WEBVTT - EYL #222 Blakk Tatted on Starting First Tobacco Free, Fruit-Based Hookah & Making $1 Million on Black Friday 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.239 Obviously you've created your own formula. How do you protect 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.520 it from somebody who's saying like, oh, I can do 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:08.000 the same thing. Is it Is it something that you 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.240 try to patent or that word it. 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:12.800 Is pat Nobody nobody can you know? 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.400 Yeah, I'm telling you I got the business right before 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:17.479 I got the business right, you know what I'm saying. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:24.440 At the trenches. It took a while to get here, Yan, 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:25.360 but come take it from me. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:32.280 My graduates from my school being false back drop bag 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.879 drop Mike, drop back, drop drop. 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:50.320 Money. It comes with a lot of questions and Fidelity 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:54.560 can help you get answers. Visit fidelity dot com slash 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:55.880 black Wealth to learn more. 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.880 All right, guys, welcome back, e y l back home. 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.400 Traveling around the world, And this is something that we've 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.839 actually been looking forward to for a while Dope episode. 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:13.000 And we've covered the marijuana industry a few times. To 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.720 Al Harrington, shout out to a few people that we've 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.480 covered in the space, but this is something that's interesting. 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:20.840 I just told him the only thing that I do 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:28.600 smoke is hookah. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know, 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:34.080 I'm not sure who introduced this to us this interview. 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:44.399 God perhaps God did so black also known as black tatted. 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.960 Uh, he's killing it in New Orleans, from New Orleans, 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.480 and then it just spread all over the map and 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:52.360 started a company called Black Smoke. 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:53.280 So it's a. 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:59.400 Black owned sheisha sheisha company, which is the that's the 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.600 real name for kah right. Sure. So, but then he 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.520 has the portable joints as well. It's interesting, I believe 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:09.320 there's no tobaccooe, no tobacco, no nicotine, because that's what 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:12.280 they always say. It's like smoking hookahs, like smoking a hundred. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.120 Undred figure it's bad. 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.720 Yeah, it's bad for your lungs. So and then but 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:19.960 he's killing it. So he just had two million dollars 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:20.480 Black Friday. 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.320 Yeah, seven man, congratulations. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:24.400 Don't discount this point seven. 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:28.359 So he got he got a lot of rap artists 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.600 that you know, have endorsed the brand, from Lil Wayne 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.520 to Cardi B to Lorilla Yogatti. The list goes on. 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:36.880 So this is gonna be a dope conversation. We're going 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.200 to talk about, you know, how he got into the industry, 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.000 how he was able to scale a brand, marketing, social 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.320 media and all that stuff. But person foremost thank you 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:45.240 for joining us. Appreciate it. 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:47.920 Thank you for having me many Yeah, yeah for sure. 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.640 Yeah double to shout out to the Governor building. 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:55.359 When's the episode coming. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.359 Treehouse Live from the Treehouse. 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:01.799 Shout out to the Treehouse baddies. 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:09.160 All right, so let's get into this. So how do 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:13.520 you get into producing hookah sticks? 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:13.600 Like? 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.960 How did that even happen? Because I've never really even 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:17.280 thought about that being a business? 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.120 Yeah, just like yourself, Like me, I love hookah. You know, 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.640 that's just something I love to do. But I never smoke, Mariana, 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.520 I never smoked cigarettes or nothing like that. But just 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.960 the realization of understanding that me smoking hookah, it's just 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.239 like smoking a pack of cigarettes. So I just wanted 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.800 to figure out a way to how to eliminate the 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.600 effects of something like nicotine tobacco. If I'm choosing not 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:39.800 to smoke that but still be able to enjoy hohoka 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.360 the wait that I do because it's something I love, 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:43.640 I didn't want to give up, so I pretty much 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.720 needed a healthy alternative. And that's like where it all 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:50.800 started from. So I knew in order to smoke hookah, 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.040 like when you're going to diet, Right, the first thing 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.400 we'll say is like fruits of vegetables. That's what we 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.560 consider healthy. I know, vegetables. It wasn't even an option 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.040 for whoker because nobody wan't smoke nose out damn lettuce, 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.160 you know. So I knew fruit was an option because 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.720 first of all, fruit is already incorporated hookah. You go 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.280 to hookah spots and you could get sheet inside of 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.560 a pine up ahead a greape fruit, you know. 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:13.200 Stuff like that. 