Podcast appearances and mentions of damon john

♻️ Sign up to get my content distribution playbook here: https://course.justinsimon.co/Most creators are stuck chasing viral growth and burning out in the process. In this episode, Chris Jordan shares why the typical playbook is broken and how smart creators are building sustainable, successful brands without the overwhelm. Chris has worked behind the scenes with top creators like Lewis Howes, Damon John, and Dr. Benjamin Hardy and he shares why most content strategies lead to burnout and what smart creators do instead to grow sustainably without chasing viral trends.*** WHEN YOU'RE READY♻️ Distribution First Newsletter

Eugenia Chen, a former math professor, shares her inspiring journey of transitioning from academia to entrepreneurship by creating Pandaloon, a brand specializing in panda-themed pet products. She discusses the challenges she faced, the viral success of her puppy in a panda costume, and how she leveraged Amazon's tools to grow her business. Eugenia emphasizes the importance of creativity, customer engagement, and the lessons learned from her experiences, including the significance of hooks in social media marketing and the value of testing ideas before going big.   Takeaways Eugenia transitioned from a math professor to an entrepreneur. She started Pandaloon with $600 of inventory. A viral video of her puppy boosted her brand's visibility. Eugenia partnered with Damon John from Shark Tank. Amazon's tools were crucial for her business growth. Customer engagement is key to sustaining a brand. Eugenia loves designing and wants to focus on marketing. Testing products on a small scale is a smart strategy. Daring to be wrong is essential for growth. Building trust with customers is vital for success.   Learn more about Pandaloon: https://pandaloon.com/pages/about-us   Follow Fearless Sellers Podcast on Instagram! @fearlesssellers Want our PPC help? Email: Joie@AMZInsiders.com  Book a call with Joie Roberts: www.callamz.com 

Welcome to the latest clip of Market Mondays! In this exciting update, hosts Ian Dunlap, Troy Millings, and Rashad Bilal share some unbelievable announcements and giveaways about Invest Fest, the biggest event of its kind in the world.Invest Fest just got even more extraordinary with the addition of Shannon Sharpe to the lineup! As Rashad Bilal enthusiastically reveals, the event's roster continues to grow and impress. "The lineup is getting better and bigger. It's just, it's unbelievable," Rashad remarks. Right here, we're dedicated to enhancing your experience with each new announcement.We're also thrilled to introduce the Women's Initiative featuring the phenomenal Lauren London. This initiative will focus on empowering women by financially backing a woman-based business, and it'll include an all-women panel featuring Queen Afua. As Troy Millings hints, there are even more exciting surprises to come, making this session truly legendary.Of course, our star-studded lineup doesn't stop there. Look forward to impactful sessions with iconic figures like Steve Harvey, 50 Cent, 19 Keys, Ian Dunlap, Damon John, and Stephen A. Smith. And we're just getting started.Rashad and Troy also discuss a unique raffle sponsored by Steve Harvey that was announced two weeks ago. Winners were declared live on the show, adding even more excitement to the buildup for Invest Fest. "Salute to all the winners," Rashad proudly mentions. In another exciting sweepstakes, the Welcome to Atlanta Sweepstakes, sponsored by Ti, offers a remarkable array of prizes. This week's general admission ticket buyers from July 15 to July 21 will have a chance to win $5,000, thanks to Ti's Atlanta-based generosity. Here's what the grand prize includes:- $5,000 cash prize- VIP ticket upgrade- Meet and greet with EYL and Ti- Exclusive access to the Invest Fest dinner- Tickets to an Atlanta Falcons game- Tickets to the Trap Music Museum- Free meal at Trapdoor City Café, Ti's restaurant- Tickets to the 85 South live show- One-year access to EYL University- Real estate and business creation courseThis is an incredible opportunity for anyone attending Invest Fest. For those who already hold general admission tickets, don't worry—you're automatically entered into the sweepstakes too. Moreover, five additional winners will have their general admission tickets upgraded to VIP status. "Five bands, five bands, it's a lot," as Rashad puts it. This giveaway shows how dedicated we are to over-deliver and create an unforgettable experience for all attendees.Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to be part of something monumental. Grab your general admission ticket this week, and who knows? You might be one of the lucky winners to receive these fantastic rewards. Invest Fest promises to be a legendary event filled with invaluable insights, unparalleled networking opportunities, and memories that will last a lifetime.Make sure to like, share, and subscribe to our channel to stay updated on all things Invest Fest, and keep tuning in to Market Mondays for more surprises and exclusive content.---Hashtags:#InvestFest #MarketMondays #ShannonSharpe #LaurenLondon #SteveHarvey #50Cent #19Keys #IanDunlap #DamonJohn #StephenASmith #WelcomeToAtlanta #TISweepstakes #AtlantaEvents #EYLU #85SouthShow #TrapMusicMuseum #FinancialEmpowermentSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/marketmondays/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of the podcast, Jeff Fenster interviews Morri Chowaiki, the creator of the Hanukkah tree topper. Morri shares his inspiring entrepreneurial journey, from pitching on Shark Tank to working closely with industry leader Damon John. He emphasizes the importance of seizing opportunities, prioritizing customer satisfaction, and building meaningful relationships based on value and empathy. This episode is packed with valuable advice on entrepreneurship, knowledge, reliability, and networking for long-term success. To listen to the full episode check us out on all your favorite platforms by searching "The Jeff Fenster Show" -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

What if you could learn the secrets of marketing success from the best in the business? That's exactly what we did in this episode, where we had the privilege of chatting with TJ Kelly, a marketing expert who attended the Traffic and Conversion Summit in 2024. He revealed some of the cutting-edge techniques that are transforming the way marketers reach and engage their audiences, such as geo-targeting, customer journey mapping, and Pinterest marketing. He also shared some of the key takeaways from the summit, where he learned from the likes of Richard Branson and Damon John, who inspired him to be more empathetic, data-driven, and innovative in his marketing endeavors. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the curve and master the art and science of marketing.Chapters:00:00:00 - Welcome: Journey into Customer Acquisition and Engagement00:02:22 - A Tour of Varied Marketing Conferences and Their Impact00:04:29 - Deep Dive: Geo-targeting's Revolutionary Role in Marketing00:09:55 - Pinterest: A Key Player in Sustained Traffic Generation00:12:58 - Decoding Marketing Math: The Predictive Edge00:15:23 - Crafting Effective Offers for Optimal Lead Generation00:17:46 - Research as the Backbone of Effective Marketing00:18:34 - Reddit: An Unconventional Source of Market Insight00:21:27 - Special Mentions: Innovative Contributions from Christine Marie and Scott Cunningham00:24:55 - The Future of Marketing: AI's Expanding Influence00:26:46 - Lessons from the Greats: Richard Branson and Damon John's Marketing Mastery00:31:56 - Wrapping Up: Looking Forward to the Next Wave in MarketingLinks and Resources:TJ KellyLinkedInTwitterTiereleven.comGet your queries answered here: hi@tiereleven.comThanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to The Customer Acquisition Show? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!

In today's episode, we have a special guest, John Allen, who will be sharing his incredible journey of using entrepreneurship to make a difference in the world. John believed that building a successful brand and growing his business would enable him to have a greater impact on causes close to his heart. Despite criticism of for-profit businesses, John's nonprofit partners supported his for-profit model, recognising that the ability to reinvest and grow the business would ultimately lead to a larger impact. Throughout his journey, John and his team were driven by a relentless focus on growth and pushing boundaries, constantly reinventing themselves to stay ahead of trends. From shifting their focus to marketing and adapting to new platforms like TikTok, to pivoting their brand decisions as their target audience evolved, they remained determined to keep pushing and staying relevant. Join us as John reflects on the pros and cons of his business's success, the challenges he faced, and the innovative marketing strategies he employed to promote his brand. We'll also delve into his approach to giving back and the impact it has had on his business and the causes he supports. Stay tuned for an insightful and inspiring episode with John Allen on Ecomgold![00:00:37] Fast-growing brand merges entrepreneurship with charity.[00:06:20] Support elephant conservation, build school fence.[00:13:08] Save the Elephants partnership recognized our struggles.[00:19:29] Sneaky marketing tactics helped gain millions of followers.[00:24:05] Pay whatever, don't steal, hard to get.[00:29:41] We worked with Damon John, turned down Shark Tank, sourced products, executed our business diligently.[00:34:46] Customer service overload, cash payouts, PayPal chaos[00:42:00] Continual push for growth and reinvention.[00:45:39] Lucky marketing boosts sales; tough times follow.[00:52:54] Giving back may not help drive traffic.[00:58:05] Opportunity in market: consolidate struggling businesses.[00:59:59] Custom packaging or sourcing? We offer win-win solutions.[01:05:39] Shadows operator on Ecom Gold, stay tuned.Get show alerts and playbooks by signing up on the EcomGold website: www.ecom.goldClaim an extended free trial as a show listener.EcomGold is brought to you by:‍Rewind Shopify App.Back up your Shopify store because not doing so is absolute lunacy! As a listener of the show, you can claim a no strings attached free month with this link: https://rewind.com/ecommercegold/Sendlane.Unified email, SMS, and reviews for eCommerce. Better features. Better support. Better customer experience. Send your customers exactly what they want, when they want it. (Better than Klaviyo in Finn's opinion). https://www.sendlane.com/Follow Finn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/finn_radford

Tickets to David's live event are at BusinessNitrogenLife.vip    Learn more about working with Anthony 1-on-1 to biohack your six pack, sharpen your mind, and optimize your most important longevity biomarkers at www.BiohackerCoaching.com   - Grab your free copy of The Biohacker's Guide to Upgraded Energy and Focus (just help with s/h) https://biohackersguide.com/free-guide   - Subscribe to our free email newsletter www.biohackersguide.com/energycrash    - Subscribe to The Biohacking Secrets Show podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biohacking-secrets-show/id1139825099   Join Our Uncensored Telegram Channel for VIP Biohacking Content You Can't Get On Social

Wes Henstock is the Hip-hop brand strategist. Coming up in the world of fashion and music, he's worked with folks like Damon John, and brands like Armani Exchange, DKNY, and Tommy Hilfiger. Wes is a Founder and CEO of Confid3ntial, a brand design agency and he is also an instructor at Level C, a brand strategy educational platform from the legendary Marty Neumeier.In this episode, we dive into his journey and key pieces of wisdom for anyone interested in the world of brand. WARNING: Explicit, entertaining, and educationalIn this episode:The importance of strategy in the creative processThe power of strategy show & tellMisconceptions about brand strategy Workshops are critical to the alignment of the componyTips on running an amazing workshop The Obituary TechniqueThe purpose of having a purposeHow strategy should be like Hip-HopChallenges in the healthcare industryWork with Howie:Healthy Brand ConsultingConnect with Howie: LinkedIn TwitterInstagramTikTokHow I can Help You Boost your personal brand & charisma: Subscribe to Legend Letters Download free brand strategy guides 1:1 Personal brand coaching

