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Um, so, uh, Lewis, um, would you mind just, like, introducing yourself a little bit? 1:16 Uh, who you are, what you do, um, a little bit about your background, uh, even before, before you, uh, created, uh, the HEINE coin on Solana. Thanks, fam. [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah. First off, thanks for having me. 1:28 Appreciate it. Um, yeah, so my name's Lewis in IRL. Uh, you know, I've been, uh, I, you know, I have a 9:00 to 5:00 job. Uh, I've been in IT, the IT world, since the late '90s at the height of the dot-com boom. 1:43 So I just aged myself there a little bit for you. Um, you know, I grew up playing baseball and sports. I played baseball in college. Um, worked for some pretty big companies in IT. 1:54 Uh, you know, I worked for General Dynamics, I worked for IBM for a long time. Uh, now I'm with a, a smaller company, and I'm in sales management right now. Um, I am married. 2:06 Uh, uh, married to my beautiful wife Brittany. Uh, we have a two-year-old son, and we have a 19-year-old daughter, so, uh, life is kinda hectic. Um, but yeah. 2:15 And, and, you know, I, I, I grew up in the Northern Virginia, Washington DC area. Um, I didn't move too far away. Back in 2005, um, I moved down to, to the beach, just to kinda get away from the hustle and bustle. 2:28 Um, I'm kind of more of a laid back kinda mindset, so the beach was perfect for me. It's about three hours away. So I'm in Virginia Beach, Virginia now, and, uh, love it. I live... 2:37 Actually, I just surfed this morning, got in a little surf, got a little tennis and gym, and got a little surf in, and, uh, now here I am with you. So- Oh, man... happy Friday. [laughs] Happy Friday. TGIF. 2:48 Man, I absolutely love that, Lewis. You are... Sounds like you spend a lot of, uh, activity getting outside, touching grass, which I absolutely love. You know, I actually did a, a quick 10-miler today. 2:59 Well, I felt like it was quick, right? I'm in, doing marathon training right now for this, um- Yeah... Vegas marathon. But, um, I, I really love, I just really love talking to people who are active. 3:11 Active in their lifestyle, active in what they do and who they connect with. I really resonate with those people, and I love, uh, that we're in such alignment when it comes to, uh, being active. 3:21 So, uh, thank you so much for sharing a little bit about who you are and what you do. I'm curious, I wanna go back to your sales management role, you know, what you work with your 9:00 to 5:00. Yeah. 3:32 Have you always wanted to pursue sales, or is this, like, something that you kinda just fell into? Uh, I, I just kinda fell into. I was more on the engineering side of the house. So, you know- Oh... 3:43 I was kind of, like, network engineering, systems engineering. Um, then I got into kinda more project management, and then I became an IT director. 3:53 And then, then I got kinda into this pre-sales role, where I was doing more kind of, you know, pre-sales engineering, if you will. 4:02 But it was, you know, it was quasi-sales, 'cause you were in front of customers and trying to sell them technical stuff. 4:07 But then, you know, I had some folks, actually at IBM, they were like, "Hey, you know, you can make a lot more money just being in sales." And, uh, so I was like, "Okay, well, that sounds pretty good," right? 4:17 [laughs] And so I, I, you know, I had an opportunity, and, uh, and I've never looked back, right? So I, you know, I came to the dark side, is, is what they say [laughs] back then. Um, but yeah. 4:26 So, you know, I, I've been fortunate because I've worked with, uh, a lot of big Fortune 500, Fortune 100 companies along the way. 4:35 So I think that's probably the best part of my job, is you get to kinda understand how these businesses and big organizations, like, you know, like the Ford Motor companies, Dow Chemical, I mean, huge companies, right, that have been around forever. 4:47 Wow. And, uh, they face a lot of the same challenges that everybody else does when it comes to IT needs and requirements. So, um, yeah. So, you know, uh, uh, that's kinda how I got into the sales. 4:57 And now I'm in sales management, so I have teams across, you know, from the state of Virginia all the way down to Florida, through the Carolinas, and, and then across out to Texas. So I have teams that I manage now. 5:08 Um, so I, I, I don't get really into the day-to-day with customers as much as I, I used to. But, uh, now it's more babysitting, right? [laughs] Putting out fires. But, uh, you know. Right. I was gonna say. 5:19 [laughs] So it sounds like, uh, you're more in a leadership role with sales, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Is that mostly what sales management is? Yeah. 5:26 So you're just, like, delegating or assessing or improving and making sure- That's right... everyone's doing their, uh, their jobs. [laughs] That's right. Everybody's gotta meet quotas, right? 5:35 In sales you got quotas and- Yeah... you got numbers you gotta achieve, and- Yeah... you got forecasting, you got pipeline, you know, you got all that stuff. Um, you know, so yeah, it's, it's, it's not easy, right? 5:45 It, it's- Mm... a different, um, you know, sales versus kind of being a salaried employee is, is a- Right... different type of world, right? Mm. There's a lot more maybe stress. 5:55 Um, I, I think, I call it kind of good stress, good grind. I, I enjoy it. But it's not for everybody, right? Mm. So, um, so yeah. Yeah, you're right, I'm, I'm more of in a leadership capacity now. So, uh, so it's fun. 6:06 Okay. You know, it's fun. Uh, i- i- the best part about it is you get to mentor people, right? Mm. And help them kinda grow, right? A- a- and, and, you know. 6:15 And so that's probably the best, the, the best part of my job now I love that. I love that, Lewis. Thank you so much for sharing. 6:21 And I wanna hit a little more on the leadership role and the aspect that you're working within your own job, and how does that apply to your everyday life just as a person, you know? 6:32 Because, you know, being a leader, this is something that we always talk about, you know, an entrepreneur, uh, in, in entrepreneurship and, and our every, you know, day-to-day, um, when we're talking about being a man of your household, you know? 6:44 And just, like, have you always seen yourself as a, as a leader? And, and if not, like, what did it take you to get there, you know, as you were growing up or as you were, you know, becoming who you are today? Yeah. 6:56 It, it's a good question. I don't think anybody necessarily says to themselves, "Hey, I'm, I'm a really good leader and I, you know, I should be in this capacity- [laughs]... or this role," right? I think- Right... 7:06 everybody has kind of different personalities and, you know- Mm-hmm... different experiences along the way, ri- right? Whether, you know, it's how you grew up or who you're surrounded by yourself with or, you know. 7:16 And then when you do get into your career, you know, what you learn and, you know, just kinda understanding, like, what you wanna do in life and, you know, all those things kinda come into play. 7:27 Um, but you know, for me, I've never really been a loud kinda cheerleader type of person, um, when it comes to leadership. I've always kinda just done what I needed to do. 7:38 S- you know, and I, I kinda, I always refer to s- my sports background, right? I always excelled in sports. 7:44 Um, you know, had a, you know, pretty, pretty much a full ride playing baseball and I was always, you know, one of the better players on the team, right? 7:51 But I was never that guy that's gonna, like, you know, get up there and pump people up and have this amazing speech, right? Right. 7:58 Um, I just kinda went out there a- and, and just, you know, really just try to show people how to do it, right? So that means getting up e- earlier in the mornings, practicing hard, right? 8:09 Putting in all the extra work and effort that people don't necessarily see, um, kinda behind the scenes, right? Mm-hmm. A- and, and then going out and executing on the field, and it shows up on the field, right? 8:20 So from the results. And so that's how I've always led people. 8:25 And then, you know, when you get into the kind of, you know, corporate world, if you will, you know, you, you, you find yourself, uh, at least for me, I, I had a lotta jobs along the way, right? 8:34 So I've been in the workforce for a long time. Mm-hmm. And so I've had a lotta jobs, which means I've a lotta managers. I've had a lotta people in leadership positions that have managed me or my teams. Mm-hmm. 8:44 And so you kinda understand, like, okay, well, that's a good style. That's maybe not a great style, right? We've had a lotta those type of people and, um, you know. And so you kinda get an idea of what really works. 8:54 And for me, I've always been like, hey, I just wanna, I just wanna kinda cr- create an environment, first off, it's gotta be a good environment for everybody to work in and be... 9:02 You know, I'm all about culture and, you know, good environments and all that. Um, but I wanna give people just the opportunity to do what they've... You know, to take advantage of their skillsets, right? 9:12 And then work on whatever their weaknesses are too. And, uh, and again, I, I'm just ki- trying to create a framework, um, for people, not necessarily dictating at all. 9:22 I think, like, you know, the micromanagement and the dictating, maybe it's good for some, some positions, but for me, I've never been like that. 9:29 I want people to kinda, you know, take advantage of their skills and their strengths and then, you know, work on their weaknesses, and I can kinda help them do that. So, uh, I don't know. 9:38 That's kind of a long-winded answer, but- [laughs] No, it's good. It's good, Lewis. Yeah. I love that. You know, I've always seen leaders as they lead by action, right? Yeah. Not just by words. Yeah. Exactly. 