Living for God: An Interview with Tony Oliver
faithcoop • March 20, 2024
An Introduction to the Conversation
Tony Oliver is the founder of TNT Cleaning, a residential and commercial cleaning service in Chattanooga. He has gone from incarceration to starting his own business, all while helping those in our community see that a thriving life after prison is possible. (For a deeper dive into Tony’s story, read this interview with Time Free Press.) His story is a powerful one, filled with honesty, humility, and trusting God with each step. We sat down with Tony to hear how his faith has shaped his business ventures and his life. Below is our conversation.
(For a full backstory on the blog interview series, view our first post here.)
The Interview
Backstory
Faith Co-Op (FC): Can you share some background on who you are and how you got started with your business?
Tony Oliver (Tony): I’m Tony Oliver, I was born in Brooklyn, New York. My family lived there until I was six and then moved to Chattanooga. In school, I chose to get in the streets and mess with drugs. I ended up running with the wrong people and found myself in prison. I went to prison for a long time, and when I got out, I didn’t adjust well so I went right back in. I’ll never forget falling to my knees and saying “Lord, if this is all I’m going to be worth, send me back to prison for the rest of my life.” I had hit my bottom and felt very low. It was like God came through the door that day and said, “No Tony, you’re going to man up and do what you’re supposed to do. You’re going to be a responsible young black man, and you’re going to quit making excuses.” And that day something just turned on in me. It’s been almost 17 years that I’ve been clean and sober.
One of the things I’m trying to do now is help others adjust to life after prison. A good friend of mine runs The Brave Effect and I run the Urban Collective and we’re all about helping our brothers and sisters when they come home from prison. They need someone to walk with them to show them that someone really does care about them and that there are people out there that have been where they are and have made it out.
Becoming an Entrepreneur
FC: What led you to start a cleaning business?
Tony: After I got out of prison, I went to work for Siskin Steel and was there for 12 years. One night, while working third shift, someone broke into my house. My wife had purchased a firearm for protection for her and the girls since I was on third shift, but when the police arrived they found the gun. Since I was an ex-felon, I wasn’t supposed to be around firearms so I got sent back to prison for three months. It was devastating having to go back. I remember it like it was yesterday. I felt that God had let me down. When I went into the cell, there was nothing in there but the Bible, and I took the Bible and threw it because I was so angry with God, saying, “How can I be doing everything right and you’ve got me back in here?”
There was a young guy in the cell with me and we got to talking. He was a gang member and had a bunch of bullet wounds from where he had been shot, so I had to help him on and off the bed. We started talking every day just about life and how we ended up where we did, and I’ll never forget the day I left. He grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go. He said, “I’ve never had a man sit down and talk to me like this”. After a while, I realized that maybe this was God’s plan. I had changed that young man’s perspective on getting out of prison and being able to do right, take care of his family, and be a responsible, law-abiding citizen.
When I got out of prison again, I tried to go back to my old job. The company had told me that they would have my job for me when I got back, but they acted like they didn’t even know me. It was devastating and I started getting angry. I started to distrust employers because of what they had done to me. And I kept telling my wife, “I’m just going to start my own business”. But I didn’t have a clue what it would be. One day I came home and she said, “I’m tired of hearing all this complaining”. She went to the Dollar Store and bought me 100 dollars worth of cleaning supplies and I went and bought myself a fold-up pressure washer. I just took off right then, knocking on doors. I met someone moving into a building down on Chestnut Street and started cleaning the fourth floor there on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
One day the building owner called me into the office and I thought I was about to lose my job again. Instead, he asked if I wanted to take over cleaning the whole building. Since then my company has picked up a few more buildings and lost a few buildings, too. The business is going pretty well. I’ve learned a lot through trial and error and listening. I tell a lot of my guys out here trying to start businesses, “Do everything in your power to be legit because you don’t know at any given time who you’re going to run into. You just don’t know. You might run into a guy who owns five skyscrapers who will give you one or two of them.”
Living For God
I’m less focussed on trying to live right by my wife, or my children, or others. I try to live by God’s standards because that’s who I have to answer to first. When I get up in the morning, I choose to live for God. I just want to love people and help others. I’ve been through some rough times and I think you’ve got to go through some stuff in this world to get to where you need to get to. Everything isn’t going to be peaches and cream with cherries on top.
When I get up in the morning, I choose to live for God. I just want to love people and help others.
As for me, I’m just simple, laid back, and smooth. I love people, I love life, and I just try to do right by people. Like I said, I’m God-fearing. I stand by my faith. This isn’t the Tony Oliver Show. People who know me know that it’s God. That’s what my mom says sometimes, “If God changed that boy right there (talking about me) I know there’s a God out there.”
Words of Encouragement
FC: What piece of advice or encouragement would you give someone reading this?
Tony: I tell any business owner to first of all, trust God. That’s the main thing. But I also listen to a lot of Steve Harvey and something he says is, “You’ve got to jump”. You just have to take the jump. And sometimes I have to do it daily.
As far as different quotes or biblical sayings, one of my guys, Troy Rogers, is always teasing me for telling him a quote about how if you don’t treat people right or love them in a godly fashion, how God will put holes in your pockets. Because that’s all I really stand for right there. Like I said, after I got clean and sober I started to think differently. I really beckoned God for his guidance. In the daytime, it’s me and God. You might see me in the truck or in my other car and that’s me and God’s time. You know, I like people to see my faith in my walk. People need to be able to see it in your walk – the humility, the humbleness, and the hunger to help people. I don’t react the way I used to react in situations. I’m a lot more humble. I used to just go from zero to one hundred but that doesn’t get you anywhere. I remember when my mom used to get up and get ready for work she would say, “God, guide my footsteps”.
After I got clean and sober, I started to think differently. I really beckoned God for his guidance. In the daytime, it’s me and God. You might see me in the truck or in my other car and that’s me and God’s time. You know, I like people to see my faith in my walk.”
I got started late in business but I had heard a lot about business, and it doesn’t matter how many years it’s been when you start. It just doesn’t matter. Whatever you choose to do in life, just go for it. Be passionate about it. Be patient. Never give up. Be tenacious at whatever it is you choose to do in life, and whatever it is, put God first. Then, everything seems to come out all right. And be sincere about it. Whatever journey you choose to take in this life, always know it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get up.
Be tenacious at whatever it is you choose to do in life, and whatever it is, put God first.