Heroes in Business - Dewayne Lewis, fmr NFL Jaguars, Bears, Patriots, CEO Top Onyx

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

No job is ever too big. Growing a business with Dewayne Lewis, fmr NFL (Jaguars, Bears, Patriots) and CEO Top Onyx interviewed by David Cogan famous celebrity host The Heroes Show and founder Eliances entrepreneur community. @TopOnyx (Instagram)  

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. activity always going on it's like i'm i feel like i'm chasing myself here trying to keep up so many incredible things and again hey by the way make sure you check out past interviews i head on the ceo of rosendon electric so make sure you check them out uh you can reach uh past interviews by going to alliances.com that's e-l-i-a-n-E-S.com. Why? Because it is the only place where entrepreneurs align. All right. Next up, so excited. He's working nonstop, keeping up with the demand of what's happening with his business. The demand is off the roof.

So we're going to hear from him. Welcome to the show, Dwayne Lewis, former pro football player with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots. You can reach him by calling him 480-686-6330. And of course, you'll see the information and phone number below. And we're going to find out everything that he's up to. But first off, Dwayne, like you played for all these teams and stuff. How, like, phenomenal was that to be able to play for, like, I mean, obviously all well-known teams clearly and stuff, but how was that experience like? And the amount of pressure that's put on someone because once you reach that status,

right, the new pressure has just begun well first thank you for having me on the show uh it's a pleasure being here it's always a pleasure having this opportunity to come on your show and uh talk to your audience and you as well um to get right into it you know it's that industry itself is a it's a tough feat because it takes a lot of work takes a lot of determination and a lot of skill um to reach that pinnacle to be able to move around in that industry with multiple teams typically says a lot about the individual that you know a lot of teams are interested if a deal doesn't work team, it doesn't mean that you don't have the skill set. It's just basically it's business. There may be some financial things that need to be altered or modified, and it may not be within your contract to be at that place. But typically,

it takes a lot of work. It's no different than business. And yeah, I get it. And business is definitely hard. But when you're playing on the field, how many eyes are watching you all at once? And how many people are praying to everybody and anybody they believe to make sure you mess up and the other part are praying to the other parts going, oh, I hope this all works out. You know, after you do it for so long you get used to it um i had been playing since i was seven so i was used to you know the different crowds of different cities the different personalities the different people um the different stadiums

different environments so when you're able to reach that level you should have gone through enough in your career to when you get to that point of a professional athlete at that level, most of those things kind of tune out themselves. I think the biggest hurdle is facing other individuals that are just as talented, just as smart, just as capable as you are every play, every down. And that's when you have to become um finding within yourself to become a much better player much better person and and that contributes to often on the field because if you can't do things right off the field and you can't do things right on the field and so that was my biggest um biggest thing is making sure that i was a great person off the field to my fans and a great person on the field to my peers and my coaches

all right so how was it when you first got hit when you were playing for one of these teams by an opponent did a feeling did any different from when you played when you were younger yeah um i remember like it was yesterday i was i had just gotten picked up drafted by the jackson jaguars and tory hulk was on his way out as an NFL Hall of Famer. And I lined up against him in practice, and here I am thinking I'm this young, talented kid that they've been, you know, hooraying about, and I'm finally here. And he put me on my butt within seconds, and I said, wait a minute.

I hadn't been put on my butt ever in my whole college career and he did it like it was nothing. So that was my wake up calling, introduction to the NFL and I'll never forget that moment. He embarrassed me, he made me feel small and I took that and said, you know what, I got to bring my A game

from here on out. That's awesome. So now let's talk about what you're doing next here because you transitioned into owning your own business. Let's jump right into that. Is it any easier owning your own business? Does the grass always look greener from because those who own businesses go, let me go ahead and play a professional sport. Well, you know, right. So talk to us because now you've made the transition. You're very successful at what you're doing now.

Let's talk about when you first started making that transition. It was tough. I really had to dig deep and take some of the philosophies that I learned over the years from being in the sports world where you have to be at your best all the time. And so I tried to implement that into my business right away, being very detailed and detail-oriented. And I think that's what carried me to where we are today. Had I not had that tenacity and ability to stay focused and go through the ups and downs, I don't think we'll be where we are today. It's tough. Business is tough. It's not for everyone, but it's very rewarding. You change lives or you put food on tomorrow's table or you create jobs as we do and build a community

and change lives. It feels so wonderful. And running running your own business you're the quarterback yeah i mean you've never played before so you know you you're the quarterback and you're having to do all the plays and where everybody's going to go and who's going to get what and how they're going to make it to finish the finish line and talk to us about what top onyx is and by the way again you can reach dwayne calling him 480-686-6330 you can reach him directly and stuff talk to us about what top onyx is well top onyx we are a contracting company um we don't sell any product, but we do the installation of flooring, countertops, millwork, and carpentry work. We are typically a design company that is able to build out any residential home or any commercial home, sorry, commercial property. So we pretty much

