SPEAKER_01 1:45

Hello, everybody. Thank you for joining us. This is a little special uh session that we're doing. We normally do our arbitrary conversations on the side, but um we found a little time today, and we do have with us Mr. Duvet Weaver, also goes by coach D. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Oh, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

And uh we are very happy to have him with us today um to do a little bit of a I I guess you'd say a little renegade podcasting going on right now. Okay we wanna talk to him about his life phones, please. What he does, yes, phones.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Get get you your phone.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yep. Yeah, that's yours.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

All messed up. And you wanna close the door?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

That's why I was looking at you. I'm trying to code y'all.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Like key, key, key.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

This is an arbitrary guy.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're good. We're good. So we're good. So what's so cool about this is pretty um open, loose with it today. But I do want to give yourself, give you a chance to explain to our audience who you are, what is it that you do, and where you're coming from, because I think that's pretty interesting at this time. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Yeah, the floor is yours. All right, yeah. So again, like he said, my name is Duvet Weaver, also known as Coach D. I am the founder of Closer to Our Dreams, uh, which is a motivational and inspirational company focused on helping create an entrepreneurs, um, especially in this crazy world we have going on right now. Um, the reason you see me here is because we were running from uh Hurricane Milton.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Uh, and I used to come to South Carolina anyway, and when we got invited back to come, uh I didn't even question it. I told my boss, hey, I I don't care what the bank is doing, I I'm leaving. Uh and so we're closer to our dreams, we focus on doing networking events for young professionals. Um, we focus on creating our own experiences, our own vibes, because we are a vibe, I like to say. And um, our motto is Together We Can Achieve More. So even when I just met you guys today, I just love what you guys are doing, and I feel like it's just something that just needs to be amplified.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah, I like that hashtag Together We Can Achieve More.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Put that on the shirt, or if not, I will it's coming. That's actually coming too. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Yeah, I got some excellent. I'm already on y'all. So all right, so Oh, you went to closer to our dreams?

SPEAKER_03 4:05

Yes, go to closer to our dreams.com. Uh, I got a special thing for you all since you are chiming in with this wonderful channel.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

Listen, just type in dreamer when you check out, and you'll get 30% off your entire purchase. So let's go.

unknown 4:23

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

We bring it in.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah, let's bring it in. Let's bring it in. Yeah, yeah, let's go. Let's go. So, first thing that I do want to ask you after you're telling telling us this information, this is always cool. You're right on brand. You're actually very much on brand. Could you uh explain to our audience how you got started with this? Because I know this is this is not your nine to five, correct?

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Right, correct. It is not. Um it's a long story, so I'll keep it short. Um, it's actually a business I have with my cousin, which I'm really excited about. Uh his name's Elliot Martin. Awesome. We um we were working at Nike, and we we love Nike, of course. We always grew up, you know, wearing Jordans and Nikes and all that type of stuff. But as two young African Americans working at Nike, we felt like Nike could be doing more. And so we knew that they were tapping into our audience because we the cool kids, right? But we was like, what more could we do? So we always had this concept of like, man, we out here chasing dreams. And so that eventually morphed into um, okay, what if we are helping everybody get closer to their dreams? And so the reason it's not closer to my dreams is because we all have dreams. So we said, let's make it C T-O-D, which is closer to our dreams. And the beautiful thing, what I love about our brand, I'm getting chills now as I talk about this, is it's like once I know your dream, now your dream becomes part of my dream because now it's about elevation, right? And um, another thing we say is to uh like I said, together we can achieve more, but we also believe it's no competition, it's how can we collaborate?

SPEAKER_02 6:00

That's what we do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

That's a right-on brand. Yeah, and I feel like uh because of the way we grew up and you know, social experiences, I believe we have been taught as a people to compete against each other. Yeah, and that's something I think our generation will have to focus on breaking that.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

And a lot of times we were out looking for leaders, and instead of just us becoming the leaders that our generation behind us need to see. Um and so I say, I tell I tell young folks, I say, hey, Malcolm and uh and and Martin, they gone.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

So we have to become the leaders that can actually change the world. And uh we always talk about be the change you want to see in the world.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Talk about uh some of the workshops that you guys provide are it was a I think of it like a professional development for kids.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