August 11, 2023 is the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. What started out mostly as a spoken word artform has become a worldwide juggernaut. Thanks to the moguls who pushed the genre forward, hip-hop went from 0 to 100.In this episode, we rank the 50 greatest moguls in hip-hop's history. We reached out to industry experts — from artists to execs to media personalities — to help us compile the list. Friend of the pod, Zack O'Malley Greenburg, joins me to count them down from No. 50 to No. 10:39 How do we define “mogul”7:06 Honorable mentions09:10 The “Don't overlook their influence” group (ranks 50-41)16:19 The “Playing chess not checkers” group (ranks 40-31)23:38 The “Our impact runs deep” group (ranks 30-21)33:47 No. 2035:37 No. 1937:56 No. 1841:32 No. 1744:27 No. 1647:21 No. 1551:22 No. 14 55:55 No. 1359:09 No. 121:00:46 No. 111:02:16 No. 101:04:39 No. 91:06:44 No. 81:10:20 No. 71:14:06 No. 61:15:37 No. 51:17:11 No. 41:20:53 No. 31:29:06 No. 21:30:34 No. 11:33:22 Who got snubbed?1:35:42 What trends stick out from the list?1:41:21 Who would you pick to run your empire?Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Overcast | Amazon | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts | RSSHost: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.coGuests: Zack O'Malley Greenburg, @zogblogThis episode is sponsored by DICE. Learn more about why artists, venues, and promoters love to partner with DICE for their ticketing needs. Visit dice.fmEnjoy this podcast? Rate and review the podcast here! ratethispodcast.com/trapitalTrapital is home for the business of music, media and culture. Learn more by reading Trapital's free memo.TRANSCRIPT[00:00:00] Zack Greenburg: ownership. Was just such an important thing for Nipsey. Such an important thing for Berner. And, you know, interviewing the two of them, I would say, their mindset around ownership was the closest I've ever seen to Jay Z.[00:00:13] Dan Runcie Intro Audio: Hey, welcome to the Trapital Podcast. I'm your host and the founder of Trapital, Dan Runcie. This podcast is your place to gain insights from the executives in music, media, entertainment, and more who are taking hip hop culture to the next level.[00:00:39] Dan Runcie Guest Intro: This episode is a celebration to hip hop's 50th anniversary. This is a countdown on the 50 greatest moguls ever in hip hop. I'm joined by Zack O'Malley Greenburg, friend of the pod, and we both reached out to. A bunch of label heads, executives, people in hip hop that would know best. And we put it together in an aggregate list.And we're here to break down that list today. We talk about what does it mean to be a mogul? What are some of the considerations we made when we were looking into this list ourselves, how the results looked, what surprised us? What were the snubs? What were the misses? And what can we learn from this overall?And if Zack and I were putting together our dream teams, what would that look like? This is a lot of fun. Really happy with how it turned out. So let's dive in.[00:01:25] Dan Runcie: All right, hip hop's 50th anniversary is right around the corner and we decided to celebrate it in the only way that we know best countdown hip hop's greatest moguls and I'm joined by Zack O'malley Greenburg, who reached out to me about this. I was really excited about it and we spent some time over the past couple of weeks, reaching out to people we know, making sure that we have the best insights looking through and making sure that we had all of the. Breakdowns to share. So Zack, I'm ready for this. How are you feeling?[00:01:55] Zack Greenburg: I am stoked. Yeah, I mean, you know, 50th anniversary of hip hop. We reached out to 50 different judges. amongst, you know, the sort of, the most respected folks from, you know, label heads to artists to entrepreneurs, you know, I think we've got half of them, roughly half of them replied since in their votes, we're going to keep their individual votes anonymous, but, you know, Dan could tell you about some of the judges.Yeah, and it was just really fun to kind of mix it up, you know, I think the thing about this list, a lot of these characters are just kind of an apples to oranges comparison as you'll see once we dive into it, but that's the beauty of it, right? I mean, how do you, you know, compare like a pioneering executive to like a modern day artist mogul? And we really kind of left it in the hands of the judges. And we just said, basically the only guidance was, this is a business focused list, but you know, you can rank artists, executives, people who are both. It just, whatever your definition of mogul is, that's how, you know, that's how you should rank them. And people submitted lists and obviously the higher they rank somebody, the more points we gave them and, you know, the lower they got, but, you know, so there's some people on there who are like accumulators. They ended up on everybody's list, but not so high, but, you know, as a result, they ended up on the top 50.And then there are some who were just like, not ranked at all by most people, but had a couple of really high ranks so that they made the list. So I think it's a pretty cool mix.[00:03:10] Dan Runcie: Right? It's kind of like how we look at artists. There's some artists that have just been consistent, steady through and through each year. You'll always get some reliable output from them, but then there are other artists too. They were the best for a certain amount of time. Maybe they cooled off for a bit.Maybe they came back and that's kind of the way music is too. One of the things that. I was asked whenever I was reaching out to people about this was the same thing that you posed earlier. People wanted to know, how are we defining mogul and we left it up to their interpretation. It is a term that means different things to different people, but maybe for the sake of this conversation, let's kick it off here.Zack, how do you define mogul? And how did you define it when creating your list?[00:03:51] Zack Greenburg: Yeah, I mean, to me a hip hop mogul, more general is just, you know, somebody who not only is a business person, but has some degree of ownership, in whatever it is that they're doing. that's not the only definition of it for me, but like, you know, when I was putting together my rankings, I thought, you know, who are the owners?the same time, you know, people who are executives who are in a decision making place. you know, that counts for something. And I think also, you know, if you're an artist, and you simply have some control over your own work, you maintain your copyrights, whatever, like that counts as being a mogul. So, you know, specifically when it comes to hip hop, you know, I'd say people who are, you know, definitely getting in charge of your own work, but also creating new lines of business, you know, influencing the culture. but you know, a way that they've got some skin in the game from a business perspective, you know, that, kind of thing.That's kind of how I looked at it. but you could see from the votes that, you know, everybody had a slightly different definition too.[00:04:47] Dan Runcie: Yeah, there was definitely a lot of correlation with the artists who tend to be the ones that are the wealthiest. They end up at the highest rankings in on some of those lists, too, but it wasn't exactly correlated because there's a difference. And these are some of the things I kept in mind, too, with the mogul definition, thinking specifically aboutinfluence and impact, were you having, or did you create opportunities for others around you? Were you able to be a bit of a kingmaker or queenmaker in your respective right? Was there a impact in terms of other generations that either looked and modeled how they're doing what they're doing and looking at you as some form of inspiration with that?So there's the indirect impact and influence, but also the, Indirect piece of it too. So there's the money piece as well, but then what do you do with that money? And then that's how I had went about it. And similarly, everyone had their own unique spin to it.[00:05:42] Zack Greenburg: Yeah, for sure. And, you know, and I think the definition changed over time, of what a mogul really is, but when I was putting my rankings together, I think the idea of starting something new, you know, that's also paramount, amongst all the criteria as well.[00:05:55] Dan Runcie: Right? So, of course, Zack and I had our list, but we reached out to a number of people and several other label heads, executives, and people that are in the game.So thank you all to your contributions. We couldn't have done this without you. And if anything, it helped add a variety beyond just you and I, getting and putting our list out there. It added a more full scope and like anything. Oh, this is how you look at it. Interesting and being able to pull unique insights there.[00:06:21] Zack Greenburg: Yeah, for sure. you know, one thing I think we probably ought to point out, on the list, you know, the list is, heavily male. but it's about only 20% women on the list. you know, we did everything we could obviously to make it more equitable, but, you know, the votes are the votes.And, you know, I think there is a bit of a reflection of sort of the state of affairs over the past half century, you know, unfortunately, like many parts of music business, hip hop has been, you know, heavily overindexing for males. So, you know, here's hoping that when 50 years to do a hundred years of hip hop, you know, we'll have even things out a bit or completely, let's say maybe even, you know, made up for lost time, but I think some of the spots on the list, you know, the rankings do kind of reflect an industry reality that we've seen, unfortunately for 50 years.[00:07:06] Dan Runcie: Right? And hopefully this gets better. We do feel and you'll see when we talk about some of the people here, glad about some of the names that got mentioned. Of course, there's always room to be able to have more and hopefully for hip hop's 100th anniversary. If when and people are breaking that down, there's hopefully even more representation there.So, with that, I think it's probably good for us to get started right before the list, but talk about some of the honorable mentions. So, there were people that didn't quite make the cut of 50, but we still wanted to highlight them and the work that they. Did here. So a few of those names here to give a shout out to.So we have Cindy Campbell, Jermaine Dupree, Audrey Harrell, Jay Cole, Damon John. What comes or what do you think about when you hear those names?[00:07:55] Zack Greenburg: Yeah, you know, I mean, Cindy Campbell, I think in many ways you could look at her as the first promoter in hip hop history, right? I mean, you know, we're talking about 50 years of hip hop. That's 50 years from that first party that. She and DJ Kool Herc through, you know, in the rec room on Cedric Avenue.And, I think the idea was that they were going to raise a little bit of cash so she could go get herself a new back to school wardrobe. Now, if that's not, you know, entrepreneurship and hip hop, you know, from the very beginning, I don't know what it is. And so I think Cindy deserves a ton of credit, for being there at the very beginning, you know, but I think on the honorable mentions to a lot of the folks that are on here, you know, or maybe like a little bit, you know, not exactly falling on the same radar, you know, for the list. So like, you know, Damon John, obviously he did with, you know, creating FUBU and, you know, everything he's done as an entrepreneur, it's incredible, but it, I think it's sort of like more of a national brand that is, you know, apart from hip hop and so is his personality, right? Like you see him on shark tank or, you know, whatever, like he sort of moved past, I wouldn't necessarily categorize him, as just hip hop, although he's had a tremendous impact on hip hop.So I think probably that's why, he wasn't on more lists. It's not to sort of ding him his impact, which is considerable.[00:09:10] Dan Runcie: Right, and I do think that of course, music is one element of hip hop. You do have fashion, you do have others. So music definitely got weighted heavily in this list, but Dave and John and his influence in fashion, and there's other people in fashion and we'll get into them in this list too, but we can't overlook everything he did there and some of the more unique and clever marketing tactics that came from food booth that other people did who will mention in this list as well. 1 person that I do want to highlight here from that list 2 people. So, Jermaine Dupri want to give him a shout out as well. Just everything he was able to do with.So, so Def records. He was part of that movement in the 90s, where you saw LaFace and then all these other groups in the South be able to come up, do their own. There was a so so deaf sound, a so so Def vibe and his ability to do it both in rap, but also have a bit of the soul there. Some of the epic production that he's been involved with, even outside of hip hop, thinking about albums like Mariah Carey's Emancipation of Mimi and others, even though he didn't always do everything in hip hop. I think that some of his influence can't go overstated there. And then the second person who's similar in that regard, I would say is Andre Harrell. We talked about him in past episodes, especially the bad boy one, but everything that he did from Uptown Records and then moving on to Motown Records and gave in many ways helped give Puff the blueprint for what he was able to do years later.[00:10:37] Zack Greenburg: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I think Andre had a lot of successes, also had a lot of failures, not necessarily, you know, through his own doing, the time, but definitely somebody who deserves, you know, a hat tip at the very least. And, you know, I'm sure Puff would agree about that too.[00:10:52] Dan Runcie: Agreed. Agreed. All right. We ready ready to get into it.[00:10:57] Zack Greenburg: Let's do it.[00:10:58] Dan Runcie: All right. So in the initial group here, which we're calling the don't overlook their influence group. This is people who are ranked 50 through 41. so in order we have Ethiopia have to Marion at 50. She was the former CEO of Motown. We have Top Dog, co founder and CEO of Top Dog Entertainment. We have Mona Scott Young from her work at Violators and more recently Love Hip Hop. And what she also has done with Hip Hop Homicides and some other multimedia projects. We have T.I. with everything he's done with Grand Hustle and Multimedia. We have Eazy E with Priority Records. Many ways pioneering so much of the stuff we saw.We have Todd Moskowitz, L. A. Reed, Craig Kalman, former CEO from Atlantic. We have Sylvia Roan and then tied for 40. We have Desiree Perez and Steve Stout. What are your thoughts on that group list?[00:11:55] Zack Greenburg: Oh, man, I don't know. Maybe we should just pick out a few here and there that we thought were particularly interesting. I mean, you know, I think Ethiopia is a good example of somebody who would be higher up if she were identified, you know, solely as a, you know, as a hip hop mogul, but she's had kind of like a pretty wide reach, you know, especially in R and B, and pop. I mean, some of the stuff she's done with Erykah Badu, NeYo, Stevie Wonder, you know, like over the years, you know, wouldn't be classified as hip hop, but it's worth it nonetheless. just think that, you know, being kind of like in between, in between genres, you know, resulted in her being down a little bit further on the list.But, you know, somebody who had a tremendous impact. you know, I would also, I would highlight TI here, you know, the self proclaimed King of the South, but, you know, in terms of, I remember the years when, you know, we were putting together the Forbes list and, you know, kind of looking at, you know, kind of regionally who is most important to me.Yeah, he was sort of like. The Jay Z of the South. And he was really, especially when he was having that moment, you know, getting a lot of songs on, you know, national radio and, kind of being in the public eye, I mean, had a tremendous business focus, you know, he was always interested in sort of like, what's the next thing that I can create?and you know, that kind of entrepreneurial energy, you know, I think, especially within the context of the South, like taking the blueprint, from guys like Jay Z, you know, I think he certainly deserves a mention. I kind of thought he'd end up higher here, but I guess he's been, not as, especially in the music front lately.and then I would definitely highlight, Desiree, you know, she's somebody who's been behind the scenes for a really long time, with Jay Z and rock nation, but like. she runs rock nation. And although Jay Z obviously has the final say in things, you know, a lot of things that you see, come out of that camp are, you know, her doing and have her fingerprints all over them.And I know some of y'all might have seen the Book of Hove exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum or the Brooklyn Public Library that was a Desiree Perez production and, you know, she said that it was like her emptying her 80, 000 square foot storage unit into the library, but, you know, but to have, you know, that kind of, impact at a place like Roc Nation and to help, you know, Jay Z do what he's done, you know, I think those are all worthy, of notation and, you know, I think she deserves her spot there for sure.[00:14:09] Dan Runcie: Yeah, Desiree is someone that has been working with Jay Z for a while now, and I feel like she deserved a shout out on Jay's verse in Pound Cake, the Drake song. You know where he's like, Dave made millions, Lyor made millions. I feel like Desiree should have gotten a shout out there too, but yeah.I'm glad that she got mentioned here. Two other names I'll run through quickly. Steve Stout, someone who I thought would have ended up higher, and I know that, you know, it was interesting to see how the results played out, but I do think that one of the best marketers that we've seen come through hip hop.He was ahead of the curve in a number of ways, dating back to the 90s with seeing the men in black sunglasses and everything that he's done there from his time working with Nas, everything that they've done, whether it was the firm or, him being a record executive himself and then showing as well, how he's able to do it in advertising and bringing a lot of these companies and brands that didn't necessarily align or think about being related with, you know, hip hop culture and those elements to be able to do it.You look at a company like State Farm and how we now look at what that company has done. And a lot of that is through his work and obviously with what he's done at United Masters. So shout out there and I also do want to give a shout out to Mona Scott Young mentioned her earlier, but she was a right hand to someone who will mention on the list as well coming up soon with everything she did in Violator, this is back when, you know, Q Tip and Busta Rhymes and that whole crew were doing their thing. And then later, I know people have a lot of polarizing opinions about love and hip hop, but if you look at the career opportunities that were created for people that have came through, and the longevity that she's granted, a lot of people that the record industry forgot about that she was able to continue to give opportunities for think about the trick daddies, Trina's and folks like that. I know people hate to see them arguing on camera, but would we have Cardi B where she is today? If it weren't for the platform of love and hip hop, and she's continued to do things with other vocals on the list that we'll get into. So I do want to give a shout out to her[00:16:08] Zack Greenburg: Yeah, definitely a worthy shout out. And we could probably go on and on about even just like the tent in this bracket here, but I suppose we ought to, we ought to move on to the next room before, before we run[00:16:19] Dan Runcie: indeed. Yep. So the next group is playing chest, not checkers. So at 39, we have Dave Mays, founder of the source 38. We have Irv Gotti, founder of Murder, Inc. 37, Cardi B 36, Lil Wayne 35, Nipsey Hussle, 34. Steve Rifkin, from Loud Records 33, Missy Elliot. 32 Birder from Cookies, 31 Kevin Lyles and 30 Chris Lighty.[00:16:47] Zack Greenburg: Oh man, this is a pretty stacked bracket, I must say. I think that, you know, there are a couple of names that stick out to me here. I'm going to go with Nipsey and Berner, because in a funny way, I think, they have like a sort of a similar, a sort of similar strategy, which is like, you have a very clear idea of what it is that you're going to do.You own it, and then you, you know, you continue to own it like ownership. Was just such an important thing for Nipsey. Such an important thing for Berner. And, you know, interviewing the two of them, I would say, their mindset around ownership was the closest I've ever seen to Jay Z. and they really understood from the beginning that they had to own all their music.Own all of their branding own, you know, the companies that create on the side and then they can monetize it later. And, you know, with Nipsey rest in peace. I mean, he was just on the cusp of, of kind of like becoming a mainstream superstar, you know, when, his life ended all too soon. So, I think what Berner is doing with cookies is really fascinating like Berner is, you know, you want to talk, lists. I mean, he's in the top five, probably the top four or three at this point, in terms of net worth for actual, hip hop artists. And that's because of the success of cookies and, you know, there's been, a lot of ups and downs in the cannabis business lately, but like the amount of ownership that he has, you know, I think it amounts to about one third still of cookies, which is, you know, a billion dollar brand. When we gets legalized, you know, like he's going to see the fruits of his labor and, that focus on ownership I think is really going to pay off on the longterm.So I would highlight those two guys, in this tier as the ones that, I think were the most impressive to me. That's not to shade anybody else, but,[00:18:25] Dan Runcie: Yeah, those two guys are also two of the few people who I see people still wearing their merchandise on a regular basis. Granted, I live in San Francisco. There's a cookie store here. So, I mean, I know there is a local connection for sure, but same with Nipsey Hussle. I mean, sadly, it's now been over 4 years since he passed away, and you still see Crenshaw shirts.He understood, Nipsey especially, understood exactly where everything's going. And it's just so sad that, you know, it was gone so soon. Two names, I'm going to shout out here. I'm going to shout. I'm going to shout out Cardi B and I want to shout out Chris Lighty. So Cardi B talked about her a little with the Mona Scott young piece, but she's entered and ran her rap career more uniquely than other artists that we've seen at her level have. And I think that speaks a lot to just where the game is now. It's been over six years since Bodak Yellow came out. And it's been over five years now since her debut album. This is someone who hasn't put out a studio album in over five years.And hasn't gone on tour in a traditional way, but it's still doing her thing. And I think this is one of the things that's unique. She finds interesting ways to monetize herself and to put herself on. She's like, Hey, I can do these private shows and they're going to pay me, you know, 1. 5 million or 3 million just to do a half an hour set.I'm going to do my thing. I'm going to be there at Super Bowl weekend. I may not be performing at the Super Bowl, but I'm going to go do these private shows for Bob craft or the fanatics event or all these things and collect the checks. it's very interesting to see younger artists to do that Lionel Richie playbook, but she is like, Hey, I don't necessarily have to do that. And even though people always do try to, you know, loop her into the Nicki Minaj versus Cardi B beef, she still has lended her hand and extended it to other young artists, especially women in the game, whether it's Ice Spice and others, whether she's doing it through her talents and others. So she's someone that I hope as she continues on, you know, into her thirties and into her forties can continue to rise up this list.And then Chris Lighty talked about a little bit with Mona Sky Young, co founder of Violator and everything they're able to do there. Sad that he was taken away so soon, but if you have not heard this yet and if you haven't listened to the podcast, I highly recommend the Mogul podcast series that was done several years ago on it.It was done by Reggie Yose, who is Combat Jack, who has since passed away as well, but I highly recommend that if you want a full breakdown on everything Chris Leite did. Violator and after that was truly one of the early ones looking at product partnerships and a lot of the things that we see now that are common in hip hop.[00:21:07] Zack Greenburg: And, you know, if we didn't have Chris Lighty, I don't think we would have had 50 Cent. I mean, at least not to the extent that we have him. you know, I mean, I remember writing my first story about 50 and like for Forbes, maybe 2008 and sitting down with Chris and just kind of like hearing him lay out the plan.And again, it's the emphasis on ownership, right? you know, Chris Leidy, I think was the one who really pushed, 50 to take the equity in vitamin water and his parent company, rather than just do an endorsement. And, you know, obviously that became a huge, deal and really like a model for so much, not only of hip hop, but like other parts of the entertainment industry, you know, I think Chris definitely deserves a spot, maybe even should be a little higher. and you know, probably also, there's, you know, again, all these folks deserve a shout out, but Kevin Lyles, I think is, got one of the most inspirational stories. you know, it's another person, I think we've both interviewed a bunch of times, but, you know, just his journey from intern to president of Def Jam and I think seven years. And he just did it by working harder than everybody else like he wasn't an artist that got put there because he had some hit, it wasn't some kind of like nepotism deal, you know, he just outworked everybody and, you know, he had the talent and, you know, the horsepower to just like get it done. And to make that journey within seven years. So I think it's, for people who are listening and, you know, want to do something like that with their own career, you know, study Kevin Miles because he was able to make it, without being, you know, some kind of like preternatural, singing talent or something like that he just did it on smarts and work ethic.[00:22:39] Dan Runcie: And one of the few people that co founded a record label and sold it a decade later for hundreds of millions of dollars, which is what he did 300 as well. Right? So of course, not 300 now underwater, but everything he did with Lyor and Todd, there, is impressive. There's not that many black founders in general. In tech, any sector that have built and exited companies for several hundred, a million dollars, the way that he was able to be a part of that. So, hats offhim.[00:23:09] Zack Greenburg: yeah, I think it takes a special kind of guts to be able to, you know, I mean, he was a well paid executive with a cushy music job, you know, to leave that world, start your own thing. I mean, I know they had, you know, big backers and everything, but like to take a risk once you've already experienced that level of success and to go out and start something, you know, as opposed to starting something from scratch when you have nothing anyway.I mean, it, takes a lot of gumption to do that. So, you know, again, yes, a pretty cool second act for Kevin miles.[00:23:38] Dan Runcie: Indeed, the next group here, our impact runs deep. It is Nicki Will Smith at 28, Swiss beats 27, LL Cool J, 26, Coach K and P, 25, Julie Greenwald, 24. The E40 23, Pharrell 22, and Rick Ross, 21.[00:24:01] Zack Greenburg: Yeah. I think, that's a pretty strong, deck there. And I think also, you know, here, you find some people who, you could argue should be higher or lower based on, you know, how much of their career was done in the hip hop music world, right? Like Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Will Smith.Obviously those are huge crossover acts. but I think they all got a lot of points from some of the voters because, you know, that is in one way, the measure of a mogul, like you're diversifying your portfolio and whether that's by owning different things or, you know, by getting into, different types of performance, you know, on the silver screen, I think that's a viable path too.but just from like a purely musical entrepreneurial perspective, I would highlight, Swiss Beats and Pharrell, who I think, you know, the two of them are more influential than anybody in terms of like, I'd say Swizz in terms of art and Pharrell in terms of fashion. and you know, some of the things they've done around those two areas and, you know, Pharrell certainly, now with LVMH, but also before with Ice Cream, Billionaire Boys Club, you know, he was very active in starting his own things on the fashion side.And, you know, kind of inspiring artists to do that. you know, would we have had a Yeezy if we hadn't had Pharrell, you know, doing what he was doing and, you know, and even doing what he did with Adidas? you know, I don't know about that. And, Swiss beads certainly, you know, not only from the art side of things, but you know, it's a really impressive art collection.I did a story on him a few years ago and, you know, he's got like, Jeff Kuhn sculptures and Basquiat's and Warhol's and his, you know, like in his foyer. I mean, it's, pretty impressive stuff. but the way that he moves behind the scenes, as sort of like a corporate brand whisperer, at places, you know, like Bacardi, Lotus, you know, this goes on, you know, I think he, he's sort of like more quietlyinfluential than, some folks realize. And, you know, certainly has been earning, on par with, you know, with all the, you know, most of the names, if not higher than most of the names we've mentioned so far. and you know, what he's done on the, both of them, what they've done on the production side, also hard to top.So that must count for something as well. I kind of went more than one shout out there, didn't I? So[00:26:06] Dan Runcie: Yeah. No, that was good. That was good.I'm glad you mentioned the two of them though, because if you didn't, I probably would've called the other one out. The thing about Swiss as well, everything that he's done with versus specifically also embodies this idea and definition of a mogul because he was able to be.A kingmaker in the sense of creating opportunities for others. He did that through the equity that he was able to give all of those early participants in versus in trailer itself. And then additionally, with the careers that we're able to have a boost because of. everything that happened, with the matchups from versus specifically, you look at someone like Ashanti, who is now doing tours and pop it up every now and then she wasn't doing that before her versus and her battle versus Keisha Cole was one of the not, if not the most watched one that we've had.You look at Jadakiss and everything that he's been able to do since his epic showdown against, with Lox versus Dipset with that versus you look at Jeezy versus Gucci Mane. I know that versus definitely had its peak popularity during the pandemic, but that kind of stuff that he was able to do with Timbaland, I think also speaks so much to everything that he's been able to do there.And another person I want to mention to that was in this group as well that I think is similar is LL Cool J because I think similar to the way that. Swiss beets is Ella is also with someone that's been involved with multimedia with everything from the jump. He was the 1st artist to truly breakthrough from Def Jam and did it as a teenager.So, of course, he gets plenty of shout out for that, but he's also always been trying to find ways to look out for that next generation of artists. And he's been doing some of that more recently with rock the bells, and that's its own. Company and entity now where they have a festival coming up as well to celebrate things that are happening with hip hops anniversary.So it's been cool to see him do things as well. And I'll give a very brief shout out here to, coach K and P because they, similar to how I mentioned, Kevin Liles were able to build and grow a company and then sell it for, I believe, forget the exact sale price for, quality control. But they were able to do that thanks in part to a lot of the work that Ethiopia had done, helping to give quality control, the platform that it did, and especially in an era where I think it's harder for a record label to have a true brand, they were able to help give it a boost.[00:28:36] Zack Greenburg: That's true. And on that note of labels, I think Julie Greenwald, there's a mention, you know, she and Craig Kalman, who's mentioned, in an earlier grouping, you know, run Atlantic together. And there's a lot of, of music that we wouldn't have seen if it had been for the two of them, you know, running the show over there.So, shout out to Julie. I mean, the only one actually we haven't discussed here with E40 and Rick Ross. And I don't know, you know, probably get moving, but, do you think Rick Ross deserves to be number 21 on this entire list? Like ahead of Pharrell, ahead of, you know, some of the other names on here. I was surprised that he was ranked this high.[00:29:09] Dan Runcie: I love the spicy questions. Cause this is what people wanted to hear the podcast about, right? They wanted to hear one of us, you know, poke the bear a little bit.If Rick Ross was able to nail that dive in the pool, do you think you would have ranked him higher?[00:29:21] Zack Greenburg: Ha ha ha ha ha ha. No, no, I wouldn't. I mean, I still know. I mean, you know, like I get it, you know, he's called the boss that he must be a mogul, You know, and, some of the things he's done in terms of, you know, Bel Air and Maybach music and all that. Sure. But like, you know, when you put them up against like some of the other ones, did he really do something new or was he more just like following a, blueprint that had worked for others before and, you know, executing it to a degree success, but like, again, not, you know, not to the level of, let's say Pharrell.I think maybe I just, I'm salty that he ended up ahead of Pharrell. I think Pharrell is just way more influential and Mowgli, but, I don't know. What do you think?[00:29:59] Dan Runcie: So, I've read 2 of Ross's books and I interviewed him once on Trapital. I think that, to your point, he did follow the blueprint that we saw from others. I think he is smart about the types of partnerships he does, but it does feel like a ditty light. Type of playbook that he's been able to do and build.And I do think a lot of it makes sense. He may not necessarily have the large media entities the way that he does. Although I do think he's overdue for some type of comedy show or some type of reality show just following him around because I think he's hilarious. And anytime that he gets that, it could just generate something unique.And I'm sure he's been hit up about it. I do think that he's done well for himself. Just thinking about. Now, how his career is growing, I think it's been what, 16, 17 years since hustling 1st came out. I think in this range, there is some flexibility there in terms of like, where people are in certain ways.I get why he may not necessarily be as high. I'm sure if you looked at the net worth or the earnings, that some of the people that are lower than him may actually be higher. I think 1 of the knocks potentially is although Maybach music was cool. I wrote about this in Trapit as well. I think there was a missed opportunity.And part of that comes from, huh, did Ross do all the things that he probably could have done from a leadership perspective to especially like, when Meek Mill and Wally were beefing and stuff. And I think Ross had a bit more of a laissez faire approach to things, which in some ways is kind of the opposite of King making as we're talking about this, right?Can we really bring folks together and make something larger than it is. I think it was a bit tough in general for people to try to do everything themselves, try to be the boss of this label, which is signed to a different label because Rick Ross was signed to a different label than MNG was himself. And I think anytime you have that type of dynamic, it's just splitting the leadership interests. So I hear you.[00:32:00] Zack Greenburg: Yeah. So then how much of a mogul are you, if your label is really, you know, so I guess everybody's labels on somebody else's label and have you distributed by something, but you know, it's like when they're like multiple labels kind of, you know, intertwined with your label, it kind of causes the question.are you really the boss? If you have several bosses that you're answering to, but you know, I think actually though. in Rick Ross's defense, what he's done with Wingstop, I mean, that is pretty unique and, I don't know that anybody else on this list has something comparable in that space.So, you know, maybe that's why, I think, you know, by virtue of that, you could put them pretty high up. And maybe that's what some of the judges were thinking, you know, but he also ended up on a lot of lists, you know, so some of the judges just kind of like, maybe we're getting to some of the judges sent rank lists, and they're like, you know, this person is the top and they should get the most points and other people were like, here are my people.And you can just rank them evenly. and I think Rick Ross ended up on a lot of those lists. So, you know. I think again, maybe like I was alluding to earlier, he's a bit of a compiler, nothing wrong with that, you know, you can get into the hall of fame by compiling 3000 hits, but, it's interesting to see how, how the opinions differ. That's the whole fun of it.[00:33:06] Dan Runcie: He runs his business is almost like how a small business owner would in a number of ways where he has a bunch of car washes and, you know, his is 1 of the family members does that he has his wing stops, right? He has that. And it is a bit of this, like, mogul dumbness from that perspective in terms of like, okay, I have my hands in these things and I've hired people to have, you know, different roles within that that doesn't necessarily have things in aggregate. It's a bit more of the strip mall mentality as opposed to the, you know, building a skyscraper that could then build other skyscrapers, but it's something worth mentioning, but I hope we keep that up with a few of the other rankings we have coming up as we dig into the top 20, here.So, yeah, let's start with 20. So, 20, Queen Latifah, I think that she and, Ice Cube, who we'll get into in a minute, were one of the first that noticed, hey, I may not be able to do this rap thing forever, what are areas that I can expand this multimedia empire and everything I'm building.She was able to do this with Living Single, the show that was Friends before Friends was, and even the way that she was able to show young black people that were having, you know, highly sought after roles, but they still had their interpersonal dynamics. It was cool. It was refreshing. It was aspirational, which I do think that a lot of the black sitcoms were in the 90s.And she was able to do that, continue finding ways to put other people on as well through the work that she did. She was also willing to take risks. Like I remember when she was in set it off, people had a bunch of questions about, Oh, you're going to play a lesbian in this heist movie. What is this going to do for your career?And she was willing to do that. And I think she is always, you know, be willing to take risks. So, you know, shout out to her and I'm glad that several people have mentioned her[00:34:56] Zack Greenburg: Yeah. And I think she gets credit for, like you say, diversifying her portfolio. you know, into the acting world. it's worth noting, you know, she was barely ahead of Rick Ross. but you know, there is a big difference between 21 and 20. It's the top 20. So, again, I think, you know, she was a bit of a compiler, but there were a couple of people who ranked her in the top 10.and, you know, I think just like in terms of the breadth of her career, you know, the longevity, the diversity of the things that she's gotten into. you know, even if it's not as much ownership as somebody, even like a Rick Ross, it's just like, having your hands in a lot of pies and like that really counts for something as a mogul.So, I think it makes sense to see you there.[00:35:36] Dan Runcie: Agreed 19 is Eminem. So let's talk about it. How do we feel about Eminem in 19?[00:35:43] Zack Greenburg: You know, I think it's a weird one, honestly. you know, there's no doubting, his lyrical prowess and where, you know, where he kind of stacks up as part of like the pantheon of lyricists, like fine. But is he really a mogul? I mean, he's somebody who has been, you know, very reclusive at times. Who has, you know, kind of gotten in his own way at other times. I mean, I could see ranking him up here though, just by virtue of ownership of the music and sort of like the quality and quantity of his catalog. you know, what he did with D12, you know, he did have shady records and, you know, and all that.So again, you know, there, there is kind of a layer cake of a label situation, like some of the folks who mentioned earlier across, but, you know, that was at least important to him to set up, you know, as his continued ownership of, You know, his work and, you know, certainly when it comes to like raw commercial prowess, you know, Eminem, is one of the best selling hip hop artists of all time.If not the best, depending on how you look at it. And just, you know, simply by virtue of the amount of revenue he generated, you know, throughout the late 90s and early aughts at the peak of the sort of CD age there. you know, that deserves, some kind of something, even if he wasn't running around starting his own, you know, side businesses as much as some of these other folks[00:37:02] Dan Runcie: Best selling artist of the 2000s by a pretty strong amount, I believe, and has the most of any genre, right? And the most streamed song of the 2000s as well, at least on Spotify with Lose Yourself, and I'm pretty sure Till I Collapse and maybe a couple of others aren't too far. Behind as Will Page as Spotify's former chief economist said, anytime Eminem farts or burps or releases anything on a streaming service, it provides a huge bump to everything in this back catalog.So, I still laugh about that, but I do think that speaks to it there and. If, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he was one of the first hip hop artists to have a Sirius XM channel himself.So that's something that's unique and obviously Sirius is still doing its thing. So, shout out to him there. A bit higher than I probably would have ranked him, but that's why it's interesting to get the group results here. Ah, this one's gonna be spicy. Number 18. Your boy, Suge Knight.[00:38:02] Zack Greenburg: Yeah, you know, I mean, I think this is one of the tougher ones on the entire list. You know, this is not like a list of, Ms. Congeniality or Mr. Congeniality, as you'll see, you know, some of the other names on here. Obviously, you know, Suge is in jail. he's been involved in the death of, you know, human beings that like that is, you know, not sort of like what you're after in a mogul here, but, enough people, you know, I guess felt that the business, if you just, you know, looking at it from a pure business perspective, was enough to put them up here. And, you know, there is no arguing that death row at its peak was one of the most influential record labels, you know, not just in hip hop, but of anything. I mean, any genre, when death row was at its hottest, I don't know any, kind of moment where any other, you know, you'd have to stack that up against peak Motown or, you know, Atlantic or something like that, but, you know, that was really like a, peak moment. So, you know, I think this is one of the things we run into on this list like if somebody exhibits, a level of, you know, sort of business ingenuity, you know, that counts for something and, you know, the other things that you do in your life and your career, you know, we'll detract from that, but, you know, what you did at your peak, I think will get you pretty far in a list like this when people kind of count, you know, we kind of count sort of like the ceiling as opposed to the average, in some cases. So, I don't know. What do you think?[00:39:27] Dan Runcie: These are the two most impressive business moves that Suge Knight has done. Number two is shaking down Vanilla Ice to get his points for everything that he did on the album that had Ice Ice Baby there. Because he was able to use that money to then start and co found Death Row with Dr. Dre. That's number two.Number one is at the 1995 Source Awards where he publicly makes his Call to attract Tupac to say, Hey, I know you're in jail, but we're riding with you. Tupac wasn't signed there at the time, but he knew that this was an opportunity. Tupac likely needed somewhere to call a home and he called his shot. He was able to make it happen.I know everyone talks about the diddy shot about, you know, being all in the video death row. And that, of course, is infamous in its own right. But I think the number one thing that should night did is that that said. those 2 things speak to what should night is, 1, it is that muscle and the prowess of being able to overpower a situation and then take advantage.And I think those were things that he was good at. That said, I don't think he was necessarily strong as a. Business leader, the company imploded in large part. And I don't think it imploded because of Dr. Dre, it imploded because of all of the things, all the shenanigans. And I think for what he was building, some of that just got a little too close to the sun, unfortunately. And, that's Chuck Knight[00:40:49] Zack Greenburg: And, I think that, you know, in some of the reporting I've done over the years, One of the things people say is that Shug and a lot of the guys around him, you know, it wasn't that they were necessarily like that. It's just they kind of had been watching too many bad gangster movies and the music business, didn't know what to do with somebody like Suge Knight.And so the more he kind of like played this role, the more he grew into it to where, to the point where he was actually living sort of a bad gangster movie. and sort of like created, turned himself into a monster. Yeah, so I think like the evolution. or the evolution, of somebody like Suge Knight is sort of fascinating in terms of like what you can, what sort of playing a role can do to you, over the course of time.[00:41:32] Dan Runcie: Agreed. And well said number 17 here is America's most wanted ice cube. I'll start here to kick things off. I think that Ice Cube, like Queen Latifah mentioned earlier, was one of the early ones who had said that he knew that living and doing everything off a raft wasn't gonna last forever. And I think a lot of it was because he experienced some of the brunt and ugliness of it.I mean, we've all seen the Straight Outta Compton movie. He goes into Jerry Heller's office. He starts smashing shit. He releases no Vaseline. There was definitely a no fucks given that carried through even after he was done with NWA, but he saw what this industry is like as well and then that's when he starts writing screenplays.And then that's how Friday because the thing becomes a thing. And then. His career just continues to take off after that he still dabbled in rap and did his thing, but he definitely became known early on for one of the people that took a risk with cube entertainment and everything that he was able to do there.And with any of the movies that he had, whether it was the movies with Mike Epps and plenty others, I do believe that most of these movies were pretty profitable. And he was able to. Do it work within the confines that he had and just continue to build everything he did from a career. We've seen him expand as well into everything that he's done with the big 3 specifically giving a home for basketball players that can still play, but maybe they can't make, you know, a 13 person NBA roster anymore.I do think that some of his more recent news highlights that are a bit more politically driven or him walking around with Tucker Carlson and probably take it away from some of the more prominent memories of Hugh Ice Cube is, but yeah, that's why I had had him or that's why he, I think deserves to be, you know, where he is, on the list.[00:43:27] Zack Greenburg: Yeah. And I think it's interesting, you know, you see, Eminem, Suge Knight, Ice Cube, all together, you know, they're all, inextricably connected to Dr. Dre. one way or the other. Right. and you know, would there, would Dre have been Dre without the three of them? you know, at different phases of his career, you know, I don't know, I mean, I think certainly what, Ice Cube did as part of NWA, you know, I wouldn't say that, that NWA was like.like a business first organization. But like that wasn't the point of NWA and if it hadn't been for NWA, I don't think you would have been able to have business first organizations come out of hip hop in the way that you did. and certainly, you know, somebody like Dr. Dre, so. I think he gets extra points for that.and, you know, this is probably why, you know, he was again, I don't know, was he compiler? He was, you know, he had like a lot of kind of middling, a lot of lists, a couple of top 10 votes, you know? So, you know, I think again, everybody has their favorite and he's up there for a lot of folks.[00:44:27] Dan Runcie: Agreed. Number 16 is Drake. Should we poke the bear again?[00:44:33] Zack Greenburg: Yeah. Does Drake deserve to be at number 16 on this list?[00:44:37] Dan Runcie: This one surprised me, I was very surprised at the number of people that had him on the list, because you can make a case for the opposite, right? It's similar to the M and M thing, but almost to the extreme because M and M, yes, most commercially successful artists, XYZ. There's other artists that are less commercially successful at M and M that did more in that mogul definition but for Drake, it's even bigger of a Delta between these two, because here you have the most streamed artists of all time. So clearly commercially successful on its own, but people believe that OVO. Records or OVO sound itself actually could hurt an artist's career. And when you think about that, you think about some of the other multimedia things that he's done.I know he's been active as an investor and I know that people like Nicki Minaj and others have said, Oh, you know, Drake's a low key billionaire. He just doesn't want you to know it personally. Again, he may be, I mean, I'm not sure what he may not disclose, but it isn't always just about wealth. It's like, what opportunities were you able to create for each other?I do think it's good. That drink has been able to have different people that have been working alongside that. I think did get a bit of that drink stimulus package. And I think that's something that is quite debated, but I do think that. I feel like 21 Savage has definitely benefited from it. I mean, he was already commercially successful, but for him and Drake to do a joint album together was huge.I think it was the same way that it was huge for Future and the same way that the Migos going on tour with Drake in 2018 was huge for them and anything else that Drake continues to do from that perspective. So I think it is, you know, debatable, but I mean, people do definitely add some weight to the artists themselves.[00:46:18] Zack Greenburg: Yeah. And, you know, I think he should be around Eminem and whether they're both too high is an open question, but, you know, there's no doubting the commercial viability of what he's done. He did start more side businesses in Eminem, right? With OVO, whether it's the label, the festival, the clothing line, you know, he started a whiskey brand called Virginia black, which I tried once.It tasted okay. but I don't think it's selling, you know, I don't know if he's even still doing it. yeah, he is definitely involved as a startup investor, so maybe, you know, we'll see some exits and we start to think of him differently at that point. But, yeah, you know, again, I think it's, some voters just kind of overweighted, you know, musical prowess and pop culture influence.And if you're talking about that, I, I don't know anybody who's been as influential in the past 15 years. I mean, he's, you know, he's the most streamed artist of all time and that's got to count for something.[00:47:08] Dan Runcie: Right. I know his cannabis line failed, but there's a lot of people, even people that we'll get to in this list that have also had failed or struggling cannabisbusinesses. And, there's a lot that we could discuss there, but moving on number 15 is Sylvia Robinson, the originator.[00:47:26] Zack Greenburg: I think she deserves to be in the top five, personally. because if there were no Sylvia Robinson, yeah, I mean, I don't know that we have hip hop and, you know, it's, you know, for those who don't know the story, she was running sugar hill records with her husband, Joe sylvia was actually a child star singer herself.And, you know, they kind of had this like middling existence with their label. And then all of a sudden she's at this birthday party that she didn't even want to go to in Harlem and she sees Lovebug Starsky up on the microphone. A hip hop hippie to the hippie to the hip hip hop. You know, this is early, early seventies.She's never heard anything like it. All the kids, you know, hands in the air, like you just don't care. And the whole thing. she tries to get Lovebug to sign. There's some kind of dispute, like with his management, never happens. And so she just goes to the pizzeria in New Jersey, finds three kids, get him, gets them to talk real fast over this record is how she described it.and that's, you know, that's Rapper's Delight. That's the first hip hop song on Wax. That's the first hit. you know, that sort of spawns the whole genre. So, you could certainly argue, that, you know, she, borrowed or she hired, hired people who borrowed or whatever to do this, you know, like the idea that, that the first hip hop, track on wax was like, you know, originated in a pizza shop in New Jersey is really unfortunate cause it started at the Bronx, but like, you know, Sylvia came from Harlem.She, you know, she, she knew that world. Like, you know, she was part of the music business and, for better or worse, she took hip hop from being, you know, just basically like spoken word in person kind of thing to being, you know, national events. Would it have happened eventually?Yeah, I think so. But you know, who knows? I mean, it could have taken years longer and if it took years longer, you know, are we going to have the eighties with like run DMC and Def Jam and all that? Like, you know, I don't know. I mean, it, could have taken a lot longer to get off the ground if she hadn't done what she'd done.And, you know, I don't think we, I don't think we should really be dinging Sylvia Robinson for her Machiavellian tactics, given some of the other people on this list, you know, we're talking like Suge Knight and whoever else, you know, there's quite nefarious characters, you know, as we get higher up too in this list.So, you know, I don't think anything she did was. remotely as bad as, as like a lot of the dudes on this list. and, you know, so, you know, let's, I think we give her her due and yeah, I would definitely put her higher, but, you know, I think that's part of the deal when, when you have somebody who's that early on.You know, people are going to say, Oh, well, you know, the total gross is not quite as much as so and so or whatever the case may be. And she wasn't as famous as some of the artists. So, but you know, she's up there, I mean, ahead of some pretty big names, Drake, Eminem, what have you. So, I think she's getting some flowers here[00:50:00] Dan Runcie: The total gross knock is always one that makes me roll my eyes a bit because even if you take out the inflation aspect and the amount of money that's now in the industry, this is something that happens with pioneers in any type of industry. They are the ones that take the early hits to make it possible.She and her work is what made it possible for rappers to like, she and her workers have made it possible for the message and anything else that we then see after that. Yes. Sugar Hill. records did have its struggles, afterward, like many other labels. But what do you think about broader context of the eighties being a very tough time in general for black music?And there were only a certain number of decision makers in power that could make that happen. Yeah. You have to take that into account. And then additionally, she did stuff outside of even just this record label itself. As you mentioned, she was a recording artist herself. She also owned a nightclub. So there were other mogul type things that she had her hands.And so shout out to Sylvia, who knows where this would be without her.[00:51:00] Zack Greenburg: And probably worth caveating also that, you know, she did have some, Disputes over paying artists, as the years went on. So did like really a lot of people on this list is we could do like a whole separate, you know, like has some kind of dispute on how they pay artists. So, you know, that, that's probably worth noting too, but yeah, I mean, so does everybody else.And, you know, I think she deserves her flowers.[00:51:22] Dan Runcie: Number 14, Dame Dash,[00:51:25] Zack Greenburg: Another, another hot one coming in. I mean, I think a lot of people would disagree with this, but you know, some people would put them even higher. I mean, I think he might be the most polarizing name on this entire list. Like some people had on top five, you know, some people didn't list them at all.you know, I think it kind of comes in. We've had this conversation before. Would there be a Jay Z without a Damon Dash? you know, I mean, I think so, but it's that part of the, you know, we've talked about him in the context of startups and do you, you know, you need a different kind of founder for your like pre seed days than you do for your series B.you know, if you're like a mafia, family, you need like a wartime Don, you know, versus like a peacetime Don or whatever it's called. But like, you know, I think, Dame Dash is a wartime Don. He's a seed stage startup founder. and he does it fair as well. You know, when it comes to like the growth stage and the corporate boardrooms and stuff, but, you know, there's no denying his brilliance.you know, I think what he did, you know, certainly with rock aware, you know, expanding, the Roc-A-Fella empire beyond music. you know, maybe he realized that Jay was eventually going to leave and that they just, it wasn't going to be forever. And so he wanted to get his hands into, you know, as many different areas as he could, but, you know, there's like a lot of pro and a fair bit of con, but, you know, I think again, he's one who, you know, the pro outweighed the con, he didn't kill anybody, you know, so there's some people on here who did.yeah, the con is only like so much con in my opinion.[00:52:56] Dan Runcie: This conversation makes me think about, that backstage documentary that. Roc-A-Fella had put out after the hard knock life tour. And there's that infamous scene of Dave dash yelling and swearing at Kevin Lyles, who was at Def Jam at the time about the jackets and where what logo was supposed to be, or something other than that.And thinking about that in context now of like, you know, how we talked about Kevin Lyles and everything he was able to do from that run and still can continue to do. And with where Dame Dash is, is in his career, Dame Dash doing his thing. I think he very much lived through and practice and preach the ownership standards that worked for him, where he has Dame Dash Studios, Dame Dash this, and he's been able to.Create exactly what he wanted to. We heard him on that infamous 2015 breakfast club interview where he's yelling at DJ Envy and Charlemagne about, Oh, well, if your son wants a job, can you get him a job here at power 105 or whatever? No. Well, I can do him at where I'm at. And as comic as the delivery was, there is some aspect of mogul dumb.That is a bit of that King making aspect of, okay, can you create opportunities for others around you? What those opportunities look like definitely vary. And I think that is a factor. So I do highlight that is something that Dame is able to do. And Dave is also similar to he's similar to a polarizing basketball player in the sense that the media may look and be like, why do you all fuck with this guy?Like, what's going on? But if you ask the people that are actually in it, a lot of that would be like, oh, well, you got to look at Dame dash, Dame dash is the guy. And when I have. Interviewed. I'm sure you've interviewed and talked to many of young artists, too, or young label executives, too. A lot of them will reference Dave Dash.A lot of them will look at what he was able to do alongside Roc-A-Fella, almost in the same way that, you know, players will swear by Kyrie or swear by James Harden or some other type of athlete that may be polarizing in their own right. And the media is like, Oh, why do you all like this guy? And it's like, Oh, well, no, you don't understand.So there's something about. The people, and obviously I say that being self aware is us as people more so on the media side, as opposed to being in it themselves. But there's something about these young artists and moguls as well that have always looked up and respected what Dame has built. And even though it may not resonate, like, personally, I acknowledge that.[00:55:23] Zack Greenburg: I would say, if you're going to make a basketball reference, Maybe not personality, but like basketball style, I'd almost liken him to Carmelo Anthony, you know, like he's an isolationist. He's a scorer, like, you know, he may not be very good at distributing the basketball, but like, you know, you throw him the ball in the corner and he's going to find a way to get it in.And, You know, like a lot of people wouldn't think that he belongs in the Hall of Fame at all, you know, but some people would, be insistent on it. So, you know, yeah, I think that sort of like singular focus, you know, you could definitely give him credit for that,[00:55:55] Dan Runcie: Agreed. Number 13, we are Cohen.[00:55:58] Zack Greenburg: man, another like bulldozer of a human being, but, you know, certainly somebody who, you know, maybe he has also got the finger roll, you know, like he, he can have a light touch when needed. you know, I think just like in terms of longevity, we talk about longevity with some of the names on this list, you know, Leroy was there in the very beginning of hip hop, you know, managing rappers, and it gives the road manager run DMC, taking the leader

Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves for an episode that will leave you captivated and craving for more. In this week's edition of our podcast, we dive deep into the life of the remarkable Natasha Graziano, a woman whose journey will inspire, shock, and move you. From the very moment Natasha steps into the room, her vibrant energy is palpable. As she begins to share her story, you'll find yourself spellbound, hanging onto her every word. With candor and vulnerability, Natasha takes us on a rollercoaster ride through the lowest points of her life, a tale of redemption and self-discovery. We learn that Natasha's past as a webcam girl and her battle with drug addiction served as catalysts for her incredible transformation. Through sheer willpower and determination, Natasha clawed her way out of the darkness, rebirthing herself into the powerful, enlightened woman we see today. But Natasha's journey doesn't end there. She delves into the world of digital platforms, captivating thousands with her voice and energy. She recounts her Clubhouse glory days, where she commanded rooms filled with 25,000 people, even attracting the attention of icons like Damon John and Ja Rule. The conversation turns to relationships, and here, Natasha's insight is unparalleled. She shares invaluable wisdom on finding the "one," debunking societal norms and embracing the idea of multiple soulmates. With a mix of romance and practicality, she guides us through the intricate dance of passion, compatibility, and self-discovery. And just when you think you've heard it all, Natasha lets us in on her personal rituals and hobbies. From grounding in nature and breathwork to indulging in homemade chocolate delights, she is a force to be reckoned with. As our time with Natasha comes to a close, we are left in awe of her unyielding belief in the power of manifestation. She imparts her knowledge on the art of scripting, sharing the secrets behind achieving dreams with laser-like focus. Her book, "Be It Till You Become It," serves as a guide, weaving together neuroscience and ancient wisdom to help readers tap into their limitless potential. This episode is not one to be missed. Join us in immersing yourself in Natasha Graziano's captivating journey, as she invites you to step into your own power and rewrite your story. Trust us, you won't regret it. So grab your headphones and listen to this episode now, for an empowering and entertaining adventure awaits. BUSINESS INQUIRIES: Jenna@DigitalSocialHour.com SPONSORS: AG1: https://www.drinkAG1.com/DSH Hostage Tape: https://hostagetape.com/DSH --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/digitalsocialhour/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Capital Hacking, hosts Josh McCallen and John Edwin discuss the remarkable life and impact of MJ Gottlieb. MJ shares his journey in entrepreneurship and sobriety, highlighting his work in creating the world's first sober dating app. The conversation also delves into MJ's book, "How to Ruin a Business Without Really Trying," featuring a foreword by Damon John. Listeners can expect to hear fascinating stories about MJ's relationship with famous personalities, including Damon John. Tune in to gain insights on the double bottom line and the power of combining entrepreneurship with a meaningful cause. [00:02:13] Entrepreneurship for good.[00:07:36] Joining forces with FUBU.[00:08:21] Never let your ego cloud your judgment.[00:12:00] Clothing line with 1500 stores.[00:15:13] Warehouse challenges and back office.[00:19:38] Connecting with someone in recovery.[00:22:04] Mental health and addiction.[00:26:51] Lucid's unique business model.[00:29:33] Rock Sobriety concert[00:33:38] The importance of spirituality.[00:37:31] The double bottom line theory.[00:41:22] Lucid app and its mission.In this episode, the hosts and guest emphasize the importance of implementing a spiritual program in recovery. The guest shares their initial anger upon hearing a famous 12-step speaker state that life doesn't necessarily improve when one stops using drugs or alcohol. However, they soon realized that true sobriety and personal growth require replacing substance use with spirituality.The guest explains that addiction is not solely a physical or mental issue but also a spiritual sickness, often referred to as a "soul sickness." Substances were used to fill a void and temporarily escape pain and problems. However, even after removing substances, the void remained. Therefore, replacing substance use with spirituality is crucial to address this soul sickness.The spiritual program discussed in the episode involves embracing pain and discomfort in recovery. Instead of avoiding or numbing the pain, individuals are encouraged to confront it, identify it, and take inventory. Sharing this pain with a trusted friend or mentor is also emphasized. Additionally, the program highlights the importance of letting go of resentments and practicing honesty, openness, and willingness.The guest and host believe that these principles of a spiritual program are not exclusive to alcoholics or addicts but should be applicable to everyone. They argue that if everyone were to adopt these principles, such as being honest, open, and willing, and letting go of resentments, it would lead to personal growth and a healthier society. Overall, the episode highlights the transformative power of incorporating spirituality into the recovery process and its potential benefits for individuals overcoming addiction.MJ Gottlieb, the guest on the podcast, is making a significant impact in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The host mentions that MJ has lived an extraordinary life and has positively influenced not just a few, but hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. While specific details of MJ's impact are not provided in the given excerpts, it is mentioned that he is involved in sobriety work and has created the world's first sober dating app. Additionally, references are made to MJ's book and his relationship with famous individuals like Damon John. These details suggest that MJ's impact likely stems from his work in entrepreneurship, sobriety, and possibly other areas as well.

Join us as we sit down with Johnny Vegas, the mastermind behind Kloudout, which is known for providing stellar services to the families of the US National Soccer Team during their time in Las Vegas. We unravel Johnny's journey from his early days at the Cosmopolitan Hotel to his current role of orchestrating memorable experiences for soccer players' families. We also delve deep into the operations of Kloudout and how their meticulous planning maps out an array of engaging activities for families while players stay focused on their matches. Let's take you on a journey to Dubai, a rich melting pot of expats from across the globe. Amidst chats about golf as a sport versus a hobby, we ruminate on the city's upcoming Vegas-style casino and celebrate the success of our friend, Ajman Star. Our conversation with Johnny Vegas further uncovers the misconceptions of the Middle East and why it is one of the safest places in the world. Johnny also opens up about his Ethiopian roots, his transition to Dubai, and shares his insider's take on the city. We delve into the realm of soccer, its global appeal, and the unity it brings amongst fans. The discussion around Messi's groundbreaking contract with Apple TV sets the stage for pondering the future of contracts in the sports world. Shifting gears, we dissect the lifestyle and opportunities Dubai offers. Johnny shares the advantages he found in this city, from business expansion to attracting top entrepreneurs like Steve Harvey, Mark Cuban, and Damon John. As a testament to his success, Johnny unveils his plans to gift a Las Vegas local the Dubai experience. So, buckle up for this ride packed with unique insights, inspiring stories, and explorations of cultures and the world of sports! Follow Action Junkeez on IG!! https://www.instagram.com/actionjunkeezpodcast/ Follow Jon Orlando on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/JonOrlando/ Follow George Carmona on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mr_george_carmona/ Follow Adam Lieberman on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ALieberman/ Follow Yohanes Zewdu on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnny1vegas/ This is a Podcast Junkeez production recorded out of Sticky Paws Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada.  https://stickypawsstudios.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/action-junkeez/support

In this episode, the hosts - Jules, Tia, and Mika - catch up and share what they've been obsessed with lately. Jules shares the exciting news that he's been given the privilege of interviewing big names like Deepak Chopra, Drew Barrymore, Neil Patrick Harris, Timbaland, Gary Vaynerchuck, Damon John, Bobbi Brown, Ariana Huffington, and more. The trio also talks about the power of collaboration and the importance of human connections in personal growth and development. Tia, who recently became a new mom, emphasizes the value of having a community during different seasons of life, and Mika stresses the importance of evaluating the people you surround yourself with. Listen to the full episode for more interesting insights and updates from the hosts![00:00:10] Our host welcomes the audience and introduces the guests.[00:00:30] Jules is asked about her current obsession, to which she replies that she is obsessed with spending time with Tia and our host.[00:00:50] It is revealed that the trio recently celebrated their two-year anniversary.[00:01:10] Tia talks about her obsession with their recent get-together, where they met after months.[00:01:30] Jules shares her exciting news of being given the privilege of interviewing celebrities like Deepak Chopra, Drew Barrymore, Neil Patrick Harris, Timbaland, Gary Vaynerchuck, Damon John, Bobbi Brown, and Ariana Huffington, among others. She reveals that the audience will have access to these interviews, and many more amazing episodes will be dropping this summer.[00:02:15] Jules expresses her desire to ask Neil Patrick Harris to sing for her and asks how he keeps going despite winning multiple awards.[00:03:10] Tia talks about the power of collaboration, how it reflects on personal growth, and the value of human connection.[00:04:00] Tia shares her experiences of being a new mom and the importance of having a community, whether in similar or different stages of life.[00:05:10] The trio discusses the importance of evaluating the five most people they spend time with and how it impacts their lives.[00:06:30] Our host concludes the episode by highlighting the diversity among the trio and how their friendship has transcended geographic locations and differences.Get Obsessed with us. Collectively we are a nutritionist, a master certified life coach, an attorney, and a self-esteem expert. We dive into topics that uncover the essence of the human experience. Our stories are one of kicking fear in the face and taking a leap of faith. We are equally obsessed with the works of Brene Brown and are inspired to study and understand the 30 core emotions. Each week we will explore another emotion, talk to experts in their field and inspire you to live the life you are meant to be living. We are Julie Lokun, JD, Tia Morell Walden, Certified Holistic Nutritionist, and Mika Altidor, Certified Life Coach. Join us for the conversation, and more importantly be a part of the conversation. Reach out with a question or comment about an episode or suggest a personal development topic you are obsessed with. After all, the Obsessed Podcast is for you and about you. Learn More About Your Hosts: HereFor More About Julie Lokun Check Her Out: Here

“What we fail to realize is that a lot of the things we develop being in either military or on a sports team, a student-athlete, is that you develop these transferable skills and if you just change your focus, it can be applied to anything.” – Bryan ScottIn today's episode, Zack Knight is joined by Bryan Scott, Bryan is a product of Penn State University, and was drafted in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft with the 55th pick overall. Chosen by the Atlanta Falcons, he played with the New Orleans Saints and finished his ten-year NFL career with the Buffalo Bills, winning the 2012 Buffalo Bills Walter Payton Man of the Year award. After Retirement, Bryan landed on Shark Tank, presenting a product to the sharks that absorb shock, and landed a deal with Mark Cuban and Daymond John.Bryan talks about his success on Shark Tank, where he made a deal with Damon John and Mark Cuban. He learned how to deal with depression and anxiety during his transition from military to civilian life and how he recognized transferable skills developed in sports or the military that could be applied to any field. Find out how taking a step back allowed him to move two steps forward in his career and the importance of providing a community and great space when it comes to attracting customers.Tune in to this episode of the Tactical Leader, as we explore Bryan Scott's incredible story![00:01 - 01:32] Opening SegmentIf you have a platform and you want to create content that DELIVERS, go over to knightly.productions!Head over to myvoicechallenge.com to register for a free podcasting workshop!Zack introduces the sponsors and special guest, Bryan Scott!Bryan is a former NFL star who now owns a company that creates custom orthotics for veterans and athletes with knee and feet problems[01:33 - 03:00] Learning How To Go Slow To Go FastBryan talks about his history as an NFL starHe suffers from middle-child syndromeHow he went through a grieving period after retiring from footballHis experience with anxiety and depression [18:16 - 33:15] Navigating Through Anxiety And DepressionDeveloping transferrable skills from military and sports teamsLearned how to pivot and adjust in stressful situationsHe advises going slow to go fast which can help in transitioningEngaging with guests and providing a pleasurable shopping experience is key[41:35 – 50:38] Closing SegmentClosing words and remindersBryan advises listeners to create a culture and place that people enjoy coming to is importantHead over to myvoicechallenge.com to find out how you can discover your voice, claim your independence, and build that thriving business that you've always wanted!Key Quote:“People don't buy your products. They buy you.” – Bryan ScottDid you love the value that we are putting out in the show? LEAVE A REVIEW and tell us what you think about the episode so we can continue putting out great content just for you! Share this episode and help someone who wants to expand their leadership capacity or click here to listen to our previous episodes.Tactical Leadership is brought to you by Knight Protection Services. A veteran-owned and operated company, with...

In this podcast episode, the two Jules discuss the importance of networking for entrepreneurs. They dive into the ways to build and nurture a network, including the use of LinkedIn and attending conferences and networking events. The hosts also stress the significance of in-person networking and the energy and connection that comes with meeting someone face-to-face. They highlight the upcoming VeeCon conference, featuring speakers such as Gary Vaynerchuk, Damon John, Neil Patrick Harris, and Deepak Chopra, and discuss the benefits of attending conferences in one's industry. #veecon #garyvee 00:00:01] Introduction to the podcast and topic of being a true entrepreneur.[00:00:28] Discussion about networking and building relationships.[00:01:18] The importance of nurturing relationships and using LinkedIn as a platform.[00:02:10] Importance of getting out into the world and attending real networking events.[00:03:00] The benefits of meeting people in person and making undefinable connections.[00:04:14] Chamber of Commerce meetings and other networking opportunities.[00:05:02] The importance of attending conferences and researching them beforehand.[00:05:55] Overview of the VeeCon conference and the speakers attending.[00:06:56] The importance of being secure in your brand and messaging.[00:07:27] Conclusion and wrap-up.In this podcast, we discuss the journey of being a true entrepreneur and the importance of networking. We dive into the idea of building your network, nurturing your relationships, and giving yourself the right messages to acquire new clients and build strong connections.We also discuss the benefits of using LinkedIn as a platform to network and the importance of attending real networking events to make undefinable connections. Additionally, we talk about the Chamber of Commerce meetings and other networking opportunities available.Towards the end, we highlight the importance of attending conferences and doing research beforehand, giving an overview of the VeeCon conference and the speakers attending. We emphasize the need to be secure in your brand and messaging and conclude the podcast with a wrap-up.

As you've seen, Season 3 is dedicated to my father, Mike Jacox, who passed away late in 2021. I Love and miss you, Dad.Today, we sit down with James Oliver Jr., an author, entrepreneur, and host of the HOT new podcast, Parents Making Profits, a part of the Hubspot Network.   James and his team were fortunate to speak with Damon John, who got them going!  I met James in 2020 when I was growing so much from a diversity perspective.  So much of my growth is from my friends at the Shift up team, and the man, Dale Favors! In my episode with James, we talked so much about his life journey that all started in Brooklyn.  James always has had a Give-First mindset which is now coming back to him in many ways with his success.  James shares a story about his aunt, who played a significant role in his life.  She would be the first black woman to be a manager in the typewriter division of IBM.  James is a single father who talks about the experience of raising twins, which he jokingly calls "twinado."    Later in the episode, we talk about the word GRIT, inspired by the excellent book written by Angela Duckworth. He shares a favorite quote by Mark Twain regarding purpose in life and the impact we will have on the world. James also shares how we, as fathers, must be aligned with our purpose.  He talks about his faith and how God plays a crucial role in everything he does.  To learn more about James, you can connect with him on LinkedIn or find him on Twitter.Catch Sitka Seafoods Use promo code TAKE15 at checkout for a 15% discount on the BEST FISH EVER!Established in 2006, Acme Homes WA One of the most value-based home builders in the state of Washington! Go Check them out!

Healthy culture and lasting growth go hand-in-hand in any successful organization. Today, we bring back culture expert, Will Scott, Founder of The Culture Fix Academy, to discuss what it means to lead with a culture-first mentality; when and how the next recession will change the way businesses operate; and the necessary skills leaders need to develop in order to reach the next level of their leadership. This episode is sponsored by One Next Step Podcast. One Next Step is hosted by Belay Solutions' CEO Tricia Sciortino and CFO Lisa Zeeveld. They're serving up weekly episodes with actionable business tips and tools from fantastic guests like Damon John, Michael and Megan Hyatt, Chris Walker and more. They cover everything from how to leverage your executive assistance, to free tools to unlock your leadership potential, to what to know when you can't hire a CFO! Every week they offer listeners a free resource, like Belay's latest ebook, Delegate to Elevate. In it, you'll learn how to accomplish more by juggling less. So, go to BelaySolutions.com/Delegate, and download your free copy of it today. References: The Culture Fix Academy Will Scott on LinkedIn Will@TheCultureFixAcademy BelaySolutions.com/Delegate

The Fleeting Story with Pierre Laguerre Pierre Laguerre and Joe Lynch discuss the Fleeting story. Pierre is the Founder & CEO at Fleeting, a company that provides shippers & motor carriers direct access to reliable fleets & to flexible CDL drivers who operate them. About Pierre Laguerre Pierre Laguerre is an entrepreneur in transportation logistics who has over 17 years of experience in the space. While generating more than $5M in revenue through his transportation ventures, Pierre has successfully mentored young men who have gone on to earn their commercial drivers licenses. He has also facilitated growth in his peers who now own their own trucking and dispatch operations. As a Haitian-born migrant, Pierre found his entrepreneurial passion in trucking. He started his journey as a truck driver. Since then, he's earned the honor of becoming the first Black man to max out an SEC approved equity crowdfunding campaign. After excelling in the Quake Capital startup accelerator, Pierre has gone on to win pitch competitions with Harvard University, Chamillionaire, Kyrie Irvin and Damon John, all while being a calm collected head-of-household for his three young children. About Fleeting Fleeting provides shippers and motor carriers direct access to a flexible and reliable fleet of trucks, and to the CDL drivers who operate them. Streamlining access to a workforce of this kind brings more transparency and efficiency to the market while increasing margins for both sides. On our platform, carriers get expedited service from a flexible and reliable workforce, all through an easy to use interface. While drivers choose the jobs they want based on their schedules and preferences. We believe that when drivers are taken care of, customers are provided the best experience. Fleeting is backed by some of the most forward-thinking investors, including Arlan Hamilton, Founder of Backstage Capital, Chamillionaire, Quake Capital Partners, and Kevin Chanuelt, and Republic. The good news is that we've grown a significant amount since 2019 and haven't even scratched the surface on the potential of Fleeting, and our ability to reshape the massive trucking industry. Key Takeaways: The Fleeting Story Pierre Laguerre is the Founder and CEO of Fleeting, where he and his team provides shippers and carriers direct access to reliable fleets and a flexible team of CDL drivers to operate them. In the podcast interview, Pierre shares his life and entrepreneurial journey, including the unique insights he gained as an immigrant, driver, and owner operator. Pierre is a former owner/operator of multiple trucks and a truck staffing company. Through his experience on the ground, he saw how challenging it can be for owners to keep their trucks on the road earning money. Pierre's vision for Fleeting is to leverage modern technology to​ create a platform that improves the commercial freight industry by intelligently matching truck owners, drivers and shippers / brokers. Fleeting is built by truck owners for truck owners and they are on a mission to transform, educate, and modernize the trucking industry. Learn More About The Fleeting Story Pierre's Linked Fleeting LinkedIn Fleeting The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube

Crystal-town PEEPS we DID IT! TooT TooT Tuesday was created by Crystal on IG to reminder herself (and friends) to celebrate all of their WINS.  That includes the small ones that leads to the BIG ones that we unconsciously focus on more so than those thousands of tiny steps that inevitably got us there. Join us in celebrating the podcast reaching 1,000 downloads and also being featured on "The Cathy Heller Show" podcast that SAME DAY! Cathy has received over 25 million downloads and interviewed Damon John from Shark Tank, Rachel Ray and Deepak Chopra.  Be sure to join Crystal every Tuesday 12:15pm EST on IG to share your wins so we can TooT TooT you on your wins too! https://www.instagram.com/crystalclearpurposes/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crystal-simmons2/support

On PivotMe today, we have Matt LeBris, an award-winning entrepreneur, nationally coveted speaker, and top-ranked podcast host. He's a beacon of light through his work, which has positively impacted many lives throughout the globe as he is in pursuit of his North Star goal of impacting 1 billion lives. Matt shares the story of failing out of college, the last-minute conversation he had with Damon John of Shark Tank, and how he ended up working with him before building his 1B Branding, an NYC-based branding agency. He also explains how his past lavish lifestyle and self-sabotaging ways got him into trouble. In this episode, we discuss the importance of healing the inner child to become mindful in your business endeavors. Listen in to learn how to deal with self-sabotage by focusing on self-healing and progress rather than perfection.  Pivotal Questions Asked: [7:16] Was it hard to focus in college when you had a side gig that most people want for salary?  [13:36] The way you ran your business before versus how you run the business now, how are they different? [16:36] How much do you see the unfolding of your childhood showing up in your business?  [19:10] When you look at other business owners whether they're your clients or ones you've interacted with, how are they self-sabotaging, and is it because they haven't done the process of healing? [34:50] If you could tell the world one thing, what would it be?  In This Episode You Will Learn: [3:22] How and why he started his podcast and the interesting story of how he ended up working for Damon John of Shark Tank. [8:59] Matt on his drive and experience working for Damon John. [10:36] How he matured in his healing journey and stopped his ego from driving his life. [13:41] How pivoting allowed Matt to become mindful in the way he operates his business. [15:06] Learn to be gentle with yourself and trust the process as a high performer. [19:28] How we often self-sabotage as entrepreneurs by chasing perfection and not progress. [34:43] Events + perspective equals the outcome – learn to see the best out of every situation.  Connect with Matt: https://mattlebris.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mlebrisnyc/ https://www.instagram.com/matt_lebris/ https://www.facebook.com/TheMattLeBris/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd2hmzAHxclueNMFVz6he8w   Quotes: “Before healing, I would continuously self-sabotage when things went so good that I couldn't believe that I deserved to be rewarded by my hard work in such a way.”- Matt [19:28] “All that matters is that when you do self-sabotage, you get back on as quick as you can.”- April [22:38]   What can you do today? To Be Productive. Effective. Perform at your best. Even now. Are you struggling to stay focused? If you have the right framework, it takes the guesswork out of Productivity. Get our FREE mini-series 4 Steps: Doing More in Less Time. Visit pivot-me.com/4Steps to get it TODAY!

A Winning Approach to Business.

Brad Lea is an entrepreneur, speaker and a leading authority on web-based training. He is also the host of the podcast "Dropping Bombs with Brad Lea". He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about his path to success, why you need to be true to yourself, the difference between being a salesperson and being a closer, the best investment he's ever made, what he's learned developing training courses for Grant Cardone, Damon John, Tony Robbins and others. For more information about Brad Lea visit http://droppingbombs.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcoming Pierre Laguerre, the founder & CEO of Fleeting, at the 2021 Leading Entrepreneurs of the World Series, on the topic: Reimagining the World of TransportationPierre Laguerre is the founder & CEO of Fleeting, a platform that connects the trucking industry's key stakeholders - the shippers, the truck owners, and the drivers.Pierre is an entrepreneur in transportation logistics who has over 17 years of experience in the space. While generating more than $5M in revenue through his transportation ventures, Pierre has successfully mentored young men who have gone on to earn their commercial drivers licenses. He has also facilitated growth in his peers who now own their own trucking and dispatch operations.As a Haitian-born migrant, Pierre found his entrepreneurial passion in trucking. He started his journey as a truck driver. Since then, he's earned the honor of becoming the first Black man to max out an SEC approved equity crowdfunding campaign. After excelling in the Quake Capital startup accelerator, Pierre has gone on to win pitch competitions with Harvard University, Chamillionaire, Kyrie Irvin and Damon John, all while being a calm collected head-of-household for his three young children.About Fleeting: Fleeting is a commercial fleet management and services company. Whether it's driver supply or goods from the world's largest shippers - we move it around efficiently. All from a powerful technology platform.More than ever, truck owners and operators alike, are looking to avoid losing money on underutilized trucks. Whether you have 1 truck or 100 trucks, we are here for you.From driver acquisition and management to expense tracking and payouts, everything is taken care of on behalf of our clients while maximizing the value of your investment.Visit Fleeting: http://www.fleeting.us/About Leading Entrepreneurs of the World:Leading Entrepreneurs of the World is one of the most comprehensive entrepreneurial platforms and events in the world and features entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders presenting on cutting-edge topics and the latest industry developments. To learn more about Leading Entrepreneurs of the World and to stay updated on upcoming insightful presentations and events visit our site:https://leadingentrepreneursoftheworld.com/Follow 1BusinessWorld:Website: https://1businessworld.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1businessworld/Twitter: https://twitter.com/1businessworld/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1businessworld/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onebusinessworld/

Kevin O'Leary steps Behind The Rope. Shark Tank's Mr. Wonderful! Let us start at the beginning. Kevin talks about how he initially became involved with Reality TV SuperGuru Mark Burnett and how Shark Tank found its way into our lives all those years ago. Kevin talks about being the King of Mean, Shark Tank's Simon Cowell, or, in other words, just brutally honest about the potential entrepreneurs' likelihood of success. Of course we pay homage to Mr. Wonderful's epic catch phrases about being crushed like cockroaches, taken out behind the barn and shot, your dead to me (a personal fav) and of course, how all roads lead back to Mr. Wonderful! On a more serious note, we chat the biggest deal in Shark Tank History - it was Kevin's, his best and worst deal based on ROI, the ones that got away and if there are every any products in the tank that go on to success of massive proportions that he just doesn't understand. Tipsy Elves, Scrub Daddy, Squatty Potty - we are looking at you. Of course we also discuss Mr. Wonderful's colleagues on Shark Tank - Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, and Damon John as well as guest judges Alex Rodriguez and last, but certainly not least, our very own Skinny Girl Mogul, Ms. Bethenny Frankel. We break down many of the analytics behind the scenes like how many deals don't close once filming is over, who makes the most deals, and who does Kevin lose most deals to. While we have one of the most brilliant business minds with us, we discussed what qualities make for a good entrepreneur, what is the biggest misconception amongst entrepreneurs, the 24/7 work ethic required, the biggest mistakes most business owners make and just how important is the person versus the product. We discuss the one thing Mr. Wonderful loves the most. M-O-N-E-Y - what it stands for, why he loves it so much, and why are most people shy about saying, “ I love Money”!!! We sure do! Finally, we break down what being a public figure is like - red carpets, celeb run ins, people running down the street screaming “Mr. Wonderful” and what an amazing byproduct that is all from a little show which has turned into an international global blockbuster of a sensation, Shark Tank!!!@kevinolearytv@behindvelvetrope@davidyontefBONUS EPISODES Available at - https://www.patreon.com/behindthevelvetropeBrought to you by NUTRAFOL - https://www.nutrafol.com ($15 Off 1st Month's Subscription + Free Shipping on Every Order - Use Code “VELVET”)Brought to you by APPLE LEISURE GROUP - https://www.applevacations.com/BTVR ($75 Off Your Stay at Live Aqua in Cancun or Punta Cana - Enter Promo Code “SAND75”)Brought to you by NOOM - http://www.noom.com/VELVET (Sign Up for Your Trial Today)Merch Available at - https://www.teepublic.com/stores/behind-the-velvet-rope?ref_id=13198 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A Founder's greatest quality is to move forward from failure – because there will be many.  Pierre Laguerre is an excellent example of “losing it all” and rebuilding an empire from scratch, on several occasions.  Born in Haiti, Pierre struggled to adjust to life in East Flatbush, NYC when he moved to the US at age 14.  These struggles empowered him to become a community leader and successful entrepreneur.    In this podcast, Pierre will share how his journey as a truck driver for over a decade enabled him to build a rapidly growing fleet management marketplace.  He talks about how a life threatening carjacking inspired him to build a platform that supports underresourced and formerly incarcerated populations in gaining economic opportunities.   Founder Bio: Pierre Laguerre is an entrepreneur in transportation logistics who has over 17 years of experience in the space. While generating more than $5M in revenue through his transportation ventures, Pierre has successfully mentored young men who have gone on to earn their commercial drivers licenses. He has also facilitated growth in his peers who now own their own trucking and dispatch operations.   As a Haitian-born migrant, Pierre found his entrepreneurial passion in trucking. He started his journey as a truck driver. Since then, he's earned the honor of becoming the first Black man to max out an SEC approved equity crowdfunding campaign. After excelling in the Quake Capital startup accelerator, Pierre has gone on to win pitch competitions with Harvard University, Chamillionaire, and Damon John, all while being a calm collected head-of-household for his three young children.   TimeStamps: 2:26  Born and raised in Haiti.  Migrating to Brooklyn as a teenager 5:00  Every day life in Haiti 7:21  Arriving in New York City and overcoming bullying as a Haitian kid in East Flatbush 11:57 Leveraging street smarts to thrive in a life beyond the streets 16:15  How a desire to leave the hood inspired Pierre's early career as a truck driver 18:30  How Pierre moved from truck driver to entrepreneur with billion dollar aspirations 22:42  Losing everything | How Pierre rebuilt his business after a car accident destroyed it all 24:23  Coming up with business ideas to make money as an entrepreneur 31:23 31:31  How Pierre bootstrapped a business to $2.5mm in 18 months 38:00  Discovering tech as a tool to scale the management of a trucking fleet 41:30  How a special needs child and a life threatening car jacking inspired the start of Fleeting 48:41  Pitching Fleeting to investors with zero experience and straight out of the hospital 52:14  The Product | What is Fleeting? 55:08  The importance in listening to the market to determine best product approach 56:40  Solving truck drivers' biggest pain point 59:32  Closing a $500K seed round with Kyrie Irving of the New Jersey Nets and Lockstep Ventures 1:03:30  Find and support Pierre

If it seems like a new DTC brand is launching every day, that’s because it’s true. In every industry, across every vertical, on every channel, the next “big thing” is competing for your attention, your clicks and your cash. As a consumer, sifting through all that noise and filtering out which companies are worth your time can be a daunting task. And as a brand, it begs the question: how do you set yourself apart from the ever-growing pack?One option is to find a trusted source to vouch for you. Matthew Hayes can be that source, and his new marketplace, The Fascination, is where he wants to lift up some of the most worthy DTC brands coming to market.The Fascination is a product recommendation and reviews publication focused on emerging and purpose-driven direct-to-consumer brands, large and small. Users of the platform have the ability to filter through vetted brands, digest the company’s story, and even transact all in one place.On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Matthew dives into lessons he learned while building Leesa Sleep, why curation is so important in the rapidly expanding direct to consumer space, and gives his take on why the convergence of media and commerce will be the one thing that impacts ecommerce the most. Plus, I even pull out a few stories from his trip to Richard Branson’s Necker Island.Main Takeaways:Curation Station: The saturation of the market with a new DTC brand every day is creating issues for consumers and brands alike. With so much clutter, it’s hard to stand out. Through measurable metrics, in-depth reviews, and by holding brands up to certain benchmarks, The Fascination created a space that customers can trust, and brands want to be listed. Layers of Use: For a brand to stand out, The Fascination has found that being mission-driven, promoting social good, and leaning into and highlighting the unique aspects of your business will be the most effective strategy. Lessons Learned: While not everyone can pick the brains of the biggest entrepreneurs in the world, when you get the chance, it’s wise to listen. Matthew was able to visit Necker Island and spend time with Daymond John, Marie Forleo, Tim Ferris, Seth Godin, and Richard Branson. Tune in to hear what advice they gave that has been helping him to this day.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce---Transcript:Stephanie:Hey everyone. And welcome back to Up Next in Commerce. This is your host, Stephanie Postles, co-founder at mission.org. Today, I'm chatting with Matthew Hayes, the co-founder at The Fascination and previously on the founding team at Leesa Sleep. Matt, welcome to the show.Matthew:Thanks for having me.Stephanie:Yeah, I'm very glad to have you on. So I was hoping we could start with maybe Leesa Sleep. Because when I saw that I'm like, "Whoa, you were like an OG in the D-to-C space," and I thought they'd be a good jumping off point.Matthew:Yeah. So I was part of the founding team at Leesa. Yeah, we launched it back in 2014 before everything exploded. Right? So we were very early. We were one of the first BedInABox brands to get out there, Tuft & Needle came maybe, I don't know, six months to a year before us. Casper was literally right before us. And then we were out right around Thanksgiving of 2014 and that whole industry just exploded under our feet. We had the wind at our back for most of our tenure, especially our growth years. But things are a lot different now and t's a different ball game in terms of launch and growing a D-to-C brand in 2021.Stephanie:Good. Tell me a bit about the differences. I mean, obviously the world is very different and there's a lot of new trends coming out about what to expect over the next couple of years, but are there any lessons that you took away from Leesa that are still relevant or is the world just like in such a different place now?Matthew:No, I think it's still really relevant. I think a lot of the stuff that we were learning as we grew is incredibly relevant to the way that we launched The Fascination, the way that brand founders are thinking about things now. When we first launched in 2015, cost of acquisition were beautiful. Like all day we could scale the auctions across Facebook and Google, were very, maybe a fifth of what they are now just in terms of competitiveness. Just, I mean the mattress industry specifically there was 180 entrants after we launched, so a huge amount of volume coming into that space and just generally in D-to-C. So the cost of acquiring just pure play digital customers was going up and people were seeing the writing on the wall and starting to diversify into brick and mortar.Matthew:And so I think that was one of the things that we realized, is we've got to have a diverse channel mix. And so we struck the partnership with West Elm, we leaned more into Amazon. We looked more at international and we actually set up our own brick and mortar stores. So I think the combination of that brand awareness and exposure helped our brand tremendously. Whereas a lot of brands stuck it out, stayed pure plays and they learneD-to-Costly less and overspending on acquisition.Stephanie:Yeah, that's definitely the biggest thing that I see from the past couple of years or past decade is like before you could just focus on paid acquisition, like throw a bunch of money at it and one's really, they're going to come to you either way. And then now it seems like a lot of the, I guess the brands that are ahead are more media companies now, and there's a big spectrum between paying for people versus organic or versus starting a community and then launching a product to them. So it does feel like a definitely a different world than just like pay, and grow, and scale up as you go.Matthew:Yeah. I mean, we're seeing that a lot actually. And I think our notion of how to build a profitable business with The Fascination is quite a bit different. No, we're not a pure play own D-to-C brand selling our own products, we're essentially a marketplace, but what we've done is we've seen the success that media companies have had in building an audience that's super loyal whether that's The Hustle, or Morning Brew or The Scam, all of this audience aggregation and demand with these customer demos, there's so much that you can do with it. And so, we saw a bit of an opportunity and the fragmentation that was happening across D-to-C brand for popping up literally every day. And you start to become a little leery of, is this a good brand? Is this is a good product? Does this align with my values and tastes? And we saw this need for curation across all spectrums of D-to-C really. And we saw an opportunity to really create a media platform and a commercial platform around that.Stephanie:So let's dive into The Fascination a bit. So it's a marketplace. You guys are curating D-to-C brands. I saw you have filters focused on the product technical quality, also the soul of the company. Tell me a little bit more about The Fascination. How do you allow brands into the marketplace? Yeah. And any other details around the platform?Matthew:Yeah, so I mean, people are basically referring to it as a marketplace meets magazine, which I think is an accurate description. It's basically at its core, it's a product recommendation and reviews publication specifically focused on emerging and purpose-driven direct to consumer brands. So in much the same way that Wirecutter or the strategists reviews top products and writes those objective third-party reviews and recommendations, as a media publisher we're really doing that, but we're focusing in on a subset of these D-to-C brands that are new and emerging and have purpose driven values.Matthew:And the idea is to create a single platform where people can come and discover new brands, they can read reviews and research those brands and products, and they can shop deals all in one place. So it's a linear play from discovery all the way through to purchase.Stephanie:Yep. So who are some of your favorite brands on the platform right now?Matthew:There's so many good ones.Stephanie:[inaudible].Matthew:Yeah, I know I'm going to get in trouble for this. We've got badges across the site, which are really cool. The badges call out things like women and minority led businesses, or organic, or made in the USA. And so like Girlfriend Collective is one of our women and minority led brands. Haus is another-Stephanie:Even Haus on, yeah.Matthew:... Yeah, they deal the [inaudible] and great products, great brand story.Stephanie:Delicious.Matthew:Delicious. Yeah. I was just chatting with the founders of Huron, which is a men's skincare line. Awesome story. And then we've got the big names that you'd expect. Like we've got Allbirds on the platform. We've got Warby joining soon if they're not up already any day now. We've got UNTUCKit so, those it's a nice mix of the old school D-to-C incumbents with a lot of really cool emerging brands that honestly I'm intimately involved in direct consumer and a lot of these brands I hadn't heard of for the first time.Matthew:So if you think about like, as it broadens out the halo from the bulls-eye of our tightest demos, there's going to be so many people that are discovering these brands for the first time. And that's really what we want. We want some of these big names to attract people into the site, and then we want a lot of our awesome emerging brands and products to be discovered while you're there.Stephanie:Yeah. That's great. So how are you convincing these larger brands to join the platform? Because I'm thinking your space, I think also is very competitive. I mean, the world right now is headed to a place where everyone wants curated collections. I mean, they don't want to spend a bunch of time everywhere. They want it all in one place. We had the CEO of Fast on talking about, you need the one-click checkout and be able to allow people just to check out instantly and not have to bulk it into a cart. It seems like your space is very competitive too. How are you convincing the Warby Parkers? And the older brands who probably are approached by quite a few marketplace platforms to, "Oh, join us." Why are these brands going with you?Matthew:Well, I think we've really a ton on the story and the user experience and just the overall look and feel of our digital product and what we stand for. I think it's also in our favor that we have been D-to-C operators ourselves and we can really empathize to what these founders need. And we've been fortunate to be in the community for several years now. So we had a few close partners that our spring pad, if you will. Not to mention Nick Sharma as an advisor, who's great at pulling in brands.Stephanie:He was on our show too, man, I was just-Matthew:Yeah, I know.Stephanie:... fortunate.Matthew:And so yeah, between that, and we had some really amazing brands reach out the first day that just totally shocked us. We have a type form application that comes through and we had a couple of 100 brands, including some of the biggest names in the space on day one, which it was super exciting. And just a lot of founders getting really excited by seeing their brands mentioned in our round ups, or seeing products being shared. So I think that the validation that we're starting to provide, and really empathizing with what brand founders need is something that they're really clamoring for. And I think word it gets out fast.Stephanie:Yeah. That's great. So is there any trends you're seeing right now around what customers are most excited about? I mean, I'm guessing you have all this data now and you can see, okay, a bunch of people are coming on during quarantine and buying Haus. We need another type of Appertiff or something to offer that's similar because we see so much engagement there, any trends?Matthew:I think that one of the things that we've seen that's really interesting is our roundup pieces on brands that are making an impact and just the social impact stories are really, really resonating with consumers. And the brands are sharing the stories, which is just amplifying the message that much more. So the general consumer sentiment that we're getting from a qualitative perspective is that a platform like this is very much needed and like, thank you for building it. So I don't think it's even halfway to where we want it to be, or it could be in terms of the overall product development evolution, but we're going to get there quickly.Stephanie:Yep. So how, when you're... You just said that certain stories that you're telling around the brands and the social good aspect of it are really resonating. Is that your main play when it comes to acquiring new customers on your platform is by writing good pieces of content, having the brand share it to get in front of their audiences as well, or how do you think about acquiring new customers?Matthew:Yeah, I mean, customer acquisitions, it's always a challenge for a marketplace like this. And that's why from day one, we didn't approach it as a pure play commercial marketplace where you're just aggregating and selling products. From a consumer perspective, that's really not serving the overall need that we're trying to address, which is discovery, research, and shop and convert. And so the research aspect of that is really where we're going to focus a lot of time and attention and work. And what I mean by that is writing really in depth, thorough product reviews that are authentic, that are meaningful, that consumers value and ultimately Google values that content really highly as well. And so, what I'm getting at is the SEO and organic traction and such. It's going to be a big part of how we grow organically, keep our acquisition costs low.Matthew:There's a lot of performance marketing things that we can and will be doing. Brands have had tremendous interest in doing paid marketing partnerships, whether that's white listing on Facebook, or sponsoring newsletters, or any sponsorships. I think there's a tremendous amount of demand for that. And we really are just dipping our toes into the very first test there. And then I think PR and having, as I said, our brands amplify, our content is also, it's just going to be a latent, organic way to continue to build low cost audience. I mean, I think if you think about the way that Leesa scaled and a lot of those 2015 brand scaled, we know that we can't run the same playbook and build a sustainable business.Matthew:And so as we were launching in early days, it's like being a media company is really hard, right. Coming up with really engaging content every single day, pumping it out, like the Morning Brews and Web Smith's of the world, I take my hat off to those guys because it's not easy, but I think you can already start to see the rewards that we're going to reap from that.Stephanie:Yeah. So what channels are you... Well, maybe actually first, let me talk about the content piece, because that's top of mind for me is, a lot of people say you just need to create good content and that's the key to finding great people. How do you go about brainstorming something that will resonate? Are you actually going through maybe search trends and starting there to see what's going on in the industry, and then writing articles around that? Or is it purely, just like, I want to talk about Haus's story and we're going to talk about what they're doing behind the scenes? Like, how do you brainstorm content?Matthew:It's a mix of all of that actually. So we've got a number of things that we're covering at any one time. A lot of it is when we have new brands onboarded, we've got to write the brand story and we've got to review their products. That's phase one. And that's like an ongoing process as we get up and running. But yeah, we're also looking at industry trends, category wide trends, search trends around specific products or competitive products to see how we can write really compelling content that meets that need.Matthew:And then we're thinking about the cultural relevance, things that are happening topically in everyday life. And we've got a couple of different personas that we look at. And so what are our personas caring about, what's their headspace, and then what are the things that are happening in their specific lives at this very moment in mid January? So as we think through those things, you start to surface really relevant content ideas, and that's where our social content, a lot of our editorial content comes from. And that's generally how we do it.Stephanie:Cool. And what are some of the channels that you're most excited about right now, or you think that there's untapped potential? Are you sticking with the Facebook where of course stick the Facebook? How is sticking with-Matthew:Afterthought.Stephanie:I like that. Hey, they used to be though. Right?Matthew:Yeah. Drop that.Stephanie:Yeah. I mean, when? It's still pretty relevant, but yeah. Are you sticking with Facebook? A lot of other brands still say that's the best place to reach customers. Are you trying out a bunch of new channels and experimenting? How are you thinking about that?Matthew:So Facebook isn't a priority for us right now other than to the extent that we use it for paid social advertising. I would say it's there. Of course it's there. But when we're thinking about building audience, Twitter has been a nice surprise for me, I'm really bummed that I didn't get myself on Twitter several years ago, but Sharon, our audience development team's doing an awesome job of engaging that really passionate community.Matthew:I think LinkedIn has sneaky, organic reach and potential. And we found that a lot of our brand founders are sharing our content there and we're getting a lot of engagement.Stephanie:They're more organic then, right, because LinkedIn is super expensive when it comes to advertising.Matthew:Yeah. All organic. And then stuff like TikTok is interesting as we look at really organic product reviews doing things with founders, I think that's something that we're going to be looking at as well as Clubhouse.Stephanie:Yeah. Clubhouse. I think that's where it's at. I'm on there. I listen to people. I think you can connect with a lot of great people on there. I'm still not sure about the unstructured format sometimes where things can go on for hours and hours, but yeah, it seems like there's a lot of potential there to at least connect with new people. I don't know about selling.Matthew:A lot of untapped potential.Stephanie:Yeah. So I saw that you were also an investor in GRIN. Right. And that's the influencer platform, which is... That's the right brand. Right?Matthew:Yup. [inaudible].Stephanie:Okay. So our guest yesterday that we had on was, that's her favorite new tool that she's looking into and I had not heard of it before. And I'm interested to hear a little bit about how are you thinking about influencers? What attracted you to GRIN, where's that market headed over the next couple of years?Matthew:Yeah. I mean, we've been doing influencer marketing since 2012, honestly. And I think there's going to be a lot more regulation around it for one. So you've got to be buttoned up as you execute itMatthew:So I think that's just part of the industry growing up. A lot of these minors are now celebrities in their own right with huge followings and PR teams. And so the days of just engaging with an influencer that way are over. It's really about adopting a micro/nano strategy where you're activating pockets of a couple thousand followers up to 50 to 100,000 followers and doing it more strategically at scale. And that's where I see a lot of brands and agencies having success doing this stuff. So GRIN is just a really awesome tool for managing that entire workflow. Keeping you really on top of things, you can search for look alikes of an influencer. So if you have someone or something that you want to find influencers around, it's great for that.Stephanie:That's awesome. And how did you think about attribution and analytics around utilizing influencers and seeing if you're really getting the most bang for your buck?Matthew:Yeah. I mean, well, especially with iOS 14 and everything that's going on there, it's always been an imperfect science, we never assume that we would have even close to perfect attribution on influencer activations. So we always treated it very top of funnel and you do what you can in terms of attribution. So you give them trackable UTM parameters, you give them a bespoke promo codes with their name. You give them a landing page experience, everything that you can do to cookie the user on your website and get them into what feels like an authentic customized experience for that loyal following. That's going to increase conversion, I think as much as anything.Matthew:And the vast majority of influencer activity is probably happening on mobile anyway. So wherever you're sending them, it's got to be very mobile optimized because if they switch over, your attribution's lost at that point.Stephanie:Yeah. And I think that authentic piece you're saying, I mean, it has to fit your brand. The person has to not just be saying something just to say it. And I think taking that longer-term approach more of like a partnership and someone who is going to be a part of your brand, even if they start out smaller and grow with you, will be way better than just trying to target a big name, because I normally don't really put any weight in products that large celebrities are showcasing, just because I'm like, I just know how much money you're getting paid and I highly doubt you're using that teeth whitener.Matthew:Yeah, I mean to that point and a lot of grants are basically incentivizing on the CPA or per sale basis with, like you're saying a subset of really loyal influencers and affiliates that they can send that influencer their fall collection of bags and apparel or whatever, and they can get 10 or 15 posts out of it if the influencer continues to see performance. And so I think that's the new way of doing things nowadays.Stephanie:Okay. So yeah, viewing it from a content generation perspective of, they're not just posting once trying to get their product off, but they're also creating an article or blog posts that you can repurpose and pull quotes from or whatever it may be.Matthew:Yeah. And more frequency drives more conversion. So the more you get that brand in front of your audience, the more likely it is they'll finally take action.Stephanie:Yep. So I want to talk a bit about mentorship, which I always love asking questions around this. I saw that you went to Necker Island a few days ago... a few years ago [crosstalk], really? Few years ago. And of course Richard Branson's Island. So I want to hear, what did you learn there? What advice did you hear? I saw, I think Damon John was there, Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Marie Forleo, a bunch of great people to learn from. And I want to hear about the stories behind going there. What did you learn, all that?Matthew:Yeah, I mean, it was a life changing experience for sure. Damon is still pretty close to us in the business. He got involved with Leesa after we met, especially with their 110 program, and I really just learn from him the hustle, the grind. He told his story about how he came up with FUBU and really built that business from zero. And so, talking about fundraising with him is a different thing.Matthew:Tim was on the Island too. I was fanboying out when I met Tim actually, because I was obsessed with four hour workweek, four our body and here I'm chatting with him in person. We actually started talking about going up against Casper. At the time, we were pushing pretty heavily into podcasts and Casper was buying up literally every podcast that we could find, that we wanted to go after. And funnily enough, he would really push a micro strategy to us. He said, "You need to go after these very small podcasts that aren't affiliated yet, that have nascent, but growing followings." And we did, we found 10 of those, especially in comedy and gaming, and we stayed with them for years and they ended up crushing for us.Stephanie:Oh, that's great. And did you secure long-term partnerships with this company?Matthew:Yeah, I think we're still working with a few of them honestly.Stephanie:Oh, that's great.Matthew:We just completely sapped the audience, an everyone's got a Leesa now. Yeah. And then we talked with Seth. David and I chatted with Seth Godin, who's a marketing genius. He's like the professor of modern day marketing. And at the time, we had done around 30 million in our first year of sales, which was just crazy. And he was talking about making this leap called crossing the chasm. Basically when you're attacking the early adopter market and you're doing quite well, there's a point at which you have to "cross the chasm" and reach the broader demographic of people. And so I don't remember the tactics that he talked about, but he always impressed that idea of our okay, now we've got to broaden our sphere of influence. We still use that phrase today.Matthew:And then Marie Forleo was there and we had a lot of really good, we like chatted one-on-one several times, because I was incredibly anxious. I've always dealt with anxiety issues in my career, in my past. And so we had some frank chats about vulnerability and putting yourself out there. And once you do that, it just eases the tension, eases the anxiety. And I still use that to this day.Stephanie:Yeah. I was going to say, does it help now? Because I mean, I definitely feel that too. I remember when we first sold this podcast, then they're like, "Oh, Stephanie can new host it?" And just being like, oh, I usually always would have our other team members host the shows and yeah, I liked working behind the scenes and it definitely was hard being like, okay, you just have to do it. You have to get yourself out there. Did it help afterwards thinking through about her advice?Matthew:Yeah, it totally did. And I always think of this idea of demonstrated performance, where it's like, you're nervous about something, you're anxious, you step on stage or you sit in the seat, you put yourself out there and you have a really good performance. And then that just gives you one more step, one more piece of confidence and you keep going and building. And now stuff that I do every day without even looking at my calendar is stuff that I would have just freaked out about all day five years ago. So I think it's just about experience.Stephanie:Yeah. Now I agree. I remember even just thinking about doing video meetings, like when I first was starting out in the corporate world and being like, "Oh, my gosh, my first meeting." I was just so scared and sweaty and nervous and then now taking like 10 a day and being like, not even thinking twice. So yeah, I think just doing the work and pushing past and knowing you'll probably fail a couple of times and who cares?Matthew:Exactly.Stephanie:That's great. And did you meet Richard Branson when you were there?Matthew:Yeah. We met briefly. He gave us a talk which was awesome. He talked a lot about Virgin's impact program, and what he's doing there. And so that was really important to us at the time, because we were setting up our Leesa 110 program and that was cool to hear from him.Stephanie:That's great. So where do you see the next couple of years headed for The Fascination? What are you guys building for? What are you doing in stealth mode right now? What are you planning for the world to look like in a couple of years?Matthew:Yeah, I mean, right now we're really heavily focused on getting the digital product where it needs be to really deliver on a full transactional marketplace that's cutting edge for consumers. So in the next couple of years, we want to have a destination that is super engaging. We want to have brand founders engaging with consumers real time in the platform. We want to have people shopping and reading and researching brands and products all seamlessly, and to be able to buy those products in one click, right? Right on The Fascination.com. And so a lot of things have to happen in the background to obviously make that work.Matthew:And then we're always thinking about, how can we acquire the best customers, bring them in most cost-effectively? And it's always on my mind of like, delivering really solid, meaningful content to the audience, not just fluff stuff, but stuff that's really, really valuable. And so that's what I think we're trying to win.Stephanie:Well. Yeah. It also seems like there's such an opportunity to... I mean, when you have all these brands and they have access to a lot of insights on their customers or who's coming to their website to then build lookalike audiences off of those brands, and then all of a sudden you have access to customers and you're coming from a different angle where maybe if Leesa would have already gotten in front of a customer two times and they're like, "Nah," they then see The Fascination comes in and they're like, "Hey, check out this mattress. It's like a third touch point. That's very separated." But it seems like there's a lot of opportunity there to get insights at a much more accelerated rate than you would get just by yourself.Matthew:Yes. That is the goal. Yeah, there's a whole data infrastructure that we really need to put in place to get the most out of it. And honestly, coming from Leesa for so long, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what that all looks like in terms of affiliate click attribution and how we create audiences and how we do product recommendations. So we're only a month old, but we'll get there. And I can tell you that there is such tremendous demand for what you're talking about. Just leveraging lookalike audiences, leveraging audiences across categories that aren't competitive with one another. At the end of the day, everyone that comes to The Fascination as an interested consumer if we do it right, it's always going to have similar demographic profiles, right. Whether they're a man or a woman. So as you aggregate that at scale, there's a ton of value for brands to be able to tap into that.Stephanie:Yeah. It seems like eventually they'll have to be tools for the merchants as well, to be able to interact with all the platforms they're on. Or like, I mean a lot of sales are moving towards the edge. There's a lot of people say and how do you keep track of that? Like, how do these merchants they're selling on The Fascination, they're selling on Fancy, they're selling on not that Fancy is the same, but there are quite a few places popping up where these brands might be like, "Yeah, I want to sell on that platform or over here," but I don't know if enough tools exist right now to keep track of what you're doing and consolidating it all in one place.Matthew:Yeah. I mean, it's got to be a challenge for these fairly young brands. There's product feed software that'll handle some of that, but at the end of the day there's manual stuff that's always needed once you're drop shipping and wholesaling and you have retail partners. So yeah, we're going to be thinking about it from the other side, just the same, how do you manage 100, 200, 300 merchants and keep them happy?Stephanie:Yeah. Crazy. All right. Well, let's shift over to the lightning round. Lightning round is brought to you by Salesforce commerce cloud. This is where I'm going to ask you a question and you have a minute or less to answer. Are you ready, Matt?Matthew:Yes.Stephanie:One minute to answer. All right. Yeah. Prepare, drink your drink, whatever that may be. All right. First thing, what one thing will have the biggest impact on ecommerce in the next year?Matthew:I think the convergence of content and commerce is, is going to have one of the biggest impacts. You've got media companies that are converging in the commerce, they all want to be transactional. They all want a bigger slice of the pie. They all want more lifetime value extraction from their readership. And then I think on the commerce side you see brands and retailers who are obviously seeing the cost rising of customer acquisition in the traditional sense and creating really rich content. It's the only way to do that. So we're diving in right at the intersection with what we're doing at The Fascination and that's where we saw it going. And that's why I think we're bullish on where we're headed.Stephanie:Yeah. Well, it'll also be interesting to do a recap episode on what's happened since some of these brands got into mixing media with commerce. I mean, I'm thinking about NBC, I think did a whole shoppable TV thing. And I remember seeing them launch that maybe in February or April last year, but I don't know what actually happened. So it'd be fun to do a recap of like, here's who launched in 2020 when it came to mixing media and commerce and here is status update.Matthew:Hopefully we will be one of the givers.Stephanie:Yeah. Hopefully. What's one thing from 2020 that you hope sticks around in 2021?Matthew:I think that we've all had to embrace things like this, just getting on video conferences, not having to present ourselves through this façade, in the office I would have never thought about wearing my hat backwards and rolling around in athleisure. And now that's just the norm for everybody. And kids are on work calls and it's just, the whole thing feels a lot more familial. And even if we do go back to offices, I really have loved that work now feels a little bit closer to home because you're in your home, but also because just the interactions, you see more than you would if everyone was in an office environment.Stephanie:Yeah, I agree. And I think it definitely brings a more human perspective too. Like you're saying, working together, knowing someone's kids, seeing them in the background, and then you also have more, I guess, empathy when a mom or dad's like, "Hey, I got to go do this with my kids." It's like, "Oh yeah, I saw your kid connection." Of course you can, whereas I'd say prior to this. Yeah. Not as much of a leniency, I guess for that. Yeah. That's a good one.Stephanie:What is the funniest story or best story you can think of when it comes to either building up Leesa or building up The Fascination where you're like, "Oh, this is a good time or a good story that really sticks in my brain from those years."Matthew:We've done so many like gimmicky things at Leesa. We were growth hacking like crazy and we were throwing stuff against the wall and not all of it stuck. We did a ton of stuff with Barstool Sports. We maybe did a few influencer integrations that wouldn't go over so well today with certain influencers.Stephanie:And with Barstool, I feel like they're so edgy that they can get you in trouble all these days anyways.Matthew:They're very edgy and we purposely like with all of those podcasters and creators, we're like, go be very authentic. And so you can't tell Barstool like, tame it down and not be authentic. But they were a huge converter for Leesa for several years.Stephanie:That's fun.Matthew:So we did a lot of fun stuff. We sponsored Larry at the gambling goldfish, which was a gold fish swimming around in a tank on Barstool sets, they pulled a mattress behind a truck with a Santa Claus riding on it. But we've also done a lot more admirable things, like we did a sleep out for the homeless. We've done a lot of cool things at Leesa just in the experientials side of things that made it fun.Stephanie:Yeah. I mean I have a love for the gambling goldfish. I want to go check that out. That actually sounds pretty funny.Matthew:Yeah. One more thing that we did is I think it was the 2017 NFL Draft, it's shown on ESPN and all the players are interviewed in their homes. And so we sent the players that we knew would be interviewed on TV, on ESPN Leesa mattresses. And we had them put their Leesa mattress boxes behind them and their families. And we got millions of impressions that night because we had Leesa mattresses all over the air on ESPN Draft.Stephanie:Oh, that's fun. See, I love creative stuff like that, where I mean, as long as it actually converts too, I always have the question about TV, does it actually convert or what happened after everyone saw the mattress behind them? Did you guys see a big uptick in sales, or?Matthew:I don't remember if we did or not. I think we saw a bit of an uptick, but I mean, it was such a low cost stunt to do that. It wasn't a swing for the fences, but we also did a ton of TV in heyday at Leesa. And you can really see the brand awareness effects the TV has even though it's insanely hard to track.Stephanie:Yeah. I agree. What is next on your reading list?Matthew:I'm probably going to do Shoe Dog by Phil Knight.Stephanie:Such a good one. I love that book. Yeah. So inspirational. I highly recommend. If you were to have a podcast, what would it be about and who would your first guest be?Matthew:Well, that's an interesting question because we may very well have one soon.Stephanie:Oh, nice.Matthew:Yeah, I don't know in what format it will be. It may be a podcast. It may just be like Instagram TV stories, but we really want to interview, just do flash interviews with our brand founders, asking about their origin story, asking about what makes their products different, fun facts. And I think a groundswell of really interesting stories like that would be fun.Stephanie:Cool. That sounds good. And then the last one, what's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you?Matthew:Oh, that's tough. I mean, I there's been so many instances of generosity. I think honestly, giving me a chance to make the career switch that I did, and this is a bit of a shout out to David my co-founder, but he really took a chance on me. He's been super supportive of me for years, and it's really gotten me to where I am today in terms of my career and the place that we're at collectively. So him and the people around me that pushed me to make that leap out of the traditional corporate world of consulting. I was really hesitant to do that coming right out of my MBA and looking at a nice salary, and he was one of those people that pushed me over the top to do that. And I'm thankful for it.Stephanie:That's really cool. Great story. All right, Matt. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show. Where can people find out more about you and The Fascination?Matthew:So about me, you can find me on Twitter at MattDHayes, all one word, and then The Fascination.com. Go check it out.Stephanie:Awesome. Thanks for joining us, Matt.Matthew:All right. Thank you.

Website: Instant LeverageInstant Leverage Blog Instant Leverage ReviewsPodcast Website: Instant Leverage PodcastFollow me on:Facebook, Instagram,Linkedin and YoutubeAssets from the episode:The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage by Damon John

Trey Stinnett AKA “The Flow Coach”. He helps small business owners build their ideal teams so they can get past *hard* and live a life they love. Trey has worked with guys like Damon John and Tony Robbins. He currently is living in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and 2 daughters.

What are were your first encounters with handling money? Was it healthy? Do you have desires about handling your finances more responsibly? Listen to this episode on some insight that could possibly help you with your finances. 1. Michelle @2kpromise 2k by Christmas challenge. https://www.instagram.com/2kpromise/ 2.@richjourney https://instagram.com/richjourney?igshid=8vtppbgjlqsv 3. @ayeshaselden - Real Estate Gurus book : mud to millions https://www.instagram.com/ayeshaselden/ 4. @forbetterorworth couple $702k net worth investing while they pay off debt https://www.instagram.com/forbetterorworth/ 5. Patricia Bright @thebreaksocial https://www.instagram.com/thebreaksocial/ 6. Secrets of 6 figure women - Barbara stanny https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060933461/?ref=exp_kibobetts_dp_vv_d 7. Overcoming underearning - Barbara stanny https://www.amazon.com/dp/006081862X/?ref=exp_kibobetts_dp_vv_d 8. The power of broke - Damon John of the Shark Tank show https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101903619/?ref=exp_kibobetts_dp_vv_d 9. Mint app https://www.mint.com 10. Every dollar app EveryDollar Budgeting App | EveryDollar.com 11. Financial Peace University https://www.daveramsey.com/fpu?utm_source=google&utm_id=go_cmp-907399568_adg-48079740907_ad-289700892626_aud-356346944040:kwd-296059397246_dev-c_ext-_prd-&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-rj9BRCAARIsANB_4AD2uejLRwLGFrld_GCw5PVJ84aeCZqPUXmudA3Y61-67ls_bISwSjMaAkMmEALw_wcB Disclaimer: 
Michelle and I are not licensed financial advisors. So please use this info to your discretion, noting that it is just the personal advice of individuals sharing for the purposes of providing some insight.

In this episode we speak to Charlynda Scales. She is an Air Force Veteran, and current Air Force Reservist. She tells the story of how she made a family recipe into a business. She also talks about how she was able to make it to the tv show Shark Tank! It's a great story, and we know you'll enjoy it. Please support Charlynda, and her company, Mutt's Sauce! https://www.muttssauce.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlyndascales/ https://www.facebook.com/muttssauce1956/ https://www.amazon.com/Powershift-Transform-Situation-Achieve-Outcome/dp/0593136233/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Damon+John+book&qid=1602200633&sr=8-1

Experiencing pain and fear can shape us in good, and bad ways. We can recoil, avoiding that which inflicted the pain, or we can let it drive us to positive change. Our guest this week is a prime example of the latter. Mikaila Ulmer, through the thoughtful guidance of her parents, transformed a painful childhood experience of being stung by bees into a thriving and growing business with a purpose. And now, her product, Me & the Bees Lemonade, is sold in stores nationwide. Mikaila appeared on Shark Tank and got buy in from Damon John, she also received an eight hundred-thousand-dollar investment from a consortium of football players. She started a nonprofit and now, has written a delightful book titled Bee Fearless. Although Mikaila is only 15 years young, she and her family spent the last 10 years growing the business and the brand. Their efforts have brought awareness to a bee population in peril and have highlighted the importance purpose plays in organizational growth. We are grateful to have Mikaila as our guest and we are sure you will find her as engaging as we do. For a complete transcript and links from this episode, please visit http://www.whitneyjohnson.com/mikaila-ulmer/

One of the most profound realizations I have ever had in the business world came from the words of Damon John. "Haters confirm greatness." Anyone who has ever done anything great has also had a tremendous amount of hate come their way because they rocked the boat. The rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo. Entrepreneurs who receive hate are confirming that they are making a change and making a difference. If you're hearing negativity and criticism, you are doing something absolutely right. The world needs us now more than they ever have. Create momentum anyway and let the hate confirm your greatness. Resources Mentioned: https://charfen.com/community

This week Jeremy Barnett speaks with Erik Huberman, CEO of Hawke Media.  Hear how Erik and the team at Hawke Media are pivoting with the current Coronavirus situation to emerge even stronger. Erik explains the key differences between leaders who win VS people that quit during times of crisis and how business owners always need to be prepared for life's ups and downs.   SBA Loan resources for entrepreneurs: SBA Loan Information SBA Disaster Loan VS SBA Payroll Protection Loan Be sure to tune in and catch all the great takeaways and please remember to share!  For more Rad Intelligence, head over to - Email: show@radintelligence.com  Podcast:  https://radintelligence.com/fireside-chat/ LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/barnettjeremiah/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radinfluencer/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radintelligence/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/RadIntelligence Influencer Marketplace: https://radinfluencer.com/ Corporate Site: https://radintelligence.com/ Blog: https://radintelligence.com/blog/ Rad Channel: YouTube Jeremy’s Channel: YouTube For more information about Hawke Media, please visit www.Hawkemedia.com Check out Hawke Media’s free quarantine conference, Qcon.la with keynote Damon John. Contact Erik@erikhuberman across all social media! Get more Rad Intelligence: https://radintelligence.com/rad-chats/

There’s moments in one’s career that standout as highlights - having Jay Abraham on the show is one of those moments. He’s worked with Tony Robbins, he’s worked with Damon John, he’s worked with FedEx, and thousands of businesses. Prepare yourself for today’s episode with the $29 billion dollar man. Episode Resources: Let me know what you thought of this episode, email me: podcast@mortgagemarketingradio.com

A quick message from FERMI this week updating everyone with the current state of affairs for himself as a musician and why he is in San Diego this week attending a Mastermind event with entrepreneurs from various disciplines. This episode is a monologue that reviews FERMI's experience with the One Funnel Away Challenge, his excitement for an upcoming Mastermind with Bryan Dulaney (Click Funnels Dream Car Winner & Funnel Boss) and Nick Unsworth (coached Damon John and many more). FERMI also shares some of the plans for upcoming content that is in the vault and will release over the coming weeks to add value to our community of musicians, producers, artists, and beat makers.   Share feedback, insights, or ask questions via email fermi@fermimusic.com ----more---- Some of the other tools and resources mentioned today: WordPress - https://wordpress.com/ Elementor -- https://bit.ly/2RDVI1W Clickfunnels - https://bit.ly/2L89vMN

I’m so excited to have Nicole Arbour as a guest for this episode! She’s a comedian, recording artist, choreographer, actress, entrepreneur, activist, and a mega YouTube personality. She literally has over 700 million views on YouTube and millions of people following her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She's given a TED talk, hosted events for New York Fashion Week and spoken on stages with Simon Sinek, Damon John and Danielle Laporte, She's legit and she's on this show. It's epic. So in this episode, you're going to learn the incredible story of how she and I connected via Instagram, how she embraces her trolls with empathy and compassion and how that's transformed her community and her brand. She’ll talk about how a car accident left her on disability and in chronic pain for the majority of her 20s and her amazing story of mental tenacity, resilience, and healing. And also the turning point in her brand message where she went from being known as the ‘hot funny girl” on YouTube to a true motivational speaker and a role model on women empowerment. And so much more. You are going to love this. * [07:34] - The unfollow that led to Jess and Nicole connecting * [11:46] - Responding with compassion even in the face of violent threats * [14:12] - The story behind #GoTeam Academy ( https://www.goteamacademy.com/ ) * [16:57] - Nicole takes us back and explains what led her to today * [20:53] - The moment Nicole knew she had to turn things around * [21:31] - Nicole’s ‘Road to Oz’ * [22:59] - It’s not my stuff: learning not to take on other people’s projected pain * [24:07] - Untethered Soul ( https://untetheredsoul.com/untethered-soul ) : pain as a gateway to freedom * [26:33] - Now what? Deciding to cut out all the negativity * [30:46] - Shit is going to be hard but it's on the way to something awesome * [32:44] - Making the plan that led to 700 million views * [33:47] - What you feed your mind that will change your life * [38:07] - Nicole’s 'decision' to finally share her real story * [41:46] - Making it count: a different kind of attention from letting yourself be seen * [45:19] - Everyone goes through shit * [49:18] - The magic of giving less f*cks * [50:36] - Nicole talks comedy and doing her own writing and editing * [55:56] - Quick and dirty social media tip for growing a following * [01:00:00] - How does Nicole simply be? * [01:03:00] - Where to find Nicole & learn more about #GoTeam Academy ( https://www.goteamacademy.com/ ) * Twitter - https://twitter.com/nicolearbour * Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ibnicolearbour ( https://www.instagram.com/ibnicolearbour/ ) * Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/NicoleArbourfans ( https://www.facebook.com/NicoleArbourfans/ ) * #GoTeam Academy - https://www.goteamacademy.com ( https://www.goteamacademy.com/ ) Jessica Zweig ( http://jessicazweig.com/ ) is an international award-winning entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of SimplyBe ( https://www.simplybeagency.com/ ). In 2018, she won the Gold Stevie® Award for “Female Entrepreneur of the Year,” was previously named a Top Digital Marketer To Watch by INC. and a “Personal Branding Expert” by Forbes. As a thought leader with over ten years of experience in digital marketing and social media, Jessica frequently speaks and facilitates workshops and masterminds, teaching the power of personal branding to corporations. Jessica has been featured as a leading entrepreneur and personal branding expert in Forbes, Crain’s, MarketWatch, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Refinery 29, Tasty Trade, BizTech Magazine, Today’s Chicago Woman, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX News 32, and more. She is currently writing her first book, Be. A No-Bullshit Guide to Creating Self-Worth and Net Worth Just by Being Yourself. Follow her on Instagram @jessicazweig ( https://www.instagram.com/jessicazweig/?hl=en ) or send her a note at jessica@simplybeagency.com. If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to The SimplyBe. Podcast in Apple Podcasts ( https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-simplybe-podcast/id1463214827 ) , Google Podcasts ( https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy50cmFuc2lzdG9yLmZtL3RoZS1zaW1wbHliZS1wb2RjYXN0 ) , Spotify ( https://open.spotify.com/show/3eH32ZO6VMiDQ57I4eT9mb ) or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts ( https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-simplybe-podcast/id1463214827 ). It really helps others find the show. This podcast episode was produced by Dante32 ( https://www.dante32.com/ ).

Part 1 of 3 from my presentation from Funnel Hacking Live 2018 where I talked about this new concept called “Conversation Domination”. On today’s episode Russell shares a presentation he did at Funnel Hacking Live 2018 about conversation domination. Here are some of the incredible things you’ll hear in this episode: Why platforms like Facebook and Instagram are similar to TV channels in the 1960s. How Russell has been able to dominate on multiple social media platforms. And what the three types of traffic are, and how they work.  So listen here to find out how Russell dominates the conversation, and how you can too. ---Transcript--- Hey everyone, this is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets podcast. Alright I got a special treat for you guys over the next three episodes. So at not the most recent Funnel Hacking Live, but two Funnel Hacking Lives ago, I did a presentation I was really excited about. It was called conversation Domination. And where kind of the back story behind this, one of my friends had a course about a decade ago called conversation domination. His name is Howie Schwartz, and it was all about Google SEO and the concept back then was basically you’d got to Google and type in your, you know, “Boise Dentist’ and all the listings, all ten would be you, all paid ads would be you, you would dominate the conversation. You’d be everything all over Google. And it was awesome, he had a big company and a brand teaching that for a long time. Then he went off and you know, he’s got a ton of other companies and he kind of shut down his training company. But I always loved that concept of conversation domination. I want to dominate the conversation. And a lot of you guys know I’m not a huge SEO dude anymore. I dabbled in the dark arts of SEO for a long time, we still do it. But conversation domination for me became bigger, especially as social movements started happening and we have all these amazing channels. We have Facebook, we have Instagram, we have YouTube, we have Pinterest, we have all these things that are popping up. And it’s funny because I always used to hear, back a decade ago, Howie talking about conversation domination. You want to make sure you’re every, omnipresent, everywhere you look you are there and you’re entertaining and educating, you’re there. And he was talking about from a Google standpoint, but as I was building Clickfunnels, I’m like, I want to be omnipresent everywhere, on socials. So when you pull out your cell phone, if you open it up, it doesn’t matter if you’re going to the Facebook app, the Instagram app, or the YouTube app, you are seeing me and my message and all that kind of stuff. So I did this initial presentation kind of going through the initial principles of that. Now I’m sharing this with you because I’m working secretly behind the scenes, nobody knows about this yet on my team, so don’t tell them. But I’m actually working on more of a training, not a training course, that’s not the right word. But kind of a training course going deeper into these concepts, and actually showing you, if you want to dominate the conversations, here’s how you do it specifically, and going deep dive on how to dominate the podcast channel. How to dominate Instagram, and Facebook and all that kind of stuff. So I’m working on that right now, so as I’m working on that project, I just want to kind of bring this up into your minds and get you guys to start thinking about it again, because I’m sure sometime in the next couple of months we’ll come out with that project, and you guys will have a chance to kind of tap into that, and see it all. So I just wanted to re-bring this up. So what I’m going to do over the next three episodes, I’m going to let you guys listen to that presentation from Funnel Hacking Live, so that’s kind of the game plan. So with that said, I’m going to queue up the theme song and we’re going to dive into the first part of this presentation. I hope you enjoy it. If you’re liking, if you like this episode and this little series we’re giving you right now, please go and take a screen shot of it, and post it on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, any of the social channels you’re in, tag me and use #marketingsecrets, that way I’ll be able to see it. It means a ton to me. Also at the same time, if you are liking this podcast please go to iTunes, rate and review me, that means the world to me as well. And with that said, let’s queue up the theme song and then we will jump right into session one of the conversation domination presentation. Alright, so I want to share a presentation with you guys. This is, I have so many fun presentations at this event, this is one I’m really excited for. So the title of this presentation is called Conversation Domination: How to get your dream clients addictively binge watching you on every platform that they live on. There’s one kind of caveat here. This isn’t for people who are just dabbling. This is for people who believe so much in their message, (hopefully you can read my handwriting) it’s only for people who are so passionate about their message, they’re willing to go out there and try to be everywhere to all people. That’s what we’re going to be talking about today. Now, a couple of things as, with most of my presentations, most of what I’m going to talk about today, there’s going to be different levels of this. So those who are beginning, there’s going to be pieces where you’re like, “Sweet, I can go and start this, implementing it immediately.” And for some of you guys who are further along, there’s going to be more and more of it. But the end picture, the end goal of this entire thing is to get to the point where you are dominating the conversation in your market. Right now, since we’ve launched Clickfunnels, that I’m aware of, there have been 37 Clickfunnels killers that have come out. 37! Guess how I know that? Every time one comes out I get every person on planet earth messaging me, forwarding me all the emails, everything. 37 people have come to try to take down Clickfunnels since we started. But I’ve done something strategically in the middle of it. I’ve tried to make so much noise constantly and consistently that nobody can hear anything else besides us, and it’s done pretty well so far, right? There will be more competitors and we’ll continue to have fun with this process, but this is the big part for all of you guys. You want your message everywhere so that people are seeing you all the time, everywhere you’re going. So that’s what we’re going to talk about. Now to begin the, to kick this presentation off, I want you to show you a really quick video clip from Gary Vaynerchuk, this is going to kind of set up this whole presentation. “I think this is the television in 1965. If you, I’d actually like, I know a lot of you are like, ‘whatever’ just really pay attention to this because this might be one of the better things I say. This is the television in 1965, and the TVs, they’re the radio. So people, and if you go and, so what I do well for somebody who’s a {Expletive} student, the one thing I do study is history because history loves to repeat it’s {Expletive} self. “So if you go look at the brands, the beer brands, that were romantic about staying on the radio because that’s how they did it, and didn’t shift to television while things like Miller Lite, that nobody’s ever heard of, went TV only and became the brands. If you look at TV 1965, that’s what I think this is. And I think YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook are ABC, NBC, and CBS. “So do I think, then I think I within it, is Mash and Happy Days. Got it? So that’s the system. So do I think over time ESPN comes around and HBO comes? I do. There will be more channels built on this platform, and there’ll be more competition. “That’s what’s happening. So what you need to do is for your business, figure out the channels where you could be the star of that network.” There’s the context for what we’re talking about for the next hour. Now, ten years ago when I first had the chance to meet Tony Robbins for the very first time, he invited me out to his event, I had a chance to sit with him, and he told me, he said, “Look Russell, I’m looking for help.” I’m like, “You’re Tony Robbins, what do you need help with?” And he told me a really interesting story. He said, “If you look back, the way I got my start, I was on TV and we ran infomercials. When I got started though, there were three channels, CBS, ABC, and NBC. I was everywhere on every single channel because there were three. You couldn’t get away from me no matter how hard you tried.” How many of you guys remember that? This was before my time, but how many of you guys remember on every channel all you saw was Tony all the day long. Because there were three channels and he dominated all of them. I actually found an infomercial from him, back in the 80s. “The Anthony Robbins Live! Author of the international bestsellers Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within. You’ve seen him on national television, now is your chance to see him live, Monday January 11th at the Auto Conference Center. During this full day seminar, you’ll learn techniques used by top business leaders, fortune 500 companies and Olympic athletes alike. Thousands have enjoyed and benefitted from the dynamic and powerful presentation style of Anthony Robbins. Take action now, call 224-3037, this event will sell out. Call 224-3037 now.” Alright. Is that amazing? Look at his hair! I’m going to tease him about that on Saturday. Just kidding, I won’t. It’s Tony Robbins, whatever he wants. No, but it was interesting, when I met Tony though, I was in a hotel with him eating dinner and we’re talking and he said, h e told me this, he said, “Look, when I got started three channels, we dominated, and I built the biggest brand on earth. What happen though, is then cable came out. All the sudden there was this splintering where all the sudden there was ten, twenty, thirty, fifty channels. I’ve been trying to buy ads on all these channels and now I can no longer do it profitably.” And Tony’s business was in trouble at the time. And that’s why he reached out to a bunch of us internet nerds and he was like, “What should I be doing you guys.” And we gave him some strategies and over the next ten years Tony has blown up. His empire now is bigger than it was ever. But he was intelligent enough to know, “Look, channels, the media is splitting, I gotta figure out how to play this game.” So when I saw this clip from Gary Vaynerchuk I was like, that’s amazing. We have this really rare, really unique opportunity where literally these phones right here, that Gary said, these are the TVs from the 1960s. So all of know better, if I was to go back to the 1960s and go on TV, I would be on every channel like Tony. I’d build the biggest brand possible. We can do the same thing today, that’s the whole goal. So I’m going to walk you through my model, because this is what we’re doing. We’re trying to dominate the entire conversation in our marketplace, and I’m going to kind of walk you guys through what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. And hopefully with some of the presentations you heard earlier about vulnerability and building your tribe, if you weave those types of things into this, and getting your message out to people, it’s going to change the game for you. Alright so I want to kind of go over a brief history of TV. So step number one with TV is we had to get distribution into people’s homes. People had to build TVs and actually get them into people’s houses. That must have been a horrible process. But eventually there was TVs in everybody’s houses. Then the next step is there was channels. So on each TV there was ABC, CBS, and NBC, three channels was all there was. And then each channel had individual shows, and that’s how TV worked. So distribution, channels, and then shows within channels. Today the game’s a little bit different. But it’s similar. So how we play today, number one, people already have the TVs. Everyone already has a phone in their pocket. Is there anyone in this room right now that doesn’t have a phone in their pocket? Not one hand. Okay, distribution is done. That’s nice. That’s taken care of for you guys. Step number two then, they already have a channel. How many of you guys have the Facebook app on your phone? YouTube app? Instagram? The channels are already there as well. So our step now is we need to create shows on their channels, and then promote those shows. That’s it. That’s the game, it’s really, really fun. So here’s how we played it. This is the framework on the right hand side that we’re going to be walking through for the next 45 minutes or so of this presentation, so I’ll kind of go through every step. But that’s the framework of what we’re going to be talking about during this presentation. So step number one in this framework is we have to get distribution for our shows. How do we get an audience that’s actually going to watch our show? Step number two then, we need to grow our channels. A lot of people that are on the channels. And Step number three, we’re going to promote the actual shows that are happening, and if you do that (went too far), if you do that you can literally become the Tony Robbins of your market. So that’s what we’re going to be going through over here right now. Does that sound like fun? How many of you guys want to be the Tony Robbins in your market? Me too. That’d be so fun. Alright, step number one, this is the secret I need everyone to understand about business as a whole. I wish somebody would have explained, grabbed me by the ears and explained this to me ten years ago. It took me a while to figure this out. The secret to winning in this business and any business at all is distribution. The person who will win, is always the person with the best distribution. The ability to get their message to people, distribution is the key. How many of you guys watch Shark Tank? I want you to understand as you watch Shark Tank, you’ll see something interesting. Each of the people on the Shark Tank have a different distribution channel. Have you noticed this? Damon John hasn’t gotten really good at distribution in retail. So he sits back and all the different people in there and he’s like, “I’m out. I’m out. I’m out.” And someone’s like, “The clothing line.” And he’s like, “I know distribution. I’m in.” Gives them some money, connects them in the distribution channel and he makes money. That’s it. Laurie Graneer, she’s on there and all these things come back and she’s like, ‘Ah, I can’t do an infomercial. Can’t do an infomercial. Can’t do an infomercial. That’s an infomercial product.” She bids on it, plugs it into the distribution channel, boom it explodes. That’s the key. Every shark on Shark Tank has a distribution channel they understand. That’s it. So they sit and wait for an offer they know they can plug into a distribution channel and then they win. So the big secret in this whole game is building your own distribution channels. When you have it you can sell whatever it is you want. You can sell seminars, you can sell events, you can sell supplements, you can sell, whatever you want to sell you can sell. But you have to have distribution channel. Now the internet, most distributions happen a couple ways. One is our email lists. How many of you guys have an email list right now? Good, that’s your distribution channel. My email list has saved me over a decade of stupid choices. How many of you guys have been saved by your email list at least once? It’s a distribution channel. You create a product, create a service, send the email out to that list, and then make you some money. I remember when I first got this, this was probably 13-14 years ago now. Someone was explaining to me this concept of the email list and they said, “Look, if you have an email list of 100,000 people and you send an email out selling a $30 or $40 product, .001% buy, that’s like $8,000.” And I was like, “Holy crap. I need one of those list things. That sounds awesome.” And that was kind of the key. Now if you look at the metrics and math, this is a number people would say, and I think it’s low, but if you have an email list you should average, on average at least one dollar per name, per month, on your email list. And that’s on the low, low end, if you’re really bad at this. If you understand that, what’s my goal? My goal is to make a hundred thousand dollars a year. My goal is to make a million dollars a year, whatever that is, you just have to reverse engineer it. “Okay I need, if I have 10,000 people on my list, that’s $10 grand a month, that’s $120,000 a year.’  Boom, that’s where you focus, how do I build that distribution? If you want a million dollars a year you say, “Okay I need 100,000 people on my list, that’s $100,000 a month, times 12 months, 1.2 million.” That’s the key to the distribution channel. You’re building a list. Again, this is, one dollar per name, per month, is on the lower end. Especially now days when all the stuff we’re tying in with social media and connection and vulnerability, I’ve seen those numbers go up. I’ve seen people 10, 15, 20 dollars per month, per name. So this is like the low end, if you’re really, really bad at it. Is that exciting? It should get you guys pumped. Number two now, which is growing rapidly and almost probably bigger is social lists. Messenger is one of the biggest. How many of you guys have been using messengers in your business? Yes, this is a gift from the marketing gods. I’m grateful for messenger lists. So the question is, should I build an email list? Or should I build a messenger list? Which one’s better? And the answer is you need both. Do not rely on one distribution channel in anything. I promise you guys, Mark Zuckerberg does not like your business and someday he will screw you over, promise. How many of you guys has Zuckerberg already kicked you once or twice? I learned this the hard way back, 15 years ago when Larry and Sergei at Google, I thought they were my friends, and I found out they don’t actually need my money, no matter how much I give them. They kicked us. One is like the scariest number. If you build nothing but a social list, you can be in trouble. If you build nothing but an email list you can be in trouble. So I like to have a blend of both. I’m going to show you guys the strategy we’re using now, where everyone who joins our list is being put on both instead of just one. I’m going to show you some really cool stuff. So step one is how do you build your distribution? If you’ve read the Dotcom Secrets book, I talk about a concept that’s very important. Did my mike just go out? I’m close and my mike dies. Alright, there are basically three types of traffic online. Who remembers this from Dotcom Secrets 101? Three people? We’re in study hall. Three types of traffic. The first type of traffic is traffic you control. I don’t own this traffic, but I control it. Zuckerberg owns traffic, so I can go to him and be like, “Hey man, can I write you a check for some of your traffic?” and he’s like, ‘Sure. Where do you want to send it to?” and I’m like, okay, I control this traffic. I’m going to send it over here. And I can send it somewhere. That’s traffic I control. Any kind of ad you are paying for, you are controlling traffic. You do not own that, but you are controlling it. The second type of traffic is traffic that you don’t control. The traffic you don’t control is like people just show up on your site. How many of you guys have a blog and somehow people show up? You don’t really know how, but they’re there. You guys have some of that? That stuff is really nice, but I don’t control it so it’s like, they show up and they’re there and that’s awesome. But I don’t control it. A lot of times SEO, or PR or things like that, people are just showing up because of stuff you’re doing, and it shows up. I see a lot of people talk about, “This is your business, buying ads.” Or people are like, “This is your business, free search and PR.” For me it’s like, neither of these. These are two really bad distribution channels. I want to build my own distribution channel. So all the traffic I control and all the traffic I don’t control, all gets pushed into one thing, that becomes traffic that I own. The only reason I give Zuckerberg money is so I can take clients off his platform and turn them into something that I own, so now I can own that distribution. Does that make sense? When I own the list, it’s really cool, I can wake up one morning and be like, “Hey I think we should do an event. Let’s call it Funnel Hacking Live. Do you think anyone will show up? I don’t know, I own some traffic. Let’s throw some traffic.” We throw some traffic and all the sudden we find out if people want it or not. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. If I did a good what and how then they buy it and they’re like, “Sweet, let’s do more of this.” But when you own traffic, you can make them offers, you can make up ideas, it becomes, this game becomes really, really easy. So if you shift your mindset from, “I’m going to buy ads. I’m going to do research or whatever.” All the traffic that I can, I’m going to try to get traffic I control and traffic I don’t control and turn it into traffic that I own. Because after you own it, you can do anything you want with it. So that’s my goal every time we’re building up our companies. That’s my goal. Converting traffic you control and don’t control into traffic that you own. Okay, so a couple of ways. Number one, traffic you control, traffic you don’t control, and traffic you own. So I’m going to show you guys how we do this. So the first is traffic you control. So I control this, I’m buying it from wherever I’m buying ads from, I’m sending it somewhere. Typically I’m sending that to some type of a funnel. They come to the funnel, they fill out a form, and usually when they fill out the form I get their email address. We’ve got a new feature coming out in Clickfunnels, that I will be showing you guys off tomorrow, called opt in bumps, where no longer do we just get their email, we get their email and their messenger. This is one we’re doing on our two step order forms, and this is one we’re doing on all of our opt ins now. It’s really exciting. So all the traffic I control, if I’m buying any kind of ad, I’m not sending it random, I’m sending it to a funnel and on that funnel I’m trying to get email and messenger. Now I’ve got two distribution channels. So if one of them breaks off, I still have a business, I’ve got both. So for us, now everything we’re pushing through, we’re trying to get both of those things at the exact same time. Like I said, tomorrow we’ll show you guys all the new, I think are 25 new things to show you in Clickfunnels, and that’s one of them you’re going to love. Traffic I don’t control now, is some of these other ads and stuff I’m running. So this is, I want to show you guys something cool that we learned recently that is like a big aha for us. So this is an ad we created, I’m just going to show you like 5 seconds of it, because I don’t want to show you the whole thing. “Hey my name is Russell Brunson and this book, my new book is literally on fire….” So I lit another book on fire, it was awesome. Then I pushed people to like, “Go to expertsecrets.com to buy the book.” And that was working but I was like, is there a better way? And I was listening to the radio and my man Brendon Burchard, I heard a radio ad and all the sudden I had this light bulb moment that was insane. How many of you guys have heard Brendon’s radio ad? How many of you guys, when you heard that, you started freaking out and jumping like a little girl like I did? Only you, and you. A couple of you guys were excited like me. So listen to this ad, this is the older one, so the 1800 number doesn’t work anymore, but listen to the concept. When you listen to it, I’m going to explain why this is such a huge break through for me. Listen to this. “Hi, I’m Brendon Burchard, some people call me the world’s highest paid motivational trainer. And some people call me crazy because I’ve just authorized a nationwide giveaway of my recent New York Times bestseller, The Motivation Manifesto. In the next 24 hours I want to give away as many free books as possible. To get your hardcover copy, text book10 to 99000 or go to MotivationBook.com. If you want to reach your true potential personally, professionally, or financially you need this book. “You’ll discover how to stop feeling tired and overwhelmed, identify the major enemies keeping your from living your dreams, and learn the secrets to defeating them. I’ll teach you my proven strategies to start obtaining the levels of drive and personal success you’re craving, financial freedom, emotional freedom, time freedom. “Due to high demand, I can only offer one free book per household. To get your free book, while supplies last, text book10 to 99000. That’s book, the number 10, to 99000, or go to MotivationBook.com. Message and data rates may apply.” Alright, so check this out, when you text that to the number, and again, I think this phone number is dead, this is an older ad, but you text it to it, all it did was it took and shot you a link to this funnel. Now the reason why this is exciting, prior to Brendon doing this, guess how radio ads ran? You’d have a radio ad run, then you had a whole team of sales people, hundreds of people who have to answer the calls as fast as you can, trying to do orders, trying to do sales like crazy. Literally he let go of a hundred plus people, you text them a link to the funnel. The next night after I saw this, I was online watching infomercials because that’s what nerds do, and I’m watching infomercials and I see this supplement offer. The guy does a little supplement offer and instead of saying, “call this number to talk to a sales rep to buy a supplement.” It says, “Text this number to whatever.” I’m like, I texted it, boom, shoots me a link to his funnel. I was like, “We just took humans out of this whole sales process all together.” How magic is that? I’m like, “How can we use that with what we’re doing?” So we started shifting our ads to this same concept where basically, instead of me saying, “Here’s my free book, go to expertsecrets.com to get a free copy.” I say, if it’s Facebook, “Here’s my free book, if you want a free copy of it, message me on Facebook and I’ll send you a link to it.” So they message me on Facebook and now this new feature, you’ll see inside of Clickfunnels tomorrow, it comes back and says, “Sweet, you won a free copy of the book, what address should I send it to?” I type in my email address, and then boom now I’m on Facebook, and my email list.  I got them both. So now all my ads turn into something that is building both of my things as opposed to just one. So these are some of the things that we’re doing that are insane.

“Don’t be afraid to share your story and struggles with other people because (I’m sure) other people are dealing with it themselves.” I was so glad that content creator, self made entrepreneur and storyteller, Iris Chen was able to join me at my home before flying back to the East Coast after a whirlwind podcast tour in California. Iris didn’t choose the traditional path of life. She understood that she needed to make a huge change in order to pursue the career she wanted. Her resume is a testament to her talent. With names like Gary Vaynerchuk, Damon John and the Fung Bros as past employees and collaborators, this inspiring 24 year old is crystal clear on what she wants in her professional and personal life.

We have the pleasure of sitting down with Role Tea CEO and co-founder Mike Johnson to discuss the topic of entrepreneurship while other and what building an effective network looks like for underrepresented communities. Connect with Mike (and Role Tea) on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecjohnson1/https://www.linkedin.com/company/role-tea/about/Learn more about Role Tea:https://www.drinkroletea.com/https://www.instagram.com/roletea/?hl=enhttps://twitter.com/getroletea?lang=enhttps://www.facebook.com/GetRoleTea/Connect with us: https://linktr.ee/livingcorporateTRANSCRIPTZach: My grandfather was born in Mississippi and was a sharecropper on a cotton farm. With only an elementary education, he eventually moved to a small Illinois town to work for John Deere. After working for over 20 years, he established his wealth through entrepreneurship, namely real estate. "Remember," he would say to me as a child, "jobs are to pay your bills. If you want to be successful and make real money, do something else." Though he was successful, his journey was challenging and fraught with various hardship. It actually reminds me of an excerpt from a piece from Inc Magazine authored by Web Smith called "What It Really Means to Be a Black Entrepreneur in America," and I quote, "Regardless of race or ethnicity, entrepreneurs always begin at a disadvantage. However, blacks tend to need to reach levels of traction with our own money since seed money is often unavailable. This contributes to the rarity of URM entrepreneurs. Richard Kirby, vice president of Vinrock, recently compiled a list that reported a total of 23 African-American investors in the U.S. It should be of no surprise that black founders receive less than 1% of institutional capital. As important as money is the ability to realize your potential through mentorship and direction. This begins with confidence, belonging, and familiarity." End quote. Listen to that. Confidence, belonging, and familiarity. Networking is the catalyst for each of these things, but what does building such networks look like for underrepresented communities? My name is Zach, and you're listening to Living Corporate.Ade: So today we're talking about entrepreneurship and what it means to be an entrepreneur as a non-white person.Zach: I'm glad that we're dedicating an episode to this. Living Corporate isn't just about working for someone else, but also we want to explore ways in which you can work for yourself.Ade: For sure, and shout-out to your grandpa. That's an amazing story.Zach: Yeah, it's inspiring for sure, and while it's impressive--you know, he built his empire through real estate in a small Midwestern town after building up decades of social equity by being in the community, right? Like, he bought homes, like, no one else was really wise enough to invest in, then he fixed them himself, then he managed all of his own maintenance on this homes.Ade: Wow. Yeah, I mean, he weaved his own boot straps out of thin air and then pulled himself up by them. Like, he's an amazing success story, no doubt. To your point, in 2019, the world is just way more connected and social, which is cool, but it also creates more invisible hurdles and roles and just stuff to navigate in being a full-time or even moderately successful part-time entrepreneur, right? And those three things that you quoted--confidence, belonging, and familiarity--those are all needed in the hyper-connected world.Zach: It's just funny, 'cause I was telling a colleague that because of that fact that entrepreneurship success is built on access to capital, which lie in relationships, that people of color are well-benefitted by having partners and backing that don't really look like them, and I remember I had this conversation, and you would think this person, like, thought that I had said, I don't know, just something, like, really racist or, like--"What are you talking about? What are you trying to say? I mean, anybody can do anything." I was like, "OK, all right. Yes, we can do anything." And it also helps to know the right people so that we can have access to things, so that we can do the things that we want. I mean, like, let's be realistic. It frustrates me sometimes when we talk about, like, success and striving to do better and building things that we don't acknowledge, like, the very real capitalist structures that exist, right? Not even that we're fighting against, but that we have to plug into to be successful. Like, come on. Like, this is America. Everybody does not--everybody with a great idea does not wake up and then work really hard towards that idea and then somehow, like, become successful. There's plenty of people out there with great ideas who work very hard who are never successful, right?Ade: Right, and because people of color often don't have access to power or the relationships or the rooms in which these bills are being made in these countries to be movers and shakers there's a bit of a disadvantage. Let's look at the most prominent black clothing brand ever, FUBU. Long story short, FUBU popped off by having a relationship with LL Cool J, and yes, that LL Cool J. He is black, but guess who else LL Cool J had a commercial partnership with? Gap. He plugged FUBU in the middle of a Gap promotional commercial, and he did it while he was rapping, so nobody who was on set or was clearing the ad afterwards really noticed.Zach: Right, and it's a crazy story, but people just forget about that and the fact that Damon John, he had a ton of creative methods to promote FUBU, right? Like, he had a ton of different ways he was kind of getting it out on the street, but it was that Gap commercial--that's the one that really got 'em on the map and really--anyone who studies FUBU and studies, like, advertising, they know about the LL commercial, right? Like, it's common knowledge that's--that was the tipping point for that brand, and so, like, the point is entrepreneurship is changing already. Like, the majority of entrepreneurs don't make it, but being someone who doesn't have advantages built on centuries of historical inequity makes it even harder. Not to say it isn't possible. I'm not saying that it's impossible at all, it's just--it's just hard.Ade: Correct. Wouldn't it be dope if we had an entrepreneur with, let's say, over a 15-year track record of successfully launching dozens of new products or services in the food and beverage media and industrial goods industry? In fact, I would love to hear from someone who has experience maybe launching a brand from concept to the shelf of three of the top ten grocery chains in the country.Zach: Oh, you mean like our guest Mike C. Johnson?Ade and Zach: Whaaaaaat?Zach: [imitates air horns, then Sound Man supplies them] Y'all thought we weren't gonna have these air horns this season. Y'all thought. That's right. We still here with these air horns. We are here with these air horns. More fire for your head top. I'm not playing.Ade: This is really all Zach. I'm blaming it on you.Zach: Aye, drop the air horns. In fact, hold on, drop extra air horns, because we had someone who was actually from Jamaica hit us up on Instagram and say, "Please keep the air horns coming, and make them louder."Ade: Make them louder?Zach: Make them louder, so we here for y'all. We here for the people, 'cause we got it like that. We love y'all, okay?Ade: Not surprised. Not surprised in the least. All right, y'all. Keep listening for a really dope conversation.Zach: And we're back. And as we shared before the break, we have Mike Johnson with us. Welcome to the show, Mike. How are you doing?Mike: I'm doing good, man. How are you doing?Zach: I'm doing really good, man. So today we're talking about entrepreneurship. So can you tell me--where did your entrepreneurial itch come from or start with?Mike: Oh, man. I really can trace it back to my early 20s. I had a couple ventures around that time that I went after. I had a website called VirtualREGallery, which was basically a website that displayed virtual tours of real estate listings before virtual tours were pretty popular. I was a realtor for a little while, and I also did some construction on the side. So I've always kind of had that aspiration to somewhat control my own destiny, but I would say what really motivated me to start Role Tea was just as I learned more about marketing and innovation, I always just had this dream to want to turn an idea or a vision to a concept and go start to finish and pretty much have complete control over how that product will come to market. So that to me has been the most gratifying part of entrepreneurship. Even to this day when I walk into a store or restaurant and I see someone, you know, drinking Role Tea and, you know, just randomly, that to this day still makes me a little excited, 'cause I'm like, "Man, 3 years ago that product was just an idea in my head, and now people can actually purchase it and consume it in a store." So that's just probably the most gratifying thing, to have that control over the idea from start to finish.Zach: That's amazing. And, you know, you talking about your previous ventures, it reminds me of another question that--you know, in season 1 we had a guest who brought up the concept of failing forward--failing quickly and failing forward, so can you talk a little bit about that concept and perhaps what some of your biggest Ls--and we'll say Ls are lessons--that you've taken in your entrepreneurial journey?Mike: Yeah, man. That's a great question. The crazy thing for me about failure that I've learned in this experience is that--you know, I've realized that you really only fail at almost anything when you quit. Like, going into this venture, you know, sometimes your mind can play tricks on you. You start thinking about the worst things that could happen and failure and whatnot, but when you get into it you realize that, man, virtually everything that happens to a business can be resolved if you have the fortitude to try to work through it. So, I mean, you know, we're no different. Like, you know, everyone talks about the great side of entrepreneurship, but man, we've had at least four or five near-death experiences with our company in 2 years. Like, you know, from running out of cash, which a lot of startups have that issue with running out of money, to, you know, having key suppliers back out last minute, literally weeks before launching into Wegmans, which is a 95+ grocery chain from Virginia up to upstate New York, to having distributors back out the last minute. I mean, all of these things have taken out other companies, but for us we just looked at it as, you know, "Okay, here's another problem." You know, "What are our options just to get past it?" And you kind of take it on the chin and move forward. So, you know, you really only fail at almost anything when you quit or when you run out of, you know, hands to play. So once you realize that and you realize that, "Wow," you know, "what happens with me and this business is largely up to my control," it's kind of empowering once you realize that. But as far as just lessons in general around business, to me the two biggest lessons that come to mind for me is--the first one is just starting as small as you can until you can completely the validate the concept, and when I say validate the concept I mean that, you know, you have a product or a concept that people are gonna want to buy, where the economics of it will actually be able to create a business, right? There's a lot of ideas out there that you can sell, but you're never gonna get the price point that you need to actually have a business. Making sure that you actually know who the consumer is. You know how to talk to them or the channels to sell to them. Those are all the things that are required to really validate a concept, and it's best to try to do that on a very small scale to start. That's definitely been a lesson that we've learned early on, and then I think the second big lesson that I've learned in this in terms of failure as well is just trying to get the business to a point where it can be self-sustainable as quickly as possible, right? So right now we're going through some pretty, you know, dramatic changes around our operations to get a little bit more margin back in house versus giving it to a supplier or an outsourced vendor, and that's just all in an effort to get our business to a point where it can pretty much eat off of what it kills, right? We can sustain ourselves based on our own selves as opposed to relying too much on outside investments. So that's a piece of advice I would give to any aspiring entrepreneur. Even if you want to raise capital, it's just good to have financial discipline to try to get your business as self-sustainable as possible as quickly as possible. So there's many lessons, but those two stand out the most.Zach: And so, you know, you've talked--you talked a little bit about Role Tea, and we're definitely gonna get into that as we get further along in this interview. I'm curious to know about your ventures. Could you--would you mind walking us through? Typically when I meet--the reason I ask your ventures is because typically when I meet entrepreneurs, they may have, like, one big thing, but they have a few other things kind of cooking around them. So I'm curious to know, what are your ventures right now?Mike: No, yeah, that is very true. We tend to have short attention spans, so it's easy to kind of get involved with different things. You know, we launched Role Tea in December, November timeframe of 2016, so we're right at the 2 years, and to be honest, man, aside from, you know, being a new father, which I actually became a father the same year I became an entrepreneur with Role Tea, that's been my primary focus. Now that Role Tea is a little bit more established in terms of distributors and it doesn't take as much of me doing virtually everything to keep it going, I am starting to get back a little bit into consulting. That's something that I did prior to launching Role Tea, so I do like to work with other startups and help them however way I can, but aside from that, man, the bulk of my focus right now is with Role Tea.Zach: What challenges do you believe that you've had as a black entrepreneur? And I ask that because in the research that Ade and I have been doing, we've noticed that there are some challenges that are unique to being a non-white builder of businesses, and so I'm curious to know, like, if you--have you run into any challenges that you believe are unique juxtaposed to your white counterparts? And if so, what are they?Mike: Entrepreneurship, just inherent in the way it is, is already built with plenty of challenges. White, black, yellow, whatever. So sometimes it can be a challenge to understand, "Okay, is this a challenge that I'm facing because I'm simply an entrepreneur, or is this a challenge that I'm facing because I'm a black entrepreneur?" And that can be difficult sometimes to decipher, but one challenge that I think is definitely tied to us being, you know, African-American [and own a business,] especially in the food and beverage industry. It's just the fact that, you know, we are launching a beverage brand that is--our intent is to scale to 100+ million in sales and potentially exit, so we're treating our business like a true startup, not like a family-owned business where we're just, you know, looking to sell locally and et cetera, and I think that that's a very different thing in the food and beverage industry amongst a black entrepreneur that most people would expect. So I think that just simply not having a whole lot of examples to point to of black-owned food and beverage brands that have been able to do that successfully makes it hard for a lot of people to see the vision and see the potential in our concept, and I think that's especially true primarily with investors. We've actually had, you know, pretty good success with, for example, some major retailers. We've gotten our product onto the shelves of Whole Foods, of Wegmans. Those are two of the top-rated grocery chains in the country. Hy-Vee is another one. You know, but from a business standpoint, I think that's where we've seen most of the challenge in terms of, you know, working with investors and things of that nature, and I think that's largely because there's just not a whole lot of examples of African-American-owned food and beverage brands that have done it to that level, which is what we're aspiring to do. So I'm sure that there is plenty more, but that's definitely one that I can say for certain I think is unique to us.Zach: So what advice would you give to the person who thinks, you know, entrepreneurship is an all-or-nothing thing and it isn't--they're not starting their journey because they're afraid of missing a steady paycheck?Mike: Yeah, man. That's definitely something that is--I find is very common amongst a lot of people. I struggle with that myself. The first thing is you don't have to be all in to be an entrepreneur, right? Don't listen to everything that you see on Instagram and, you know, social media. There's a lot of people out here glamorizing entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship is great, right? I spent 12+ years in the corporate world, and now I'm 2 years as an entrepreneur, so I can give you the perspective of both sides, and there's definitely a lot of advantages on the entrepreneur side, but there is nothing wrong with side-hustling it for as long as you can, right? That extra paycheck from your job is--it actually can position your business to be more successful, you know? Thankfully I have 12+ years of experience in the corporate world working for other people, learning, collecting that nice six-figure salary so that I can actually build up a savings to even have a chance to do what I'm doing now. So it's all about when is the right time for you, even if you ever want to go all in, right? All in meaning you're full-time with your entrepreneurship venture, but that's the first thing. Don't feel pressured to go all in, right? And when you go all in is another big question that I hear a lot, and it's also one that I--challenge that I dealt with, and, you know, there's no right or wrong answer. Everyone has to lok at their particular situation to know when is the right time, but I will say that there's probably about four or five things that, you know, anyone that's in that situation is looking to do, to transition, to go all in, they should be looking at. Like, the first thing is, you know, what does your business require? Like, for example, if you're gonna launch a catering business versus a restaurant, you know, they're two very different demands and requirements, right? When you're talking about a restaurant, you have to deal with a storefront, which likely comes with remodeling, et cetera. Not the typical type of thing that you can get, you know, to market on the weekends and evenings, right? Whereas a catering service, you can do that evenings, weekends. You can pretty much side-hustle that until you actually get paying customers before you even have to leave your job. So the type of business that you're looking to start a lot of times will dictate largely when you can actually go all in or if and when you can actually cut the 9-to-5 path. The other thing you've got to look at is, you know, what type of support do you have going into it, right? Do you have people, whether it's family members or friends, that can help you out early on without having to get paid, right? I mean, early on there's no cash coming in. To get it stood up, you're gonna need people to help. You're gonna need your team. What type of support do you have? If you have a pretty good support system, you may be able to go all in a little bit sooner. Also you've got to look at, you know, what are your responsibilities in terms of financially and with people, right? Are you 21 years old, no kids, no family, very low bills? You know, that gives you a whole lot more flexibility in terms of what you can do sooner and the risks that you can take, whereas if you are--like, in my situation, I started, you know, Role Tea already in my mid-30s. Like I said, I'm a father, newly father, so I have to move a lot different in that situation.Zach: Congratulations on that, by the way.Mike: Oh, I definitely appreciate it, man. Fatherhood is a lot of fun, a lot of fun. But yeah, you have to move a lot different if you have a lot of financial responsibilities and people responsibilities. Obviously you have to be a little bit more smart about when you go all in. You also might have to look at are there skills that you just don't have yet but you need to develop before you go all in, right? And then lastly, this is probably often times, you know, skipped and not really taken into consideration, but you definitely have to look at what's your appetite for risk and uncertainty, right? Once you pull the plug on that 9-to-5 and you're all in, you know, on the good side is it really motivates you to have a sense of urgency, to move forward fast, but at the same time it can also be stressful by not having that paycheck coming in every week or two or whatever it was you got paid, and that can definitely cause a lot of stress and anxiety, and if you're the type of person that doesn't deal well with that type of uncertainty and stress, #1: you're probably going to struggle as an entrepreneur, 'cause that's gonna come naturally, but that may also dictate you keeping your business as a side hustle a little bit longer. So I never tell someone exactly what to do in that situation, but I would definitely tell you that those are probably the four or five things that you should be thinking about in your situation to determine, you know, when you go all in or if you go all in at all.Zach: And so, you know--and I alluded to this earlier about some of your challenges as a black entrepreneur, but the research I was speaking to specifically had to do with the variance in acquiring capital, right? So venture capital, angel investments, and other types of non-business loan-sourced funding. I'm curious, have you had any challenges in acquiring that type of funding, and really what's been your journey in building those relationships with those with access with the capital to help your ventures?Mike: Yeah, that's a great question. It's definitely one of the bigger challenges that I'm finding with not just our business but other black-owned entrepreneurs, and it's a complex one, which I--I know that this is probably an area of business that's foreign to a lot of people, so I definitely want to make sure I kind of break this down because, you know, I have an MBA, but yet 3 years ago I didn't understand hardly anything about the idea of raising capital. I've had to learn a lot through this venture, and the challenges that are unique to African-Americans is--it's kind of a snowball effect, so let me explain it like this. So investment in startups typically happens in a progression, right? So, you know, the first step is typically money out of your own pocket, right? So that's called bootstrapping, right? Maybe you've worked in the corporate world for a number of years, you've built up some savings. Maybe you got an inheritance. Whatever the case may be, right? But you need some sort of cash to get things going very early on. That's typically the first step. Second step is you look to friends and family, right? "Who do I know in my own personal network?" Friends, family, associates, that have the means to write a $10, 20, 30, 50,000 check or more, right? That's the second step, and then once you get past that, then you get into what's called angel investors, which are typically either high net worth or high-income individuals who choose to invest in startups, right? And then lastly you get to venture capital, which essentially are, you know, funds that investors who are called limited partners, or LPs, invest in, and they then have managers of those funds look for startups to invest in, right? And they can go from $500,000 up to, you know, $100,000,000, right? They write very large checks. So that's the typical progression of a startup raising capital for their business. So let's think about that, right? Now, what we know about African-Americans is we traditionally have a lower income than non-whites. We also traditionally have a lower net worth, which is probably more significant, than whites. So going back to the very first step in that progression, right? Most of us could struggle with having the means to even bootstrap, to have that $20, 30, 50,000 just to get started, right? Because of the points that I just made, right? And if you get past that hurdle, then now you have to find friends and family that also can write that $10, 15, 20,000 check or more. Again, that's a struggle that's unique for African-Americans moreso than others because of the points that I just made. So right out the gate as an African-American entrepreneur you have some disadvantages, right? And VCs and angels, you have to get past those first couple stages typically before they're even interested in looking at your business, right? And the crazy thing about investment, the investment world, that I've learned is investors rely significantly on their personal networks to even be introduced to an entrepreneur to invest in. So they're--again, how many African-Americans have the social network, the connections that people that have that kind of means to write those checks, right? So it's a snowball effect that, collectively speaking, puts us at a disadvantage, and again, that's definitely a challenge that is well-documented. We've experienced it. Other founders that we know have experienced it, but, you know, how you deal with that is--again, I don't want to make it sound simple, but the first thing that we've tried to do is just bridge that gap in terms of relationships, right? And that's really done largely by just putting yourself out there, putting yourself in situations to meet people that can invest in your brand. So, you know, the very first angel investor that we had we met at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit last year. We were chosen as a finalist to pitch in that competition, so, you know, we got a lot of visibility at that show down in Houston last year. We met with our first investor there, our first angel investor I should say, and, you know, months down the road after the rapport was established he decided to invest in us, right? So that was an example of where we had to kind of bridge that gap by just going out and making those connections, and then the second thing really is just--you know, you have to have the mindset that you're gonna make your startup undeniable, right? You know, if someone says no now, which we've definitely heard tons of nos, and you're gonna hear nos. Raising capital is very difficult for any startup, so you have to have the mindset that, you know, "Okay, you say no today, but we're gonna build up the traction that we need over the next 6 months to 12 months to the point where if you say no you're basically foolish," right? So you just have to make your startup--you have to make your startup undeniable, 'cause everyone likes to make money, and I think it's a little bit more of a challenge to show that we can do that, but, you know, if you can definitely demonstrate that, people will invest in your startup. It's just a little bit difficult for us for those reasons.Zach: That's just such a great point around--especially when you started--when you talked about, like, the various levels of investment, right? So I'll even use Living Corporate as an example. For us, you know, I'm one of the few people in my family even in corporate America. We don't all have money like that. I certainly would not--I don't even feel comfortable. I mean, and some of that might just be culture too, Mike. I don't feel comfortable walking to a member of my family talking about, "Hey, would you mind investing $10,000 to help us hire writers and videographers and so on, so on, and so forth," and really invest in Living Corporate. Like, what? You know what I mean? Like, just the thought of that, right? And then, you know, we had an episode again in season 1 when we were talking about family [inaudible]--like, the wealth gap. The wealth inequality gap, and there's plenty of research to show that in the next 10, 20 years, that the average value of a black home will be zero dollars, right? So you're talking about the fact that starting up and getting all this capital, for a community who has no money--like, we don't have the centuries of privilege and things of that nature to have an uncle or a second cousin who can write a check, right? And I think that's just a really good point. You know, I'm curious about Role Tea, so let's dig into that a little bit more. So first off, when can Living Corporate get a case of the tea?Mike: I'm always open to giving Role Tea to whoever wants it, so yeah, I'll let you go with the second question.Zach: [laughs] Okay, so we're good on the tea. And then why tea? Why Role Tea, and then what was the inspiration behind Role Tea?Mike: Yeah, yeah. So yeah, we definitely got you on the case. No problem there. As far as the inspiration for the tea, we always say on the--we launched the tea 2 years ago, but the idea for Role Tea really started probably in my early 20s more than 10 years ago where I had the experience of losing 100 pounds, right? So, you know, I'm like 22 years old, and I get that scale shock where I go to the doctor and--I know I'm obviously way too big, but I didn't realize I had actually gone over 300 pounds, and I'm like, "Man," like, "Okay, something's gotta change." So at that point my relationship with food changed, and I learned that, you know, a lot of the traditional foods and beverages that I had consumed, that were, you know, typically less than healthy, right, if I'm creative I can remix those recipes to be better for me, still taste good, and actually serve a purpose to either help me feel better or perform better, and so, you know, over the course of the next 2 to 3 years I lost 100 pounds just, you know, changing the way I ate and exercising more, et cetera. So fast forward to 2015. At this time I was training for a boxing match. I'm a huge boxing fan. I've boxed for several years. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm passionate about boxing just as I am about business, but I was training for a boxing match in 2015, and I noticed--again, now in my mid-30s, you know, after training, what used to take a day or two to feel normal again, not feel sore, not feel stiff, was now taking 2 or 3 days, right? So I started to research beverages that I could drink--you know, not supplements, but just every day traditional beverages--Zach: Natural.Mike: Yeah, natural beverages that I could incorporate into my diet that may help, and so, you know, that's when I learned about ingredients like tumeric and ginger and, you know, green tea and tart cherries, which all have natural anti-inflammatory properties, and so I looked for options in the store, and virtually everything I saw was $6 or $7 bottles of juice, [inaudible] sugar. So, you know, my background is in innovation, new product development and launches, so I immediately saw a business opportunity. I went to a friend of mine named Corey Benson with the idea, and he has an operations background. He was running a manufacturing plant at the time, and he said, "You know what, man? Like, I see people every day that are standing up at the job for 9, 10 hours a day. They're popping Aleves. They're, you know, popping Advils and drinking Mountain Dews to deal with the soreness from just their job," right? So he immediately saw the pain point that, you know, the concept that we were thinking about would address, but he saw it from a regular 9-to-5 job, whereas I was dealing with it from a weekend warrior boxing perspective, right? So we immediately saw, like, "Wow, this whole thing around inflammation and a functional beverage that can help with that has some legs, and it probably could impact a lot of people." So from there we were ready to go. We started to research the industry a lot more in 2015 and 2016. We worked with a development company to take our recipes that we had created with tea and juice and spices, like tumeric and ginger, to basically create a product that could be sold on a shelf. We chose tea because, you know, tea is a very popular drink, and it still is. Shout-out to Guru, even though he talked about lemonade. But tea's a very popular drink, and the great thing about it is, again, you know, a lot of the options before were juices, which is more expensive. Tea is a much less expensive catalyst to use to deliver functional spices and benefits, so we figured we would be able to create a functional drink that's also affordable, right? So we're probably one of the first functional beverages in stores like Whole Foods and Wegmans that was under $3 per bottle, and again--plus I'm a huge iced tea fan, right? So that was a natural ingredient, or product, to use. So, you know, we worked through the recipe process in 2016, and we launched a product literally the night before Thanksgiving in the D.C. Metro area in 2016, and, you know, we started off just very independent, selling out of the trunk of our cars, and, you know, now we're currently sold in over 100 locations, from Virginia up to upstate New York as well as a few states in the Midwest. So right now we're just, you know, looking to continue to grow the business, bring on more partners, bring on more investors, and just see how far it can go.Zach: Man, that's incredible, man. You know, and down the road, once, you know, we get this tea and we drink it, we'll make sure to shout y'all out on the podcast on the part of our Favorite Things.Mike: Definitely. Definitely do that.Zach: Yeah, man. Now, this has been a great conversation. I really want to know where people can learn more about Role Tea and where they can get some.Mike: Yeah, yeah. So Role Tea--and that's R-O-L-E, as in, like, play your role. Role Tea is sold online, so you can see us at RoleTea.com. R-O-L-E-T-E-A dot com. We're also sold on the East Coast, primarily in stores like Wegmans as well as some independent stores in the D.C. Metro area. So yeah, check us out online, RoleTea.com. A lot of good information there. You can order right through that website. Yeah.Zach: That's what's up, man. Now, look, before we get out of here, do you have any parting thoughts or shout-outs?Mike: Yeah, I definitely want to shout-out everyone that has tried Role Tea, everyone that will try Role Tea, including you, Zach. Yeah, everyone that's worked with the brand to help get us this far, to this point, definitely appreciate the support. I definitely want to shout-out my co-founder Corey Benson. Definitely want to shout-out, you know, again, everyone that's listening to this podcast. I didn't get a chance to say this before, man, but when I first heard about this podcast and what you guys are attempting to do as far as help educate people in how to navigate, you know, the world of corporate America, I'm like, "Man, that's definitely something that's needed." Like you mentioned yourself, you're a first-generation corporate professional, right? Did I hear that right?Zach: Right.Mike: Yep, so same here. You know, first in my family to, you know, get a bachelor's degree, master's degree, corporate world and, you know, going into the corporate world I'm thinking, "Okay, I'm ready for success based on my education," but I quickly learned that most of what determines your success in that world is the things that are not taught in the classroom, right? It's the soft skills. It's the implied cultural norms that are often times a little bit different than what we grew up with, so, you know, a lot of us learn those lessons on the job as opposed to being prepared beforehand. So this podcast is doing a great service to help educate young professionals on those waters before they get into them, so kudos to you guys, and again, I'm glad to be a part of this.Zach: Man, Mike, thank you so much for the kind words. Again, the drink, Role Tea--like know your role, R-O-L-E T-E-A, and we're excited to give it a little review. So I appreciate your time. We consider you a friend of the show. Can't wait to have you back, man.Mike: Definitely appreciate it, man.Zach: Peace.Mike: Peace.Ade: And we're back. I thoroughly enjoyed that interview, Zach. I mean, I've known Mike for a little while now. He's been a great friend and supporter. Like, he's always good, not only to listen to you for advice but just listen to his experiences, and how he's been able to grow Role Tea as a brand has been very inspiring, and I'm so glad that we got so much of that in that interview.Zach: No, for sure. In our discussion, and outside of it too, we talked about--just talked about his history and talked about the challenges of building up his brand and really, like, trying and failing at some other things too, but super happy he was on the show, and hopefully we'll get some--we'll get some tea out of this. He told me he'd actually send us a couple pallets. I don't know about pallets, but he said he'd send--Ade: Word?Zach: Yeah. Not pallets, 'cause pallets sounds like--Ade: 'Cause that tea is delicious.Zach: Yeah. No, I've heard it's--I haven't had any yet, but I'm positive that once I have it I'm gonna enjoy it.Ade: Okay. Well, I am keeping an eye out, because Role Tea is amazing. Anyway, awesome. Thank you, and shout-out again to Mike Johnson and Role Tea. I'm looking forward to that tea.Zach: Salute to Mike. Okay, so Favorite Things?Ade: Favorite Things. Let's go. All right.Zach: All right, cool. So look, my favorite thing right now has to be Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Now, some of y'all are like, "Super Smash Bros.? What's that?" But let me tell you something, those who know--Pusha T voice. "If you know, you know." So look, my favorite thing right now has to be Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on my Nintendo Switch. It's super fun. I play in the evening after a long day at work, and I love it because I can just kind of pick it up. I don't have to, like, sit down in front of a big TV, boot up the game. I can just pick up my handheld, boot it up. And for those who want to know, my favorite--my main character is Chrom. So again, for those who are kind of, like, outside of this whole video game space, Super Smash Bros. is a Nintendo game, right, but it's like you can, like, pick Nintendo characters against each other to fight, right? But, like, not in a, like, super violent Mortal Kombat way. More, like, kind of, like, a cartoonish, fun way, but it's a deep, deep game, right? So you can put Mario against Sonic. You can put Princess Peach against Captain Falcon or Fox or Falco or Ganondorf versus Kirby. You can do all kinds of crazy match-ups, right? Super fun, and so it's been cool. It's a really good stress reliever. That--you know, working out sometimes, you don't want to necessarily want to get up and work out. Forgive me. I don't want to work out all the time. Sometimes I just want to kind of veg out, and it's great. It's great for that. So that's my favorite thing.Ade: Okay, self-care. I see you.Zach: That's right.Ade: So my favorite thing lately has been a book called Cracking the Coding Interview. It's been invaluable, I think. I struggle--for those of you who are just joining us, just in case this is your very first Living Corporate episode ever, I am switching careers, or I'm in the process of switching careers. I'm becoming a software engineer, and part of that process is self-teaching both foundational concepts and computer science, but also understanding algorithms, binary trees. Just how the very technical elements of software engineering, something that you are supposed to pick up in a classroom that I did not have the luxury of doing, therefore I have to teach myself. And there are also books that exist out there that kind of help you through the process of thinking through and developing strategies for coding interviews. I'm discussing it like it's a journal or something like that, [inaudible], but yeah, it's been a really important book, and I've kind of been adding more and more base computer science books and algorithm books to my library, right next to Frantz Fanon and Audre Lorde. So yeah, those are my favorite things.Zach: That's a sick combination though. That's dope.Ade: I want you to know our library in our home consists of tax law code and regulations and vegan chef--vegan cookbooks and regular cookbooks and Sister Outsider. [laughs] And computer science books and data science books.Zach: That's dope though.Ade: Oh, and [Ola had a?] self-help book. So there's no way you can walk into my home and not have something to read.Zach: You're gonna have something. You're gonna learn about something.Ade: There will be something available to edify you. I even have, like, fiction novels, everything from John Green to Grisham to Tomi Adeyemi, which, again, shout-out to her.Zach: Shout-out to her. No, straight up. She's great.Ade: I'm looking up to the next book in the series, by the way. Okay, we have veered so far off track. Did you have--Zach: Good. It's a Favorite Things segment. We're supposed to turn up. It's cool.Ade: You know what? You're right. You're right. Sir, sir. Sir. [Not turning up. Cruise?]. I'm tired. [laughs]Zach: [laughs] [Turn me up. Cruise?]Ade: Nope, I'm tired of you.Zach: Okay. No, no, no, but that's dope. So look, you know, y'all, if it wasn't evident by our kickoff episode, as well as our Supporting Black Women at Work section, the B-Side that we had as well as the full episode, we're here, man.Ade: We outchea.Zach: We're gonna have a good time this season. Make sure you keep checking us out. Thank you for joining us on the Living Corporate podcast. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @LivingCorporate, Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod, and subscribe to our newsletter through living-corporate.com. Please say the dahs.Ade: The dash.Zach: If you have a question you'd like for us to answer and read on the show, just email us or hit us on DM, right? We out here. Don't forget to give us 5 stars too. Now, look, some of y'all actually been responding and gave us some stars, but not all of y'all though. That's right, I'm looking at you. That's right. We need those 5 stars, okay? Right? Am I tripping, Ade? Do we need the 5 stars or nah?Ade: We need the 5 stars.Zach: We need the 5 stars. Okay, cool. Look, y'all. That does it for us. We'll catch y'all next week. This has been Zach.Ade: And this is Ade. Free 21 Savage.Zach: Free 21 Savage. Peace.Ade: Peace.

In this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with Matt LeBris. Matt has worked for people like Damon John and he has accomplished great success throughout his career. He is actually a Forbes 30 under 30 nominee. We talk all about his accomplishments, his failures, and what he thinks students should do to be successful. In short, the key is self awareness and networking. Something that he said that really resonated with me was that networking is not only about who you know, but it's also about who your network knows. I couldn't agree more. Make sure to listen to the full episode to get great advice and to learn about Matt's story! Also, be sure to check out his podcast Decoding Success! Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/masteringcollegetocareer/message

In this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with Matt LeBris. Matt has worked for people like Damon John and he has accomplished great success throughout his career. He is actually a Forbes 30 under 30 nominee. We talk all about his accomplishments, his failures, and what he thinks students should do to be successful. In short, the key is self awareness and networking. Something that he said that really resonated with me was that networking is not only about who you know, but it's also about who your network knows. I couldn't agree more. Make sure to listen to the full episode to get great advice and to learn about Matt's story! Also, be sure to check out his podcast Decoding Success! Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/masteringcollegetocareer/message

PBF51: Should You Turn Your Blog Into A PodcastBy Bill Griggs and Kingsley GrantPodcast By Friday Episode 51:How to turn your blog into Podcast?Turning your blog into a podcast is one of the fastest ways to grow your audience. People have less time for reading. Folks are spending less time reading and more time listening to audio or watching videos. Turning your blog into a Podcast can not only increase your audience but also increase your influence and perhaps monetize your work. A podcast can be a more efficient use of your resources. It allows you to speak with authority and in a manner that allows your audience hears your voice. A blog doesn’t allow that.Many bloggers have successfully made the transition to a podcast including: Pat Flynn - Smart Passive Income Podcast https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/Michael Stelzner - Social Media Examiner https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/Amy Porterfield - Online Marketing Made Easy https://www.amyporterfield.com/amy-porterfield-podcast/Leslie Samuel - Become A Blogger https://www.becomeablogger.com/Tony Robbins - Tony Robbins Podcast https://www.tonyrobbins.com/podcasts/Ray Edwards - The Ray Edwards Show https://rayedwards.com/podcast-archives/Michael Hyatt - Lead To Win Podcast https://michaelhyatt.com/leadtowin/Articles Mentioned:Top Income Earning Blogshttps://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/03/02/top-income-earning-blogs/#7dad1992377eLinks: The Power of Broke by Damon John https://amzn.to/2SkdOIOCrush it Gary- Vaynerchuk https://amzn.to/2DMLBlPPlatform by Michael Hyatt https://amzn.to/2TpCGwe*some of the links above are affiliate links. Podcast By Friday is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We are not given any free products, services or any thing else in exchange for mentioning them on our site. The only consideration is in the form of affiliate commissions. Podcast by Friday is a show that helps people create their Minimal Viable Podcast (TM) by taking bold action to defeat procrastination and get their voices heard. Bill Griggs contact info:Twitter: @BillGriggsWebsites: http://podcastbyfriday.comhttp://cncroutertips.comKingsley Grant's Contact info:Twitter:@kingsleygrantWebsite: http://podcastbyfriday.comhttp://startabusinessonlinefromhome.comhttp://kingsleygrant.comSHOW NOTES Mentioned:http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/19http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/20http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/21http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/22 http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/23http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/24 http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/25http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/26http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/27http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/28http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/29 http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/30Websites Mentioned*some of the links above are affiliate links.WP Profit Builder http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/builderWordpress Hosted http://www.wordpress.comWordpress Self Hosted http://wordpress.orgiTunes www.apple.com/itunes/Spreaker http://spreaker.comPodcast By Friday http://www.podcastbyfriday.comCNC Router Tips http://www.cncroutertips.comSmart Passive Income http://smartpassiveincome.comFacebook Group http://facebook.com/groups/podcastbyfridayAmazon Associates https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/homeBluehost http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/bluehostAudible http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/audibleYoutube http://youtube.comVodburner http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/vodburnerHow to leave a review on iTunesGo to this page. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cnc-router-tips-podcast-spreaker/id1031116372?mt=2Click View in iTunes.Click on ratings and reviews in iTunesClick the Write a Review buttonLeave an honest rating. Then write a review Just a few words.

PBF51: Should You Turn Your Blog Into A PodcastBy Bill Griggs and Kingsley GrantPodcast By Friday Episode 51:How to turn your blog into Podcast?Turning your blog into a podcast is one of the fastest ways to grow your audience. People have less time for reading. Folks are spending less time reading and more time listening to audio or watching videos. Turning your blog into a Podcast can not only increase your audience but also increase your influence and perhaps monetize your work. A podcast can be a more efficient use of your resources. It allows you to speak with authority and in a manner that allows your audience hears your voice. A blog doesn’t allow that.Many bloggers have successfully made the transition to a podcast including: Pat Flynn - Smart Passive Income Podcast https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/Michael Stelzner - Social Media Examiner https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/Amy Porterfield - Online Marketing Made Easy https://www.amyporterfield.com/amy-porterfield-podcast/Leslie Samuel - Become A Blogger https://www.becomeablogger.com/Tony Robbins - Tony Robbins Podcast https://www.tonyrobbins.com/podcasts/Ray Edwards - The Ray Edwards Show https://rayedwards.com/podcast-archives/Michael Hyatt - Lead To Win Podcast https://michaelhyatt.com/leadtowin/Articles Mentioned:Top Income Earning Blogshttps://www.forbes.com/sites/robertadams/2017/03/02/top-income-earning-blogs/#7dad1992377eLinks: The Power of Broke by Damon John https://amzn.to/2SkdOIOCrush it Gary- Vaynerchuk https://amzn.to/2DMLBlPPlatform by Michael Hyatt https://amzn.to/2TpCGwe*some of the links above are affiliate links. Podcast By Friday is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We are not given any free products, services or any thing else in exchange for mentioning them on our site. The only consideration is in the form of affiliate commissions. Podcast by Friday is a show that helps people create their Minimal Viable Podcast (TM) by taking bold action to defeat procrastination and get their voices heard. Bill Griggs contact info:Twitter: @BillGriggsWebsites: http://podcastbyfriday.comhttp://cncroutertips.comKingsley Grant's Contact info:Twitter:@kingsleygrantWebsite: http://podcastbyfriday.comhttp://startabusinessonlinefromhome.comhttp://kingsleygrant.comSHOW NOTES Mentioned:http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/19http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/20http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/21http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/22 http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/23http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/24 http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/25http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/26http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/27http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/28http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/29 http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/30Websites Mentioned*some of the links above are affiliate links.WP Profit Builder http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/builderWordpress Hosted http://www.wordpress.comWordpress Self Hosted http://wordpress.orgiTunes www.apple.com/itunes/Spreaker http://spreaker.comPodcast By Friday http://www.podcastbyfriday.comCNC Router Tips http://www.cncroutertips.comSmart Passive Income http://smartpassiveincome.comFacebook Group http://facebook.com/groups/podcastbyfridayAmazon Associates https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/homeBluehost http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/bluehostAudible http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/audibleYoutube http://youtube.comVodburner http://www.podcastbyfriday.com/vodburnerHow to leave a review on iTunesGo to this page. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cnc-router-tips-podcast-spreaker/id1031116372?mt=2Click View in iTunes.Click on ratings and reviews in iTunesClick the Write a Review buttonLeave an honest rating. Then write a review Just a few words.

Ray Schwetz will enlighten and empower you with Derek K. Price’s journey - from owning his own business, New York Plumbing Wholesale & Supply, to spiritually enlightening entrepreneurs with the Long Island Entrepreneurship Conference, coming to the Long Island Marriott on September 29th with guest speaker Damon John from Shark Tank!

Ray Schwetz will enlighten and empower you with Derek K. Price’s journey - from owning his own business, New York Plumbing Wholesale & Supply, to spiritually enlightening entrepreneurs with the Long Island Entrepreneurship Conference, coming to the Long Island Marriott on September 29th with guest speaker Damon John from Shark Tank!

A new season of DevOps Cafe is here. The topic of this episode is "DevSecOps." Damon interviews John about what this term means, why it matters now, and the overall state of security.  Show notes at http://devopscafe.org

Admittedly, we recorded this in the late evening, but "dog's dinner" isn't a thing. On this episode, Lux (star of episode 11's dog party) joins us for an in-studio meal as JB and YB discuss some of the ups, downs and altogether messy elements of a self-directed livelihood. Also discussed: S-Town, This American Life, Matt D'avella, Rich Roll, Damon John and more. Drop us a line! questions@whatupworldpod.com

Welcome to this week’s episode of the MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com podcast. A couple of weeks ago I was in Toronto and attended an amazing event called the Archangels Summit. The gentlemen that puts it on every year is Giovanni Marsico. I’ve been able to spend a little time with Giovanni and gotten to know him, and the mission they have for the event. It was held in the Sony Center in Toronto, which has capacity of 3,000 people. He had over 2,500 people in the room. It had a fantastic vibe and energy to it. The year before, he had 1,500, so he's almost doubled the size. He has some amazing speakers. This year, Simon Sinek, Damon John and Dr. Shefali Tsabary. Last year, Gary Vaynerchuk and Seth Godin. This year, he had Akon do a performance which had everybody on their feet. I was watching this thinking, "The energy of this is just so incredible, he really puts on an amazing show." What he's essentially doing is creating a community of people who are taking moonshots, who are building tribes and communities that he calls superheroes. I had a wonderful idea while I was at the event that I shared with him a few days later when we had breakfast, just to see if he was interested in the idea. He was, and we decided that rather than discuss it further then, we’d explore the depth of the idea here on this podcast. I can't wait for you to hear it.   Links: MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com ProfitActivatorSocrecard.com ArchangelMasters.com ArchangelSummit.com   Want to be a guest on the show? Simply follow the 'Be a Guest' link on the left & I'll be in touch. Download a free copy of the Breakthrough DNA book all about the 8 Profit Activators we talk about here on More Cheese, Less Whiskers...

Today’s guest is Geoff Woods from the podcast The Mentee. There is a change of direction in the podcasting world, ever since Serial, where narrative podcasting has become more popular. We are still at the very beginning of the bell curve of podcasting’s popularity because we’re still in the realm of the early adopter. Many people still don’t know what podcasting is. There is going to be an increasing need for podcasts because it will become more popular and the professionals are realizing it. There are narrative journalists who did that as their profession who are bringing that talent and skill set to the podcasting world. With that, you’re starting to see podcasts coming out with incredibly high production quality and budgets for production as well. You don’t have to do that to compete moving forward, but recognize that the quality is going through the roof and if you want to stand out you have to do things differently. Geoff’s approach Geoff started recording the conversations with the incredible, high-level people he was spending time with as a way to document his journey from employee to entrepreneur. He got feedback from the listener that what they really wanted wasn’t necessarily just an interview but that they wanted to hear private conversations that were genuine, that actually led to results in his life. His podcast is a mixture of the conversations he was having, interspersed with his own narration about it. As he documented his journey over the last year, there were times where he felt compelled to share his thoughts and document his journey and carrying a recorder everywhere enabled him to do that. He says he has only used perhaps 5% of those little moments in the podcast but it aids in the rawness and authenticity of his podcast. It shows the true emotion, including fear, that he’s going through but also when the lightbulb comes on in his head too.  Advice for narrative podcasters Recognize that you need to document every interaction not only for your own retention but also in case there is a snippet of gold that you can use for the podcast. Also of course ask for permission to use what snippets you choose in the podcast. You have to document it and form some system of marking the date you talked to them, what you talked about and moments of gold. When you start a podcast or a blog, when you do anything that puts you in the position of being a reporter, you end up doing something that creates an immense amount of value for yourself. This is why Geoff started his podcast. Not only to add value to other people (which was his number 1 goal) but also to give a way to add value that was unique, and get in front of the people he wouldn’t have had access to otherwise. If you were to walk up to those people and ask to pick their brain, the chances are the answer will be no. However, when you put yourself in the position of reporter, all of a sudden you are giving value to them because you have a platform and are giving them exposure. Everyone wants exposure. It feeds the ego. Regardless of how big their podcast is, this is true. Some people will ask you how big your podcast is and how big your reach is, and that’s ok, but most people will just want the exposure. Take Damon John from Shark Tank for example. The odds of getting him to have coffee with me, he’d likely say no. Geoff recognizes that if he wanted to get in touch with those kinds of people, he needed to step his game up even more. Using a brand like entrepreneur.com behind his name gives him even better access to those kinds of high-level people. Therefore, he set out with the aim of becoming a contributing writer for entrepreneur.com for the specific reason of being able to network. When he found out that Damon John was coming out with a book, he recognized the opportunity, as a reporter for a major publication, to offer exposure to him for his book. It was an immediate yes, and he got to have the conversation with Damon that he wanted to have, turn it into a podcast episode and turn it into an article for entrepreneur.com which not only added tremendous value to him in promoting his book, but also adding tremendous value to Geoff from a credibility and traffic standpoint. It was a true win-win. Geoff is always asking the question ‘How can I add value? How can I help you?’ He knows if somebody is coming out with a book then they will be looking for press, so it’s a no-brainer. Hooks in the podcast to entice listeners Geoff also realizes that recording private conversations with some really influential people can be taken out of context. So what he’s started to do is narrate at the beginning of each episode to provide the context and frame the conversation. It shows people the goal, the mission and the stage of the journey that he’s on so that they can understand why the conversation is worth listening to. Then he adds a take-away so the listeners can easily find out what they can apply in their own life, and also a call to action. It’s a concept of opening loops and closing loops. At the beginning you can say something that sets up the topic. E.g. ‘the 5 things that are holding you back from quitting your day job’. This gives the listener a headline and something that grabs you attention and makes you want the answer. Then, however, they don’t get the answer straight away. They have to stick around to listen to the end of the episode so they will get the answer. Then, throughout the episode, before you give them the answer to that question, before you close that loop, open another one. You can add something like ‘before we finish this episode I just want to let you know that next episode we will feature a conversation with xyz and the secrets he shared about abc.’ Then close the original loop so that the listener does get that sense of closure. The basic formula: Open loop 1, open loop 2, close loop 1. Then in the following episode you address the fact of that open loop 2, but also open loop 3 before you close loop 2. It’s putting a chain together so that listeners are drawn on and on. This idea comes from Ryan Dice at Digital Marketer. This is something, a very specific thing, that Geoff thinks about when he’s planning his podcasts now. He asks himself ‘how can I tie these episodes together?’ so that strategically he can keep people engaged.

    Today I am truly honored to be picking the Legendary Brain of marketing genius Jay Abraham! He has been named one of the ‘Top 5 Executive Coaches in the country’ by Forbes Stephen Covey has named him one of the greatest business and marketing minds he ever met. He has mentored and coached some of the greatest in our time including Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Ramit Sethi and Damon John from Shark Tank among many others He’s made billions of dollars for others and has personally worked with over 10,000 clients in more than 400 industries. In a world filled with hot aired, self proclaiming gurus I bring to you the real deal. The man who doesn’t just talk the talk but walks the walk and helps others do the same.   What you will learn: What defines an entrepreneur How to leverage ALL your resources How to get unlimited amount of free press How to find hidden untapped opportunities Tunnel vision vs funnel vision Why relationships are the most undervalued assets How to borrow and bettering success strategies from other markets … and MUCH MORE Interesting highlights: Jay has worked with over 10,000 clients Jay charges $100k a day for consulting Jay has helped companies earn billions of dollars Jay’s #1 practical advice:  Relationships are the most undervalued assetsTweet This Resources & Links: Jay Abraham’s Website (https://www.abraham.com/) 50 shades of Jay (https://www.abraham.com/50shades/) Thank You for Listening! I would like to personally thank you for listening to my podcast.  If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it with others. Just click on the social buttons below. Also, if you podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/can-i-pick-your-brain/id1076916148?mt=2) , you would be joining me on my mission to help as many people as I can become really successful. And finally if you haven’t already subscribed podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/can-i-pick-your-brain/id1076916148?mt=2) , so you can get automatic updates whenever another episode goes live!

Today's Millionaire Worth Modeling interview is with Mark Lack. This successful 26 year old is a 7 figure millennial entrepreneur, author of Shorten the Gap, established speaker, and a dedicated philanthropist. He's shared the stage with speakers like Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Mark Cuban, and Damon John to name a few. Mark shares how he kicked off his entrepreneurial journey at a very young age and the day he made 160K in 24 hours, and how that experience led him down a path of personal development, mentorship, and business entrepreneurship. Mark now hosts the TV show, Business Rockstars, which has been a big piece of building his multi billion dollar business network of influencers. If you want to learn more about the "science of achievement", new goal setting strategies, and what Mark's specific advice is on how you can "shorten the gap" between where you're currently at today, and where you want to be, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Be sure to WATCH all Millionaire Mindcast interviews on Youtube, Subscribe to the Channel, and drop a comment of your favorite takeaway. 

Welcome to the More Cheese, Less Whiskers Podcast. Today we have a really interesting podcast for you in a lot of different ways. Today I'm talking with Harry Massey and Harry does something that you've probably never heard of or thought about in your life. Harry has a company that helps people increase their energy and increase their well being with something called infoceuticals. Now, I've never heard that term either so we spent a long time trying to get to the bottom of how infoceuticals work, for me to understand it a little bit, and then how to do you convey something that somebody has never heard of. That's where the convincing part of the 8-Profit Activators come in. When you've got something that requires some education, you'll see we're concerned about how do we compel people to raise their hand so that we can have the conversation that introduces the idea, a brand new idea, to them in a way that's compelling and convincing that they would want to try something. This episode goes a little bit longer than most of the episodes, but you'll see why. I'll share some examples of other kind of parallels to Harry's challenge of why it's important to just get the conversation started with the right people, how to narrow your focus to the right people or enough people that you can have a meaningful dialog with and then learn from those interactions to something you could scale to the rest of the world. If you have something that can help everybody everywhere, which is kind of where we started this conversation, you'll see that sometimes the best way to approach it is to start with some artificial constraints that will produce a more manageable environment for you. I think you're really going to enjoy this episode in thinking through how this could work for your business. I would recommend as a supplement to this episode, you listen to the episode on I love marketing that Joe Polish and I did with Damon John on the power of broke, because we talk about this local scaling up there too. It's a nice supplement to this episode. Links: ILM234: Damon John NESHealth.com 90MinuteBook.com   Want to be a guest on the show?  Simply follow the 'Be a Guest' link & I'll be in touch. Download a free copy of the Breakthrough DNA book all about the 8 Profit Activators we talk about here on More Cheese, Less Whiskers...

This week on #AllPodcastsMatter I , Keane , emphatically state why I hate Matt Damon. The presidential debate happened this past week. It was fairly disturbing. A serious waste of time that discussed no issues that I cared about. We mourn the loss of Floyd Mayweather. Colin Kaepernick returns to the football field. Please miss me with these white savior films. Why does America love these?! A yoda film was announced. Are you excited? Did you see the Nat Turner biopic? No one else did either. This week's Top 5 is Disney films. This week's musical guest is D.Ciano.

Damon turns the tables and interviews John. The wide ranging conversations hits on everything from containers, to Docker, to microservices, to immutable infrastructure, to unikernals, and the impact of it all.  Show notes at http://devopscafe.org

Pierce Marrs and Steve Hayes are back to for the Season Five, Episode Six. Lori Grenier and Damon John are back with Kevin, Mark and Robert where they review “Fiber Fix”, “Elephant Chat”, “Ten Thirty One Productions” , “Total Merchant Resources” and an update on “Shell Bobber”. Tune in Friday's at 9:00 PM Eastern/8:00 PM Central at The Shark Tank's new time on ABC. Click here to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Also, CLICK HERE to Like Us on Facebook.

Pierce Marrs and Steve Hayes are back to for the Season Five, Episode Four. Lori Grenier and Damon John are back with Kevin, Mark and Robert where they review “Sunday Night Slow Jams”, “Hamboards”, “Scan” , “Screenmend” and an update on “Mission Belt Company”. Tune in Friday's at 9:00 PM Eastern/8:00 PM Central at The Shark Tank's new time on ABC. Click here to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Also, CLICK HERE to Like Us on Facebook.

Pierce Marrs and Steve Hayes are back to for the Season Five, Episode Two. Lori Grenier and Damon John are back with Kevin, Mark and Robert where they review “Mango, Mango, Mango Preserves”, “Breathometer”, “Man Medals” , “Kane and Couture” and an update on “Simple Sugars”. Tune in Friday's at 9:00 PM Eastern/8:00 PM Central at The Shark Tank's new time on ABC. Click here to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Also, CLICK HERE to Like Us on Facebook.

Pierce Marrs and Steve Hayes catch up with Billy Blanks Jr and his amazing wife Sharon Catherine in New York as they are touring the country and the world to promote the certification of their fitness program. You may recall that Damon John followed the Blanks into the Green Room for a very emotional ending. Follow this interview as the Blanks revisit their journey to the Shark Tank, being homeless and the importance of family and unity. The last fifteen minutes are the best.

Join Pierce Marrs and Steve Hayes as they interview Al Nelson from “EZVIP”. He appeared on Episode One of Season Three and struck a deal with Mark Cuban and Damon John. Al gives his background, what has happened since he appeared on the show and some great advice for hopeful entrepreneurs. You can contact Al's company at ezvip.com.

https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/podcast http://MakeEverySale.com ---------------- *Sales Overview* ---------------- *How long have you been in sales?* His whole life. *How did you get started?* First time he was paid was selling his dog walking service at 14. *What sales method do you follow?* Find the right prospects. Diagnose. You need to customize high-ticket offerings. Thinks most sales training sucks. Ryan Stewman has great training. Was selling time shares and he read Mike Kaplan " Secrets of a Master Closer: A Simpler, Easier, and Faster Way to Sell Anything to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere ( http://amzn.to/2mmSOSE ) " *What do you like in a sales manager?* Aggressiveness. ** * Selling Track Record* *Why do you like sales?* He loves the process. *What is the biggest order you ever booked?* Selling third party logistics selling to ecommerce companies and it was $130,000. *How long did it take to book your biggest order?* Took only about 1.5 weeks. (She was an inbound lead and was ready.) *Why did the customer buy from you?* She told him she was shopping. She appreciated that he cut to the chase and addressed her concerns and was honest about it. *What did you learn from the process?* Listen. Be transparent. -------------- *Private Life* -------------- *What is in your library?* Audible. Power of Broke by Damon John, Power of Persuasion, "Fanatical Prospecting" Jeb Blount Phsyical book, Ultimate Sales Machine, Dan Kennedy, *What are you reading now?* " Psycho-Cybernetics ( http://amzn.to/2n26zmP ) " by *What is your favorite movie?* "Fight Club" *How do you relax?* Meditation *How do you start the day?* Write down goals, do some education. Avoid email until he educates himself. *How do you end work each day?* Write down goals, get in a good mindset. ----------------------- *Technology & Strategy* ----------------------- *What smartphone do you use?* Android S5 *What CRM do you use?* Just started with Zoho *How do you stay organized?* Zoho, Keep by Google *How do you handle / prevent a slump?* Meditation to step back or totally change gears and environment and educate. --------- *Changes* --------- *How have markets/sales changed in 5 years?* Social media. It has never been easier to access decision makers and get your word out for free. *What industry trends do you foresee?* The social inbox is getting crowded. Salespeople are pitching on the first connection and that's a mistake. Leverage "Trojan horse prospecting." ---------------------- *Alternative Universe* ---------------------- *If you were not in sales, what would you do instead?* Everyone's in sales! Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-sales-podcast/exclusive-content Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy