♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> Roger Gore, multi-talented business leader and Dr. Lance London, one of our nation's most successful restaurateurs, next, on "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by the following.

At Wells Fargo, diverse representation and perspectives, equity, and inclusion is critical to meeting the needs of our colleagues, customers, and communities.

We are focused on our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion both inside our company and in the communities where we live and work.

Together, we want to make a tangible difference in people's lives and in our communities.

Wells Fargo, the Bank of doing.

American Petroleum Institute.

Through API's Energy Excellence program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural gas and oil industry around the world.

Learn more at api.org/apienergyexcellence.

Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

At AARP, we are committed to ensuring your money, health, and happiness live as long as you do.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> We're very pleased to welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles" one of the most successful serial entrepreneurs in the nation today, Roger Gore.

Welcome.

>> Oh, thank you for the welcome.

Thank you for the kind words.

I'm honored to be here today to discuss things about business, things about entrepreneurship, things about the journey.

>> Right.

Well, you're from Washington, D.C. >> I am, born and raised in Washington, D.C. My parents, after me being born, moved to Seat Pleasant, Maryland, where we stayed from -- until I was graduated high school.

Seat Pleasant, it's a very tight-knit community.

Matter of fact, some famous people, like Kevin Durant comes from our community as well as Sugar Ray Leonard.

>> Great basketball player, great boxer.

>> That's right.

>> What made you decide to become an entrepreneur?

>> Well, it stems from -- I guess it's born in my blood.

My grandfather on my mother's side, Ruben Hill, owned a farm of probably 60 or 70 acres and sold vegetables and things like that.

And on my father's side, we used to call it The Big Farm, in Dawson, Georgia.

They also had a farm and sold produce and things like that.

And then, my parents, my father's a three-war veteran.

And when he retired, he started a business in doing home improvement.

And my mother, same thing when she retired, she started a business for childcare.

So as I was coming through, I just -- I didn't know the word "entrepreneur" as much as I understood that they always had a business, and they were very successful at it.

>> So you come from a family of entrepreneurs.

>> A family of entrepreneurs, not knowingly, just it was a way of life.

And, you know, in those days, it was just how to make extra income, make ends meet, to make sure we had a life that we could excel in.

>> Mr. Gore, what was your first business?

>> Well, I won't say it was my first business.

It was my introduction into the foundation of entrepreneurship.

So, I was a award-winning cosmetologist.

And in the cosmetology industry behind the chair, there's no salary.

So it's based on how you build clients, satisfy your clients, get repeat business, marketing, things like this.

So you learn that if you don't, aren't able to produce, then you don't eat, then there's no income.

So that's the foundation of business normally is how do you create sales, how do you create satisfied customers, how do you get repeat business.

>> So you are now a manufacturer of products.

>> Yes.

Manufacturers work through distributors or they call them cross references, where you work with the big-box stores.

And the thing about manufacturing, the thing about products, thing about entrepreneurship in the beauty industry is, being a cosmetologist, being behind that chair, taught me so much that I had come to use to learn to excel in business, as well as being around my parents and watching them grow their businesses.

>> How receptive are customers and the users of your GNatural products?

How is it doing in the marketplace?

>> So, when we were behind the chair, a lot of products were chemical-based products -- Alkaloids, sodium hydroxide, things like that.

I wanted to create something natural, and this was really an untapped market.

I called it a blue ocean back then.

So you had to educate on herbal ingredients, on things that would add moisture to the hair, things that would promote hair growth, great for your hair, great for your scalp.

And it made it more challenging, but I was up to the challenge.

I enjoyed each time someone was convinced or came on board and started using the product.

They chose so many people because it was new.

It was something that we wasn't currently using, and people tend to like the whole idea of the name.

The name just popped, GNatural.

>> GNatural.

You know, in today's world, particularly with the rise of environmentalism, the rise of things that are natural, things that are organic, and you've seem to have tapped in at the right time with GNatural products.

>> Coming out in 1996 is that the industry -- of our industry was just, you know, distribution and retail, in general, didn't catch up to natural products till 2005, 2006.

So the consumer actually drove the market, and it was a hidden market that they didn't see because people started walking away from chemical products, not as much as for the danger or as much as for the health reasons.

It was just about embracing their natural hair texture.

And later we learn -- what?

-- relaxers are causing cancer.

So this kind of worked that they were looking for companies that were already in the space.

So maybe about 4 or 5 of us that were already in the space of creating natural products, and that's why we got on the shelf, and that's why we got exposure first, because the clients were coming in and there were no natural products in the stores.

>> But I want to ask you, what was the threshold?

What made you see and envision the profitability of natural products?

>> The thing I look is that I started taking herbs at an early age, probably '91.

>> You took herbs?