Yeah. Well, and that's the thing, it's not even really just for kids. Uh, we have what I love about what I've done with this brand, or what we've done with this brand, is we can literally go anywhere because there's kids that have different dreams, right? So you might have a kid that says, Hey, you know what, I want to pick up a camera, and what does that look like as becoming a photographer? Um, or you might have someone that says, Hey, I want to prefer play a professional sport. So we don't pigeonhole ourselves to saying, hey, it's only for business owners. We say, What is your dream? And what I like to say is we reach out to our network and say, hey, who's who's in our network that can tell these kids or this audience about doing a certain thing? So um, for those of you who don't know, a long time ago I was pursuing professional basketball, but I had no model to follow. I just kind of figured I had to try to figure it out myself. Yeah. Well, now what I do is if a kid tells me they want to be a professional athlete, I reach out to my network. I know an ex-NFL player, Lewis Murphy. Shout out to Lewis Murphy for the one-on-one podcast out there in St. Pete. Um, but I can literally reach out and touch him and say, hey, uh, we got 20 kids that say they want to play professional football at the highest level. Can you come talk to them about what it looks like? So that's what we focus on with our brand. So, how we do that is with different workshops, like you said. So we have our networking events that's for the young professionals. Uh, we call it networking vibe. And so the reason we call it that is because when I used to go to the networking events downtown, they always felt super stuffy. And of course, I was always the only black person in there. And um, it was like one of those things where it's like, oh, well, just go fit in with a conversation. And it was like, well, I don't feel like I connect with any of you all. So what I did was I said, let me create my own thing. So networking vibe is for introverts. So a lot of people don't even realize I'm I'm an introvert that I'm um you see me as uh an extrovert because this is what I have to do for my brand. But people don't even realize this. Like in five years, my goal is to disappear. And I'm just being honest, where it's like, okay, I'm I'm only being so active and like this now because y'all don't know who I am. But once I'm to a Tyler Perry stage where I don't need to, I'm gone. And then it's like, okay, it's a it's an honor and it's a privilege to be in a presence of someone like that. And so I think what happens to people like me is we kind of get taken advantage of because they see that, oh, well, you got a heart to serve. So then it's like you have so many people trying to tap into you for your resources. And if you don't have, ooh, I'm getting chilled all through this. If you don't have the discernment to know who who's who's just uh trying to attach themselves to you so they can just get a piece of who you know and all that type of stuff. And then what they don't realize is when you share a connection and they mess that up, usually that comes back on you. Yeah, because it's like, oh, I you made this connection with this person, and now they did X, Y, and C. And it's just like, well, uh you that's why I say people that want to be in leadership, first, you have to develop a sense of discernment because they're gonna be the vultures out there that's just just waiting to pounce on you. That's true. And you just gotta know that.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Yeah. You ain't lying. Yeah, so that's so that's the one, so that's networking vibe. Uh, then we do an entrepreneurship boot camp. We uh well, we don't know about timing because of the hurricane, but we were planning to do that in November. It might get pushed back to December. We do a woman's empowerment summit. We literally had to push it back twice because the first the yes, the word the Helene came.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

It was like, heck no, y'all not y'all not doing this. So then we pushed it back, and then Hurricane Milton came and like, nope. And so my partner who I've partnered with for that is we're setting up a new date, uh, hopefully either November or December. I told her we should wait till the hurricane season is over so that way there's no more ah conflict. Gotcha. Um and then the we are in the process of putting together a men's summit as well. Because what's happening is since I've been so vulnerable online, I'm getting a lot of black men coming up, either coming up to me in person or online and saying, hey man, I don't feel like there's a safe space for me to come and share how I'm really feeling. Can I talk to you? Oh, wow. And so I I I tell my pastor, I'm like, hey, like, we need to do something because I feel like some of these men, it could, I could be their last, hey man, I'm gonna talk to you before I end it all. Yeah. And that's heavy. Yeah, and that's like I like like pastor, I don't know. Like, I don't want to carry that burden. Yes, I'm I'm trying to serve, but like I'm saying, we need to create a platform where these men can feel safe, where they can come in, tell them about what's going on, and not feel the burden of like the criticism of, oh, you're supposed to be a strong black man. Like, nope, no man, we have we have feelings just like everybody else. And and we have to learn to be able to tap into those feelings. And I think the way I was brought up, oh, the way I was brought up was uh speak when spoken to.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