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.320 So that's what a flavor exactly, and that's what the 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:18.480 initiative of it all started from. So I knew it 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.159 had to be a way to create. So it's one 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.679 hundred percent of fruit produced hookah. 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:25.960 So you got a vision, right, You love hookah, but 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.279 most people can't turn the things that they love into 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:32.440 actual business. So at what point, right, did you have 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.719 an entrepreneur panoial background or like, how did you figure 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:37.280 out let me create this business plan to turn this 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.120 passion of something I love to do into something that 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:40.880 could be profitable. 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:42.360 Yeah, So that's what's crazy. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.040 I always use my personality and my influence on influence 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.560 on social media, and I used to do just be myself. 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.279 Should my personality be funny sometimes and stuff like that, 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.479 and it deemed me some kind of way getting into 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.760 the world of becoming the promo king where everybody business is, 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.520 from the smallest business to the biggest businesses. I'm talking 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:03.520 about as far as we TV wanted me to use 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.080 my personality and sell product. I used to think it 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:09.400 was so normal, so natural to me. But everybody was like, 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:10.200 oh my god, that work. 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:11.599 Do that? Could you do that for my business? 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.480 So I started promoting other people businesses and they started 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.240 making more money than they ever made that everybody was 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.400 coming with testimonial was like, you maybe more money this 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:20.920 weekend than I made since I've been in business for 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:22.800 two years, three years, And I was like, all right, cool. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.640 Then I realized, my god, damn, like I could do 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:27.520 this for myself, you know what I'm saying. So that's 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:31.200 when I really understood and like I had something. I 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:32.880 literally could do this for myself and I could become 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:33.360 a CEO. 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:33.719 You know. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.240 So how long ago did you start? 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.440 It's almost two years ago, yes, and it became a 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.920 multi million dollar business the first three months. 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:43.479 So before this, what were you doing? 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:48.000 I was literally on Instagram doing bro yeah, making a 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:48.520 lot of money. 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.360 Though I'm influence. I was influenced, but before you was 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.960 an artist at one point. That's the crazy I played 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.760 around with a song. You know, New Orleans is known 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.280 for our culture. We dip you know what I'm saying, 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.880 we uy, So it's a depth. So they called me. 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.000 They deemed me the dip King. I seemed like they 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.680 always be deeming me something key, the dip king. 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:10.760 You know what I'm saying, that's a move king, arng 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.320 your leegh it that. 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:17.239 I know it is. I know that. Yeah. 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:22.320 So, but before the Instagram stuff, I used to work 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.200 off shore like that was my gig. That's kind of 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:26.960 how Instagram kicked off of me because I was always 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.599 showing that boat so off shore, Yeah. 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:29.840 Off shore? 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:30.200 What's that? 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:30.680 Like? 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.800 You you in the middle of the golf of Mexico 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:34.960 on ships on tug boats? 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:35.600 Was doing that? 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:36.640 Yeah, that's what I was doing. 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.200 Wow, That's how I got into Instagram because I was 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.360 so bored. I was throwing only black guy on the 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.680 boat was you know, mister Dave and people sixty three 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:45.680 years old and stuff like that. 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:46.880 I'm a young I'm a young guy. 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.360 So I'm like, y'all, I need y'all to connect with 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:50.680 me and talk to me. And make me feel like 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:51.160 I'm at home. 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:52.160 You know what I'm saying. I couldn't go to the 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:54.200 treehouse in the middle of Golf of Mexico, even in 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:54.480 the tree. 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.279 So yeah, Like when I really think back, like all 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.239 those things was it was a purpose, all those things, 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.480 Like everything happens for a reason. I truly believe that 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:07.080 now because you look back all these different elements of life, 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.440 it really what came full circle and got me doing 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.120 what I'm doing today. I feel like if I would 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.400 never work off the show, I would never probably connected 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.800 with the internet as much, never had so much free time, 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.240 never put myself out there, never had nothing else to 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:19.680 do but to focus on that, you know. 