9:46 And so through your actions, it sounds like, you know, you've shown up and you followed through and people resonate with your actions, and they want to follow leaders, right? 9:56 So this is what makes great leaders leaders, so absolutely love that. Um, and then I've also heard, um, in church too, they always talk about servant leadership, right? Being a servant- Oh, yeah... 10:05 going out, serving others. Um, and I really like- Yeah... 10:09 how, how that is defined, uh, with leadership as well because I've always seen myself a- in a service role, you know, in becoming more of a leader within my own self and with my own family, you know? 10:18 It's just something that's not like, oh, I wanna go be a leader. 10:22 It's like it's, it's almost like put upon us through the actions that we do, and we show up for the people that are we- we're trying to be intentional with, you know? Yeah. 10:32 So, um, I think it's just like, um, just, um, just put upon us- Yes... [laughs] in a lot of ways through those, through those actions, right? So, but no, I absolutely love that. 10:42 Um, tell me a little bit about, uh, if you wouldn't mind going back to, I guess, your childhood, about, like, where you grew up and kinda just, like, how that redefined you into basically who you are today, right? 10:55 Like, what was kinda the process? How was little Lewis growing up? Were you, like, the firstborn, youngest? You know, how did you connect with other friends, you know? 11:04 Like, how did it kinda morph you into what you do today? 11:08 Because I've always been told, and this is, uh, true from I, I think a lot of people, what the activities that you do in your early adolescence to, like, high school days is literally the same thing you do for the rest of your life, you know? 11:22 Yeah. So, uh, I'm, I'm really curious of, like, just, like, yeah, give me a, a story about Lewis's childhood life and, and how that, um, um, decide- you know, changed you to who you are today. Yeah. 11:34 Um, you know, growing up was tough, right? So first off, um, my mom is Korean. My dad is Italian American. And, uh, my dad was in the military. He was in the Army. Okay. 11:45 He was stationed in, you know, Camp Humphreys, Seoul, uh, Korea. Okay. And, uh, that's where he met my mom, and, you know, he got her pregnant and then had me. I was the first one, but five minutes later was my brother. 11:58 Oh. So I actually have an identical twin brother. Wow. Yeah. A- and he li- That's cool... he lives in Singapore these days. Um, but- Oh, cool... yeah. And, and so I also have a younger sister. 12:08 She's, she's about two years, two and a half years younger than, than me and my brother. Um, but you know, when we got, you know, basically stationed here in the States and moved around, my dad got out of the Army. 12:21 Uh, my mom and dad got divorced and, um, you know, my mom made the hard decision of saying, "Well, I think..." You know, 'cause she didn't really ha- you know, she didn't know the culture. 12:30 She didn't speak very good English, if, if any, at that time. And, uh, she just decided that it would be best that the two boys go with my dad And the, you know, Melissa, my sister, would stay with her. 12:43 And so that's what they agreed upon. It wasn't as amicable as I'm making it sound. It was pretty ugly. But, you know, this was probably around five years old and, uh, and so my dad had custody of me and my brother. 12:53 We, we ended up, uh, eventually moving up to northern Virginia where my grandparents had lived. And, uh, yeah, it was tough growing up 'cause, uh, my dad didn't really... He didn't have a, a, a very... 13:03 He didn't make a very good living after he got out of the military. Um, it was tough. Mm-hmm. And, uh, we grew up very poor. 13:09 Uh, you know, it's funny, like one of the, one of the places we grew up was a place called 1224 Easy Street. You know, Easy Street, right? [laughs] Uh, but it wasn't easy, right? True. 13:19 From when I was from third to fifth grade, you know, we basic- we didn't have any running hot water. Um- Oh, wow... we didn't have any central AC or heating. Wow. 13:27 Uh, me and my brother would have to walk to the Handy Dandy Market in Woodbridge, Virginia, and, uh, we would have to go get these ker- you know, like a 10 gallon thing of kerosene. 13:36 We had a broomstick and we would put the, you know, the jug of kerosene and walk up there in the freezing cold and then walk back with it full 'cause, [laughs] you know? 13:45 So that's how we warmed up the house during the winters, right? And, uh, but, you know, back then we, we were just kinda young, right? We just kinda went with it and it was, you know, just what it was. And, uh, but, 13:58 you know, even though it was tough, uh, again, my brother and I, we did excel at sports, so it wasn't until about maybe third grade, uh, we were like seven or eight years old is when we started playing sports. 14:09 We play- started playing baseball and, and football. And I think my dad realized that we were pretty athletic and very coordinated and, uh, so that kept, kept us preoccupied, right? 14:20 And, you know, we, we went on to obviously middle school. We bounced around a lot. Um, and then in high school, you know, we kinda, we found our way a little bit, but even in high school, there was a lot of drama, right? 14:32 I mean, a lot of, you know, alcoholism, a lot of, you know, physical abuse. Yeah. Uh, it just wasn't a healthy environment growing up. It just really wasn't. 14:40 And, you know, financially, again, it, it, there's a lot of stress, right? 14:43 When you have a lot of financial obligations, you know, to support a family, and those things aren't being met, and it just creates a, a bad environment. So yeah, we, we grew through that, uh, grew up through that. 14:55 And then, you know, actually eventually my, my, my dad did remarry and we had a stepmom growing up, and they got divorced in high school. 15:03 I remember me and my brother were walking back, uh, from baseball practice and all my stepmom's stuff was on the lawn. And, uh, from that point on, basically me and my brother were on our own. Um, we... 15:14 My dad was like, "Hey, I can't afford to take care of the situation," and, you know, we were probably 16, you know, s- years old at the time. 15:21 And so my brother ended up moving into, you know, a, a friend, uh, on the baseball team and they kinda took him in and, uh, and I was bouncing around. 15:30 I was just kinda sleeping on couches and in cars, you know, whatever I could do- Wow... at 16 years old. [laughs] And, uh, you know, it sounds actually kinda fun and maybe it was- Mm-hmm... 15:39 back then, but, you know, looking back on it now, you know, I have a family. I'm just like, man, I can't imagine, you know, having that with, for my kids, right? And putting them in that situation. Wow. Yeah. 15:51 Um, but, you know, it taught me a lot how to grow up and, and, you know, and, and kinda take care of yourself. But eventually that family that took my brother in took me in as well. 16:00 Now keep in mind, they had my older brother Josh, I call my older brother, and, you know, three other, you know, girls, right? Younger girls, [laughs] right? So Casey and Jesse and Kelly. Mm-hmm. 16:11 And so it was a busy household and, uh, you know, and, and, and eventually they actually ended up adopting us. So they adopted us and we, you know, in, in high school we became adopted and, uh- Cool... 16:22 and then, you know, we went to college. We, we were fortunate to get, you know, baseball scholarships to play college. Wow. Yeah. So you're a really good athlete then. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. 16:32 And, yeah, I mean- Amazing... luckily, right? Because again, I didn't have any money. I mean, so- Right. [laughs] I mean, back then you had to... You know, you could apply for financial aid. It was a little bit- Right... 16:40 easier than probably nowadays, but- Yeah... 16:42 um, but yeah, so, you know, we, I played baseball in, in, in college and, uh, I graduated and then I started my career, uh, again at the height of the dot com boom in, in the late '90s. Mm-hmm. 16:54 And, you know, but I think a lot of those hardships, it sounds kinda rough and it was, right? Yeah. Looking back on it. Yeah. It was tough. It wa- uh, uh- Yeah... I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It was, it was tough. 17:02 It was- Mm-hmm... tough growing up. Um, we didn't have... You know, you could see my friends, like they had all the nice things, all the kinda name brand clothes and shoes and all that stuff, but we didn't have that. 17:13 And it was a little bit embarrassing, especially when you get to high school. But, you know- Right... luckily when my brother- You wanna fit in. Yeah. We just started working for ourselves and just- Yeah... 17:20 trying to make money so we can kinda keep up with the Joneses back then in high school. But, uh- Yeah... yeah. But, you know, eventually it worked out. 17:27 It, you know, it allowed us to kind of, you know, know what, what it takes to, to make it out here and, uh, and make you more resilient and thicker-skinned and, and just be more independent. 17:38 So, you know, I think that's what I take away from it, you know? Um, because, you know, especially like the generations after, right? 