EYL #222 Blakk Tatted on Starting First Tobacco Free, Fruit-Based Hookah & Making $1 Million on Black Friday

Obviously you've created your own formula. How do you protect it from somebody who's saying like, oh, I can do the same thing. Is it Is it something that you try to patent or that word it.

Is pat Nobody nobody can you know?

Yeah, I'm telling you I got the business right before I got the business right, you know what I'm saying.

At the trenches. It took a while to get here, Yan, but come take it from me.

My graduates from my school being false back drop bag drop Mike, drop back, drop drop.

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All right, guys, welcome back, e y l back home. Traveling around the world, And this is something that we've actually been looking forward to for a while Dope episode. And we've covered the marijuana industry a few times. To Al Harrington, shout out to a few people that we've covered in the space, but this is something that's interesting. I just told him the only thing that I do smoke is hookah. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know, I'm not sure who introduced this to us this interview.

God perhaps God did so black also known as black tatted.

Uh, he's killing it in New Orleans, from New Orleans, and then it just spread all over the map and started a company called Black Smoke.

So it's a.

Black owned sheisha sheisha company, which is the that's the real name for kah right. Sure. So, but then he has the portable joints as well. It's interesting, I believe there's no tobaccooe, no tobacco, no nicotine, because that's what they always say. It's like smoking hookahs, like smoking a hundred.

Undred figure it's bad.

Yeah, it's bad for your lungs. So and then but he's killing it. So he just had two million dollars Black Friday.

Yeah, seven man, congratulations.

Don't discount this point seven.

So he got he got a lot of rap artists that you know, have endorsed the brand, from Lil Wayne to Cardi B to Lorilla Yogatti. The list goes on. So this is gonna be a dope conversation. We're going to talk about, you know, how he got into the industry, how he was able to scale a brand, marketing, social media and all that stuff. But person foremost thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.

Thank you for having me many Yeah, yeah for sure.

Yeah double to shout out to the Governor building.

When's the episode coming.

Treehouse Live from the Treehouse.

Shout out to the Treehouse baddies.

All right, so let's get into this. So how do you get into producing hookah sticks?

Like?

How did that even happen? Because I've never really even thought about that being a business?

Yeah, just like yourself, Like me, I love hookah. You know, that's just something I love to do. But I never smoke, Mariana, I never smoked cigarettes or nothing like that. But just the realization of understanding that me smoking hookah, it's just like smoking a pack of cigarettes. So I just wanted to figure out a way to how to eliminate the

Stuff like that.

So that's what a flavor exactly, and that's what the initiative of it all started from. So I knew it had to be a way to create. So it's one hundred percent of fruit produced hookah.

So you got a vision, right, You love hookah, but most people can't turn the things that they love into actual business. So at what point, right, did you have an entrepreneur panoial background or like, how did you figure out let me create this business plan to turn this passion of something I love to do into something that could be profitable.

Yeah, So that's what's crazy.

I always use my personality and my influence on influence on social media, and I used to do just be myself. Should my personality be funny sometimes and stuff like that, and it deemed me some kind of way getting into the world of becoming the promo king where everybody business is, from the smallest business to the biggest businesses. I'm talking about as far as we TV wanted me to use my personality and sell product. I used to think it

Do that? Could you do that for my business?

So I started promoting other people businesses and they started making more money than they ever made that everybody was coming with testimonial was like, you maybe more money this weekend than I made since I've been in business for two years, three years, And I was like, all right, cool. Then I realized, my god, damn, like I could do this for myself, you know what I'm saying. So that's

You know.

So how long ago did you start?

It's almost two years ago, yes, and it became a multi million dollar business the first three months.

So before this, what were you doing?

I was literally on Instagram doing bro yeah, making a lot of money.

Though I'm influence. I was influenced, but before you was an artist at one point. That's the crazy I played around with a song. You know, New Orleans is known for our culture. We dip you know what I'm saying, we uy, So it's a depth. So they called me. They deemed me the dip King. I seemed like they always be deeming me something key, the dip king.

You know what I'm saying, that's a move king, arng your leegh it that.

I know it is. I know that. Yeah.

So, but before the Instagram stuff, I used to work off shore like that was my gig. That's kind of how Instagram kicked off of me because I was always showing that boat so off shore, Yeah.

Off shore?

What's that?

Like?

You you in the middle of the golf of Mexico on ships on tug boats?

Was doing that?

Yeah, that's what I was doing.

Wow, That's how I got into Instagram because I was so bored. I was throwing only black guy on the boat was you know, mister Dave and people sixty three years old and stuff like that.

I'm a young I'm a young guy.

So I'm like, y'all, I need y'all to connect with me and talk to me. And make me feel like I'm at home.

You know what I'm saying. I couldn't go to the treehouse in the middle of Golf of Mexico, even in the tree.

So yeah, Like when I really think back, like all those things was it was a purpose, all those things, Like everything happens for a reason. I truly believe that now because you look back all these different elements of life, it really what came full circle and got me doing

How just do random? How far out are y'all? Because every time I see it, I'm like, yo, how do they even get service out there?

No? Very very very far out, you know what I'm saying, Shout out to all all the dudes who's like losing their relationships and their wives and stuff out there like fishing, so all the ships got a like dock and like, uh, even when you see like coal and all that kind of stuff like that, that's where it's coming from.

That's where it's important from.

So when the ships are so heavy and carrying all these barges and stuff like that, they can't dock theirself. So that go us and the other ships and the tugbos which are a little smaller, and you're pushing the ships towards the dock. It's called like landing, uh turn for see and things like that. Even when the ship is coming out of a doe, they can't turn themselves, so you got to connect wyire in line to them and pull the boat back and literally help them turn.

So that's the kind of stuff you do out in the gulf. So boring.

Interesting. So all right, so you get the idea to make hookah with fruits, yes, as that's like the base.

It's made one hundred percent fruit, all right.

So it's made out of fruit. You get the idea for that, but how do you what's the first steps to actually get the product produced?

The first step is getting the product produced is literally damn you want me tell you, my resident.

This is like good birder.

No.

I mean as far as like like as far as like what's those steps of actually like manufacturing, Like, Okay, I'm gonna get a hookah made in China? And skid it sent over like I mean.

So that's the thing that was the trigger part.

That's what became the most complicated part for me because I couldn't just go and do something that the average person could do because I'm literally doing something that has never been done. It's something that I created, so it didn't have like the proper steps of the right supply it. I learnally had to put this together like I learned

But now it helped come to life clearly.

So you're building a team around it because I'm figuring like, yeah, you're building with fruit, but it takes some like expertise and to figure out how to make the right connects actually figure out, yo, we could smoke this. If not, this could go back absolutely Like who are you? How did you find the team or like did you pisch the idea of people to say, like this is a vision I have, Like how that works?

That's literally will work with the supplies.

I just had to be That's why I went through so many the people that really realized, Okay, we could do this if we use this and we the fruit from going bad and this have to be done and this could keep it healthy and stuff like that. So the supplies actually helped me, you know, take my vision and bring it to life. So we kind of like work together and created a formula.

That actually gave you black smoke.

How cost intensive is it? Because if you're using fruit, right, if you make.

Very costly, it's very costly.

And then by being made a certain way, I couldn't even use like one supply for one thing, Like it was such a big deal to be able to get the fruit to what it needed to be. And it's a whole nother idea of having a hookah pins that could hold the kind of fruit and the stuff that's going to go in there. So I have to have different supplies, like one supply like make the fruit and got to give with the other supply to put it in the hookah babes Like, it's just it's a lot.

The supply, so the startup was like one hundred thousand.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Is it just the portable or is it the regular hookah too?

After regular hookah too?

Even my sheeshes are literally you opening and this the actual fruit, like it's all fruit.

Everything is one hundred percent fruit based.

Do you have to get like FDA approval for that or.

And yes, and that's what the things that that takes the time takes some time. My legal team is already like and it works with all that stuff. The FDA approval, that's just something that doesn't happen overnight. Will have no doubt in the world that it's going to be FDA approved.

So there's a lot of steps that go into it's obviously the FDA approval, but trademarking, like talk about the lessons you have to learn, like to get this thing actually a product that people could use.

So that's that's the thing. That's that's a lot of stuff that I'm I'm like still learning, like I give myself, try to give myself more knowledgeable about it every single day because, like I'm I didn't never this is a this is a monstrous company, this bigger than me.

I didn't even imagine.

You know, if you could have told me I could just come over with this product and have this company and probably make ten twenty grand month, I'm like, okay, great, at least I got something, you know, some leverage. But now it has become something that I didn't prepare myself for because you can't tell me in my wife's dreams it will be this. So I'm literally literally learning every day and getting more knowledge as I go.

So, all right, so once you got it made and all that, now how did you start selling it? Did you sell it to the clubs first, or what you're selling it hand to handed people like what's the online?

So I got this thing about me right like I'm a I'm a influenzer, a public figure, but I also like to be very private. So if I'm dropping something, if I'm doing something, I literally never talk about it, and my audience noticed about me. That's why they kind of stay tuned because you could literally be on Instagram today and I ain't posting two months, but today it could be like surprise, I do that, like I'm known for that. So I was working on it, creating it. I used to be on Instagram, lib.

I used to.

I actually started during the pandemic. I started Instagram with these talent shows. Like I used my playtform. I was on Instagram lib, like almost so many celebrities used to come to my talent shows every weekend. Like he used to have thousands of people in there, people saying they thought I was diddy or something like. I ended up getting nobody the big brick, but I just made him feel like, come on this down the show. You just don't don't know who's gonna see.

You, you know what I'm saying.

So that's uh That's that's really how it was. And wait, what was we talking about?

Just how when you started selling it? Who did you? Who did you start selling?

Oh?

Yeah, that's what it is.

So I once everything was done and everything was pretty much you know, form laid, I literally had it already in the house and everything what nobody even knew I was coming up with it.

So I literally dropped it on my Instagram.

I was like surprised that they have seen me smoking hookah all the time, like I was known from having my wine, having my hookah the whole time. They just didn't know it was mine. So so many times it was asked me, like what you're smoking? What flavor smoking? I'm telling them they trying to go get another brand that's that same flavor because I'm not telling them exactly

But it was always mine.

So them trying to keep up and doing what I'm doing and me having my influence and when I literally say this is what I've been smoking, this is mine and not as available now. First day I dropped it sold out and it's been like NonStop ever since.

Well, how much inventory did you have that first day? Like, I mean, people always try to figure out business. How much should I have in the event that I sell out? So what did you say? Like was the number?

Yes? So this is what was crazy.

I had spent like one hundred thousand dollars on inventory, like getting everything right. And when I say a hundred thousand dollars, that was for the design, the inventory, the shipping and everything like that. And I had I literally got this book. I'm gonna talk about this. I got this book that I wrote.

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Right before I opened my company, and I was like, lord, if I could like make one hundred thousand dollars my first year, I know that so far fetched, but that.

Is my goal.

I won't make one hundred thousand dollars my first year, and I won't have all this inventory that I just invested in going within my first year of business. So I had enough inventory I could make at least one hundred, like seventy one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. So when I dropped that, I made that one hundred and seven hundred eighty thousand dollars the first day.

Ain't no inventory.

First day, all the inventory was sold out, So you have backwater? Yeah no, no, So I'm saying my year plan, I was trying to sell this product that I had within one year and make this amount of money within that first year. All that product was gone that first day, and I made that yearly.

Go.

I made that the same day I dropped.

Now it's time for the real Yeah.

So now it was horrible for me. I'm stressing, I'm sweating, I'm like, what the dude? So now, literally I once I dropped, my day that I dropped and I sold out, I literally have more product against.

For two months.

So then, but I think it worked out of my favor because that built this demand. Everybody was trying it was talking about it, and everybody that was hearing about it wanted then they couldn't get it, so now they was ready for the next drap. Oh he sold out, so fans, it's gonna sell out again. So every time I dropped, everybody anticipating and they setting the lumps.

People. It's crazy.

People really be calling off work because they's like they can't have their phone or they don't want.

To miss it. So when I drop, it goes crazy.

So this is another valuable lesson in the business. Right. Sometimes we try to come out with a product, but we have multiple products at a time. When we started, we had seven different shirt designs until we realized, like, wait, people are buying assets of a liability. Yes, we got to stick with that. How many flavors of the season did you start with? I?

Actually, I go big or go home. I started with fifteen flavors at once. That's why my investments were so high. Like that's why, like, Lord peace, let this work for me, you know, I started.

At the extra fifteen flavors at once.

And also, well, like I say, for somebody else who's probably trying to get some advice and want to start business, don't know how many products to start.

With all that kind of stuff.

I actually feel like versus trying to push the narrative of inventory or push the narrative or have different options as people, what you first want to do. The first thing first is build a demand for your product, not build the inventory for it.

Because you can get ten of these.

Designs of jeans and five of these shirts and twelve of these hookahs. But if you don't have a demand for what you're selling and why people need it and why they have to come and get it from you, versus just go and get the next best thing for the next best person. You just have another product and another you know, another item that nobody feel a need to want to get. So you build a demand for your business and you build the inventory of for that.

In my opinion, yeah, so.

You sell out the first batch and now people got to re up. Are these one time uses or can I get like a refill?

They disposable? Disposable? Yes, so we just yeah, you gotta be like the man, I need you to keep coming back baby.

So but it worked out, But that can actually be very harmful for a business if you don't have enough inventory.

Absolutely and I still struggle with that to this day.

So every time I every time I get amount of inventory right, I will sell out it. And from that first time, I started saying, well, I'm gonna get double over what I had. But then when I waited a little two months and I had got double, I said, well, this is gonna last me longer because I got double.

This and that's sold out in hours.

So now I'm dealing with the fact that I'm tripling and it's sold out like so it's like, no matter what, I just can't keep up with the man. So now this is a world exclusive. I never even had enough room to have the demand which I needed. I'm a new business a year old. I had a little, small, little warehouse, and now it's so crazy that I feel like I'm operating like Amazon. I just closed on can make a million like head quarters. So now I'm feeling

I can keep going.

All the money that I made, I feel like I could have made double and triple that because the whole time of me making that much money, I've been sold out one, two and three months at a time.

I mean it's a process. But let's go back to that day. Yeah, go back to that day. So you sell out, Uh, you're making the money in your mind, is it like all right, let me reinvest it? Or is it like let me let me get let me get some of the things I've always wanted.

Absolutely reinvested.

Still to this day, I reinvest pretty much everything, like I really feel like.

Except for the jewelry, I say a lot of raising you know what I'm saying.

But like a lot going on.

It took a while. This is hey, it's been. It's been. It's been almost two years.

And I just got this jurory like two months ago, two months ago. No cap, look like I'm just getting it, you know what I'm saying, Like, let me keep reinvesting.

Do that, but real talk, like it takes a lot.

And I really feel like, no matter what how much you reinvesting, you not kept with. I feel like, as long as you have inventory, you are not broke. Inventory is money, you know what I'm saying. You don't got to see that liquid and have that money, that cash flow in your hand. But you got money right there.

I'm rich. I got a million dollars and it's right there.

I just got to figure out a way to, you know, strategically turn it into dollars again.

So let me ask you this as far as marketing, how do you market You just go on social media? Like you got hookah? Like is it is it skits that's built out? Do you get other influencing celebrities? Like how do you market it? You have a follow up? Like how do you push it on social media?

So, and the best thing that could happen to me, hookah is such a popular thing already. People already love to hookah, and so I kind of have to influence them to do something that they already love to do. The only thing I gotta do is like influence them on why you should do it with mine instead of theirs. And the things that I use is so easily use because it's actually the truth, A healthy turnative literally made from fruit, and you can do it without the nicotine

So he only smokes hookah. The R and B's playing you don't smoke it a lot.

Especially Confessions album, right, but yeah talk so yeah, it's kind of like the consumers pretty much market the product for you and then they be excited to get it. You kind of get like free free promo all day,

Stripped that out right now overnight.

You know.

Look, I'm just saying, but but yeah, that's just really how it go. And it started with with love and organic like relationships. And then they post it. I don't I don't care if a celebrity post me on the instantore. I just send the free product. They still use their influence. I'm gonna take that. It's a story and I'm a screen recording and I'm gonna post on my page. Not now, they gave me a post and that post is going to go all all over social media and so influences.

Right now?

That's the commercial right there. So yeah, obviously I'm figuring your marketing as the healthy hookah right this is a healthy alternative. If you're going to do hookah, obviously you've created your own formula. How do you protect it from somebody who's saying like, oh, I can do the same thing. Is it Is it something that you try to patent or that word.

It is pat nobody nobody can you know?

Yeah, I'm telling you I got the business right before I got the business right, you know what I'm saying, the trenches.

It took a while lot to get here, but come take it from me.

So, like what's the makeup of sales. Is it mostly through individuals or is it a lot moving through night life clubs?

And so it's only available online, like it's not I didn't even get into that world. No wholesale, no distributors, like eventually, like you know, it's just it's my baby right now.

Like I knew.

That's why I was just saying, like what you were just saying with the investors and all that stuff, you kind of teaching me knowledge because I didn't know about any of this.

And you you know, in the.

Black community, we be so guarded and everything, and we feel like if we share a percentage of something that we're doing everything and we got to be mochraman, we got to do it by ourselves or it's more rewarded to us to say I did this by myself, so you'll really feel like we feel better having one hundred percent of two million dollars than having fifty percent of

Yeah, I mean based on your NLS. So are the sales coming domestically, meaning like you seeing it happen dominate in the States? If so, like what parts of the country Like obviously we're in Atlanta a lot, and that's like it's part of the fabric. But yeah, from an international standpoint, where in the Middle East and these countries, this is part of their culture. Do you have visions to expand it from an online space to getting out to those parts?

That's what's crazy.

Those are the people like Barbados and Dominican Republic and all those kind of places they buy bulk. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, who is this person who is these people like we shipped so much like overseas that is that's like it's insane and like I just don't didn't never imagine, you know, within one year that I go from the States into overseas and things and people like that. But I feel like when I get into whole sale and distributed it, that's when.

Really like the world is really go have black smoke. You know.

So what is the most popular flavor?

You know what's crazy?

The most popular flavor is all of them, the bundle cells you know what I'm saying, the most the flavors, all of them. So you get the bundle, you gonna get all all ten of the flavors of the Hookah Pin and the Bundle of the She Show, which comes comes with fifteen flavors. Whenever somebody get one, they be mad because now they love it. You know, you always wanna try one and try it first. Now they love it,

So how does this work? It's already inside of it. You have to light something?

Yeah, no, Actually, it's just look opening. How about you right now?

The first ever?

All right, all right, let's do it.

But you're like, man, we're.

Gonna go green apple, green apple. Governor you're he already got his governor? Has there? We go up here?

Tear from the sun side. Smell it right now?

Smells great? What were we doing?

All you do?

How to do is take the plastic. Yeah, take that rub out and it's bread activated. You just puffed, blow it out your mouth.

Don't worry, it's just fruit that.

He doesn't smoke much. This is this taste, good man, that's abob.

This is what I'm in the minute. It's goudstalf gudstalfas just like green apple. Doesn't it does absolutely does the lights up? Yea. And you just you don't hear. You don't hear? Who can like weed?

Bro?

You?

Yeah? You just hit it, You hit it and blow it out.

You're trying to don't put that in your lungs.

I'm trying to blow guns and I blow out.

Oh boy.

So so then a right, so take the conversation. So this this is this is good actually all right? So so all right, so now let's say I'm done for the time. I put this back in like this.

You have to leakproof. Leak yes, leakproof, turn it upside down, I promise you, man in my word.

So just you just all right, okay, and then you're just smoking into this.

No more smoking to us, no more you good.

This is probably last day.

I knew the women.

I knew the women was gonna want it all in their purses and stuff like that. So I didn't want to be like, that's leaking all online.

The fact that that lights up, I mean, this is gonna go crazy. It's it's gonna go crazy.

And so m hmm. Interesting. And then Glowrilla had it in her video.

Yeah, and tomorrow to video with Glorial featuring Card.

Part Yeah, you knew that that was gonna happen or.

Yeah, I definite kly what was gonna happen because Glorida had literally taste the pins already. Everybody was tagging me and sending me videos of Glorrida like literally having a pin in her hand while she was on stage, so like, I'm friends with someone who worked with gloriala shout out to and I was like, look, it really like the pins.

That's so sending Glorida pins.

She made the video whatever the case in Beasts Witness like clothes, was like her friends love these pins so much they could smoke them in a video.

I'm like, oh, we send them eight more bundles.

Bundles like bundles, So how much is it?

These are thirty nine nine nine much the bundle?

The bundle is two nine and nine two hundred and nine nine dollars.

And what you saving like over one hundred dollars by getting a bundle?

How many come in a bundle?

Ten comes in a bundle?

Now okay, okay. Now we saw Jewel just this Eastern great company and we sold at the laws food and the incentence marketing in to teens and you know it's really dangerous. But you actually said that that loss will help you.

Yeah. Well I didn't know about that part.

I just knew about the part of Jewel being banned and they were talking about the higher levels of nicotine and tobacco. So I didn't even do like interviews or nothing on that. But I go on Google and I see so many right of saying that jewels has been banned for nicotine tobacco, open up the doors for black smoke and no nicotine, no tobacco.

I'm like, what, thank you?

You know what I'm saying, Like so many people came over, came over, was literally right in my comments, like so glad I found this healthy turnover. I've seen this jewel got banned and you guys are the next best thing.

It was just like free promo, you know, best press, best bread. So so this.

Is just.

One percent fun fact, no negative. Listen.

It's made up of miracle bearriers, which is actually a very popular thing in West West Africa, Like they take miracle bearer bearriers to help keep their blood float well, bodily functions and everything like that, which is what's deathly.

This is made up of natural fruits and fruits to America.

Yep.

So what's your plans on scaling? Like how do you take this to the next level?

And that's literally when I'm in my bubble right now trying to figure out because I'm to a level that I wouldn't even fathom, right, So my thing is literally I'm feeling like I really need to get a machine behind me.

Like I have seen pretty much what I can do. I have reached the culture.

I have this something that hasn't been done yet, Like, you know, I have targeted our people. But literally, I just really want to disguise the limit on some you know, and I'm really trying to figure that out. I really feel like I just need to be in the right rooms and soak up knowledge from the right people y'all included, and really kind of find my way.

Yeah. I like that, man. So you're doing it online? I know. We kind of had a little conversation about brick and mortar looking into the future. What's your thoughts on it or hesitations on it? Because it's like we're pretty successful doing a business online. We always talked about if you have business, isn't online, you don't really have

That I'll be feeling like but again, I'm in a new world, so I'm money.

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Will be protected. Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland security probably even break my chain of thought. I'm trying not to think the same way. I'm trying to think outside of box. You know. It's kind of like I feel like, if it's not broke, you know why I fix it?

If I'm I feel like if I'm on line touching so many peoples, Like when you're online, you can reach Dominican, you can reach New York, La, Atlanta or whatever. But if I have a store base, it's just literally for the population of which is around me. So I'm just feeling like, how, you know, how beneficial could that be for me? Also, but I guess having it insight, like literally rolling down the street and always being able to

It's just like one of the things we spoke about with like the Marathon store recipes in it, but like it became an attraction, right, So you put it in a place where you're from, Now people come. You can have limited releases, limited items, exclusive items just for the area, all kind of like what Pinky's done, where it's like there's a chance I might meet you if I come to the store, right, because your personality becomes a thing where yeah, she has a product, which is the food,

Right, right, Gota Yeah, So y'all, it's y'all advice. If I open up a store front, a store front definitely got to start a new audience.

Well, I'm not I don't really think. I don't think a brick and mortar might not be the best idea, but I do think getting it into clubs is a good idea, Yeah, because I feel like that's something like you can have like the premire like in every club, mean like have like on the menu, like you know when you go to clubs and you order bottles and like every club has rose, every club has Don Julio,

And then I'll be sitting back in the cutting and realizing the clubs it's such an inconvenience with those hookahs because everybody's crowded, everybody bucked up. The girls can't even get through that because somebody about to get burnt like.

That, And this would definitely makes it a lot. Yeah, that's a fact, because like you said, even in restaurants, like you know what I mean, you gotta the thing is like you gotta pass it. Yes, you got like duck and they knocking cools down.

Burn the floor, the sofa, somebody and the mouthpiece and much more convenient.

This is that's where I see I see a lot of scalability in that because, like you said, you got the clubs, you got the lounges, and you have the restaurants. They all serve hookah.

Yeah, I think you do both, right, because even like Burner with cookies, like that becomes a brand that just travels. We know cookies, even if we don't know Burner, we know what cookies is. And so like when they see the store, it's like, oh, we know what's inside, right, we know the level of product. But if you become that that brand, especially for this space, I mean, the possibilities are endless.

The only thing with cookies are you I don't think you're allowed to mail marijuana.

You are in California, you can, but I'm saying you can't mail ithause that's.

Why it's like those stores are cash cows, because it's like you, if you want to buy the weed, you gotta do it right, correct, got a business, but you can actually ship it, ship it across state line. So and like you said, the hookah thing is interesting because you could just smoke hookah just on a random like I just see people on with pins like it's those fake pins and all that. You could just be like on a golf course.

We don't know what it is. We assuming this hohoker, but this is That's what I'm saying. But I'm just saying, just those portables everywhere. Yeah, people are smoking at everywhere. I don't know what's in all of them. They're very popular right now. That is actually something that's beneficial.

Man, I try to puff on those things. I don't know how people do it, like the marijuana, like those nose, like those big jewel and all that stuff. Like, Man, I'm talking about list.

That we want it dangerous too. I know some people who try them.

I never tried rollers.

You don't want to go on.

So are there other people that's making fruit based hookah? No, you're the only person that makes fruit.

Based person that make fruit based yes, thank you.

You don't so you don't have any competition. No, do you foresee competition coming?

I'm I'm you know, I'm the blueprint of something, right, So it's only right that when people see something and you do it like it's going to be others coming behind you just try to duplicate it like I'm aware of that, and that doesn't even affect me in any kind of way.

Like I just know what I make, what I create.

That's just literally if you love your your grandma or your mama gumbo, and they just probably tell you how you get in the play.

Like I put a little couple of sausage in there, put a little you know, trumpy laid baby.

You could sit there and do it the same way. But it's gonna probably be good for you. But it ain't gonna be your mama.

Gummy ain't gonna be the same.

And that's what black smoke is.

No, not that I haven't either.

Man.

You gotta come to Muros and get some gumbo.

Gotta come.

We make it without pork though.

We got to seafood seafood gumbo.

Couldn't believe Monday is not open on Tuesday.

Monday is not open on Tuesdays. I just not get it, Like I mean, I can only have it yesterday, right, all right? The reset, Let's talk about Dwayne Carter had it. He's is he He's the most famous person to ever come from the Wornes.

Absolutely one thousand. That's my guy.

So he he's uh smoked. Your Yeah, how that happened.

You know what's crazy? Uh? I think it was.

It's crazy because you always think about you know, we always said we hear that light a flick and.

That Wayne song.

So now I'm like, damn it not we hear that that's black smoke, but that that relationship actually came from Larry.

My got right here, man.

Yeah, Larry his good friends with mc mahon, which is you know, uh litt Wayne right and man and Larry always that's one thing he gonna do.

He go talk to you.

He can be like, look, you probably know some good ship up. You probably know some people, but you got to meet my dog. You got to meet blahlah blah. He said, hooka pans and this, that and that and the other. So you know, we all got got to talk and got on phone calls. And Wayne had a birthday coming up. McMahon was saying he was gonna make sure way ain't get the product. Way ain't got the product, Try the product. Love the product was part of his birthday.

What that feel like? Man, you're from New Orleans, obviously we shared in the you know we love Wayne obviously, like what that feel like when you see the guy.

I don't talk the same only talking golden, not bad like you understand, like you know what I'm saying.

It gets no bigger than that.

From Louisiana. So when you uh, you're building right, Yes, I'm assuming at some point it's not just you. You got to build a team right now, How did that work out? We grabbing family or we got our friends? How you're building a team out to just go?

Yeah, So it's crazy us with my friend right here, which is Dais and day we've been we've been listen, it's crazy.

I love backstory. We was friends like when we was like and I were late teens and stuff like that, right, and we always had this goal in this motive that we need to be rich one day. We don't know how we're gonna be rich.

So we used to be sitting back in our living room writing on envelopes, trying to figure out how to build a my Space app and a Facebook. A Wheel was like, we gotta put we gotta put time out of business. We can do our own app, right, So coming for a circle, she was running all the insurance companies all over the world. I started being off show. Then I started my hookah and stuff like that. And then as things was growing and I was realizing the day you came to my house one day, she was like, I'm.

Proud of you, but what the hell is you doing?

Like I was doing my own marketing, my own customer service, my own social media, like I was running everything, shipping all this.

She was like, let me help you, my baby. So DA just came over here and listen.

It was started with one conversation in my office in my house, and it became the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Like so days, just like my right hand man, she helped me run everything. Like days, you have more access to my life than me. You asked me something about me.

I'm like, I don't know, x Dasia.

You know.

So my team is very, very small right now, but it's definitely started with my friends. Yes, yes, So.

Talk about retaining customers, because that's the most important part of a business is once you get a customer, you want to make a customer for life. So what's your plans to make sure that customers return and keep buying product?

You know, I feel like It's all about the connection with a customer.

Don't make a customer feel like they're just a customer, like an the person that's just spending money in buying something from you. That's one of I think that was one of my most my most successful ways of going about things that I connect with everybody. Like literally every customer that that buy from me buy for me, they literally feel a connection with me. I talk to them, I gonna live, I answer questions. I literally talk to everybody.

So are we looking at more, more products or more flavors? How are we going to keep the business going?

Right?

So you got fifteen know how many flavors? You know?

I got ten hookah pen flavors and fifteen hookah sheesh your flavors.

So what's the plan? More products or different or different flavors?

You gotta follow my Instagram.

I told you I don't say nothing to just dry, but I'm gonna just say this, king, I'm never not working, you understand me?

So Wayne like that switch right?

So the warehouse that's going to be where all of the the product is held and where all the products is getting shipped out of and all this stuff.

Yes, forty thousand squb feet like it's mega thirty offices like I'm talking about.

Listen, it's crazy, y'all should come do an episode of Early Lesion.

And we gotta stop bobbing. Sure, So are you thinking about diversity?

Like?

All right, so you're getting money with the hookah? Are you interested in other aspects? Of you looking about our real estate? You're looking at invest in other businesses restaurants like you're looking to do that? Or you just focus on what you're doing right now.

Absolutely no, I'm looking to do that because I'm a fan of you. Gotta get it while it's hot, Like you know, like everything doesn't last always. Some things got his phases, some things got his time. So I just feel like, while you're in the game, you just literally gotta sprang your wings and be a ball eager. You can't literally just focus on one thing, have all your

Own his own lick up, like you know what I'm saying.

So I literally look for people like that as blueprints and understanding like I don't ever want nobody to put me in a box. So it starts with me. I don't want to be in no box. I may have started with black smoke, but that's not going to be the last thing you hear of me.

So you started out with that crazy first day, but this Black Friday was pretty monumental as well. We're gonna get to the amount, but let's talk about the lead up to it. You said the marketing is Instagram. Are you taking in inventory and getting pre orders or waitless? How do people you know build up to that. You know that's super successful Black Friday, And like I said, we talk about numbers later, but what was the build up in two Black Friders?

Yeah? I never do pre orders. I really feel like my advice to any business don't do pre orders because you can may have it on on the website, you can post it on Instagram.

You could verbally say this is the pre order blah blah blah. But all people know once day pre order is I spent my money and I don't have my product at no matter what if you say it's coming in three weeks on a seventh day, they would be like, you scammed me. I don't got it yet. So I just really don't feel like it's worth a headache. So the thing about it is, I even like the last time when I made headlines, when I made one point what it was one point four million dollars and nine

Like a Tuesday dog Like it was a Tuesday, you know.

So I was anticipating that Black Friday was going to be successful, but I didn't know the kind of success that it would have brought. Like she was actually telling me, Dave was actually telling me like, you know, Black Friday gonna be crazy. I'm like, ah, but yeah, nah, but nah, she was like, are you insane?

Are you sick? Listen my ge? Oh my god. It was. It was insane. I didn't expect it in the main years.

Bro, they took advantage of the Selle Like I said, like they bold to tell forty percent.

They took all my ship. Could you believe that? That damn the half of I'm so mad. I never do that again. But nah, it was love, man. It was a beautiful feeling. Man made me feel back.

I was giving make me feel bad like I was giving back to the community because I'm giving you out forty percent.

You know what I'm saying.

So, what what is your biggest markets in America. My biggest market is it's just the people. Like I said, like everywhere, no region's bigger than others.

It's really worldwise.

We look at that just saying like if you if you look at our analytics, like it's just look at the map. I mean we touched Like I feel like I'm the I'm the dope deal of like ghost don't got nothing on me.

Boy, if you think about who's one of these things, because you know we travel a lot. So Atlanta is a heavy hookah hub. New York City like you said, you spoke about the Dominican influence. So New York City is heavy on hookah. Yeah, Atlanta, for la people smoke hooker. So yeah, it's one of these things where no matter where you live, hookah.

I love Houston hooker. Yeah. New Orleans is heavy with the hookah. You know what's crazy. That's the thing. Well, I know a lot of people always.

Be like your hood don't support you know the hook would be the last people New Orleans be showing up and showing out for me. Like everywhere we go in New Orleans, you see they smoking hookah pans Like uh, even Larry, my friend Larry right here he have establishment, which is my favorite place on the plug again treeouts,

Him to the Treehouse.

And once people see he had blecks Mo hooka pans, like they was boaging him. Like everybody was like lyrics like I just don't get it because we have Hookah Hill, Like why did they act like that behind blex mooth.

But my city is no matter why you go in the city, you're going to see people in the smoking they blexs Mo hooka pans. They definitely show up.

Yo.

How you're looking at Miami because I feel like that that's a city that there's a parties almost every day.

That's what's crazy. Miami is looking very good. That's why I've been talking about Miami.

I see, I really got to do something in Miami, and I've been I visited Miami a couple of weeks ago.

And now I'm like, I gotta find a penhouse out here. It's different Miami. It's just different vibes.

So let me ask you this, New Orleans is an interesting place because, like you said, it's on culture even historically, like you know what I mean, Like everything is different, like the music, the food, even the language, like the creole everything, like you know what I'm saying, Like that's a whole different culture that historically has been different from a lot of other places, every other place in America. But there's also a lot of issues violence, murder, rate,

Yeah, So my thing is I pretty I stay out the way, you know, I stay out the way. I almost don't leave a house unless I'm probably going the treehouse.

You know, I stay out the way.

So but for the most part, I would say, I know my city be painted in such a negative way, but it's really love in New Orleans, Like you know what I'm saying like, I mean, every place have crime, every place got they they.

You know their negatives and their positives.

But I can say I can speak for myself and for my circle of friends, which I have a successful circle of friends like me, Super sent Larry Moreau, Jessica Dupart. Like when we come to our city, our city respect us and look at us as like pretty much as their way out, and they blueprint. So I really feel like we are respected in a sense that it's just so much love and it's just like you make you

Protected king and you know what I'm saying.

You're buying a warehouse. Obviously ridiculous. Congratulations on Black Friday business booming, But so do expenses. So how will you managine that? Because as you as you grow more, you got to get more inventory, there's more expenses. How you manage that balance between profitability? First, what you have to spend?

My CPA in danger shout out to day.

I don't got time. I know works works on a TP. I say, luke me and the meetings when you really need me there because I got them to do. You know, I gotta go to the treehouse. Let me know what they say. You know, but yeah, we always want to make sure that we stay at a certain threshold and a certain number, and like you know, our profit got to be a certain amount.

Like you know, we we we.

Spend two million dollars on inventory this month. We we gross blah blah blah amount of millions. And you know, we spend this much on production. We got to make sure we had this much left in accounting, spend this much on expenses, like she break down every single thing. It's times when she a call and say, how did you spend two hundred dollars that look, I need a some gas gas. You spent two hundred you know what

So this employee that you had that drove two hours.

To work one hour, yes, yes, yes you brought you brought my house. Yes, that was my very very first employee. Her name is Keisha, and uh, I just knew I was you know, like I told you I was gonna drop this product, but I ain knew it was gonna do this. So Keisha was the first person that came on the Black Smoke. I haven't even released it. I

A probably seemed like the cool thing to do.

But to have somebody else believed in me before I truly even believed in myself, before I even knew all the witness what this was gonna become, it's like a different kind of love and admiration that I will always have for Keisha. So still to the day, she was driving to work every morning and even every evening driving it. I win and never complained about it. It was just the fact in the back of my mind that I

You know?

So I had to make sure I got Kesha by that way out to Keisha, shout out to you, Keisha, you're real one.

No, that's important, man. You gotta take care of your your support. Yeah, because you're only as good as a team.

As the people around You're absolutely, man, that's a fact.

So let me ask you this. As far as you have the hookah, are there other like ancillary products that you could produce, like from the hook Like are you selling like what's it actually called? Those big things where you smoke hooker out of the hookahs? That's the hookah.

Yeah, that's so, that's the hookah pen.

So what you're smoking is the shesha correct hookah is the name of the machine? The machine?

Correct?

Okay, I never heard that. I thought was actually what you're smoking.

No, no, you got that's what I say. You got fifteen shesha fifteen sheh.

All right. So do you sell hookah? Yes, you sell those? Yes, okay, So you sell a hookah.

And I got and I sell the fruit she should have put inside the hookah instead of the nicotine.

To back over, So what's your whole what's all your product life? Like, what's all the products that you sell? You sell? You sell them? Yes, yeah, sheisha.

I sell a hookah, the hookah pen, the hookah shisha, the hookah charcoals. I got one hundred percent of what's that the coconut charcoals. That's the black things that all to sit on top in the club when he said on top of the fall, I have the I sell a hookah foil you. I sell the tips to smoke the hooka. I have candy tips, even have hookahs that light up. So I have my own batteries called black power to go inside of the hookahs.

You know what it's meaning.

The whole merchandise, merchandise like you're talking about like clothes.

Clothes when we talked about and shout out to my brother. But like when you see that sea, you know what it is, right you? Like I would imagine when we see this logo, people just want to support it, right because it's something that brings us together. This is enjoyable. This is like a moment. So when I see him wearing I know it's connect it because he's on the same time I'm.

On WI yeah pret shirt.

It was crazy as when I go on Live and stuff and talk to him, I always have on my shirt of my hat. But we just make him within our you know, I were coming off team like I think you got on a black smoke hood it right now.

Yeah see, And people be like put them on the side. We cannot buy him in it. I just be like, we got too much going on.

I can't.

We can better keep artists, we can better keep up with this artist. I'm not about to stress me, y'all. You know what I'm saying.

So, but I feel like, as you know, as the team grow, and you know, as as the business constantly grow, we could touch other you know, avenues and stuff like that.

But right now I think we overwhelmed.

So, so where's the name? Black Tannic used to be a tattoo artist.

Man, No, man, let me tell you, I'm so crazy, bro. I always had a wild imagination. I guess that's why I became successful, right.

So I was literally creating my instagram when I came from All Show and I went to the tattoo shot. When I got All Show, I was at this point. I was all Show for like a money. I had some money to blow in me. I was like to give it to the tattoo man. That's why I'm giving to So I was in there and I was creating my instagram to make one when I'm going back on shore, and I was like what to call myself? I already called myself black. My whole family called me black. Nobody

Neck, tatty black, tatty that boy, because you go to say that boy black tatted after today? Guess what?

But I had never had a tattoo. Yeah, got all those chats on one day.

Fuck No, that's my point. I had never had a tattoo. Nobody told me that shit hurt.

So when I made the name Black Tatty before I got in the chill once he gave me that ink one time, I was like, I never got it finished.

I never went back.

You didn't have any tattoos.

You got a half of sleeve. Yes, I got to help.

I went back and got this a couple of years after that. But I made the name black Tatty thinking I about to be tatted up. I paid the man full. He still followed me on Instagram to the day.

So we never finished. I said, we never is that ship hurt? I don't know how people do that, bro, I'm never going back.

No, indeed, no, indeed.

So are you you doing anything with essence Fest?

Oh? So with men and Larry was already talking about making sure I'm a part of essence Fest next year. This year I kind of missed my miss my mark because, like I said, you know, the business is fairly new, so it would have took so much. But now I got more little knowledge and understanding. So definitely gonna be a part of uh Essenfest.

Let's make sure that the biggest we spoke about that okay, culture.

One in the studio without that, So you got some pretty big influences obviously little Wayne Tapelain. Is there anybody that on your whishlers? Like if I can get my product in their hands, this would be even crazier.

Yeah, I'm talking about I have I know this, this is wild. You know what I'm saying.

I'm like, I know, hove and be proving to smoke son before you know what I'm saying. They cool people. I'm like, damn be you know you know, you know, been holding a Tesla bag like you know they hold the black smoke. But like people like jay Z, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Drake those kind of people.

I'm looking at y'all, I'm looking at it. This makes sense, you know what I'm saying at this point?

Like who else?

I think it was brought a place out in the Orleans too. Oh yeah yeah, write that down, y'all. Put up.

Yeah, just just joking. Sister loves you used to love this as long as used to live. No, it's a good it's a good story, and I feel like it's something that you know, there's so many different places that I see people smoke, even though like back because you know, like some of some of basketball in New York is really big, like in the street like street ball stuff like that, and they starting to they're starting to have

Somebody come to get the balls, right yeah right New York.

Like even like this is way more convenient than having that big hookah.

Do you ever thought about having ambassadors?

I didn't, but I mean I'm open to it. Like I'm saying, like everything just happened so fast, bro.

The Black Smoke Girls, Oh yeah.

We did.

Yeah yeah, but I'm saying, we never do it. We made a list, like you know, we thought about it, but we never did it. And people be writing all day asking how could I become ambassador? Can I get on the ambassador list? It's like yeah, I'm like, adam to the list and we got this long list that we just never did nothing with.

But I'm going to get twenty twenty three. I'm coming for you.

Boy won a trade. You know.

So before we wrap, what's some of your what's some of your plans like for the for next year, Like what do you What are you looking forward to in the next year too?

What I'm looking forward to because it has become this whole social media thing that people always talk about how they love going to hookah spots, right, and they go to hookah spots and they're willing to pay for the hookahs there. They don't mind paying for it, but they literally want to put the black smoke sheeshes. They want to smoke the black smoke sheesha. Only they were like, I even pay your price for your shisha, but can't

Well that's what I was saying. I feel like if you get those, because yeah, there's so many hookah spots that's out there and they can have a healthy alternative that still tastes good. I would, I would go there for sure.

Yeah. So that's that's that's my big goal and big playing for twenty twin. I'm very excited.

Yeah, that distribution is gonna be crazy. Man, I'm sure that the people listen here, like, we got to get this in our spot.

So if you're a restaurant owner, a clown, a club owner, you should be early. You should reaching out all right now our restaurant own is reaching.

Out everyone you could probably think of. Man, it's crazy, even the strip clubs.

Yes, everybody reaching out man for black businesses.

Yeah, well it's been a pleasure.

My brother's a pleasure.

Thank you. How can the people follow you on social media, website, all of that stuff.

You can follow me at black Tatted and Black Smoke. So the thing that people having a problem with at Black tatt and Black Smoke is because they spelled black with the b L a c K. There's no c's b l a kk tatted and b l a kk smoke. And also the website is black smoke dot com and so.

Black Tatted is your personal page.

Person. Smoke is your business pace correct.

Got it?

Yeah, highly recommended, highly respect him.

Thank you, appreciate that we've actually tried the product live.

They didn't disappoint then, and then we're gonna have to get a bundle over him.

Yeah, I need the bundle.

I told you that's the most popular flavor of the bundle.

You see that that's not really good.

That's the most popular flavor every That's what that Troy. I'll keeping on show.

Shout to everybody on E y L University, shout everybody on pictreon dot com, and shout out to all the earners that are worldwide. I say worldwide because it's just that man. We got love from a lot of places throughout the world. Shout to you and shoutut the black Man like this is a really good p I'm gonna go upstairs with this and now this will probably done tonight, So I'm gonna try some new flavors. Man. We we're gonna help support this man, and we got some business to do.

Smoker is the movement.

Baby smokers on our way out.

Please, that's puffing on E y L the biggest talking little wings. Go ahead, appreciate y'all. Man, did y'all get that on video?

Out? Peace?

My graduates from my school being force back drop bag drop, Mike drop backdrop.

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