¶ Entrepreneur Insights on Branding Culture
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your host , paki and Chris . We are people who are passionate about business , success and culture , and this is our platform to showcase to people in our city who make it happen . On today's podcast , we'll be delving into an entrepreneur's insight on branding culture why specific podcasts succeed .
So please welcome to the circle Mr Wayne Lewis man . What's up ? What's up ? Thanks for having me , bro . I got to say this to his face man so . I was wrong about this brother man . I got to tell about his face . We had a great conversation over the phone , but let's jump right in .
Man , so , originally from Los Angeles , yes , how'd you get into business for yourself ? I've seen you've done a lot .
I think business just kind of came natural , just being a bad employee , bad student . So it's like where do you go ? I'm always questioning rules and authority and just always asking why and I'm not really understanding why . But why got me in trouble a lot of the time ? Got you , you said being a bad employee .
I don't think I've ever heard anybody say that . No , for sure Is it because your mind was somewhere else , Like you always had another vision out there , like hey , I want to do this .
or I always had this that I'm working towards , I think just because of me wanting more and trying to figure more out . I'm just my mind just running rampant , always thinking about other things outside of what I'm doing . It was too simple and repetitive , so I wasn't meant for me to do it .
I just I got bored , real easy with everything and I just I wasn't the guy for that . For it , I wasn't the guy for that job . Got you ? Yeah , nah , for sure .
So you kind of got your . Is it your first start , kind of , in the fashion industry , right ? So you guys had like , what was it ?
My first start was insurance , insurance , okay , yeah , yeah . So I got my property , casualty , life and health and my surety , so I had my , I had an insurance agency , like that was I was calling . I would do door-to-door sales , but I was calling like 150 people a day .
Wow . Yeah , and then sitting at the dealerships and that basically transitioned into sitting at the dealerships and then learning to sell . And then you know , clocking , clocking . You could learn a lot about what you just said .
Yeah Right , docking on doors , learning people being a chameleon , learning people's energy , people turning you away , learning no , you know what I mean . And just moving on to the next one , probably helped the foundation for business for you .
Yeah , I think that was the footwork I did , probably the hardest thing to do and that is to try to sell blindly and cold call and do all those things because I wanted to sell that bad , I wanted to make money that bad . So I did everything that I possibly needed to in that day to get success that day .
So , whether it was going door to door calling 150 people just for one sale Because I knew one sale a day was 30 sales a month , but then in insurance , as you know , you got auto home and life , so I would upsell them on auto home and life , so technically that one sale was three Got it .
Yeah .
So it went from one sale a day to six to nine to you know , it just kept going up and up and people are like , how are you doing it ? I just stayed at it , super , super , super , super , super resilient , consistent and just determined , like you know .
Yeah , I always felt , like you know , I was owed something , but not in the sense of entitlement for it to be given to me , but I want what's mine . You know , I put the work in .
I want what's mine , but you seem like too , you're very good with like the energy of reading people too right . Very good at networking that whole setup .
Do you think learning that process of you know probably getting hung up on and all the different things or knocking on doors and stuff like that , people telling you no to your face was it just kind of make you where you're , just like nothing is going to bother me ?
Well , I think you get used to no , so no , it doesn't resonate with me the way it does with everyone else . I don't give a fuck about no . Yeah , I feel you . You can tell me no , and that's cool , but I want to know why . Why did you say no ? And if they're able to explain it to me , I'll say okay . So I always end it cool , okay , cool .
So just let me know if you need me later , you know is it ? okay if I keep your contact . So I still sold them in a way of selling myself , maybe not on a product at the moment , but I still sold myself . And then I also still quoted them at that same time .
And you know , in insurance that system is like pipeline , so even every quote I put in there they automatically get a mailer . Got it ? Yeah ? So I would just go the extra mile to make the sale . I mean , the sale may not be made today , but the sale in my mind was made as soon as we spent 15 minutes on the phone .
I mean , I made the sale and I was able to meet you maybe a month from now , two months from now , six months from now , but that A-ball is in already .
That month from now two months from now , six months from now , but that eight ball is in already . That's what's up . So what about the fashion show .
I've read an amazing article on you about Forbes right . I think it was the retired drug dealer .
I thought it was very interesting the hats and how you guys played the marketing on that . How I got into fashion was I started a couple different brands prior to the retired drug dealer , which was one product of a conglomerate .
So the first company I had was a company called Famous Nobodies that I basically kind of used the same method as the insurance just kind of handed out a bunch of shirts , just making my brand appear bigger .
Then I met my business partner and best friend today , which is Al Madden , and we started a backpack line together and then it's pivoted into everything else that we've done . So the retired drug dealer hat was a five minute design that I did .
I made that design in like five minutes on , like Halloween Eve , got it Randomly and um , it went viral and should we ?
sell it Jay Z ? Yeah , all type of people wearing this stuff right A year .
Today we think we sold like 59,000 hats .
That's awesome .
Yeah , at $60 a pop .
That's awesome .
Yeah , $56,000 , $57,000 , somewhere around there at $59,000 to $60 a pop . Wow yeah .
And that's extremely hard in the fashion industry just in general is one of the hardest businesses from my understanding .
Well , fashion is very , very tough because you have so many different aspects to it . You know you got seasons , you have colors , you have trends , you got understanding the market , you got the competitiveness of it . You know you got you're competing as a small guy with the bigger brands for consumers .
