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Speaker 1: I think people will be surprised at how much of

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Speaker 1: an investment it takes to create this experience.

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Speaker 2: It's not a money grab.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot cheaper ways to make money than to

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Speaker 1: throw a festival. Festivals and large scale events are expensive.

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Speaker 1: They are a cash up front business. To quote Jay Carter,

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Speaker 1: if you're getting into this game to do events and

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Speaker 1: large scale events and cultural events, be prepared to lose

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Speaker 1: money for at least five years.

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Speaker 3: Everybody, Welcome to another episode of but I'm the host.

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Speaker 3: Brandon Butler founda CEO of butter atl and today got

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Speaker 3: somebody special in the building. Man, mister Michael barklayed the second. Man,

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Speaker 3: how you doing, Bro?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing good, Brandon, Man, I appreciate you having me

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Speaker 2: on here.

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Speaker 3: Don't either say a second or can I just say, Mike,

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Speaker 3: you want how you want me to say it?

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Speaker 1: So, so my son is the third okay, and he

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Speaker 1: just got into the industry. So after he graduated, well

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Speaker 1: when he was getting his senior year in college, like, look, bro,

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Speaker 1: you got to start using your suffet. I gotta start

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Speaker 1: use your mind because I'm getting your LinkedIn messages, you

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Speaker 1: get in mine, and.

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Speaker 2: So we we do that now. But you can just

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Speaker 2: call me Barklay Manlay.

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Speaker 4: Okay, Barkley, Let's do it.

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Speaker 3: Man. Look, man, I appreciate you pulling up. We're gonna

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Speaker 3: have an amazing conversation. You know, for those of y'all

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Speaker 3: don't know Man Barclay here. He is the chief Events

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Speaker 3: and experienced Officer at Sundown Media, so you oversee stuff

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Speaker 3: like Essence Fest, Afro Punk, Beauty Con, a bunch of

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Speaker 3: other events. We got an amazing conversation. But first, bro, yes, sir,

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Speaker 3: I did something. I did something I do for all

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Speaker 3: my guests.

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Speaker 2: Okay, okay.

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Speaker 3: What I do is I go on chat cheapt and

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Speaker 3: I asked chat ChiPT to write a bio about my guest.

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Speaker 3: So I asked chat chept who you were, and I'm

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Speaker 3: about to read.

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Speaker 4: You what it said.

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Speaker 2: Me and chattare locked in chat. Probably good stuff.

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Speaker 3: All right, So man, this is what this is what

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Speaker 3: chat says about you. Mister Michael Barbi played the second

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Speaker 3: is the Chief Events and experienced Officer at Sundown Media Group,

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Speaker 3: where he leaves a strategy behind some of the biggest

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Speaker 3: culture shaping festivals in the world, including Essence Fest, Afro

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Speaker 3: Tech and Beauty Con. Under his leadership. Essence Fest celebrated

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Speaker 3: his thirtieth anniversary with the record breaking attendance cebmenting its

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Speaker 3: place as the largest black culture festival in the country.

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Speaker 3: A biz Bass industry innovator and award winging Marketer, Michael

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Speaker 3: also has earned CON's Lion A cok con Line Award

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Speaker 3: and Cleo Sports Honors for his work. Beyond Sundal, he's

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Speaker 3: the founder of Left Lane Marketing, where he continues to

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Speaker 3: push the boundaries of experiential storytelling and cultural impact. Dang man, Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: you're you and chat locked in.

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Speaker 2: Man, Chat locked in. You know that that that premium

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Speaker 2: chat uh.

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Speaker 4: Subscription of Look, I to tell people you gotta pay it.

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Speaker 4: You got to pay the twenty dollars.

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Speaker 1: You gotta pay the twenty twenty dollars as well. Worth

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Speaker 1: it bru And yeah, that's crazy. He went back to

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Speaker 1: left Lane.

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Speaker 4: Wow.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's nuts. That's something I started in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and four.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow, yeah, here Atlanta. Actually, okay, all right, man,

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Speaker 2: we look.

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Speaker 3: We don't get into it, man, let's get into this thing.

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Speaker 3: So look, man, you've been at Sundow Media and Technology

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Speaker 3: Group for a couple of years now, how did you

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Speaker 3: get into the involved in this role.

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Speaker 1: So actually, so I've been doing experiential twenty plus years

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Speaker 1: and just happened to meet Richliu Dennis, who is the chairman.

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Speaker 1: Happened to meet him while I was leaving one job

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Speaker 1: and going into another, literally the first day of my

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Speaker 1: new job. But it was during the Final four down

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Speaker 1: New Orleans, and it was actually after the finals game

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Speaker 1: on Monday. I was working remotely my first my new

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Speaker 1: job that I was going to met him at Coca

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Speaker 1: Cola hospitality suite. We didn't know each other, but as

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Speaker 1: we were leaving, he well, as he was leaving, he

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Speaker 1: asked me, he said, you know who are you because

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Speaker 1: we haven't met and so mutual friend of ours became

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Speaker 1: my hype man.

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Speaker 2: He was like, you're Rich. It's my boy Barclay.

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Speaker 1: Barclay did all this power Aide stuff because i'd actually

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Speaker 1: just didn't run a commercial for power Aide that dropped

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Speaker 1: during the Final Four at my previous job that I

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Speaker 1: had left.

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Speaker 2: That I was about to start the new job. And

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Speaker 2: so we're in this Coke hospitality suite. I kid you not.

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Speaker 1: The ad that I ran or created was running in

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Speaker 1: the background on the extreme and so, but he's like.

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Speaker 2: Rich, he just left there to go do some other

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Speaker 2: dope stuff. Be telling them what you're doing.

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Speaker 1: I said, well, you know, I just started SVP at

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Speaker 1: I won't name the experiential agency because they're probably not

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Speaker 1: happy with me because I ain't stay the longe like

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Speaker 1: I just started, you know, as SPP of experiential at

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Speaker 1: this uh at this this agency. You know that's what

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Speaker 1: I'm doing. And Rich looked at me and he said,

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Speaker 1: you're the guy that I need take my number down.

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Speaker 1: I said, yeah, but Rich, today is my first day

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Speaker 1: on my new job. He said, you're the guy that

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Speaker 1: I need take my number down, and so we exchanged numbers.

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Speaker 2: He left.

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Speaker 1: A mutual friend was like, all right, man, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: tell you how this is gonna go down. He's like,

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Speaker 1: Rich is gonna call me. He's like, I'm gonna tell

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Speaker 1: Rich if you legit and if he wants you, he

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Speaker 1: gotta come correct.

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Speaker 2: And I'm sitting there thinking, I hope not. Because I just.

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Speaker 1: Went through a bidding war from one agency to the next.

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Speaker 1: I just started a job that day. I didn't want

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Speaker 1: no smoke with, you know, somebody that is wealthy beyond

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Speaker 1: my understanding. I was like, how do I turn this

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Speaker 1: dude down? You know, hopefully he was just you know, talking,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I felt fortunate because I hadn't heard

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Speaker 1: from him in two weeks.

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Speaker 2: But then I heard from him, and then the rest

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Speaker 2: is history. You know.

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Speaker 1: I turned him down probably three four times. He kept

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Speaker 1: coming back. It was three times, he hates when I

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Speaker 1: tell the story turned out three times.

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Speaker 2: But he tapped into what I knew to be true.

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Speaker 1: But what I was fighting, which was if I didn't

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Speaker 1: take this opportunity, I would regret it. And the reason

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Speaker 1: why I didn't want to is because again I had

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Speaker 1: just left another agency. I had only started this other job.

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Speaker 1: I'd been in for two weeks at this point. You know,

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to alienate myself in the industry that

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Speaker 1: I had been working in my whole time, which is

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Speaker 1: you know, agent marketing and advertising agencies. But it was

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Speaker 1: an opportunity of a lifetime, and so you know, eventually

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Speaker 1: I got my mind right and said, you know what,

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Speaker 1: let's do it, and I jumped out and that agency

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Speaker 1: that I started working at on that day that I

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Speaker 1: met him, I was out within thirty days. I was

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Speaker 1: over at Essence and I've been rolling ever since, and

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Speaker 1: I do not regret it. At at one point, like

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Speaker 1: it was it was a great decision and crazy inflection

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Speaker 1: point in my life and you know, just so happened.