>> I was taking vitamins, herbal supplements at an early age.

And when I thought about, well, if I wanted to really do something different and I knew natural products, I've seen some that were out, I wanted to bring something natural to the market, because you have to always think when you come to a market that might already be developed, what's the blue ocean?

What's the advantage?

What do you have that someone else doesn't have?

And you have to build your brand based on that.

So when I walked into salons and barbershops and things like this, and I started talking about our ingredients, they were very unfamiliar.

And I got a chance to educate.

And the results were there.

So a product has to be results-driven because with the education and being driven in the marketing, you will soar.

>> I know a lot of entrepreneurs, and most entrepreneurs get in a pathway and kind of stay there.

What makes you different?

You have shifted gears.

So now you're in GNatural spirits.

Explain how you made this transition from one natural line of products to another line of natural products.

>> Research is always the key.

And you made a great point is that I took my experience from cosmetology and being a barber -- I was an award-winning stylist.

I won awards when I was in beauty school, I won awards as a stylist.

So I know that -- Because if you do something well and you develop it well and you practice and, you know, it's great for your customers to say you're great, your friends, your family, but when the industry says you're great, then you tend to separate yourself immediately.

So when I looked at doing the vodka, I had to decide that we're gonna do a potato-based, corn-based like this.

Corn, to me, was more attractive because of the taste, the finished product, as well as it makes it gluten-free.

So the health part jumps in that it's a gluten-free product.

And the next thing is to do, just like I did in the cosmetology industry -- "How do we get the industry, based on what we put into this brand, to recognize it?"

Because then you got so many vodkas in the marketplace, what makes this different?

So we entered the world's largest spirit competition, and two months later, we found out we won triple gold across the board.

>> How is your passion to strive for excellence overcoming the mediocrity that seems to be so prevalent in American society?

>> Well, the thing we try to set is an example, and that's what we learned from, from your excellence, from those that have come before us.

And our parents raised us that way, is that, how do you strive to be the best?

MLK said it best -- "If you're going to be a street sweeper, sweep the streets like Michelangelo paints paintings."

>> He's the best.

That's right.

I worked with Dr. King.

You couldn't work around him if you didn't strive for excellence.

>> Exactly.

>> Even in the most mundane things.

Being excellence at that.

>> So, our culture before -- So our generation before is the one that trains us.

So my family, from the greatest generation because my parents are much older -- father born in '25, mother born in 1928 -- they are of excellence, and it was across the board.

Your neighbors, same thing.

Everybody was based on excellence.

So we have to take some ownership in that, that somewhere down the line, we dropped the ball where we wanted to make you feel accepted just being whatever.

It's okay.

That has its place but not when it comes to building a community, building a business.

You want to be based and train people in excellence.

How do you be your best?

And don't worry about -- Take criticism because it makes you better.

If you look at someone criticizing or judging you in our time, they were telling you this to make you better, not to look down on you or say you're not.

Now it seems like it's taken differently because the movement has changed where we're saying, "Mediocre is cool."

It's okay -- cool to be -- We're blaming that to say who you are, and that's not who you are.

That's who you decided to be.

You can be better.

You can be more.

You're designed to be better, more, excellence.

But it comes from home.

The parents, the generation that surround us, has to get back into saying excellence is okay.

>> Based on your present-day success, what's your forecast for the future, in terms of your own business but encouraging others to consider becoming an entrepreneur?

>> You have to create something, first and foremost, that's in a blue ocean, and not just create something that's in a blue ocean, create something that can last more than 10 years.

>> You used this term "blue ocean" several times.

Explain what you mean by "blue ocean."

>> So, in marketing terms or in strategy terms, when it comes to entrepreneurship, a blue ocean is something that's large that is -- no one has found that area yet.

It's not crowded, it's not a crowded space.

And if it is a crowded space, whatever you create has to fall into that category of blue ocean, where it's going to be better in the future.

Because if you create the blue ocean, look at the tools you have.

Look at the A.I.

that's coming along that can assist you in -- from strategizing to content to marketing development, everything.

So they have tools that we never had access to.

I'm learning.

I'm a student of future.

So I'm gonna always learn what's new and use it.

But they're coming to the table with this information.

They're coming to the table with the same needs.

We're going to always have hair, we always drink spirits, and certain things we're going to always do.

Use the tools today.

And you're seeing so many entrepreneurs come out.

Everybody has their own show now.

If you got a mic and a phone, you got a show.

You're an entrepreneur.

But what they have to learn, it's something I call "social-media rich."

You can't be social-media rich.

That's just rich on camera.

That's just rich on social media.

You want to take social media and convert it and make the cash registers ring, and then that's when you're going to have something.

But if you put a product into it, a service and use the tools today, when I say you will be through the atmosphere, I mean the stratosphere, we haven't seen it yet.

We look at the Jeff Bezos, Louis Vuitton, those people, they've reached that level.

These kids coming up, with these tools, will go 10 times further than where we are.

>> Roger Gore, serial entrepreneur, thank you for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Thank you, Dr. Chavis.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> We're so pleased to have one of our nation's most successful restaurateur, entrepreneur, Dr. Lance London.

Welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> It's a pleasure to be here.

>> I understand you've been in the restaurant business 31 years.

>> Yes, sir.

>> How did you first get started in this business?

>> Well, back when I was a youngster, my dad talks about business every night at the dinner table.

He talked about different entrepreneurs and what it meant to be an entrepreneur.

He idolized some people that were in business, and he would describe what he wanted to do.

And, of course, he became an entrepreneur.

My daddy always told me, "Son, the greatest thing you could ever do for me is to become greater than me, become more successful than me."

He kind of implanted into my mind, in my mind-set at that dinner table each and every night, the importance of becoming great and becoming an entrepreneur.

Talked about it all the time.

>> So your parents had enormous influence in you decided to go into business for yourself?

>> Yes, sir.

>> I've been to your restaurant.

>> Yes, sir.

>> Tell us about the evolution of the Carolina Kitchen and restaurant.

>> Well, my dad used to always talk about a franchise.

We all know one of the -- I guess it's the largest restaurant chain in America.

He would talk about the owner of that particular restaurant and how he got started selling milkshake machines.

And my dad would talk about it and talk about it and talk about it, and one day, one of his friends worked at that particular chain and worked his way up to assistant manager, then managed it, became regional director and got a minority program and opened his first franchise.

That inspired my dad.

So my dad got into the program, and he worked for years to open his first franchise, and right when he got approved, was scheduled to move, he had a heart attack, and he passed away.

Being in the restaurant business, it just -- you know, just stuck with me.

I just kept thinking about it and thinking about it.

And so, one day, and this is after I got out of school -- I got into marketing -- and when I was in marketing, I had a sales team.

And in that particular building, it was in downtown Silver Springs, Maryland.

It was a restaurant, had been there for years.

It went out of business.

So I had a good relationship with the owner of the building.

And I asked him, I said, "I have this great concept.

I met these guys on an airplane on this new chicken franchise, and I want to do something like that."

And I drew it on paper, what I wanted to do, I shared it with him.

He got excited.

He knew I was a good client.

I rented the whole second floor of his building, and this empty restaurant was there.

And he said, "You know what?

I'm gonna give you a shot."

I asked him, could he give me any money?

He said, "I'll give you free rent."

He gave me one year's free rent.

That's all it took.

And at that point, I got inspired, I got motivated, and I went out, and I taught my sales team how to sell, sell, sell each and every day.

Why?

Because my dad said, "The more you sell, the more you make."

And we just kept selling till we made enough to open that very first restaurant, cash.

>> What college did you go to?

>> Went to Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

>> Great HBCU.

>> Yes, sir.

>> How important is it to have a mentor or mentorship or to have somebody to encourage you along your business path?

>> I feel that every person -- I don't care who you are watching this -- that's why this show is so good.

Every person needs to have a mentor.

There's no way -- My very first mentor was my dad.

But along the way, I've had met certain people that became my mentors, as well.

You look for people that are doing way better than you, that's already proven, and hopefully, they'll open their arms with love and share with you the fundamental secrets of success so that you can get some of the same results.

But the problem is, when certain people have that opportunity, they're close-minded.

They don't see it.

Some people so close-minded, they can't see through a keyhole with two eyes.

See, to me, the person that can change your life, it only happens a couple of times, and not see it will cost you an opportunity of a lifetime.

So get that mentor.

I mean, they'll teach you more than even a book because they're proven.

So if you have a good mentor, the chances you getting there is that much greater.

>> What would you say to young people today who want to be successful, but in your own life, how important it is to have a certain discipline, a certain attitude about striving for success?

>> Well, first thing, I never call my employees my employees.

I always say they're my partners, and the reason being because they don't work for me, I work for them.

I work to show them, "You know what?

I can work hard.

You can work hard."

I work to show them, "If I can do it, you can do it."

You with me?

And more importantly, I want you to be greater than me.

You with me?

So I work hard to set a good example for them, right?

And if they don't have the discipline, if they don't see how hard I work -- You know, sometimes people tell me, you know, "Lance London, you need to get some rest.

You're going to kill yourself."

And I tell them, "You know what?

I'm going to get a little rest, but I'm not really concerned about rest as much as I'm concerned about my dreams."

And I'm so concerned with them that I'm going to work hard.

Yeah, I'm gonna work hard.

But when I finally do pass away, God calls me home, I have the rest of eternity to rest.

But as long as I'm on this Earth, I'm gonna do all that I can to try my best to make history.

You with me?

I might not be the richest man, and maybe you might not, either, Martin Luther King wasn't the richest man, but they'll still know his name.

My kids' kids' kids' kids' kids will know who Martin Luther King is.

Try to think of something that you can do this, that impactful for other people.

Because through helping other people get what they want, you'll get what you want.

>> You're not only a successful businessman, you've become quite a philanthropist.

>> Yes, sir.

>> Tell us about your philanthropy.

>> Well, one of the things that I do every year, I have a big event where I ask everybody to bring 2 to 3 unwrapped toys to give to kids.

I go to children's hospital, I go to homeless shelters, the Ronald McDonald House, and I dress up like Santa Claus and have this big event.

I mean, over a thousand people come, and I get a lot of toys.

And this year, I'm going to try to get a bunch of bikes, as well.

And I go deliver them with big trucks.

And just the way you feel when you do that, you know, the kids in the hospital, children's hospital, it brings a smile -- They bring them all down to the big Christmas tree, and I give out all the toys and I go to -- I mean, it takes me two days to do it.

I've been doing that for years.

I also, every Thanksgiving, have a big event where I invite literally thousands of people from different shelters, from all over D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Baltimore, and I feed them.

We have entertainment.

We pray.

we have different sectors because Towson University donates buses and go pick up people from Baltimore and all over town and bring them to my restaurants, and we feed all these people.

So I try my best to do that, as well as I speak to kids at different elementary schools and high schools as much as I can and let them know, again, to show them, "Look at me.

I'm just like you, and I feel just like you felt when you were.

And if I can get to where I'm at, you can, too."

>> What's been the response with you sharing your business success?

>> You know, it's such a blessing.

Every day I get up, I thank God for everything that I've been able to achieve.

It was somebody who said, "You seem like you're just an overnight success."

Yeah, right.

You know, it's been, what, 31 years overnight, and I've been working every day, and I'm still working.

I'm still not there.

You know, I think that being busy keeps us young.

You know, if you stop moving, you stop living.

You gotta be moving.

You know somebody that'll retire, and then they'll lay around and lay around, then they'll get really gravely sick and then pass away.

That's because the body wasn't developed to just sit around and do nothing.

You know, when you stay busy, and entrepreneurship will keep you real busy, your mind is constantly thinking.

You constantly thinking about the things you need to do to become great.

And overcoming what -- setbacks.

That's all business is about is overcoming setbacks.

Think about it.

I truly believe that God won't allow us to live our dreams as it relates to anything, especially business, as well, unless God knows in his heart, in your heart, that you could endure adversity and setbacks.

So what is business is about?

Business is about failure, really, because everybody in business is going to fail.

And it's how you handle -- When that first adversity shows up at your doorstep, how you handle it will definitely determine whether you truly deserve to make it.

You see?

And that's what people don't understand, you know?

It's real.

>> So learning from your adversity.

>> That's right.

>> So you are a hands-on entrepreneur.

You're just not sitting in a corporate suite, reading data sheets.

You want to make sure that the people who work for you, who work with you, not only have trained but have the commitment that you have.

>> Exactly.

I'm super passionate about this.

I have vision.

You gotta have vision, and you gotta have beliefs.

And I already see what the Carolina Kitchen is going to be.

I see it before it happens.

I want to be the first African American with a national chain in every city that has over half a million people, with at least 1 to 40 locations -- you with me?

-- in that city.

And I know it's going to happen.

But in order to get there, right, not only do I have to bring good people around me, I have to be patient.

And I still got to be on the battlefield.

I'm not sitting back going, "Oh, we making all this money."

No.

That's when you start going back the opposite way.

You know, I look at it like this.

I am a masterpiece, right?

You are, too, if you're in business.

But that masterpiece is like a Picasso.

The painting has started, but it has not been completed.

I gotta finish painting that picture to make it be a masterpiece.

>> Master entrepreneur.

>> There you go.

>> Dr. Lance London.

>> Yes, sir.

>> Thank you very much for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> That's right.

>> For more information about "The Chavis Chronicles" and our guests, visit our website at thechavischronicles.com.

Also, follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by the following.

At Wells Fargo, diverse representation and perspectives, equity, and inclusion is critical to meeting the needs of our colleagues, customers, and communities.

We are focused on our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion both inside our company and in the communities where we live and work.

Together, we want to make a tangible difference in people's lives and in our communities.

Wells Fargo, the Bank of doing.

American Petroleum Institute.

Through API's Energy Excellence program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural gas and oil industry around the world.

Learn more at api.org/apienergyexcellence.

Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

At AARP, we are committed to ensuring your money, health, and happiness live as long as you do.

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