But really it's really all about authenticity and doing what's true to you and telling a story through your fashion , because fashion is merely just speaking without speaking .
Love that . You know what I'm saying .
It's your version of what you feel like you want to say that day . That's what fashion is . It's merely speaking without speaking . That's beautiful .
I like that man . What's your perspective on the Vegas culture ? Because originally from Los Angeles but it's kind of got that flavor .
Vegas don't have a culture . We just got a baseball . Well , we just got a soccer , I mean a hockey team we just have . We just got a women's team . We're getting a baseball team . The culture is being built and designed , but it's no culture here . Yet we never , no one never , supported UNLV until they started
¶ Diverse Perspectives on Las Vegas Culture
winning . Vegas isn't really like a culture . If it's anything , it's entertainment . That would be quote unquote culture . But I think Vegas is more of a place you come to have fun . To live here is cool , but even with that , what's the culture of living here ? You guys are in your own space . I'm in my own space , never really crossed paths .
So the culture of Vegas is that there is no culture and that's the culture . You think so right .
So I feel like I always had these arguments with the barbershops , right , because you know you get into so much in a barbershop , so shout out to Cut Above . I was going to them for about 14 years until I started Cut my Own here . But you know , timo Kurt over there , I don't know if you know , them but , they're a staple here in Vegas .
Right , they've built . I think they've had probably five or six barbershops throughout the whole valley , but it seems like the culture was built and things like that .
No , I think it's a multitude of cultures . That's why there is not a culture here , because you get it's like a gumbo you get this person from here , this person from here , this person from here . They all live by different rules , morals , beliefs , so it's no culture .
And a lot of international folks too , yeah nobody stands for one thing here , everybody's , individuals .
I think once you start bringing teams here , the culture starts being there , because now we are cheering for something together . So right now our culture is the hockey . We're a hockey town , mm-hmm .
I'll be honest I never went to a hockey game in Toronto In a WNBA .
Oh , I forgot the NFL team , the Raiders , Correct . Yeah , we're not like a real Raiders fan . Everyone at that stadium comes from Oakland . We have some people here go . Obviously you have a certain percentage , but a lot of those people fly in to see the Raiders play .
Or they fly in to see their home team or whatever Right team or whatever right .
so for the weekend , for now the most winningest team is the wmba team and our hockey team . So we're , uh , so our culture is our , we're a wmba town .
I guess , if you aces town , I guess , if you want to call it , do you like it , just because of the fact of yeah everything that you're seeing in the network and stuff that you see here well , I like vegas just because of um it we're spoiled .
It's a place that you can get up and go get . You can go to the strip club , get cocaine and go to a club and have a burger all within that four in the morning and still be able to go to work at nine . So it's a place that we're spoiled in a sense of time , cost of living , taxes .
There's a lot of things that goes into it , especially from a business standpoint . So I think Vegas is a cool place . It's something to do when people fly in . You're never bored with them , you just drop them off .
Yeah , it's too much to do .
It's not a boring place .
I like it for the fact of like . You're always going to see your favorite musician here .
you're always going to see your favorite musician here , You're always going to see your favorite comedian here At some point yeah , yeah , they're always going to come here at least once a year .
You know what I mean . So that part I like . But like you were saying , we don't hang out on the Strip .
Nah never .
Especially as locals . You don't go unless you're going to something Never . I never do . What do you see the future of ? I think .
Vegas is going to be a super city . I think Vegas is going to be the US version of Dubai , outside of Miami . I think it's going to be Miami , and Vegas is the hitters , simply because the direction that Vegas is going , they're very forward . They're bringing in a lot of you know , architects and engineers from Saudi .
They're getting a lot of their ideas from over there , so they're building something that is going to stand out and that's going to make you want to live here , simply because it's going to be undeniable , vegas is becoming that city that , forced to be reckoned with , a lot of companies are coming out here . I think it's one of those places .
I think obviously it's Vegas , miami . I think it's one of those places , you know , I think obviously it's Vegas , miami , austin , texas in general , houston , dallas , austin , but that's going to be the those are going to be the US spots .
Yeah to me , sure , yeah . Do you like the idea of like content creation ? Do you think we need more content creators because you have more ?
of the food scene and things like that . I think content is king . I think if you haven't implemented content in any of your business , when it comes to marketing or growing your business , I think that you're lacking . It's just huge . Content creation is big .
You know to tell a story through your lenses and to allow people to see that and for them to , you know , take what they want to take from it is super , super important , and most people still haven't graphed that concept yet
¶ Potential and Future of Podcasting
. Content creation I mean content creators are the ones you know living how they're supposed to be living . You know ferraris lambos . You know they're living a good life . So , yeah , content creation , content is king .
Yeah what's amazing to me is , like you know , my kids a little right , 10 and 8 years old and like their heroes , now are YouTubers . Yeah , kai .
Sinat .
InstaVees Everybody .
Yeah , yeah , yeah .
What's your take on that ? Because you're kind of in between , aren't you ? You're in mid-30s right ? Yeah , yeah , yeah Okay so YouTube I mean content creators is everything as far as the lifestyle and being able to show the real or what you want to be able to show , right To be able to build that brand .
And I know you're into like the monetization side of it . You know what drives traffic with brands and things like that . What do you think they need to do better here in Vegas on that side ?
Because I know bigger marks like LA , you know they extremely well with that , you know , as far as the TMZs of the world and things like that , what do you see happening ?
