colonial Heights, which is the neighboring city where it's an all white high school. And now I went from being the black kid amongst all these other black kids to being the token black kid at this big white school. So when I went to Hampton, it was kind of getting back to the black community, the black student population, but it was a little bit different. In this case, it was affluent black students from all over the country. And I still hadn't seen this type of, progressive black community like from Petersburg.

Johnny: 08:31 I mean, I knew that they were out here, that we existed. I saw, I saw Puff Daddy, right? I saw Ken Griffey Jr. I saw Michael Jordan, and those were the people that I aspired to be like growing up as a kid. But going to Hampton completely revolutionized my perception of self because I saw black history, I saw black excellence, I saw black love, and I, I learned music and I was introduced to different fashion and it was almost a mirror for myself to say, okay, wow. Like I can achieve more. I can have this type of car or I can get this type of job or I can have these types of friends that get this type of girlfriend. And that for me changed my life forever.

Rianka: 09:20 Yeah. I mean, just being exposed that exposure to new things, new environments, new new socio economic status. It, it opens your eyes, you know, and I totally hear you. I agree with you. I grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. And very similar. The neighborhood I grew up in sounds like a very similar neighborhood you grew up into. And, so being able to go off to college, it, it opened my eyes as well. And so through your experience at the real HU or Hampton University, sorry, Howard. So at Hampton University, was that kind of like the blueprint for the ShineHard Foundation?

Johnny: 10:07 I think that was the early stages of a black, a black community leader. So I can't say that I knew that ShineHard was gonna was gonna come at that moment. But I, I started to find myself as a leader and I started to find a passion for black people. And that was probably the foundation that I, that I built upon. Because again, going into society after graduation from Hampton, I had a whole different level of sense of responsibility for what it means to be a black man in America. So naturally I, I hit the ground with confidence. And when I was applying for jobs, even when I wasn't getting them, I was getting rejected for jobs I was applying for and I couldn't find a job around 2008 when there was this great recession, I still knew that I was valuable, that I was meant for something great. And I was, I was proud. I was proud of my education to say that I went to Hampton University. So I think Hampton was, that was that, kind of that battle ground for me to, to earn my stripes as a black man in America and then take that and say, I'm going to do something great in this world.

Rianka: 11:24 That's what's up. So let's fast forward, you know, to six years ago when you did create the 501(c)3. So for those who don't know, that's a tax code, which means you're a nonprofit and, you know, is based in Washington D.C. How did you know you wanted to create a nonprofit? What was the steps and stages to do that? And where did the name ShineHard come from?

Johnny: 11:49 Well, I knew that social justice wasn't a byproduct of economic empowerment. And that's something that I've wrapped my mind around when I started to see the way that people in this country that had money or power or status were treated differently. And money is not everything, but it's a tool that can make change. And if a person who is a good person has money, they can make change in a good way. The problem is a lot of people, a lot of bad people have money and they make change in bad ways or they maintain inequities. But to answer your question, I was working for Nike. I ended up getting a job in a, at a company that seemed to be a dream job, and I was a cog and a machine. And it goes back to my, to my upbringing where I always knew I was an entrepreneur.

Johnny: 12:48 I felt creatively stifled working for this big company, but not having the autonomy to, to really create and to make impact on people the way that I felt that I was meant to. So what I did, it was very non traditional. The way I started the, the ShineHard family is I just, I hopped on YouTube and I built a website and meanwhile I'm doing a ton of reading around this time. I mean my twenties were filled with self-education. I was reading Think and Grow Rich. I was reading the Compound Effect. I was reading, 48 Laws of Power. You, if you looked at my bookshelf in my twenties, you would think that I had all, I owned a library because all I was doing was consuming these, well, books, and these concepts and these philosophies to help sharpen my mind and understand how I could create success and how I could manifest any idea that I had.

