WEBVTT - #265 - Jason Lee 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.920 Who let keV show special guests in here the conglomerate 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:06.720 known as Jason Lee. You know, it's so funny. When 0:00:06.760 --> 0:00:08.760 I first moved to LA and I was a consultant, 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:11.440 I was consulting people on ship. My company was called 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:14.680 the Conglomerate Group. Well and check you out, man, you're 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:19.119 building yourself a media empire. Congratulations on the new show. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.959 I think it's dope too, because I saw like kind 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.040 of like the Well. First of all, I always preferred 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.640 Hollywood Unlocked over Shade Room and Baller Alert because I 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:33.400 always thought, you guys when we would do sh'll just 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.880 be controversial out there. Gate No, no no, no, I'm being honest, 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.200 damn if I what's up? No, no, no, They're great. 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:40.879 I'm letting you know. If I if you were to 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:44.479 go to my saved posts over the last like six years, 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:50.400 ninety percent of all of my news is Hollywood Unlocked. Bro, 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:52.800 Why why Hollywood on lot? I just feel like you 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:55.440 guys were like like, I feel like you guys are 0:00:55.520 --> 0:01:00.560 more like active I guess if that makes sense. I 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:02.680 feel like Baller Alert sometimes, like I might get like 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:04.520 five or six posts a day. Some days we're like 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:06.520 if I'm like really trying to see what the fuck's 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:08.800 like going on, like in real time, like I'll go 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:13.240 to you or you know, even like my mixtapes like 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.559 post shit, like I like, but I'm pretty active, they're 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.640 like super active. But I do feel like, you know, 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.800 you've kind of all for me, been like a great 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:22.920 source of like doing show prep, you know, just as 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.880 a radio personality, and now you're fucking killing it. I've 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.039 you know, I loved what you were doing with Damage 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.680 during the pandemic and to see you kind of turn 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:36.920 into Jason Lee being kind of like as big or 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.679 bigger than your company and the Jason Lee show Man. 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.080 Just congrats, thank you, thank you. Yeah. I first wanted 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.720 to shout out Robin and Angie, two amazing women who 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:48.800 you know, inspire me in different ways. Angie at the 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.160 Shave Room was somebody who was Shade Rooms like the 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.080 like the the Michael Jordan of this right there. Well, 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.000 we're all different, you know, That's the thing. You know, 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:58.600 when I first came in the game, everybody was saying, oh, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:00.880 don't do Hollywood a lot because the Shade Room and 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.480 Baller Alert's been here before. Everybody in Shade Room has 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:05.200 as many followers and there's no room in the space. 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.320 And I always believed in myself. I was like, fuck 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:09.000 what y'all talking about. I'm gonna do whatever I want 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.080 to do. I mean, I'm a person who survived the hood. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.760 I came out of nothing that I've fucking been shot. 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:15.799 I've seen all types of shit happen, Like, there's no 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:17.640 way you survive all that and think that you can't 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:19.760 be anything you want to be. ANGI if the Shade 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.040 Room was the first to really like guide me on 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.640 how to build She's super cool too, She's a sweetheart. Yeah, 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.359 how to build audience, how to really connect with them, 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:29.320 and how to focus on your content. And then Robin, 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.240 when I lost my Instagram, was the person who guided 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.800 me through the lawsuit and checked on me every day 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:36.600 and even still today with the new show, text on 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:38.239 me and we have a great relations And they have 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.960 a dope ball baller alert Radio is dope. You're both 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.720 dope ball alerts in the films. We're all just very different. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.359 I think the one thing that makes us unique where 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.919 I think you see me more is Jason Lee is 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:49.960 also a brand in the face of Hollywood, So you 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:51.760 see me a lot more you hear my shows and 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.239 my interviews, and so you see me more. I don't 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.200 know that's what whoever's posting for y'all is just on 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.000 top of it. Brouh, They're on it. They killing it. 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.320 Like I'm like, it's crazy because like it used to 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:02.959 be like let me check TMZ or so I'm like, no, 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.240 let me see this. Hollywood A lot posted yo. I 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.840 know when you posted that the Queen died. Me and 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.920 my co host James Jefferson, we were like praying. We 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.440 were like, and this is like a bad thing. Okay, 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:18.200 we weren't. We weren't praying that she now y'all want 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:19.840 her to be dead. No, we didn't want her to 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:21.680 be dead. You wanted the story. But I was like 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.680 very like, I was like, oh, this is huge, bossile, 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.800 this would be huge if Jason Nails's how like when 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.600 something like that happens. Obviously didn't end up. She ended 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:36.080 up passing away after but allegedly listen social media, you 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:37.800 know they killed me. Oh I was wrong, and then 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:39.280 you know, you didn't really see her, and then they 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:41.800 came back and said, oh, Jason was right the whole time. 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:44.280 You know, you know, I have to say in the 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.480 business that I'm in, you have to trust your sources. 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.120 I've learned a lot since that experience, though, Like I 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.240 still trust the source because the source. If I ever 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.320 said the source, which I won't, I mean, it's somebody 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:56.240 that all of us would just gag if you just 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.160 heard the person who told me. But then try to printerry. 