In this episode, we sit down with Mohannad Sahyouni, the owner of Jerusalem Cafe in Mobile, Alabama. Mohannad shares his inspiring journey from growing up in Kuwait to becoming a successful restaurant owner in the United States. He discusses his educational background in graphic design, his initial jobs, and the influential lessons he learned in the hospitality industry. Mohannad also reflects on the challenges and rewards of running a restaurant, emphasizing the importance of customer service and a supportive team. Tune in to hear about his personal life, business philosophies, and the relentless drive that keeps him moving forward.

Transcript:

Mohannad: My name is Mohannad Sahyouni and I own Jerusalem Cafe.

Marcus: Yay. Dude, I've been trying to nail you down for like a year. We have been trying to get this for a while.

Mohannad: I think it's on your side, that you're busier than me. It's always,

Marcus: it's always on my side. I will take the blame for that. So, but I'm glad to have you here and it, it is a pleasure.

Mohannad: Thank, thank you for coming. Grateful to be. Yeah.

Marcus: Well, um, to get started, we always wanna know a little bit about the person. 'cause not everybody knows who you are. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, like where you're from, if you're from mobile, and include some stuff like, you know, did you go to high school here?

Did you go to college, married? You know, stuff like that. So,

Mohannad: so I am not from mobile. Um, now I consider myself from mobile. I've been in mobile 22 years. I came from Kuwait. I was born and raised in Kuwait. I came from Kuwait when I was 19 to attend South Alabama College. I went to school for graphic design.

Nice. And along the way, I [00:01:00] served and managed Jerusalem Cafe 2011, the opportunity came up to buy it and that's when I did. Very cool. Um, and I am now. You know, I'm gonna be a resident, obviously married to my beautiful wife, Isabella. And, um, we're here now. Yeah. Mobilians

Marcus: very cool man. Yeah, no, I, I didn't know that about the graphic design, I don't think.

I know we share some other Yeah. Similarities as far as interest in hobbies, but I have a lot of

Mohannad: art interest in my life. Yeah,

Marcus: no, that's very cool. Now, um, go back to your first job. Uh, were there any lessons that you still remember from that or. You know, I, people get tired of hearing me say, but I oftentimes remember, like my very first job was in a bagel bakery and I worked with some Navy guys and they knew the proper way to mop a floor.

Mohannad: Okay.

Marcus: Right. And so I think oftentimes we forget that, you know. Um, there are workforce development things that are in play even in our lives that we carry [00:02:00] through the rest of our life with us. Right. And so, you know, anything that you remember from your first job that was kind of like, oh, you know, like, I learned something new, or, you know, that you still kind of hold to you?

Correct.

Mohannad: So my first job was, um, me working for my uncle for a clothing store that was at the Biller Mall years ago. I think I learned a lot there of how he ran his business. He was there every day just like I am now. Uh, he's hands on. He talked to every guest. He knew their names, but that really didn't take it into the restaurant world.

Um, I worked, my second job was Jerusalem Cafe. Oh wow. And I was in the kitchen to start and then a server. But I really think my. Guidance or my biggest perfection to this, I'm not perfect, but sure. It came from the management that I had at Zia. 'cause I [00:03:00] also served at Zia for three or four years. Okay. And there was this manager and he would come out and say hi to every single guest no matter what.

Yeah. They're not customers, they're guests. You know these little details with people. Words matter. He knew them. He knew them. He made sure to say hello. They talked about their life. They talk about everything under the sun because they are the lifetime guest. And that's how I feel like I'm with most of my guests or all of my guests when I'm there.

Uh, they all know me. They all know my story. They all know my wife, they all know my mom. They all know that we're, you know, having a baby on or not us, but my having a niece coming on the world, their birthdays, everything. Yeah. Yeah. And I really, that's kind of what I got from this guy is just really be with dear guests.

Yeah. You know, that's a part of the experience is not just my food. They want to come talk too. Yeah. They want

Marcus: to feel that sense of like, Hey, I'm, I'm in, I'm very appreciated to [00:04:00] come here. Yeah. Um, it's an appreciation, you know, but also there's a level of customer service that comes, you know, like that's not a normal, just somebody came in and I'm gonna seat them and feed them.