So what that causes for someone like myself is I I grew up with insecurities because uh I I'm in all these rooms and not being able to say how I'm really feeling. So when I get out into the real world, like I don't know how to deal with my own. Yeah, because I'm like, well, I'm only speaking when spoken to. So if nobody's if no one speaks to me, I can speak to you. Right? So it's like just getting that. I ain't want I ain't want to get super deep on your own. No, you're fine, you're fine. But that's that's it pretty much. So so closer to our dreams, I just want it to be a beacon of light, a beacon of hope for those that do have dreams, and to know, like, listen, sometimes we think of our dreams like they're so far away, it's like, man, just break them down. Like, we I do something else called a dream camp. It stands for driven, resilient entrepreneurs achieving millions. So what we do in that camp is a 30-day case study. We say, hey, first two days is to set up your revenue goals. Your revenue goals is between $1,000 to $5,000 for this 30 days. Then I say, All right, now we're gonna break that down into weekly goals. So then what that does is like, okay, it takes that thousand hours, breaks it down. Then they start thinking, like, wait a minute, that's not really as much as I thought it was. Okay, then I'm like, all right, now we're gonna do one more. Daily. And we're gonna break down in the daily. And then it's like, wait a minute, I could I could do this. Yeah, I can make this amount daily. It's like $42 a day. That's what depending on what products you have. We have one student in there, shout out to Artesia in Tampa. Hey, shout out to Artisia. She came in there, $500 in two weeks. She has an ebook that's $47. She started a program and literally sold one book a day. And she was, and that's why I told her it's like sometimes you might have three sales a day, five sales a day. So just think about it. The next day you can kind of take your foot off the gas a little bit because it's like you I'm good. I'm coasting. So that's what it's about breaking down our big goals into bite-sized goals so that we can move forward. Because the end of the end game is to make progress, right? Just make progress. Because if you're making progress every day, it's like, oh, one sale a day? Yeah. I could do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Now, are you a career specialist? I mean, you're basically hitting everything. Like you share your network, you give them goals, you give them hope, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

So, I mean, I could be, but right now I'm at Fifth Third Bank. Um, shout out to them. But my goal, like I said, is to do this full time because I feel like it's for me, it's more of a calling.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

I can tell. You're very passionate about it.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

It's it's a calling, and I feel like that's what God has anointed me with because this is not something I went and learned. It's literally like God was like, hey man, I need you to come serve my people. And you you have the resources, you have the access to the information, so it's like, okay, like now you ain't gotta get out of your own shell. And you gotta you gotta start being a little bit more vulnerable. Yeah, yeah. And that's that's literally what has happened. And since I've become more vulnerable online, the people are coming to meet. And that's why I say, I don't wanna, I'm not saying no, I'm just saying, hey, let's systemize this so that it doesn't become a burden that I'm carrying all of it. It's like, hey, all right, uh pastor, we got all these resources, all these wellness people at the church.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Let's utilize the property.

SPEAKER_03 15:24

Let's let's let's utilize it. Let's get these people that need the help that they need. Come on. And uh for me, I had therapy. Therapy this year changed my life, bro. Because when I tell you um in a church you grow up, it's either just pray about it and let it go, or or you choose therapy, and now you don't, you're not a believer.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Yes. And so that's what we make it say.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

But our pastor, which I'm I'm so grateful for him, uh, shout out Carlos Sr. Um, he said we had a deep conversation in December, and he's like, hey, even he had done it. So this was the first pastor I had that was open about, hey, I went and saw a therapist, and then he explained what it helped him with. Okay. And he was like, really, it kind of helped me uh reassure the thoughts that I already had, but uh it allowed me to do it in a modality uh like way to come up with methods to deal with certain emotions when they come. Um and so once I did that, and I mean I had to tap into a childhood memory that I suppressed, and that was that my um my grandmother, I remember this like yesterday, man. I was a creative. I was always a super creative, and I just didn't know what that was because I mean I'm nine years old, I don't know what a super creative is, right? So I wrote a book. That book in around like first grade won me an award, right? Yeah for all of the school. I come home, I tell my grandmother, like, man, I'm so excited. And she's like, Man, boy, what you gonna do with that? She's like, Boy, if you don't go sit down somewhere, that is not gonna get you nowhere in life. And so I put that dream away. Shut down. Wow. And so what what that what that symbolized for me though is that not being able to be a dreamer. Oh and so that took all that took all my creativity away, and then all these years I have just been trying to please, like do things to please her, and nothing was like I've written a book, I'm on my second book, yeah, and I'm like, I'm doing all this stuff, but nothing was satisfying because she's gone, and that's like all I was waiting for is for her to say, man, I'm so proud of you. But but it didn't come. So it took me being in therapy and being in a position where I can say, I forgive you, because I I can just, I know if you said this to me, I can only imagine what your mother might have said to you. Say to you. Hurt people, hurt people come on. So, but like that that therapy really helped me get over that and start moving in a more attentional way. Because I've been doing this a while, I've been speaking for 12 years, but God has really like poured into me, like, okay, this is the way I would like you to do it. This is who I want you to connect with. And it's like the way I move now, I can move in any room.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

Because it's confidently. Confidently. Like I'm I'm I'm in there with the millionaires, I'm in there with the people still trying to get it straight out the mud.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

And I know how to talk to both of them.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

And so that's something that I've had to develop over time, but God has given me those opportunities.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Man, it's a blessing to conversate with you today. Oh, well, thank you. I know we got to get ready to wrap up, but I want you to drop some information. However, before I do it, I have to ask this question. Yeah. Your current work um with the bank, how has that influenced you positively to assist you in your current venture?

SPEAKER_03 18:45

Yeah, uh, to be honest, not much.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Okay, this is what I was wondering.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Yeah, not much. And because I came to the bank with already the people, the resources, everything. If anything, I'm they're benefiting from me.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

That's why I was wondering.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Because they they tapping into my connection. Like I reached out to Lewis Murphy, who was an ex-NFL player, and was like, hey, you need to come bank with us. And what it wasn't even a thought of, like, hey, what what sort of programs is like, all right, bro, if this if this way you're at, I'm there with you. And then the crazy thing about him, he's trying to get on ESPN. So once he does that, that's a whole whole nother network. Yeah. Um, so I will say what I've used the bank for is like I said, access to the resources, the information. There's a lot of information, I won't go into all the details, but that we don't know when we don't know it because the people in the bank don't look like us. So they don't have the sense of urgency to come to the community and share it. So once I know something that we don't know as a community, I'm going in.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Run tell that.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

Hey, uh, Pastor, let's do a workshop at our church, the hub, so that our people can learn this information. Oh, first. Yes. And then one of the things I do, like I said, the community that I've developed, I had uh, it was really exciting. So we did a Kirpreneur summit at um my godmother's church, which is literally 10 minutes apart from other our other church, right? And so I invited what I call my super friends, right? So one of them is a big time real estate investor who lives in um Virginia. Okay. So he's in the military, about to retire. He came down. I told my pastor and his team, I said, hey, he is willing to offer his time. I think it would be a good opportunity that anybody in the church that would like to get into real estate investing, they should come check him out. So we did the little announcement, standing room only. Standing room only for right after church. We say, hey, this is what he's gonna do. He's gonna, he's not gonna give you the whole game in 30 minutes, but he'll at least give you something to where you can get started. Standing room only. So that that's the opportunity we're a thirst for it.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

It's a thirst. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

It's a thirst because people see it now. When when gentrification happens in your city, it's like, or it's it's and this is why I tell people, and again, I'm getting tears all through this, it's either you be a part of it or you get left behind. Yeah. There is there is no there's no middle ground when it comes to that. Like you're either part of it where you say, hey, where do I fit in in this puzzle, or you get left behind. Yeah, and help bridge the gap. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yeah. That's that's it. It's bridging the gap.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

And I'm not gonna lie, in our community, we need a lot more of that. So I'm not gonna lie, man, you are electrifying with your energy about this. I can tell you very passionate. Thank you, thank you. We're gonna have to have you back on for a full episode.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

I know we're trying to we want to get you in because we want to at least let you speak about that today because I know what you're working on. It actually aligns very much with what our goals are.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Um, and what we all want to offer to people.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Um, but before we sign out, if you could just tell people where they can find you, where they can reach out to you, um, and any other um if you have any upcoming events, et cetera, please let us know.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