Johnny: 13:47 So while I was working at Nike, I'm reading all these books and listening to all of these speakers on Spotify or SoundCloud. And I decided I had this big idea and I was going to start, I was gonna start a website, launch a website, and I was going to create content that will inspire and educate people. And that was really the basis of the whole movement, at the time was just to tell my story and create blogs and interviews that would inspire people. The interview series that I had on the website was called The ShineHard Family. And the concept of that interview series was to recognize black millennial leaders from different industries to create visibility and to transfer knowledge from one generation to the next. And that was pretty much it.

Rianka: 14:41 So after the YouTube channel, I'm pretty sure it grew and people were probably like, we want more of this. Is that kind of like the inception of the conference?

Johnny: 14:51 Well, it didn't even start off as a YouTube. It started off as just being, blog. Basically everything was transcribed on the website. So I was literally, and mind you, I had no experience in, in digital media. I was not formally trained. I studied sport management at Hampton. So getting into the digital marketing space was more so just an innate, skill that I had to create content as an artist and put it out there to people. I mean, I'm, an elder millennial, so I grew up on, the Nokia cell phones. And AOL and I was this know, I remember when Facebook came to Hampton in 2005 you know we were one of the first, before it was general public, it was just university.

Rianka: 15:42 When it was dot EDU. Listen, that was the golden years.

Johnny: 15:47 Those were golden. Like I miss those days on Facebook and ever since then it's just gone, a muck.

Johnny: 15:53 But so I always had some, some digital shops, but it wasn't formal. And to kinda fast forward is that I was creating this content on my website and people say, yo, these interviews are good, you should do live interviews. So I started to travel to certain people and I was already kind of traveling to people in my car on a plane, on a train, just to sit down with people to tell these stories. Because what I thought was really most important was the content. And sitting down with people who I felt were one committed to their craft. So they would be doing this for a long time after the interview and they were just really talented high character people that could at some point be a part of this network for the long haul. So I kind of had a bigger vision as to who I was interviewing that I, I invested in them under the assumption that they would too grow and be future millionaires at some point to help create a network of highly successful people.

Johnny: 16:57 It was still a very cloudy vision at the time, but people said, Hey, you should do live interviews and record it. So then we started to record interviews and I was using two GoPro cameras. It was very ugly, but again, the content was good. It was on YouTube, you can watch it, you could see us. It was progress. And then the next year they said, Hey, you should do live talks. So then I said, okay, I'll bring these people that I've interviewed and I'll bring them to a panel or bring them to a live space with an audience. And that turned out really, really well. People came out, we sold out all the tickets we raised, we started to raise money for the movement. And people started to say, well, this is a big thing that you're building. What type of business is this? So that's when it started to get down to the brass tacks to say, Hey, is this a for profit or nonprofit?

Johnny: 17:52 And what is the mission of this thing this organization. So it took me, it took me some time to wrap my mind around the work that we were doing. And coming up with a mission statement that defined the organization was not an easy task. I talked to my team and I prayed about it and I did some soul searching and I realized, and I even looked at, look back to my own story because a lot of times I talk to young entrepreneurs and they have a hard time finding their purpose or defining their why. And what I always tell them is that you have to look at your own story, look back at your life at things that you wish were different or challenges that you faced or injustices that you experienced in those moments. Define your story and can create a why for what you do today.

Johnny: 18:59 So I had to look back and that's when I realized I grew up with no money. I've been stressed about money my whole life, and I've watched people with money make change and create better lives for themselves and their families. We live in America, this capitalistic society. How do you succeed here? We've, we've experienced 400 years of oppression and even even since desegregation, we're still being oppressed. But how do we make that change? How do we turn the tables? How do we turn the tide? And I realize that economic empowerment may not be the only answer, but it's a major key to changing the narrative for black people and minorities, in the United States. So that's when I realized that closing the wealth gap is an extremely important mission. And that's what our, our organization can set out. And we'll do.

Rianka: 19:50 Yeah. And so then, so basically you, you took from all the way from transcribing, interviews to doing live interviews to doing interviews with a live audience. And so I, I think it was kind of full circle earlier this year when I think Everette actually told that story too about how you went to go visit him. Was he in California at that point in time or was he in Richmond?

Johnny: 20:15 He was living in Los Angeles.

Rianka: 20:17 Yeah, yeah, he was in LA. And you went to go visit him with your two GoPro cameras?

Johnny: 20:23 I did.

Rianka: 20:24 And, but look, it came full circle and now he's on a stage that you help build, and a platform that you helped build, so that you can give back to the community. And so I'll make sure we, put in information just about the ShineHard Foundation period. But then also the summit, the summit was a couple of weeks ago. So if you're listening to this, you're late, but we'll make sure we'll put in, in our show notes, information for the summit for next year. So if you're not familiar, the show notes, you can go to 2050 TrailBlazers.com look for Johnny's episode. And, any, any information that we mentioned, like the books he mentioned, we'll make sure that we put it in the show notes so that it can be easy for you to, you know, blaze your own trail and if it's, if it's in your, in your heart or in or in your story to even start a nonprofit or a movement. Listen, he, he's setting the groundwork for you. So speaking of coming full circle, from what I heard Google, they, they saw what you were doing and they were impressed and was just like, listen, can you, can you become a Google coach? Is that, is that how it happened? Basically. Don't be modest on this podcast

Johnny: 21:57 In the most humble way that is similar along the lines of what happened. I mean, it's, it's a huge honor to work for Google. So don't let me sit up here and act like I got going on. I, you know, I'm still learning and it's been a huge responsibility. And a challenge for me to become a part of such an amazing powerhouse of a company. But yes, I was doing this work in the community and I was, I was working with some of the most recognizable and successful black millennial thought leaders and influencers that my network started to grow and become very, very strong. And I was able to bring these people to any space that I would call. I had them on speed dial because I'm adding value to them. I'm creating win, win-win scenarios for everyone who was a part of the organization.

Johnny: 22:56 People that are making money, people that are, finding mentorship. People are becoming thought leaders because of this platform. So it's like an ecosystem that I've created that people are in some ways feel indebted to me or you know, support me to the point where I had a lot of power because of the network that I had. So with that network, and again, it goes to economic empowerment, but I think about wealth in different forms, because wealth is more than just money. It's access to spaces, it's relationships, it's information, it's your health. And then there's money, and maybe I didn't have $1 million in my bank account, but the people that I've invested in are appreciating and they're growing and they're becoming worth my network is becoming worth a $1 million. And I think the way that I've leveraged that wealth for good, I've used that network that I have to make change and inspire young entrepreneurs and to provide financial literacy and professional development for others who aspire to be the million dollar network.

Johnny: 24:11 Google saw that and says, Hey, we have this program. And it's serving the same community that you're already serving. We're looking for someone who's in DC. I raised my hand, someone who's passionate about serving minority entrepreneurs. I raised my hand. And someone who knows how to handle major productions. And you talked about our annual summit. We've done tons of talks here in the D.C. area. So I raised my hand again, and I was of course apprehensive at first, even for a big company like Google. I did not want to work for a corporate company. I left Nike because I wanted to have the entrepreneurial journey. The autonomy to create and to do what I wanted to do and not have to answer to someone, not call someone my boss and to do work that directly affects people in my community. But when I read the job description for the digital coaches program, it was so aligned with my purpose and my mission. I almost felt like it was created just for me.

Rianka: 25:20 And, and I think it's cool, you know, again, as I just learned more about your story and just learn more about you personally, you know, the ShineHard Foundation was created and the mission was to close the racial divide, the racial wealth, you know, divide. And then with being a Google coach, it's, you know, to bridge the digital divide. And as we know, especially if you come from a community, from just with low socioeconomic status, if, if you haven't been exposed to different tools, especially in the digital world, and we have to face it, technology is running everything now. And so you have to know how to use a computer. You have to know how to just use these tools. And a lot of people think it cost a lot of money to run like a digital business when in fact there are so many free tools out there and that's what I love about what you're doing is that, with not in addition to helping to clear, to close the racial wealth divide, now you're helping to close or bridge the digital divide. So you mentioned in a, in a previous conversation that there are a few pillars that you work on or work towards when you're closing or bridging the digital divide. What are those?