This is, I'm welcoming this person into my. Almost my home. Correct. So, no, that's really cool. I mean, do you see that when you go out? Do you still like, see that in a lot of places? Because man, I'm, I'm losing that feeling

Mohannad: a lot. So I was talking to my wife a couple days ago about this and I said I would love to, and this is gonna sound wrong, but I would love to have a place in mobile, preferably a pizza place.

Okay. With a big fat Italian. Guy that just walks out of the kitchen with his apron, all dusty, sweaty that comes out and talks to every table, maybe have a glass of wine with every table. Right. That feel of guests, like you said, I'm at your home. Yeah. And we don't have that. We really don't. Yeah. Now I'm not saying I do that all the time.[00:05:00]

I'm not there 24 7. I cannot be there 24 7. But yes, I would love to see that in mobile.

Marcus: Yeah, no, I get what you're saying. 'cause I, you know, I, I, uh, I love restaurants, I love food. And so I get that mental image of what you're saying. It's like you, you know somebody's grandmother coming out from the kitchen.

Correct? Correct. It's that

Mohannad: almost like that neighborhood restaurant. Yeah. You just go to on a Monday night when you want to have a good pizza and a glass of wine.

Marcus: Yeah. No, that's, that's for sure. Well, how did, you mentioned that you had a chance to buy it. Was it, I mean, was that always kind of like in your, I guess, let me ask you this way.

Did you always think that you were gonna own a business? And if you did, did you think that it was gonna be a restaurant

Mohannad: own a business? Yes. I've always just looked up to anyone I knew that was an entrepreneur. I love ventures. I love creativity and I love challenges. Restaurant. Absolutely not. But like I said, I was working at Zia's when the previous owner called me and he [00:06:00] said, I need someone to come manage this restaurant.

His numbers were down. Yeah. Um, I started, he was closing on Sundays. I started the buffet. Years later we closed it and I guess he just saw me there. And the opportunity came up and he wanted to leave mobile to another city. And he says, do you want to buy this? Yeah. You know? And I was like, yeah, opportunity not.

And so it was just kinda a very perfect glove fitting 'cause. He walks out one day. I walked in the next day as the owner. People already knew me. I was his manager. I did everything. I did the payroll. I did, I mean, I did everything that I do now as the owner. So I was pretty much the owner. He was still there.

Um, so it was very easy transition.

Marcus: Hmm. And so looking back now, and that's not to say that, you know, you wish. That it would necessarily change. 'cause it is, it makes you who you are. No, absolutely not. Knowing what you know now, would you go into [00:07:00] food services? Because, man, I gotta tell you, you guys, that that own restaurants are a special breed.

I mean, there is, it is a very difficult industry. And so

Mohannad: again, I don't know if I'll go back into it, um, as mount, I mean, it just made me who I am.

Marcus: Yeah.

Mohannad: It, uh, I hear this all the time. People like, like, Hey, someone like you could do anything. If you can deal with restaurants and employees and people, you can do anything.

Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, it taught me who I am and it made me this person who I am and. For the most part. Yeah. I truly love it.

Marcus: Yeah. It kind of, every, every

Mohannad: job has its,

Marcus: you get addicted to the bad days. The, the pace, the rush is amazing. Yeah. You

Mohannad: know, when you see everyone there happy and you just have a full restaurant and you know, especially when nothing goes wrong that day and it's a perfection of legit perfection of a day.

Yeah. It's nice, you know?

Marcus: Yeah, [00:08:00] yeah. Because it is something that is so rare.

Mohannad: Correct.

Marcus: Right. Yeah. And I think that's, you know, what gets me is that, you know, um, people in that industry is like, man, you know, if a service goes great, it's like, that's amazing because they don't go great. Correct. You know, I mean,

Mohannad: you are, you are, you are dealing with a lot of people, it dealing with your employees, which are human, and you're dealing with the other guests that are human right.

