David Lambert/Business Owner/The American Triumph Journal

Many Americans make huge investments of money and time into starting a new
business. Unfortunately, many times these hopeful entrepreneurs efforts do not pay
off. A 2008 report from the SBA (United States Small Business Agency) states that one
third of new businesses fail within the first two years of operation. The report also
estimates that 2007 ended with 560,300 businesses failing and 28,322 businesses filing
for bankruptcy. David Lambert is a business owner who has beaten the odds.
Americantriumphjournal.com spoke with David Lambert on September 19, 2009; at the
time he was 39-years-old. In the following paragraphs his triumph will be celebrated.

Lambert is the owner of Xscape, a night club located at 814 W. Grace Street, Richmond,
Va. Lambert has been the owner of Xscape previously known as the Hyperlink Café for
five years. He said, he is proud to be a locally owned business supported by his
community. He said, he is proud that he stayed the course with his vision as an
entrepreneur even when times were tough and that he is now able to celebrate five
years in business.

"The first six months, I didn't think we were going to be open," said Lambert, referring to
when he first purchased the building and was having construction done. "I thought I was
going to be over in the first six months because it was tough. Business is a contact
sport. You got to get up and keep fighting to get up each day.”

Lambert was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. He was raised in a two parent
home. His mother worked as a nurse for Senior Connections located at 24 E. Cary
Street, Richmond Va. His father worked as a medical doctor and a state Senator in
Virginia. He said, his father was in the Virginia House of Delegates for seven years and
in the Virginia Senate for 23 years. His father is also his, "silent," business partner.

He graduated from Benedictine High School located at 304 N. Sheppard Street,
Richmond, Va. Then he went on to earn a bachelor's degree from Howard University
located at 2400 Sixth Street, NW, Washington, D.C. He majored in marketing.

Before becoming a business owner, Lambert was the marketing manager for Virginia
Economic Development Partnership which is a state agency that actively seeks to bring
businesses into the Commonwealth. He said, he spent 12 years in corporate America
after college.

"I used to work for the state," he said. "I always had an exit plan from corporate
America."

Lambert said, the initial investment for his business was "$75,000 to $100,000." He
secured those funds through selling property that he owned. He said, he has always
been into commercial real estate and had owned a building in D.C. Before getting a
business loan, Lambert had already purchased the building for his business and paid for
architectural renderings showing exactly what his business would look like.

"Then I went to the bank and presented the idea to them," he said. "They had the
business plan and they had the pictures of really what it looked like. That's what got it
sold because they had actual pictures of what the vision was."

Lambert said, it took the business 3 years to pay for itself. He has learned a lot over the
last five years of running a business and has been able to adapt to various obstacles
that have come along the way. When he purchased the building on 814 W. Grace
Street, he originally called it the Hyperlink Café. Lambert said, It started out as a café
describing it as, "kind of like the trend of the coffee shop slash auction ball," and
inspired by the success of Starbucks. On January 1, 2009 it got a new name and club
Xscape was born. Lambert said, he changed the name due to concerns that people had
gotten a bad image of the Hyperlink.

"We did several kind of events, parties, concerts, but it became a point that some of the
imagery for, the word on the street per say, was not what I wanted the club to be," he
said. "And the light, and people said they felt they were uncomfortable, and (people
said) it would be black sometimes, and there is always some little discrepancies. In
business what you got to do is, aight, sit back and analyze what's right and what's wrong.
Take the good and take the bad, and what I realized was a name change would be
great.”

Lambert didn't believe simply fixing the concerns of his business would be enough. He
believed the name change was a necessary part for his success. However, it wasn't just
a name change. There are some key differences from the Hyperlink and Xscape.

"Even if I change the inside of Hyperlink, people think, Hyperlink, they think it's under 21,
it's young, ugh I don't want to go there, it's kids," he said. "So now Xscape has a more
mature, softer theme.”

Lloyd Ashton, 29 is an aspiring rapper and has performed as G-Illz at many clubs in
Richmond including Xscape. He said, he is a fan of Xscape.

"It has one of the better stage set ups in Richmond," he said. The atmosphere is great.
They have great bartenders and beautiful ladies.

Paul Waul, 22 is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University majoring in business
management and also thinks Xscape is a good club.

"They got good looking girls and good music," he said. "They have a good crowd and I
like their bar."

Lambert described his work schedule as being demanding.

"I put 15 to 20 hours a day," he said. "I get up 10 or 11 (a.m.). I'm online for like 3
hours doing fliers, facebook (and) coordinating. You got to meet with a facility manager,
you got to go through fixing this. You got to order your liquor. Activities going on
Monday through Saturday. You always got things going on here. You always
maintaining the facility. You always ordering food. Make sure it's clean. I'm into
cleanliness, I don't like no nasty place."

September 19,2009

****Xscape is run by David Lambert and his brother Charles Lambert. David Lambert is CEO and
Charles Lambert is manager.

For More Information on David Lambert and Club Xscape check out the following link:

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David Lambert