Brother, what's up?
This is a new
recording,
man.
Good morning and welcome to the Earl Ingram show.
As always, you can join us at 855-752-4842.
That's 855-752-4842.
You can text us at that same number.
Hey, good morning to you, Cardi.
How you doing, man?
Man, I'm feeling pretty good, Earl, man.
It is getting closer to the weekend, man.
How about yourself?
I'm doing great, man.
You know, I haven't been sick all winter.
That's
crazy.
It's not crazy, man.
You know, I got a I got an ace in the hole, man.
You
gotta
take some of your
advice, man.
Fast two
days, man.
Kick him up.
Hey, man, you know, listen, man, I used to play Russian roulette with my health.
And then somebody told me about a guy.
Who was that?
Name Omar.
Oh, man.
OK.
And initially, I was a little.
hesitant.
Come on, man.
What is he supposed to do for me?
You know, I've got top doctors at freighter hospital.
I'm not concerned.
I don't need to worry about the rest of that stuff.
I'm taking my medication and and everything is fine.
And then this guy, you know, he was, you know,
Just an average-looking guy, man, right?
Omar.
Yeah, a little tall.
But, you know, he certainly wasn't, he didn't look like Superman, right?
Or the Incredible Hulk.
Hey, that's how Peter Parker was with Spider-Man.
And man, all has been right with my health ever since.
Good morning.
You are officially in the pharmacy with Dr. Omar, the pharmacist, the owner and proprietor of Well, Topia Pharmacy in Mechwan, Thamesville.
Good morning to you, Dr. Omar.
How you doing, my friend?
Good morning, Harold.
Good morning.
I'm doing great.
Thank you.
Thank you for the super introduction.
I don't understand.
You got on this fur collar this morning.
Yeah, it's my god.
It's just it's a beautiful day, and I'm really happy that I am Helping with your health you are taking a really good supplement to support your health by the way called well mean and I put it actually on my license plate because well mean has the the doses of vitamin C D stink quercetin NAC and Vitamin A these are core six Virams that have been
research it heavily to support immune health immune resilience makes you contract cold some flows less and if you contract a cold or flu you would have less sick days and helps with what we call metabolic resilience which is if you.
are going to be facing a virus or a bacteria, you're going to thrive better because your body, yourselves, have enough of these important nutrients to fight back.
And we just don't get enough of them in the foods that we eat.
Is that that multivitamin that I take?
It's inside the multivitamin, but it's just checking now and what you take.
There was a supplement that I gave you called Wellmune.
I'm going to review it with you next time you come to the
store.
Yeah, and I'm sure I'm taking it now.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, it
is great
stuff.
I'll tell you all of it is because I'm an active guy.
I mean, I'm around a lot of people and man, not to have a cold throughout the entire, well, and I had my COVID shot, right?
And I had my flu vaccination.
So, I mean,
all of those things together, right?
They kind of put forth a force field.
Exactly.
So it's not one magic bullet, a lot of bullets in the right direction.
These are focused on your health.
You have guidance, you're exercising, you're eating healthy, you're sleeping better.
All of this is equal to better health.
You know, PJ is talking about elderberry, sir.
When I come to the pharmacy, I see elderberry stuff you got around there.
What is he talking about?
Immune system support.
Elderberry is very helpful for the immune system.
And it also helps with chronic cough.
It helps to thin the mucus.
Elderberry has been historically used and studied and researched for immune support.
So it's one of the ingredients in some of the products also that you take.
So, yeah, that's elderberry and it comes in a syrup in gummies and in multivitamins and in many of the immune-supporting supplements.
Okay, Dr. Amar, we got a lot to talk about, a lot to get at today.
Where do you want to begin?
I want to begin with talking about the unpacking, unpacking of the power of ginseng.
And then we can talk about the magic of magnesium.
And if we have time, we can talk about the truth about the calcium.
Let's get to ginseng.
Yeah, so ginseng is not just one kind.
It's more than one kind of ginseng and not every ginseng is the same as the other.
First off, what is the purpose of
ginseng?
Well, ginseng is taken to help with energy, stamina.
support.
It's linked to sexual performance in historic lives and it has been like very old for ages.
We hear about gensing for sexual performance, but there is not just one form of gensing with one benefit.
There is the main gensing that is used for performance and energy and focus is called the Panax gensing or the Korean gensing.
And this is very good to help men with focus and clarity, but it's not the best gensing for women in the rebirth of the perimenopause and menopause can cause them some nervousness and irritability.
So for women, 40 years old plus, we recommend it to them Siberian gensing because it's more of an adaptogen.
and better for them is the American ginseng which has a calming effect and better well tolerated so the American ginseng is more of calming to the nerves and helps to just kind of cool down and then there is the red ginseng which is Korean ginseng but made in a certain way steamed and made in a certain way to get some of the products of ginsenoids
that are mainly used to help with brain health.
And that ginseng we get from the RG3, ginsenoids RG3 that is in my top supplement for brain health.
You can call it mental clarity, brain health, taking care of brain fog, level 2.0, because I haven't seen something that works on this level of
effect throughout the whole day to give you the focus, the clarity, the energy of the brain and at the same time helps with neuroinflammation.
So it makes you think clearer and at the same time not agitated.
You are calm, you're focused and you have the same level of focus and concentration end of the day as you had at the beginning of the day.
I've been using it myself over the last 10 years and I speak about it all the time and that's called RG3 or synapses.
So how do you determine because I thought Omega 3 worked good for the brain and those are they different?
You know, how do you determine whether a person should be taking ginseng or the Omega 3 then?
We always
look for, it's an excellent question.
We always fill the void of the basics.
So Omega-3 has wider uses for inflammation, for the brain health.
So I start with Omega-3 because it helps with the cardiovascular risk, which is number one.
I want to make sure it's covered and helps with inflammation and helps with the brain because our brain is more than 60% made of fats and we need the healthy fats.
But some people are taking omega-3 and they still have brain fog and they still have a mental fatigue end of the day.
Like the other day, I had a lawyer walking in and he was telling me that I work all day.
I go home to my wife and kids and I cannot spend any time with them.
What do I do?
So that's someone that I would start first with nutrition deficiencies that he needs, multivitamin, omega-3 vitamin D B vitamins.
But then after three months we're reviewing and he still tell me I need more of my mental health and I don't want to take controlled medications or I don't want to go and take Adderall.