17:44 You know, I'm not, you know, I'm not trying to, you know, make fun of any generations- [laughs]... 17:49 but, uh, you know, it's just, it's a, it seems like it's a little easier from an, you know, just all the things that are out there, uh, in life, right? You know? Um- Yeah... it's okay. I mean, you know, ev- everybody... 18:00 I'm not saying it... 'Cause there are people that still struggle, I mean, and struggle- Oh, yeah... way worse than what I had and, and so- Right... 18:06 you know, I, you know, and so I, I don't wanna knock any of those people. But yeah, it was tough growing up but again, I think it kinda shaped on who I was, what I wanted to do in life. 18:15 I knew that I did not wanna grow up that way- Mm-hmm... as an adult. 18:18 I knew that when I had a family, I wanted to be committed to my family and, and, and be there for my family and take care of them and support them and so that's where I'm at today. I love that. 18:29 Thank you so much for sharing, Lewis. I was gonna go back to, um, the thread of sports because I feel like sports is such, um, a reoccurring-... topic in your life and activity. 18:40 You know, you, you were just playing tennis a little earlier, getting outside, and you're very active, right? 18:45 And, and this is, uh, kind of the main theme I feel in your life, even when you were a kid, you know, playing baseball, getting that baseball scholarship, too. 18:53 So sports means a lot to you it sounds like, and I really love that. It, yeah, it does. 18:58 I mean, it, it was a, it was our life, and quite frankly, it was a distraction from all the, the crappy things that were going on in our lives, right? I mean, it really was. 19:07 And, you know, I, I don't know where I would be if I didn't have sports, right? Mm-hmm. 19:10 I didn't have kind of that team camaraderie and just that ability to focus on something that was outside of the noise that was going on in our household. Um, you know, again, it was a, it was a good distraction. 19:23 It, it really... A- and, you know, w- we were, we were good at it, too, so that helped, right? So, um- [laughs] It does tend to help. Yeah, it helps. But- It makes you enjoy it more. [laughs] Right. 19:31 But you know how it is, like growing up playing sports, and then you go to college, and, you know, it, it- Mm-hmm... playing college sports is not an easy feat, right? It, you know, you got... 19:39 And especially for me, I was, I was an environmental science bio major, so I was in lab all the time, and- Wow... you know, it was, it was tough, right? You, you try to, try to juggle all that stuff. 19:50 But again, it teaches you what it takes to be good at something. You have to commit. You have to get up early in the morning. You have to practice. 19:58 You have to really do all those kinda intangibles to really go above and beyond to, to execute whatever you're trying to do. So that really is what taught me, and that's why I'm still active today, right? 20:10 I, I know it's, it's... And I'll be active until the day I die, right? Mm. I mean, especially the older you get, you gotta even be more active 'cause you're, you know- Yes... I'm, I'm starting to feel it, for sure. 20:19 Um- No, don't say that. [laughs] No, I mean, you know, you just, again- You're not old. [laughs] It, yeah, if you go, like, you know- Ooh... a few days or a week or, you know, whatever- Mm... 20:28 it's just you start feeling it the older you get. So you gotta stay active. Yeah. It's very important for the, for the mind, the body, and, and the soul, right? And the spirit. 20:36 So, uh, I think it's important for all of us to get out there. And it doesn't have to be, you don't have to be, like, some tennis or, you know, surfer- Mm-hmm... or race whatever. 20:44 You can just get out there and r- and walk, and run, ride bikes, whatever, right? Mm-hmm. Something. Um, just be active. [laughs] Get out there and be active, be healthy. Yeah. We have bodies for a reason, right? 20:53 We're just not- That's right... gonna be glued to our screens the whole day and just get that sitting motion. You know sitting is, like, the next killer, right? Yeah. So I hate sitting. 21:00 I actually have a standing desk that I use- I do, too. I do, too... at times. But I am sitting right now, but I- I know. Me too... I guess, yeah. 21:06 [laughs] But this is the desk that I'm currently on that I, I can stand if I want to, but I'm just saying I, I just vary. Like I said, I, I did 10 miles this morning, so I'm kinda tired- Yeah... and being real. 21:17 [laughs] Yeah. It's all part of the training. So I'm sitting, but usually I am standing, right? So, uh, but no, I absolutely love that, and I was gonna go back to, um, sports and about how it builds discipline, right? 21:30 Oh, yeah. This is a word I was gonna come back to- Mm-hmm... in your college times and, and being forced to wake up early so you can get- Yeah... the things you need to do done. Yeah. That's right. 21:39 And this is something that I feel like, you know, other generations [laughs] haven't quite figured out yet, and I feel like- Yeah... 21:46 that's a big reason why they're the way they are, and why they seem so helpless or confused or like, "What am I gonna do with my life? What do I do today?" You know? It's like- Right... 21:56 and this is something that I had to learn even for myself, you know, growing up, too, because, not to say, you know, I, I, I didn't have it easy as well. I came from a military background. 22:05 I was a military brat growing up. I actually did ROTC for a while- Nice... and then I dropped out of that because I just didn't wanna, I just didn't wanna do military. I was like, "I, I need to do something more." 22:14 It's wasn't for you. No. And then... Yeah, it wasn't for me, but at least I tried it, right? Yeah. And then I fell into running, and then running really taught me a lot of things. 22:21 Ran my first marathon when I was 18, actually. And I just continue that route, and I find the more I show up for myself and do the workout or do the run or whatever, the more productive the rest of my day is. 22:32 And the m- That's right... and the better I feel as a person. Feel, yeah. I'm like, I feel good. That's the thing. I feel like I want to do this. That's right. I want to show up for people, you know? 22:41 I want to do the work because I had a great workout or, you know, I had a great run, whatever. So, um, I really... 22:47 I, I, hopefully the audience will take heed about, you know, how important it is to be active every single day 'cause, you know, we're, we're, we're, we have bodies for a reason, right? We have arms. 22:58 We have two legs, you know? So it's like we have to get that mindset of actually going outside, going to the gym, and whatnot. So I absolutely love that. And I wanna go back to, um, your college years. 23:10 I know you didn't really cover a lot about college, and so I'd love to just get a little more insight on your college experience. Where did you go to school and college, and then what did you learn from college? 23:19 You said you got a engineering degree, is that correct? Uh, no. Or no. Engineering- It was, uh, it's like science, yeah, environmental science and biology. Oh, science. Oh, environmental science. 23:26 But then you went into marketing. So I'm just curious, like, the trajectory or the shift, the pivot, I guess, with, um, you know, your academics. 23:34 Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I didn't know what I wanted to do, to be honest with you. Oh, that's okay. 23:37 You know, I, I went to, you know, kinda you go to college, you're like, "Okay, well, what am I gonna declare my major?" And I, I feel like a lotta kids nowadays, n- they know exactly what they wanna do. Mm. 23:45 But me, I didn't know. I was really, honestly, you know, back then I, I felt... and I feel, I call myself this all the time, I feel like I'm just the dumb jock, right? I just wanted to go and play baseball and- Right... 23:56 you know, uh, and... But, you know, I knew academics was very important. And so, um, yeah, and I ended up declaring my major my junior year. I was late. 24:06 I actually had to go back for another year to, to finish my, my degrees. But, um, yeah, I, I, you know, environmental science, I w- I went to school, I went to a Division II school in West Virginia. 24:15 And, uh, I always, always loved the environment, so I got into that. Um, and then biology I've always been connected to. Just like the sciences I've always loved and enjoyed, even in high school. 24:26 And, and so, you know, I did that, and obviously baseball, you know, I, I did the college girlfriend thing, too. And, you know, um- Right... 24:35 but, you know, at the end of the day, it was just, it was a fun time You know, I had some opportunities to go to some bigger schools. Um, but you know, I, I ended up going to a smaller school. 24:45 Um, but you know, it's, it was still fun. Um, you know, I wouldn't take any of it back. I, you know, I think college is, is really an experience. 24:54 You know, I'm not saying it's for everybody, but for me, it was good to be out on your own. You know, no parents, no nothing, and really kinda learn about yourself, right? Kinda- Mm-hmm... 25:05 you know, that's really where you come into yourself as an adult. And, uh, yeah, it's fun. You party and all that stuff. That's just part of it. But, um- It's fun... but you learn a lot, too. Um- Mm... 25:14 you learn a lot, too. So yeah, I mean, that's it. I mean, just baseball and, and you know, um, and that was, that was pretty much it. And academics, so. Yeah. 25:22 I was in a lot of labs, 'cause you know, sciences, you're in a lot of labs. Right. So you'd go to lecture for an hour, and then you're in lab for like three hours for whatever class you're in, two or three hours. 