And I'm not gonna lie, not every meal that's gonna go out is gonna be absolutely perfect. Yeah. Yeah. But we try our best. Right. Uh, we had a lady the other day and we totally forgot her food. Oh no. That happens. The whole table got food and she just never got anything. Yeah. And I went out there and talked to her and they were people that coming here to get their kid in South Alabama.

They were from Tuscaloosa. They said, we do not mind at all. The food was so great that we don't care that I didn't get food for another 30 minutes. Yeah. Um, I offered to buy everything for table. They refused. They said, you're a small business. You are not [00:09:00] doing that. And that just Yeah. Are the things that gives you this appreciation.

It's how you reacted to it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, someone else could have just cussed me out and went a better review. What most people don't know we're a small restaurant or a small business in general. Mm-hmm. That one bad reviewer, people are gonna read that. They're not gonna read my 705 stars.

Marcus: Mm-hmm.

Mohannad: They're only gonna read the one star, and that's what I do. I scroll down to the bad thing, but. We're not a chain. We don't have the numbers that, oh, whatever, we don't care for you. You give me a one star, don't come back. No, I need that one person to come back. Yeah. Have a better, you know, experience and have a better review.

Marcus: Yeah, for sure. Now, if you were talking to someone that wanted to get started in running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart to them?

Mohannad: Uh, a lot, but I think you are only as good as your employees are with you around you. [00:10:00] Yeah. Um, that's hard to come by now, but it is, it really is. You need a team. Mm-hmm. You can do something by yourself. You need a very good team around you. Um. I think that's probably number one. Yeah, just be involved. You know,

Marcus: it's, you know, it's amazing to me it's, I, I didn't realize, you know, I did this podcast for a couple of years and sat here listening to people over and over and over again, say that people were.

The best part and the worst part correct of owning a business and I didn't really realize, or I didn't kind of grasp that until we started, you know, growing Blue Fish and we're now, you know, back down to uh, just me and Tad. But you know, when we started growing Blue Fish and I started having to manage more people and bring more work in, and the number of people that we were interacting with on a daily basis was growing.

It was just, man, it was just, you know, it [00:11:00] was nonsense in so many words. And so, you know, it's interesting to me how that perspective changes depending on where you are with your business, you know, but, um, what motivates you?

Mohannad: Challenges, I believe mostly challenges. Um, other than challenges, honestly. I hate to be cliche, but financial security for my family, obviously.

Yeah,

Marcus: for sure. I know you well enough to know it's not money. It's not money, it's, but money is required to make the world go around, so. Correct. It's

Mohannad: not just the aspect of money, it's, it's the security that money brings you. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I mean, you know, I, I'm not rich by no means. Just the fact that we're able to do stuff when we wanna do stuff and it's just the security of it, the feel.

Yeah. It's not the number, it's a feel. Yeah. I don't know what it is, but yeah. Challenges, um, providing for my family it's biggest motivation.

Marcus: No. And. [00:12:00] Okay. Are there any books, podcasts, people or organizations that have been helpful in moving you forward? And you don't have to go through all of 'em, just, you know, is there a standout there that you're like, man, this was, so, this is gonna

Mohannad: make me sound absolutely stupid, but I've never read a book in my life.

I've tried. Okay. And I've bought, uh. I bought a book. My wife keeps laughing at me. She threw it out four times maybe, and then I bought it on a Kindle and I never, I only go through the first page. It is called The Power of the Subconscious Mind. Okay. Never read it. I cannot sit down and read. And I think that's why I love this restaurant thing.

'cause I don't sit down. It's not a desk, it's, I'm on the grill, I'm here, I'm doing something, I'm buying stuff for it, you know? Um, groups locally. I mean, mobile is very good about this. Just like what you're doing for mobile. Yeah. You know, you're investing your own time to get all these businesses out there.

You know, you're not getting anything [00:13:00] out of this. No. But you are helping people. I give

Marcus: you education for sure. Correct. Yeah. You

Mohannad: are absolutely helping people get their word out or they're either, whether a struggle or success. You, you, you are helping a lot of people. Yeah. Um, I was a part of the FUSE project that I learned a few things there.