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Speaker 1: It's crazy how there's no such thing as coincidence. And

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Speaker 1: you know I got invited to that hospitality suite felt like,

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Speaker 1: you know, just just fall through type of situation and

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Speaker 1: then you know it led to this, So yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: how I got here, That's how I got the Essen's

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Speaker 1: Ventures and now Sundown Media group.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know it's interesting too, like because one thing

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Speaker 3: I learned. I remember they taught us about this when

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Speaker 3: I was in grad school and they kind of sat,

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Speaker 3: at a certain point in your career, the opportunities that

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Speaker 3: you find, they're not going to be on LinkedIn or

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Speaker 3: class door and all that kind of stuff, right, And like,

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Speaker 3: I know that's the space I've been in for a while,

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Speaker 3: but it definitely sounds like and I just want people

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Speaker 3: to kind of like double clicking on what you just said, right, Like,

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Speaker 3: at a certain point, the opportunity is a relationship based.

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Speaker 3: Like I'm pretty sure they weren't searching for a you know,

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Speaker 3: chief experience officer and events officer on glass door or nothing.

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Speaker 1: Like that, right, No, Yeah, I mean it was again,

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Speaker 1: I think I don't know if it was the nature

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Speaker 1: of the conversations that we had been having, because you

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Speaker 1: know how it is when you're in a space and

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Speaker 1: all the black people kind of congregate, so we all

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Speaker 1: kind of ended up in a cipher and we just

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Speaker 1: kind of talking around different things, and I think we

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Speaker 1: talked about some experiences and some kind of new technology

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Speaker 1: here or there, because I was again talking to one

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Speaker 1: of our mutual friends, and you know, me and Rich

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Speaker 1: never said a word to each other the whole time,

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Speaker 1: but when he was getting ready to leave, he had

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Speaker 1: had to get that introduction. So I'm not sure what,

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Speaker 1: you know, I still haven't asked him that, like what

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Speaker 1: drove him to even come over and make sure he

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Speaker 1: got introduced.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, it.

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Speaker 1: After that, all of the things that you typically think

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Speaker 1: of for a job become the formalities of it all.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I had to submit my resume, but I

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Speaker 2: had already got off of the job, you know. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know, you go through all that stuff, and you

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Speaker 2: know the fulfilling you know, filling out application or whatever

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Speaker 2: you need to do, and the.

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Speaker 1: Two jobs prior to essence with the same way. You

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Speaker 1: couldn't have You couldn't have applied to it if you

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Speaker 1: wanted to. You know, it is relationship based. You know,

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Speaker 1: it is people seeking you out because they've seen your

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Speaker 1: book of work or things like that. So it definitely

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Speaker 1: gets to a point where it is about the relationships

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Speaker 1: and networking, keeping yourself top of mind and showing that

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Speaker 1: you're out here doing things and people will find you

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Speaker 1: in a lot of those situations.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, man, a lot of times I hear people thrown around,

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Speaker 3: especially you know, as influencers and creators. Everybody's throwing around.

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Speaker 3: We got to do an activation, and we got to do

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Speaker 3: experiential right, Like how did you even get involved in

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Speaker 3: the space in the first place? And like what do

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Speaker 3: you remember about your first activation or event?

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Speaker 1: So I actually got into it out of necessity. When

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Speaker 1: I was in college, I used to want to really

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Speaker 1: be in the music business. That was my thing I

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Speaker 1: wanted to be. You know, back then in the late nineties,

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Speaker 1: early two thousands, A and R was like the coolest

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Speaker 1: thing you could be in music.

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Speaker 2: So I wanted to be an an R.

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Speaker 1: And I had applied for college rep program with death

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Speaker 1: Jam Jam used to have college reps on campuses all

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Speaker 1: over the country. I didn't think I would get it,

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Speaker 1: to be honest, you know, I was kid out of Fayirville,

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Speaker 1: North Carolina, had no real music industry experience, but I

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Speaker 1: was accepted into that program. I was a Deaf Jam

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Speaker 1: college rep for North Carolina A and T and we

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Speaker 1: got all this stuff, you know, we got posters, we

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Speaker 1: had you know, CDs, Maxi singles, all those.

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Speaker 2: Good things, you know, the Maxi singles, bro.

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Speaker 1: And but we didn't get any money, you know, it

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Speaker 1: was unpaid, and so I started to think, how do

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Speaker 1: you get paid doing this? Well, now I started throwing

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Speaker 1: around the Deaf Jam name and people are like, oh,

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Speaker 1: you want to do a party at this club?

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Speaker 2: You want to do this?

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Speaker 1: So I started doing parties and using that as a

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Speaker 1: promo platform. So I party, we giveaway posters, we give

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Speaker 1: away CDs. But then I would charge for those parties.

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Speaker 1: And so that's really how I got into events. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was the necessity of it. And then that just

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Speaker 1: grew because you know, as we were doing different promotions,

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Speaker 1: you know, again aging myself. I promoted Belly, you know,

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Speaker 1: we did the at the at the movie theaters, we're

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Speaker 1: doing the letout for the movie theaters and giving them

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Speaker 1: belly merchant and driving traffic into the theaters.

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Speaker 2: We would break talent on campus.

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Speaker 1: So I had that listening sessions, you know, music Soul

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Speaker 1: Child broke on our campus in the in the student union,

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Speaker 1: and so setting up those things, and so it really

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Speaker 1: kind of came that way.

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Speaker 2: Mind you.

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Speaker 1: During the day, I'm a finance major, you know, I

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Speaker 1: was in the school business. But at night I was

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Speaker 1: in the streets, you know, throwing parties. And then I

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Speaker 1: pledged in fraternity. I was you know, Kappa, and I

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Speaker 1: became the Capital Party. So it just kind of progressed

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Speaker 1: to there. And then you know, after I graduated, I

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Speaker 1: took a finance job and to be honest, hated it.

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Speaker 1: It was just boring to me. I didn't know I did.

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Speaker 1: I knew I was not going to like it when

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Speaker 1: I took it, but that was my option. I wasn't

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Speaker 1: going home, you know, I wouldn't going back to Fairville,

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Speaker 1: and like, you graduate and gotta get a job, go

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Speaker 1: get this money, and so I took the role. But

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Speaker 1: eventually an opportunity showed up for a marketing director for

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Speaker 1: a nonprofit in New York City that was part of

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Speaker 1: the New York Giants organization. And I had gotten that

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Speaker 1: recommendation from a mentor of mine who.

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Speaker 2: Worked at the NFL. And again that's an opportunity that

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Speaker 2: wasn't listed.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he you know, his job was to manage Super

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Speaker 1: Bowl and Pro Bowl host committees. And so he disappears

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Speaker 1: during that time of year, came back, and I at

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Speaker 1: that point had decided I was quitting this job that

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Speaker 1: I was at, this program that I was in. I

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Speaker 1: was going to move to Atlanta. Actually had a whole plan.

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Speaker 1: I moved to Atlanta. My best friend was here. He

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Speaker 1: was a police officer, and he was living rent free

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Speaker 1: in Forest Park, actually out in Forest Park, and so

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Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna come crash with him and

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Speaker 1: be a financial advisor.

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Speaker 2: And now we don't have to you know, because you

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Speaker 2: got paid I think commission.

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Speaker 1: You're like, so's I can be a financial advisor living

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Speaker 1: off commission, and since I won't have rent, it won't

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Speaker 1: be that much pressure. I had this whole plan, and

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Speaker 1: he came back from Super Bowl and he's like, Yo,

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Speaker 1: that's a great plan. However, I just met with the

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Speaker 1: owner of the New York giants. He told me about

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Speaker 1: this nonprofit organization he has and he's looking for somebody

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Speaker 1: to lead his marketing and events and he's specifically looking

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Speaker 1: for an African American man.

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Speaker 2: Are you interested? Thank yeah, ripped the whole plan. I

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Speaker 2: had to rip that.

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Speaker 1: Hell yeah, I'm interested, of course, and so so I applied.

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Speaker 1: He submitted a handwritten letter of recommendation for the position

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Speaker 1: for me, you know, good looking out And so I

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Speaker 1: got the call from the hiring man. Actually I got

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Speaker 1: a call from the executive director from the organization, and

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Speaker 1: she said, I just want to let you know that

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Speaker 1: you're the only candidate, because I was living in Kansas

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Speaker 1: City at the time. You're the only candidate who is

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Speaker 1: not here in New York. You're also the only candidate

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Speaker 1: who doesn't have any full time marketing or events experience.

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Speaker 1: I'm just sitting there like, what.

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Speaker 2: Just tell me. I ain't get it. You know, why

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Speaker 2: are you dragging this out? Uh? She said?

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Speaker 1: But you're also there on the candidate who got a

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Speaker 1: handwritten letter of recommendation from the NFL.

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Speaker 2: So we want to interview you.

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Speaker 1: And in my interview, I was able to pull from

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Speaker 1: that work at depth. Jam so I didn't have full

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Speaker 1: time event experience, but the things that I did around campus,

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Speaker 1: the marketing, promotion and events, was enough to convince them

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Speaker 1: that I could do this job. And so that's really

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Speaker 1: how I got into full time events and so forth.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, man, No, that's that's an interesting approach

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Speaker 3: again because like I said, in a certain again, there's

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Speaker 3: just certain roles just aren't out there right now. This

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Speaker 3: all comes to relationships and knowing the right people. And

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Speaker 3: then you know, you obviously spend time in the agency

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Speaker 3: space and learned that world, and it's always interest about

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Speaker 3: agency world is like it was funny because I remember

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Speaker 3: growing up. I mean, I've spent time in agencies too.

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Speaker 3: We'ven't even worked at some of the same agencies, you know,

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Speaker 3: not the same time, but it's some of the same

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Speaker 3: large agencies and shops.

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Speaker 4: It's so interesting, Like I didn't even know that world existed.

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Speaker 3: Growth No, you know, I don't think they don't talk

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Speaker 3: to us about that kind of stuff, right, And so

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Speaker 3: saw that the.

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Speaker 2: Closest thing we got to it was Boomerang.

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Speaker 4: Right exactly. You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: Watching the movie Boomerang, I didn't know what it was,

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Speaker 1: but you know, to see that on the screen.

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Speaker 2: It was aspirational.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, like once I got into it, and actually,

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Speaker 1: it's funny when you get into the agency space, especially

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Speaker 1: the multicultural and urban urban they used to call it

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Speaker 1: urban urban marketing space, you run into some of the

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Speaker 1: ogs in the in the game, and it's funny all

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Speaker 1: of them. To a man, all the people that started

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Speaker 1: those old marketing agencies that we know in the space

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Speaker 1: would tell me that Marcus Graham was based on them.

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Speaker 1: From Boomerang, I was like, how is he all of y'all?

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Speaker 1: Like he's every single one of y'all. But yeah, so

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Speaker 1: you don't know, you know. Again, I was business major finance,

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Speaker 1: you know, that was and I went to Ant had

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Speaker 1: a huge, you know, business department, well known, and that's

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Speaker 1: the path that I was on, you know, And that

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Speaker 1: was what I saw is you know, financial analysts, you

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Speaker 1: know Wash Street. I did an internship in Gold and Sacks,

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Speaker 1: you know, so all of that was what I thought,

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Speaker 1: you know, was the career opportunities. And again I did

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Speaker 1: have a passion and love music and entertainment, but didn't

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Speaker 1: know that you could do that and not do that.

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Speaker 1: So you can do music and entertainment and not work

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Speaker 1: for def Jama SONI. You know, I had a realization

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Speaker 1: after my first essence fest. Somebody was one of the agents,

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Speaker 1: one of the talent managers, was talking to me and

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Speaker 1: we were just chopping it up about what we wanted

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Speaker 1: to do growing up, and I said I always wanted

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Speaker 1: to work in the music business. And he looked at me,

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Speaker 1: He's like, you are. I was like, oh, I ain't

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Speaker 1: even you know, it hadn't even registered to me. I'm

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Speaker 1: sitting here after producing this, you know, concert series for

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Speaker 1: forty thousand people.

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Speaker 2: He's like, you are in a music business. Like, well, damn,

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Speaker 2: I guess I did make it to the dream of

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Speaker 2: working in the music business.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, you don't know about the different ways that

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Speaker 1: you can actually pull your passion into something that could

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Speaker 1: be a job on occupation and don't necessarily have to

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Speaker 1: be I mean, it's you know, it's the cliche of

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Speaker 1: you know, you don't have to be on the court,

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Speaker 1: and there's all these jobs, you know, in sports, it's

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00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,480
Speaker 1: same with eco art and everything else. You know, so

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Speaker 1: all these different opportunities to get involved, and you know,

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Speaker 1: it's been I've been fortunate to be able to work

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Speaker 1: through just different passion points and figure out how to

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Speaker 1: make that work within you agency life, and then also

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Speaker 1: now at the media side.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, man, you know, I remember I bumped

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Speaker 3: into Anthony Anderson at the airport one time, and I

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Speaker 3: remember telling him because even in Blackish he was an

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Speaker 3: agency he did and I remember kind of telling him, like, man,

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Speaker 3: you were me.

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Speaker 1: I told him the same thing. I was like in

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Speaker 1: my real life youth, I'm a real life Dre that

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Speaker 1: I'm Dre.

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Speaker 4: You know. Yeah, man, It's it's funny.

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Speaker 3: It's like you don't even know this world exists, and

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Speaker 3: all of a sudden you see it, and then once

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Speaker 3: you get into it, you're like, oh, okay, I see.

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Speaker 4: So this is how all this stuff gets.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Man, A second though, you were just talking about, you know,

386
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Speaker 3: your first essence Fest and obviously you're overseeing all that stuff.

387
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Speaker 4: What do you remember about that first essence Fest?

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Speaker 1: Just being overwhelmed, to be honest, good and bad, you know,

389
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Speaker 1: overwhelmed with just the magnitude of it. I don't think

390
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Speaker 1: you realize what it is until you're on that side.

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Speaker 1: I had experienced it, especially from the agency side, activating

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Speaker 1: on behalf of some of our clients, and so you

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Speaker 1: just you know, with that, you get a very myopic

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Speaker 1: view of it. You know, this is what we do here.

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Speaker 1: But when you are on the planning side and you

396
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Speaker 1: see just how big the thing is, you know, as

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Speaker 1: we were talking yesterday, it's not just a festival. You know,

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Speaker 1: my team gets upset sometimes like we're not really a festival.

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Speaker 1: We're much bigger than a festival.

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Speaker 2: We are a.

401
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Speaker 1: Conference slash convention that hosts you know, nearly you know,

402
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Speaker 1: up to fifty thousand plus people a day in the

403
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Speaker 1: convention center.

404
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Speaker 2: Where a.

405
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Speaker 1: Film festival you know again that has multiple hundreds and

406
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Speaker 1: thousands of submissions of film that we have to cipher

407
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Speaker 1: through an award and then an extreme stream and view

408
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Speaker 1: on site. We have a marketplace that is over two

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Speaker 1: hundred plus entrepreneurs small businesses that we you know, manage,

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Speaker 1: and again, applications come in and we get thousands of

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Speaker 1: applications that we got to sort through. And then the

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Speaker 1: logistics of placing and planning and so forth. And then

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Speaker 1: you throw on top of that a concert series in

414
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Speaker 1: a stadium that holds you know, fifty thousand people. So logistically,

415
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Speaker 1: when you think about experiences and experiential some of the

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Speaker 1: most complex operational things we do together in one weekend.

417
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Speaker 1: And so to have that again I started five weeks

418
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Speaker 1: before my first success and so you know, that was

419
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Speaker 1: just overwhelming just to see it all and really trying

420
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Speaker 1: to wrap your head around all the things that have

421
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Speaker 1: to happen, but then overwhelming all the positiveness, Like it's

422
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Speaker 1: really we often say it's like a family reunion, but

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Speaker 1: it's just so much love in the city that we

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Speaker 1: can you know, that year the theme was is the

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Speaker 1: Black Joy for Me?

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Speaker 2: And it really felt that way.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's almost you know, you're walking around the

428
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Speaker 1: street and you got you know, people gonna comment on

429
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:31,199
Speaker 1: your outfit or they're gonna just you be happy to

430
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,439
Speaker 1: see you, offer you some foods. New people in New

431
00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:35,600
Speaker 1: Orleans like hey, come o buy the house. We cookn't gumbo,

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Speaker 1: Like it's very much a family environment. And then on

433
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Speaker 1: top of that, you start to share with people that

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Speaker 1: you work with essence that you're part of bringing this

435
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Speaker 1: experience just so much love, man, and it was it

436
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Speaker 1: was great to see it.

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Speaker 2: It.

438
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,560
Speaker 1: I fought again, like we talked, I fought to try

439
00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,080
Speaker 1: to start after the first Essence fast because I felt like, again,

440
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,160
Speaker 1: I'm five weeks before the first and so what can

441
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:01,720
Speaker 1: I do here?

442
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:02,800
Speaker 2: But it did.

443
00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 1: It was it was a valuable opportunity for me to

444
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,400
Speaker 1: see it. It was low pressure because again we had

445
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,000
Speaker 1: a great team in place and a lot of the

446
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,720
Speaker 1: things were kind of nailed and ready to go by

447
00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,119
Speaker 1: the time I got there. But it was you can't

448
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:20,640
Speaker 1: learn it without experiencing it, and so that being down

449
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,240
Speaker 1: there was great to just kind of start taking it

450
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: all in.

451
00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:24,480
Speaker 2: So, yeah, to.

452
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:26,920
Speaker 3: Do an event that be because again, you know, people

453
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,240
Speaker 3: want to talk about events and activations and all this

454
00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:31,520
Speaker 3: kind of stuff, and just at an event at that

455
00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:36,679
Speaker 3: scale and even with your role, like, what's something that

456
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,760
Speaker 3: would surprise people about what it takes to logistically pull

457
00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:41,240
Speaker 3: that off?

458
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,119
Speaker 1: Oh, it's probably a lot because people think they know,

459
00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:51,119
Speaker 1: but they have no idea to think about the economies

460
00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:55,400
Speaker 1: and economics of the thing. And actually people that work

461
00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,880
Speaker 1: in our industry are often surprised. When I was speaking

462
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,800
Speaker 1: with Ryan over the gathering spot, can.

463
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:07,480
Speaker 2: I say that on there? Okay from the show to

464
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,120
Speaker 2: give no free unless you know.

465
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:11,400
Speaker 4: They've been here.

466
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,479
Speaker 1: Talking to Ryan when he was doing the talk right

467
00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:18,160
Speaker 1: after this year is Esta's Fest and he was trying

468
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,720
Speaker 1: to guess how much talent costs and me and Jay

469
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,200
Speaker 1: Carter was like, no, no more more.

470
00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:24,840
Speaker 2: He's like for.

471
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,200
Speaker 1: Real, like no, it's I think people will be surprised

472
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,600
Speaker 1: at how much of an investment it takes to create

473
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 1: this experience.

474
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:35,680
Speaker 2: It's not a money grab by people. Oh you know,

475
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:36,600
Speaker 2: you're all trying to know.

476
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:41,439
Speaker 1: There's a lot cheaper ways to make money than to

477
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:46,080
Speaker 1: throw a festival. Festivals and large scale events are expensive.

478
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 1: They are a very much cash up front business. You

479
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:54,840
Speaker 1: can't float your deposits for venues, you know, you can't

480
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:59,480
Speaker 1: net whatever talent you know they need. People need money,

481
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,680
Speaker 1: so you need money to be able to do these

482
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,760
Speaker 1: and oft the time, you need money before you make money.

483
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:06,600
Speaker 1: And I think that is probably one of the biggest

484
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,280
Speaker 1: things that people don't understand and they get into this business.

485
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 1: And to quote Jay Carter from when we were on

486
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,400
Speaker 1: that panel, if you're getting into this game to do

487
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,280
Speaker 1: events and large scale events and cultural events, be prepared

488
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,480
Speaker 1: to lose money for at least five years, because that's

489
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 1: really to build it up.

490
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 2: It takes that. And then once you get that doesn't

491
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:29,720
Speaker 2: mean you'ren to stay there either.

492
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,480
Speaker 1: Even if you get to profitable, all types of things happen,

493
00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,160
Speaker 1: you know, and it could knock you off just as

494
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,720
Speaker 1: quickly as you got there. So I think that people

495
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,560
Speaker 1: don't know that this is a very expensive endeavor. And again,

496
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,600
Speaker 1: unless you love it, unless you've got a clear understanding

497
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,320
Speaker 1: of how you're going to be different than the next event,

498
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 1: or you've got some special sauce that somebody else doesn't have,

499
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:56,520
Speaker 1: you may want to look at it another way of

500
00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,080
Speaker 1: making money because it's not a quick fix. It's not

501
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:03,119
Speaker 1: gonna you're not gonna run off with the bag just

502
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,200
Speaker 1: by doing an event in year one for sure.

503
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 3: Because like how many how many just on the artist side,

504
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,359
Speaker 3: like how many artists performed at in Essence Festers.

505
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,159
Speaker 2: They have forty artists on our super Doll stage.

506
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:18,040
Speaker 3: So that's forty artists, that's forty riders, that's forty entourages,

507
00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:20,680
Speaker 3: that's forty man. Like, I'm just trying to help people

508
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:21,840
Speaker 3: understand the scale of this thing.

509
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,600
Speaker 1: And that's not even to mention the talent in the

510
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:27,720
Speaker 1: convention center, right, because all of our stages in the

511
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,520
Speaker 1: convention center also loaded with talent. So we probably had

512
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,560
Speaker 1: another two hundred to two hundred and fifty members of

513
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: talent just in the convention center. So even the talent

514
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:41,960
Speaker 1: operation itself is on a magnitude that people probably can't understand. Yeah,

515
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 1: like you said, you got not only do you have

516
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:51,879
Speaker 1: their fees, but then there's hospitality, there's transportation, ground transportation,

517
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,560
Speaker 1: there's movement once they get there. So there's one talent

518
00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: has ten to fifteen touch points before they even get

519
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:01,360
Speaker 1: on stage.

520
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:03,400
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, man.

521
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,439
Speaker 3: Like again, it's funny actually talked to j Carter, yes

522
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 3: that he's been on here. Like again, like we we

523
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 3: talk about the events of these scale, and I know

524
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,359
Speaker 3: there was you know, a lot of just again obviously

525
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,280
Speaker 3: there was you know, events have challenges, a lot of

526
00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 3: stuff going on, but like just talk about what's the

527
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 3: economic impact of an essence fest on a city like

528
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,399
Speaker 3: New Orleans, And that's why it's important that exists in

529
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:23,800
Speaker 3: that space.

530
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're still waiting on our numbers for this year,

531
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,960
Speaker 2: but our numbers in twenty twenty four it's three hundred

532
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 2: and fifty one million dollars of economic impact over the

533
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 2: weekend and we were there, you know, so it's it

534
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:36,080
Speaker 2: has a huge impact.

535
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:38,440
Speaker 1: This you know, we love to support the city, the city.

536
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 1: It supports us as well. You know, we we go

537
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:46,920
Speaker 1: together real bad us in New Orleans and and it's

538
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,679
Speaker 1: part of our advocacy emission is too because we know,

539
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 1: you know, that is a very a city that's very

540
00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: deep with the culture.

541
00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 2: You know it is.

542
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,240
Speaker 1: It is one of our crown jewels and Black Black America.

543
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,120
Speaker 1: And so to be able to support in that way

544
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,359
Speaker 1: and have the support that we get from new ones

545
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 1: is very important to us in that relationship.

546
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:09,960
Speaker 4: Yeah.

547
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 3: Now on the other side, man, like like I was

548
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,760
Speaker 3: saying before, you got everybody all these you know, influencers

549
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 3: and creators they love to throw around. We got to

550
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,240
Speaker 3: do an activation, We got to get a sponsor. Like

551
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,040
Speaker 3: what do people normally get wrong when it takes to

552
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,960
Speaker 3: not just getting partnerships, like really landing partnerships with like

553
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 3: large brands.

554
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 1: The days of creating your experience, creating a pitch deck

555
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: with benefits packages and just having them pick one presenting.

556
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,600
Speaker 1: Those days are over, especially for the bigger brands and

557
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: you know, the larger sums of money brands and partners. Well,

558
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:53,359
Speaker 1: brands want to be seen as partners at least the

559
00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:56,359
Speaker 1: ones that we work with, and that's how we approach it.

560
00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:01,680
Speaker 1: Your partners, so you're included in planning, programming ideas.

561
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,600
Speaker 2: You know. Also, it's a dialogue. It's not just it's

562
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 2: not a one way conversation.

563
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,439
Speaker 1: It has to be a dialogue of what is it

564
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 1: that this property that I'm creating, What can it do

565
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,200
Speaker 1: for your business? What problem can it solve you? What

566
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 1: community can it connect you with? And how would that

567
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 1: most benefit you? And what are those key performance indicators

568
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 1: that we can build out this program or this this

569
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:31,439
Speaker 1: this package together. That's really what I mean again, I

570
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,879
Speaker 1: remember those days where oh, yeah, I'm doing this party.

571
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 1: You know, you get your name on the step and repeat,

572
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,680
Speaker 1: you get this, this, and this for ten thousand dollars.

573
00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:43,919
Speaker 1: And even then it still would always be a negotiation.

574
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,919
Speaker 1: But I feel like even more so now, like you

575
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,880
Speaker 1: don't even go there, like don't even know. We got

576
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:51,960
Speaker 1: to talk about what it is that you're trying to accomplish.

577
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 1: And then let me go back to the lab. Build

578
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,880
Speaker 1: you a package, put some dollars against it, just because

579
00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,359
Speaker 1: I know what it's going to cost me to do

580
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: what you're looking for cost plus, and then I'll come

581
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: back to you and say, all right, you said this

582
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 1: was the problem that you needed to solve This is

583
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,480
Speaker 1: what I can do to help solve that through my

584
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:13,119
Speaker 1: community that I'm building here. These are the deliverables that

585
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:15,959
Speaker 1: you will receive and this is the dollar amount, So

586
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: it really is more of a conversation before it is

587
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,360
Speaker 1: a dictated like package handed off.

588
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 4: Yeah.

589
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 3: So imagine you know, you transform transplaces to another another place,

590
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:35,800
Speaker 3: another dimension or another another parallel universe, and you're starting

591
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 3: off the Barclay group. But you know everything you know

592
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,080
Speaker 3: now about experiencial events. If you were putting an event together,

593
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,679
Speaker 3: how would you approach a brand to try to get

594
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:46,640
Speaker 3: them involved?

595
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 2: First?

596
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,000
Speaker 1: Before I would even approach them, I would make sure

597
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 1: that I have a community already. And that's one of

598
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:55,640
Speaker 1: the things you can do with I'll spend the money.

599
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,200
Speaker 1: You can start to build your community people that are

600
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,399
Speaker 1: interested in what you're doing, so you can show I

601
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: got all these people behind me that are dying for this.

602
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 1: Because a year one ha been is very difficult to

603
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 1: get support, and that's been the case since I've been

604
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:16,680
Speaker 1: in experiential. Nobody wants to be the test dummy. Nobody

605
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 1: wants to see you test and learn on their dollar.

606
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: But if you can show that you already have a

607
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,560
Speaker 1: built in community that's going to buy whatever you put

608
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 1: out there that helps mitigate that risk. So I would

609
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:35,920
Speaker 1: definitely start there. Secondly, I would create something as small

610
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 1: as possible to be the most impactful as possible. To

611
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,120
Speaker 1: start small, don't go big. And I've seen it. I've

612
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: seen people crash and burn. They come out with three stages,

613
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: and I'm like, bro.

614
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:46,960
Speaker 2: You ain't felt one stage.

615
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 1: How you gonna go How you gonna build something with

616
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 1: three stages and you ain't sold out a stage? First off?

617
00:28:53,360 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: And so community first, making sure you go MVP. You know,

618
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: the minimum product, Yeah, the smallest, most effective thing that

619
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:09,320
Speaker 1: you can do that can deliver upon what your objectives are.

620
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 2: And then you go there.

621
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:13,000
Speaker 1: I would take that and then go there and then

622
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 1: again co create from that point, because again, if you

623
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 1: keep it small, you give room an opportunity for growth

624
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 1: through partnership. So you got your core thing, you go

625
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 1: talk to X, Y and Z Corporation and like, oh,

626
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 1: that's dope, but we're working on something that's like this,

627
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,360
Speaker 1: could you fit that within your objectives and your pillars?

628
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 1: And if you can, now you've actually grown your experience

629
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 1: without the burden of you having to fully be the

630
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:42,000
Speaker 1: one to grow it. As long as it aligns with

631
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 1: what you plan on doing, then it works out.

632
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean I've run a very similar play

633
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 3: and you. So, for example, I do an event called

634
00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 3: Creators of Color, right, Like, I felt like Atlanta kind

635
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 3: of needed its own kind of creative you know, conference

636
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 3: in the sense or like just kind of creative thing, right.

637
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 3: And so the first year I started doing, which was

638
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,560
Speaker 3: last year, I was going back and forth and I

639
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 3: started to like make a deck and all this stuff,

640
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 3: and I was like, you know what, like to your point,

641
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 3: I said, Man, I don't have time for this. I'm

642
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 3: just gonna do this thing. So I literally paid for

643
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:13,320
Speaker 3: my own pocket. I rented out the gathering spot. You know,

644
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 3: I have a pretty large platform with butter atl got

645
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 3: a huge email list, a large following on social you know.

646
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:21,160
Speaker 3: I called up some friends, had them come out they

647
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 3: were going to be involved in it. Literally sent a

648
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 3: couple of emails. Thousand people showed up.

649
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 2: To the gathering spot.

650
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,760
Speaker 3: It was packed out. I made sure that we had

651
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,479
Speaker 3: photos and videos from that event. I packaged those up,

652
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 3: kind of talked to some folks. Then all of a sudden,

653
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 3: I had a conversation with State Farm Arena, and they

654
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 3: were like, yeah, we saw what you did, would you

655
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 3: be interested in doing it here? Because like I tell people, like,

656
00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 3: when you've done it, you already now you have the leverage.

657
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 3: Now I'm not sitting here going to them saying, well,

658
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 3: this what it might be like and they can envision

659
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 3: themselves kind of seeing it to your point of align

660
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:53,080
Speaker 3: with one of their pillars and what they were trying

661
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,200
Speaker 3: to do next year, which was this year. Back in April,

662
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 3: I literally rented out State Farm Arena and brought four

663
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 3: thousand people to State for And so that's how I've

664
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:03,920
Speaker 3: been kind of building this thing step by step and

665
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 3: I have not had a sponsor come on yet. Now

666
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,239
Speaker 3: the funny part what I did was after I did

667
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 3: it this year, I went on LinkedIn strategically and I

668
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 3: had all these I had a photographer come out to

669
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,239
Speaker 3: an amazing photography, had videography, all that stuff. We were

670
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 3: literally on the court. Like I told them, I said,

671
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 3: I'll only do it if you let me go on

672
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 3: the court and do it. So I'm literally sitting at

673
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 3: center court. I got the mayor and all this stuff,

674
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 3: and so I posted like all the photos on LinkedIn

675
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 3: like the next day and I was like, man, we

676
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 3: just need created as a color two this year was

677
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,920
Speaker 3: at State Farm Arena, like this amazing. I said, still

678
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 3: no partners, those sponsors, but you know it, go keep

679
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,720
Speaker 3: on going. Let me tell you we're about thirty minutes later.

680
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 3: YouTube split In my emails like hey, you would have

681
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 3: a conversation, but I tell people it's like you have

682
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 3: to kind of put it out there first, especially because

683
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 3: we kind of talked about this, right, Like people, I

684
00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 3: think forget that at these brands. People work at these brands,

685
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 3: and these people they got mortgages, they got bills, they

686
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,920
Speaker 3: got kids, they got car notes, and so they're trying

687
00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:58,480
Speaker 3: to protect their jobs too, right, So you got to

688
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:00,840
Speaker 3: help set them up to be successful, right for sure.

689
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 2: Two things. One, you actually gave me a trick question.

690
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 1: You said, if I was starting to take today, how

691
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,400
Speaker 1: would I go to a partner? And you actually, if

692
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to a partner, I would I would

693
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 1: build it on my own first. So that would be

694
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 1: one of the things Like if that wasn't part of

695
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 1: the question, I would have said, what you did, build

696
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: it on your own first before you go to partner,

697
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:27,120
Speaker 1: because you have that proof point to showcase. And when

698
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 1: you talk about people on a partnership level and the

699
00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 1: brand level, you're right. So they have all those things careers,

700
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,480
Speaker 1: they got to protect, they got goals and objectives, they

701
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 1: got to reach within the building, but they also have

702
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 1: personal interest and so a lot of times where you

703
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 1: actually get the end roads is if you build something

704
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 1: that connects with somebody that's already inside, even if it's

705
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 1: just it could be as surface level as I just

706
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 1: want to be there. You know, that was a dope

707
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:55,920
Speaker 1: event over at the gathering spot I didn't get in

708
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 1: on if you know, I represented X y Z brand.

709
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 1: Now I'm not only in there, but I'm sponsoring I'm

710
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 1: going to be there.

711
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 2: You know.

712
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 1: I've had clients in the past that just wanted to

713
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 1: be next to one of the talent that we hire.

714
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:11,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, they're a fan of so and so.

715
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 2: But then it can also be deeper.

716
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 1: It's just again they have a personal connection to what

717
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,239
Speaker 1: you're building and they see that how it aligns with

718
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,200
Speaker 1: what they're trying to do within their company. So it

719
00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: really is a people business when it comes to that

720
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 1: as well, because again that's why the conversations are important

721
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 1: as opposed to just.

722
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 2: Trying to push down their throat what you want to do.

723
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 3: How do you address the issue of money when it

724
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:47,400
Speaker 3: comes up, because you can't do all this stuff without money,

725
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 3: And a lot of times I think creatives kind of

726
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:51,760
Speaker 3: find themselves or just people trying to do if it's

727
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,000
Speaker 3: find themselves. In this kind of like chicken or egg situation,

728
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 3: it's like, you know, I want to work with you,

729
00:33:57,680 --> 00:33:58,440
Speaker 3: what's your budget?

730
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 4: Well, how much does it cost to go back that

731
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:02,400
Speaker 4: whole two step two step? Right?

732
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 3: Gosh, Like, how do you kind of handle that situation?

733
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,080
Speaker 3: Or what advice would you even give to somebody that's

734
00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:08,720
Speaker 3: like kind of handle little situations.

735
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: It depends on what side you are on of that

736
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:17,160
Speaker 1: two step, but I think from the hiring side, just.

737
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:18,959
Speaker 2: Be clear on what your budget is out front.

738
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,240
Speaker 1: You know, if you know you only got X amount

739
00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 1: of dollars and you might not have to give them

740
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:24,719
Speaker 1: the whole thing because of course, you know, if I

741
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 1: got two hundred thousand dollars til you got one hundred

742
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,400
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars dollars, because you're gonna come back to

743
00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:30,600
Speaker 1: me with a two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars idea,

744
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 1: figure it out. So I think, you know, from that side,

745
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 1: it's fine. Like people, I think some folks feel like, oh,

746
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:40,520
Speaker 1: if I tell them I got one hundred and fifty

747
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:42,200
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, they gonna give me one hundred and fifty

748
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,839
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. They're gonna spend all my money. They might

749
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:50,560
Speaker 1: they might, you know, or they might give you what

750
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:54,080
Speaker 1: it costs to do what you're asking for, But ultimately

751
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 1: it cuts down on the two step because that takes time.

752
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 1: That's the time suck to be like, well, you know

753
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 1: what's your budget. I don't know how much it's gonna

754
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:06,000
Speaker 1: cost me to do it, and that back and forth.

755
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:09,200
Speaker 1: Just just tell them what you got, you know, you

756
00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:10,920
Speaker 1: hold some back and do that. And then on the

757
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:18,040
Speaker 1: other side, I don't like even looking to create without

758
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:21,600
Speaker 1: at least having parameters, right like, if you can't give

759
00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:26,759
Speaker 1: me I got two hundred thousand dollars, well what's the range? Yeah,

760
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,719
Speaker 1: give me something, because the worst thing that ever happens

761
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,879
Speaker 1: is you go, you create this amazing idea, you come

762
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,839
Speaker 1: and pitch it to somebody, They love it, they buy

763
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:39,600
Speaker 1: in on it, and then they tell you their budget

764
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,600
Speaker 1: like it's a half a million dollar idea and they

765
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 1: tell you they got one hundred thousand dollars. You can't

766
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 1: put the genie back in the bottle. So once they

767
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 1: decide that they liked that idea, nothing because now you're

768
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:52,840
Speaker 1: in a buying because now you've got to try to

769
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 1: figure out how you're gonna get as close to this

770
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:58,479
Speaker 1: half million dollar idea for a fraction of the money

771
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:03,160
Speaker 1: twenty percent of the budget, because they won't accept a

772
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,480
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars version of that five hundred thousand dollars idea.

773
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 1: They've already seen that and fallen in love with that,

774
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,759
Speaker 1: so you really try to You got to try to

775
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: get something out of them, so you at least are

776
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:18,799
Speaker 1: building within the ballpark and not get setting yourself up

777
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:20,680
Speaker 1: for something where they're just not going to be satisfied.

778
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:23,920
Speaker 3: One of the one of the things I tell brands

779
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 3: when I talk to them is creatives need parameters.

780
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:29,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, like.

781
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,920
Speaker 3: Always, because the worst thing you can do is say,

782
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,440
Speaker 3: you know, just go be creative, like there's no restraints.

783
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:37,320
Speaker 3: I say, no, actually, there needs to be constraints, because

784
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,239
Speaker 3: you know, my version of creativity could be drawing a

785
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:40,879
Speaker 3: stick figure on a piece of paper and saying here

786
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:43,080
Speaker 3: you go, right, And so you know, the example I

787
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,920
Speaker 3: always kind of give is think about it like basketball. Right,

788
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 3: Like basketball has rules, there are rules of the game.

789
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 3: The beauty of the sport is how creative can you

790
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:54,799
Speaker 3: be inside of those rules? And I look at it

791
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 3: the same way when it comes to you know, creativity

792
00:36:57,800 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 3: and brands and sponsorships, right like I need to your

793
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,480
Speaker 3: point the parameters, and what I'm going to think about

794
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,560
Speaker 3: is what can I come back with It's going to

795
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,319
Speaker 3: give you the most value within those constraints. But what

796
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 3: I can't do, especially when you run I mean because

797
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:12,439
Speaker 3: I run a small business. You know what I'm saying,

798
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 3: Like butter is a small team. We do a lot

799
00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:16,879
Speaker 3: of good stuff as a small team. But having come

800
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,600
Speaker 3: from the agency side, right Like on people don't notice,

801
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:20,600
Speaker 3: but on agent side, we have a.

802
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:24,440
Speaker 4: Thing called new business and that's an investment.

803
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 1: Right.

804
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,200
Speaker 3: So because again to pursue a piece of work, it

805
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:31,400
Speaker 3: takes people. Agencies sell time and so they might invest

806
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,640
Speaker 3: make it up fifty one hundred thousand dollars in especially

807
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:36,720
Speaker 3: we start getting you know, certain people's titles on the business.

808
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,160
Speaker 3: Right in pursuing a piece of work, for me as

809
00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:44,760
Speaker 3: a small company, I can't spend all day making estimates

810
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 3: and depths because I'm not making that money, right, And

811
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:49,279
Speaker 3: so that's why I really try to have those conversations

812
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,279
Speaker 3: with those brands. And that's why it's so amazing when

813
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,600
Speaker 3: you can find people that are really good partners and

814
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:55,399
Speaker 3: kind of understand that. And like I said, the ones

815
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 3: that I have the most successful with are the ones say, look, Brandon,

816
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,480
Speaker 3: you know this we're trying to do. Here's our budget.

817
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:02,799
Speaker 3: And like I tell folks like making up, you tell

818
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 3: me your budget is fifty thousand dollars, Like, I'm not

819
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:07,040
Speaker 3: going to come back you and be like, Okay, here's

820
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 3: forty nine, no nine, you know what I mean. I'm

821
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:11,440
Speaker 3: gonna come back you with what I think can be

822
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 3: the right fit for that correct and you know, And

823
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:15,040
Speaker 3: that's what people have to kind of understand.

824
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:20,080
Speaker 1: And oftentimes having those parameters drives more creativity.

825
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:20,399
Speaker 2: Right.

826
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,840
Speaker 1: If I know I have to do something dope and

827
00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:24,920
Speaker 1: I don't have, you know, half a million dollars to

828
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:26,839
Speaker 1: do it, now, I got to really think about how

829
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,360
Speaker 1: we do that and make it make it worth, you

830
00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,000
Speaker 1: know what, we're trying to make it worth without having

831
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,640
Speaker 1: all the dollars behind it. And you know another thing

832
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:39,400
Speaker 1: that I will say, when you said new business, I

833
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:40,359
Speaker 1: thought about a couple of things.

834
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:41,759
Speaker 2: One, I've been on that new business.

835
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:42,520
Speaker 4: Flash back a line.

836
00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,400
Speaker 1: I was like a new business team, how much we're

837
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,719
Speaker 1: gonna invest, you know, and how much we're going to

838
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,000
Speaker 1: send a thank you gift after this over and there's

839
00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:54,920
Speaker 1: a whole thing. But then the other thing, especially for

840
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:59,520
Speaker 1: small businesses and people that are looking to like jump

841
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 1: into different industries, be careful of how much of a

842
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:09,600
Speaker 1: discount you offer to get that business. Yeah, because if

843
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,439
Speaker 1: you think after your year one of doing this thing

844
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:16,279
Speaker 1: that they loved that you gave a steep discount for,

845
00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:20,240
Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to recoup a year two sadly mistaken.

846
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:23,839
Speaker 1: What you set as the president is what they look for.

847
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,120
Speaker 1: That's the anker for, that's the anchor. So you can

848
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:29,880
Speaker 1: only wiggle maybe twenty percent, especially if you delivering the

849
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 1: same you know, type of impact. So yeah, I've seen that.

850
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,279
Speaker 1: I've actually seen it on multiple levels. I've seen it

851
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:39,920
Speaker 1: in the agency space where you know, we give them

852
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:42,680
Speaker 1: three million dollars worth of work for a million dollars

853
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:46,200
Speaker 1: and then you know, as the as the account lead

854
00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:48,759
Speaker 1: I'm setting in for the year two negotiations like all right,

855
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:50,400
Speaker 1: we got to you gotta get us back.

856
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:51,719
Speaker 2: Up to at least close to where we are. And

857
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 2: now I have a client like, no, that's not happening.

858
00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 4: No, you already did all the work.

859
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 1: You did it, and you did you set the precedent

860
00:39:57,200 --> 00:39:58,920
Speaker 1: of how much it costs to do these things. I

861
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,719
Speaker 1: want the same level of production, but again, no more

862
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,719
Speaker 1: than a twenty percent increase year over year if that.

863
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 1: And so yeah, be careful because you'll get yourself locked in. Especially,

864
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 1: be careful if it's a steep discount is actually costing

865
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 1: you money, because then now your business is running in

866
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:20,040
Speaker 1: an opposite direction. Yeah, and so yeah, I would definitely say,

867
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:23,040
Speaker 1: you know, be careful with the discounts you offer. Make

868
00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 1: sure it makes sense, make sure you're willing to live

869
00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:31,200
Speaker 1: within that range with that particular client, and you know,

870
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 1: don't offer it to everybody. You know, get you one

871
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:37,239
Speaker 1: or two in there, and then from there you've got

872
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:39,640
Speaker 1: your solid foundation and you don't have to try to

873
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:40,520
Speaker 1: offer discounts.

874
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 4: Yeah.

875
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 3: One of the best things I learned I spent some

876
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,759
Speaker 3: time at an agency. I won't say which one, but like,

877
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,759
Speaker 3: one of the best things I learned there was the

878
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:51,759
Speaker 3: idea of margin and how to actually built that in right,

879
00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 3: And so again like all this stuff at a certain

880
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 3: point is a math equation, right, Like you're talking about

881
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 3: you know, people and effort time. You put a value

882
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:01,799
Speaker 3: on that time time. But then what I think a

883
00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:04,080
Speaker 3: lot of people miss is is like, Okay, adding what

884
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:06,000
Speaker 3: margin do you want to make off of this business?

885
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:07,319
Speaker 4: And then adding that on top of it.

886
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:09,400
Speaker 3: There's this other book that I read, it's called Profit

887
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,480
Speaker 3: First that I actually started implementing that a couple of

888
00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:14,600
Speaker 3: years ago, and that's really helped out because now it's like, Okay,

889
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:16,360
Speaker 3: if we do this work, we got to ask ourselves

890
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:19,600
Speaker 3: like we're not going to do the work, and you know, and.

891
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 4: Then whatever's left.

892
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:20,880
Speaker 2: You know.

893
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:22,560
Speaker 3: I literally was talking to somebody the other day and

894
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:25,640
Speaker 3: I was like, look, bro, like I can't you know,

895
00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:27,879
Speaker 3: I'm just getting to make it up numbers Like I can't.

896
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:28,239
Speaker 4: I can't.

897
00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:30,880
Speaker 3: You can't tell me you know this work is you know,

898
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:32,719
Speaker 3: you'd have got ten grand, but you want me to

899
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:34,560
Speaker 3: do eighty five hundred worth of work?

900
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:34,719
Speaker 2: Right?

901
00:41:34,719 --> 00:41:36,320
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Because at the end of

902
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 3: the day, I'm my company's walking away with fifteen hundred

903
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,160
Speaker 3: bucks and that's not going to help us do anything right.

904
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:43,440
Speaker 3: And so what I've even started doing this has been

905
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:45,239
Speaker 3: really helpful to our business. And again I've learned this

906
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,880
Speaker 3: in agencies, like really building that margin in and asking myself, okay,

907
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 3: like at the end of the day, what do we

908
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:52,240
Speaker 3: actually want to make off of this, and like making

909
00:41:52,239 --> 00:41:54,799
Speaker 3: sure that profit margins protected because that's what's allowed, that's

910
00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:56,880
Speaker 3: what allows you to grow. The worst thing you can

911
00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,279
Speaker 3: do is, especially as a small business, is just do

912
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:02,600
Speaker 3: things that catst or even worse. If you do that

913
00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 3: at cost, you're probably losing.

914
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:05,439
Speaker 1: Money, right, You're losing money if you're doing that cost

915
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 1: off rip, you know, because it costs you just to

916
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:11,000
Speaker 1: go get whatever you was getting. It's costing your overhead,

917
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 1: Like you're not even including all of that usually in

918
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:16,360
Speaker 1: your cost is you know your your cell phone bills

919
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:20,520
Speaker 1: in there somewhere. Yeah, No, you're right, And you said

920
00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 1: something that just made me think too. Chat GBT pulled

921
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 1: out left Lane and that shout out to Chat. But

922
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:29,839
Speaker 1: what it didn't say about left Lane and how it

923
00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:33,640
Speaker 1: was a catastrophic failure. When I first started, I moved

924
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,879
Speaker 1: to Atlanta, started a business, started an agency, had never

925
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:42,040
Speaker 1: worked at an agency, started an agency failed. I didn't

926
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,560
Speaker 1: even know how to price out the work that I

927
00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:49,000
Speaker 1: was doing my time. So don't be afraid also to

928
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:49,879
Speaker 1: get paid to learn.

929
00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:54,960
Speaker 3: Say it again, please, because Atlanta is such a I

930
00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:57,560
Speaker 3: always say it's such a hustle based city that what

931
00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:00,839
Speaker 3: I've noticed is a lot of entrepreneur people. They think

932
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,600
Speaker 3: there's value in completely avoiding that corporate angle.

933
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,560
Speaker 4: And I always tell people work teaches you how to work.

934
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:08,319
Speaker 3: And I see it a lot when I work with

935
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,400
Speaker 3: people that have never had a real corporate job. They

936
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:14,080
Speaker 3: can't run a meeting, they can't do an estimate. It's

937
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:16,680
Speaker 3: like work teacher, It's okay to learn how to work.

938
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:18,719
Speaker 2: I get paid your paige to learn.

939
00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:22,440
Speaker 1: When Left Lane failed, so I started in two thousand

940
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:26,200
Speaker 1: and four. By by the end of two thousand, by

941
00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:28,239
Speaker 1: mid two thousand and five, I was like, yeah, I.

942
00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:32,080
Speaker 2: Don't know, it's not working out.

943
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:37,480
Speaker 1: So when I ended up leaving, leaving Atlanta going back

944
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:40,319
Speaker 1: to Brooklyn around two thousand and six, and that's when

945
00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:42,200
Speaker 1: I said to myself, I was like, I need to

946
00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:44,759
Speaker 1: work at an agency because I don't know how to

947
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:46,960
Speaker 1: run an agency, and so I ended up getting an

948
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,360
Speaker 1: agency job. I was working new business, and new business

949
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:52,080
Speaker 1: was a great place to work because I had to

950
00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:54,120
Speaker 1: do all the budgets. So I had Now I got

951
00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:58,200
Speaker 1: a budget template. I know how much things cost. I

952
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:00,439
Speaker 1: know how to cost plus you know, like you said,

953
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,279
Speaker 1: you know margin as a margin in there. You know,

954
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,439
Speaker 1: there's this table is one hundred dollars, We're gonna charge

955
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:08,680
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty dollars for it. I learned how

956
00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 1: to calculate time value of people by position, fees, all

957
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:16,440
Speaker 1: of that. So now I'm like, ah, so this is

958
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:19,279
Speaker 1: I saw all the things that I had done wrong. Right,

959
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:22,360
Speaker 1: you know, I'm people paying me with chicken plates in Atlanta,

960
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:28,160
Speaker 1: and so now I know how to price out the work. Also,

961
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:31,600
Speaker 1: I got the relationships when I was at the agency.

962
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:34,520
Speaker 1: So that's when I started working with the big brands

963
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:37,560
Speaker 1: because I was again got the backing of this agency.

964
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,080
Speaker 1: That's putting me in front of these brands, especially in

965
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,480
Speaker 1: doing new business. So I'm running around the country pitching ideas,

966
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 1: responding to RFP. I didn't even know what an RFP

967
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:49,160
Speaker 1: was in two thousand and four were left Lane, So

968
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:52,880
Speaker 1: just learning the industry, especially if it's something that you

969
00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:54,640
Speaker 1: want to do entrepreneurially.

970
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with going and learning because.

971
00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:02,040
Speaker 1: I learned so much in that time at that first

972
00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:06,560
Speaker 1: agency that I went to, and then I relaunched Left.

973
00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:08,520
Speaker 2: Lane basically and killed it.

974
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:13,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely murdered for five years, did amazing work with

975
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:17,320
Speaker 1: all types of brands all over the country. Built my resume,

976
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:21,320
Speaker 1: built my experience, built my name. And it was because

977
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:24,520
Speaker 1: I learned by going in house to an agency to

978
00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:25,760
Speaker 1: how to run an agency.

979
00:45:26,719 --> 00:45:28,880
Speaker 4: No man, look, yeah, you got to do it. And

980
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 4: there's nothing wrong with getting paid to learn.

981
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:32,920
Speaker 3: And I always say this too, it's a lot of

982
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,200
Speaker 3: y'all is stressed out becau y'all shouldn't be running businesses

983
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:35,880
Speaker 3: in the first place.

984
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:38,400
Speaker 2: And it's okay. Everybody's not built to be an entrepreneurs.

985
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:39,800
Speaker 4: It's everybody's not built, and it's okay.

986
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:41,440
Speaker 3: A lot of y'all are stressed out because y'all are

987
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:42,920
Speaker 3: trying to be number one on your own thing. You

988
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:46,640
Speaker 3: should probably be number ten, twenty or fifty in something else.

989
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:49,040
Speaker 3: And there's nothing wrong with nothing, nothing at all. You know,

990
00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:50,799
Speaker 3: wait till you wait till you get that payroll bill.

991
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:51,279
Speaker 4: Like trust me.

992
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:55,279
Speaker 3: It's nothing wrong with with do it on somebody else's time, man, Barklay. Look,

993
00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:57,560
Speaker 3: this has been a great conversation man, before we got

994
00:45:57,600 --> 00:45:59,720
Speaker 3: out of here. Just you know, for the next group

995
00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:02,680
Speaker 3: of you know, young creatives and entrepreneurs and people they

996
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:05,200
Speaker 3: really want to get into this space, what's the piece

997
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 3: of advice that you would kind of give them if

998
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:08,319
Speaker 3: they want to get into space and like actually start

999
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:11,200
Speaker 3: doing events, whether they're a huge as Essence fest or

1000
00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:13,319
Speaker 3: if they're doing something local, Like, what would you tell them.

1001
00:46:13,719 --> 00:46:15,920
Speaker 1: We'll definitely kind of piggybacking off what I said before.

1002
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:21,600
Speaker 1: Start small, build your community, and then the basic stuff

1003
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:23,759
Speaker 1: that I always tell anybody that works with me, You

1004
00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:24,960
Speaker 1: got to have these things down.

1005
00:46:25,080 --> 00:46:28,440
Speaker 2: Number One, be on time. And that's not.

1006
00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:33,880
Speaker 1: Just the literal beyond time, it's also the broad spectrum.

1007
00:46:33,960 --> 00:46:38,279
Speaker 1: So make sure your production schedules on time, make sure

1008
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:41,680
Speaker 1: your payments are on time, make sure your influx of

1009
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:44,919
Speaker 1: cash is on time, and also show up on time

1010
00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:48,839
Speaker 1: to set because events are as stressful enough as it is,

1011
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:52,439
Speaker 1: and so adding time pressure to it it just makes

1012
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:58,759
Speaker 1: it worse. In general things Again, this is if you're

1013
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:01,359
Speaker 1: doing this, if you're in speriential. I'm talking to you

1014
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:05,120
Speaker 1: right now. Number two, if you're traveling for an experience,

1015
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,480
Speaker 1: stay as close to the venue as possible, and if

1016
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:11,240
Speaker 1: you can stay in the same venue, do that because

1017
00:47:11,239 --> 00:47:13,919
Speaker 1: you get that two am call if something fail down

1018
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:16,080
Speaker 1: and ain't working and you can just go downstairs and

1019
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:17,280
Speaker 1: fix it.

1020
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:18,879
Speaker 2: It's worth it. Even if you've got to pay more.

1021
00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:21,120
Speaker 1: If your hotels is going to be more expensive to

1022
00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:23,799
Speaker 1: be close to wherever you're activating, make sure you do

1023
00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:29,279
Speaker 1: that and know your numbers because it's all you know.

1024
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:35,400
Speaker 1: As we say often within the walls of SMG, you

1025
00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:38,319
Speaker 1: know the revolution must be financed. So none of this

1026
00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:42,080
Speaker 1: is for free unless you're operating a nonprofit. But you

1027
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:44,000
Speaker 1: got to know your numbers, especially if you're going to

1028
00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:47,920
Speaker 1: go asking for money from a sponsor, partner, investor. You

1029
00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:51,000
Speaker 1: got to know your numbers top line, bottom line, you know,

1030
00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:54,000
Speaker 1: figure out what it means if you don't know, and

1031
00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:56,120
Speaker 1: be able to talk that because that's how you're going

1032
00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:59,640
Speaker 1: to one control and manage your business and operations, attract

1033
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:02,800
Speaker 1: new opportunities, whether it be from a brand or a

1034
00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:08,160
Speaker 1: sponsor or an investor. And three for a successful business,

1035
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:10,920
Speaker 1: you know you gotta you gotta know those numbers.

1036
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:14,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, man, Look Barclay Man, we appreciate you pulling up.

1037
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:16,880
Speaker 3: Congratulations on all the amazing work y'all be doing it

1038
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:19,440
Speaker 3: at Essence Fest and Afro Punk and all the big stuff. Man,

1039
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,799
Speaker 3: I told you, I've never personally been. I've seen Girls' Trip,

1040
00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:25,239
Speaker 3: I've helped my friends have talked about it. When I'll go,

1041
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:27,920
Speaker 3: I'm going with you. I want to see it from

1042
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:29,759
Speaker 3: your perspective, you know what I'm saying. I want to

1043
00:48:30,080 --> 00:48:30,640
Speaker 3: see what it's like.

1044
00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:30,839
Speaker 2: Man.

1045
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:33,560
Speaker 3: But Yo, y'all have created something amazing. It is a

1046
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:37,719
Speaker 3: cultural staple and the most important thing is that these

1047
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:39,880
Speaker 3: things need to exist, especially in our community.

1048
00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:40,200
Speaker 4: It does.

1049
00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:44,040
Speaker 3: It has so much economic impact. You know everything, nothing

1050
00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:45,799
Speaker 3: is perfect, but at the end of the day, it's

1051
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:49,000
Speaker 3: important that it exists. And you know, we can't wait

1052
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:51,200
Speaker 3: to see it continue to be successful. Man, So congratulations

1053
00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:53,040
Speaker 3: on everything. Can't wait to see what happens next.

1054
00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:54,839
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. And yeah, I got you man, come

1055
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:57,919
Speaker 1: down next year twenty twenty six. We out there, man, Yes, sir? Well, yeah,

1056
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:00,600
Speaker 1: with that being said, man, that's the pod jab out peace.

1057
00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:03,560
Speaker 1: You've been listening to button Nomics and om your hosts,

1058
00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:05,800
Speaker 1: Brandon Butler, got comments, feedback?

1059
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:06,800
Speaker 4: Want to be on the show.

1060
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:10,120
Speaker 3: Send us an email today at Hello at butteronomics dot com.

1061
00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:13,359
Speaker 3: Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by

1062
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:16,200
Speaker 3: Ksey Pegram, with marketing support from Queen and Nikki.

1063
00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:18,000
Speaker 4: Music provided by mister Hanky.

1064
00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:20,640
Speaker 3: If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button and never

1065
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:22,759
Speaker 3: missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on

1066
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 3: all our social platforms at butter dot atl Listen to

1067
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:29,160
Speaker 3: button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

1068
00:49:29,239 --> 00:49:30,480
Speaker 3: you get your podcasts.