I don't think Vegas needs to do anything because , aesthetically , it's built for content creation . So I just think it's more so the people here or content creators moving out here , establishing themselves , getting rooted here and creating content , vegas doesn't need to do anything . I mean , if you look at this place , aesthetically it's built for a camera 100% .
Yeah , it's 1,000% want you to take pictures of these things . 100% yeah , it's 1000% want you to take pictures of these things . We have , you know it's , it's just art everywhere in a sense , you know , from , you know the architecture to the things that they create , and just attractions everywhere . So I don't think Vegas needs to change anything .
I just think it's all about the people here and wanting to do content .
Yep , that's for sure now this podcast space has absolutely exploded . I know you've been doing it . For how long have you been in the podcast ?
I've only been in the podcast space a year and maybe like seven , six months .
Wow , I would not have expected you to say that yeah so during the pandemic , were you thinking ?
about podcasting in 2020 no , I got thrown in . I got thrown in the podcast space because my PR shots out to Danielle and lots of yeah .
You perfect for it .
Cause you're so honest and that you know you'll sugarcoat nothing .
Yeah , but how do you feel about the podcast space ?
I think it's important . You know it's the new media , it's the new broadcast and um , um , I like it . Um , granted , everybody's not cut out for it . So right now you're kind of doing , uh , the who's who's kind of deal , doing the who's who's kind of deal .
You know some people are going to fade out , Some people are going to stay , but really it's truly , it's all about having those great conversations and being authentic and giving your honest opinion . That's the new thing . But as far as a podcast space , I think it's a great space . I enjoy it myself , so I can't knock it .
I don't really even think it's competitive .
How so .
Because I like where you're going , Just because you have what you got 2.5 million podcasts , right yeah , and then you got 90% of them not making it past episode three . Exactly yeah , other than they all fail Right and then 90% of that 10 don't make it past like episode 20 , yeah . So it's really not competitive when you look at it from those numbers .
So you're competing with what ? 30 , 40 000 , no you can't compete when it comes to radio . What are you actually competing for ?
that's a great question .
Yeah , people gonna listen to what they listen to , bro you may listen to taylor Swift and I may listen to Chris Brown . She ain't competing with him , that's a very Unless we drop our albums on the same day , or unless me and you purposely , intentionally are competing like that .
So me and you are doing the same , we're shooting the same day , dropping the same day with the same guests . Yeah , then we're intentionally competing in that case .
But in the podcast space , people are want to listen to what they want to listen to , because there are genre based that's true and we're all not the same person , where we don't all speak the same and we're all not under the same genres . So competing is like crazy , right , that's like yeah , how can ? You like . Well , what are we actually competing with ?
And for it like ? There's so many radio stations , there's so much of everything .
I love that you're bringing this up , because it's true what draws your attention ? To invest your time and to listen to a specific podcast .
Something catches your attention , yeah my interest is is is great conversation and um and I and I and honesty . You know I like um , I like listening to a good conversation , I like insight . But also it depends on the guest , because sometimes you have guests that I'm truly not interested in .
Then there's some guests where it's like yo , I like that , or the host . I'm not interested in the host , so I'm annoyed by the host . So , being in this space , you know I study the host , not too much of the guest , but I study the host and if he's annoying I can't watch it .
Or if she's annoying I can't watch it , or she's not really pulling like she should . You know , I technically can't watch it . So what draws me to um , a , um , a good podcast is just having a good conversation . It's always not about the guests . Sometimes the host is like interesting to me , like my guy , my go-to is Joe Rogan . I like Charlemagne a lot .
I like both of them . Yeah , yeah , yeah , they're both amazing . Yeah , what do you like about them ? Is it just because , like for example , Joe Rogan , is so educated ?
right , right . He knows so many layers to him with a lizard and it'll make sense yeah , yeah , charlemagne is an amazing guy , just because I've seen how he's adapted well he's , he's super adaptive , but he's also like um , he's taking on the villain , truthful , honest role , in a sense of how he approaches it .
And um , he's very well open and he's willing to take , you know , whatever criticism and scrutiny that comes with it . So I like , I like charlamagne a lot .
What's your take on the monetization side ? And people are I mean obviously the Joe Rogans of the world and people like Black Effect and things along those lines . But the people that are starting out right , because this podcast is starting every day . What would you say to them ? Is there real money ?
in this starting out ? Yeah , well , I think there's . I think obviously you have to invest into your craft , but there is money in it . There's money in everything . If you seek money , there's money there . But it's just understanding your platform and your power .
If you , whatever you , whatever platform you create and you have an audience there , then there's your power May not be in syndication aspect , because you may not have , you know , the ad rev or anything like that , but your power is the audience .
So giving the guests a stage to speak , whether they're mine , whether it's sell the product , whether it's religious or rock stones , crystals , potions , whatever giving them that platform to speak and have people watch them , there's your power there . So there's money in that .
So you can charge for people to come on , you can charge on a monetization in on whatever platform and then you can get picked up by a streaming service or some kind of company or maybe like a company that you know that buys and sells podcast episodes or episodes shows . You know I'm saying so , yeah , it's a lot of different aspects to it .
Once you understand media and television , it's , it's a lot of money in it . You know what I'm saying . So , yeah , I would say there is . I love it . And it's still early . It's extremely early , yeah , I mean , look at our mics . Our mics are still like this , the cameras are still like that . So it's extremely early .