Um. But I think just my learning comes from other entrepreneurs that I know. Yeah. That I keep around me. All my friends, almost all my friends own some sort of business. Yeah. And you just kind of keep learning and growing from it.

Marcus: That is the interesting thing about mobile, is it not? I mean, a vast majority of the people that we know own businesses.

Mohannad: Yeah. It's, I don't know if it's just us with a circle. But I think mobile does have a lot of, you know, small business. Yeah.

Marcus: I mean, if you just look around, like there's not a lot of chains, it's a lot of mom and pop type stuff and so Correct. Yeah. But, um, no, I just, I, I find it very interesting 'cause it's almost like if you [00:14:00] have an issue, you know, you're gonna have someone that you can go to and be like, Hey man, like I have this thing happen at work today.

Like, you had x, y, Z happen. Correct. Can you tell me how you got through that? You know? Correct. So I

Mohannad: do. And those are the other business owner entrepreneurs. Um. Uh, the owner of Seven Spices is a very good friend of mine. Yeah. And if I have a problem, he has a problem. You know, same thing. And, um, it just, like I said, most of these people are business owners and it's very simple to pick up the phone and be like, Hey, what did you do about this?

You know?

Marcus: Now, what's the most important thing that you've learned about running a business?

Mohannad: Oh, um, I wanna say discipline. Yep. Disciplined and everyone thinks you're a business owner, so you live this. Yeah. Free vacation life. Yeah. It is not true. Right. You are your business, you know, [00:15:00] nobody cares about your business. I have great help. I have good employees. Nobody cares about your business, like you care about your business,

Marcus: whether it's, and they

Mohannad: probably shouldn't.

2:00 AM in the morning or two, doesn't matter.

Marcus: 2:00 PM in the afternoon, nobody's gonna correct. Yeah.

Mohannad: Yeah, when? When, I mean when the alarm goes off 'cause someone forgot to lock a door and the wind took it out at 3:00 AM and then you can go to sleep again till you know you go to work. It is what it is.

Yeah. I was with a business owner a couple nights ago at dinner and we left dinner at nine 30 and he went back to his company till 4:00 AM Golly man. Yeah, and he was back there at eight. And he actually posted it on his Facebook. He was the only one there. He was the only one that cared, and he was the only one there that long.

And everybody went and got their sleep and yeah. But he didn't.

Marcus: No, it's, it is a, a cross to bear, a burden, you know For sure. Correct. It's, uh, but I mean,

Mohannad: if you wanna, again, it's a, it's a success thing. Yeah. You know, I mean, nothing wrong with having a job, but I just. [00:16:00] Maybe cannot do a job hour. You know, can't, I can't work to five, maybe can't have a boss.

Yeah. You know, I don't know what brought me here, but I'm here. Yeah. It's been. 14 years of this. So

Marcus: I'm here. I was gonna say, I mean, you know, I'm sitting here wondering if I've missed something by not diving into your, even like your childhood, growing up in a foreign country and stuff. But I mean, like a vast majority of your business experience and your life experience has been here in the States, you know, as far as an adult.

Yeah. As far as forming what it is. Correct. Were your parents entrepreneurs?

Mohannad: No.

Marcus: No. So they, they have jobs as, as well. Jobs. Okay. So, I mean, like there was nobody that kind of, Hey, go this direction.

Mohannad: No. When I, when I called my father telling him that I needed a loan to buy this business, um. He hesitated and he said, what?

What would you do with this? He [00:17:00] said, I thought I sent you to college. Right. I said, well, college is not working out for me. Yeah. It just, and it wasn't, you know, it just wasn't my thing. I didn't know what I'll go do with it, or I'll do, what will I use my degree for, and it just, I knew that I wanted that challenge of owning a business.

Yeah. And being on my own.

Marcus: Interesting now, and, and you said something a minute ago that kind of resonated with me too, and that was that, you know, you, that at some level business didn't, or, uh, school didn't resonate with you, that you find the activity of, you know, working like that very kind of like.

Something that you enjoy and I just wanted to relate to you in that I, I don't know that I, I don't get physicality here at the office, but you know, like I'm, I'm one of those guys probably much like you are, 'cause we've discussed this before where if I'm at home, I'm working on something

Mohannad: Yeah.