Johnny: 26:41 That's a very interesting question, in the way that I merge my work with the ShineHard Family and digital coaches program with the ShineHard, it's visibility, role model, visibility. It's transferring knowledge and it's intentionally connecting leaders to accelerate the black economy. On the coach's side, it's providing access to underrepresented spaces. So when we're bringing in all women entrepreneurs or all black engineers to the Google space that maybe didn't even know Google had an office in DC, that in itself is disrupting the status quo. That is providing representation in a space that's underrepresented because now people have this confidence that I too am credible, I am legit, I belong here. And that's changing the narrative just a bit. Number two is democratizing information. So like you said, people have misconceptions about how much technology costs or how to even utilize these tools. Google did a study that showed 70% of small business owners in America are women or minorities in 2019, and they're growing 7% year over year opposed to the white male counterpart where they already have their cushy CEO, president, VP jobs.

Johnny: 28:22 And that demo in the small business space is decreasing 2% year over year. So what that tells us is that because of information, Google and YouTube and all of these, all this information that exists, we now are taking power into our own hands. We're not waiting to be hired by a job. We're not waiting to be promoted by a company that may never promote us. We're actually starting our own businesses. We're creating our own side hustles. And the coaches program is here to say, Hey, Google wants to be a part of your journey, your entrepreneurial journey to say we have Google drive that can save you a ton of time and help you collaborate with your team and your clients. There's YouTube which can help you market your business or help you learn new skills for your company. There's Google analytics that can help you measure.

Johnny: 29:10 There's Google ads that can help you market and drive more traffic to your website. There's a ton of new free products that are available that are free. So one creating that awareness. And then two, I host workshops and talks for different communities on how to use these products and implement them in their business. And third, and lastly is creating a sense of community. I really feel like until we can buy the block, until we can occupy underrepresented industries and most importantly invest in black entrepreneurs and black businesses we'll be forced to rely on financial entities that don't always sometimes have misleading agendas for our community. So building a sense of young or old black entrepreneurs and professionals that are like-minded and can trust. And invest in each other in this space is the third pillar for the digital coaches program.

Rianka: 30:13 Curating a community. I think that is extremely important and a safe space, right? Because a lot of us, you know, as a financial planner there's a lot, some, most of the time there's a lot of shame that comes around conversations when it comes to money, right? Because it's like, man, I'm, I'm supposed to know this stuff. Like I'm X, Y and Z and my company and I don't know about this when it comes to money or, and from a technology standpoint it's like, man, like I'm a, you know, a seasoned millennial, I should know about these technologies and tools. You say I seasoned, right? I'm a seasoned millennial, I should know about these tools. And then there's shame around that. And then sometimes we don't ask for help. And so that's why I also love why, you know, the fact and the point that you're curating a community of safe spaces so that we can go in and just ask those questions so we don't have shame around it.

Rianka: 31:07 It's like, listen, I don't know Google drive. So what is that and how can this benefit my company? Right? On the flip side, I love Google. This is not a paid advertisement at all. Johnny is not being paid to be on this podcast. But for real, like I like my entire firm is a hundred percent virtual and most of it is, is, you know, through Google, you know, I love Google drive, email, all of my people who work with me, my, my team members, they're all virtual. And so that's a way for us to collaborate. We chat on Google, Google Hangouts and, and all of that. And to the point that you made numbers, don't lie. I mean, we've, we've heard that a lot of times before. And so when it comes to Google analytics, you're wondering why your business is not growing or you're putting out money for marketing and ads, but you're going to the wrong places because your audience is actually coming from a different source and you don't know that type of stuff unless you go to your Google analytics. Or if you have Google analytics running from your website. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you need to hit up Johnny and these Google coaches. And from what I've, from what I know, there are Google coaches in 12 cities across the United States. There's D.C. I know there's New York, Harlem specifically, and I dunno, is there one in Philly?

Johnny: 32:38 We have a coach in Pittsburgh, shout out to Kyshira. We have a coach in LA, Austin, Chicago, Miami, Austin, Atlanta, and like you said, D.C., Chelsea and Harlem.

Rianka: 32:52 Listen. So I mean if you're not excited about growing your business or not excited about, you know, then don't go to these Google coach events. But if you are, and if you want to expand your horizons, get exposed to this free again free. They do not charge for these events. These, it's for our community, and it's for us to learn and just be better entrepreneurs, better business owners. If you're interested, I'll make sure I'll include a link in the show notes so that you can figure out if there is an event coming up near you.

Rianka: 33:36 Now, Johnny, I know you're a busy guy, so I know I don't, I have just a few more minutes of your time and it's something we we've talked about before, but I wanted to bring it to 2050 TrailBlazers and this is something that I feel personally responsible for. You know, as we ascend in our careers as we ascend and obtain larger platforms, I strongly, strongly believed in lift as you climb and looking back and see who are some of those people to, to mentor or to push. I know I wouldn't be where I am today if someone didn't tap me on my shoulders and say Rianka no, I see this in you. So what are some pieces of, of advice that you have for those who, piece of advice or best practices that you have for those who are thinking about starting a nonprofit who are thinking about starting a movement, who may want to be entrepreneur but scared because impostor syndrome is kicking in? What are some of those pieces of advice you have for the listeners?

Johnny: 34:47 I too have experienced impostor syndrome. I think any, I think being black in America, you live in a constant state of impostor syndrome. So putting that out there, we all have to overcome that. And the way that I feel that I've been able to overcome it and that I often share with other young entrepreneurs is to find your why. If you decide to work for a company, if you decide to venture as an entrepreneur, you have to have a, you have to know your story and it needs to be concise as to what's the, where did you start and what brought you here, in so many words. And you have to find something that's compelling. Many times people start businesses that don't succeed because they don't have enough reasons to succeed. They haven't found enough reasons to, to persist through the adversities of a great endeavor.

Johnny: 35:55 So number one, find your why. Number two, self education. If you stop learning after school, you are behind. You have to pick up books that speak to your passion, that speak to your business, master your craft. It's a very, very competitive landscape no matter what industry that you're in. Because technology has democratized information that has opened and level the playing field so that so many more people are in business now. And if you want to succeed and shine, you have to be the best and be sharp at what you do. So start with why. Master your craft and find a mentor. For me, I never really had a mentor. It's a miracle that I've been able to make it as far as I have without a mentor or someone who is championing for me. Well, what I did is found virtual mentors. So I hopped on YouTube and I watched hours and hours of John Maxwell leadership videos or listen to hours and hours of Eric Thomas or Les Brown motivational talks, Jim Rome, Martin Luther King.

Johnny: 37:26 I consumed very, very intentionally. And that's something that I would challenge every single person who's listening to this podcast is to control your consumption because there's two types of people in a capitalistic society and economics. There is producers and there's consumers and at some point we're all producers and we're all consumers. But most people in this country or in the world are consumers. They spend 80% of their time consuming and 20% of their time producing something at work. So I challenge you to one, spend more time producing, create something, build something. And when you are using your time to consume, which is totally fine, we all need self care. We all need entertainment, but be very intentional about what you're consuming. Maybe you're not watching five hours of, American Horror Story on Netflix. Maybe you're watching a documentary that is speaking to your craft. Maybe you're watching a YouTube training that can better your skills in finance or accounting or operations or whatever areas that you're trying to grow. Using your hours more effectively is what's going to advance you because in five years, what you've consumed is going to manifest. It is going to show the people who are working the hardest right now will be the ones who are leading and making world-changing decisions in five or 10 years. So manage your consumptions and focus on production.

Rianka: 39:04 Yes. As the saying goes, we all have the same 24 hours in a day, and I just want to say thank you, Johnny for spending one of those hours with me today.

Johnny: 39:14 Thank you for having me. This was awesome.