25:32 So it was a lot- Yeah... you know, to juggle with practices and, and you know, our, our schedule during, you know, the season. But um, you know, we ma- we made it happen. Made it happen. Absolutely, love that, Lewis. 25:44 Thanks for sharing. Um, so do you still play baseball, or how's, how's that going? [laughs] Nah. I, I played in a couple of, uh, wood bat leagues after- Okay... uh, after college. Um, had some fun with that. Okay. 25:57 But yeah, I just, I kinda hung 'em up. Um- Mm. Yeah, so. You know what it's like. And it's funny, like I have, I have like a, every year I have a reunion with my college baseball buds. 26:07 Not all of them, just like a, you know, a handful of them. Beautiful. Yeah. Um, and- Cool... we get together every year and, uh, it's a lot of fun. So, um- Do you guys play a game? Nah. 26:17 We- Just- We, we'll, we'll go out and play every now and again, we'll go out and play some stick ball. Okay. Okay. Sure. But yeah. Yeah, old times. That's about it. Old times' sake. We're old right now, so. So. 26:26 [laughs] You can still enjoy the sport, you know, just don't take it so hard, obviously- Yeah... since you're older. But don't break something. [laughs] Ooh. 26:36 Um, so professional baseball wasn't in the cards, it sounds like. [laughs] Well, I mean- After college... you know, i- I think one of the things that I, that I struggle with a- Yeah... after college, 'cause 26:48 you know, I, I, I excelled at, in college baseball. I, I, I played well. There was no reason- Yeah... 26:53 I mean, so I had, like my, my sophomore year, we had a senior that got drafted, uh, Joe, who c- who's actually one of my good buddies. He got drafted by the White Sox. The next year- Wow... 27:03 Bill Everly was a pitcher, he got drafted by the Dodgers. And then my senior year, uh, you know, I thought I was gonna be drafted, and uh, I never got drafted. Um, but- Mm. Yeah. A- and so that kinda, you know... 27:15 And I, I did go down to, I know you're in Florida, I did go down to Florida, um, a- and do some tryouts with some teams- Oh, cool... um, that summer, uh- Yeah... after college. And, and I, I did amazing. 27:27 I did, I did great. Um- Yeah... but you know, again, it's all about networking, who you know. Like if you're- Mm... not 6'2", 220, 'cause back then it was like the Alex Rodriguez's- Oh... 27:36 you know, the 6'4" guys that ha- you know, kinda ha- you know, 220, playing shortstop. I didn't have that stature, right? I was, you know, I was 5'11" and, you know, a buck, buck 80, right? Buck 90. 27:46 [laughs] Um, so you just, it j- I just didn't fit the mold. So, uh- Oh, is that it? Okay. So- You feel kind of bummed out about that, that you never got- Yeah... drafted? Okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's def- Yeah... 27:57 like I said, it, it, it's a chip on my shoulder that I'll, I'll- Mm-hmm... just carry for the rest of my life. Mm-hmm. Like what if I d- would've did it this way? 28:05 What if I'd wouldn't to, like you know, 'cause I, I could've went to Virginia Tech, I could've went to JMU, some bigger schools- Yeah... um, to play ball. And you know, what if I just would've went there, right? 28:14 Instead of the smaller school that I went to. Sure. So, you know, I, I don't know. Um, but, uh, yeah, it's tough. Mm-hmm. 28:20 It's a tough, it's a tough pill to swallow, uh, at times, but I try not to look back on it anymore, so. No, thanks for sharing, regardless. I absolutely love that. Yeah, I think you have a, a walking somebody behind you. 28:33 [laughs] Yeah, that's my little man. Yeah. Oh, okay. Cool. He wants to be in the shot, I guess. That's awesome. Um, I was gonna say, I didn't know you needed to be a certain height to play baseball. 28:42 I thought that was, like, only a basketball thing. [laughs] What's that? Uh, y- you said you had to be a certain height earlier. You, you were 5'11". Well, I mean, you know, you don't have to be. 28:51 I mean, unless you're really- Okay... it's just, it's just back then there was, a- again, it was, like, the, it was the era of, like, the Alex Rodriguez and the Derek Jeters and, you know- Okay... 29:00 there was a certain stature that people, that scouts were looking at. Oh, okay. 29:06 And, you know, just, I just kinda, you know, I, I, I was in the generation or the era, I, if I would've came in before, or maybe even today, it would've been a lot different, but. Okay. 29:17 Just that generation, you're saying. You, you didn't fit the mold. You didn't fit the mold. Yeah, I didn't fit the mold. The, yeah. Okay. [laughs] But the other thing is, like, you know- Uh-huh... 29:24 looking back with my buddy Joe and Bill that got drafted, like, the two years before me, you know, they always had their parents there at, at the games to network for them and talk to the scouts. Ah. 29:34 I, I didn't have that. I didn't have any of that. I didn't have, you know, anybody really shilling and networking and, you know, talking to people. Right. Um, so. That plays a huge role, I guess. Yeah, that hurt me. Mm. 29:46 Yeah, that hurt me. Um, and so. Yeah. Well, you had your twin brother. He could've been doing that. [laughs] Well, honestly, my twin brother was only there for two years. And then he- Oh... 29:55 he actually dropped out of college, and, uh, and then he started working for Lockheed Martin for, you know, he got lucky- What?... working for Virginia Power and then started working for Lockheed Martin, and- Wow... 30:05 you know, the rest is history. The dude- Okay... just got lucky. I mean, he finished his degree eventually, I think at George Mason. But, um- Wow... yeah, he just, he dropped out 'cause, I don't know. 30:14 I, I guess he just wanted to party and not really focus. I don't know. I don't know what it was, but. I don't know either. I thought, um, he was a- He was your identical twin... right. Yeah. 30:23 I, I was gonna say, I, I assume he would be good at baseball, too, and, and be there at the games and support you and stuff, or vice versa. But I guess, you know, you, you diverge over time, right? Yeah. 30:34 Even though you're identical, you still have different, uh, activities- Yeah... different dreams, right? Yeah. And that's, that's okay. [laughs]Exactly... as it should be, right? 30:42 We're all different people at the end of the day, even though if we do look similar. But, um, but yeah, I love that. Yeah, baseball. Yeah, I never really got into that as a sport, you know? 30:52 I was, um, I was more into soccer actually. Yeah. I was, I was big into soccer back in the day. Sure. 30:56 And then, yeah, it's a great sport, great team building sport, and then just transitioned from soccer into running because I just really didn't... I did a lot of running in soccer, as you can imagine. [laughs] Right. 31:07 [laughs] I bet. And a lot of practice, a lot of running, and that just translated and I was like, "You know, I think I'm pretty good at this. I think I could actually just keep doing this." 31:15 And, um, I didn't really see a life, you know, in soccer at all, you know? I just, I was at a private school, so it's just, I just continued doing the running part because I enjoyed that more. 31:25 And, uh, basically here we are today, you know, of like, I'm doing ultras and marathons now. 31:29 So, you know, it's, so it's just that natural progression into something you love over time and, you know, just getting started in high school so, and even in college. So absolutely love that. Yeah, thanks for sharing. 31:38 So I'd love to hear more about your transition into crypto and different blockchains, because I know that's a big theme of where you're currently at in your journey. 31:50 [laughs] And how I met you, uh, with the Hiny Coin community, right? So take me on a little bit of a, uh, a walk of your past of how you first started getting into crypto and blockchain technology. 32:04 Uh, what fascinated you? What was something that really opened you up? Because I feel like this is a new beginning for you, right? A new role in getting more into, um, investments, right? 32:15 Even h- how volatile these investments can be. [laughs] So, um- Sure... shed me more light about that. Take it away. 32:22 [laughs] Well, I, I remember I was, you know, I had heard about Bitcoin, I don't know, probably, you know, in the maybe 2014, '13, I don't know when. I don't even know when. I heard about Bitcoin. 32:34 I, I, I just kind of blew it off. Right. I didn't really think anything of it. It was a scam. 32:38 [laughs] Um, and then I started hearing more and more about all these other tokens, and it was in 2017, I remember being at a bar with a bunch- Mm... of buddies here in Virginia Beach. 32:49 I think we were at, uh, CP Shuckers I, I wanna say. And we're just, we're just, uh, you know, hanging out, and somebody said that they had just bought some Litecoin. And, uh- Yeah... 33:00 and I was like, "Litecoin, what is that?" [laughs] Yeah. So, you know, I knew what it was, but I was just like, "Hey, let me, you know, let me look at it," and- Mm-hmm... 33:07 and, uh, and so that day I, I took out my credit card and, you know, I had a Coinbase account I think at the time, and I bought- Wow... some Litecoin. And, uh, that was my first purchase. 33:17 And then I really started kinda learning about just, you know, the different chains and what they do, what blockchain really is, what it means, um, getting an understanding of just what decentralization means. And so 33:31 I really got into, uh, hooked on XRP, um, because I was, I just- Mm-hmm... it just, it just resonated with me so much, like the cross- Cool... border payment and- Yeah... you know, and all that stuff. 33:42 And, and you know, I was... I, I, I follow this guy, Digital Asset Investor. Um, he's a big XRP guy. He's a big influencer. He's, he's on X and- Right... and YouTube and, and, and, and he's still out there too. 33:54 Um, but yeah, so I got into XRP really big. I didn't really get into Bitcoin. I got in, you know, like I said, Litecoin and, and, and a handful of others. Okay. 34:02 And it was kind of at the, you know, there's like ICOs and, you know, DeFi, you know, over the next couple of years, and I, I fiddled around with that. 34:10 You know, I'd kind of come in and come out, but I was always DCA-ing XRP. So I was buying- Mm... a shit ton of XRP, like pennies on the dollar back then. So I built a pretty big bag over the last- Yeah... 34:22 five, seven, eight years. Mm-hmm. And, uh, yeah. So that was my, that was my big kind... I was like an XRP. 34:28 I wasn't necessarily a maxi, 'cause I, I did get into some of the DeFi stuff like on Avalanche, um, and messed around there, got burnt. 34:36 I s- you know, lost a lot of money just, you know, trying to get into these DeFi protocols. Obviously like Terra Luna and, you know, some of these other things that went under, uh, I, I got hurt by. 34:46 But, uh, you know, I just kinda learned and, you know, I'd come in and out. I never really got onto X or Twitter back then, uh, or social media. Um, 34:55 and then, uh, this whole meme coin season took place like, you know, a couple years ago, right? It started really kinda taking off. Obviously Dogecoin was the first one, and then- Mm... 35:06 Shib, Pepe, and, you know, some of these other ones. And I didn't really get into it much, you know? Okay. You know, I did buy some Dogecoin. 35:12 Um, I think I sold it like after like holding it for like a month or something. [laughs] I bought some Shiba Inu too, right? But- Yeah... just, you know, I just, uh, wasn't that convicted on it. And, uh- Mm... 35:23 and then that whole kind of meme coin pump fund came out and that, it, that, it really started taking off, right? Right. 35:29 It really started taking off, and then I started paying more attention to it and I kinda got back into it. 35:34 And then that's when I started to get on X and I started kinda, you know, just following different projects and communities. Yeah. And man, I got burned by so many projects and communities. 35:44 And, uh, what, what, what year was this? This is probably two years ago when I got- Oh... really got back into it, like at the height, you know? '20, 2023. Okay. Yeah. 20, well, 20- Or 2024. Okay. Yeah. 35:56 2024- I could see that... um, is when I got into it really heavy. Okay. Yep. And, uh, and I mean, I just got, I got extracted every time. I'd put money into this, I'd put money into that. Yeah. And then it'd rug, right? 36:08 It'd drop. Would rug. It would rug. It would rug. Yeah. I was just so frustrated by it. Yeah. And, uh, you know, and I, I made some money, don't get me wrong. 36:16 Like I, you know, I started learning how to, how to snipe and use some bots, like, you know- Mm... Trojan and, you know, some of the others and getting- Yeah... 36:23 in there, and Photon and GMGN and, you know, then obviously, you know, Axiom came out and- Mm... 36:30 you know, so I started using those tools and figuring out filters and how to like try to snipe and, you know, I made some money. 36:36 But at the end of the day it was all like cabals and, you know, you really had to be in to make- Mm-hmm... a ton of money and do it right. But- Yeah... 36:43 I didn't feel good about it 'cause I just felt like you're just extracting from people. It's not- Mm-hmm... the right way to do it. Yeah. And so, uh, you know, after TrumpCoin in January, 36:54 I, I got burned like on another thing and then- Mm-hmm... I just like, "Screw it, I'm just gonna start my own project." Right. And I don't know anything about starting a project or anything like that. Um- Mm-hmm... 37:05 and so that's what I did. I just, I, I... March of, or yeah, I guess March, April of 2025 is when we started Hiney Coin. Oh, last year? Okay. Yeah. It's been a year anniversary. Been, yeah. 37:15 It's been, actually April 6 was the first X post- Anniversary. Okay... uh, from the Hiney Coin account. So just a few days ago. A few days. Congratulations. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are still here. 37:26 [laughs] And we're still here. Yeah. We're, we're still alive. Hanging on. Hanging on with the [laughs] Yeah, we're hanging on, but we've, we've been through a lot, that's for sure. We've been through a lot. Yeah. 37:35 But, um, yeah. No, that's awesome. That's so good to hear. No, and, um, what has running your own project as a founder for the last year, has taught you? [laughs] Well, it's taught me a lot. 37:49 I mean, I could, I could pro- I mean, and I'll probably what I'll do is I'll write like a big article about my experiences in the first year of Hiney Coin. Yeah. That'd be phenomenal. Yeah. Yeah, I'll probably do that. 37:59 But, uh, I think the biggest thing out here is, is you really got to understand the, the technical side of the house behind everything, like your tokenomics and- Mm-hmm... and you know, what is your purpose? 38:13 What is your mission from a, from kind of a business standpoint? Mm-hmm. And I've always, I always knew that I, we needed to have a community. 38:19 I always said, "Hey, we need a community that is built on integrity, transparency," um, just a value system in place, 'cause that was really missing, at least for me, with my experiences, and just... 38:32 Yeah, 'cause it was just very cutthroat. People were extracting, rug pulls, pump and dump. I mean, you're basically stealing from people. Yeah. And it's like, why are we doing this? 38:40 We have this amazing technology with blockchain and, and, uh, you know, there's a lot of bright and brilliant people out here. Let's just do this the right way. 38:49 And so that was always kind of the common denominator when we kind of rolled out the project, like saying, "Hey, this is what we're gonna stick to, and build a community organically." Um, so that's what we did. 39:01 And, uh, we launched our token in May of, I think May 22nd or 23rd. Um- Okay... 39:09 and, uh, you know, I, again, I, I just kind of launched the token and, and, uh, I didn't know where it was gonna go, but it ended up- Where did it-... 6 million market cap, right? And, and it- Wow. 39:18 You launched it on PumpFun, or where did you launch it? Well, here's the thing. I, I initially launched a token on, on PumpFun. Okay. And I got rugged by the person I was working with. Oh, no. 39:30 So I'd met somebody from Germany. Well, he says he was from Germany. And, uh, 'cause I didn't know how to do... You know, I was trying to like feel out- Yeah. Yeah... you know- You didn't know. Yeah... 39:40 and, uh, how to launch and all this stuff and, uh- Right... you know, I wanted to do it the right way. So- Yeah... he was kind of walking me through all these things and then, you know, I, I started... 39:49 You know, we started it on PumpFun and then he's like, "Okay, now send this, send your Solana to this wallet, and then we'll, you know, we'll figure it out." And so as soon as I s- I sent like 14 Solanas, 14 SOL, 40:01 and, uh, you know, it was, uh, you know, 1,500 bucks or something like that at the time, maybe 1,600 bucks. And, uh, yeah. And then he, he hung up. 40:10 Like, I heard the, the phone hang up, and I was just like, "This guy just rugged me." And sure enough, I saw a big red tr- candle. I mean, you can go back to it. I mean, I have all, you know- I believe you. 40:20 I believe you. [laughs] Token's still out there on PumpFun, you can see it. And so- What's it called? [laughs] It's, it's Hiney Coin. It's, it's still- Oh, oh, the first Hiney Coin. Okay. Okay. 40:28 Yeah, it was the first Hiney Coin. Yeah. So- Okay. Okay... so we, you know, we basically scratched it. We said, "Okay, we're pulling this back. We're, we're shutting it down. We're not gonna like get it out there." 40:38 And so, yeah, I shut it down and I was like, "Look, I need to reevaluate this. I'm not gonna do it this way. I, I don't want to do it on PumpFun. I don't want to be another stupid meme coin." 40:47 And, uh, so I ended up, you know, kind of reevaluating and, and then we ended up launching on, uh, Raydium. Uh, 'cause that, back then Raydium didn't have a, a launchpad. It was, it was... 40:59 You know, basically when you would, when you would bond on PumpFun, it would actually bond through Raydium. Oh. Okay? Okay. And then, and then basically PumpFun came out with their, you know, pump, um, like launchpad. 41:12 Um, so they didn't need Raydium anymore, right? Gotcha. So, so Raydium was like, "Okay, well, we're gonna, we're gonna create our own too." 41:18 And so they, they created a launch, uh, I think Launch Lab is the name of their launch platform. Gotcha. So that's what I used to, to launch the, the token. Okay. Um, and then, you know, we haven't looked back. 41:30 So, um, yeah, so anyways. Interesting. But yeah, I mean, going back to your question- Yeah... I think the biggest thing is, you know, understanding all the kind of technical aspects. 41:41 And then the biggest thing is, you know, trusting only yourself. Because, uh, you know, I had a lot of people coming at me, "Hey, I want to help you here, I want to help you there." 41:52 I got extracted so many times, I got scammed so many times- Yeah... and it become this kind of reoccurring theme. And then finally I was doing some, uh... I'm not a shiller. 42:03 I'm not, I'm not that type of guy that gets up in spaces and shills. I've just never been that person. Yeah. Um, but I was doing a lot of AMAs, uh, and, you know, at the time- Yeah... 42:13 and I was in some big influencer, I think his name is Crypto Z. Hmm. Uh, I think he had a different name now. But, uh- Okay... yeah, I mean, he has a big... You know, he's like a hype guy, and I was in there- Yeah... 42:23 doing an AMA and, and there were a few guys that, you know, basically approached me and said, "Hey, you know, I think we could do this another way. We could do it the right way." And- Mm-hmm... 42:31 and so, you know, I kind of... You know, we worked out an agreement and they became part of the leadership and, uh, it was good. It was good at first, right? 42:39 I mean, you know, they were great and they helped kind of hype and, you know, push the token and, and all these things. But, um, at the end of the day, they weren't very committed. 42:49 They weren't convicted, and, uh, again, so you know, those, those folks ended up, all of them are pretty much gone. I mean- Mm-hmm... there's still a handful, right? Like, like, you know, you know Scott. Yeah. 42:59 Uh, yeah, Scott, and you know Steph- Mm-hmm... who- our T- T&A guy. Yep. Um, you know, we got Alicia and AM, who's, who's a Doginal Dogs, you know- Mm-hmm... and, and KO, our NFT artist. Yeah. 43:10 You know, we got a handful of folks still left, but the others- Mm... are, are gone, right? I mean, and it just, and, and it didn't end well. It didn't end well at all, right? And, and- Yeah... you know, it was just... 43:22 And, and the beginning of this year we got hit by, you know, our staking infrastructure was hit, and, uh- Right, you were telling me about that... just got hit, we just got hit, like, a, a week ago about it, you know? 43:31 Yeah, you told me about that. Hard to do. Yeah, all the staked wallets over and... So I think that was, like, an, an inside job. I think there's a developer or something out there- Has to be... 43:40 that probably ha- did something. Yeah, they- Gotta be. Yeah... private key or something. Mm-hmm. So it's really- Okay... about just trusting yourself. That's really what it comes down to. 43:50 And surrounding yourself with really... I mean, you gotta surround yourself with people that are convicted and believe and that are committed and, uh, you know. But it's hard. It's hard to... 43:59 'Cause you can't, like, you know, it's not sust- sustainable to pay people, you know, when you're not bringing in revenue, right? It's just not sustainable. 44:07 And we, we haven't been successful in bringing in enough revenue to pay for everybody. Yeah. So, you know, we're working through some things right now, but yeah, it's been tough. Like, beginning of the year it was tough. 44:17 Like, you know, we were, you know... Again, we got to 6 million market cap. The market went to shit, 1010. Mm. Hurt everybody. But, you know, in January we were still at, like, 2, 2.5 million market cap. That's not bad. 44:29 That's really not that bad. It's not. One of our investor's wallets was compromised and we lost- Mm... we lost, like, you know, $75,000, right? And so our token was- That's huge... liquidated. And, uh, yeah. 44:39 Great, great time to buy. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] Or a great time to buy, but you know, it just, it, it just creates this, this unfortunate- I know... you know, negative sentiment and, uh- Yeah... 44:48 it's hard to dig back out. So that's where we're at today. Yeah. Yeah. So in talking more about trust, who to trust in the space, who to trust in crypto, 45:00 um, you, you said, you know, you can only trust yourself, but you need people too. You need a community. So how do you, how do you find that balance? 45:09 Or how do you find that line of trusting people to be a part of your community to actually drive a token forward, you know? Like, how do you, how do you answer that? 45:19 Well, I, I think, uh, you know, you kind of said it earlier, right? It, it's, it's about, you know, it, it's patience and discipline- Mm... a- and time. Really it's time, right? Yeah. People have to prove themselves. 45:31 You gotta... You have to... I mean, it's like anything in life, right? It takes time to earn trust, right? And build relationships. It just does. Right. 45:37 You can't just, like, meet somebody and expect to be like, "Oh, yeah, I, I trust this guy. I trust this person." 'Cause there's a lot of smooth operators out here, and they're just social engineering the hell out of you. 45:47 Oh, yeah. And there's a lot of that that g- takes place. And so, you know, i- it... So my point is, it, it takes time. Yeah. It really... Don't be in a rush. Don't be in a rush to do something. Take your time. Yeah. 45:58 Um, and I get it 'cause Web3 is moving 100 miles an hour. Everyone wants this then and right now and- [laughs]... you know, yesterday, right? Right. But don't rush it. Take your time, um- Mm... 46:09 and, and especially with the relationships. You gotta build the trust. They've gotta earn it. 46:12 They gotta prove to you, the community, that they are committed and they have the belief and conviction on what you're trying to do. And so now we, we do. 46:22 We have those people with us and, um, but ultimately at the end of the day, you still just, you know, you can only trust yourself until then, so. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. 46:32 No, those are great wise words, you know, lessons that we can all, you know, take and, and use and, and build upon as well. 46:39 Because, you know, um, as, as much as we wanna prove that crypto is this, like, trustless system, right? 46:45 That we can rely just not on ourselves but on the people around us, our community, it's, it's really, it's still really hard to trust people. It is. 46:53 It's still really hard to trust even these tokens, these certain blockchains- Yeah... to follow through, you know? And then the people behind the projects, like, a lot of them aren't even doxxed. 47:03 A lot of them, you know, they're just, like, trying to, like you said before, you know, just liquidate, um, people and social engineer people, persuade them to do some things that they unknowingly are doing and then they just extract, right? 47:18 And, and I, I, I've always been, uh, with the philosophy of building something with conviction, building something longterm, and having that patience. 47:28 And I've noticed too, I wanna go back to patience, 'cause I definitely feel like a lot of people, they don't have patience. And you can tell too when you're working with certain people too of, like, "Oh, buy this now." 47:38 Like, when you're talking to a salesperson, right? Yeah. 47:40 Or like, you know, just take your time, look over the guide, look over the order, and, you know, do what you think is best of, like, if you want this, you're gonna, you're gonna buy it essentially, right? 47:50 And then if you're not, then, you know, you're not my customer at the end of the day. Yeah. 47:54 And so it's like it comes down to the needs of your audience, the needs of your buyer, and if they resonate with what you're selling them. Because, you know, at the end of the day, we're all selling something, right? 48:05 We're all selling a story to each other, and this story translates into our project, right? 48:11 Into our meme coin, our NFTs, um, you know, our platform that we're trying to get people to use and, and drive an audience towards something that's more meaningful and, and something that they see that value in. 48:23 And so I wanted to get more into the Honeycoin philosophy about education. Yeah. 'Cause this is something that you're very passionate about, educating people on Web3. 48:32 So why don't you share me more about the education component with Honeycoin? Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think just to kind of piggyback on- Yeah... what you were saying, right? So the, you know, I... 48:42 And, and we're, we're all been guilty of this, right? Where, you know, especially this whole meme thing, right? Where people are just trying to make a quick buck, get in, get out. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that's fine, right? 48:51 But, you know, that is, that is a casino mentality, right? You're going to the casino, and more than likely the house is gonna win. And, uh, a- and so that's not a sustainable approach out here, right? Mm-hmm. 49:04 It's just not. And, and I get it, right? Instant gratification is an unfortunate thing- Yeah... um, especially in this world that we live in today. But we've gotta take a step back. 49:15 We gotta zoom out and say, "Hey, what am I really doing to build wealth? What am I really d- what do I... What is my purpose? What is my mission out here," right? Mm-hmm. 49:24 And, and my purpose and mission is not to make a quick buck. Yeah, I, we all wanna make money. That's, you know, ultimately why we're here. But- Build it, build wealth the right way. 49:35 Do it the right way, not, not doing it in a casino way, right? So- Sustainable... you know, and, uh, e- exactly. You gotta be sustainable, otherwise you're gonna crash out, you're gonna lose a lot. 49:44 You're, you know, and, and, and you see it all the time. A- and so, you know, so that, that really is what, you know, I think had us evolve into more of an education type of community project, if you will, right? 50:00 We were like, "Okay, let's take a step back. We have an opportunity here to really enable, empower people, and do it the right way." Now, there's other... 