Marcus: I'm like, I'm, I've got a woodworking [00:18:00] shop out in the carport.

Correct. Like, I'm gonna be building something, I'm gonna be working, you know, on the house in some way. You know, like Chrissy will often be like, Hey, what are you gonna, what are you doing? Oh, I'm gonna go out in the carport and tinker. You know, like, I'm gonna go out and I've got so many projects going on.

I'm gonna figure out what parts I have for whatever project I can move forward without having to make three trips to Home Depot. So, but I just, I really enjoy, like, I'm, I'm finding that I really enjoy when my hands are busy. Yep. I'm getting less where I care whether my mind is busy. Correct. I think my mind is tired.

Mohannad: I'm tired mentally all the time. Yeah. And my wife's telling me, she's like, it's Sunday. You're not open today. Why are you wanting to do something? I said, I cannot sit down. Yeah. We have got to move. I have to do something. Yeah. So most of the time I'm doing anything and everything.

Marcus: I wonder if part of that is first, you know, first born, you know.

First to the [00:19:00] states, right? That we feel some pressure, you know, whether it be, you know, real or unreal, you know, made up psychological or you know, real.

Mohannad: So I believe it is. So I was talking this, this with my barber a couple days ago. Yeah. He asked me a question. Okay. He said, what are we doing? Said, what do you mean?

He said, we always just run, run, run, run. Yep. When we're not working, we go and run, do something else, or we find work or anything else. He said, when is enough? And it's never financial. Yeah. No, I'm 100%. It's just. I don't know. Maybe it is a foreign thing. Maybe. Maybe I, I, I know in our culture there is the laziness, but it's really not, they finished over still, dude.

Yeah. You know, like, you know, let's party the hook, the hookah culture and this and that. Yeah. No, I mean, it's, so they finished at four or 5:00 PM and they go to the corner, hookah lounge and play cards till 11:00 PM and they repeat every night. They cannot sit at home. [00:20:00] It's a culture that you just cannot sit at home.

Yeah. And I dunno if it's a culture thing or really, my work just made me who I am where I cannot sit. And, um, I mean, I try to relax. It just doesn't happen.

Marcus: Yeah. Which is my next question. How do you unwind?

Mohannad: How do I, I want, I unwind usually involves

Marcus: a glass of, I don't

Mohannad: know. Yeah. I'm not a big drinker, but Yeah.

I mean maybe, but uh. I don't know how I put this on there. Um, I found a group of poker people. Okay. And it's Wednesday nights and I go Wednesday night and I play for two, three hours. Yeah. And when I'm there. It's chill and everybody's laughing and having a good, everybody just, you know, a bunch of guys, 30, 40 guys that are just, I had one of those

Marcus: back in DC We did, uh, penny and Penny nickel dime, or was it nickel, dime, quarter aunties.

And, you know, it was just small potatoes, you know, it wasn't even about the money. It was just like, it's never about the money. I mean, I mean, if you were lucky, you might win like 20 or $30 in the. Now mind you, I was playing with [00:21:00] millionaires, but you know, like,

Mohannad: no, this, but I mean the most you can lose, I mean this is a tournament style every Wednesday, but yeah, it's not the money.

It's literally becoming, I think I've been this year, 12, 15 times. Yeah. And it's just becoming a habit of I'm gonna go see these guys on a Wednesday night. Yeah. No, it's amazing. Um, my other thing is hookah. I'm either people in my house or I'm at their house smoking the hook and just Yeah, unwinding. Right.

Don't get much of it, but

Marcus: yeah. Yeah, no, I need more of that in 2026. Alright, so I've got 12 rapid fire questions for you. All right. Okay. So like a word or two answers here. Okay. What type, favorite type of music,

Mohannad: uh, used to be country, now it's Arabic. Okay. The older I get, the more I I'm, can you revert back to your own language?

Getting with my roots for some reason? Yeah.

Marcus: No, I hear you. I know you said

Mohannad: one word, but I have to touch on that. Yeah. Our music is so deep and intense with the words. Yeah. That I have [00:22:00] not found any other music, even when I translate Latin or anything, so

Marcus: Arabic music. That's fun. That is really fun. All right.