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.280 I'm kidding, I wish but no, I mean, like, but 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:03.960 then at this on the other hand, it was a 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.640 huge gamble, and you know, we rolled the dice and 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:08.840 you know, sometimes you hid and sometimes you don't. And 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:10.680 it was just one of those things where I loved 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:12.880 that I went through that because it just showed everybody 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.440 that I was human. We made a mistake, you know, 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.800 we came back and owned it and we corrected and 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.040 we kept it pushing and we were still getting deals. 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.720 We're still growing, you know. So for people who don't know, 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:25.640 are you from Stockton? Stockton? Yea, So the two O 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.080 nine is a very serious place. People don't understand it. 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.160 Like that's why they were talking about how ruthless the 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.760 industry is. No go to stock Dockton's crazy. It's a lot. 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:40.000 My manager, Brian Samson is from Stockton, I mean, unfortunately 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:44.039 for both of us. And one day he convinced me 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.160 to not take us a flight home from San Francisco 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:47.760 because I was gonna fly from San Francisco back to 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.400 Burbank and he was driving, and he was like, bro, 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:52.320 I don't want to drive alone. Just just drive with me. 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:53.760 You know you'll get You'll get there in the morning. 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.240 So I'm like, fine, I'll go with you to Stockton. No, no, no, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.560 we're supposed to drive from the Bay back to La Okay. 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:02.440 So I passed out in the front seat and I 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.159 wake up in the middle of the fucking the trenches 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.880 of Stockton while he's giving me an unvolunteered like hood 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:13.200 vlog tour at like one in the morning, and it yeah, 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.680 it's a rough place, man, Stockton's serious. Tell me a 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:17.760 little bit about just like a childhood growing up man. Yeah, 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.440 Brian's a hometown hero too, because even earlier in my 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:22.400 you know, when I was before the industry, I always 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.480 heard of he would always he did great making in 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:26.599 La working in the music business, and then he would 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:28.840 always go home and DJ fly and he would give 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:30.760 people hope that they could make it in the business. 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:32.560 But and I don't have a relationship with him. I 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:34.760 just know of them. Of course. Lucky for you. By 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.560 the way, Stockton is great. I mean, you know, even 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:39.880 though it's a difficult city, I really feel like it 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.400 has its challenges, like most inner city communities around the world, 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.600 around the country. I grew up with a white mom 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.960 and a black father who was always married to his wife. 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.320 She just passed away a couple of weeks ago, And 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:53.640 you know, I didn't have a relationship with him the 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.960 way that I have my mom. But you know, I 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.480 was a produe to my community. I tried to sell 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:01.880 drugs and good at that got shot, watch my brother 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:03.880 get murdered, had lots of friends that I was talking 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:05.160 to my friend the other day that when I think 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.359 about how many people died in the year of just 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:10.600 nineteen ninety seven alone, my brother, tons of friends. I 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:12.560 was almost at a funeral every other week for like 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:17.279 three or four months. And I really look at Stockton 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:22.120 as the place where I first got my interest in 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.080 the business. I met Queen Latifa. That light, that idea 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.880 that I could be more than my community was there. 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.520 But now I'm back building my foundation and working with 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:32.600 my mayor and my city Council to launch an initiative 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.400 called the Iron Ready Initiative, where we're going to target 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.400 black and brown kids to bring in all the people 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.720 I built a relationship with to create programming and you know, 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.520 zoom meetings and stuff with these kids to give them hope. 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:44.680 But then embedded in that as a lot of behavioral 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.400 change and program and systemic changes that they have to 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:49.359 make in order to be eligible. So I'm excited. I 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.799 don't see. I know the narrative about Stockton, and it's true, 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.480 it is dangerous, but there's also so much hope there. 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:58.960 And I always look at an opportunity where Okay, yeah 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.640 it may be fucked up, but if the right people 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:03.640 care enough, then they'll do what it takes to make 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.080 it better. Yeah, it seems like a lot of the 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.680 up and coming artists like have died recently. It's rough man, 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.880 there's like super dope, thriving hip hops. To me, Stockton 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.080 is like the most exciting scene in hip hop in 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.360 like in California. It's bubbling. I'm not as tapped in 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.160 on the music. It's lit. Yeah, shout out to everybody 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.880 doing their thing out there. We had the Haiti Baby, 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.000 do you know of course, of course that freestyle on 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.920 our show that we no no because of you. I 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.800 saw him and then he came on my show, and 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:33.000 I think he came on my show at a time 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:34.760 where he wasn't really ready to be media because he 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.080 was just new. But he's super talented. And now that 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.080 I've seen him grow and come to LA and I've 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:44.120 I've had lunch with him and met him again. Very articulate, 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.720 super solid dude man, very good person. And here's these 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:48.280 very talented and I know a lot of people who 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:50.880 met are watching him. Yeah geez, just he's just signed 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.880 a CTE with Cheezy Nice, So congrats to him. So 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:55.800 how do you get from being a kid from Stockton 0:07:55.840 --> 0:08:00.440 who's been through so much shit to La. Well, I 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.280 had a job, I mean, before entertainment, I worked for 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.440 a labor union called SCIU. I was the staff director 