50:09 I'm sure there's other projects out there that are doing education and, you know, they do it great, and there's apps out there and stuff. But, you know, I just said, "We need to do this." 50:19 And, uh, 'cause, and we need to do it outside of this whole echo chamber that we're in here with, with crypto Twitter, right? We're, we do it... 50:25 You know, we have our spaces every day, like m- multiple spaces on a daily basis. We have our Hinyversity, which is the YouTube long form and short form videos. 50:35 We do our Create to Earn program, which is Hiny Clips, so we reward creators, um, based on a topic of the week. And it's all well and good, I, I love it, you know? 50:44 But at the end of the day, it's about bringing people into this world that the world is moving to, the retailers, the normies, right? 50:53 The people, your neighbors, your family members, your people you see at church or at the grocery store, they know about crypto. They've heard about it, they're curious, but they have no idea what they're doing. 51:03 They don't know what- Mm-hmm... the difference is between a dex or, you know, a central exchange- Mm-hmm... or what swapping is, how to transact. They don't know any of that stuff. 51:11 And quite frankly, none of us really wanna get into the bits and bytes of all that. 51:15 We just want something to work and know that, "Hey, you know, if I'm gonna invest in something, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have a return on it. And I understand that this technology is gonna be maybe, you know, the future." 51:25 So, um, so that's where we've gotta really focus on is, is trying to get people into this space, but do it the right way. 51:33 And, uh, you know, because, like I said, we've been extracted from many times, and my wife looks at me, she's like, "Why are you still doing this? Why are you still doing it?" And I'm, a- and here's my reason. 51:41 I mean, obviously it's the people and the community- Yeah... the network and the connections I've made that keeps me coming back. 51:48 But ultimately, it's because I don't want, you know, my neighbor or my family member to get hurt when this does become more mainstream. Now, you know, w- uh, because- Right... 51:57 you guys see it, the financial institution adoption, the governments, you see the ETFs, you see- Mm-hmm... you know, the, the Stable Coin Act, the gen... you know, the genius Yeah, Genius Clarity Act. Yeah... 52:07 and you're starting to see a lot of these kind of guardrails come into play. Now, that's- Mm-hmm... a little bit of a paradox because it's like, okay, is that truly decentralized, you know? Right. 52:16 Okay, we can get into that. But at the same time, if this is really gonna be more of a mainstream thing, well, we gotta put guardrails around it- Mm-hmm... so it's not the Wild Wild West and people get hurt. So- Yeah... 52:27 ultimately is I, I wanna make sure we onboard people the right way. We give people an opportunity to learn and ask questions, which is why we have our daily spaces, and, uh, and then provide content, right? 52:38 On, on YouTube and some of the other things that we do. So yeah, that's ultimately what we, we're trying to do. Um, you know, it's a big focus for us. That's a big, you know, kind of mission item. 52:48 Um, and, uh, yeah, and, and we'll continue to do that. So, uh, and we- we're doing some other things behind the scenes to kinda, you know, uh, expand, uh, what we're doing there on the ed- education side of the house. 52:58 But we're also getting into some of the real world stuff, too. Um, but I'm trying- Oh, cool... I don't wanna come out too much with it. I- No, no, no, you're fine. [laughs] I don't want you to spoil the surprise. 53:08 Well, well, yeah, I mean, that's another lesson learned is I, I felt like I was almost being too transparent with everything- Oh... that I was doing. You know? I would, I, I ha- I have, like, a, a weekly... 53:18 We do what I call a State of the Union where I talk about everything that, that's going on with the project. Mm-hmm. And I feel like sometimes, um, you know, we were being... 53:27 We were disclosing a little bit too much i- information. And again, there's people out there that will take that IP and, and do, you know, their own thing with it. 53:36 And, and so we've gotta be careful and, and aware, and have that kind of, you know, extra vigilance, if you will, on, a- about that stuff. 53:44 So, um, but yeah, we've got some stuff going on, um, behind the scenes in, in the real world utility standpoint. Um, so just know that that's, that's also taking place. That's exciting. Yeah, and I was actually just... 53:57 I have a few more questions, uh- Yep... and then we'll kinda wind down here, if you don't mind. Sure. But yeah, I was just curious, like, on the future of Hiny Coin, your project, you know. 54:06 Um, I, I know, I assume you guys have a roadmap, you know, where you guys are headed a little bit. I know roadmaps are more like guardrails. Doesn't mean it's g- [laughs]... 54:14 gonna exactly happen all the time in the roadmap. [laughs] However, it's always good to have some type of plan. That's what I always find- Yeah... within any business, right? Business- Yeah... 54:24 proposal, plan, project, whatever, you know? 54:27 So I'd love to hear more about, you know, the roadmap that you have in place within your community, um, how you're reaching those goals, and what we're seeing on the horizon with Hiny Coin. 54:37 If you can share a little bit about that, that'd be great. Yeah. I mean, so yeah, we, we had a roadmap that we actually put together. So we incorporated as a business here in the state of Virginia, uh- Cool... 54:47 back in September of 2025. So I, I actually created an S corporation- Wow... um, because, you know, I was having a lot of conversations with investors. We actually had some investors. 54:57 One of the investors got compromised and it, we lost a lot of money. Um, but that's a different story. But yeah- Right... so we, we've, we've had investors talk to us about... 55:06 You know, 'cause, you know, at the end of the day you've gotta be able to raise capital to do- Yeah... a lot of these projects. It's not cheap. 55:13 [laughs] You know, I, I, I don't wanna disclose how much I've, I've, you know, put into this, but like I told you, I had a huge bag of XRP. Well, that XRP bag is no longer. I've got a little bit left, but- Yeah... 55:25 it, that's exhausted and I, and I, I did close out a lot of it, like, at, like, maybe $2.50- Oh. Two... Yeah, so I, you know- Wow... I made some good, good money, but- Right... 55:35 you know, uh, uh, most of that is gone, right? It was put into the project. Um- Right... and to see, you know, the extraction and things that took place is, is devastating, especially for- Yeah... 55:46 you know, it's one thing for me to lose the capital and the money and the investment, but it's like when I see my family and my friends, they're like, "Hey, what's going on with the token? What happened?" 55:54 You know, that's where it really-... hurts me. Okay. So- Yeah... so my mission to, you know, I'm slowly buying back the chart, 'cause, you know, I just, I think it's the right thing to do. Right. 56:05 Um, and then, uh, yeah, it's just from a roadmap standpoint, it's changed. It's changed dramatically since last year. I mean, October 1010 really crushed everything. 56:16 Um, you know, all the li- you know, there's just no liquidity out there like there used to be, right? Yeah. And, uh, and so, and then obviously, you know, it was a double whammy in January when we got hit. Yeah. 56:26 And so it really kind of set things back, but I feel like now things are kind of picking back up. Mm-hmm. I've noticed that. We've got, we've got our... 56:33 Yeah, 'cause we've got an NFT collection, you know, we've got the token. Oh, okay. I gotta move the staking infrastructure over. But, um, 56:41 you know, we got, we got merch, you know, we got all these kind of nice things- Yeah... uh, that you would expect for a community to have. 56:48 Um, but from a roadmap standpoint, like we're building out a secondary marketplace for the NFTs. So that's, that's already been on the roadmap. Um, we're actually in, in pilot testing mode right now. 56:59 Um, so that's gonna be coming soon. Um, we're also working on revamping a lot of our, uh, you know, just our IP, just kind of rebranding and refreshing some of our, like our website, uh, like building out some DApps. 57:14 Um, I've been doing a lot of Vibe coding lately. Mm. Um, Vibe Code is like one of my best friends. Cool. 57:19 [laughs] Um, so I've been, I've been doing a lot of Vibe coding and just building out some, some DApps for things that we're, we're, we're looking to push here soon. 57:27 Um, and then, you know, like I said, from a real world utility standpoint, uh, there's some things that we're doing in the surf, skate, and, uh, beach volleyball, uh, verticals. Mm. Um, then also the diaper industry. 57:40 Now I know it sounds kind of silly- [laughs]... uh, but Hineycoin diaper- Curved ball... I think it was. Makes sense. Yeah. It actually does make sense. Yeah. Makes a whole lot of sense. So, yeah. 57:50 Gotta get those babies protected. [laughs] Those babies. But it's really about the donor. So think about- Mm... think about families that can't afford, that have kids- Yeah... 57:59 or, you know, babies, and diapers are expensive. It's an, it's, it's a huge- They are... expense. They are. And so I don't know if you're familiar with this, but there is, there are diaper banks across every town. 58:09 Every town, every state- I know about it... uh, where, yeah, where people can donate diapers. Oh. So, you know, the less fortunate can come and, and get diapers for their kids. Cool. 58:20 And so what I wanna do is I want to incentivize the, the donors with Hiney token. Mm. Uh, and get them more on Web3, because I've looked at a lot of these like websites and the way that they operate, 58:33 and it's very old school. It's very... 