What's your favorite type of food besides the food that you serve?

Mohannad: Uh. A good pizza or a good burger.

Marcus: Okay. Um, I'm gonna ask you this favorite restaurant now in lower Alabama, besides your own.

Mohannad: Ooh, hard to say. Um. A lot. 'cause a lot of my friends own them. Yeah. All my friends own them. Next. I don't wanna say anything in the Do you want say There's

Marcus: plenty.

There's plenty. Okay. There's plenty. I'll let you off only because you are in that circle,

Mohannad: but they, they're all my friends. I can't say one and not say anybody else. Unless you want me plug about 20. No, we're, we're

Marcus: good on, we're

Mohannad: good.

Marcus: Stay. Favorite city outside of mobile.

Mohannad: Lately it's been Orlando. Yeah. Interesting. What are you finding or

Marcus: just

Mohannad: one of my very good buddies moved there. Okay. [00:23:00] And we've been going there to visit and, uh, the culture. So many, so many cultures all in one. Yeah. Orlando's so many

Marcus: huge with the Brazilian population too. They love to, I

Mohannad: mean, any other corner, there's any kind of food, any kind of ethnicity, any kind of nightlife.

Yeah. It's all there and it's really interesting.

Marcus: No, it's cool. Um. City you want to travel to but have yet yet to visit?

Mohannad: Um, I don't know if I have really one a city in the states anywhere. I don't know if I have one, but my wife wants to go to Rome, so that's probably our next.

Marcus: Okay,

Mohannad: very cool.

Marcus: And what comes to mind when I say guilty pleasure? Ice cream. Any particular kind?

Mohannad: Uh, strawberry, hogg and dogs. Ah,

Marcus: that's a good choice, man.

Uh, dogs, cats, or none of the above.

Mohannad: I don't care. But we have a dog that we love. [00:24:00]

Marcus: Summer or winter?

Mohannad: I think summer. Mostly.

Marcus: Favorite, uh, movie or TV show?

Mohannad: Um, by default it is. Um, well, favorite movie is Catch Me If You Can. Okay. Um, right. Favorite TV show. My wife has Rewind and Rewatched friends who's gonna with me for the last nine years.

So that's our, literally every day we have to watch one hour before we go to bed, and I can probably recite the entire friend. Wow. I know everything about them. I can do trivia. I mean, just. I memorize the lines right now. Wow. We watch it every night for the last seven, eight years.

Marcus: That's interesting. 'cause I've wanted to go back and watch that at times.

'cause I think that it would be, oh, she

Mohannad: bought the entire series. Interesting. So we just have 'em and we just, every night. That's fun. Same exact thing.

Marcus: No, that's really fun. Uh, favorite holiday?

Mohannad: Um, [00:25:00] I like. I like Christmas. I like the atmosphere that it brings to people,

Marcus: the attitude that it brings to the area. Correct. I

Mohannad: like the joy it brings to people. Um, obviously I love our Eid holidays. Uh,

Marcus: educate us.

Mohannad: Uh, Eid is, um. Is, I tell Americans in an easy way, it's our Christmas. Okay. It is what comes after Ramadan.

Ramadan is 30 days fasting and it's how we celebrate for three days after. Nice. Obviously I love that. But being here so much and the, it's really the family here, it's just not there. Yeah. Um, so the next thing you see here is Christmas. Yeah. Um, you know, I celebrate with my family, my wife's family, and my wife and our friends, and it does bring joy.

It really does. Yeah,

Marcus: for sure. Uh, favorite color?

Mohannad: Blue Favorite

Marcus: cereal?

Mohannad: Um, I don't have a favorite one, but fruity a lot of sugar and fruity. So Fruit loops. Fruit loop type thing? Yeah. [00:26:00]

Marcus: And this one is not a rapid fire, but what are you most thankful for?

Mohannad: I'm thankful for a lot. Um, I probably don't say it enough, but I'm thankful for a lot.

I'm thankful for my business. I am thankful for my family, friends that are real close around me. Um, and my wife. She keeps me.