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.120 How just do random? How far out are y'all? Because 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.080 every time I see it, I'm like, yo, how do 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:25.240 they even get service out there? 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.280 No? Very very very far out, you know what I'm saying, 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.280 Shout out to all all the dudes who's like losing 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.840 their relationships and their wives and stuff out there like fishing, 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.280 so all the ships got a like dock and like, uh, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.400 even when you see like coal and all that kind 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:45.000 of stuff like that, that's where it's coming from. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:46.280 That's where it's important from. 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.960 So when the ships are so heavy and carrying all 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.280 these barges and stuff like that, they can't dock theirself. 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.640 So that go us and the other ships and the 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.080 tugbos which are a little smaller, and you're pushing the 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.720 ships towards the dock. It's called like landing, uh turn 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:01.640 for see and things like that. Even when the ship 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.800 is coming out of a doe, they can't turn themselves, 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.840 so you got to connect wyire in line to them 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:08.800 and pull the boat back and literally help them turn. 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.480 So that's the kind of stuff you do out in 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.360 the gulf. So boring. 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.720 Interesting. So all right, so you get the idea to 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:21.960 make hookah with fruits, yes, as that's like the base. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.360 It's made one hundred percent fruit, all right. 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.080 So it's made out of fruit. You get the idea 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.040 for that, but how do you what's the first steps 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:31.520 to actually get the product produced? 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:34.480 The first step is getting the product produced is literally 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:36.560 damn you want me tell you, my resident. 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:37.440 This is like good birder. 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:37.559 No. 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.320 I mean as far as like like as far as 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:42.600 like what's those steps of actually like manufacturing, Like, Okay, 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:45.720 I'm gonna get a hookah made in China? And skid 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:46.880 it sent over like I mean. 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.160 So that's the thing that was the trigger part. 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.520 That's what became the most complicated part for me because 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.840 I couldn't just go and do something that the average 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.960 person could do because I'm literally doing something that has 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.560 never been done. It's something that I created, so it 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.439 didn't have like the proper steps of the right supply it. 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.360 I learnally had to put this together like I learned 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.400 had to find a supply. I had to go through 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.040 so many of them, like people were saying, like supplies 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.160 were saying they couldn't do this because the vision that 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:14.520 I had and the things I was saying to do 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.920 is like it sounds good, but you cannot put fruit 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.760 juice and inside of a hookah pin and stuff like that. 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.240 So that was the most complicated part of literally finding 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.600 somebody that could believe in my vision and we literally 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:27.480 figured it out together because I didn't have all the 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:28.880 answers but I just had a vision. 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.840 But now it helped come to life clearly. 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.199 So you're building a team around it because I'm figuring like, yeah, 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.559 you're building with fruit, but it takes some like expertise 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.400 and to figure out how to make the right connects 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:41.720 actually figure out, yo, we could smoke this. If not, 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.400 this could go back absolutely Like who are you? How 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.480 did you find the team or like did you pisch 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.000 the idea of people to say, like this is a 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:51.400 vision I have, Like how that works? 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.320 That's literally will work with the supplies. 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:54.800 I just had to be That's why I went through 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.679 so many the people that really realized, Okay, we could 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.480 do this if we use this and we the fruit 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:02.520 from going bad and this have to be done and 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:04.679 this could keep it healthy and stuff like that. So 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.000 the supplies actually helped me, you know, take my vision 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.120 and bring it to life. So we kind of like 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:11.960 work together and created a formula. 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:13.760 That actually gave you black smoke. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.839 How cost intensive is it? Because if you're using fruit, right, 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:17.440 if you make. 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.280 Very costly, it's very costly. 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:23.360 And then by being made a certain way, I couldn't 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.880 even use like one supply for one thing, Like it 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.240 was such a big deal to be able to get 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.360 the fruit to what it needed to be. And it's 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:33.679 a whole nother idea of having a hookah pins that 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.360 could hold the kind of fruit and the stuff that's 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:37.640 going to go in there. So I have to have 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.600 different supplies, like one supply like make the fruit and 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:42.120 got to give with the other supply to put it 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.360 in the hookah babes Like, it's just it's a lot. 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.400 So it's not something where I could just go and 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.199 put my logo on something and it's already made and 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.840 shipped to me. It's like a whole system. So it 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.640 cost me quite a bit, but hundreds of thousands to 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.160 get started. When I first got started, it cost me 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:00.160 one hundred thousand. But now, yes, hundreds of thousand. Now, oh, 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.600 a couple of meal, you know what I'm saying, because 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:05.360 I got to keep up with the hot demand and. 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.839 The supply, so the startup was like one hundred thousand. 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:08.240 Yeah. 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:08.560 Yeah. 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.840 Is it just the portable or is it the regular 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:12.319 hookah too? 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:13.520 After regular hookah too? 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.760 Even my sheeshes are literally you opening and this the 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.120 actual fruit, like it's all fruit. 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.040 Everything is one hundred percent fruit based. 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:23.280 Do you have to get like FDA approval for that or. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.920 And yes, and that's what the things that that takes 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.920 the time takes some time. My legal team is already 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.000 like and it works with all that stuff. The FDA approval, 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.920 that's just something that doesn't happen overnight. Will have no 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.280 doubt in the world that it's going to be FDA approved. 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.160 So there's a lot of steps that go into it's 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.400 obviously the FDA approval, but trademarking, like talk about the 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.360 lessons you have to learn, like to get this thing 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.400 actually a product that people could use. 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.880 So that's that's the thing. That's that's a lot of 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.720 stuff that I'm I'm like still learning, like I give myself, 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.960 try to give myself more knowledgeable about it every single 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.560 day because, like I'm I didn't never this is a 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:00.840 this is a monstrous company, this bigger than me. 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:02.600 I didn't even imagine. 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.120 You know, if you could have told me I could 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.520 just come over with this product and have this company 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.840 and probably make ten twenty grand month, I'm like, okay, great, 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.880 at least I got something, you know, some leverage. But 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.880 now it has become something that I didn't prepare myself 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.480 for because you can't tell me in my wife's dreams 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.360 it will be this. So I'm literally literally learning every 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:23.120 day and getting more knowledge as I go. 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.840 So, all right, so once you got it made and 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.480 all that, now how did you start selling it? Did 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:31.280 you sell it to the clubs first, or what you're 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.160 selling it hand to handed people like what's the online? 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.120 So I got this thing about me right like I'm 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:43.040 a I'm a influenzer, a public figure, but I also 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.959 like to be very private. So if I'm dropping something, 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.040 if I'm doing something, I literally never talk about it, 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.280 and my audience noticed about me. That's why they kind 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.600 of stay tuned because you could literally be on Instagram 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.720 today and I ain't posting two months, but today it 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:58.880 could be like surprise, I do that, like I'm known 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.839 for that. So I was working on it, creating it. 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.240 I used to be on Instagram, lib. 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:04.920 I used to. 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.360 I actually started during the pandemic. I started Instagram with 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.839 these talent shows. Like I used my playtform. I was 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.599 on Instagram lib, like almost so many celebrities used to 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:16.719 come to my talent shows every weekend. Like he used 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:18.920 to have thousands of people in there, people saying they 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:20.560 thought I was diddy or something like. I ended up 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:22.679 getting nobody the big brick, but I just made him 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:24.120 feel like, come on this down the show. You just 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:25.400 don't don't know who's gonna see. 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.959 You, you know what I'm saying. 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:31.880 So that's uh That's that's really how it was. And wait, 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:33.480 what was we talking about? 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.120 Just how when you started selling it? Who did you? 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:37.480 Who did you start selling? 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:37.679 Oh? 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:39.240 Yeah, that's what it is. 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:42.640 So I once everything was done and everything was pretty 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.800 much you know, form laid, I literally had it already 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:46.960 in the house and everything what nobody even knew I 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:47.720 was coming up with it. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.720 So I literally dropped it on my Instagram. 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:53.480 I was like surprised that they have seen me smoking 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.280 hookah all the time, like I was known from having 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.720 my wine, having my hookah the whole time. They just 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.199 didn't know it was mine. So so many times it 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.160 was asked me, like what you're smoking? What flavor smoking? 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.240 I'm telling them they trying to go get another brand 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.600 that's that same flavor because I'm not telling them exactly 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:10.400 what the brain is. So I guess they thinking in 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:11.880 the sense that he ain't go tell me the brain 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:13.400 because they ain't pay him to tell me to brain. 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:14.840 But it was always mine. 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.360 So them trying to keep up and doing what I'm 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.800 doing and me having my influence and when I literally 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:21.720 say this is what I've been smoking, this is mine 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:23.960 and not as available now. First day I dropped it 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:26.200 sold out and it's been like NonStop ever since. 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.120 Well, how much inventory did you have that first day? Like, 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.280 I mean, people always try to figure out business. How 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.480 much should I have in the event that I sell out? 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:34.240 So what did you say? Like was the number? 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.840 Yes? So this is what was crazy. 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.640 I had spent like one hundred thousand dollars on inventory, 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:42.760 like getting everything right. And when I say a hundred 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:46.520 thousand dollars, that was for the design, the inventory, the 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.400 shipping and everything like that. And I had I literally 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.480 got this book. I'm gonna talk about this. I got 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:52.720 this book that I wrote. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:57.000 On the inspiration from others drives us forward. Their resilience 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:00.240 pushes us to excel, and their path navigates the way 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:04.480 towards freedom. Ford is proud to celebrate Black History not 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.880 just this month, but year round. They're committed to being 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:13.240 the fuel for change, supporting Ford Fund program centered around economic, educational, 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.480 and empowerment opportunities for our communities to continue creating the future. 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:22.520 Learn more at Fordfund dot org. Built Ford Proud. 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.160 Right before I opened my company, and I was like, lord, 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:27.680 if I could like make one hundred thousand dollars my 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:29.800 first year, I know that so far fetched, but that. 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:30.320 Is my goal. 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:32.520 I won't make one hundred thousand dollars my first year, 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.160 and I won't have all this inventory that I just 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.720 invested in going within my first year of business. So 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.560 I had enough inventory I could make at least one hundred, 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.320 like seventy one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. So when 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.440 I dropped that, I made that one hundred and seven 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.080 hundred eighty thousand dollars the first day. 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:48.480 Ain't no inventory. 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.440 First day, all the inventory was sold out, So you 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.760 have backwater? Yeah no, no, So I'm saying my year plan, 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:56.600 I was trying to sell this product that I had 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.160 within one year and make this amount of money within 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.360 that first year. All that product was gone that first day, 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:03.600 and I made that yearly. 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:04.280 Go. 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:05.880 I made that the same day I dropped. 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:07.120 Now it's time for the real Yeah. 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.440 So now it was horrible for me. I'm stressing, I'm sweating, 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:13.360 I'm like, what the dude? So now, literally I once 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.400 I dropped, my day that I dropped and I sold out, 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:17.600 I literally have more product against. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:17.960 For two months. 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.280 So then, but I think it worked out of my 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.680 favor because that built this demand. Everybody was trying it 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.160 was talking about it, and everybody that was hearing about 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:28.840 it wanted then they couldn't get it, so now they 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.760 was ready for the next drap. Oh he sold out, 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:32.840 so fans, it's gonna sell out again. So every time 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:35.480 I dropped, everybody anticipating and they setting the lumps. 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:36.720 People. It's crazy. 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:38.800 People really be calling off work because they's like they 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:40.200 can't have their phone or they don't want. 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.280 To miss it. So when I drop, it goes crazy. 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.680 So this is another valuable lesson in the business. Right. 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.000 Sometimes we try to come out with a product, but 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.320 we have multiple products at a time. When we started, 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:52.840 we had seven different shirt designs until we realized, like, wait, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.440 people are buying assets of a liability. Yes, we got 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.160 to stick with that. How many flavors of the season 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:00.400 did you start with? I? 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:02.960 Actually, I go big or go home. I started with 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.720