Okay. So you can find me on all platforms at coach D Talks. Okay, at Coach D Talks. Um, I'm very active. I try to be active on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. That's my main two. On uh main three. On YouTube is just if you just put in closer to our dreams TV, that'll pop up. Um, and then in regards to events, um, we have, like I said, the Women's Empowerment Summit. We don't know the exact date, but it'll probably be the end of or right before Thanksgiving or right before Christmas. We're waiting to get hear back from the venue. Uh, we're gonna have the men's summit coming up. And actually, I'm uh because I'm in South Carolina, and I to be honest, we were in a process, I was ready to move up here. I loved it so much. Uh, Somerville. Yeah, I love Somerville, Mount Pleasant. Those were like my two areas. Yeah. And I was like, I always felt home when I was here. And then um it's a whole nother story. But I found I'm I'm adopted, and so I have an older brother and sister, and they couldn't be up here. So it's like, it's like, it's like I'm like, I'm feeling it just pouring in. Just like, man, I gotta figure this out where they at. Because that would be like a dream come true if I could, if I could just meet them and just just let's know, because I don't think they know I'm I'm I'm here. You know what I'm saying? Because of the whole story. Um, but yeah, and then like I said, anybody that would like to connect with me, just connect. Say how you heard about me. And uh we do right now, our dream camp is free.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Okay, so I'm gonna say that again. Our dream camp is free. The reason we're doing that is because we want to uh basically allow you to experience the brand before you're making an investment. Okay. So a lot of times what happens is you you invest and you don't get what you want. So we we're taking it up front. Like I said, the one student she made $500 within two weeks. Guess what she's doing? She's running and telling all her friends, hey, I've been in this program two weeks, and I'm not questioning. That's what we also do. Like our community, we come in, we question everything that's already laid out. I'm like, we got 30 days laid out for you where all you got to do is just do what each day says to do. That's it. And it's like no questions. Now, if you do have questions, you can jump in our Facebook group and ask them there. But to be honest, it's pretty straightforward. There's nothing that you really need to question about the process. Yeah, and so we uh I do, I will say that I'm gonna put this out here on your platform. I would like to come back to South Carolina and do a networking vibe and also do a workshop. And that workshop, I have an AI consultant that's on my team. Um, I have a mindset coach that's on our team. I have a business uh lending person that's on my team. So it's not just me. That's what I love saying. Like, it's not just Coach D. We have a whole team, and most of them has been like, yo, wherever you go, we going. Because we see we see your vision. Yeah. Um, and I've been following uh Dr. Um Miles Monroe. Yeah. And oh my goodness, man. Like I watched one of his videos and he's talking about sometimes the vision, like the visionary has to always be first.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Because that nobody, like, I don't care how long you sit there and try to explain it to them. You could try to explain it to your wife, your kids, your mama, none of them gonna get it. You have to show them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

And when you see it.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Because they can't see it. You have to show them. You have to go out there, do the work, and once you, once they are able to see it, then it's like, oh, okay, this is where I fit in with that. Yeah, and we can go from there. So I know we gotta cut it short.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

But but um one thing before I before we get off, make sure people um they know where they can find you, know what they got going on. Of course, we'll have you back up. If you have any upcoming events, of course, please send that information to us so that we can help you distribute information and promote. Pardon me. The one thing I will say is you're a Dallas Cowboys fan.

unknown 25:53

Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

How'd you know that?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

He's on your page talking to you right now.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

I don't play.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

He is talking you right now.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

But I still love you. Despite you being a Cowboys fan. What is it, the Panthers? Nah, man. I'm a New England Patriots fan. You know we gotta whoop y'all at least once a year. We used to. Nah, you're gonna have the experience. We used to from Connecticut, New Haven. Oh, that's where you're from. Okay, okay, okay. They're gonna be wrong. Okay, okay, I'm gonna say, where does the love me? I know, right? Yeah, yeah. How did that happen? And you'll learn what's so weird is despite us being that, there's not a lot of Panthers fans here. Everybody's um uh uh NFC East fans because of the way television used to work back and they. And then once in a while you'll have dolphins fans. Okay. But we'll discuss that later, man. Okay, it's been a pleasure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pleasure, all my for the Hilltop Glove podcast. This is Amor. Tamaya and our esteemed guest, Coach D. We greatly appreciate you joining us today. Until next time, please tell somebody the next time that you love them, that you appreciate, and that you cherish them. Make sure you let people know that around you.