Marcus: She keeps you sane is what She keeps. You brother. She

Mohannad: me. Um, when I say I'm not doing enough or I'm not succeeding enough, or whenever or when I'm down, she just says. You know, see what you have and don't see what you failed on.

Yeah. Um, she told something, went south yesterday and she told me that yesterday. She's like, but you have so much going on. That one thing went south. It's not a big deal.

Marcus: I can't, um. I mean, just the, the power of a good woman in a man's life is so absolutely incredible. It's not even funny.

Mohannad: Yes.

Marcus: You know, they'll speak confidence into you when you know there is [00:27:00] none.

When

Mohannad: you are like, I'm done. I'm just done.

Marcus: And they will speak peace into you when there is none either. And so, yeah. 'cause I mean, we have a tendency to beat ourselves up. Fortunately I have Absolutely. You know. I know you have a good one and I've got a good one too. So,

Mohannad: I mean, just like yesterday, she doesn't love this whole Wednesday thing.

Just like any other woman. She's not gonna love you leaving every Wednesday. Yeah. Uh, but yesterday I, you know, I had a rough day and I was like, I'm gonna go to my Wednesday 'cause that's gonna be my thing, you know? Yeah, yeah. And she said, okay, have fun. And I was like, do you not want me to go? She's like, no, I want you to go.

Go have fun. Yeah, I know she didn't want me to go, but she also knows that it's good for you. That it's good for me. Yeah. So, yeah, just things that she has put up with. Yeah, I'm thankful for that.

Marcus: No, that's awesome, man.

Mohannad: But yeah, everybody around me and, um, I've created a lot of friendships in mobile.

Marcus: Just on a, on a different note, you are an artist and you work in different mediums, but I, I [00:28:00] know some, but I, maybe I don't know them all.

So what, what do you like to play around with when you do that kind of stuff?

Mohannad: Um, I wouldn't say I'm an artist. Um, I did show my, I do paintings for around the house or friends. Yep. That ask. Uh, I'm not, I've seen them. He is an artist. They're not the greatest. Um, I have just like, you build a lot of stuff right.

Of wood. Uh, I love that. I think you got are a lot more involved than I did brother. I jumped head first. I tell you, go back to the challenge. I love the challenge. Uh, I just built my entire outdoor kitchen with no help of anybody. I could, I have paid someone. Absolutely. Yeah. But it would've not given me the same satisfaction.

Yeah. And it did not. It gave me the time to go do something when I don't have anything to do. Like that took me a year. Yeah. But I did it. It's beautiful when people come, I brag about it. Uh, but just today I was with someone and he said, Hey, I'm [00:29:00] moving to a large house and I've seen your painting. 'cause he's been to my house.

Mm-hmm. He said. I'm one. No, that's fine. He said, I want you to make me a large one. I said, done. That's awesome. So gimme the num, the color combination and we'll do what?

Marcus: No, I, uh, I relate to what you're, you're saying because, uh, it's taken me quite some time, but today I'm going home to put the final arm. On a love seat.

Okay. Uh, that I built for the outdoor, for our outdoor patio because I've, I've built, uh, three cha lounges. I saw those, um, a grilling station, two loves seats and two chairs and some other stuff too. I've got it. Still got a few pieces to go, but just the feeling of it is amazing. It's, I'm, I'm bettering myself in a skill that I wouldn't necessarily use any other way.

I have now furniture. That's amazing. That would've cost me tens of thousands of dollars. And um, so it's funny, some

Mohannad: people have seen my stuff that I built. Little things. Yeah. Uh, I built my wife's disc. I built a nook and a breakfast. [00:30:00] And people, some people have came to my house, said, why are you being cheap?

And I said, it's not the cheap, it's not the cost.

Marcus: No.

Mohannad: But this is gonna be something that I made that's custom. That's one of a kind. You can't buy this stuff anymore. That I, I invested my hobby in. Yeah. You know, it's my hobby. I like building, I like a challenge. Yeah. I had no vision whatsoever when I started my outdoor kitchen and my wife was like, do you know what you're doing?