I want to take something natural supplements.
So that
person, I gave him the Synapse in RG3 and then he came back and he told me, man, I don't know what you gave me, but I feel like my life has changed.
I have two hours to spend with my family and I go to sleep without having problems sleeping because the nice thing about the Synapse in products that I have is that from one end, they have the agensing form.
called RG3 that helps with mental clarity and focus, and another one, another form of gensing that helps with decreasing the inflammation and helping with oxidative stress or getting rid of the free radicals, which means the cells in the brain clear up and kind of get rid of the junk over the day.
So that is a success story of my gensing.
I use it as
nasal spray with dispensate as nasal spray with prescription and as a chewable tablet without a prescription.
So let me showable tablet is easy to take.
So let me ask you Dr. Omar so because ginseng it's this plant is grown and they grow a lot in the state of Wisconsin is one of the places that it's grown a lot if it has you you've got these different types of ginseng what are they different plants are they are they
you know, when they grow them or do they do something different?
That ginseng grows with different strengths or is there something added to the ginseng for, you know, the different types that you say exist?
Yeah, the very good question.
So they belong to the plants, to the same family of genospanics that includes several distinct species, each considered as true ginseng.
So, what's grown here most probably in North America is the American ginseng.
What's grown in Korea and in Asia is the Asian ginseng, Korean or Chinese ginseng.
And then there is a Thai ginseng, which is Iliothea.
All
right, you are officially in the pharmacy with Dr. Omar, the pharmacist on the Earl Ingram Show.
As always, you can call us at 855-752-4842.
He'll take any questions or comments.
The following content is not intended as medical advice.
Always consult your own physician, pharmacist, or healthcare professional for your own healthcare concerns.
Bringing you a passion for health and wellness.
Dr. Omar Uliwa is here to answer your pharmaceutical questions.
Now, let's go in the pharmacy with Earl Ingram and Dr.
Omar.
in the slope.
pharmacy with Dr. Omar, the pharmacist on the Earling room show.
He is the owner and proprietor of Weltopia Pharmacy in Mechwan, Thamesville.
Dr. Omar, how can people get in touch with you?
People can always call at 262-429-9429.
Leave me a message or go to www.weltopia.rx.com.
And Cardi, if people miss that and they want to go back and listen to what?
the things we're talking about, how did he do that?
Well, Earl, they could always check us out at the Earl Ingram Show by going to www.civicmedia.us.com.
Click on the Earl Ingram Show, click on this episode today, and they can watch all the stuff that you guys talked about today.
All right, thank you.
You know, a couple of things, Dr. Omar.
Oh, wow.
I know this pharmacist.
Hi, Omar, the pharmacist.
This is from Babs, a new caller, a new listener.
She, uh, yeah, she just joined us and she knows you.
So, uh, hopefully, hopefully not from, uh, a time before you were married to their children.
Oh, funny.
Anyway, I'll have my wife not listen to
it.
Anyway, uh, let's go to the phone lines.
Jim from Brookfield.
Hey, good morning to you, Jim.
How you doing, man?
Good morning.
Good morning, Dr. Omar.
I have a two-part question.
First of all, how does synapses differ from just a straight-up ginseng supplement?
And also, I'm very curious what Dr. Omar thinks of supplements like emergency that my wife swears by prior to going on a trip to strengthen her immune system.
It's a powder you put in a...
like alcohol cells are put in water.
What I've read about it, it's no more beneficial than just taking an orange.
But are you familiar with something like emergency, you know, and it's fairly expensive?
And does it do, is there anything beneficial about taking it?
Hey, thank you,
Jim.
These are the type of questions I like because they are very specific coming from educated people who
are doing their best to take care of themselves.
First of all, the gensing, when we are talking about the Korean gensing for mental clarity, I recommend it to men.
I recommend it to actually also people who want to take something to help them with focus and stamina during their work, especially
handy people.
Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Omar.
You're explaining it very well.
Continue.
I'm sorry.
All right.
All right.
So that's the Korean ginseng.
Now, this Korean ginseng is called Panex ginseng.
And from the Panex ginseng, we extract from it through a very complicated extraction process that goes into heating the ginseng at a very high temperature.
produce the RG3 gensinoids.
So it's heated and then it's cooled and then extracted.
So we're concentrating the RG3, the gensinoid that I'm talking about that is in the synapsin.
And after this extraction process, the RG3 is put in either a powder that we use in compounding for an easel spray.
or it's used as a chewable tablet.
These are the two forms that I can see that are available in America now.
And I say this because my mentor is one of the health gurus, Dr. Jim Lavel is the one who brought in the synapse into the United States from his Chinese mentors, like more than 10 years ago.
And then, so the RG3, it's kind of fermented.
heated, extracted ginseng that is very high quality of the Panex ginseng.
So if you want energy, stamina, focus, level one, that is the regular Korean ginseng.
If you want the next level of brain boosters, that is the Synapsyn.
And the product that we have is called Synapsyn Pro LPT.
And that's a product I've been taking myself for several months now.
and I can speak all day about it.
Actually, I'm going on a TV show tomorrow to talk about this Senersim Pro LPT because I've tried it like over the last couple of months, with like 10 different patients.
All of them came back and they told me this is better than Adderall.
One of them told me that I'm not coding any drug, but I'm talking about having your mental clarity, mental health.
and your focus, and at the same time, you don't want to take a hard rug.
The only downside that it is expensive for disclosure, it's not cheap, and I get the highest quality, the most concentrated version of it.
uh 60 tablets and I take two tablets a day you can take always one but 60 tablets we sell it for $137 so it's not it's not it's not cheap and and that's why I also keep also the regular regular Korean ginseng in the store but what can I do I see those awesome products and I just want to always offer it to uh to my clients and my patients and I want them always to taste
that beauty of natural science and many times.
Unfortunately, unfortunately, it's not.
Well, you know, you know, Dr. Amar, and thank you very much for the call, Jim.
You know, it's not even that I'm so concerned about the price of that product you just talked about.
It's the fact that you're moonlighting on us.
You're going to wind up on television.
What is that?
Yeah.
So I'm
going on a morning blend.
I
have a segment.
yeah i have a segment on the morning blend every every few weeks or every few months when i have something to tell
So I'm going on tomorrow 9 a.m.
to talk about this specific product.
So we're going to talk about mental health.
Because we want to create memories.
Memories is everything.
Dr. Omar, I'm glad to hear your moonlight.
752.48.42.
You're officially in the pharmacy with Dr. Omar the pharmacist on the earling room show.
was so loud
As always, you can join us at 855-752-4842.
Text us at that same number.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to give Dr. Omar a call.
You're officially in the pharmacy.
Dr. Omar, how can people get in touch with you?
People can always call at 262-429-9429 and leave me a message.
And Cardi, how can they, if they missed out?
So if they ever miss out on the show, they could always log into civicmedia.us They can click on the Earl Ingram show and they could also follow us on YouTube I forgot to add in the last time and follow that at civicmedia.us on the YouTube and click on the Earl Ingram show
Thank you.
You know Dr. Omar We're gonna talk about a couple other things, but I need to ask you this question.
Can you take too many supplements?
Because yeah, yeah, I mean it
Clearly, every system in your body could use a supplement, right?
I mean, is it safe to say that?
Well, it is a great question.
It is safe to say that we need to take our main, uh, beneficial micronutrients from the foods that we eat, and we always try to start slowly with the basic things that we need them.
But honestly, I know people that take 20 different supplements and they are well organized.
They know what they are taking.
And I know other people that take six or seven supplements and they are overwhelmed and they don't know what they are doing.
So guidance get to be very important because also there is drug interactions between the molecules of these supplements that we take and the medications and our health.
So the articulation of a plan is very important because the ingredients of these supplements differ vastly between products.
For example, there was the question that we had about the emergency for immune health.
And I want to say that emergency has, high dose of vitamin C, and vitamin C has been proven to help and support the white blood cells, immune health, and also great antioxidant.
Emergency also has zinc, B vitamins, electrolytes, and these are all important for immune support, especially at the first time when we have those cold and flu symptoms, and we don't want the symptoms to develop to bed-dread and kind of state.
But at the same time, emergency has sugars, it's flavored.
So we have like six grams of sugars in each packet.
That's like a tablespoon, more than a teaspoon of sugar inside emergency.
And it has ascorbic acid, acidic form of vitamin C, ascorbic acid, which can be irritating to some patients.
If you want to take a butter,
and more holistic approach to powder vitamin C. Check trace minerals, trace minerals, vitamin C. They are flavored, I think, with stevia and erythritol.
But if you want to take my opinion on vitamin C, I like the ascorbate version.
That's more gentler.
on the stomach and you can take more of it without a problem and it's inside products that are more holistic like biotics research bio C plus and you can get some of those like a hundred tablets for about twenty dollars
Each one comes as 500 milligram.
My recommendation in the dosing is to take 500 milligram twice a day.
You don't need to take a very high dose at one time because the swatter soluble leaves the body fast.
And if you're starting to feel sick, you actually need to take more frequent dosing of the vitamin C. And if you start to feel you're having loose stools, that's when you scale down.
for the vitamin C so you see just one supplement vitamin C that we have been hearing about for long long times and then we can get it from orange juice we can get it from lemon and we're talking about it for the last like few minutes and it's just one thing that we we think we know
many things about and every time I hear a health talk about vitamin C and the different forms of it, I hear a new piece of information.
So it can be overwhelming many times and there's some of us that want to take everything.
to be in best health and best shape.
And I have to be frank with you, that's me, and that's everyone I meet, all right?
But then we have to customize the program based on several factors, what you actually need, the basics, affordability, and some people cannot swallow capsules, so we can find solutions for them to take their nutrients, and we can find other ways to take their supplements.
So give us a call, let us know.
what your needs are, and I'm going to do my best me and my team to help you with answering those questions.
So you wanted to talk about the different calcium and why, you know, the different kinds that people should take in for the reasons?
Yes.
So calcium is recommended many times by the doctor when we have
problem in osteopenia, osteoporosis, the doctor tests to the patient.
So go take some vitamin D and calcium.
Patient goes to the store and buys the first calcium that they see and they keep taking it for years.
Then later on, they would have calcium score of the heart and there is calcium score is high.
It's like having calcium or bones in the arteries and they freak out.
Bones in the arteries.
This is the exact description from Dr. Mark Houston.
He's one of the functional medicine girl.
He's a legend in cardiology and you're saying this.
The problem in calcium is that there is bad forms of calcium that can easily come and deposit on the arteries and there are better forms and there are ways to protect our arteries from the position of calcium.
So there is calcium carbonate.
This is we call it the rock calcium comes from rocks calcium carbonate can be upsetting to the gut We can find it in the thumbs calcium carbonate is not the best form of calcium calcium citrate is better gentler on the gut and We get I think 25% absorption from the calcium citrate and there is also I like
referentially the calcium something called calcium hydroxyapatite but it's not just calcium or we need to focus on the fact that we get calcium from many of the foods leafy greens things that most people are still eating we get it from dairy products and it's just you know you're not you're not deficient in calcium and you take calcium you're mainly deficient in vitamin d3
and the vitamin D3 is important for the deposition of the calcium that you might already have enough of and put it in the bones where we need to be.
The other nutrient that's important is vitamin K2.
Vitamin K2 is what's actually the secret agent that's protecting our arteries from the deposition of the calcium.
and many of those products with vitamin D having D3 and K2 or vitamin D3 and a combination of K1 and K2 to help with this effect.
So they can work on the calcium and kind of tame it and put it in the bones where they belong.
So for most people, we recommend when they have problems in osteopenia, osteoporosis to take
combination of D3 and K2.
And then with the calcium, we get to be a bit conservative.
Well, some patients have low calcium in their blood and they need to take calcium, but we make sure that they also have the D3 and the K2.
And then if we are talking about reversing osteopenia and osteoporosis with supplements, that happens in a range of one to three years.
And I put them on a program of several
things that help with increasing bone density that have also magnesium, strontium, that have other ingredients that help with looking at the bones as a living organ that we want it strong, not brittle, but I warn people that you're going to follow the program one year to see better score when you do dexter screening on your bones and three years to reverse
osteoporosis and we have several success stories that used only natural
medicine to help with this osteopenia and osteoporosis and they didn't need to take medications and we do this working with their doctors and practitioners as well.
They sign off on the plans because some of the patients cannot take alindronate and bisphosphonates or some patients are worried about the side effects of these medications or the injectables to help increase the bone density and increase vitamin D levels.
So
is osteoporosis just more common in females than it is in males?
It is.
We're seeing it more in males now because of how stressful life is and how the food supply is not helping us to eat healthy.
But women more, there is studies that show that women during menopause within seven years
we have much higher incidence of osteopenia and osteoporosis because of the lack of estrogen, because estrogen when it's low, it's very important in the formation of the
important bone minerals.
So some patients actually that cannot take this phosphonates they are prescribed estrogen to help.
That happens more in Europe.
They are prescribed estrogen to help with osteoporosis, believe it or not.
but it's unfortunate that this is happening more in women during menopause.
So I tell women in their rebirth during perimenopause and menopause, focus, focus on the vitamin D3 and K2.
We have to take it daily and focus, focus on exercise.
You need to make sure that you keep your muscle mass and you keep your bones strong and you check your hormones to make sure that you balance your estrogen and progesterone and because they are
very important in your bone health.
And of course, many other things.
Dr. Omar Bab says I wish everyone knew about LDN, especially people who suffer from autoimmune diseases.
Unfortunately, many doctors do not tell their patients about LDN and will not prescribe it to their patients.
Lodosinaltrexone is a very old drug and has been used for over 40 years in compounding pharmacies to help with autoimmune conditions.
like Hashimoto's, like Crohn's fibromyalgia, and it's one of the medications that changed the history and the future of functional medicine early because patients would take it and then they would not need to take many other medications because it's compounded, not backed by drug companies.
It's not very well done.
communicated to patients.
And I want to tell the listeners, if someone needs LDN, we can help them connect them with practitioners to prescribe.
Lou does not take soon, who know about it.
And Wiltopia have been working with this compound for almost eight years now.
And we have many success stories.
And I can actually talk to a lot of providers.
about LDN and funny story is that one of the big hospital systems in Wisconsin, I had a big meeting with them maybe six years ago or five years ago.
and they gathered all of their doctors to listen about LDN.
They asked so many questions, Erl, and I was thinking, oh my God, they are going to send me thousands of prescriptions after this fruitful meeting.
Guess what happened, Erl?
Guess what happened?
During COVID, I would have one of their pharmacists coming to my pharmacy and telling me, we opened a pharmacy, a compounding pharmacy, and this is my number one compound that I'm dispensing, LDN, in one of the big hospital systems in Wisconsin.
they were giving it a really good price for their patients because it was, you know, something that they found the benefits of.
You know, Dr. Omar, always fascinating information, 855-752-4842.
You're officially in the pharmacy with Dr. Omar, the pharmacist.
You know, we got a little information that we're going to share with you on the other side.
Bye.
to end the pharmacy with Dr. Oma, the pharmacist on the Earl Ingram show.
As always, you can join us at 855-752-4842-TEXUS at that same number.
Dr. Oma is the best pharmacist in Wisconsin.
Oh my
God, that's you.
Thank you.
Thank you for saying that.
Well, no, no, this is what one of the Texers wrote.
I mean,
he's
going on Morning Blend.
And I kind of, you know, I agree with it, you know?
No
question whatsoever.
Let me ask you.
So that was almost, that was a time before Dr. Omar became the pharmacist.
I mean, it realized that pharmacy is his lifeblood that you did some other things.
I can't, I can't fathom you.
Doing anything other than what you're doing now Tell us a little bit about the history of of dr. Ovar and how you wonder where you are.
Yeah, so my My my history is that my mother wanted to be a pharmacist, but she was not a pharmacist She became an accountant and she got really upset about it all her life.
She decided that
Anyone she's gonna get out of her tummy is going to be pharmacist.
Boy, girl.
So me and my brother and sister, we are all pharmacists.
But when I was in third grade, I had these marks in an exam.
And I saw my mother telling me in a frantic voice, by these grades, you're never gonna be a pharmacist.
And that kind of went heavily on my soul.
So here I am.
second year pharmacy school student and I decided no this is not what I want to do I want to do something different and I was very depressed at that time and I decided to do something different so I was studying the pharmacy school and at the same time I had the hobby of writing like stories about this guy who goes in history meeting
historic figures and telling them about his challenges of not wanting to be a pharmacist.
And these stories became very famous in Egypt at that time and in the Middle East.
And I published two books about these stories, and then I graduated.
And then I remember I was in pharmacy school at that time, the last couple of years, and I raised my hands to the sky and I asked God, God, I don't want to be a pharmacist.
So.
I got a scholarship to study screenwriting and filmmaking after pharmacy school, and I decided early retirement from pharmacy, then I traveled to New York, learned screenwriting and filmmaking professionally, went back to the Middle East and worked as a professional screenwriter for 40 years.
I had the best screenwriting workshop in the country.
And I was writing TV shows in cartoons in.
I wrote, you know, there was an adaptation of The Apprentice by Donald Trump.
There was the adaptation in the Middle East.
The best adaptation of this program.
I wrote it and I was part of it.
And we did it among five different countries, Dubai.
And we did it between Lebanon and Egypt.
It was great.
It was great time.
And then suddenly, like five years later, I get a phone call from my brother who is a pharmacist in Wisconsin, and he tells me, Omar, I need you next to me.
I need you next to me.
I want you to come here for a little bit.
So I traveled to Wisconsin, and then I met this pharmacist who's creating a program to help patients get well by having the pharmacist meets the patient and explain to them how to use their medicine.
And he got me into it.
and I met patients and I found the other side of the pharmacy that they are tools that help people get better and get well.
And something happened that made me fall in love again with the pharmacy.
And since then, I was working as a pharmacist and screenwriter.
Fast forward two years, I had to take a decision what is going to be my hobby, what is going to be my profession.
And I found that I like what I do.
It's just short version of a long dramatic story.
Well, you know, now I understand you had some affiliation with Donald Trump.
Believe it, believe it or not.
Come on, man.
We
didn't know.
We didn't know at that
time.
We didn't know it would happen this way.
Well, well, we are all the better for it.
And man, having you and and what you do and the people you help, you know, is just as every time I come to the pharmacy, man, there are people just everywhere.
And and they get the same thing that I get when I walk in there.
And that's, you know, undivided attention and a beautiful, clean, just beautiful facility.
really kind people, man, but more than anything else, always walk out of there with the goodies.
And, um, and, and man, and, you know, and they just, I just feel better, man.
You know, if, if aging, if anybody would have told me aging would be like this, uh, I would have had, wouldn't have had any fear at all for doing it.
So I'm looking forward to the next stages and phases of my life.
and not backing down.
I'm gonna stay as active as I always am.
As long as I got Dr. Omar, you know, no telling how long I'll be able to do this.
Thank you, Rob.
I appreciate it.
All
right.
Dr. Omar, we'll see you next week.
See you
next
week.
Always
good seeing Dr. Omar the pharmacist.
You have been in the pharmacy with Dr. Omar the pharmacist.
Up next, Richard Trent.
uh, alliance, um, uh, for main, main street alliance.
See you later, Droma.
All right, welcome back to The Earl Ingram Show.
As always, you can join us at 855-752-4842.
That's 855-752-4842.
And I am honored to bring on board Main Street Alliance's own Richard Trent.
He is the executive director of Main Street Alliance.
Good morning to you, sir.
How are you?
I'm good, man.
I'm just vibing to the tunes always.
Hey, you ain't heard nothing yet, man.
Nobody plays tunes like I do, man.
I'm good.
I'm supposed
to roll through Milwaukee these next couple of weeks.
Really?
Stopped through.
Yeah, man.
We got we got
to pick up.
I'm gonna come pick up a CD.
Hey, man, I want you to come into the studio with me, man.
We got a lot to talk about, man.
But, but, you know, so you national advocacy work.
Uh, that's what main street alliance is for small business owners.
Uh, and so you've, you've been the executive director for how long?
About 10 months, almost a year now.
Yeah.
So I'm not, I'm, I'm moving out of my newbie, my newbie era.
You know, I'm starting to understand.
I'm
thinking back, man.
I had you on several months back.
Yeah.
Yeah, right, right before the convention.
Yeah, man, we had
a
great conversation then.
And so let's talk about small business.
And we were talking about before we came on the air what small business is because people have misconceptions.
You know, that's everything from a mom and pop operation to somebody with 500 employees.
How is that possible, man?
Well, it's because
Everybody's trying to jack small businesses style, basically.
You've got businesses that have 50 million in revenue, 100 million in revenue that still want to consider themselves small business because everybody knows that small businesses are the force that keeps communities vibrant and dynamic and interesting.
Any town you visit across this country.
If you go there and you have a good time, it's likely because you had a good experience at a small business.
And so there is this desire to make even larger enterprises seem like they're small business.
But the truth of the matter is small businesses comprise 99% of all of the businesses in the country.
And most of them are very, very small, like 86% make under $100,000 a year in revenue.
So that's
that's a pocket of the small business world that we need to really focus on and make sure that our communities are healthy.
So what's in the mindset, man, of somebody who takes their family's future and mortgages their homes and everything else to start a small business?
What percentage of them are successful in the first place?
So in terms of percentage, it varies sector to sector.
In the restaurant and hospitality industry, there's often a much higher rate of business failure after even just the first year or so of operation.
But it varies sector to sector.
But one thing that's consistent is that these folks have a belief in themselves.
They often have like a connection and a responsiveness to their own community.
I think of Yahara Learning Center right outside of Milwaukee where you've got Macy who started a childcare facility because she was hearing things from
her community about the need for more childcare, the need for more services for young people.
And she took it upon herself to respond to the needs of her community members.
That's how so many small businesses pop up and sprout up just being attended to the needs of community.
And that's why we need to make sure that we give them all the support they deserve.
You know, starting up a small business is more than a notion.
And so, you know, there's certainly needs to be, you know,
I don't know vetting maybe or people before they decide to start a small business.
Is there places they can go to get some information before they make this step?
It's a monumental step.
So I'm going to say
this.
There are these entities called CDFIs, Community Development Financial Institutions.
If you want to start a small business, there are a couple places that you can go to to look for an initial loan, right?
You can go straight up to a bank.
A lot of people go to the small business administration who works with other banks to connect you with some financing.
If you've got good credit and you can prove you got some cash flow.
But CDFI's are another alternative lender that are currently being attacked by the Trump administration.
They've made an all out declaration on slashing the CDFI fund.
which really powers a lot of these alternative lenders at the state level.
So CDFIs are important because as a small business owner, even if you're at the...
I'm just writing my business plan stage of the process.
You can go to a CDFI.
You can schedule a meeting with one of their counselors.
They can review your business plan and tell you, hey, this looks strong.
Here's something you might need to think more about.
And that's why we need to make sure that the CDFI industry in this country is protected because they really do help small business owners.
refine their idea even before day one of operation.
So if you're just joining us, my guess is executive director, Mr. Richard Trent of Main Street Alliance.
When we talk about small businesses, one of the things that President Joe Biden did, and people talk about all the things he didn't do, but one of the things he clearly did was offered financial support to small businesses.
and there were resources.
It's hard for small businesses to get a loan because they don't have a lot of excess capital.
And so it's hard to move forward.
Joe Biden was able to tie into that and help some of these small businesses.
But with Donald Trump in office, that may not be the case anymore.
It may be just the exact opposite.
Yeah, yeah.
You can't take it away from Biden.
I mean, that he really did a lot in terms of making investments in the small business ecosystem, but especially around black and brown women and rural entrepreneurs and veteran entrepreneurs.
You know, people want to, when people demonize DEI and all these different things, they forget that a lot of these programs are actually targeted towards veterans.
Folks that served our country who have a tough time, you know, readjusting when they get back.
And so I feel like it's important to highlight, there were programs under the Biden administration designed specifically to uplift that pocket of our enterprising class.
I mean, the community advantage program increased their loan rate to black and brown and women entrepreneurs.
The rate of business formation amongst black, Latino, and women entrepreneurs doubled under the Biden administration.
And there was a record 20 million new job new new small business applications Across the four years of the Biden administration, which was a record in and of itself So you had the highest rates of black small business formation in 25 years under Biden a lot of things to be excited about
But but you also talked about rural areas.
It didn't just stop in urban centers.
It was across the nation
Absolutely, because that administration, I think had a solid understanding of the ways that the city, the urban and the rural speak to one another, right?
Our cities are strong because of a strong agricultural sector in the rural spaces and vice versa, right?
So I think that when you understand that connectivity and you build programming around it and you take a smart chance.
on some of these entrepreneurs, then the the economy can grow in a healthy way.
I know I know that former President Biden fed money to chambers across this across this nation.
That was a way to to kind of get money out to small businesses who couldn't go to a bank and get along.
Let's let's be honest.
It's it has to be.
intimidating and you're a small business owner to go sit before a major bank and say, hey, you know, I need $50,000, which is lifeblood to a small business and can be the difference in whether or not one is going to be successful or not.
And so, but he was able to move that into a smaller arenas and the chambers, right?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
But I mean, you got to pay attention to which chambers we're talking about.
You've got some local and alternative chambers that are very healthy and really listen to, you know, first time business owners and small business owners.
Some of the chambers that are more directly tied to the US chamber can often just be like a mouthpiece for policies that don't always work for local economy.
So kind of have to be clear about that station.
Yeah.
So when
when people are talking about, you know, small businesses and, and starting one up in, and the fact that we know that these small businesses are really going to be the lifeblood of, of our country in the future.
Is it safe to say that?
Oh my God.
Absolutely.
I mean, we're talking about 99% of all companies in the country, in the country are small businesses.
two thirds of new job creation come from the small business sector.
So we're talking about literally the beating heart of the American economy, but it's really going through a lot right now as a very small number of companies gets bigger and bigger and controls more of the deal flow across our economy.
We got to put a check on that.
You know, it really is as you move around and you look at the storefronts,
in communities that you can tell how vibrant a community is by whether or not these storefronts are filled with small businesses.
Certain places you can go and you see that and you know that that's a strong community, a strong environment.
Other places you go to, those small, those storefronts are empty.
Is there a correlation between the two?
So this is why we, just a week ago we were in Madison.
advocating for an extension of the Main Street bounce back program.
A couple years ago it was 100 million.
This year we're fighting for 50 million in the budget because it addresses that problem that places like Madison and Milwaukee historically had of the empty storefront.
It really does impact how you receive a neighborhood, how you experience a neighborhood.
when you've got empty storefronts and we want to make sure that entrepreneurs have enough capital to actually start that enterprise and make their communities.
So hang on, hang on a second.
Executive director, Mr. Richard Trent, Main Street Alliance 855-752-4842.
If you have a question or comment now is the time.
They're tuning into the Earl Ingram show.
join us at 855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
I'm joined by Executive Director Richard Trent of the Main Street Alliance.
Sir, is it safe to say that you can detect whether or not a community is healthy by a small business?
Absolutely.
I mean, imagine a world where you go to a town and the only business that's open is the Walmart, the big box store at the end of the block.
and all the mom and pop stores are closed, all the antique shops, the cute little antique shops and stores like that, they're done.
The cafe can't generate enough foot traffic in order to stay open.
The restaurant and bar is languishing.
So, I mean, it's very easy to paint a picture of what our main streets will look like if we allow a couple very small companies to continue to consolidate and proliferate in our small towns and in our main streets.
And you can easily see the opposite of that, right, where we make
intentional investments in entrepreneurs and young folks or older entrepreneurs, enterprising spirits that just want to take a chance and be responsive to the needs of their community.
And you can see all the little enterprises start to bubble up and percolate and pop up on Main Street.
And then you want to go there.
That's actually a town you'd like to visit where folks have a stake in the thriving of their own community.
When you can feel that in the air, it's something that you just want to be a part of.
How do you keep that spirit alive in children?
Because because there has to be some connection to young people today to even know what that is, man.
They even want to be engaged in that if it's dying, right?
Mm hmm.
Man, that is a very good question.
And as a father of two young boys.
I would love to make sure that I impart to them some sense of industriousness and that entrepreneurial spirit that I find so appealing in a lot of the folks that I work with.
And I think that it's really about a couple different things.
It's about healthy risk tolerance, you know, because you've already put your finger on it, Earl, that like if you're a small business owner, you are sticking your neck out and you are taking a big chance, usually.
But the difference is, are you just taking a chance to take a chance?
Or are you engaging in informed risk?
And then this is like, I've thought about this for a while.
I've built out a business plan.
I see a space in the market that maybe I could occupy and treat.
That's informed risk.
And so I think that if you can engender something like that, and young people of how to identify through critical thinking,
the smart risks that it makes sense to take, then that's a really good starting point.
But I think the other value that you want to instill, if we want to continue to steward this generation of young entrepreneurs, is just this idea of being attentive to the needs of your community.
Open your eyes, look around to what people that live around you are saying, what they need, what they want, what they aspire to, what they want for their community.
Um, and then you can build enterprises around it, sustainable enterprises.
So be responsive.
You know, man, I remember because I'm 70 plus years old, I remember
looking good, man.
Cocoa butter right there.
It
looked like that.
You know, man, you're looking in the mirror.
This is your future.
Um, but anyway, as a young man,
Long before there was Walmart and all those major outlets in the community I grew up in before there were the major grocery stores In my community man, there was a five and dime Local local pharmacies little mom-and-pop pharmacies You know in my community there was there was no big major outlets like that and so
It kept, it was a healthy community, right?
Yeah.
Once all of those major corporations came in, that community died.
Yeah.
And, and so that's part of, people ask why we're where we are now.
It's all of those things,
right?
Absolutely.
Basically, basically starting in the 1970s, like the mid-1970s out.
there was a period where you'll hear a lot about Milton Friedman and his thoughts on just protecting shareholder value at all costs.
Around that time, antitrust enforcement, the legal jurisprudence that keeps large businesses from getting larger, it declined.
Antitrust enforcement started to decline in the 1970s.
You can basically track
small business, new small business formation, the decline in new small business formation started with that decline in antitrust enforcement as these a couple companies started to gobble up competitors, gobble up competitors, merge and just get bigger and bigger.
And that's why that's how we've ended up in this in the situation today where you've got Amazon basically the controlling half of all web.
uh, transactions, right?
It's, it's a, it's a crazy world to live in, but it started very intentionally in the 1970s with this, with this idea that bigger businesses are better.
So, so how can, uh, uh, current small businesses benefit from Main Street Alliance?
So that you've got, you've got small business organizations that focus on the technical assistance and just like how do I make a business plan?
Those are the CDFIs that I mentioned are some of these local chambers of commerce.
But the truth is that small businesses operate in a policy ecosystem and with rules and different legislation informing how they operate, we're the entity that helps shape those policies so that entrepreneurs actually have a fighting chance.
So you got a couple more minutes.
Yeah, of course.
All right.
So I'm really thrilled and excited about having executive director Mr. Richard Trent from Main Street Alliance on board.
You can join us with your questions and comments, 855-752-4842 on the Earl Ingram Show.
All right, welcome back to the Earl Ingram Show.
As always, you can join us at 855-752-4842.
Look, it's another privilege to have my guest, Mr. Richard Trent, Executive Director of Main Street Alliance on board.
And you know, man, I wanted to ask you about what I perceive, and that doesn't mean because I perceive it as fact, but is there anything documentation to say?
that women are more willing to take the risk as small business owners than men, because that's just kind of what I see,
man.
If we're going by the number of attendees at our day of action at the Capitol last week, I'd agree with your hypothesis, because it was about 70%
women entrepreneurs that showed up to get FaceTime with their elected officials and fight for a budget that's actually working for Main Street.
And I don't know the numbers off the top of my head of the gender breakdown of new business formation, but it is the case that so many microlending programs, if you think of like Grameen Bank and how they've done microfinance in other parts of the world,
it starts with the savings and the experiences of the women in the community.
Because frankly, and speaking in very gendered terms, heteronormative terms, there's so many women that take on the responsibility of caring for the entire tribe, so to speak, the entire family.
And when they put that responsibility on their shoulders, it makes them more trustworthy and accountable.
uh, players within the economy.
Uh, so I would, I would, I'm, my sense is to, I'm inclined to agree that that's probably true, that there's some special spark in terms of women entrepreneurs and their ability to pull it off, but I don't have the numbers off the top.
Yeah.
You know, man, uh, here's a question, uh, comment.
That is simply because he made many deals with the wealthiness country as well as enemy countries.
That's something I've done with Trump.
He's a coin operated president, but you know, it clearly is another comment.
Trump transferring the student loan debt to the SBA doesn't make sense.
It's crazy, man.
Yeah.
As a person who spent many, many years trying to get my student loans forgiven through the public loan forgiveness program and just understanding how cumbersome and tough.
that processes to now know that those same programs are going to be housed within the small business administration, which has no history of doing anything like that.
Also, the small business administration has just suffered massive layoffs between 400 and 700 people have been dismissed at the SBA.
This is the decision making of a person and an administration that does not have
any sort of concern for working-class Americans.
It's plain and simple.
He's funny.
He says outlandish things.
I get it.
But in terms of caring about the lived experience of working-class Americans, it's decisions like this that show how little he cares.
Because if you care about folks, then you make decisions that actually help them out and make their lives easier.
This is not going to make folks' lives easier.
You know, man, it...
it just as you just look at this whole thing and it's unraveling and you know that this is not going to end well for the average American, right?
It just is not.
And so, you know, when you look at especially the things that are going on right now with all of these different trade wars and all of those things at the end of that road, what looks like.
a recession hit it in our direction.
All those things don't benefit somebody in small business, man.
It's true.
It's true.
I the thing I've been saying is that, you know, you've really got like a year and a half that we have to make it through because by the time the midterms come around, the decision making of folks in Congress starts to change a little bit as they start to become more.
accountable and responsive to the ideas and beliefs of their constituencies.
So you really got to just like survive a year and a half of some of this decision-making.
And I'm saying this to my conservative buddies, to my moderate buddies, my centrist buddies.
At Main Street Alliance, we build...
um, ideological alignment across the political spectrum.
So we've got folks that voted for Trump once who, you know, who still show up to some of our roundtables and talk to, you know, bleeding heart progressives.
And we arrive at some similar conclusions that things like paid leave for employees really makes a difference and makes businesses more competitive.
that folks should have meaningful access to capital.
That child care should just be affordable and accessible to everyone.
It's the workforce behind the workforce.
And so when you put conservatives and progressives in a room together, they arrive at these same conclusions.
And so I think that it's a matter of maintaining our sanity for the next year and a half until we can build a cross-party coalition to fight back against some of this stupid decision maker.
You know, I never understood
why our allies, European allies and others, never squashed their small businesses.
They never did.
They knew the value of the small businesses.
And you can go to those different countries now, small businesses are thriving.
Absolutely.
And it has, I think,
That's a good question.
I haven't thought much about it, but I think the experience of rebuilding after the great after World War one and after World War two Those cities like when they did come back when they bounce back It was usually on the backs of entrepreneurs and small business owners who built up their communities And I think that there's maybe just more of a recent memory of how important small business owners are Because of how crucial they were for rebuilding Europe.
Let me
so
Kind of last kind of question.
So day cares and the fact that, you know, we have in this society priced people out of being able to afford day care.
And so a mother who might want to be an entrepreneur can afford it because if she's got a child or two, it costs more.
for a week's date here, then they're ever gonna make in renting the facility wherever they are and even trying to survive.
How do those things make any sense?
You know how a second ago we were just talking about how there's something special about women entrepreneurs and how we need more of them.
Well, this is the big thing that is standing in the way is in so many families across this country,
childcare is so expensive or unavailable that folks are making the decision to drop out of the workforce to stay at home to take care of kids because there's a threshold.
If you're not earning over a certain amount, it actually makes sense for somebody to stay home with a kid as opposed to just paying for it.
And that is a huge problem.
It's a brain drain happening within our own economy where we've got qualified
men and women who are serving as caretakers for their kids who are no longer in the workforce as a result of that.
And it's a big problem.
It's why things like making sure that child care funding is properly supported, that child care stabilization dollars are supported in the Wisconsin budget.
This is on the chopping block in the Wisconsin budget.
We're talking about $500 million that could be used to help stabilize the child care industry and make child care more affordable for Wisconsinites.
make sure to call into your representatives and to speak up and say that you want that $500 million in the Wisconsin budget approved so that child care can be more affordable for working families.
Man, it's just a great conversation.
We're going to take a couple of calls quickly.
Mike from Kenosha, good morning to you.
Mike, you have a question to comment for my guest.
Yeah, thanks for taking my call.
I love having these conversations.
It's for all of our benefit.
You know, a couple of things that all business needs.
One of them is customers.
And the second thing is a living area that supports the business.
In other words, a community where they pay living wages.
I want to speak to the too high of failure rate of businesses because of so many prerequisites we don't have anymore.
So many businesses seems like they're sacrificial lands in this
Crazy economy where they go through their savings and go through their their retirement accounts and then and then they're out of business I think that what the failure rates 90% in five years.
Is that correct roughly?
It's pretty it can be very very high especially for certain sectors
Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit more because that's that's what I've witnessed
in my years of outside sales and calling on businesses is the revolving door.
Because, again, we live in this upside-down economy where more people are not being paid living wages.
So, you know, to go through their savings, go through it for a small businessman to take the leap into being an entrepreneur.
I wouldn't do that for just about anything today.
There's too much volatility.
Too many businesses have to have a predatory relationship with their vendors.
Hey, I wish you had more time, but thank you very much for the call.
Richard.
Yeah, listen, I think that everybody is entitled to dream has a right to dream about what they want for themselves.
But the truth is that the economy can be treacherous and it can be difficult for small business owners that don't do enough planning on the front end before day one to make sure that their operation is sustainable, which is why we need to make sure that community development financial institutions, those CDFI as I was talking about, stay open and properly funded to continue supporting entrepreneurs that are just starting out to make sure that that business plan is strong, to make sure that they have a clear pathway to cash to cash flowing their business.
Those are the things that actually matter.
And we have to make sure that we're educating want to be entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs to make sure that the risk, again, that they're taking on day one is informed and educated risk and not just kind of flailing.
Brendan, you have the last question, Brendan.
Go ahead.
Yeah, I just had, yeah, I just had a comment.
I think it's going to be so integral to a fading public school system that the childcare, not only initially before the child hits kindergarten, but even my, I know my wife and I struggled for the childcare when she was in school to take care of her after school.
But the addition of education, the education they're not going to get at school due to certain things and information being limited to them, books being limited to them.
This will play a big part in the child care system going forward.
Is the jumpstart we give these kids before they hit public school?
That's all I had to say.
You're absolutely, yeah, he's absolutely right.
I worked for an organization a couple of years ago.
a couple years ago, almost 15 years ago, higher achievement that does academically rigorous after-school programming.
They got a $12 million grant from the Department of Education back in 2012, 2013 to expand their after-school program.
The Department of Education no longer exists.
I know it.
So it's like these entities that were powering academically rigorous after-school learning for kids
to helping to take some of that child rearing responsibility off the parents plate.
They don't exist anymore.
We got to fight for it to get it
back.
So, man, we got a couple more callers.
You want to take them?
Yeah, of course.
All right.
8-5-5-7-5-2-48-42.
Richard Trent, the executive director of Main Street Alliance.
I really appreciate it, man.
You're only scheduled for 30 minutes, but you're doing a human's job.
All right.
We'll be right back.
Yeah.
you
is the last few minutes of the early income show.
As always, you can join us at 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.
And I am on it again to have Mr. Richard Trent, the executive director of Main Street Alliance.
Man, I can't wait till you come in town, man.
We're going to hook up.
Oh, say less.
It's already a movie.
All right.
Let's go to Cam from Appleton.
Hey, good morning to you, Cam.
You have a question to comment from, I guess.
Cam Okay, let's go to Susan from Kenosha good morning to you Susan
Good morning.
I am on administrator.
Oh, this is cam.
Okay.
Go ahead cam.
Nope, this is Sue.
Oh, Sue.
Okay.
Go ahead Are you on the speaker?
Are you on the speakerphone?
Are you on the speakerphone?
Yes, I
am.
Get off the speaker.
Okay, hang
on.
Better?
Yes, much better.
Go
ahead.
Okay, so I'm an administrator at a nonprofit child care in Menominee Falls and one of my fellow administrators just went to Madison last week with the Alliance to talk about not only the importance of the funding for the
parents and the families that need the child quality childcare, but also for the workers that work in the field.
We have staff of 50 teachers that are very dedicated, qualified, nurturing, but the childcare fund since COVID has helped support our payroll, help us keep our wages lower, I mean higher and the fees lower for the parents.
So we are advocating for the childcare accounts also.
And I just wanted to put it into the perspective from a child care center's point of view, along with the parents.
We're both struggling and trying to meet in the middle without making quality care unaffordable.
Hey, Susan, why don't you leave your phone number with Cardi?
And I'll make sure that I get you guys on the air to have that discussion.
Thank you very much for that.
Oh my gosh, that'd be great.
Thank you, girl.
We're gonna make it happen.
Have a great day.
Thank you.
Richard?
Man, when I go into my kids' childcare facility, most days to pick them up, I just see a crew of folks who are working so unbelievably hard and the market has just totally missed their value.
Somehow we messed it up.
And you can expect that about 25% of the...
childcare workers rotate out of the profession every year.
So one out of four people working at a childcare facility today will not be working there a year from now.
That sort of employee churn from the low wages and the demands of the job speaks to how tough the work is.
And we need to be paying folks that work in childcare much more.
while also managing to keep the cost down for parents.
It's a tough balance, but it's something that we can do if we make the investment at the government level.
Making those childcare stabilization dollars available is the solution.
We make investments in all the industries that we say we care about, you know, oil and gas and all these, you know, medical tech and all these different things.
Why are we not making the same sort of massive investment in childcare to make sure that everybody has access
to it?
You know, Richard, it is so...
backwards in the way of thinking.
I always say, man, children grow up to be adults.
Why wouldn't you want to make sure that when they're children that you invest in that so they grow up to be healthy adults?
Yeah, it's unfortunate.
Unfortunately, there's a deep and kind of sinister
a deeper story around why we underpay folks in these sectors, why we underpay teachers, why we underpay service workers and wait staff.
There's a racial history to it that we probably don't have time to get into, and there's a gendered history to it that you got black and brown folks and women that have historically been in these professions who have been underpaid because that's what society designed for them.
And we need to undo it by intentionally looking at the problem in the face
and providing the proper allocation for our child care
industry.
Hey man, just great information.
Man, love having this conversation and dialogue with you.
I look forward to meeting you in person.
Absolutely.
And continuing our conversation down the road, because this is not going away.
No, it's not, but hang in there.
Be a part of the fight.
Go to Main Street Alliance.org.
Become a member, even if you're not a small business owner.
If you're, if you're just someone who buys local and cares about your local community, become a member and join the movement.
We'll see each other in person real soon, my friend.
Thank you.
Yes,
sir.
Peace.
Likewise.
All right.
Uh, thank everybody who made the show go, uh, you know, Cardi, especially, uh, up next, Jane, Matt, Ned, Greg bought, uh, Matt, Nair on air and that's 70 degrees tomorrow.
Yeah, I just let the good Lord allow me to open my eyes tomorrow if for no other reason 70 degrees