do all of the structural interior work. We don't do any exterior structural work, but we can do everything as far as finish touches on any project. Yeah, that's, I mean, again, what you've got going on and it's just amazing with the amount of work. And I want to ask you, OK, so what does the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl, have to do with you? Well, it goes back to, you know, when I first wanted to be a part of the Super Bowl. And now, unfortunately, in my career, I didn't get to play in the Super Bowl. But, you know, here I am having an opportunity with my business. here I am having an opportunity with my business and life is full circle to have an opportunity to be a part of the Super Bowl in a way that I never thought we would be. And to be honest, I think this is going to be a little bit more exciting than actually playing in the Super Bowl.

I can't imagine the pressure and stress that would be put on each player going to the super bowl so i'd rather not have that right and you know um and and i mean the work because you're going to be you know working and doing stuff within the super bowl and the behind the scenes and all that goes into it and that um which is absolutely just incredible and you're working on other projects so when would someone reach out to you what's kind of yours is there a sweet spot is there you know type of customer that says i need to go ahead and contact wayne this is the type of work that i need done well no no job is too large or too small for us um if you're a customer and you need some help with a project in your home and it's in the interior work, give us a call. We're available from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Saturday and Sunday. And again, no job is too small, no job is too large.

We work with some of the large GCs and primary contractors in the Valley, and we work with some of the smaller primaries and we work with individual homeowners as well so we are here to help our community and by doing that we are here to help revitalize the community as well so if that's changing anything in your home or helping up the value of your home or your commercial building or build out we are here to help how cool is it too that you worked at the sky har sky harbor airport working at one of those terminals building the inside and and that and uh was it kind of doing the outset for the what restaurants there or was it the terminal which part was it so we worked in we worked in the

terminal and we also did out the build out of the, um, restaurants within that terminal. So, um, it was a lot of work. It was a lot of work, a lot of sleepless nights, um, a lot of nights of maybe three hours of sleep total. So, you know, it all worked out though. It was great. We, we, by doing that, we created hundreds of jobs. So that's awesome. And I mean, how cool is it, as I mentioned, like when you go there now, like and you're walking down that terminal, it's just like a huge smile going. Thank God that I can't believe this was done. And this took a whole lot longer because, you know, as a consumer, we have no clue if we aren't in the field we don't know we don't know all the work the sweat the sleepless nights the amount just of all the coordination

just like doing plays on the field to coordinate and make something successful is difficult yep no you're right it's no different than playing than playing football. You don't get to see the practices. You don't get to see the fights. You don't get to see the horrible phone calls that you've been cut or you've got the new job. You don't see all the behind the scenes. And it's no different than the construction that we do. You don't see the chasing guys around that didn't make it to site today and the angry supervisors and the guys getting yelled at and then the beauty of it coming all together with sourcing. So when I do walk through the airport, I do smile and I say, wow, I remember that day

when I was here and I was so tired or I call all my friends and family and say, hey, when you go through the airport, that's my work. Check it out. That's my work. I tell my clients tell my clients something to be proud of and every last worker that worked on that project underneath top on it they put that on that portfolio and their lives have increased because for us that's our Super Bowl is the airport it's extremely tough to get into it's extremely tough to learn a contract there.

And you have to be on your A game. There's big boys and titans that are working in the airport. And those contracts range from 860 million to a billion dollars. So you have to really be a very good force and have your A game. For us as a small company, as small as we are, for us to be able to do that two years back to back is amazing now dwayne as busy as the industry is and stuff there are still some people out there that are still trying to figure out find help find projects in that yet you're overloaded with them and you're still accepting more you You're still accepting, in fact, all the sizes because some may be watching, listening now going, oh, OK, well, he did the airport. Well, I'm not building an airport.

Hey, that's OK. You mentioned that he does small projects and stuff like that in homes and condos and whatever, you know, work that you may be. So no project too small, no project too big. you may be. So no project too small, no project too big, because you figure out a way to be able to do it. But yet, you know, not everybody, how are you able to adapt? And again, from something in industry that you didn't grow up in, didn't know anything about, yet you're in demand getting these ginormous projects, getting the small projects that are out for bid too and stuff. What kind of those secrets or tips can you share with others that may want to go into your industry or and they're now going how is this guy doing and i can't the best advice i can give anyone is stay true to yourself um this is who i am i'm i'm a person that wants to succeed and wants to help um and stay true to myself. And so that is implemented into my business.

And in fact, just to share with you, we did a extremely small project the other day where a lady called and she was an elderly lady and she wanted one piece of strip put on her floor. And it was waiting out in Queen Creek or something like that. And within 24 hours, I sent the guy out there. And mind you, we're, I mean, we're spread thin already. We're doing airport work, we're doing apartments, you name it. And to me, to get back the response I got from her was

the best feeling. And to be able to reward my guy for doing the extra work was a great another great feeling so it's about building great feelings and building great building blocks as you go through any business whether you're getting large contracts or small contracts because at the end of the day the ones you see on the way up is the ones you see on the way down absolutely and duane you and i met through alliances we've become good friends over the years i've seen your growth take place couldn't be even more proud and just i think alliance's grand table and other events that we've had deal hours in that share though with us our viewers that may not have know what alliance is the only place where

entrepreneurs align community is talk to us about maybe what it's been like for you to be part of it honestly it's been amazing for me from the start to today um as as you mentioned i was going there quite often in the beginning obviously we were not as busy as i am now but i was there physically but you know what i've always stayed a part of um alliance because even if i'm not there physically just knowing in the back of my mind as a business owner that hey i'm a part of this group this core and if i need to call on them i can call anytime and get that help or get that answer that I'm looking for. And to me, it's similar to having teammates, right? You know, if you look behind you and you say, hey, my teammates are there, they're just waiting on me to give them a call or ask them a

question. And that's worth paying for. And that's worth being a part of. And to me, it's priceless. So, you know, if I'm not there, you know, week in and week you know if I'm not there you know week in and week out but I'm still there spiritually and mentally that's that's awesome for us what about some secrets you could share with children you know that are playing sports now right and the dream is is I want to go pro I want to go pro I want to go pro and they're practicing you, three times a day, four to five times a week. Everything that they consume is all in regards to the sport. Yet, Dwayne, the reality is, is the odds of becoming pro is so slim. So, you know, and if you don't, then what do you do? And how

you've been so successful at being able to pivot from when you did play to going into business for yourself, which also has extreme odds of failing. It's just what the reality is. A lot of things can happen. So maybe talk to us, share with us kind of the insight, the core of it, of, you know, how do you adapt to each thing and what secrets you could share with kids that are out there now playing? Yeah, that's a good one. You know, I took a lot of time to get to where I am today and honestly to get to the point of making a decision. To all the kids out there that are inspiring to go pro stick to your dream if it's in your heart stick to it but at the same time remind yourself that there is life outside of sports and after

sports so you want to try to condition your mind to think about things that you would have passion for and want to do other than your day-to-day sport and maybe it's something that when you go home and you're not engaged in your sports that you're you know maybe you're drawing or maybe you're doing something at home that you have a passion for and you can turn that same passion into a business to make you money and so um initially when i started my company no construction was not my passion or owning two granite shops was not my passion, but I was passionate about helping others. So I utilized that to catapult me into helping others in a different direction. At the end of the day, I was still helping people by

refurnishing their homes or turning their homes into their dream kitchen that they've seen on TV and watching these people cry and smile and pat me on the back and say, hey, I'm so happy. So I think really what it boils down to today is that we've got to make sure that we stick to some type of passion within anything we do in life, and it won't be work. It won't be so stressful when it's a passion. Dwayne, what do you think about when you're stressed i mean you've

done things i mean the work you do is stressful you're under a complete uh the deadlines and people are counting on you then to be able to build upon what you've put already in same thing with playing you know pro sports and stuff it's like what do you think about when you're stressed think about when you're stressed? Well, you know, that's an everyday fight and it's an everyday struggle. I'm not even gonna lie to you. You know, I try to read or I try to go ride my dirt bikes or something like that to kind of get me outside,

back into nature, to kind of clear that smoke a little bit. But, you know, the best thing is to try to get away from the phones or the gadgets and gadgets and try to disconnect for a moment. And for me, it's getting out in nature and kind of disconnecting from seeing all the buildings and all of that sort of thing.

So I'm able to kind of revitalize and come back to it with a hard-armed fist. If you're not able to do that, it can become timely um get to trouble well that's awesome great advice again duane you've been growing your company by leaps and bounds creating beautiful spaces for your clients that you could be proud of that they could be proud of that everyone could be proud of making a difference in helping others you know know what? That's a hero. Make sure you reach out to Dwayne Lewis, 480-686-6330. Or better yet, maybe you'll be able to attend one of the Alliances experiences and meet

him live in person. Make sure that you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. Why, Dwayne? Because it's the only place where entrepreneurs alive wrong thank you so much thank you for having me you're the dancer I know you know how to dance