I said, absolutely not. But I thought one piece and then I just, yeah, I, I don't know what I was doing. I still don't know what I'm doing, but I did. I thought, amazing job and have a sink, fridge, grills, drawers, and it's. Very satisfactory that I did that. You

Marcus: know, it's a shame that somebody said, why are you being, because I, I love the mindset they did.

They walked in my house and they said

Mohannad: that you cannot buy. You can't buy this stuff anymore. That's what I said. This is one of a kind. You, you literally no one has this, right? Yeah. You know, I [00:31:00] mean, but that's the thing. They think it's cheap. I made my wife a disc, um, when she worked from home, probably smaller than this, but it's higher.

It's a desk computer disc. Yeah. Out of, uh, resin. And I showed it to you, I think. Yes. You did the wood and everything. Oh, you're so cheap. That thing cost me. Maybe over $4,000. Okay. In resin and leg as a timeout. For those of you that may not be familiar

Marcus: with resin, resin is expensive like a month. So don't

Mohannad: come tell me that I'm being cheap.

No, but I wanted a one of a kind piece. It's not perfect.

Marcus: I had, I probably had three or $4,000 in invested in the table that you saw that I, that I made. And so no, it's not a matter of being cheap. No, absolutely. I'm, I think in everything that I do, that I'm craving that satisfaction Correct. Of achieving something and doing something that I didn't know how to do before

Mohannad: seeing the final result of something

Marcus: and when I'm not working on something where I'm learning something.

Then I'm, I have a difficult time. If [00:32:00] it's something that I've already done before, I don't wanna do it again. I don't think

Mohannad: that's

Marcus: what it's, I don't even wanna watch movies again. I've already watched it once. I've perfected that, I don't wanna do it again.

Mohannad: Yeah,

Marcus: I don't, I try not to watch movies again.

Yeah. So it's, it's really kind of, you know, it's odd, but No, when you, I think, um, you showed me your resin work before I did, uh, the table and it was kind of inspirational to me. I hadn't, I hadn't dove into it as much. Um. And, and quite honestly, when I started diving into it, it got, I got scared. 'cause I mean, I was doing a thick pour.

You now it is a a lot more in involved and I was doing it in a non-controlled environment. I was trying to do it out in my carport, which is ultimately, I, I did that, that's a mistake that I wish I could have taken back. I wish I had done a climate controlled environment, but, um, but yeah, I mean, it was, it, it, you know, but there's one of those things where it's like, hey man, here's $3,000 worth of.

Product. I don't know what I'm doing. Correct. But Damnit had all full steam ahead. We're we're going into this thing. I actually, [00:33:00]

Mohannad: the same kind of look we were going for is, I looked it up and you can buy it online. Mm-hmm. They'll ship it from somewhere in California, whatever my, my

Marcus: $10,000 for the tabletop.

Yeah.

Mohannad: But I think I ended up spending the same money on mine. Yeah. And I could have had it here in two days. Yeah. It just.

Marcus: But

Mohannad: wouldn't you? I made this one satisfaction made this, I made this one. I can always say, I made this one right the other day. My wife has no need for it 'cause she doesn't work from home anymore.

And she said, what do you wanna do with it? Do you wanna sell it? I said, no, I don't think I wanna sell it. You know? It. I'm gonna keep it. Yeah. It is what it is. Yeah.

Marcus: No, that's really cool. Yep. Well, I wanna thank you for coming on the podcast. Thank you. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?

Anything we didn't go over?

Mohannad: Um, no, you did a great job. Thank you for having me.

Marcus: Um, we now know his favorite color is blue. He likes Fruit Loops. I love he, I love, he's originally from Kuwait, runs a, runs a restaurant, married, you know, so, yeah. Anyway, married

Mohannad: from Coleman,

Marcus: so, so

Mohannad: we're not gonna get her to.

Marcus: Yeah, [00:34:00] that's, you know, we how we could do a whole nother show? No, we're not gonna do that. We're not gonna do that. But I had to plug Coleman, Alabama. There you go. Well, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey. Absolutely. As a business owner and entrepreneur, it's been great talking with you, man.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah.