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All right, guys, welcome back, earn you a Lisha. We got a very special episode today. Yeah, these are my favorite episodes me. You know, me and Troy we grew up on music before anything, so anytime we get to hear backstories on music, entertainment and the whole industry, like it's always special for us man.
To tell you.
He was just telling Chris got the shout out to Chris, shout out to Kenny Burns, shout to all the guys that that came on and was giving us hilarious stories and all that, but also also informational absolutely education. Yeah sure, so yes, I say that to say, we have none other than the legendary Nick Stormy. Thank you, yeah, one force. And so if you don't know Nick, Nick is a very interesting guy. He kind of the brain behind the blow up of Sorak, is that safe to say?
Safe to say that?
Former national brand ambassador for Sarak. So he's a wizard in the spirits industry and he got his start in the music industry. So we on E Y L we cover every aspect of business, and the spirits industry is a billion dollars billion dollar industry and it's something that we haven't coverage yet. And you have twenty years of experience from working with him now, they from working with rock from all over, so we thought she was the
perfect guest to bring on. So first and foremost, thank you thank you for coming.
No, no, thank you for having me. He's the first guest who brought his.
Own one, you know, and had a long day, and.
I was like, you know what, I don't know if I can drink on the thing. I know, drink Champs, you can drink, but I had to bring my own wine. Just you know, the smoothing the night. I mean, it's fitish's the spirits industry.
Yeah, my man Wall Street Trapper shot out to him. He was like, you know, the one thing I like about your podcast is you got just the guests just comings they are. There's no dress code, there's no rules.
Comings you off okay, because you know I had a button down on the Yeah I did. And Jay was like, now, Nick, go just I was like, shout out to Jeff Tweety because he's gonna have some Sean John on on the on the shot.
Okay, yeah my favor Yes, shot shout to my man j crew Love. Yes, Lesure in his own right, thank you for putting this together. We appreciate you. So all right, Nick, So can we get your backstory? So you started in the music industry. Yeah, right, and that's when people was actually making real money in music, right.
Whoa like real money? This is CDs? Yeah, this was CD time, you know, like I interned at Sony and it was passing out CDs at night, like at all clubs that was popping at that time, Like.
You name, it was so all right you started as an intern.
As an intern at Sony, I think I got my real I want to say this, I got my real movement in the music business to learn the music business more importantly with a gentleman by the name of Dave Hall. Because when Dave got me, he not only just had me as like you know, like I was Dave's assistant, but slash general man of his studio. And that was that entitled a lot because Dave at the time, I mean,
mind you that day's discography was crazy. So you know he did all of Mary like biggest first hits on on her first one, right, So he did all of those tracks and then he was like really his biggest next movement was like from Brownstone, Mariah Carey, dream Lover, did Fantasy Madonna, you know, Horace Brown intro Now I'm Bringing you Back, Yes, you know, and you know, so crazy Dave and Eddie f like even think of the
Living Color, like the song that yeah. Yeah, So Eddie and them had the Intouchables and the Untouchables had the producers that was under him, you know, because back then my guys had like the you know, like you know how bad Boy and so yeah, so Dave was a part of the Intouchables with Eddie f and them. But Dave really gave me like the full movement of like knowing exactly studio time, knowing exactly on sampling, like that
was one of my jobs too. It was like when he sampled the record, you had to get it and then see what sample it was and then send it off and see exactly how much it costs. That was like a really big part of the business back then. That was like honestly, I used to think it was a fun part of my job. So that was when you were entering it. Yeah, no, no, that's when I got a job.
I was like a job, go with your title.
I was.
Actually Dave had talked to me as general manager of DMH. So DMH was like Dave Michael Hall, like that was his whole production company, you know, and and that was like a thing of that and it felt good because see, David was for my vernon. I was because it was like that whole now, So yeah, so it was like it was a good time, not only a good time with him, but just a good time of being in the business at the time.
So all right, so the music business, you kind of scaled that up right at that point in time. At some point you was working with nas.
No, actually no, I was working I was working for a lot of the records like. So then it was that's how when I got into the business. I took like some of my musical background, and I always wanted to be a promoter because like even in college, I was like doing promotions right right, I was like doing my little like at Sneaky Pete's, right to doing little parties up there. And then I took I took some of that knowledge and I went to I met a gentleman by the name of John Vasquez over at Justin's.
And John was the one who was like, Nick, you know what, I got a Tuesday night open, how about you put something together. I was like, bat, let's do it like a little industry Tuesdays. So what I was doing was taking the little snippets of the albums that
was coming out on Sony and Colombia. So I would take those albums bring them to Justine like on Monday and start promoting like your industry Tuesdays and be like yo, yeah, sneak peaking of Lauren Hill's album Tuesday Night at Justin's Like Lauryn Hill's gonna be there, No but the snippets, So I would I would do that. So any artists on Columbia, So anything on Columbia, Fuji's Cypress Hill. I mean the list goes on Riah, but the list goes on any but anything out of not only Columbia. But
I was Sony as well. I was taking Epic was big too, so I was taking anything from there as well.
So the promoter, so pretty much promoter.
I was a promoter.
So promoters always was curious about this. They get how did they get paid? They get pieces of the bar.
Yeah yeah, Well see back then you had a scalable rate of the bar, right like today, everybody's promoter today, you know what I'm saying, Like Jesus, but but back then it was like you could, you could, you could just take. But back then the door was like a big thing, right because that's when people had to pay to get in the party. Right, those are the good days. Let me just stop there. Okay, those were the good old days, like pay for to get in the party, go to the bar, buy a drink and dance your
ass off. Go back to the bar, get some water, and go back on the Hans floor.
Those are those days about.
And come on, that was that? I mean, yeah, that but that was vi P. That's when you when you was VIP back then, you mean something oh god like that. But beyond that velvet rope that was really really Now anybody's in the velvet rope. My man Joe from the block is on the velvet rope. But no, but but yeah, so I think, but promoters get paid on bar sales. So but back then when I was getting I mean, how I was getting paid was just bringing a good
night to the venue. So they were just doing like a flat ray like you do this, that's good that this is what you're gonna get probably like make three hundred four hundred bucks. I was good though, Like that was like a good night for me. It was cool and then and didn't really put the pressure on you with you know, like bar guarantee, like everybody like a bar guarantee, Like somebody give you a venue for a
bar guarantee of three thousand and four thousand dollars. You better hope that you make that guarantee.
You that bar.
Guarantee is like, okay, I'm gonna give you I'm gonna give you justice on a Monday night. Your bar guarantee is four grand. That means my bar gotta make four grand. Now you going there, and you better do your promotion. Now your bar come up short at three grand, you got cover. You better cover that thousand. Yeah, and now you got to cover that thousand for that four even to guarantee, are you just taking a percentage of it or you getting the whole thing? The whole thing. Yeah.
So it's just like that's but even now we have a scalable right now, so now people are doing like, all right, let's just say your bar guarantee was three thousand, right, but now I'm gonna make the three thousand. But if my ball makes four. So it's like if you if your ball makes four thousand, you're supposed to get ten percent your ball makes a See that's sometimes they do this so they you can go between three thousand and five,
you're gonna get fifteen percent of the bar. You do five to ten, you're gonna get twenty percent of the bar. That's why, like everybody, that's why, of course you push ball service so much, because you want your ball to really ring numbers as a promoter so that you can get paid out a lot more at the end of the night.
So let me ask you this as far as if you get ten thousand, Like once you reach that ten thousand, do you get twenty percent of everything or just a ten thousand twenty percent of five to ten? Like it's you said it's ten.
Well, see most places, that's that's that's that's different place. Yeah, it's different from everybody else, you know what I'm saying, Like most places will do that off the ten or most places will be doing off the twenty. So you know, it depends on their account.
Okay, okay, all right, So then it's from there, all right, So you got it. And then you say you got the Monday Night football.
I had Monday Night Football popping. I had Industry Tuesdays popping, and and I just I just wanted to be with it. Like that's when like New York was like New York, and it was like it was like a really good scene and you and then and you just really wanted to be a promoter at that time because it just I mean there was a lot of promoters at the time. I mean I think the biggest promotion company at the time that you wanted to be a part of, but
they already had their crew was Black Diamonds. That was like Derrick Carley, like from aj Callaway, like all of them they had is like this grew and then and it was like like they did really good events, but it was really for like us. It was like African American, you know, with jobs like like you know what I'm saying, Like I remember this place, Derek Wild laugh if you ever hear this, because a place called all bet on Tuesday. All the women in there that were all women with jobs,
all guys. But you know it's funny. You couldn't even come in there with sneakers. That's how crazy it was. Like you had to have your shoe game on the people.
People forget about the like I remember that era where you had to actually dress up hard bottoms and all that.
I had to have a college shirt. It was like button down and some shoes and then if you didn't have a shoe, like I remember one time he said if you didn't have a shoe. You had to have a sneaker. You know those sneakers like they almost look like the shoot, like a Bally's something like that. You were good with that, like the right on the prod yes.
Favor all right. So so so you became a big name in the city from promoting parties.
Small name, but small name, but making big relationships. Yeah, relationships was very a bit a bigger key.
So what's the next thing. Because you're a renaissance man, you do a lot of different things. So you you build a name for yourself in a party, then do you go to the spirits industry after that or this?
Yeah? Well right then and there I met a me and a partner of mine Ebone Brown. She was actually a partner of mine that he was doing some summer parties together and one of the she ended up meeting a guy that wanted to meet me, and I ended up meeting both of them, two gentlemen by the name of Raphael and Solomon. And I met them at her at a coffee shop on forty ninth Street and ninth Avenue. And I didn't even know what the meeting was about.
She was just like Nick, meet these two gentlemen. I think they want to sponsor our next party, but they have this liquor brand. I was like, okay, cool, this is me. This is the mean, this is this is the pulp fiction me.
This is the mean.
When you have like the good brother which was Solomon and the bad brother Raphael, and he was talking about what they had and this that, and they had a briefcase on the table. So every time he would say, so, do you think you can get this product to puff Daddy? And I'll be like, well, I promoted at his restaurant, so maybe. So the brother will be like, oh, yeah, so we want to show you, and as soon as he lifts up the briefcase, his brother will slam it down boom.
Not yet.
Do you think you can get this product into the hands of the African Americans consumers? Yeah? I think I can. You want to open up that suitcase and let me see. No, not yet. And it was like a really funny meaning, but it was like, okay, let me step back. So I got the product in my hand and I didn't know anything about liquor. I knew how to drink it,
but that was it. But then he took it and then the funny story is, uh, I got a call that week from a friend that was doing a party at a mansion and he asked me, He said, Nick, do you have any you know, anybody I can get some liquor from. And I was like, you know what, I got six cases that I could actually give you.
It's a good story. And he gave me the six cases, and I brought it up to Bedford, New York and was a mansion party and had everybody there from music execs on down to the whole industry, from fashion, sports, a lot of I would say, stylists. It just was everybody that you can imagine. And I brought it down there. We were having a good time, and I remember the creative the catering lady came to me within inside the party, mid into the party and said that I'm a need
more product of that blue stuff that you had. I was like, what is it? I mean you couldn't have because wait a minute, I gave you six cases, six in the case six times? How many how many in the case six cases? It's six in the case, six cases. That's thirty six. No way in the world that someone went through half that product already and the party is just like two hours in. So she's like, no, you
need to come with me. So I came to her and it was like a beautiful deck but over deck, overlooking the deck was the pool and like the area, and there was two bars set up. And as I looked over, you know, and she was trying to show me what the bar was doing, I noticed that everybody in their clear cup. Everything was blue. But I'm not talking but I'm talking about like this everybody. I'm not everybody.
I'm trying about male, female, Latino, white, black unit like everybody and just enjoying it and having a good time. And I remember walking up to one of the guys and I said to him, I said what you drinking and he was like I don't know, man, but this this, this is good. I think it's like some alis a And I was like, oh okay. But then I went around and asked girls. Everybody was like yo, listen, yo, this is fire. So I was like, oh okay. So I went to the car and never said nothing in
that car. I remember calling around Phael and I was say, hey, I need to see you monday. So yeah, ever I feel was like back. So I met him on Monday. I told him that I'm in. I said, I'm gonna give this to go and and and let's go and and and and I don't want to stop with this. And he said, listen, I just sold my condo. I'm
living with my parents. Now I took the money. I'm gonna put it into this brand and and then we're gonna write, don't I don't have money to pay you very key, but if you believe in it, that there'll be money to come. And I said, all right, well, I'm gonna need a couple of dollars just to move around. He said, no, I got that, but I know you don't have money for a salary. But you know what I'm in. So I took we took on the brand and it was called Hypnotic. It's very right. So it's
called Hypnoteak. So for the first three months, I sat in the car and drove with him around the city for three months with hypnoteak. For three months, guys, and went around for every club, every bar, every restaurant, you name it. And we sold nothing. Ninety days ninety days of nothing, and I mean we couldn't sell anything. And one night we were about the FDR drive because he was getting ready to go back home to the Queen's and I had a paper with me and I was
writing down. You know, he was listening to Gypsy Kings and the music was melolic. He's he's feeling himself. He's like, man, I don't know if I could do this anymore like and he's, you know, he's like feeling down and depressed because you know, he's we've been rocking and rolling and we just don't know what's going on. And he said, uh,
I was writing down something. I said, you know, is it possible if we could just change the H to the Maybe we could put an I in front of the P, or maybe we could put a Y, and maybe we could change the que to a K. Maybe like try like a hypnotic. He was like, no, he can't. But he paused. He said, you wait a minute. Barrows is called sparrows, but he ain't spelt like, wait a minute. You know what liquor store you got tomorrow? I said, I got a store in Harlem, And he said, you
know what, try it. I don't just try it, just just see what happens. So the next day I go up to a store in Harlem and uh. Guy comes in and had to model with me and a minute the girl said, excuse me, would you like to try some hypnotic? And the guy turned around and said, oh, I'll try something. He tried it, He's like this is cool. I came to buy something else. She was like, oh, no problem. Next guy came in, young black guy. She was like, would you like to try some hypnotic? He
was like gnadic? Oh man, what's that like? Alise? She was like, oh no, it's different.
You know.
It's made with fine grapes. It's Kangniac with a little touch of vodka.
You know.
She did a little spiro. She gave it to him. He was like, Yo, this is this is good.
How do you like the name?
And I looked at him and like the name? Yeah. So I walked back called Raphael. I said, Raphael, the brand's called Hypnotic period and he was like, Yo, how many boles you saw? I said, man, I just sold one, but yo, I'm gonna rock with this. So yeah, so we rocked and we changed your name and we went with Hypnotic. And that's not the good part yet, guys, because I still only sold three bottles that day and about a fifth month. It's a good story right here,
I'm and I hope you'll understand this. It's like when you take a risk in life and you and you take a leap. You got understand that leap and you got to stick with it. Because five months and I was probably like two months behind on my rent car insurance is probably three months lapsed. I'm still working on my dream. I'm still going out every day, and I can't sell anything. And I was gonna give it all up on that. I was like, you know what, guys,
I don't think I can do it anymore. And I had a long talk with my child's mom at the time, and I just had to figured out I was probably just gonna go back with my degree and just you know, and go out and get a job, you know. And I was sitting at home. It was late. You know, when you when it's home at late, you put that bottle of wine out. You just start watching movies and you know your brain is going all over the place, like you know, because you broke and you're just trying
to figure it out. And movie came on, Sure Shank Redemption, Classic Classic classical Life, and I was watching it and the minute Morgan Freeman said it's either I'm gonna go and do one or two things. I'm gonna get busy living, I'm gonna get busy dying. And that right there sparked me. I was like, oh man, I'm going to get busy living.
That was it.
And I got up that morning and I thought like I was fifty percent of not giving up yet but going in that morning, I got in my car because in hallowed me at the movie Your Car, Ultimate Side of the Parking or Early in the morning, Jay Crew love you, you know oh so well about that early
morning and now yeah he got money now. But but then I got up and yo, guys, Fellas I turned on the radio BLS, I was getting ready to move my car and Michael Jackson and the Jackson five, I've never heard this record for my life, had a record call We're almost there and when the horns start with the music, and then when the music starts with it, it just I didn't know what it was. It touched me, and Michael says the first lines of it says, it's like, no matter how hard times may seem, don't give up
on your plan, don't give about your dream. Yo. Yo, Yo. He's talking to me yo, and then yo, it's like and he's talking about yo. We're almost there. And I was like, oh, man, and I remember that I found parking, put my outfit on. I went to the store and the guy said, you know what, I don't know anything about you right now, but I got my bag with me. He said, but the glow that you got, I'll buy a case. I said, serious, because I usually hear nose like I used to walk in. Excuse me, sir, you
have a chance. I want to show no, ma'am, I just want to tell you something on ma'am, you look good today, thank you. But ma'am, you want to know I've been hearing that so many times. I got a black book that I always laugh about, but I always show my friends. And I had forty one nose until I had I spelled like Jackie Robinson, right number forty two. But on the forty second one, I felt like that was the one that was the key, and that lady, I mean. The guy in the store was like, yeah,
but listen, I'm gonna take this case. But if I don't sell us over the weekend, you're gonna have to come back in here on Monday and buy it back. And I was like, damn, all right, how much this case is going for? Oh back? I think we were probably at like one twenty two five, Like we weren't that expensive because they're talking about like a seventeen eighteen Alabado Times about that. Yeah, about that, that's what we're
selling at. So we went yeah. So I got the case and he said, listen, you're gonna have to come back here on Thursday. No, he said Friday and do it tasting. So I was like, okay, you know when you're happy because I sold the case. So I'm just happy. I'm just running out, like, yo, thank you a liquor store tasting got you Friday back. I slammed the door about going to the car, and I said, what the hell is it tasting? The tasting that he kind of wanted was different the ones that I was doing was
just regular. He wanted something a little bit more uplifting. So I was like, man, you know what, I know how to take this to the next level. So I went and got my I was like, ya, I'm gonna spend a couple of dollars. I had to buy a beautiful table, beautiful cloth. I even bought some flowers from the guy at at at the count at the corner. And so that Friday when I decorated my area, I made it feel so appealing, you know. And I even
had like mic and ikes. I remember bought like like light blue mic and nikes, like the spread of them like in a candy jar. This when the customer came in the he just felt like a different vibe.
So what is tasting? It tastes like a hosting tasting is like, yeah, so you have a you.
Have a table, you have a model, and you do it for two hours inside the liquor stores. So someone comes in and you're going to offer them a sample of it, and you just pull them that one out you said it.
I was thinking like when I go into SAMs, like the people like they asked you for like, yo, you want to sample?
You want to sample? Yeah. The presentation wasn't like yours obviously yeah, yeah, but nowadays they stepped it up. I was just sitting, like Stuart Lennard said this, they were sampling some meat and had like a whole barbecue going on. I was like, what these tastes have changed? I take that uh what's that bacon? I take it. I'm just kidding, but no, but yeah, no, so that's what the tasting really is. So I did that and uh so, But the thing is, guys, this is this is this is
marketing one on one. How do you get a case that is sold in the liquor store in Harlem? And he says to me, if I don't move these six bottles, I gotta buy it back out of there. What do you do?
Well, you know what you do?
You call your cousins, go six, said So I called my cousin that was a kind of big time at the time at one of the projects in Harlem, and I told him, I asked him, Yeah, I said, I need a favor. And I went to him on Thursday and he could not wait to do this favor. He thought that this was like a mission, impossible thing because I told him what I wanted you to do is I need you to bring in six friends every half hour to this store and buy this bottom And he
just thought like this. He's never had a job, so this was like a job for him. So he was so happy. He's like, bet I got this. So king five o'clock that day at five point fifteen. One guy walks in and Buza balla hypnotic walks out, only looked at me the thing and goes yeah. Twenty minutes late, no, fifteen minutes later, two girls walk in, Hey, what's up? Oh, we come here to get Aliza and the girl like they doing the whole show. Whole show, all right, and
I know they're from the block. That's the funny part, not Damn Brendan and tay Shall. Yeah, come on now, but they're doing a whole skit. And all of a sudden it takes in and saying, oh this is good, what all girl? We gonna buy this. They buy two bottles. Now I got three more to sell. I'm like, oh please. So now about a third bottle manager comes over to me. Yo owner said, you know, I'm actually a let me buy another case. I said, hold on, I don't know. He said no, no, no, no, For some reason, I
feel this. I was like, oh yeah, I feel it too, So I get him another case. So the all of the story was my cousin had operation shut down. He not only sent six, but he sat like twelve people were coming in that store buying a bottle, walking out buy the bottle. But the crazy part about it was it was a good summer, like it was a good Friday night. So they were going back to the block drinking, having a good But now everybody was coming back. My promotion was only two hours. I got a call. I
left him with three cases, which was eighteen bottles. He went through eighteen that night around nine thirty, and now he called me and said, I need five cases by tomorrow morning. Again, I was like, I got three now, but I'll be back in the morning. The crazy part is not only did I sell out in that store, he said, yo, I called my brother who has a store on one hundred and forty fifth Street up on Broadway. He wants five cases as well on Saturday. So now I did go there. We had to drop off uptown
and then I had to call my other cousin. I'm gonna blow him up in Saint Nick Projects because he's closer to that niquor store and do the same operation and blow up that store. And the crazy part is like by the end of the weekend, we were fifteen cases in and all of a sudden, the buzz started like hitting around the Projects. And now was the like that we just started. That was like the start of it,
you know what I mean, it's just visually appeasing. Man, when you first see that blue liquor, it was like for us, when I first saw it, I was like, damn they drinking kool aid? What did they really drink it?
Because like when we see it, it's like, yo, that looks like the fruit punch plate or the raspberrying.
And it was like so but all right, so now you okay, so but we're really skyrocketed. The whole thing was a placement fab tablished, right, that's what really.
So after the fifteen are you calling Raphael like, yo, we got this? After yeah, we got this. We got this. Then we started knowing that we noticed that the name change was very key, and then we just started working really hard, right and then now was the beginning of the summer. And then I got my first big break in November. Before we get to that one, which was about to say, I want to bring you a little bit closer, just one. This is a good story. I
got many stories. Get ready, we uh, I get a By the end of the summer, I got a few accounts, but not that many. We're about to go to Labor Day, weekend and my partner John at the time for promotions. He was like, Nick, I got some good news. I'm doing Puff Daddy's Party, White Party, Hampton's. That was the remember the Hamptons scene. Yeah, doing that Labor Day weekend. Good way to put your brand out there. I need about you know, six cases eight k I'm like whatever
you need, John, I'm there. We went out to the Hamptons. Party was hot, blew it up. John had made a concoction he called it the Biggie Hypnotized, So he had like the hypnotic, a Malibu and a pineapple and man, that joint was off the chain and everybody was like rocking to it and had a little menu placement. At the end of the night, John said, yo, were gonna gonna do We decided to take it in and we're gonna do the release the following Tuesday of that week.
I was like, bet, I'm at Justin's finally perfect. Can't wait. Justice Restaurant. Yeah. Justice was Puffed Addy's Restaurant, twenty first Street between fifth and six. That's right, and it was it was one of the It was it was the who's who of who in New York was always at Justice, you know, so I was like, you know, I was happy. Everything was good. Let's let's rock. Monday comes and Monday I can't wait. I'm doing everything I possibly can. I'm
getting like flyers done, I'm getting everything ready. So my man works like all the way down by Wall Street and he's you know, he's gonna make my menu cards because I ain't even have no money. Like we didn't even have money for Staples. Okay, there was no like, yo, go to Kinko's. I had to go to a friend with a copy of machine okay that we had that type of money, So we had to go. I had
to go there. I had to. About eight o'clock in the morning, Ed Lover was on the radio at Hot ninety seven and I begged at Lover to, you know, like to come to the party. He's like, nick, I got you. So I got up at morning seven o'clock, got downtown at eight o'clock Wall Street. Mind, you got to Hot ninety seven around like eight thirty, walked out of the building. Everybody's happy. It's a good day, sun is out, beautiful day, gonna launch my brand. This is
like my turning point in my life. It's that following Tuesday, two thousand and one, eight forty six in the morning, Tower one is hit on my day, on my day, this is this is this hit can happen any other day. Actually I didn't want to have it never Oh my god, but damn on this like nine eleven, he's supposed to launch hip now on nine to eleven, adjustice and whose party?
Whose record release that we were going to listen to Fabulous Boo fabulous drop at the same year, So we're gonna listen to the albums, like hey, that was like an important thing. Of course that never happened. And then so then we had to really sit back and we had to wait, and then we waited, and then I had to figure out another launch day for New York as New York was down, and I chose November one.
That year.
Michael Jordan was coming back to Madison Square Garden and then he was playing with the Wizards and he was coming back to New York and just as it was like actually it was on a Tuesday, and we started that night and we did a promotion at Justin's Lost It that night. But the biggest thing was the biggest club in New York on Tuesday night was Club Cheetah.
So Club Cheetah was the after party. That's it. We did the after party Club Cheetah, and I remember going in with the manager and the manager and I believe in me, and he's like, I'll take six bottles, but I doubt it's gonna sell and lo and behold, like we killed it that night, and here came a rapper named Fabulous Brooklyn. He bought two bottles, but Treell Spreewell
bought two bottles. Yeah, Clarence Weatherspoon. On the next they bought another bottle, like, yo, we sold out to the manager was like, yo, I need another case, but I didn't have another case at that time. I was like, I gotta come back, you know tomorrow. He was like, man, I wasn't sold out. But it was a good feeling. But then I ended up getting to meet fab which
was even better, you know what I'm saying. So then I then so that was like a really like good start of the movement going into next year, because going into next year, we started to like really like start like a real grassroots marketing plan, hitting as many bars and clubs and restaurants we could, was getting a name for ourselves. We still was growing a little bit. Then came spring of that year of O two, and I was able to put a little bit of my budget
together two do a video with Fab. Trade it All, Trade it all, and trade it all. Guys, when I tell you, when I tell you, Jagged Puff Daddy Jagget as Barber SOPs soundtrack, Ice Cubes first movie, you know, like whoa to do that? And then to come back home? And mind you, we didn't even have a distributor in New York yet.
So how did you? All right, you put the you put the product place, when you put the bottle in the video, this legendary whole situation. How much did you have to pay Fab for that?
I wish I could just pleate the fifth ones, But I'm gonna be honest with you. Guys. You you you probably will be like you wouldn't believe it.
I mean, I mean, I don't know.
I mean I could probably tell. I mean it was years ago, I mean whatever, Like, all right, so we paid under ten grand, how about that? Under ten under ten right for a video of that magnitude under ten thousand? All right, something for him, something for they manager. Hey, we're good.
The whole team.
Hey, let's just you know, give me one second. But he gave me that one second. You know, they gave me the whole, the whole thing.
Yeah, and to the point.
Where first commercial. Yeah, and to the point where we got remember by telling you, like we started, we still was rocking. We only had an import license and we was working out of a place out of Long Island. We didn't have no distributor. And when that video hit, Yeah, I'm imagine being in a small office with three people.
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In the guys art, which is probably like seventy years old, is answering the phone and she's like, hello, okay, hold on, we have Delaware on the phone, Georgia.
Hello.
Not what that video did was not only for clubs and restaurants. The distributors in cities were calling, so.
How quick everybody saw right? So they saw the blue looker in the video. Nobody really knew what it was, but it was just the whole vibe. And then how quick did that turn into people just asking it?
Yeah it was. It seemed like it was wildfire overnight. It seemed like it was overnight because we signed on with a distributor who jumped on it like asap. We signed on with them like within a week, and then they had a sales force of like fifty to sixty. So we were able to like start flooding the gates in New York, not only in not only in clubs, but the most important thing was the stores. Stores were more than anything, and they were taking twenty kse drops.
They were taking ten case drops because people were looking at videos and going into the store and being like, Yo, I need that bottle, that blue bottle what I don't even know what it was, that blue bottle that was in the video.
So you did the influence to marketing before influencer marketing was.
Before there was product placement, especially in oh.
Yeah, well and influence marketing that's real big now social media, but influences, but I mean, rap video has always been a product placement.
Has always been a product placement. But it was like nobody was really like on top of it to be like, yo, this is what I want because that's what like everybody was like putting a brand in it, but they were using it. Nobody was really getting paid. That was a
good thing too. They were just using I mean, they was putting Crystal Is probably in all the videos probably before that, you know, that was like the number one, like hey Crystal, you know, until you know that was a status symbol, right, you know, But I tell you the video that put me on status symbol when we had to work a deal deal out was making sure that it was like you know, when you really want to work with the artists, but you really want to
put it up and make sure that it was like prominent. Was when I got I did a video with Billy Woodruff in Miami Short Club Who sixty Bottles on the Wall? Director? Yes? Who exactly? I men do the song I did. I'd rather do the song and say the name. At this point, like is everybody going to back? Why can't no bash me? I don't want he was hot. I don't give a damn R Kelly Oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, ignition. I'm ya, sixty bottles, damn sixty bottles on the wall.
So so how how? How? All right?
So what was it?
What was the numbers that y'all was selling before the fab and what was the numbers like a year later?
Like how did we I mean, we probably were selling maybe be like five hundred cases. Maybe we maybe we were close like six hundred k total total until the video comes out. Video came out, we was up to five thousand, five thousand cases. I saw I read someone that the price point changed to like you the bottles, yeah, because at one point it was that sixteen ninety nine. And then when you get with a distributor, so I keep hering distributed. Can you just elaborate on the role
of a distributor. They're they're the real salesforce when you don't have a sales team. They're the salesforce. They're the ones with the backing, you know, they have they have a they have what you call a real salesforce team. And then they have what you call a pamphlet of everything else that I'm going to sell with your product, a portfolio, right, so they have a portfolio of things. And at that time the distributor we went to probably only had like two or three. I think we had.
They had patrol, which was rising back then. Back the year, they had patron, which is like a key, and then they had like I think they're like piers you had. They had like a Champagne and then they had like something else. I think they had like a I think they had a cognact, but nothing like really big. But it was a small distributor. Actually, it's funny because it's up here. It's up in Prochester. Yeah, they were called Eber Brothers.
So five thousand, that's for the year or five Yeah, for the year, So you were from five hundred to five thousand, five thousand, it's like a thousand percent increase something like that.
Yeah, but the thing was down. But the thing, well, I'm just talking about New York. We got opened up in five states. That's the real big key thing. Like now we had to now we had to move a container, which a container you know holes that's coming from France all the way over here, you know, by water. So we was figuring out like, yo, you gotta get that ship excuse my language over here quickly. But of course it's gonna still take time because it's by freight. But
we're looking at places that was taking in containers. So a state was calling in like y'all need a container.
So you wasn't making a liqu in America. The liquor wasn't made in America, was made in France.
What's that? What's that process like from getting it? Obviously for me, it's a lot. It's a process that when people always say, yo, you need to come up with your own liquor. You needed you need to do your research, you need to really go back over and really see exactly a lot of the there's a lot of there's so much movement inside of getting a product done in France and bringing it over from France to the US.
And there's so many like laws and there's there's things that you've got to tackle, and there's red tape, and there's a.
Lot it can't be made in America.
Oh yeah, yeah, there's oh yeah, well now now of today, I mean you can see there's distilleries and there's things that's popping up all all around the country now, which.
Is like, you know, great, So I have to peak how how big was Hypnotic like at its peak?
What was the oh million cases easily a year. Yeah, because we did in the stretch that I was in there in three years, we did a million cases.
How much money? How much money is that?
Like in the millions, in the double millions, Like, yeah, in a double millions, you could. You could sometimes everybody always says that you can. You can do the numbers right, so you can times either times, but the case would be, you know, whatever the case is. So let's just say a case was a one thirty right times that by a main cases do it that way. But that ain't the like, that's not overall. There's so many other cuts that you have to do. But it's a lot of money.
So it's Raphael and his brother, then it's you. Yeah, it's Raphael. Solomon really wasn't a part of it. He just was like helping out in the beginning. But it really was just Raphael and me, and it was a gentleman by the name of Jim Goldstein who had an importer's license that really helped us with the importance of everything outside of it in Long Island.
So you got up to at the peak, you said a million no, no, So up to the peak when we we sold in two thousand and.
Three, the company.
We sold the company. Yeah, okay, we sold the company in two heaven hell out of Kentucky.
That's a that's a liquor company.
Yeah so that Yeah, so they're they're they're like they're like the fourth biggest family and bourbon in the country. There we Yeah, so they're the biggest one is like you know, Evan Williams, like they're like huge, how much you for sixty million? I know, right, well it was your cut. I had a lot, you know, I always tell everybody's things that I got. I got broke off pretty nice. Wasn't as nice as everybody were like, oh my god, you should have got no, because at that
time I took I took a point. Not disappointed, but I took a couple of points, but really wasn't adapted to the knowledge of that I have today, Like you know, you know, yeah, like just learning, just learn, like you know, just like any like producer, like yeah, you know, I'll give up half of my whatever on this track and the track becomes so great and you're like, oh, I didn't know, but you know, you you live and you learn.
But it was, like I always say this, it was it was good enough for me to at least say, I bought my mom and dad the condo that they kind don't want it for a long time. And I wasn't a ballplayer, and I wasn't a rapper, and I didn't sell drugs, okay, so hey, I accomplished a lot.
The fact where Fabulous sees you, now, does he ever feel a way that he got paid less than ten thousand dollars a company?
No, fab is like, oh, I mean, fab is like been. I mean, he's been my friend for god knows how many years, Like he's been the biggest support of me, not only from Hypnotic. But remember we went on to Sorak, and we're gonna get that.
That's what makes it legendary, is right, Like if you can do something once, great, if you do it twice, that legend it is, right.
So yeah, so you've done that twice twice.
With Rak, So can we talk about Sarak?
So we finished with Hypnotics because that was I mean, and I didn't even get to tell my incredible Haalk story.
But we're doing because a legendary drink because it has two classics in the black culture, Hennessy Hypnotic.
Yes, yeah, it changes the color of the drink. It changed the color and and and how I did it. Guys like it, Oh the homework. Can I check these notes? Yes, But I'm gonna tell you the true story. I did the marketing of it. Well, I said I created it, like when I when I was in double XL magazine when they wrote me up and talked about how I blew this drink up. It was really somebody, Anahonymus, that was in Brooklyn. Okay, no true story. Kid walked in.
He told my model sampling girl that said, nah, baby, we know how to do this. So he grabbed a Hennessy bottle and then he grabbed a hypnotic bottle. He brought it to the table and he poured the hypnotic first, and he pulled the Hennessy after it. And I was sitting behind these boxes because I didn't want to, like, you know, because you know, I'm just doing some like store reports and like just seeing who's coming in, and I'm working with the girl, and I didn't notice that
both of them stood together. But he put his finger in the drink and made it turn around and made it turn green. But the crazy part about it is that after he did it, he was like so amped about it. He called it the money shot, and he's about to walk away. And he went back to the girl and he said, yo, Ma, can I get your number? And she's like, no, you know, I can't do that. And he's like, all right, no problem. You know it.
Sometimes it turns, you know, the Green sometimes makes me feel confident, just like make me feel like the Hulk.
And I was like.
The Hulk. Green liked the Hawk. So I wrote it down. Green liked the Hawk. I sat with it for an hour. Called my friend Mark in La. I said, Mark, you always talk about Tupac because Alise is my that's my arching assist. And I'm like, I can't beat Alixe and I'm trying to And Mark, what's that song? He said, Yo, Nick, it's a thug passion record. He says, passed me at Alex and at Hennessy. I was like, you know what, Mark,
I'm gonna do the Hulk. He said what I said, he is, if you put Hennessy in hypnotics, it turns Green. I'm gonna do the Hulk. So he was like, oh okay. So I went back told Raphael my plan. He thought it was ludicrous. He thought you were spending the money on marketing money for so I'm stupid, right, what are you doing? I was like, Raphael, just trust me on this. I went to Aberkadava on twenty first Street. I ranted the incredible home costume. I'm about to put somebody's name
on blast. I had to call my cousin, Raheem just came home from doing college time, you know what I mean. And Raheen came home big as a house. And Raheen was looking for a job. And I said, Raheen, meet me here at a place called Baba Loo's and I need you to meet me here. He couldn't wait. He dressed all in black, he got his outfit ready and he met me there and he was like, what do I gotta do? And I was like, what you gotta do is wear this costule. He was like, yoah, I'm
not wearing this castle. I was like, nigga, you gonna wear his castle. He was like, I was like, listen, you want this two hundred bucks. That's what we're paying for the promotions. You want this two hundred He's like, I you know, I'll wear it, but that's it. The funny part of the story is that I had him dressing in an incredible Holt costume and walk around with
a Hennessy bottle and Hipnolic bottle for all night. The manager told me that I was only going to sell at least ten drinks, was not going to come close to the thug passion. I ended up selling forty five drinks that night. The manager told me, if I could bring this incredible Hult guy in here for the next four fridays, he'll take in ten cases a week. And
that's what we did. I blitzed out New York from Justin's Baba Loo's all the way to Jimmy's Brons Cafe on an incredible Hul costume for three and a half months until I embedded it inside of New York. That's how an incredible Hulk was really made.
If you've ever been to a party in New York City in the two thousands, and that drink was in the environment, that changed the entire envire, changed the entire.
All right, So we're gonna talk about the rack situation. So I remember the first time I saw Sarak did he had like a New Year's Eve commercial and He's like, what ad tuxedo want's drinking. So I'm like, what the rock? I never heard of Sack before? And then fly.
Let's Fly.
Six months later he's on a jets with man. It has like a tightal way.
So all right, up until that point, we were drinking Greg Goose.
Greg Goose was the champion of the champion, Champion, and that Goose was a champion, and Rack changed the whole dynamic.
So sitting with the reason, yes, yes, yes, so all right, yes, what is what is?
Yes? What's the deal with? Well?
I mean it actually is crazy because it started at It started when I went to a party at a mansion on like sixty second Street and it was actually a release for Unforgivable the Colone. Yeah, I forget what it was the release and I went there and I'm walking down and as I'm walking down the block, I hear this two women screaming like not Nick next Storm.
Look over and I know one of the ladies because I knew her from another company, and she'll tell a story better than me and Erica Pittman, who's like a powerhouse in the business. She'll tell her like I was running down in to Lettos and I jumped over the car just to get some but yeah. So she jumped over and the XT there was an Erica and d Sims, both powerhouse women up today, that's right, and she they both said, hey, Nick, we need you to come and meet with meet with Sean. And I was like, okay,
I didn't know anything what was going on. He was like, we're going to give you a call this week. We need we've been we've been looking for you, were trying to find you. We got to find you today. But yeah, we need to come and sit with him. I was like, all right, just let me know. And uh. The next day I got a call from a woman by the name of Jackie Lee who was at Diagio at the time,
very powerful black woman, African American woman. Sorry, and uh she was, uh, you know, she was like, Nick, there's some things happening up at Diagio, but you're going to get a call, so just be prepared for it. And I was like, okay, cool. So, anyway, is a company that owns the Rock right exactly. Yeah, And they own LVMH, which is Hennessy m Mowatt and and everything from Johnny Walker on down from Crown Ray, you know, all the
way across the board. So there. So I ended up getting a call and to come meet with mister Koombs. So my first day I'm like, oh, okay, I don't mind, but I have no idea what it really is entailed. But when I get there, I get to the office and he's like, yo, what's up. I was like, Hey, what's going on? I sit on the couch now mind you. At this time, this is like Puff Daddy.
Did you know him before that?
Seven? Yeah, well, not knew him like chilling, but I knew him like I would do like I was doing like a lot of events, and a guy by the name of Jeff Sanchez at the time worked for Puff and he was plugging me wherever Puff was at. But because Puff was like a hypnotic, so wherever Puff was at, I was like, all right, I got your cases over here. I got your cases over here, Like what do you need?
So Puff is funniest thing is like, and he was like, yo, I just want to know one thing before this whole meeting. I was like yo. He was like, how'd you do it? A million dollar question? So I was like how how I did what? He was like, No, how'd you do it?
How'd you how'd you get hypnotic everywhere? I was like, oh, well, and then you you you go into a trance because he's looking at you with those you know, like how he looks at you on the floor when he goes like this we've heard some story, right, like, and you just get so and then mind you, he's got the Biggie poster behind him Grammy's I mean his office. You've
ever been a puff's office. His office is a maculate like it's like every picture from Quincy Jones on down to the President's And so you already and like you better like figure it out, right, But then you got like your dad and like, you know, like nothing, you know, the good cop, angel, you know, the devil, like you don't know what to do. And then I said, you know what, I did a little bit of this, and I did a little bit of that, and I was like and he was like, oh, good answer. I was like,
you know, I did some videos. I did some you know, street marketing. I try to keep it really. He was like, Okay, I'll see what you're saying. And he's like, listen, you ever heard us a rock? I was like, oh, yeah, I've heard it. We were about to do this. He told me a little bit a he broke everything down. He was very animated. He was like getting up. I was like, ooh, I feel the energy. I feel a vibe. And he's like, Yo, you just got Yo. I'm telling you you got to get on this train. Like, Yo,
you got some good ideas. Yo, you got to bring him over here. Let's let's rock and roll. Talk to deer. I was like, all right, cool. So like the next week I spoke the deer and then was like, Yo, bring you on. I was like, you know what, perfect timing. I'm ready to go. And I went on board. And two thousand and eight was like the real official, like we're gonna make this thing happen, and uh yeah, and I got on and I put some programs together. These
are very key programs in anything that we've done. The number one key program was the Ambassador program. And the key about Ambassador is what I did with Hypnotic and I never wanted one company for us to give the marketing budget to one company and have them run the promotions. I mean there's companies out there now like Team and these other companies that like they just do the promotions for the company. But there's nobody that's living and breathing
the brand. And when we were at Hypnotic, they were going to give our money to like one promotional company and then I would fly in and be with them. But I was like, I want somebody that lives and breathes the brand every day. I want someone who knows that Fab is doing a party of tonight, Meek Mills birthdays, tomorrow, the Nike releases at the Nike store. Like, I need that person that's in the market every day, breathing, living the brand. And that right there is what a real
ambassador is about. Now. I did that with Hypnotic, and I was like, well, I'm gonna do it with We're gonna take that same blueprint and we're gonna bring it over here. We're gonna do it over here. And that was very key to the brand success. Not only that. One second part was doing a DJ program DJ program. I had Hypnotic, but I only had three DJs. You know, I had like S and S Clue of Big Tigger, right, yeah, he was saying, yeah, I had Big Tiger, I had
Clue Tigger and Clue Tay. I was the first person we went to Hawaii together because we was doing like Hypnotic at the Naval base, baby, you know. But and then I had Camello and Puerto Rico when he first was coming up. But when we got over to Siraq, you know, Sean Press shout out to Sean Press. He was able to really because he had like a lot of DJs for the musical side of so he was able to put the program together to able to do
it on the Sirox side. And that's when we had kind of like actually created the Sarraq Boys and the Iraq Boy's name. I will always still tell you it was a puff Daddy thing. But I think that I have to give just a little bit of credit to Terrence J for some odd reason, because yeah, man, because it was one he was on one on six and
Park he was the young boy. He was rocking. And we was actually at the forty forty getting ready to do the Rock Boys video, and I was putting product placement in there and Puff Nas Jay and everybody was getting ready up in their rooms and this and that, and I was getting something for the guys, and I remember Terrence J walking in and he was like, yo, we're here, and you know, he slapped with father puff
and this and that. He's like, yo, you know, you know we here man, you know rock boys is here, Yo, Nick we Sirocki.
Oh oh come on.
I remember I was giving him the bottle just to joke around and her It's like, you know it was a rock boys. Oh good, Yeah, that nigga. Puff was like, nah, Nigga, we all sir, rock boys and Puffa was like, na, we rock boys and we just was rocking with it. And then the next week, I mean that next week we had to come up with a name for the DJ, and beholds like yo, rock boys and there it was.
So why did you choose the DJ? That's interesting? Why'd you choose the DJs? Because DJ's kind of get left looked over a lot.
Yeah, because the DJ is very important.
Very important.
They went from breaking records and now listen. So I always say this, I utilized my bartenders as DJs when I was really was trying to break a brand at the bar. The bartender is going to tell you what to drink. Sometimes he will change you, sometimes he will influence you. Bartender is very important inside of the business of the bar. The DJ to me was very important at that time for the people to know what we were drinking tonight, what were listening to, what we dancing to,
what we're rocking tonight. If you ain't got that rock in your part, if you ain't got that with that's the rock bart with rock boys. And it just kept going on. I mean, when you got people like Flex and Clue and Enough and Camillo Pro Style self just in New York Cologne, you're looking at almost five six nights of none stop in your ear in your face promotions. Then you go across the country up in Chicago and
you got Ferris Ll. I mean, I l a fairly fell Atlanta drama like like we like, you know, like DC Quicksilver. We had them all the way across the board. And when whether whatever city you was at, it was like a stamp. We had a stamp on the Serac boys across the country. And then and then, and that's why, that's why when you said me earlier, was everybody in a rock boy. I mean, if a guy was in the club and he probably five six bars of hey, he's.
Then people started calling themselves rock boys.
They were.
It's no promotion, they just yeah. Some of them became bad because we had to call from local market.
Like one of us, a rock boy showed up and took two bottles and said he was a sack boy. There was nowhere and bridge for Connecticut. That wasn't me. We got DJ.
So you said something that was interesting with the hypnotic that I just realized because I see, like even with fifty cent with his thing, that he's going to like different states. So when you roll out a liquor, it's like it's not it doesn't just go nationally like it has to go like different markets, like one market at a time.
No, it can go nationally once you go with a national distributor, it'll go nationally once you go to it. Like so Diago of course has distributors all across the country. Once you know, when you were with Diago, it's it's flooded across all fifty states, you know, like that's how it is. You know, whether you were Southern Wind of Spirits or whether you were Empire or what you know with Young's market in l A like each each n DC down in DC, like each state has its own distributor.
So once if I was to bring a brand tomorrow, and it's called evolution and Diadre got this new brand called Evolution. We're not going to do one state at the time. It's going to be actually be flooded out all all the way across the board. That's why you got to come up with a national plan, and you got to come up with a national marketing plan to make sure that you'll be able to, you know, move the product inside the states. So the first part right in eight when the rock takes off, that the plan
was like we have the guy, right puff is the guy? Yeah? In my mind I'm thinking, like this guy is James Bond. Was that the vision? Like I seen him he was on jet skis, He's jumping out a helicopter. Yeah he was. Yeah, he he knew how to It's one thing about him is in being around him and working when I'm like
you're you're very you're very on your toes. But he he always has a vision that you'll be like wow, like I can see what you're saying, like you know, like it's just it's it was really a really incredible time to be around a man like that. To be honest with you, like he motivated, He motivates you from every aspect.
Right.
But the plan was we wanted just to celebrate life and we wanted to have a celebration moment about it, and we wanted to be about life, about the celebratory side of it, Like no matter whether you know, if you if you lost your job, we're gonna celebrate because you don't get a new one. When you got a job, we're gonna celebrate because you got a job. Like it was just we're just trying to find bright moments within everybody.
And even when it was just like a circle like we had did a campaign like circle, Like a step into the circle was like a step into the circle of friends and friendship and love and love your friends and hang out with your family more and and just you just try to figure out a lot of things that we wanted to come up with. But the most part about of it was mostly thing about it was
about being celebrated and to celebrate life. And that that's what the main thing about the whole branding about Sarraq was. So how quick did the rock from WHOA I can tell you those numbers, they went quick. They went from like I mean, this was a brand that was out for five years between two thousand and two and two thousand and seven until you know, mister Combs basically took it over. Sixty thousand, sixty thousand case brand up for five years. Two when we got it, I think we
I mean, we doubled the numbers in one year. So we did like we did from sixty to like one seventy in one year, and then yeah, one year, and then in two thousand and nine we really killed it because we came out with the flavors and the first flavors we came out was with Coconut and Red Verry. So two thousand and nine we really took the movement crazy because one, it was a good time because we was coming out with a Last Train of Paris, which was an album, and he was coming out with album.
Good album, like very underrated. Yeah wow, yeah, good album. But we was like we was coming out with the album and we was doing album release in certain markets, and we were releasing the brand at the time, so it was very key. Timing is is very key in a lot of things. So we were coming out with the album and branding the brand and coming out with the Coconuts, the rock and the red Berry in certain states, it just everything was moving.
Yeah, So the first three years, I think I read a million cases. Yeah, first three you with a million.
Again? Did it again, so being a part of it.
But so you do that and then so what's your vision now as far as like I know, you said, now you do your consultant. So yeah, you did it once, you did it twice. Like where do you see yourself in the in the in the spirits industry moving forward?
I think I could do it again. I could do it again. But I think now is I'm at a point in my life where I can look back and reflect and and and be happy. And one of the things I can I can really be happy about is I had got a phone call the other day from a young lady that really gave, like really told me about working up under me. You know what she learned where she's at today would have never been there because
of me. And then I look back at about eleven or twelve people right now withinside the business and inside the liquor industry right now with jobs that look back and say, I came up undernixt door. And if you can't point someone in a direction, and I always feel like you really look good when you can really point somebody to make money, Like I always feel like that, right, Like I feel good to know that I put certain people in good positions to really make some money and
feed their families. You know. In my job now, I think is really educating the youth and understanding about hard work, dedication, and most importantly, it's like getting a lot of more youth, I mean more of us. I'm sorry with being Latin American and African American, as I said, my mother's Puerto Rican, in my father's book African American. So I'm both, I'm best of both for us, how I say, yeah, But I would say as educating them on the business of
the wine and spirits business. You know, I had stayed it before. I've been in the game twenty years, making six figures for twenty years. There's so many good jobs withinside the wine and spirits business that people don't know about, whether it's marketing, whether it's advertising, whether it's public relations, whether it's salespeople, you know, Like you know, a girl told me the other day, and this is a good one too. She was a bartender at a strip club
and I'm sorry, a gentleman's a gentleman's club. And she was really good at sales and she would say to me, you know, I wish I could blow this night life. One day and I said, you know what you are, and when you're really serious, you let me know. And I think a week later she was very serious. She asked me for advice. She put a blue suit on with her shirt. I told her what to wear. I told her what to say. She went for a job at a distributor, at a sales position. She got it.
The reason why I'm telling the story is last two weeks ago she said, I wanted your address because I wanted to send you a gift. Because for a year and a half she's been doing really well. But this year, in twenty nineteen, she made Sales Girl of the Year. She changed her life from the night life of what she really didn't want to do and really became a saleswoman.
And it's so happy and proud. But that made me feel proud because she was able to change your whole lifestyle and really, like you know, and she had a daughter and she's doing really well, and that's like a like that right there, you could change one person's life.
Sometimes when I speak in front of kids, and if two kids come up to me, after it kick king to the other day and said, you really get paid the party, like yeah, but not but but you know, and but I always feel like, you know that that's my mission now because I'm no good without giving the knowledge that that what I was doing. One there it is and that's so that's where I'm in my life. I want to consult with from brands on down to the younger generation and and I want to and I
want to speak. I want to do public speaking with inside of schools and and trying to educate them on jobs withinside the business. So how would they find those jobs?
Right to the young lady, that's incredible that she did that, but she knew, yeah, she knew me. So how would the average person say, you know what I want to get in the spirits industry?
You know, I'm looking lately and then a lot of people have been hitting me up. But it's it's a lot of people, like a lot of a lot of jobs like online now, like you know, you can go on d Augio's website, you can go on put over
Cards website, which is another big look a brand. But you can on these websites and honestly, do you do your knowledge like a friend of mine went at liquor store, went in the back of a bottle, found where the bottle was being imported from, and wrote the company up in Connecticut and found the website to it and then found the hr person to it. Like people are really like knowing how to do that. They're hungry enough to do the work now, which is good and it's funny.
I'm really only telling the story because he got the job's crazy, but yeah he got and there he's working in Connecticut right now. But but yeah, so that's that's that's where I'm at now.
That's dope.
Man.
Well, thank you for joining us, man, I appreciate it. How can it? How can the people contact you? Can they contact you?
Or yeah?
Yeah, contact social Yeah, you can DM me. Listen, I answered everybody. My email is nixt Storm twenty nine at gmail. Can email me. But my I G is I am next Storm meaning content me or my manager. His name is ja Cool. His instagram I don't know. His instagram is Jake Cool Love. Yeah, d M him. He'll get me, you know, at any speaking engagements, you know whatever. You know, my manager's right there side to the town of Greenberg. Yeah, lovelands on for a little bit. We call him Stephen a j.
That's a good one. That's actually a good one. That's a good one. Troy House housekeeping item.
Yeah.
Man, shout out to everybody on patreon dot com. We have hit one hundred on it. We had a goal to hit one hundred people and that's our proudc pay program. We hit one hundred. We got something special for those those people. Like we said on the site, we're gonna do something real special till five or six. Y'all also be on the lookout for that and keep supporting.
Man.
We have five tiers.
We're actually gonna do some remodeling on our Patreon. We're gonna change some things up. But keep supporting that and everybody that's supporting the Merchre dot com. It is hoodie season here in New York, so it might be hoodie season on the East Coast. So our sweatshows are up there. We have their assets overliability Sweatshare. We're also going to have a hustle for your last name, and we're gonna have some new merge coming.
Man. Shout out to all our.
Earners, that is, you know, the people that follow an Allsia and support craziest community. And if you'll see you shall see Nick after this episode is what the earners are all about them.
They are allsion of supporters.
Shout out to them, Yeah, shout out to them for showing patreons the community. And that's it. Ah, see you guys next week.
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