I mean , our headphones still have cords on them . So , understanding that , like shit's going to change and get better and there's going to be a lot more innovative ways to communicate and a lot more creative ways to do it , I mean we're at the cusp of this , bro .
I mean , look , all this is connected wires and everything , all these Bluetooth speaking Right .
So it's going to evolve ? Yeah , for sure .
You know I love podcasts , and just because of the fact that like the networking side of it right Like there's so many ways you can get into certain rooms , right People , that you can build relationships with Just really cool people , right ? We started this what ? Six years ago now and it's been .
Not that it's fun right , because it's fun , but it's mainly like you learn so much of what people are doing and it's motivated .
It's mainly like you learn so much of what people are doing and it's motivated because you could see that , like this person might have energy and they , you know , battery in a backpack because they got this concept , and then seeing them go through fruition , like you might have them on the podcast and they're saying , hey , this is what's coming out a year from
now and they explode on it . To me that's awesome .
Yeah , I love being able to see that man . Yeah . What's been somebody that you sat down with that you just really enjoyed talking to them . It's probably one of your best podcasts that you've had , because you you said that with a lot of people . Um man , I don't know , it's kind of tough because I I doing so many podcasts .
All the guests have their own , like superpowers okay um , they're all special , special people , so , um , I think the most impactful one was when it comes to health . It was Gary Brecker . I think Gary Brecker really resonated with me simply because he raised his eyebrows when it comes to health .
There's a lot of people out there that disagree with what he says , but he's a human biologist . He's the guy who he worked for an insurance company , so he literally told life insurance companies how long a client was .
People are depressed depressed and depression medications actually were created around a certain time that they started using the spray on the weed and that's how it they were able to . The pharmaceuticals were able to sell their depression medications because it was the side effect on what they sprayed on the crops . So it was so like , like .
When it comes to information , it was just a lot of information that I really like . I listened to it . It was like , oh , this is crazy .
I heard about him through . I think it was Dana White . Yeah , dana White blew him up Right and that's how he got in really amazing shape . Yeah , do you do ? Have you ? Do you do any of his tests or anything ? Was it the ?
tip . I haven't did the 10X test but I definitely took on a lot of things that he said when it comes to what black people are deficient in , definitely stepped away from , like pastas and all that other stuff . Still kind of dabbling in bread , but you know sourdough bread because it's really good for gut health , okay . But you know D12 vitamin is D12 and K2 .
You need both of those as African-Americans because we're deficient in those , because our skin repels the sun .
That's what's up ?
Okay , yeah so it's a lot of things that stuck with me when it came to him . But , granted , every guest that I sat down with was super special and super interesting , just because they had their own way of thinking and their own superpower . So I don't really think there's like a special special guest . I just think they're all interesting in their own right .
I mean , it's conversation . So it's like you know what I'm saying .
Yeah , so branding , I know is big on your part . Right , you're doing , you know management and branding . You've done an excellent job building your brand . What do you think people are doing wrong on the brand side ? Where they're you think they're being too fake and trying to act like they aren't who they say they are , or is that a good play ?
¶ Cultivating Authenticity in Brand Management
Welcome to a special edition of Vegas Circle . Behind the Lights , we've got our guy , james Trader , who's actually the owner of Kase Sake and Sushi , talk a little bit about your restaurant . How this ?
all came together . So , Kase , we're a casual omakase experience here in Las Vegas . Omakase literally means I'll leave it up to you , so leave it up to us to curate your experience here . One of our most popular menu items is our amori .
It's a seven course plated meal , and with that you'll start with a seaweed salad , sashimi special , 10 pieces of fresh nigiri and two hand rolls .
And this location is fantastic . The environment is lively yet intimate . I think it's great for date nights . The overall experience has been extremely positive . If our listeners could choose one thing on the menu that you'd recommend , what would it be ?
Definitely my favorite is our A5 Wagyu Flog Raw . We serve that with a cherry amaretto jam and that's just to die for .
You and Pac , you're both big sake fans . We drink it all the time Dig in a little bit on what that sake experience is like here at Kase .
So we have a great selection of sakes here , from Junmai to Junmai , daiginjo's and even a few Nigoris . We also have a server pick three sampler where our servers will curate , depending on your taste and your meal , a few glasses for you to enjoy and try to just see the depth that different sakes will have as far as flavors go .
So you guys , got to come down and check out Kase . They are located off of Jones , north of 215 Freeway . Check out kasesakesushicom .
So fakeness plays a certain part until it doesn't Because , although you have followers and stuff like that , like they're not dumb , they know their followers know they know that you don't talk like that , you don't act like that . They're gonna call you . I may be cool for the time being , but you know it can .
It can hurt you , I think people are drawn to more authenticity now than ever before , because there's so much fake shit online 100% . So I believe that when it comes to your brand , whatever that may be , I just think that it's staying true to it .
Yeah , and understanding who you are as an individual , and stay true to that specific thing and be that , and be that only . I agree , no , just be you Don't be no one else and people are going to fuck with you . You have a camera in front of you . Be you . Speak how you speak . Be you so that people can like you for who you are and go from there .
Be you unapologetically .
Be you a thousand percent .
You know what I'm saying and have fun with it . But use the internet , understand the power of social media and use it , you know , to your advantage . Don't just , um , uh , just be on there playing around I mean , you can do that , that's leisure , you know but if you really want to build your brand , you can't do that . Social media allows you to do that .
Now , with all these platforms , I mean shit . Why not you selling something , or you want to be something , whether it's a rapper , a singer , a content creator , a YouTuber , a porn star , a photographer or whatever , be that to the fullest . Social media gives you exposure .
What platforms do you like the best as far as the Instagrams and the TikToks and Facebook ?
So I think , obviously you got your pioneer brands , which is the Instagram and the TikTok . I mean the Instagram and Facebook , but TikTok is spoiling the content creators right now , and even Twitter , twitter is like a free space too , so it's just using those platforms consistently .
Yeah , I agree . Yeah , do you like X ? Do you like the whole setup of just the simplicity of just getting it out ? I mean , people do it extremely well where they can just answer stuff real quick . Yeah , I mean why not ?
It allows you know fans to get involved with their favorite artists . It allows fans to see what their favorite artist is thinking , how they feel about certain things . I just think , yeah , you know , obviously you know how you speak and what you say can get you in trouble . Now , yeah , why not ?
Why not allow the fans to feel like their favorite artist is that they're talking to their favorite artist ? I mean , that's big . That's not something that people had access to before . For sure . I feel like artists were bigger a long time ago than they were now , because they're so accessible . Now you can just go see what they're doing on live .
And yeah , you couldn't see what michael jackson was doing , you couldn't see , no clue .
Yeah , yeah , no clue . Michael jackson , michael jordan .
He was surprised when you say , oh there he is . But now you can like , you can live vicariously through them by just watching them every single day , yeah , and even with playing them online . Playing the video mean you can play against LeBron on these games and your favorite basketball player . They're just so accessible now and I think it's cool .
It kind of builds that cult following , yeah .
Yeah , I think it's amazing because of the fact I get motivated from that , like when you see people , not that you get jealous . I get motivated because I'm like damn man they're just just man , just like me , so I can be able to motivate and try to figure out other things to be able to invest on .
You know what I mean , and you can learn a lot of stuff that way as far as brand management right . So who are you working with now ?
I remember we were talking a little bit For now , because he has a big fight ahead of him . It's Edgar Belinga , so that's the focus right now when is that fight ?
September 14th Okay so it's coming up fast .
He's fighting Canelo Alvarez , so that's going to be a blockbuster fight . I feel like I think everybody's underestimating Edgar and saying , oh , he should have waited or he should have . This is not the right time , or Canelo's going to do this and this and that , but it's like when is the right time ? If now's not the right time , then when ?
Yeah , how old is he ? 27 . Right , so with boxing there's a window . Boxing is a young man's sport , right . So you're talking about from , let's say , from 18 to maybe 32-ish , and 32 in boxing is old you know what I'm saying , especially Floyd Right . Even Floyd .
You know it's different , you know so you have to take those opportunities and leverage them and blow up off of them . You can't just wait . Oh , I'm gonna wait and fight some more guys . That shit don't work like that , like nobody's fighting , nobody's waiting for you to be prepared . You got to go out there and be ready , you know Did you play sports before .
Did you hoop or anything ? I played football , you played football . Okay , where'd you play at ?
Played in California .
Okay , were you good , could you play ?
I think I was good , I just didn't , I okay there's a difference .
Yeah , I love watching it .
I just okay . My thing was like being like the guy in the suit , okay . Okay , like being a coach and yelling and being a player . That shit was cool , but fuck that yeah I can say less .
I already know what you get . That , yeah , say less . Um , what's success mean to you , man ? Because I know you're in a lot of different rooms . You have a different perspective on life . So what's success mean to you , man ? Because I know you're in a lot of different rooms , but you have a different perspective on life . So what's success mean to you ?
I think success is subjective . To me , success is a daily thing . Success is routine . You know , success is how you think . It's how you feel . How you think , how you feel . Some people base it on like the monetary aspect , but it's really like that's a small ROI on success .
Success is just like how often can you do the right things right and succeed at them ? That's success . And it could be anything . You know what I'm saying Because , again , people correlate success with money and not all the time that there's money involved with success , you know . So success is whatever you want it to be , but for me , success is freedom .
I agree with you 1,000% . You know , success is freedom , and not just from a financial standpoint , but from a mental standpoint , from a peace standpoint , from a just like time standpoint , from a stress standpoint from you know .
You speak about language , brother Getting up doing what you want just being who you truly are , just being ultimately free , and not just free financially . Or you can get up and buy shit , because there's people who can get up and buy shit and still like hate their life .
You know it's being free , like just free .
That's what success is now . Will any of us ever probably see like 100 freedom ? Nah , because success is um well for black . It's handed to you on the string . Why do you say that ? Because it is Because our success can be taken from you . I already knew what you were getting at , right , you know what I'm saying .
So for us , we have to work twice as hard , or 10 , 20 times as hard to get there , but then work 100 times hard to stay there , because success is handed to us on a string and it can be taken away from us by just making the wrong gesture , hugging a woman wrong , or saying the wrong things about a certain community , or speaking about political views , or
saying something they feel like you shouldn't have spoke about , and then now you're no longer successful . I mean , look at Puff . I mean look at a lot of other people and , granted , you know I'm not , you know , justifying anything Puff did , but had Puff been anybody else that looked like anybody else , we wouldn't give a fuck .
But he's also social figure . You know what I mean ? The whole nine , yeah , but it doesn't matter .
Yeah , it doesn't matter . Success is still handed to him on the string , that's true . And it's been , it's definitely going to take it away from you .
You think Puff is done .
Yeah , of course that's what they wanted . That was a goal . You can't be a fucking . Look at kanye . They put his mind no they ain't let him lose his mind . They pulled his string and made us believe he lost his mind but he's mentioned that .
He's mentioned he's had mental issues , of course , but I know , I know what you're getting .
I can say I got mental issues too . I've died in the . I already knew yeah , this is chess , this is definitely chess . So can you ? Yeah , granted you , he may be off in a lot of aspects due to whatever he's into or whatever he's been given , but you know , at the same time , success is still handed to a black man on a string .
Yeah , so just know that .
Well , you saw that with Adidas . You saw that immediately . What happened with Adidas and that relationship ?
Yeah , it can be he pulled from me . His account was free . It was froze . Did that money ever even exist ? That's a great question .
That's a very good question , I mean even 50 just recently said .
He said he's in no rush to become a billionaire .
The best best , no , or just in general . He said that on the show , okay , so success is subjective .
I like that . And once you start to what success is , it's not what's painted , it's what you consider what success is . So just focus on what you consider what success is , and then you're successful .
What's your take on nine to five and building your side hustle ? What's your perspective ?
I think it's important to have a nine to five , because a nine to five is leverage , so that job can be your bank . The most thing that people complain about when starting a business is obviously money right or taking a loan or whatever .
the scenario is Right and not understanding that right , so you can use your nine to five as leverage , because you get paid first and the 15th or every two weeks , or $7,000 a month , $5,000 a month , $4,000 a month .
You can use a portion of that money to fund , set your budget up Right , so you can work that nine to five and work your five to 10 , right , and still be happy and make an extra 10 , 1500 a month or 15,000 , however you choose to set up . But a job is good because when you got benefits , it's structured .
You don't have to work hard because they give you eight hours to finish a task and they give you that eight hours every single day , right . They give you a lunch , they give you eight hours to do one simple task that most people will never finish or complete and they pay you for doing half-assed work .
So , if you use that time and that you know what they're paying you to leverage and you know , invest in your business , and there you go .
But then in the meantime , be understanding what business credit is , understanding your credit is and how powerful that is , and then going to the bank and setting up bank accounts , getting business funding and then using that money also to fund your business . So it's a lot of different ways that you can use a 9 to 5 . A 9 to 5 is not a bad thing .
It's just been painted as a bad thing because everybody paints entrepreneurship like it's a good thing . And being an entrepreneur , you gotta be a fucking suicidal , you gotta be a psychopath .
You have to be a real fucking psychopath and really , like you know , a real life narcissist I like when mark cuban was breaking that down right you're in competition , man , people every day are there to kick your ass .
Yeah , you know , yeah , but I like the fact that you brought up , you know , use it as almost like your own bank , your job right because he was mentioning being a billionaire . No , don't take the loan out and I like that perspective of because taking that debt and then you already have to have that payment coming up and you might not have money coming in .
That stress well , it depends on what your view of debt is .
¶ The Necessity of Debt in Business
The USA is in debt , yeah . So how do you look wanting to become a millionaire or a billionaire or a hundred thousandaire , not considering debt ? Everything you do is debt . School is debt . Car note is debt . Everything has debt attached to it . Car notice debt . Everything has debt attached to it .
Also , not in understanding , again , how debt is perceived , because debt is perceived in our community as a bad thing , but in other communities , debt is needed . They understand that . It's taught . You don't need to be able to afford the debt , you just need the loan . Once you get the loan , you put everything in motion .
If you miss 30 days or the first couple payments , who gives a fuck ?
yeah , that's true , because you can set loan , you put everything in motion . If you miss 30 days or the first couple of payments , who gives a fuck ? Yeah , that's true , because you can set it . Yeah , you can recoup .
If you know in 90 days you're going to be making $3,000 , $4,000 and a payment on that debt you took is $700,000 , then just pay them back the $2,100,000 that you're behind and continue to move forward . But debt is needed . I high and continue to move forward , but debt is needed . I agree .
When you have a millionaire and a billionaire and a hundred thousand there , there's debt . I haven't met one without debt , I don't care who you are or what . That's true . Yeah , that's true . That's you . Paying with everything is everything with cash , and most millionaires and billionaires are not paying everything with their cash .
They're using someone else's money and most of nine out of 10 times it's the bank's money or some money guy .
So , everybody has debt .
I consider debt . You have to consider debt . Like even if you have $10 million cash , why invest your own money in something when you can go into debt and pay them back monthly and hopefully this business takes off in six to eight months ?
You know one of the first people I heard . You know the artist russ yeah I love what he was saying on there . He was basically saying look , I'll take a load out on a million dollars and make that payment so that I could keep the cat , keep everything low , keep the overhead low .
And I was like damn , I don't think I ever heard artists he's independent , so you have to .
you know I , we , me and my business partners fell into that using our own money trap and you know , you get . You get lost , man , you get that . Those losses hit the account . They don't hit the bank's account . The losses hit your account . So you spend a lot more time trying to recuperate those funds because you lost them . You know versus .
Oh well , shit , it's the bank's money . I'll pay them when I want to . All they're going to do is blow my phone up , yeah . I got the money in the account . I'll pay y'all when I'm ready . Yeah , that's true . Those are your options , but when ?
you are losing the money . It's like shit I'm going broke , but when it's their money .
It makes you feel better about it , or not even better . Just , it's a safer thing to do . It's the logical , smartest thing to do . Now , some people will disagree and say no , that's not smart , I'd rather do this , I'd rather do that . That's cool . Well then , prove it .
Show it . Yeah , you know .
Yeah , and there's some people who , even when you sit on Shark Tank all the time , they've used their own money until this point . Now they want the sharks to invest . They're in debt to the sharks . They're giving up equity and a piece of their company for expansion or to leverage . That's to get to the next level .
You have to give up something to get something . It's the cost of opportunity . Who's in your circle of speaking in your life man to keep you sane and keep you on the right direction ?
Well , I tend to listen to people who only are walking in the shoes that I would want to walk in one day and have done the things that I aspire to do or making the money I aspire to make . So I only speak to those people . But in Vegas I've had a couple of mentors and I've had some celebrity mentors .
I've sat down with some and chopped it up and they've poured into me . Has some ? Yeah , like yesterday , shit out talking to mike rubin that's what's up .
Yeah , that's a big flex , yeah , you know . Yeah , so how did you get connected with ?
um , just , I was at a private event , okay , you know , and I had met him before my favorite people to listen to .
Yeah , I have ?
yeah , I have one of my , one of my boys , Q , we had went to a dinner and Joel and B , like I think it was in bachelor party or engagement dinner . He was there , okay , and we had chopped we had in , so he got himself in trouble a little bit man , just yeah , but I but I like what he was saying . I even told him .
You know , I told him last night . I'm like breakfast
¶ Importance of Mentorship in Business
. Yeah , I said you wasn't wrong and he's like I know , but I got a call from somebody . I said I know that right , but I said it wasn't his place to speak . I said but if they're not speaking on it , then why aren't they speaking about it ? We know our community's fucked , but no one says anything about it .
But as soon as somebody from another race said it's like blasphemous , like oh , you shouldn't be speaking on that , because , bro , if it's put it like this , if our shit is so bad , a white person saying hey man , y'all got to do better , then it's a problem Because , think about it , they truly don't care , it's not their problem .
But when somebody of another race sitting back like hey , y'all better stop . This is becoming a big problem in y'all culture . It's wrong for him to say that because he's speaking from a third-person perspective . He's not in or of the culture , but he's watching from a bird eyes view .
That's just like if a pigeon say , hey , you got a lot of shit outside in your backyard , what I'm gonna say you ain't , you don't live here , so you can't . No , I mean , if that's his perspective of my backyard , then maybe I need to correct something you know . So I I don't feel like he was wrong . Yeah , you know he's .
I mean , I think he should have stood on what he said . I mean apologizing to the , to the community or to the culture for saying , like yo , we gotta do better .
It's crazy I feel like nowadays everybody's got to say sorry just because of the fanatics . And he's probably no and for sure , and I understood his stance .
I understood his stance . He was protecting his , his his brand and his business . You , I get that , but at the same time I still feel he wasn't wrong and I stand on that . I get what he said . I get his part . He's like I shouldn't have spoke on it , but shit .
It is what it is . It's out there , it's on the internet .
Yeah , it is what it is yeah , you said sorry , but you still feel how you feel .
You still feel like what he's doing just because of the fact that michael rubin , like you were saying , people that you look up to or maybe you see him from a distance , you got a relationship with him , but I love the fact that he is the type of person he is . He don't seem like he's fake .
No , no , he's super authentic bro . Last night he has ice on like he , he's , he's , he's he . I think he's just at this point in his life I think he feels like you know , and I don't know , I'm in depth , I just feel like he's just having fun and I think , I think it's dope , you know .
But as far as mentorship , I feel like , um , as a growing person , you should always seek out mentorship because we don't have all the answers . I agree , and I think people are so caught up in this way of thinking like , oh yeah , I could do it on their own . No one has done it on their own .
So it's go get the right help and get the right voice , and you know somebody who has some of what the right answers are . Maybe the answers were right in their time and maybe they're a little bit skewed or jaded now because times have changed .
But you can still get someone's perspective on what you're doing on the journey that you are about to embark on , so that you can be ultimately prepared from a wisdom standpoint on how to deal with those adversities when you're maneuvering through the process and understand how , what roadblocks you're going to run into and how to handle those .
It's like in preparation . They're giving you directions on how to maneuver through the bullshit . I agree , because that's really what mentorship is . They're not teaching you how to be successful . They're teaching you how to maneuver through bullshit when becoming successful From an experience .
From an experience standpoint yeah , for business advice . Right , I know we've talked a lot , we've kind of went on a lot of rabbit holes . But what would you share for somebody right now ?
Maybe they're listening to you right now and they're saying , damn , I want to put my vision out , man . What do you say to them of what's the first thing that they do ?
Uh , first thing that you do is start to educate yourself , I think , um , obviously , correcting yourself and becoming better every single day , and whether it's a couple , a couple percent better , maybe , reading books , or learning how to read , or learning how to tie a tie , moving in the right direction , losing weight , it's making yourself feel better .
So what are you doing every day to prepare yourself ? Every day , whether it's , you know , hanging around the right people , even going to multi-level marketing , you know those cause , those things can be very , very inspiring and uplifting .
¶ Daily Preparation for Future Success
So it's , what are you doing in preparation for the larger grand scheme of things ? What are you doing to prepare yourself every single day ? Because success is not , it's not going to knock on your door , especially if you black . That shit is not knocking on your door .
All we got is today . Yeah , we just got today , just the present .
Right , what are you doing right now for tomorrow ? And what are you going to do tomorrow for the next day and the next day and the next day ? How are you making everyday count ? You know what are your goals . Or you want to make a million dollars . You haven't mastered making $50,000 . So how the fuck are you going to ?
make a million or $5,000 . Right .
So master making the smaller micro numbers so that you can master those numbers prior to getting to the larger numbers . You had to take steps . So I just think it's just taking the right steps planning , understanding what your goals are , and are your goals too big ? You know , mapping everything out and writing it down and really just locking in .
And what are you willing to give up ? You know everything comes with a cost . So if you're young , you had to give up your young years . You know if you , if you're older , you're going to have to change some habits and become better . You know what I'm saying . If you're afraid , you got to become less fearful , less worris . You know you can't .
You either gonna have faith or have fear , but you can't have both I agree , just transition a little bit .
Man we always talk about I'm a big foodie man and um food in vegas is just getting excellent . It's getting so much better , man , but what's what's your favorite restaurant in vegas ?
um , shit , I don't really don't have a favorite , but um , what's your go-to ? You want to get some good food ? Well , damn it , it .
It changes so much because right now I'm on my , I'm on like bison , okay , but um , if , if , if I was to , you know , I would uh probably uh go to my family's by hattie marie's okay , shout out to them shout out to hattie marie Marie's . But everything changes with me , so I'm not never like the same , like right now I'm on bison and eggs , okay .
Every day you eat that . Yeah , oh , wow , okay , your blood pressure ain't going up , nah , crazy .
Well , because . So what I'm learning is how good you know why I'm bringing that up ?
because heart disease with black men man , it's crazy .
No , for sure . But with bison and eggs it's large protein right . And it's , lean it's very very , very , very , very , very lean . It's expensive meat but it's very , very lean and I mean you can get heart disease from anything . True , it's anything . It's higher in black men because of how we eat and hereditary .
no , it's not why do you say that nothing's hereditary ? My doctor literally okay nothing's hereditary .
What's hereditary is diet . So we're all beasts because we all eat the same shit . We all got diabetes because we're all eating the same stuff . Yeah , it's all diet , but you're born . You're not born with diabetes if you're born you're not born with diabetes . If you're born with diabetes , that means whatever your mom was eating gave you that At the time .
Yeah , I don't , but you can change . That is what you get . Yeah , but this is and again I can be wrong . I know some people are going to argue the fact , but I go off of what I was just arguing with my doctor about this . I go off of what science says . And science says that we're all born clean .
Now you get some kids who got asthma and all the other stuff , but you have to look at the parents . So yes , he was born with asthma , but look at his mom . Now a sickle cell .
When it comes to stuff like that , that's more genetic , because you're talking about like tainted cells and the structure of them , but when it comes to like stuff that's preventable , like obesity , diabetes and cancer and all that stuff like . So all that's just hereditary . Granted , it's in the air , it's in everything we eat and breathe .
So if our whole family got it , then look at the products we're using , look at the household that we're living in . We're all breathing and eating the same air and eating the same things . So , yes , it's going to look like it's hereditary , but really it's the fucking pine salt that did it . That's a good point . So yeah , I mean again , hindsight , I did it .
That was , that's a good point . So yeah , I mean again , I don't know , but just going off of what science says and you know , just reading again , you have different aspects of you know , it's all subjective . Science is subjective , the truth is subjective .
So but I will go with subjective science versus what someone's saying oh you obese , that's hereditary , like skinny people , just not in your family . I think it's subjective .
I get it , man . What else is on the horizon for you , man ? You're a busy man man , so you're moving and shaking man , and there's a lot to pay attention to .
Well , my goal and obviously in a space is to sign a mega deal . I've seen a lot of $100 million deals being done . I want one of them and I will get one of them .
I'm with you , man , that's on that side
¶ Building Athlete Brand Sponsorships
.
But on the brand , like the brand management side , sponsorship side I'm collabing with a bunch of different guys that I know in the industry . Shout out to Orly Orlando over at N Sharif , over at Sarisa Rum we just came together with them , did a partnership , my dude , rick Ray Randall , helping me lock in eventscom and stuff like that .
So I want to become one of the biggest uh brand sponsorship agencies just dealing with athletes and talent in general .
That's my goal is to build that out um , not really to sell it , but just to build it and to you know , help people understand that bridging the gaps between athletes and and brands is super important , because most athletes they think that , not think that they feel like once they get signed , like that's it , that money's good .
But these brands are going to outlive you and the only way that you're going to become a billionaire in this is if you attach a product to you . And even when you look at LeBron , lebron said and I said , lebron's a billionaire .
But understanding what's attached to LeBron when it comes to his investments , you know private equity , his franchise and his products that's what makes that man a billionaire , you know .
So I mean , just that's somebody . I really respect Him . Rich Paul , that whole team , everybody had just a base with what they were able to do , doing their thing , and he empowered the whole team , so definitely shots just out to them , yeah . Well , good stuff , man .
I'm glad we had a chance to sit down , man , and be able to just pick your brain and what you represent man . I'm glad you hit on a bunch of those things especially black people . Yeah , Shout out what's your social handle and everything , it's at the creators . T-H-E-C-R-38-T-O-R on . Well , check us out at TheVegasHardcom and pay attention to Wayne Lewis man .
Appreciate you , man . Good luck , Thank you brother , yep Good stuff .