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Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed, 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.200 and listeners of this show will get a seventy five 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.440 dollars sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:45.320 at indeed dot com slash pod Katz thirteen. Just go 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:50.120 to Indeed dot com slash pod katz thirteen right now 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.040 and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.400 on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:58.040 all you need. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.880 What's going on? Earnest Welcome the EYL University, the number 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.200 one place for business education. Shoddy tale. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.840 What'll we be bringing Yes, EYL University already has over 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.920 one hundred past webinars from all areas of business. It 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:14.880 includes weekly webinars from industry leaders. It includes access to 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:16.640 our investment Facebook group. 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.199 Movie club, our book club. 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.920 It also includes access to monthly financial planning calls with 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:25.480 yours truly. But what has been added has access to 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:28.880 MG the Mortgage Guys home Buyers Blueprint over fourteen hours 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:31.320 everything you need to know as far as the home buying. 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:32.080 Process is concerned. 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:35.319 And also what has been added is access to our 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:39.280 monthly group chat call. So once a month, Me, Troy 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:40.800 and the whole team is going to let you in 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.720 on our personal plays, our portfolio, what we're doing, and 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:47.200 more so all of that, we are running for a 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.919 special promo code of seventy percent off for limited time only. 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.680 So had the Eyluniversity dot com right now and take advantage. 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:56.280 You know it's works. 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:57.760 Don't wait, don't hesitate it. We'll see you on the 0:01:57.760 --> 0:01:58.560 other side. 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:04.280 My graduates from my school being forced back and drop 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.680 drop mic drop back, drop drop. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.200 A lot of people come on social media for their 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.080 business and they get like two followers and they're like 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:26.359 running fifty percent off ads and sales, and it's like 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.640 you don't even have an audience, and it's like, you know, 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:30.600 the whole point of wearing business, So the whole point 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.800 is to make money. We're never gonna apologize about making money. 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.760 If you are apologetic about making money, this isn't the 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:40.320 channel for you. But there's ways to go about making money. 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.200 And sometimes like if you promote too much, or you're 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:48.200 too gimmicky or you it's like you can make money, 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:52.920 but over the course of time, you're diluting your brand 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:54.679 because it's not And even if we look at the 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:58.120 best brands in the world, like Nike, like they have sale, 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:00.800 but how many times do you actually see Itike commercials 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.320 selling something. It's not really too often. Most Nike commercials 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:08.320 are like you know Andrea Agacy, that legendary situation on 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.000 Michael Jordan with dunking of basketball, Serena Williams and her daughter, 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:16.920 like even Colin Kaepernick. It's an ad to build their brand, 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:20.080 not really selling anything because you're gonna buy it on 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.480 the back end, just by the strength of their brand 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.760 just becoming so dominant that they don't necessarily have to 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:27.840 beat you in the head with fifty percent off sales. 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.400 You feel compelled to buy it because they've built so 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:34.600 much brand equity over the years. 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:36.400 I think what you said is very important, John. I'm 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.640 glad you broke that down with the awareness interesting trust. 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.280 It's like, if you have two followers, we don't even 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.160 have an awareness over you, and you're trying to sell 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.880 something which automatically makes me distrust, right, and so how 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.280 do I go into a relationship with distrust? I don't 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:51.480 and so now I turn away. So now, even if 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.520 you put valuable content out to the world, you've already 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:56.440 lost us because you started selling to us. And so 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.360 it's very key to give value, give value, give value. 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.120 People see what's happening, Let them build their trust, let 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.040 them build the awareness of the brand, which will and 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.000 then turn grow the interest in what you're doing, which 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.000 will make it a lot easier when it's time for 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:11.360 you to say, you know what, All right, I've been 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.760 doing this, I've been doing this. Here's what I also 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:14.960 have to offer, you know what I mean? 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.000 And that's something I'm gonna let you finished, John. But 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:20.560 somebody said about how but everybody's way is different as 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:22.640 far as how to build brand. But how we built 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.200 our brand in two minutes is that we just created 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.800 a maximum value as possible. So before we had a podcast, 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:30.800 we had an Instagram page. Well, even before I had 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.800 my own personal Instagram page. I wasn't selling anything. I 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:35.760 was just I was just I was just adding value 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:39.599 people that I would take times write, write captions, write posts, 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.560 make videos. When we started earning a leisure the whole 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.680 we didn't really even know, to be completely honest, we 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.400 didn't know how to monetize a podcast, but we figured 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.200 that once we had enough attention, there would be opportunities 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.120 to monetize. So our goal was just to add as 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.159 much value as possible, and that helped build our brand 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.440 on social media, and then you know, all throughout we 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.160 just had a unique way to relay information with business 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.520 and mix it with pop culture, and that was our 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.760 brand building proposition, was that we're going to educate people 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.039 for free. We're going to give as much value as possible. 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.120 We didn't sell anything, we didn't have merch we didn't 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:16.520 have a live event, we didn't. 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:17.599 Have anything nothing. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.760 So now when we have paid products and we've already 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:25.200 built brand equity, but it took us twelve thirteen months 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.599 before we even probably even longer than that, like before 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.279 we even sold one thing that made. 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:32.960 Us in Yeah, and so it reminds me of that 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.360 of that graph, that last graph right, You guys didn't 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.400 start with sales. You could have if you you could 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.080 have tricked a few people into buying a quick E 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.760 course right at the jump without really knowing anything. 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.000 But instead you were that red line. You were you. 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.440 You were building that brand equity by just giving given, given, given, given, 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.359 given given. And as a result, look at the platform 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:58.640 that you guys grew. And you know, speaking of Nike, 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.640 I caught a glipse. So their brand essence framework and 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:09.880 their one word was performance. I don't think that you're 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:15.120 any faster and Nikes than you are in Adidas, but 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.840 they their their core brand was performance. 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.360 And think about how just think about the look of 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:23.920 their logo. 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.440 The swoosh kind of just makes you feel like performance, 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.400 the flash, you know, and and and it's a really 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.880 a student observation. Rashad that that they don't they don't 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.160 sell I never thought about that. They don't sell ship 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:39.080 in their commercials. 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:40.680 No, they don't. 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:42.360 They don't sell their brands. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:44.320 So so for anyone, so if if you have a 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:47.040 tea company, if you have an e comm company. 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.320 You know, what are ways what's that word gonna be 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.640 for you? A? 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:56.120 And then B how can you associate your brand with 0:06:56.240 --> 0:07:03.599 that feeling. For example, at Loop, our purpose is to 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:07.040 move people. We don't care about insurance in the same 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:11.000 way that Nike only cares about sneakers because it drives performance. 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:17.200 So we we we stand for movement, right, because insurance 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:18.600 gets you on the road and then you go and 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:20.040 you got to do other things that you gotta do. 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.960 So how do how are we gonna build brain around that? 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.880 Well, we're gonna have photography of people on the road, 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.840 all on their hustle, doing their ship and just just 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.160 a little photo, just a little kind of the bottom 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:36.960 that's as Loop, right. And so for example, those are 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:38.960 just some of the low hanging fruit ways man that 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.520 we could that we could build brand. You gotta lock 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.880 in on that specific value that you feel you want 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:47.360 to put brand equity into. 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.560 And I also think that for building a brand, going 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.840 back to our personal experience, you know, we learned a 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.800 lot from raph and we took a lot. We took 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.960 a lot from hip hop artists to help build our brain. 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.119 So you know, being a big Wu Tang fan growing 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.280 up in the late nineties, and you know when you 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.280 saw that w that meant something. You didn't have to 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:11.640 hear Wu tang to see that, like you know what 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.120 I'm saying, Like when you saw a w you automatically 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:18.040 associated Wu tang, and then you when you had to 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:19.800 kill a bee's like they had a mascot if you 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:21.920 think about it. So it's like even schools. You could 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.880 learn a lot from schools. School is not a problem. 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.200 It's what they're teaching that's the problem. But the infrastructure 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:28.720 of school is actually pretty brilliant. 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:29.320 Schools. 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.000 They have clubs inside of schools. They have sports teams 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:34.400 to keep you engaged. They have times when you check in, 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.280 they have parents, they have lunchtime, they have mascots. Mascots 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.880 is extremely important. So it's like you when you saw 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.679 the kill a bee, that meant something like you know 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.480 what I'm saying, but it all equated back to Wu tang. 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:47.079 But they didn't have to put Wu tang on every 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.640 single thing. So it's like when you see us, our 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:54.200 mascots are our emojis. That's like a mascot, right, Like 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.480 that's like a team mascot that's branded. We don't have 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.439 to put legion on everything. So now you see eyl 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.520 y L three letters is very nostalgic when you think 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.839 of luxury brands YSL Like you know, there's a lot 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.120 of stuff when you when you think of like three letters, 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.280 like it's real easy to remember, and it's a it's 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:15.240 an abbreviation. People love abbreviations, even if they hate the 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:16.600 abbreviation I R S. 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:18.400 You name it like you know what I'm saying. 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:23.360 People, Yeah, use use anything other than the I R S. 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:25.600 Alphabet. 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:28.080 Boys, we got an in here. Let's let Annie in out. 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.080 Let's bring up that. 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:31.840 That's something that that's something to keep in mind as 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.520 well as far as you don't necessarily and even assets 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.959 over aliability, assets over liabilities, that's ours. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:38.679 We made that up. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.199 Anybody that's knocking that off, you should shame yourself. But 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.000 once again, we don't have to put your leisure on everything. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:46.839 Because whether you see the mojis, whether you see E 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.640 Y L, whether you see asset overliabilities, it all equates 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:50.600 back to the mothership. 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:51.839 That's exactly where I was going. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:53.559 And if you look at the most popular thing we 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.880 sell it is assets overliabilities. But it goes back to 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.679 the point of what we're doing. Right, value value in 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.720 your life. Take the things out that don't add value. Right, 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.480 So assets over liabilities. And so when you see that, 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.640 it doesn't matter where you see it, most people are 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.760 gonna think us. You don't have to it doesn't have 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:12.400 to say earn your legion. When they see assets of 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.880 a liability. Even some of those bootleggers out there, they 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.280 automatically think that that must be and shout out to 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:20.600 our lawyer who's on that uh desists please. 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:24.680 Yeah, you guys, someone's under your guys skin man, because 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:25.440 you guys, you. 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:27.400 Just got to put it out there. We got to 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:27.959 put it out there. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:29.760 You gotta be original. 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.040 It's synonymous with us. And so like again, you don't 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:34.520 have to see your leisure on the shirt. You see 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.280 assets of liabilities, we're thinking, all right, those people must 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:38.880 be an earner. I had a friend of mine today 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.920 who was climbing in the uh the Catskill mountains over 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.160 the like over the spring break, and she made it 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.079 to the top and was wearing the assets of a 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.199 liability shirt. You know what happened when she got up there, 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:51.640 somebody ran up to her and said, oh, you're an 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:56.960 earner too. Oh talk about freaked her out right because 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.240 she was like, huh, No, I worked with Troy. We 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.520 were tea it's my coworker. She's like, oh, but you're 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.079 not an earnest. She's like, yeah, I'm an earner, but 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.280 like that's my friend, Like I can call him, and 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.040 it was like call him. I'm like no, no, let's 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.319 not do that. But it's anonymous. You can one thing 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:13.839 leads to the next, and so we don't have to 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:16.199 put your leads on everything. People know us asset to 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:18.640 a liabilities. Wait, we got alumni in here. 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:20.360 We got alumni. 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:21.080 Yo. 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:21.839 What's up Annie? 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:22.319 How you doing? 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:22.520 Man? 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:23.840 How you living going? 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.000 Well? Man? I'm excited. Shoddy and Troy, what's up y'all? 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:28.439 My god, what's going on? 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.959 We taughd y'all were regular human beings and now that 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.480 is you know, range rovers and bus downs. 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.240 I see what it is. It was your fault, partially 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.199 your fault, your. 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:43.679 Two tone back on your wrist. Congrats. 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:47.559 You know I did lose it for a minute. We 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.760 did get to watch and we get the car. We 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.319 haven't gotten the driver yet, so we're getting there, getting 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:53.880 to your level. 0:11:57.600 --> 0:11:57.720 Yo. 0:11:57.960 --> 0:11:59.520 Annie, I'm glad you jumped on. 0:11:59.679 --> 0:11:59.800 Man. 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.240 You were the first person I thought of when when 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.800 when I thought a brand. I think that you've done 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.439 an exceptional job for those For those that don't know, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.000 Annie Man just total total legend. Been in the game 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.680 a long time, one of the practitioners that I am 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.840 most in the space. A lot of people talking man, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.280 but but Annie has been doing this shit and doing 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:28.120 it across industries managing artists. Have wrapped with Khalif at 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.040 some time, is now managing the career of the young 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.719 star on e con. But in addition dabbles in a 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.880 little e commerce. We had launch Equity Apparel together UH 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:43.800 owner and CEO of co Cutta Chaco dope concept that 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.640 the audience wants to hear more about, but also dabbles 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:48.360 in real estate. So you're a lot like me in 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.559 the sense that we are multi hyphen it practitioners. 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.560 And the one you know, the one through line that you. 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.559 Have across all your projects is that they all have 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:06.320 impeccable brand. I mean, we're not big landlords by any stretch, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.640 but you would think we were because you know the 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.120 way that we brand our ship. And for example, in Philly, 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:14.719 where I know you have some real estate, you have 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.319 just regular plots of land which anyone would have just 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.839 called a plot of land, but Annie then branded it. 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:21.880 Then called it. 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:26.000 You know, Tiger Park created a website. 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.280 Around it, you know, really made an experience, hosted some 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:30.480 pop up art, you know, all that kind of stuff. 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.480 And even with your with your Child concept, which I 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:38.760 believe is your anchor at the moment, you really lead 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:40.960 with a super super brand forward approach. 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:41.199 Man. 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.600 So, welcome to the show. Welcome to the limited series. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.320 Guest number one, episode number one. 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:49.600 Thank you, Yes, sir Man. 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:51.599 Well, I would love to get your take for some 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:55.000 of the audience on the power of brand and how 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.560 it's been able to effectively elevate. 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:03.599 And distinguish your concepts from a concept. 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:07.280 Brand. 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:10.719 Yeah, I missed the end of it, but I think 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:12.280 I caught enough to respond. 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.480 I think you know, I look at brand as the 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.040 real only way to get competitive advantage when you're playing 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:21.640 down a couple of cards, right, people like us first 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.040 generation entrepreneurs, when you're coming up, we just don't have 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:26.000 access to the same things that a lot of people do, 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:30.440 and therefore your own ingenuity is your competitive advantage, right. 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.080 And I think brand, you know you touched on it, 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:35.760 it's when you you got to make a big investment 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.400 in it up front, right, But being tactical and being 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:41.480 smart about brand upfront allows you to create that moat 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.680 around your business, right, nobody can do it like you 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.240 do it if you do it well. And I really 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.680 learned from you know, hip hop music, and you know 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.400 eyl is kind of spot on with my education in 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:55.240 terms of like jay z Rockefeller, right that diamond went up, 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.040 you know what time it was, master p no limit, 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.480 you know, make them say oh like it was these 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.400 these references to their brand at all times that created 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.080 that moat around what they did. And to me, I 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:08.640 looked at it the same way like if I was 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.120 going to you know, build a company or launch something 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:14.680 from zero when I have a lot of you know, 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:19.040 much better capitalized players around me, what's my advantage. It's storytelling, 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.120 it's branding, and it's creating that you know that bridge 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.040 and I think you know, I tend to look at 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:30.240 brand like it gives your company personality and it also 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.560 most importantly allows people to buy in with an emotion. 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:35.840 And that's the toughest thing. You know, you're talking about 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:40.640 sales versus brand. When you have a brand that people 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:46.280 can emotionally relate to, that is the most definitive thing 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.560 about where you know about your company and going forward 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.240 because people can't take that from you. Right, Your sales 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.080 might get cratered because of COVID or you might have 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.640 you know, a supply chain issue, whatever it is. But 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:03.000 if your brand represents all of your values and has 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.880 that personality, people will always stick by you. And I 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.240 think I'm a very long term player similar to y'all. 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:09.160 Uh. 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:10.840 And That's how I'll break it down, yo. 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.240 So talk about talk about talk about like your your 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.720 chiy concept. Right, There's a lot of T shops out there, 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:22.560 but I have never seen any of them with a 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:27.640 line around two blocks with like straight up, you know, 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.000 all the Indian boys out there lining up, they can't. 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:31.640 Wait to support. 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.480 Had you had eater dot com over there, you, I mean, 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:41.360 you guys unlocked ridiculous distribution. You guys have fanatics. You 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:43.680 guys created like the uh, like what do you guys 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:45.520 call it? Like that the pour over Challenge? Like you 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.160 guys have done so much shit and it's like a 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:53.480 two hundred square foot space, but it is like really 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.200 a crazy It's crazy what you've been able to do. 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:56.720 With that space. 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.880 Man, So talk about like how you approach that and 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.520 what gave you the what's the secret sauce man Like, 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:08.119 how can someone who has pretty little by term in 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:10.520 terms of space and in terms of resources be able 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:11.399 to maximize the. 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:12.679 Way you have? Right? 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.320 I mean, you know, just for context, we opened six 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:18.760 months before COVID shut New York City down, and we 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.200 ended up twenty twenty. We ended up in the black 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.040 with both our restaurant and our e commerce operations. 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.480 And I do a lot of that to brand. 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.000 That's why I say it is because you know, I 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:31.159 mean to answer your question about how we unlocked it, 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:32.840 I think we approached it as. 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:36.399 And I talk a lot about this, you know, storytelling. 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:38.600 What is the story that you're telling as a company, right, 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.080 that becomes part of your brand story, which thereby leads 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.320 to brand equity. Right, And you guys touched on this 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.240 a lot. What's brand that we simply put its credibility? 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:47.560 Right? 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:53.400 It is the intangible reputation that you have with your 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:56.840 customers that nobody could take from you. So when we 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.840 spent about eighteen months before launching the cafe doing pop ups, 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.040 doing events, food festivals, you know, hustling around the city, 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.160 that was to create brand equity, right, because we knew, look, 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.040 whether we had a thousand square foot space or two 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.879 hundred square foot space. They couldn't take that brand equity 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.560 from us. And you know, Johnny, you and I have 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.119 talked about this a lot, is like how do you 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:18.920 scale the one to one interaction? 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:19.239 Right? 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.119 That's what we did to build up that brand equity. 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:24.560 What I mean by that is responding to every DM 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.360 going above and beyond, you know, at events or online 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.000 to give people you know, an extra cup on the 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.919 house or you know, FaceTime with their mom because they 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.200 were excited to walk into a child shop, whatever it was. 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.440 We made ourselves really available to that, built up that 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.560 brand equity, and then monetize that, right. And I think 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.280 that's where a lot of creators struggle with, right. They 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.479 some of these YouTubers have you know, decent brain equity. 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.480 You got a lot of social media personalities with decent 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:54.800 brand equity. But if you don't have a product to 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.680 sell back to them, you're just popular. 0:18:57.600 --> 0:18:59.680 Right and don't pay the bills. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.959 As we know, so we you know, we turned our 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:07.560 brand equity into into that experience, leaned into our community. 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:08.760 Stepped up for them. Right. 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.040 What I mean by that is we were hosting you know, 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.520 artists meeting greets at the cafe. We were letting, you know, 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:16.560 people meet with their book club and things like that. 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:19.119 We were pouring back into the community because that's what 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:22.800 our brand represented. And now you know, we did you know, 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:24.840