'Cause it's mom and pop shop, you know, mom and pop shop. Oh, yeah. They're not very, you know, technical- They're not modern. [laughs] Yeah. It's just... 58:42 Yeah, so it's not very modernized. Gotcha. So let's, let's, let's get them on chain. Yeah. Let's figure out a way- Yeah... to build a chain. So I'm working with- I love that... with doing some of that behind the scenes. 58:51 There's also some more education stuff we're doing, branching out to the younger generation. Mm. 'Cause again, remember growing up, we didn't know, how did you, how did you learn how to like balance a checkbook? 59:02 Or, uh, did you know about investing, right? Did you know what DCA was? Did you know about, you know, any of these terms? Right. You know, I didn't li- quite frank, I didn't learn till I was like in my 30s, right? 59:14 I mean, I heard of them, but I didn't really learn much about it. Like, what is, what is the beauty of... You know, what, what does compounding interest versus simple interest mean? Like- Mm... the beauty of that, right? 59:24 Just... So I wanna make sure we educate people, um, but not just people like you and me, the younger, like the kids, like, you know, the kids. Yeah. And so there's some things- Actually... we're doing there too. Yeah. 59:36 So there's- Mm... there's some things- Yeah... doing there too. So. I was thinking you should just hit up schools. Be like, "Hey, we're doing an educational seminar about crypto. You guys-" Yeah... "want in?" You know? 59:45 Yeah. And just start hitting up the public schools, getting them involved. And- Yeah... I'm sure they'd be welcoming, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 59:51 Do like a whole seminar and do a tour, all the different schools around your area. You know, people could do that on, on any project. Yeah. It doesn't matter which blockchain they're on. Oh, yeah. 1:00:00 I think that would be great, you know, crypto education. I... We definitely need more of that. Yeah. And I think that's really cool that you're doing the diapers too, actually. Like that's- Yeah. Yeah... pretty funny. 1:00:08 [laughs] Well, it just kind of solves like the real problem, but it's like, it, it works, right? Yeah. Because Hiney and diapers is like perfect. Yeah. I love that. But it's... Yeah. So anyway. 1:00:17 It'd be great if you can get a QR code on the diapers where you scan it and- Right... it goes to the Hineycoin website- It goes-... where you can-... it goes to the Hineycoin web- website. See? Well, so here's the thing. 1:00:25 You say that because I've, I've reached out to Pampers. I've reached out- Yeah... to like these big diaper brands to see if- Yeah... "Hey, are you guys interested in partnerships?" I only heard back- Yeah... 1:00:34 from Pampers and then, you know, they didn't, they... But they still haven't gotten back to me. They, they said, "Hey, you know, we got your request, and we get back to you." And they still haven't gotten back to me. 1:00:41 But I just think we gotta, you know- Yeah... there's like things like that, like how do we get in front of like, you know- You gotta talk to the right pe- right people. Yeah. You gotta talk to the right people. 1:00:49 It's all about networking. Networking. It's all about connections and, and all that stuff. This is why I go to crypto conferences, right? This is why- Right... I'm gonna be in Vegas in a few weeks, right? 1:00:56 It's just, all it is, is networking, getting your face out there, getting that discussion made, and then follow- Right... ups too, I find, right? Yeah. 1:01:03 Doing the follow-ups right after and then building that rapport of like, "Hey, let's partner. Let's do something together. You know, we can work together. Let's collaborate." Yeah. So I just wish, you know, diaper... 1:01:13 Are there like diaper seminars or diaper conferences? Like is that a thing, like a different- I, I don't, I haven't seen that, but there is, there is a national diaper organization- Okay... 1:01:23 that, that gets funding by- Okay... government, the federal government. Now I looked- What?... at their books. They're a nonprofit organization. Oh. I, I just looked at their books. But they don't... 1:01:31 It, it's not as much money as I thought, uh- Mm... it, um, given that they're... This is a big challenge, um, for people- Okay... on country and all over the world really. So, um, anyway. 1:01:42 Honestly, you could white label your own diaper. It's probably not that hard. Yeah. And get Hiney on it, and then have your own e-commerce store, like I'm doing with Hydro Rush. And come on, like- It's not that hard. 1:01:53 Yeah. It's just, like, getting it out there. Just getting it out there. I think. Yeah. Yeah Getting... Breaking through the noise, doing some ads, especially Facebook. I even heard Facebook ads are huge still. 1:02:02 Like, people- Yeah... need to leverage Facebook more. Facebook, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But, uh, other to say that, uh, this has been such a great, uh, experience with you, Lewis. I, I get to know... 1:02:13 Well, I know you a lot better now after this hour. [laughs] And I, and I just wanna say thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule, uh, and to, to share your story with me. It means a lot. 1:02:23 Um, where can... Uh, is there anything else, any other information that you wanted to share that we didn't talk about yet, that you wanted to go over before we end the interview, or? No. 1:02:32 I, I would just say- No pressure... you know, hey, if you're out there, and you're looking at this video, um, you know, make sure you, you go to our YouTube channel, subscribe, like. Yeah. 1:02:41 Uh, jump in one of our X spaces, right? Come in and, and just kinda learn, and, you know, come up and ask a question or introduce yourself. 1:02:49 You know, we're always open to, you know, getting people, new people in the community. Um, yeah, and then that's really, that's really it, right? And if you know anybody that wants to buy a bag of HINEE, let me know. 1:02:59 [laughs] Um, no. Well, I'm gonna... I, I, I've... I'm gonna buy a bag of HINEE for sure, you know? Well, good. Because I really- Yeah... I really support your mission, your education. 1:03:08 I think I told you, for our Caturday, I'm gonna be doing giveaways of HINEE. Yeah. Good. So I don't know if you wanted to contribute of that. So- Yeah, yeah, yeah... 1:03:14 because I, I want people to, to get to know your community more, and to get to know you, or even part of your team. So yeah, if one of your teammates can come to the Caturday- Yeah... 1:03:24 we could do, like, a mini AMA, since you're gonna be the sponsor of the Caturday space, so. Okay. Yeah. 1:03:28 Yeah, so I, I, I just, you know, like, you're, y- you're a big part of Crypto Fam Radio now, so I j- I wanna treat you as such, obviously. Yeah. 1:03:35 [laughs] So, but, uh, but besides that, um, yeah, where can people find you? You said X, uh, right? YouTube, um- Yeah, YouTube. @HINEEcoin? It's always at, at HINEEcoin. Okay. @HINEEcoin. It's at HINEE. 1:03:44 We have Instagram. We have Facebook. Oh, Instagram. Facebook. Yeah, we have Facebook. Uh, we're trying to work on the TikTok. Uh- I can help you with that, all right? Yeah. I got you. [laughs] There you go. 1:03:52 Yeah, there you go. Perfect. I'm, I'm getting to be more of a TikTok whiz over the past few months. 1:03:56 Since I lost my X account, I had to pivot to TikTok, and I actually grinded on that, uh, account, Crypto Fam Radio, for a good month, and I got from zero followers to 2,200 followers now standing, so. Wow. 1:04:07 I think we can definitely work on the HINEEcoin TikTok as well. 1:04:11 So definitely if you don't have your handle created yet, HINEEcoin, do that on TikTok, and I'm more than happy to start doing shout-outs and getting you guys followers. 1:04:20 And, you know, it's, it's all just about consistency. Yep. That's what I find with a lot of these platforms. That's what it is. 1:04:25 Just consistently creating content, consistently showing up to the lives, doing the lives, or delegating it out to one of your teammates to do a daily live, and to share what the HINEEcoin is all about, and what you guys' mission is, and your vision- Right... 1:04:38 I think is really huge. So, uh, but to say all that, you know, it's, it's just telling a story, right? And, and marketing, right? Yeah. 1:04:44 So, and telling something that resonates with your audience to get them to act, right? That's right. Always end with that CTA. [laughs] Yeah. That's right. But, but anyway, so, um, thank you so much again, Lewis. 1:04:55 This has been such an amazing experience. Uh, enjoy the rest of your Friday too, man. It sound, uh... It looks like it's beautiful weather, very sunny, and a little... Actually, I'm not jealous. 1:05:05 It's super sunny right now in Florida, so I'm gonna go touch some grass. I'm gonna go walk my cat now. But you enjoy the rest of your Friday. 1:05:12 I hope to see you or one of your teammates tomorrow for our Caturday space, so take care, Lewis. Thank you. All right. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Cool. Thank HINEE, it's Friday. That's T-H-A-N-K. 1:05:19 That's what we say, so. There we go. Let's go. All right. [laughs] All right, take care, man. Thank you. All right, take care, man. See ya.
