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Speaker 1: Jeff Baso spoke up with Mark Cuban's money. He's gonna

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Speaker 1: jump out the window. And then Mark Huban woke up

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Speaker 1: with my money. He's definitely jumping out the leaving all

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Speaker 1: my life and grinding all my life. Sacrifice Hustle, pack Price,

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Speaker 1: one slice got the swath all my life. I've been

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Speaker 1: grinding all my life, all my life, the grinding all

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Speaker 1: my life, sacrifice, Hustle, Pegg Price, one slice got the

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Speaker 1: swath all my life. I've been grinding all my life. Hello,

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Speaker 1: welcome to another edition of the Club Sha Shay. I

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Speaker 1: am your whole Shan and Sharp. I'm also the propriev

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Speaker 1: of Club Sha Shake. And the guy that's stopping by

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Speaker 1: today for a conversation is Drink is a fashion mogul.

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Speaker 1: He's a Brandon Guru, an entrepreneurial expert, savvy business executive,

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Speaker 1: a New York Times best selling author, founder, president and

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Speaker 1: CEO of Fubu, A shark on the fourth Time award

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Speaker 1: winning series Shark Tank The People Shark Damon, John, Damon,

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Speaker 1: How you doing, brouh WHOA, thank you for having How

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Speaker 1: you doing? I'm doing great? Thanks for coming on the pod.

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Speaker 1: Since I got you here, I got a shark, and

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Speaker 1: so you know what, I gotta make my pitch. I

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Speaker 1: might as well make my pitch. So here I go.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what you think. Tell what your think. Hello shark,

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Speaker 1: I'm Shannon Sharp, and I'm here to try to raise

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Speaker 1: fund a million dollars in revenue to increase our capacity

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Speaker 1: for warehouse sizing. We have a product, a Cognact called Laportier.

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Speaker 1: The Say edition is named after my grandmother, and we've

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Speaker 1: already sold seventy five bottles of this Cognact. But the

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Speaker 1: problem that we're running into is warehouse sizing because you

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Speaker 1: have to order it online and it takes us a

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Speaker 1: while to get the orders come from France and get

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Speaker 1: it into into the customer's hand. We felt that if

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Speaker 1: we had a warehouse big enough to house save four

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand bottles UH, that way we can get it

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Speaker 1: on the shelves, we can put it into say a

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Speaker 1: Costco and save some of these other stores, and that

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Speaker 1: way we wouldn't have to go through the reserve bars

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Speaker 1: and these other online shops in order to get it

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Speaker 1: to the consumer. So we're trying to raise an additional

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Speaker 1: one million dollars to increase our warehouse size costs per unit,

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Speaker 1: it's twelve dollars retail costs and seventy two dollars. What

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Speaker 1: do you think you know? I think that you you

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Speaker 1: want to, you know, take tiny steps, and I think

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Speaker 1: it sounds like you've proved the market in our business.

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Speaker 1: What we call what you're looking for in your business.

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Speaker 1: I think it's an important on our side. It's called

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Speaker 1: a three P L. Yes, that is called third party logistics.

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Speaker 1: That you probably can handle that. But me not having

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Speaker 1: a deep understanding of the distribution aspect of a liquor,

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Speaker 1: I could be wrong. You see, Okay, I feel good.

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Speaker 1: I feel good. I mean, you didn't say I'm out.

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Speaker 1: You heard my pitch. You didn't say I'm out. You

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Speaker 1: just say you know what. That's not really my forte.

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Speaker 1: But it seems like you have a good grasp of

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Speaker 1: what you want to do and how you want to

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Speaker 1: go about doing it. So I really appreciate that. Let's

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Speaker 1: get down. Let's get down to why you're here. You've

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Speaker 1: been on Shark Tank. If I'm not mistaking, twelve seasons

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Speaker 1: you've invested fifteen seasons, thirteen thirteen, okay, thirteen seasons. You've

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Speaker 1: invested over fifteen million of your own dollars in one

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Speaker 1: hundred and seven startups. One of the things I wanted

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Speaker 1: to ask before you invest into the startup. Obviously you

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Speaker 1: don't know anything about these companies. You're hearing what they say.

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Speaker 1: What are some of the things you're looking for to

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Speaker 1: make you say, you know what? I wanting to invest

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Speaker 1: my dollars into this company? Yeah, so you know, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of things that I'm looking for simultaneously. So

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Speaker 1: Number one, I want to hear the story of why

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Speaker 1: was this product or service created? Okay, where did you

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Speaker 1: find the passion in the drive fork Oka? Usually when

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Speaker 1: people are successful, they they created something because they thought

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Speaker 1: that there was a void in the market that nobody's

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Speaker 1: trying to feel, or they would feel it, or they

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Speaker 1: brought an extreme amount of joy to people. So I

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Speaker 1: want to know where your passion is. Okay. I want

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Speaker 1: to know how many times you fail, because if you

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Speaker 1: come on there and say, well, I was doing good

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Speaker 1: and then I did better than I did better, well,

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Speaker 1: then why the hell you're here? You don't need us

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Speaker 1: so telling about the failures. Then I want to know

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Speaker 1: if you know your customer, If you don't know your customer,

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Speaker 1: who exactly they are, where they're located, how much they're

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Speaker 1: gonna pay for something, how much they won't pay for something. Well,

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Speaker 1: then you're using my money as tuition. And then I

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Speaker 1: want to know the numbers on where the margin is,

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Speaker 1: like you shared with me that really great margin on

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Speaker 1: your product, because then I see this room for profit.

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Speaker 1: And last, but not least, I just gotta like you.

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Speaker 1: I just gotta feel like you and I can have

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Speaker 1: conversations together, solve problems together, learn together, and make money together.

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Speaker 1: And you know, and we're gonna keep doing that because

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna probably talk to you, you know, often, and

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Speaker 1: especially if you work with me, I'm gonna sit next

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Speaker 1: to you maybe eight hours a day, five days a week,

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Speaker 1: for the next five years of my life. It's got

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Speaker 1: to be worth it. You said something very important. You

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Speaker 1: said passion, because I think a lot of times people

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Speaker 1: get sometimes people get into business for the wrong reason. Well,

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Speaker 1: I want to make money. If you're passionate about something,

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Speaker 1: that aspect will come. So I wanted to hear. I

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Speaker 1: was like, Okay, it's passion one of those things. How

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Speaker 1: invested are you into the product? How knowledgeable are you

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Speaker 1: about the service that you're trying to sell me on. Well,

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Speaker 1: if you're not knowledgeable, how do you expect me to

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Speaker 1: invest my money? And you're supposed to be doing this,

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Speaker 1: You're supposed to be the expert at it, So why

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Speaker 1: would I invest my money? You have to understand, you

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Speaker 1: have to see the passion and the drive and somebody

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Speaker 1: because you know, I'm guilty of it as well. But

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Speaker 1: almost everybody that I met that were doing something, and

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Speaker 1: the and the and the concept came purely because of

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Speaker 1: the need to make money. And it wasn't followed with

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Speaker 1: a passion or a drive or a love or something.

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Speaker 1: They ended up either in the wrong place right for

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Speaker 1: that money, or they failed at it, or when they

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Speaker 1: made the money, it was so difficult that they blew

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Speaker 1: it right away because they was they just needed to

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Speaker 1: get that money, and then they go out. They had

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Speaker 1: no other further drive. And that's what I really see

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Speaker 1: some of the biggest challenge in entreroom. Now. You may say, well,

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Speaker 1: what about the banking system and venture capitalists. Yeah, money

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Speaker 1: isn't after after, you know, money what comes after. But

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Speaker 1: they love the kill or they love to see these

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Speaker 1: structures come together or understand how to put things together

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Speaker 1: and extract the value from it. That's what they really love.

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Speaker 1: The money is definitely something that comes up, and it's

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Speaker 1: almost like you playing ball. I don't I don't know

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Speaker 1: how many you know, I'm showing you, I'm show you,

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Speaker 1: you know, listen, better than better than anybody else in

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Speaker 1: the world. You probably understand how many kids were just

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Speaker 1: thinking about all the cars and all the things they

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Speaker 1: could potentially get right. But you know, and practice was miserable,

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Speaker 1: you was, you know, it was probably like you know,

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Speaker 1: it's like I love I love every day that I'm

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Speaker 1: learning something, I'm getting better, and I gotta I gotta

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Speaker 1: keep getting better at this because I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: let that person challenge. I'm gonna take that person out.

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Speaker 1: And that's a whole different story than money. And then

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Speaker 1: money came. So obviously there are a lot of things

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Speaker 1: like if they do something with fashion, you do something

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Speaker 1: with a product, you probably have a general understanding of that.

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Speaker 1: But when you invest into a commodity that you have

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Speaker 1: very little knowledge of what makes you like, you know what,

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Speaker 1: I think this thing could work? And you said, you

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Speaker 1: spend six eight hours a day working alongside that person,

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Speaker 1: So tell us how shark. So once you said, okay,

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Speaker 1: I mean, how does the process go moving forward? Well,

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Speaker 1: it all depends on what you need. So I think

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Speaker 1: one thing that I left out is a lot of

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Speaker 1: times as a shark, we may not be into something

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Speaker 1: because we may feel that we don't add value to it.

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Speaker 1: It's something that I don't know. And you don't only

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Speaker 1: want money if you have something great. You want smart money,

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Speaker 1: somebody who can also help you and not just give

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Speaker 1: you some money. Because if I only gave you money

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Speaker 1: and I really care about what you're doing, well, then

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Speaker 1: if I can't show up, then I'm taking a seat

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Speaker 1: at somebody at the table as somebody else will give

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Speaker 1: you the money and put in sweat equity and give

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Speaker 1: you contacts and give you knowledge. And I feel like

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Speaker 1: I'm doing you a disservice. Okay, So I have to

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Speaker 1: find you know, a true pitch resonates with somebody, And

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Speaker 1: it's very similar to an informercial. A lot of times

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Speaker 1: you don't even know when you want something until you

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Speaker 1: find these key moments in a pitch. Right. So it's

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Speaker 1: like somebody saying your home, they go has this ever

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Speaker 1: happened to you? And You're like, yeah, it has. Yes, well,

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Speaker 1: it's happened to me too, and I found a better way.

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Speaker 1: My name is Damon John. I failed several times and

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Speaker 1: making this better way both but the eight time this

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Speaker 1: thing is working out. And if you buy this better

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Speaker 1: way by midnight tonight, I'm gonna give you two better

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Speaker 1: ways for the price of one. And if you don't

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Speaker 1: like it, send me your money. I'm gonna send me

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Speaker 1: your product. I'm gonna send it back to you. And

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Speaker 1: that's the way that the real pitch goes. You resonate

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Speaker 1: with somebody, they go, wait a minute, I didn't think

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Speaker 1: of that, and then you find a way to make

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Speaker 1: them buy in at a low cost. And if they

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Speaker 1: buy in and they don't really love it, you try

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Speaker 1: to find a way to say, all right, don't worry

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Speaker 1: about I love the fact you had trusted me. I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna make it easy for you to get out of this.

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Speaker 1: And that's the best way of pitches. That's how it

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Speaker 1: was with the air fryer. With me, I didn't really

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Speaker 1: know I needed the air fry until I bought two

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Speaker 1: of them. Tell me about it. That's how it goes

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Speaker 1: with but the thing you so okay, you obviously you're

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Speaker 1: very successful at what you did. What you do. You

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Speaker 1: started a company from ground floor and you built it up.

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Speaker 1: So how do you, I mean, how did you do

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Speaker 1: like the three companies that you had the most success

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Speaker 1: with investing your money? What was it about what they

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Speaker 1: said that resonated so much with you? It's a story

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Speaker 1: that I shared right there. So the best, the best

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Speaker 1: company that I have that's done the best from Shark

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Speaker 1: Tank is the number one invested company in Shark Tank.

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Speaker 1: So I have the number one company in Sharkkank history

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Speaker 1: that has grossed the most money. Now, ring Doorbell did

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Speaker 1: not get an investment. They did one point three billion

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Speaker 1: dollars in sale I mean as a sale to Amazon.

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Speaker 1: But my company, Bomba Socks is the number one product

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Speaker 1: invested in Sharkkank history. But I gotta tell you this

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Speaker 1: pitch they they found angle is to work with me.

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Speaker 1: That I didn't realize I had I go into Shark

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Speaker 1: Tank because I had ten companies and nine of them

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Speaker 1: were dead after two thousand and six, two thousand and seven,

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Speaker 1: nobody's buying another shirt or jeans and they couldn't pay

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Speaker 1: their rent. So the last thing I ever wanted was

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Speaker 1: another clothing company because I wanted to diversify my portfolio.

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Speaker 1: But these young men came in and said, we have

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Speaker 1: socks and number one. Number two is the real reason

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Speaker 1: we love to sell these SOCCA. Every time we buy

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Speaker 1: you buy a pair of sock, we give one to

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Speaker 1: those that needed the homeless shelter. These socks and underwear

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Speaker 1: t shirts are their number one request and we are

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Speaker 1: selling directly to our customer. This is a high margin product.

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Speaker 1: It is a great product. It took the steam out

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Speaker 1: of the toe, and so there's enough money to sell

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Speaker 1: directly the customer and give the pair away. And why

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Speaker 1: did that make this attractive to me? Because I used

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Speaker 1: to always say, you have to make it, then you

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Speaker 1: have to be able to master it, then you can matter.

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Speaker 1: How can you help people who're not helping yourself? But

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Speaker 1: simultaneously they showed me that first of all, Daton retail

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Speaker 1: is suffering. You don't know where retail is going. They

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Speaker 1: don't even know who they want to be when they

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Speaker 1: grow up. We're talking directly to our customer, and we're

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Speaker 1: also helping those in need. Because I know you're big

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Speaker 1: into philanthropy and charitable organizations, and they switch that whole

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Speaker 1: thing around on me, and I couldn't wait to invest

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Speaker 1: in that company. And that's because they understood what the target,

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Speaker 1: who I was the target, really wanted to see in life.

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Speaker 1: Helping people at the same time as dealing direct to

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Speaker 1: my consumers. You're known as the people's shark, and you

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Speaker 1: place an emphasis on people over the product. Why because

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Speaker 1: products come and go and there's nothing new in this world.

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Speaker 1: I mean, Facebook's a nasty chain letter, the Snuggie is

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Speaker 1: a blanket with two holes in it, and Uber is

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Speaker 1: a limousine service. But it's the people behind that. It's

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Speaker 1: the people in front of it, the people who are

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Speaker 1: the customers. It's the people who operate these things daily

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Speaker 1: that is critical. If I want to spend, if I

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Speaker 1: want to make money and not have to talk to anybody,

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Speaker 1: and I send my money over to Apple, I send

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Speaker 1: my money over to Tesla, and I send my money

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Speaker 1: over to Shopify. I was Shopify twenty eight dollars the

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Speaker 1: high in five years it hit. It hit eighteen hundred. Okay,

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Speaker 1: today it's half off, and I think everybody should buy it.

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Speaker 1: But they're not calling me asking me how to fix

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Speaker 1: the back end of a website. Elon Musk is not

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Speaker 1: calling me asking how to fix a damn car, and

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Speaker 1: Steve Jobs, even if he was alive, wouldn't call me

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Speaker 1: and ask how to fix a computer. So if I

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Speaker 1: want to make money, I send my money over there

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Speaker 1: or real estate. So if I'm going to deal with people,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to invest in people. I'm gonna want to

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Speaker 1: get to know them. I'm gonna want to learn from them.

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Speaker 1: We're both gonna have an education and have a good time.

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Speaker 1: In this business fails, we'll just start another one together.

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Speaker 1: Because I like the way that you get down, So

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Speaker 1: you're more into the relationship. You like the per you

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Speaker 1: like the you liked it like, Okay, we're in this together.

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Speaker 1: I got something to lose. You got something to lose.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna work your tail off. I'm gonna work my

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Speaker 1: tail off. We're gonna make this grow. We grow together,

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Speaker 1: or we fail together. As you mentioned earlier, Okay, we'll

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Speaker 1: start something else together. Absolutely, that's the way it is.

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Speaker 1: It's a partnership. Your mom was your first investor, So

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Speaker 1: your mom was the very first shark before that was

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Speaker 1: the shark take. So how did you pitch your ball?

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Speaker 1: Oh you know, mom saw me putting in the work.

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Speaker 1: She saw me putting in the work, and I had

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Speaker 1: She saw me working on fooboo for about five years prior.

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Speaker 1: I went to Vegas and I got three hundred thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars worth of orders from stores with one of the goods.

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Speaker 1: I come home, I go to twenty I go to banks.

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Speaker 1: I get turned out by twenty seven banks. It's not

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Speaker 1: their fault. I didn't have financial intelligence. I didn't have

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Speaker 1: much to collateralize things with, and something like a Foo

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Speaker 1: boo was only done maybe by Carl canin Cross Colors

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Speaker 1: earlier than me, so it wasn't really something that people

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Speaker 1: could see value in. I go to my mother, I said,

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Speaker 1: I turned out by twenty seven banks. She said, damon,

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Speaker 1: you've been, you know, trying to contribute to this house

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Speaker 1: as long as since you were a kid. I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: do this if you didn't have the money. Let's take

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Speaker 1: all the money we can out of the house, you manufacturer,

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Speaker 1: and deliver the clothes and put the money back into

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Speaker 1: the house. And that's how she you know, she gave

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Speaker 1: me the funny and my mother went out and got

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Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollar alone on my house. And I

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Speaker 1: have no idea how because the houses were seventy five

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Speaker 1: till today. I haven't asked on what she did for

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Speaker 1: the rest of the money, but shout out to mom's

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Speaker 1: she did that twice. So let message this, how did

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Speaker 1: because food? Because normally a lot of times that's a

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Speaker 1: lot of money. And for mom to take out, you know,

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Speaker 1: that's your home, and you know, here's the thing. I

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Speaker 1: can't fail or me and Mom both gonna be on

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Speaker 1: the street. That's right. So you you really had to

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Speaker 1: put your head down. You really had to grind to

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Speaker 1: see this thing through to make sure that Mom didn't

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Speaker 1: go belly up and you didn't go belly up, because

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Speaker 1: we're both gonna be belly up. So how confident were you?

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Speaker 1: You said you've been working at this for five years.

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Speaker 1: How confident were you this thing's gonna work. I was

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty percent confident that it was gonna work,

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Speaker 1: and I was absolutely wrong. The story goal is that

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Speaker 1: honest sleep. I turned around and I had turned my

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Speaker 1: house until factory. My friends and I was sleeping and

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Speaker 1: sleeping bags next to the machines. We had all machines

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Speaker 1: in there. My mother moved out because she was like yo,

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Speaker 1: guys are crazy. We hired seamstresses. I was renting out

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Speaker 1: the top rooms to strangers to keep the mortgage. I

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Speaker 1: was working out Red Lobster still at the same time

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Speaker 1: as doing Fooboo. And I turned around and one hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars almost three months later, was only five hundred

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Speaker 1: dollars left, and they were talking about taking my house.

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Speaker 1: And I was risking losing my mother's most valuable possession.

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Speaker 1: And it wasn't that I was It wasn't that I

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Speaker 1: was spending on lavish things, but I didn't know how

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Speaker 1: money worked. And I was paying ninety days ahead of

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Speaker 1: time for real goods. Then I was paying for a

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Speaker 1: staff and manufacturing, and then I was paying for shipping,

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Speaker 1: and then the customers wouldn't paying me for thirty sixty

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Speaker 1: ninety days terms. So it really got bad. And it

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Speaker 1: was my mother again who said I had one last idea.

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Speaker 1: She took add in the newspaper for two thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: I gave her the money. I went to Red Lobster

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Speaker 1: and went back to work, and the ad said million

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Speaker 1: dollars in orders need financing. She was looking for what

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Speaker 1: we call today strategic partner and thirty three people call

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Speaker 1: that ad, but thirty of the one named Pooky and

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Speaker 1: Liquida qua a short salad of sausage tony two times.

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Speaker 1: I think one fifty percent interest living the attic with collateral.

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Speaker 1: I think one person was named Kevin O'Leary with a

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Speaker 1: royalty deal in perpetuity. I think I'm talking about real

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Speaker 1: scumbags were calling, right, but three of them were real,

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Speaker 1: and we ended up doing a deal for manufacturing and

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Speaker 1: distribution with Samsung's textile division. So did you ever get discouraged?

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Speaker 1: Did you say, mandat this up? I'dn't missed my mama's

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Speaker 1: good name up. I'd have missed this loan up. I'd

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Speaker 1: have missed this, I'd have missed up everything. Yeah, there

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Speaker 1: were some dark times, and that's the best part about

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Speaker 1: I have three amazing partners, and every time they were down,

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Speaker 1: I picked them up, and every time they were down,

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Speaker 1: they'd picked me up, I mean or vice versa. Excuse me.

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Speaker 1: And my mother was still there saying you got this,

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Speaker 1: and my community was behind me, and I realized that

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Speaker 1: I had to make it work. Everything goes on the line.

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Speaker 1: There was nothing else to discuss. It was just I

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Speaker 1: had to make this work. You mentioned you got turned

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Speaker 1: down by twenty seven banks. Were you using the exact

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Speaker 1: same pitch or where you're going there with a different

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Speaker 1: pitch each time and they still turned you down? You

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Speaker 1: know what, I've never been asked that before. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the pitch got a little sex here after a while,

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Speaker 1: but I think I think probably by the twentieth the

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Speaker 1: pitch got worse. Like, come on, man, I just got

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Speaker 1: turned down by twenty people. Why did you tell me

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Speaker 1: that twenty one? Get out of here, so you know,

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Speaker 1: but you remember you listen. I was, I was eighteen,

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Speaker 1: and I know I was twenty one at the time.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know what I was talking about, right, I

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Speaker 1: heard a lot of business people say, and I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you can attest to this, because you say

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Speaker 1: you was working out of your house, you had the machines,

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Speaker 1: You're sleeping on a sleeping bag, he said. One of

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Speaker 1: the biggest mistakes startups make is they go get this

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Speaker 1: lavish office space, they get furniture for that space, the pen,

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Speaker 1: a mortgage or a lease, and they've made no money.

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Speaker 1: When some of the most profitable businesses, the apples, the Google,

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Speaker 1: the hps, Amazon started up in a garage with no overhead.

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Speaker 1: Then you get going. Once you start making money, you

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Speaker 1: can go get office space as needed. Do you think

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Speaker 1: that's one of the biggest mistakes. That is the biggest mistakes.

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Speaker 1: Small businesses generally failed due to overfunding, and people like,

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Speaker 1: what do you mean overfunding? Just like you said, you

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Speaker 1: know you want to eat. Listen, if your grandmother made

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Speaker 1: really great cupcakes, you don't go and sign a seven

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Speaker 1: year lease and have a cash machine looks like a

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Speaker 1: cupcake and the la looked like a cupcake and the

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Speaker 1: council look like the cup Again, you ain't never so

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Speaker 1: damn me in one cupcake? Right, you get you get

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Speaker 1: a kiosk. You know that you can rent for a

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Speaker 1: weekend in them, all right, and you sell cupcakes? Right,

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Speaker 1: And that's how it works. So and also the understanding

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Speaker 1: is that money costs the more. The earlier you take

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Speaker 1: in money, the more it costs. Right, Because if you

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Speaker 1: ask me now for one hundred thousand dollars for fifty

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Speaker 1: percent year business, and I think it's great, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, here you go. Well, then let's say

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Speaker 1: that business grows to ten million, and now you need

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Speaker 1: to raise another two million. Well, I ain't give it

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Speaker 1: up my fifty percent, so you're gonna get that from home.

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Speaker 1: So he's gonna have to work, have to work on

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Speaker 1: his fifty percent. Can you good? You strayed over here

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Speaker 1: where you are all good? But if you prove your

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Speaker 1: business well enough, well then you go and get a

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Speaker 1: loan from the bank, because they see the cash revenue

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Speaker 1: coming in that loans at eight percent six percent, you

402
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:38,240
Speaker 1: never know where it could be from. You're gonna do

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00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,600
Speaker 1: a crowdfunding raise, so old people who you are giving

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00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:43,560
Speaker 1: our shares in the company, but they see you have

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Speaker 1: fifty thousand, one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, a million

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Speaker 1: dollars worth of sales. You know. So when when Fooble was,

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Speaker 1: we were doing really when we first started, for the

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Speaker 1: first four years, I sold to only eight stores in

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Speaker 1: New York City. And the reason I sold those eight

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Speaker 1: stores was I could have tried to sell the thirty

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Speaker 1: and fifty stores around the country. But if I had

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Speaker 1: these eight stores and I sold eight shirts a week,

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Speaker 1: and then my job was to try to get up

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Speaker 1: to ten shirts a week in it. And after the

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Speaker 1: ten shirts at hats in there and jeans in there

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Speaker 1: and make the ticket price more per store. Then when

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Speaker 1: I went to get distribution, I was able to say

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Speaker 1: I can replicate this in every store in every city

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Speaker 1: and every store in every country because I figured it out.

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Speaker 1: So that's why I didn't take in capital too soon.

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Speaker 1: Do you still own the childhood Home? No, I you know,

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Speaker 1: I don't. I'm thinking about buying it and turning it

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Speaker 1: into a probably a museum in Hollis, Queens. So I'm

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00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:39,760
Speaker 1: thinking about doing that. You mentioned that your friends, you

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Speaker 1: work with your friends, kind of like Lebron. If you

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Speaker 1: notice Lebron he could keep Maverick and rich in the Randy,

427
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:47,600
Speaker 1: he kept his circle, kept the guys that were there

428
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,920
Speaker 1: from the beginning. What did you see in them that says,

429
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,840
Speaker 1: you know what, They're gonna be savvy business partners. They

430
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,960
Speaker 1: have the same mentality that I have that we want

431
00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,399
Speaker 1: to get better and I want to see all of

432
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:04,159
Speaker 1: us exceed. Well, that's a really good question, because you

433
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,320
Speaker 1: know there's a big oh five and I'm noxious, so

434
00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:08,240
Speaker 1: five on all the food stuff you ever see it?

435
00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,560
Speaker 1: And the theory behind that was we wanted to be

436
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 1: five different partners who were all at different taste levels

437
00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:17,200
Speaker 1: in hip hop, apparel and we all liked something and

438
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:19,639
Speaker 1: it probably was something that everybody would like because you know,

439
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,480
Speaker 1: one guy dressed a little more baggy, you know, whatever

440
00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:26,200
Speaker 1: case is. But that fifth partner never stuck around. There's

441
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 1: only four of us, so we went through ten of

442
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,480
Speaker 1: those fifth partners. So there's ten guys walking around here

443
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:35,320
Speaker 1: talking about the fifth beatle, the four that the other

444
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,439
Speaker 1: three that stuck with me. It was through the dark times.

445
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,520
Speaker 1: It was that they found what they respected, uh, you

446
00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,760
Speaker 1: know each other's position. We didn't partner up right right away.

447
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 1: We all say listen, if you do this amount, this

448
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:50,760
Speaker 1: will activate or trigger this amount of ownership or whatever

449
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: the case is. And and whatever the case is. And

450
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,280
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I met one of them when

451
00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,040
Speaker 1: I was three years old. I'm turning fifty three, and

452
00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,600
Speaker 1: another so I've known them fifty years. Rather two I

453
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,159
Speaker 1: met when I'm junior high school and we're like brothers.

454
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:05,000
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, it's still a business.

455
00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,359
Speaker 1: We have our structure in place on who does what

456
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,920
Speaker 1: and why, what's ownership, who's played this position. Do we

457
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:12,560
Speaker 1: have fights, yes, but at the end of the day,

458
00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,640
Speaker 1: we respect what the paper says and what we need

459
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,959
Speaker 1: to do collectively, to build a brand and to support

460
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,840
Speaker 1: each other. If I'm not if I've read this correctly,

461
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 1: you're from Hollows Queens. Run dmcles from Hollows Queens. I

462
00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:28,679
Speaker 1: think all is from Jamaica Queens or you or from

463
00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:32,240
Speaker 1: We're all in the same. You know what, there's something

464
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:33,960
Speaker 1: in the water. We're all so what do you full?

465
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,439
Speaker 1: As south side of Jamaica? Ok so, so Naz and

466
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 1: all of them lived, Naz and Nori they live really

467
00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:42,200
Speaker 1: far away. But the rest of us ll Jah rule,

468
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:48,119
Speaker 1: fifty cents, Salt and Pepper, lost boys, Onyx intro tribe

469
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:52,719
Speaker 1: called Quest. James Brown used to live there. Uh, how

470
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:59,639
Speaker 1: do you guys? So many? Something's in the water. But

471
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,080
Speaker 1: you know, I think it is as two brothers speaking,

472
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,760
Speaker 1: I think that you know, when when eighty six came

473
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 1: around and crack devastated all of our neighborhoods, a lot

474
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,760
Speaker 1: of brothers and sisters moved on to either wanting to

475
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,560
Speaker 1: be entrepreneurs of the street or unfortunately falling victim to

476
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,760
Speaker 1: the drugs. But we saw run DMC driving down the block.

477
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:21,840
Speaker 1: We saw LLOKJ. Then we turned on a TV and

478
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:24,760
Speaker 1: we saw them performing in front of stadiums and doing

479
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,960
Speaker 1: something they love. And what happens, well, Ll puts on

480
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:31,120
Speaker 1: his cousin as a as a as A, as a bodyguard,

481
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 1: another person is a DJ. Another person he says, you know,

482
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,800
Speaker 1: you can road manage me. And what happens after that

483
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,960
Speaker 1: then you start to find other people in the neighborhood

484
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,000
Speaker 1: to do this. And that's what people need to see.

485
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,679
Speaker 1: And I hope that when they see me on a

486
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,800
Speaker 1: shark tank, knowing that I couldn't be a brilliant athlete

487
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,160
Speaker 1: like you and I couldn't wrap, sing or dance, that

488
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that they're counted out because a young

489
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 1: man like me who just decided to wake up before

490
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,199
Speaker 1: everybody can go to sleep, after everybody can make it

491
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 1: in this amazing country of ours. And I think that

492
00:23:57,600 --> 00:23:59,959
Speaker 1: that's what we saw when we saw all these amazing

493
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:02,199
Speaker 1: people from Hollows Queens and we said, we don't have

494
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 1: to sell drugs. We can do this and be part

495
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 1: of it. So that's that's I think that's what really

496
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,600
Speaker 1: came out of Hollows Queens. You mentioned that in the

497
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,719
Speaker 1: mid eighties the drug epidemic was sweeping the inner cities.

498
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:14,520
Speaker 1: It was going all over but the inner cities was

499
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 1: really suffering, and while some were selling drugs on the corner,

500
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,960
Speaker 1: you decided to sell clothing. What was what? What? We what?

501
00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:23,680
Speaker 1: We hell picked? So how do how do you sell

502
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 1: a T shirt or jeans or hat or whatever you

503
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,359
Speaker 1: were trying to sell on the corner where people ain't

504
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,160
Speaker 1: really trying to buy no clothes on the corner. Yeah,

505
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,760
Speaker 1: so it was tough. You can't have thin skin, and

506
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:38,840
Speaker 1: and and and a lot of the brothers and sisters

507
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,320
Speaker 1: didn't even They stopped even talking to me, you know,

508
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:43,720
Speaker 1: because they were like, and you know, listen to hip

509
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:45,679
Speaker 1: hop culture. It is very homophobic. I think it has

510
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 1: changed a great amount right now, But prior to that,

511
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: they used to be like, damon, you know what's going on.

512
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,399
Speaker 1: I used to be like, I'm cool my sexuality, but

513
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 1: I think fashion is this and and and and the

514
00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: more I started putting it on people, the more other

515
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,080
Speaker 1: people to come around. But those days on the corner

516
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 1: were very, very informative. It's like what you and I

517
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,600
Speaker 1: were saying. But I learned that I had ten colors

518
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 1: of T shirts I wanted to sell people, but the

519
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 1: top two colors are sixty five percent of all sales

520
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 1: are black and another twenty percent of white. So now

521
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,920
Speaker 1: I had two colors. I had ten logos. I found

522
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 1: out the logos that was selling the best. Now I

523
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,199
Speaker 1: had one logo, and at that time, everybody's wearing a

524
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:23,760
Speaker 1: double lex So I don't care if you're one hundred

525
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 1: and ten pounds soaking wet. I'm taking the extra small

526
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:28,359
Speaker 1: out of the top of the shirt and putting double

527
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,680
Speaker 1: X in there, just so you can feel good about yourself.

528
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,719
Speaker 1: So I was able to home in all my customers,

529
00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:36,040
Speaker 1: and trust me, I used to stand out in the

530
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: Apollo Theater. I tell people this, but I'm joking, but

531
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:39,919
Speaker 1: I'm not. I used to stand out at that Apollo

532
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:41,639
Speaker 1: Theater one hundred and twenty fifth ye at midnight when

533
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 1: the Apollo let out, and all those drunk people told

534
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:46,240
Speaker 1: me what they thought about my shirts and my mother.

535
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: So you know I would just you know, I figure

536
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: it out. Man. You know, rejection is not going to

537
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:55,240
Speaker 1: happen to me. A nose an absolute maybe with college

538
00:25:55,280 --> 00:26:01,600
Speaker 1: ever an option. I'm dyslexic, and that doesn't mean that I

539
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: I shouldn't go to college. A lot of brilliant people

540
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,679
Speaker 1: in college who are dyslexic I all right. So basically

541
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,440
Speaker 1: I told you about run DMC. I told you about

542
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:09,960
Speaker 1: I was on tour. I was on the first I

543
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: was on a fresh festival. When I was fourteen fifteen,

544
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,960
Speaker 1: I was a cool kid in school and I had

545
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 1: gotten left back already. So when I was about eighteen,

546
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:20,520
Speaker 1: I said, I'm gonna take one year for college, and

547
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 1: I was laughing at all the other kids that were

548
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 1: going to college. And then when I was about twenty two,

549
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:28,680
Speaker 1: a lot of my friends were dead or in jail.

550
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,080
Speaker 1: I was a waiter at Red Lobster, and those kids

551
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 1: that decided to go get a formal education or a

552
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,159
Speaker 1: higher education, they were coming back from school and I

553
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,439
Speaker 1: was in Red Lobster with Tarta saw somebody on my

554
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,520
Speaker 1: apron getting them shrimp, and I realized, maybe I'm the idiot.

555
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,399
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm the one who's the idiot because I refused

556
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 1: to go out and educate myself, and that I didn't

557
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,879
Speaker 1: look back. After that, I started taking any course I could.

558
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: I started reading every book I could. I stopped hanging

559
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 1: out because I realized I was I was heading down

560
00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:58,679
Speaker 1: the wrong path. I just hanging out thinking things are

561
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 1: gonna change if I'm just hanging out in partying as

562
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,480
Speaker 1: a child. Obviously, you know when something that, okay, I'm

563
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,720
Speaker 1: not up to the level that I should be. I

564
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: see other kids being able to do things fairly easy,

565
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 1: knowing that everything everybody is on a different level. But

566
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: obviously you felt something was wrong. So how did that

567
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 1: How did that make you feel? What was going through

568
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,880
Speaker 1: your mind at the time. You know, what was going

569
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:28,159
Speaker 1: through my mind was feeling inferior or people feeling like

570
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:31,640
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't know what dyslexia was at that time.

571
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:33,879
Speaker 1: People weren't diagnosed for it, so it was feeling like

572
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,000
Speaker 1: I thought I was cool. I'm not. Then I thought

573
00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,480
Speaker 1: my friends were cool, but they're all dead or in jail.

574
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 1: I need to do and I'm not going to go

575
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:45,679
Speaker 1: down that path. I need to find something that I

576
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 1: really love, and I found. I found. The beauty of

577
00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:50,879
Speaker 1: the making of a peril is that I was in

578
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 1: love with seeing how somebody would reinterpret what I sold

579
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:56,440
Speaker 1: them and I would never even think of them wearing

580
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 1: it in that way. But then when I saw him,

581
00:27:57,840 --> 00:27:59,159
Speaker 1: I was like, man, that's cool, and I felt like

582
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 1: I would dress people for the rest of my life.

583
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,199
Speaker 1: But yet I also had I had a sense of

584
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,920
Speaker 1: belonging to this emerging music at the time, pulled hip

585
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 1: hop because I'd be able to go to video sets

586
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:11,919
Speaker 1: and people would know me, and I felt like I

587
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 1: was part of something. They would kick everybody the kid off,

588
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 1: and I'd have my little stinky, you know, food shirt

589
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:18,479
Speaker 1: and I'd be like, I'm here to address method man

590
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:20,959
Speaker 1: and they'd be like, all right, you could stay. And

591
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: I felt like I belonged. And I think that that feeling.

592
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 1: We all want to feel like we belonged to something.

593
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 1: And I felt like I was respected by other people,

594
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:32,199
Speaker 1: the right people. The ones who disrespected me or didn't

595
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 1: see value in what I was doing, that's their problem.

596
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let them get to me. I'm gonna

597
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 1: go and work with people that were actually respect me. Dame,

598
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 1: how old were you before you no longer felt inferior

599
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 1: about your frailties? Well, I mean I think that. I

600
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,440
Speaker 1: think they. I think feeling inferior in certain senses that

601
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,320
Speaker 1: you know, that could be, that could be today, various things,

602
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,080
Speaker 1: or it always happened. Now now the fragility of it

603
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: is not that it can't be. I'm not the person

604
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,720
Speaker 1: that says somebody just better than me. It's I'm not

605
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 1: applying myself enough. So yeah, I felt inferior up until

606
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:11,800
Speaker 1: like thirty. You know, by the time I was thirty,

607
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 1: I had a lot of money in the bank, I

608
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,200
Speaker 1: was well known. But what you wouldn't have feeling in

609
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 1: you You clearly you didn't feel out at that point, No,

610
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 1: you still I still felt like, well, you know what

611
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 1: people don't respect, you know, they don't respect urban apparel,

612
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:25,760
Speaker 1: like you know, Tom Ford and Besach. You don't care

613
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 1: about me. And then it was while I'm walking into

614
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,240
Speaker 1: boardrooms and it's not the guy you see in Shark

615
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,960
Speaker 1: Tank today. I'm walking into boardrooms. People thought because I

616
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: was a football guy, I was gonna come in there

617
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:39,240
Speaker 1: with you know, super baggy pants on gold teeth and

618
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: a gun in my waist to start breakdancing. And I'm like,

619
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: you know, And then then you know, and then I

620
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 1: acquired other brands, and I found more and more success,

621
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 1: and you know, it depends on I listen, there's always

622
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 1: gonna be somebody in you. You know, there's a being

623
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 1: in somebody in the world with a bigger wink and

624
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: a bigger wallet, right, and you know you got to

625
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 1: check yourself, even though you may I don't feel inferior.

626
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 1: But I gotta tell you, if if Jeff Jeff Baso

627
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,560
Speaker 1: spoke up with Mark Cuban's money, he gonna jump out

628
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 1: the window. And Mark Cuban woke up with my money,

629
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 1: He's definitely jumping out the window. So there's always you know,

630
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 1: you just gotta put it in perspective, you know, and

631
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 1: then then get comfortable with yourself. But no matter what,

632
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 1: apply yourself and go where you want to go. With

633
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,800
Speaker 1: fashion your first business venture venture and what made you

634
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 1: decide to go the fashion route. No, fashion was like

635
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,959
Speaker 1: my six or seventh, but an official business, an official business,

636
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,720
Speaker 1: Fashion was like my third. I loved hip hop. You know,

637
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,680
Speaker 1: hip hop wasn't emerging, it was emerging technology at that time.

638
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 1: It was the fact that the kids no longer had

639
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 1: to harmonize a playing instrument, but they were communicating through

640
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 1: this new forum of music about their hopes, their dreams,

641
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: they love their aspirations. We're talking about, you know, early eighties.

642
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 1: So I was a com breakdancer, right and I used

643
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,440
Speaker 1: to spend all night, you know, ironing my clothes, putting

644
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,360
Speaker 1: permanent creases in my pants, putting doing fat Lay says,

645
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,920
Speaker 1: dyeing my timberlin because of course I died my tiling

646
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,800
Speaker 1: every week. I wanted the girls to think I had

647
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,560
Speaker 1: a brand new pair of Timberlin every week. I just

648
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 1: died them, right. But ten years later I would realize

649
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,360
Speaker 1: that I can actually put that love of this music

650
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 1: together with actually with fashion. And then I tell people

651
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 1: all the time, anything you can consume, you can sell,

652
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: you know, So I put it together and again it

653
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:33,880
Speaker 1: made me feel like I belong getting into business, you understand,

654
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 1: and you said something very early on targeted Audience. Did

655
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,800
Speaker 1: you feel like the black community was underserved with a

656
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 1: product that representative represented them? Is that while you went

657
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: with Fubu for us by us. Yeah, so a lot

658
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 1: of times people think Fobu was only for people who

659
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: were black, and it wasn't so so so what had

660
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,080
Speaker 1: happened was Blin. It made a comment in the New

661
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:03,360
Speaker 1: York Times, this is something like, we don't make our

662
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,080
Speaker 1: sell out boosts the drug deal as symbol is not

663
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,480
Speaker 1: owned by the same company now. But I always tell people,

664
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:10,880
Speaker 1: you know, if people will buying Timblin because of its

665
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,080
Speaker 1: technical ability, well then you know, if you're a mountain

666
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,080
Speaker 1: climb a high coro construction worker. You need one pair

667
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:17,520
Speaker 1: of Temble in a year. It's the best foot in

668
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,960
Speaker 1: the world. But our market we will buying it because

669
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,200
Speaker 1: of fashion. We were buying it like the kids by

670
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:26,680
Speaker 1: Jordan's and Yeasies these days. I t you it took

671
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,640
Speaker 1: a good die. I was buying three new pair of

672
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,480
Speaker 1: Temble in a year and you called me a drug deal.

673
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,000
Speaker 1: And that's what ticked me off. Now. I always believe

674
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,200
Speaker 1: that never become the thing you're fighting against. So I

675
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 1: created food will for a culture. Is the culture powered

676
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:46,600
Speaker 1: by an African American artcraft that started in the Bronx,

677
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 1: Yes it is, but I would address the addressed the

678
00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 1: beastie boys. I addressed mc search if it was super hot.

679
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,560
Speaker 1: When Eminem was around, I address him. I didn't care

680
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 1: about your color. I cared about your culture. I'm pro

681
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,320
Speaker 1: I'm very pro black, but never anti anything else. Right,

682
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 1: How did you come up with the name fooboo? Because

683
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:09,160
Speaker 1: you know there's something about not a long name like Nike, simple,

684
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 1: Coke simple, Fooboo simple. I don't really remember how, you know?

685
00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 1: You know when I reflect over this thirty years later,

686
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,840
Speaker 1: and it sounds like it was all really Uh, you know,

687
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:25,760
Speaker 1: I was an architect of all these great things. No,

688
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 1: I just I think I had two forties in the

689
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,080
Speaker 1: bag of pork rhymes, and I came up with Yo,

690
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 1: let's name, let's name, let's go with it. You know,

691
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:37,040
Speaker 1: it wasn't well thought out, but over the years it did.

692
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,680
Speaker 1: It worked out. And also, you know, it worked out

693
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 1: that it's not something that you can easily duplicate. So

694
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 1: a lot of people didn't know. They were like, what's

695
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 1: the food was that? Like the poo poo plata? What's

696
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: the food? Was it Italian? What you know? Is it?

697
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 1: Is it Asian? Is it Indian? And it's a name

698
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 1: that you can't go out and uh, you know, there

699
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 1: were there there was little people that could say, well,

700
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 1: I have a similar name. So four letters like Nike

701
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 1: or even names that are authentic a Google, of Facebook,

702
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 1: a Uber and Nike, a Coke, a Xerox. When you

703
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,040
Speaker 1: make these all these authentic names, it gives you a

704
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 1: long run and let's and puts in in people's minds

705
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 1: with those uh you know, they think about the product.

706
00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:19,120
Speaker 1: How did you get connected in the hip hop circle?

707
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,319
Speaker 1: Obviously you say you you you you worked with the

708
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 1: method man you dressed method man, but you really got

709
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:28,279
Speaker 1: your big break with LLL dial a commercial and he

710
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,759
Speaker 1: had a hat on. Did you did you know it would?

711
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:33,960
Speaker 1: Did you know it would? Did you know he was

712
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:36,040
Speaker 1: gonna wear the hat? And when he wore the hat,

713
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:40,320
Speaker 1: did you know you were gonna blow up? Like Nitro? No?

714
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 1: And no. So LLL had just you know, we begged

715
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:46,400
Speaker 1: him to do a deal with us, and an LL

716
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 1: is an absolutely amazing partner and celebrity spokesperson. He's really

717
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 1: dedicated to it. The Gap called him, and this I

718
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:55,960
Speaker 1: think is the conversation about the importance of diversity. The

719
00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,359
Speaker 1: Gap called him, you know, and he didn't feel really

720
00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: good about the way they addressed him. But he just

721
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:02,319
Speaker 1: felt like they were just saying, yeah, come on in

722
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,839
Speaker 1: and shoot one of those rap videos, and that's how

723
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: policy and whatever case is. They didn't. He didn't really

724
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:09,399
Speaker 1: feel good about it. So he says for us, by

725
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 1: us on the Low and the Gap commercial, they spend

726
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:16,960
Speaker 1: thirty million dollars basically airing a Foobuo commercial, and because

727
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 1: they didn't have anybody in the company or in the

728
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,360
Speaker 1: marketing agency that really loved hip hop or were of color,

729
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 1: they didn't pull that ad for five weeks until they

730
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:30,840
Speaker 1: finally found out what happened. And that's because of the

731
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,920
Speaker 1: lack of diversity within their system. Now, I do got

732
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:35,960
Speaker 1: to tell you on the flip side, they hired a

733
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:40,200
Speaker 1: very young multicultural agency. After that, they did their analytics

734
00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:42,480
Speaker 1: and found out the target market the gap was trying

735
00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 1: to hit increased by three hundred percent because the kids

736
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: thought they can get Fubo at the gap and they

737
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:50,080
Speaker 1: called me up. We gave each other a big old

738
00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:52,640
Speaker 1: sloppy with kiss no tongue and they ended up spending

739
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,799
Speaker 1: another sixty million dollars re airing that ad and that's

740
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,279
Speaker 1: when FUGU started. They head to three hundred fifty four

741
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars. L the only rapper that you reached

742
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 1: out to about the branding about you know, being in

743
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:09,000
Speaker 1: Dorothy being a partnership with Were there any rappers that

744
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:13,759
Speaker 1: turned you down? How many rappers turned me down? But

745
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,440
Speaker 1: La was the only one. We formalized a long long

746
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 1: term contract. But yeah, but we but but most of

747
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:22,880
Speaker 1: the rappers really supported us. Now it's funny, you know,

748
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,160
Speaker 1: as I talked about all those other people who who

749
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,720
Speaker 1: came out of Hollis Queens when I was fourteen and fifteen.

750
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 1: I was on tour, and I promised my buddies, my

751
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 1: four other buddy not my partners. I said, I'm going

752
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,239
Speaker 1: to be the biggest dude in fashion. Another dude said,

753
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 1: I'm going to be the biggest dude in videos. Another

754
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,280
Speaker 1: dude said, I'm going to create a record label. Another

755
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:41,720
Speaker 1: dude said I'm going to be the biggest drug dealer.

756
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,719
Speaker 1: And those friends were Hype William who became the very

757
00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:48,840
Speaker 1: big producer, IRV Gotti, who owns Murder Inc. Who discovered

758
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:50,719
Speaker 1: jaw rule right down the block for me and HERV

759
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,840
Speaker 1: lived a couple other blocks for me and our buddy

760
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: who decided to become the biggest drug dealer. He just

761
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:58,560
Speaker 1: came home after twenty six years of serving time and

762
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,879
Speaker 1: Hype and made the movie Belly about him. So I

763
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 1: think it's when you speaking into the universe and you

764
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,719
Speaker 1: set goals at such a young age. I mean, when

765
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,160
Speaker 1: you think about it, Me Hype and Earth, Me, Hype,

766
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:13,760
Speaker 1: IRV and Alfred who they call Buns and Belly DMX played.

767
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 1: We all set those goals at a young age, and

768
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:18,760
Speaker 1: we all executed them. In some sense, I'm looking at

769
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 1: in sync Mariad Carrey, Snoop Dog Buff, the odb E

770
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 1: forty Hype. You mentioned Hy Williams was a good friend

771
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,560
Speaker 1: of yours. All. You got some of the biggest name

772
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,560
Speaker 1: Mariah Carey in sync at the time, Snoop Buster in fooboo.

773
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 1: So now you know, okay, we've made it because these

774
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:39,920
Speaker 1: got some of the biggest entertainers in their chosen field

775
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,080
Speaker 1: wearing fooboo. And we know how we are. We Oh,

776
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,320
Speaker 1: if Snoop got it on, if Marad care got it on,

777
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 1: it's gotta be legit. Yeah, one hundred percent. And that

778
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:52,959
Speaker 1: was you know, that was again we were culturally, we

779
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 1: were We spoke the culture. Like we didn't go to

780
00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:00,239
Speaker 1: boardrooms and stuff like that to meet these artists. You

781
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:02,080
Speaker 1: had to. If you want to meet method Man, well

782
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 1: you better get ready to you know, that was Keith's

783
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,040
Speaker 1: job on my team. You better better get ready to

784
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:08,000
Speaker 1: be at the studio two in the morning and get

785
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 1: smoked out with meth Man. Right, that's just where you're

786
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:15,200
Speaker 1: gonna meet him, right, And you gotta and you understand,

787
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:17,399
Speaker 1: you know, all these people come with a crew. Some

788
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:19,640
Speaker 1: dude want the bag over here and this and that.

789
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 1: But you have to understand the culture, and we were

790
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: very and still are very entrenched in the culture of

791
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:28,920
Speaker 1: what it was, so we spoke their language. You also,

792
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:35,160
Speaker 1: I'm looking. You broke in a distribution deal with Samsung.

793
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,640
Speaker 1: How did that come about? Well, that came about with

794
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:42,359
Speaker 1: the that came about with the ad that we put

795
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: them in paper, and they felt that they couldn't, you know,

796
00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 1: finance and make the million dollars worth the goods and

797
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,239
Speaker 1: grow the brand. But we had already, you know, I

798
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:52,239
Speaker 1: got that deal in ninety six, ninety seven. I had

799
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:55,360
Speaker 1: started WHO when eighty nine. I actually closed WHO down

800
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:58,480
Speaker 1: three times from eighty nine to ninety two because I

801
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,400
Speaker 1: ran out of money. But I only ran out of

802
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,239
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars a thousand dollars. I was able to

803
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:06,359
Speaker 1: recover from it, you know. But we got that deal.

804
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:07,920
Speaker 1: And by the time we got the deal with Samsung,

805
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 1: they had already seen the product all over the place,

806
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:12,840
Speaker 1: and they called around, did their due diligence and called

807
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:15,799
Speaker 1: all the stores, and all the stores said, the kids

808
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:17,640
Speaker 1: are coming here in here asking for food by every

809
00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:20,920
Speaker 1: single day. We just don't have any you know. And

810
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:22,719
Speaker 1: that was because they were seeing them and seeing the

811
00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 1: product and all these videos. How do you decide what

812
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:31,879
Speaker 1: companies departner with like? You know? Again, it goes back

813
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:34,080
Speaker 1: to do they know their customer? How much of my

814
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:39,160
Speaker 1: time and cashrow do they want? Do I add value?

815
00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:42,839
Speaker 1: Do I see something here with the with the entrepreneurs?

816
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,120
Speaker 1: Do I see a good exit? Or do I see

817
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 1: a way that I'm going to make money? You know

818
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:49,000
Speaker 1: a lot of people think, you know, I'm sure you're

819
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 1: in this situation just because you have money. It was

820
00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:52,960
Speaker 1: to buy everything. I'm not the bank. If I like

821
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:54,759
Speaker 1: your if I like your product, don't mean I have

822
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:56,560
Speaker 1: to buy the product. I buy one of your sponges,

823
00:39:57,040 --> 00:39:59,839
Speaker 1: you know. But if I like you and I see

824
00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:01,640
Speaker 1: an upside and I see things that we can do,

825
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,759
Speaker 1: have fun, make a difference, then then those are the

826
00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:08,879
Speaker 1: things I weigh on and uh and it works out

827
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,840
Speaker 1: only probably about three out of ten times, or maybe

828
00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:14,120
Speaker 1: four out of ten times. When you're investing in so

829
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:17,520
Speaker 1: many companies, you know, the numbers really are four out

830
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:19,240
Speaker 1: of ten times. But all you need is one Bombers.

831
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:24,400
Speaker 1: You need one, you need one, you need great. You

832
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:26,880
Speaker 1: just I'm still spending money from baggageines I sold in

833
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 1: ninety nine, So it's all good. How do you decide

834
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:35,719
Speaker 1: what companies to acquire? If I'm not mistaking you acquired Koji? Yeah,

835
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:37,600
Speaker 1: so I am. You did your homework, brother, I did

836
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:41,319
Speaker 1: so that was I acquired Cooji Because a lot of

837
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:43,160
Speaker 1: times we have to self reflect on what is our

838
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,880
Speaker 1: strength and what is our weakness as business people. And

839
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:49,360
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you you don't need that. I'm not

840
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 1: a great designer if I'm just gonna put a bunch

841
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,279
Speaker 1: of old five and slap a big food on everything. Right,

842
00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:55,560
Speaker 1: But what was my what was my skill set? And

843
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:58,319
Speaker 1: well was my asset? My asset was Foolwood did real? Well?

844
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 1: I knew all the buyer from all the stores, I

845
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:04,200
Speaker 1: knew all the celebrities, and I knew all the manufacturers.

846
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:08,279
Speaker 1: So let me acquire a brand that already had a

847
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:11,520
Speaker 1: history that people knew all so I'm not introducing a

848
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,799
Speaker 1: new brand. And then let me put my skill set

849
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 1: in it. Let me put it on the Kardashians, put

850
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,200
Speaker 1: it on pit Bull, put it on whoever was hot

851
00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:22,440
Speaker 1: at the moment. And then let me say to Macy's

852
00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,040
Speaker 1: or J. C. Penney is or whoever, look you know me,

853
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:26,839
Speaker 1: you know I'm gonna manufacture the goods. You know, I'm

854
00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:28,719
Speaker 1: going to deliver on one time. You know they don't sell,

855
00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 1: I'm going to take them back and then make some

856
00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:33,880
Speaker 1: quality goods. And that's what I did. I just replicated

857
00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:36,399
Speaker 1: what my strengths were. I didn't go out and try

858
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:40,240
Speaker 1: to create a new brand because it was easier acquiring

859
00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:43,160
Speaker 1: another brand that I could just put through the same pipeline.

860
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:48,720
Speaker 1: You travel, what is it like to go overseas Saudi Arabia, Korea,

861
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:53,719
Speaker 1: go all over these countries and you see Fooboo. You're like, bruh, this, say,

862
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:57,680
Speaker 1: Hollis Queen, this is not America. I'm overseving jud got

863
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:01,759
Speaker 1: on foo Boo. It is an honor when I see

864
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:04,480
Speaker 1: billboards and stuff, and you know, we're really big in

865
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 1: certain countries like South Africa, we're big. In Germany we're big,

866
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 1: and we're big in the Philippines and in Korea. And

867
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,799
Speaker 1: when you see the brands, they're again they reinterpret them

868
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:19,600
Speaker 1: very different. You know, Fobu and Korea is very much

869
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:24,719
Speaker 1: a skate brand, like hardcore skate. Foobu in Manila and

870
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:29,280
Speaker 1: Philippines it's it's pure hip hop and Foobu in Japan,

871
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:31,360
Speaker 1: you know they wear it very different. They wear like

872
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:34,840
Speaker 1: character they almost look like characters in foodbu in Japan.

873
00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:38,440
Speaker 1: So when you see it reinterpreted in different ways, it's

874
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,040
Speaker 1: just fascinating. You know that I created that thing out

875
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:44,440
Speaker 1: of my basement. Then people thirty years later are still,

876
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,680
Speaker 1: you know, supporting it. Well, I have a Foobo jacket.

877
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,200
Speaker 1: It was five X if I'm not mistaken, I was

878
00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:52,960
Speaker 1: a two eggs at the time, but I wanted the

879
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,880
Speaker 1: five D everybody. I had the big bagga jeans. But

880
00:42:55,920 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 1: I believe the most h impressive collapse success for collab

881
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,879
Speaker 1: with the fat Albert collection the Platinum Collector. Yes, how

882
00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:07,920
Speaker 1: did that come about? Well, that came about because we

883
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,319
Speaker 1: you know, our community loved the Iceberg at the time,

884
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:16,520
Speaker 1: and Iceberg had these characters on it. But that's sweat.

885
00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 1: It shouldn't have been seven hundred and eight hundred dollars,

886
00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:21,400
Speaker 1: and I just felt that it was obnoxious of the

887
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:23,880
Speaker 1: pricing and I felt that you have these characters on it.

888
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:26,560
Speaker 1: But does anybody know about fat Albert and the Gang,

889
00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:29,839
Speaker 1: or the Harlem Globe Trotters or the A League cartoons

890
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:32,319
Speaker 1: that many of the older generation grew up with? And

891
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:34,680
Speaker 1: how can I sit there and put characters that are

892
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:39,160
Speaker 1: relevant to our community and our history to educate you simultaneously.

893
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 1: And it caused half the price of Iceberg, but it's

894
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:44,879
Speaker 1: still just a fly. So that was us just trying

895
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:47,960
Speaker 1: to you know, serve our community on our terms and

896
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 1: not let Iceberg dictate the way that the terms should

897
00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:53,239
Speaker 1: be set. I read that somewhere that you said that

898
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 1: you felt that Poople had at one point oversaturated the market.

899
00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 1: Why did you feel that way? You know, listen to

900
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:02,839
Speaker 1: hot fashion brand the last five to seven years when

901
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:05,320
Speaker 1: we're not talking about the unicorns, like Nike and Louis Baton.

902
00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:09,040
Speaker 1: Ubu obviously had large, large logos. That was it at

903
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: the time. Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hill Figure did the

904
00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:14,359
Speaker 1: same thing. But we did oversaturated the market. We had

905
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:16,200
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff, a lot of goods out there

906
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:20,640
Speaker 1: that we were selling in different veins of you know,

907
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,960
Speaker 1: of distribution, some some mid tier, some low, and some

908
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 1: class for the masks. And you know, listen, at the

909
00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:30,480
Speaker 1: end of the day, a kid who has uh four

910
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:32,640
Speaker 1: years worth of fooboo in their close and they're in

911
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:35,040
Speaker 1: high school, you know, when they go to college, maybe

912
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:36,680
Speaker 1: they want to dress a little different. It's a different

913
00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:38,239
Speaker 1: time in their life, you know, and maybe they want

914
00:44:38,239 --> 00:44:40,240
Speaker 1: to try something new, and we don't take it personal.

915
00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 1: You know, it's not oh my god, you know you

916
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:45,440
Speaker 1: better you know support us. It's it's we get it.

917
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:49,000
Speaker 1: We may have oversaturated the market. It's fine, and we

918
00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:51,799
Speaker 1: will learn from that and we will we will, we

919
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:54,080
Speaker 1: will reset and just do it a little more wisely.

920
00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:56,719
Speaker 1: So you're gonna you're rebranding, So what are you going

921
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:59,400
Speaker 1: to do different this time around? Well, food with the

922
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,560
Speaker 1: product is in so many differentays. We did our fiftieth

923
00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:06,840
Speaker 1: at Puma's fiftieth anniversary collaboration. We we we have products

924
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:09,480
Speaker 1: everybody you can go to you know, Fubuo on Instagram

925
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:12,680
Speaker 1: and order product, and we have different type of collaborations,

926
00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:14,799
Speaker 1: exclusive drops as well as we have stuff that we

927
00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:17,799
Speaker 1: do sell to regular stores. And uh, I think, I

928
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,080
Speaker 1: think after the George Floyd situation, a lot of people

929
00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:23,719
Speaker 1: really wanted to revisit some of the you know, the

930
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:26,640
Speaker 1: brands from the nineties and early two thousands that were

931
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:30,120
Speaker 1: owned by people of color. So, you know, it's a

932
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,560
Speaker 1: great time. And you know, we love our brand and

933
00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:34,319
Speaker 1: we love we love we love the people who support us,

934
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:36,359
Speaker 1: and we love the way the brand is reinterpreted. Right now,

935
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:46,399
Speaker 1: how have you been able to remain black owned? No way.

936
00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:51,120
Speaker 1: Nobody gave us a big enough number. So they've come

937
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,560
Speaker 1: to you now they have come. I mean, you know,

938
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:56,440
Speaker 1: earlier on in the days, Kmart had came to us

939
00:45:56,520 --> 00:45:58,960
Speaker 1: and they wanted to buy the brand for themselves, and

940
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:02,279
Speaker 1: we just felt that it was it wasn't the right time,

941
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:05,200
Speaker 1: and it wasn't the right We felt we would let

942
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:09,359
Speaker 1: too many people downright, And I think that you know,

943
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:11,920
Speaker 1: that's just the way. We're very passionate about our brand

944
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: and and what our consumer feels about us, and we

945
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:17,080
Speaker 1: just didn't feel like that would have been the right thing.

946
00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:21,359
Speaker 1: This is what you could really help us on here,

947
00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:23,520
Speaker 1: And I'm glad that. I really appreciate your time. I

948
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:25,799
Speaker 1: understand your very business, so I really appreciate you you're

949
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:29,279
Speaker 1: taking time out of your day. Black spending reaches one

950
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:33,840
Speaker 1: point six trillion in twenty twenty one, but black network falls.

951
00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:40,640
Speaker 1: How How? What what can we do to make sure

952
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:46,239
Speaker 1: that our spending power is going into black pockets? Not

953
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:47,840
Speaker 1: to say hey, I'm not saying hey, we got to

954
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:51,200
Speaker 1: spend all our money with one location, but something, something

955
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:55,600
Speaker 1: is off in this in this scenario here. Yeah, those

956
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:57,920
Speaker 1: are it's a little about my pay grade. Those are

957
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:02,279
Speaker 1: very systemic issues that we all know that you know,

958
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,680
Speaker 1: it starts with us. You know, it starts with with

959
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:09,680
Speaker 1: spending money back in our communities and things that I nature.

960
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:13,480
Speaker 1: And you know they say that for every uh, for

961
00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:16,680
Speaker 1: every fifteen dollars I think, no, every ten dollars it

962
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:20,160
Speaker 1: comes into the community, nine dollars goes out. And that

963
00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:24,680
Speaker 1: is you know, it's sad, but you know the reality

964
00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:28,360
Speaker 1: is most of us have not had generational wealth and

965
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:32,000
Speaker 1: legacies that our grandparents and parents could pass down to

966
00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:35,000
Speaker 1: us and to explain to us how cash work, how

967
00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:37,560
Speaker 1: investing in the community pays off. And there's a lot

968
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:39,400
Speaker 1: of systemic things that have happened. But you know, the

969
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:42,960
Speaker 1: reality is they've happened already and we have to acknowledge it,

970
00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:44,680
Speaker 1: we have to learn from it. We have to keep

971
00:47:44,719 --> 00:47:48,440
Speaker 1: reinvesting in ourselves. But again, that's a much deeper conversation

972
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:51,719
Speaker 1: with people with way bigger brains than me. But all

973
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:53,680
Speaker 1: I can say is, if you if you take the

974
00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 1: time to keep you know, right now, keep going out

975
00:47:57,280 --> 00:47:59,680
Speaker 1: and investing in people, you know, you know, I you know,

976
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:02,560
Speaker 1: to George Floyd. I said to myself, who's ever going

977
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:05,400
Speaker 1: to change the narrative out there? These young brothers and sisters,

978
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:09,120
Speaker 1: they need to be building businesses instead of burning them down.

979
00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:12,400
Speaker 1: And I realized that nobody else is doing something. So

980
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:14,200
Speaker 1: I mean people are doing something. But so I created

981
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:16,479
Speaker 1: something about Black Entrepreneurs Day when I gave where quarter

982
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:20,440
Speaker 1: million dollars twenty five thousand times ten to eat too

983
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:23,799
Speaker 1: small businesses, Black African American owned businesses to keep them open.

984
00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:26,759
Speaker 1: I brought on the show you know and interviewed Bob

985
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:29,920
Speaker 1: Johnson and Shaquille O'Neill, iced Tea and ll cou Ja

986
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:33,000
Speaker 1: to talk about their biggest mistakes, and uh, you know,

987
00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:34,759
Speaker 1: we found a couple of we found a lot of

988
00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:37,399
Speaker 1: African Americans who said, we just didn't know about all

989
00:48:37,440 --> 00:48:40,160
Speaker 1: this stuff, and thank you and they're you know, and

990
00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:43,200
Speaker 1: they started to educate themselves and apply themselves in business.

991
00:48:43,200 --> 00:48:47,360
Speaker 1: So you know, it takes a tribe, you know, to

992
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,680
Speaker 1: to help these young brothers and sisters and let them

993
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:55,560
Speaker 1: understand the value that they have. And it's challenging, I

994
00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:56,840
Speaker 1: think for both of us to think about it and

995
00:48:56,920 --> 00:48:59,520
Speaker 1: talk about it. How do we get biture capitalists. How

996
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:03,080
Speaker 1: do we get the best in the black community by

997
00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:05,600
Speaker 1: showing them where they can make a profit. And there's

998
00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:07,759
Speaker 1: plenty of places to make a profit and there I

999
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:10,400
Speaker 1: mean I do. I am part of a group called

1000
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:15,120
Speaker 1: the Vocal Group. It's fifty well known African Americans like

1001
00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 1: Ken Chano and Barrus and Bob Johnson and Barross other people.

1002
00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:23,080
Speaker 1: There are some financial instruments being created by some big

1003
00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:26,759
Speaker 1: banks that are talking about infrastructure and various other things

1004
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:29,480
Speaker 1: where vcs can come in and make a lot of money.

1005
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:33,280
Speaker 1: But you know, I think that you know we're getting

1006
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:35,480
Speaker 1: we're very connected world, and I think that there is

1007
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:40,120
Speaker 1: a million young Damon Johns who know how to to

1008
00:49:40,239 --> 00:49:42,040
Speaker 1: talk to their community. And I think there's a lot

1009
00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:44,960
Speaker 1: of money to be made where where You know, with

1010
00:49:45,080 --> 00:49:48,640
Speaker 1: people back these young men and women, you know you

1011
00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:51,320
Speaker 1: will prosper. You know it is it is very profitable.

1012
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:53,440
Speaker 1: You know the data is there. You said, how much

1013
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:55,719
Speaker 1: we're spending, Why don't we spend it? Why don't we

1014
00:49:55,719 --> 00:49:58,000
Speaker 1: spend it someplace where we know it's going back some

1015
00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:00,840
Speaker 1: way into educating and or in power or in the community,

1016
00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:03,480
Speaker 1: is serving You mentioned kens should know the former CEO

1017
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:06,320
Speaker 1: of American Express, who came up with a very good idea,

1018
00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 1: the most recognizable credit card ever, the Black Card. Yes,

1019
00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:17,920
Speaker 1: I know, kid, let me ask you this. Did you

1020
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:21,320
Speaker 1: ever think there would be a shoe that would challenge

1021
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:25,360
Speaker 1: the Jordan Kanye is? Yeasy? Because Jordan has such a

1022
00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:27,560
Speaker 1: head start. I mean, you're going back. He had a

1023
00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:31,160
Speaker 1: thirty year head start on Kanye, and Kanye just started

1024
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:35,120
Speaker 1: what yeasy what six decade maybe maybe a decade ago

1025
00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:38,960
Speaker 1: because yeah, yeah, because at first he was doing you know,

1026
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:42,000
Speaker 1: he was doing yes with Nike. Obviously he wanted a

1027
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:45,040
Speaker 1: little bit more controlled. Nike said no. So he says, okay, hey,

1028
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:47,239
Speaker 1: I did what y'all got for your boy. He goes

1029
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:51,800
Speaker 1: to Adida and Yasy is on fire. Did you think

1030
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:57,440
Speaker 1: someone could challenge Jordan? I do? I think because the

1031
00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:00,960
Speaker 1: generation they you know, they move on, they grow into,

1032
00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:05,279
Speaker 1: you know, loving other people that are more relevant at

1033
00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:09,080
Speaker 1: the moment, and there's always gonna be somebody new that

1034
00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:12,080
Speaker 1: talks to somebody. You know, some young kids these days

1035
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:14,239
Speaker 1: may not actually know who Jordan is, believe it or not.

1036
00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:18,319
Speaker 1: It's very surprising. And and and some people may not

1037
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:23,840
Speaker 1: have ever heard of Muhammad Ali and they would be relevant.

1038
00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:28,440
Speaker 1: Now if there's somebody who is like a Kanye, very polarizing,

1039
00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:33,440
Speaker 1: very fashionable, makes good music, always in your face, and

1040
00:51:33,520 --> 00:51:36,240
Speaker 1: you walk into the store and you are a seven

1041
00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:38,839
Speaker 1: year old who may not have heard of Jordan, and

1042
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,680
Speaker 1: you're looking at a Kanye shoe and you're looking at

1043
00:51:41,680 --> 00:51:47,000
Speaker 1: a Jordan. But you know that's think There's always gonna

1044
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,920
Speaker 1: be somebody new. It doesn't take away from brand Jordan

1045
00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:55,480
Speaker 1: at all. You worked on the Kardashians show. Are you

1046
00:51:55,520 --> 00:51:58,560
Speaker 1: surprised how big? I remember why? I was like, Okay,

1047
00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:02,439
Speaker 1: this is the show's a little reality show. Brou I'm

1048
00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:08,360
Speaker 1: not a lie. I've never thought this thing is enormous. No,

1049
00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:11,920
Speaker 1: I'm totally surprised. I'm fascinated, But I'm also not surprised

1050
00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:17,200
Speaker 1: in the sense Chris Jenner is brilliant. That family is

1051
00:52:17,360 --> 00:52:22,239
Speaker 1: thickest thieves. They don't backstab each other, they are not

1052
00:52:22,320 --> 00:52:25,840
Speaker 1: on drugs. They are very, very laser focused. I remember

1053
00:52:25,920 --> 00:52:29,239
Speaker 1: when we were first working Season one together, Chris Jenner said,

1054
00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 1: I just hope after the fifteen minutes of fame over,

1055
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:35,279
Speaker 1: maybe you know three four or five years that each

1056
00:52:35,320 --> 00:52:37,960
Speaker 1: one of my children have two businesses that will hopefully

1057
00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:41,560
Speaker 1: be somewhat successful, and that was her goal. And the

1058
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:47,440
Speaker 1: girls they pay, you know, they strapped a part and

1059
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:50,960
Speaker 1: they got focused on it and they got busy, you know,

1060
00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:52,680
Speaker 1: and I think we can all learn from them. You know,

1061
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:55,279
Speaker 1: you don't have to have this specific talent. You just

1062
00:52:55,280 --> 00:52:59,560
Speaker 1: have to know your customer. And you know, if they

1063
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:01,040
Speaker 1: can do it, they'll always say if I can do it,

1064
00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:04,560
Speaker 1: somebody else can. Let's talk about what what what would

1065
00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:10,719
Speaker 1: be Virgil's legacy, you know, I didn't I didn't know

1066
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:13,640
Speaker 1: vision that well. He was very respected in the groups

1067
00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:16,239
Speaker 1: that I do know, but I don't know him well

1068
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:17,920
Speaker 1: enough to talk on. I mean I did see some

1069
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:20,800
Speaker 1: really amazing work with him out of Nike, and of course,

1070
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:25,400
Speaker 1: uh I bought the entire Louis Vuitton collection right before

1071
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:27,400
Speaker 1: he passed, not knowing that he was sick. But it

1072
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:30,759
Speaker 1: was such a brilliant collection that this felt like it

1073
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:33,640
Speaker 1: was made by felt like fob. It felt like he

1074
00:53:33,680 --> 00:53:36,759
Speaker 1: was made by somebody who understood fashion of all aspects.

1075
00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:40,040
Speaker 1: But I don't I really don't know where he will

1076
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:43,360
Speaker 1: where he will be, you know, going with the facaces

1077
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:46,759
Speaker 1: of the world or the lack of Laga folds or

1078
00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:49,279
Speaker 1: stuff like that Carlaga hole. You know, I don't know.

1079
00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:52,680
Speaker 1: I know you've seen this, and we've seen this far

1080
00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:56,359
Speaker 1: too many, far too many times, rappers beefing with high

1081
00:53:56,440 --> 00:54:00,200
Speaker 1: end fashion brands. Jim Jones just posted a video him

1082
00:54:00,200 --> 00:54:04,279
Speaker 1: in a Gucci store saying he was about to spend

1083
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:08,600
Speaker 1: twenty nine thousand dollars and he felt that he was big.

1084
00:54:08,640 --> 00:54:11,480
Speaker 1: You know, he's been profiled, or he's been somehow he

1085
00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:15,279
Speaker 1: felt he's been wrong, he's been disrespected. But we hear

1086
00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:17,160
Speaker 1: this pop up from time to time, and guess what

1087
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:19,799
Speaker 1: a year later, two years later, guess what, somebody else

1088
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:21,760
Speaker 1: is back in one of those high end retail stores

1089
00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:26,439
Speaker 1: spending tons and tons ofbody saying this are we gonna learn?

1090
00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:34,399
Speaker 1: We will. I'm a I'm a very optimistic person. We

1091
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:39,480
Speaker 1: will learn, I hope. But challenging. It is challenging. I mean,

1092
00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:42,200
Speaker 1: you don't see people, you don't see the you know,

1093
00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:44,919
Speaker 1: you don't see that same community knocking down the door

1094
00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:48,239
Speaker 1: begging for Foobal when they know that. You know, the

1095
00:54:48,280 --> 00:54:51,719
Speaker 1: foodbus of the world employ other people that look like

1096
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:55,560
Speaker 1: them and and do activations and put money into schools

1097
00:54:55,560 --> 00:54:59,279
Speaker 1: in the community. But you know, again, these are over

1098
00:54:59,320 --> 00:55:05,319
Speaker 1: my pay grade. You know, I personally I don't wear

1099
00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:08,759
Speaker 1: brands that have have have have had black face on them,

1100
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:11,719
Speaker 1: more nooses on them, stuff like that. I do not

1101
00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:16,520
Speaker 1: wear them. I just refused to do. So. I want

1102
00:55:16,520 --> 00:55:18,600
Speaker 1: to get you out of here. What advice would you

1103
00:55:18,600 --> 00:55:25,520
Speaker 1: give anyone chasing an entrepreneurial dream, Well, it would first

1104
00:55:25,520 --> 00:55:30,200
Speaker 1: of all, it would be take affordable steps. What do

1105
00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:33,520
Speaker 1: you mean by I don't think everything? Meaning that you know,

1106
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:37,520
Speaker 1: you don't go to Vegas and play blackjack the first

1107
00:55:37,560 --> 00:55:40,319
Speaker 1: time and you play a thousand dollars a hand? Right,

1108
00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:42,239
Speaker 1: you go to Vegas and play a thousand dollars I

1109
00:55:42,239 --> 00:55:45,680
Speaker 1: mean a thousand and one dollar hands. Take what you

1110
00:55:45,719 --> 00:55:48,840
Speaker 1: can afford. And some people will say I don't have

1111
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:51,640
Speaker 1: that much money. All right, Well, when I first started,

1112
00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:57,600
Speaker 1: I can afford making fifty calls a day. I promised

1113
00:55:57,600 --> 00:55:59,480
Speaker 1: myself I was gonna make fifty calls a day and

1114
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:02,440
Speaker 1: have to six months. If I got somewhere with these

1115
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:05,640
Speaker 1: calls that I was going to then do it again.

1116
00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:10,200
Speaker 1: I call ten manufacturers, ten stores, ten ricket labels to

1117
00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:13,000
Speaker 1: see their music artist want to wear, ten regular customers

1118
00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,160
Speaker 1: to see how they got the product and how was it.

1119
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:20,920
Speaker 1: And I could afford fifty calls a day. So whenever

1120
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:25,400
Speaker 1: you are an entrepreneur or anybody investing in anything, what

1121
00:56:25,520 --> 00:56:28,440
Speaker 1: can you afford? You know, if you follow a thousand

1122
00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:32,480
Speaker 1: pages on social media and whether they're jokes or cooking

1123
00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:36,200
Speaker 1: or half naked girls, follow ten pages that are talking

1124
00:56:36,239 --> 00:56:41,120
Speaker 1: about stocks or NFTs, or financial instruments or finance, financial intelligence,

1125
00:56:41,440 --> 00:56:44,960
Speaker 1: or manufacturing or showing why not right? You have the

1126
00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:48,080
Speaker 1: time put it in what's your asset you and that

1127
00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:50,680
Speaker 1: you make affordable mistakes. Maybe you're a veteran, you come

1128
00:56:50,719 --> 00:56:53,160
Speaker 1: from a great community of like minded veterans. Maybe you're

1129
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:57,920
Speaker 1: a mompreneur. Maybe you're an athlete who who has the

1130
00:56:57,960 --> 00:57:00,480
Speaker 1: most influential people in your rolodexs and you're like, hey,

1131
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:02,680
Speaker 1: we're gonna do this, or I need your advice? Can

1132
00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:06,600
Speaker 1: you be my board member? You know, take take affordable steps,

1133
00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:09,200
Speaker 1: and that's how you become an entrepreneur. Because real entrepreneurs,

1134
00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:11,319
Speaker 1: they act, they learn, and then they repeat it again

1135
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:14,520
Speaker 1: a little more wisely. Before I get you out of here,

1136
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:18,360
Speaker 1: what are you working on now? What's in Damon John's future?

1137
00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:22,920
Speaker 1: I'm working on my next Black Entrepreneurs Day where we're

1138
00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:24,680
Speaker 1: going to give away a couple of you know, whether

1139
00:57:24,720 --> 00:57:26,800
Speaker 1: another quarter or a half a million hours, to more

1140
00:57:27,280 --> 00:57:29,720
Speaker 1: people in you know, who are making any difference in

1141
00:57:29,720 --> 00:57:33,320
Speaker 1: the community. I'm about to go and start filming Shark

1142
00:57:33,360 --> 00:57:37,760
Speaker 1: Tank season number fourteen. So I'm I'm, I'm. I'm really

1143
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:39,920
Speaker 1: humbled and honored that I can invest in other people's

1144
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:43,360
Speaker 1: dreams and they will allow me to. I'm constantly working

1145
00:57:43,360 --> 00:57:46,720
Speaker 1: on my health and I'm working on, you know, trying

1146
00:57:46,760 --> 00:57:48,920
Speaker 1: to find that work life balance with my little five

1147
00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:51,960
Speaker 1: year old and trying to be, you know, a great

1148
00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:55,920
Speaker 1: child of God. Bro. Thank you, you're the proxonification of

1149
00:57:55,960 --> 00:57:58,320
Speaker 1: the American dream. You took forty dollars and you made

1150
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:01,200
Speaker 1: it into a six billion dollar empire. Brother, There's a

1151
00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:03,160
Speaker 1: lot of people that's very very excited for you, not

1152
00:58:03,240 --> 00:58:05,360
Speaker 1: just around the world, but I'm speaking for our community.

1153
00:58:05,720 --> 00:58:07,600
Speaker 1: What you've been able to do, the way you've been

1154
00:58:07,640 --> 00:58:09,480
Speaker 1: able to do, and the way you've handled yourself in

1155
00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:13,040
Speaker 1: doing it. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you too. Man.

1156
00:58:13,320 --> 00:58:16,200
Speaker 1: I've seen how you've pivoted and flip the game, and

1157
00:58:16,240 --> 00:58:19,640
Speaker 1: a lot of people listen, thank congratulations and image. I

1158
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:21,560
Speaker 1: think you gotta you get the water. You got a

1159
00:58:21,680 --> 00:58:26,439
Speaker 1: dominant nominated Excellent, Excellent. Brother. So you're doing great things, man,

1160
00:58:26,480 --> 00:58:29,120
Speaker 1: We're all watching you. We appreciate you, man, and what

1161
00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:32,680
Speaker 1: an illustrious and great career you've had. So congratulations and

1162
00:58:32,720 --> 00:58:34,560
Speaker 1: all that, and thank you for having me, Thanks for

1163
00:58:34,600 --> 00:58:36,959
Speaker 1: coming on. I appreciate a few moments of your time today.

1164
00:58:37,160 --> 00:58:40,080
Speaker 1: All the best moving forward, man, Thank you. All my life,

1165
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:45,440
Speaker 1: grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle play Chris, one slice

1166
00:58:45,720 --> 00:58:48,760
Speaker 1: got the dice, swad all my life. I've been grinding

1167
00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:53,400
Speaker 1: all my life, all my life, and grinding all my life, sacrifice,

1168
00:58:53,720 --> 00:58:58,280
Speaker 1: hustle play Price one slice got the dice swath all

1169
00:58:58,320 --> 00:59:02,200
Speaker 1: my life. I've been grinding all my life. P