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.480 for Kaiser Permanente so Kaiser Hospitals all throughout California. I 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:13.000 was one of the three directors who led a team 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.120 of organizers who organized all the hospitals and clinics. So 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:19.040 that came by way of me losing my job, but 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.400 being very vocal with the city about what I felt 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:24.720 was right or wrong about the firing. They saw me 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.640 advocating for myself, they offered me a job. I was 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:29.560 a Kaiser patient at the time. I felt like, Yo, 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.400 now I'm going to be a Kaiser patient with the 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:35.120 privilege of advocating for other patients at the level of 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.440 organizing the leader. So I did that work for eleven 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.440 years and when we merged with at the time it 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.640 was Local two fifty, merged with Local three ninety nine, 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.640 became SCIUHW. I was the first staff to come down 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.920 and help lead the statewide program to really move people 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.480 into what the union was going to be about. And 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.280 when I got here, I had established so many relationships 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.959 from visiting over the years, having met Queen and Tea 0:08:58.000 --> 0:08:59.679 for thirty years ago, and just over the years many people. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.600 When I got here and I started going to supper club, 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:04.920 I started going to Le Doux, I started going to Guardnaviden, 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:06.599 and then I started popping up a Jamie Fox. I 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:08.559 just fell in love with the industry again from an 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.800 idea that I could abandon my job to follow my dreams, 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.320 and overtime it happened, and naturally when it was time, 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:18.160 I just went Hollywood on line full time. When did 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.680 you like make the decision to quit the job. Was 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:22.480 it like because you made a certain amount of money? 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:24.000 How they fired me? Oh? They fired you, So you 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:25.880 had really kind of like no choice. They didn't fire 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.320 me because I did anything wrong. When we merged with 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.840 the unions, there became a lot of inner union fighting 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.600 that I was just was beyond my pay grade. So 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.200 when they removed our president, I was very loyal to 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:39.440 the leadership, and I'm a loyal person, like when I 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.760 ride for you or write with you, I'm ten toes down. Period. 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:44.520 I don't care what nobody says unless you do some 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.280 real crazy shit, right. So they removed the president and 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:49.920 they took all the staff. There was probably three hundred 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:51.880 some staff. They took us all into different hotels around 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.840 the state, and we were faced with a decision. You 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:59.440 either sign a letter and say that to all the 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.280 members you for all these years, that you were lying 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.640 to them all the time, or you just quit. So 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:06.559 we were faced with a decision of lying to the 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:08.840 people or quitting, and I just decided to quit, and 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:10.559 I just quit. So from there it was like I'm 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:12.760 all in now and there's no choice. There's no choice. 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.160 That's when I saw a conglomerate group and I started putting, 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:16.920 Oh you want Chris Brown, Oh you want this person? Okay, 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.840 I started ten percenting my way into survival mode, middleman 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:22.880 and a lot of deals. Absolutely, I still do. It's 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.400 a great hustle. I still do it to this day. Yeah. 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.240 That's dope. Yeah, I mean that's good to know. So 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.440 for you, like when did you do you remember like 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.880 a month or like a point in time where you 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.760 really realized like there was really like some tread hitting 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.920 the ground with Hollywood unlocked, like you could you could 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.160 turn this into something that was like I mean, I 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.120 can't remember the moment where I go, this is actually 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.600 doing something Like I remember when we first started. We 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.320 started with one hundred dollars. What year was this, twenty 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:54.880 fifteen October one hundred dollars and Instagram website. And then 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:56.719 while I was building it, I called Mona to get 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.200 on love and hip hop. But while I was doing it, 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:03.120 we were so headed down in the work that we 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.000 weren't paying attention to the girls. We just we weren't 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.920 counting numbers, counting followers, counting comments. We were just so 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.680 into the work and perfecting the storytelling and what was 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.440 going to differentiate us from our competitors, and how were 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.560 we working with those competitors be collaborators, and we just 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:17.880 head down and then I remember we went for like 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.400 zero followers to like I remember, I remember the day 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:22.199 we went to we had sixty thousand, because that was 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:23.480 the day where we were all like, Dad, we got 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:26.000 sixty thousand followers, it's a lot. That's a lot. And 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:28.520 then and then I remember one day in one hundred 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.640 and it was three hundred, and it was five hundred, 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:32.600 and it was a million. And so I remember all 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:34.800 those moments of where we were hitting those milestones, and 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:38.320 we just kept trying to perfect the consumer experience because 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.440 ultimately we at first were just a place where were 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:43.400 talking about what was what was going on. But then 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.160 people started picking us up and we were going all 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.840 across the world in different news trades, and then we 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.280 started seeing politicians reach out, so we're like, oh damn. 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:53.079 Then I remember an article came out that we swayed 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.520 an election, So I'm like, okay, we have real influence. 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:57.720 Which election was it? This was back home in Stockton. 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:00.360 I literally just said my opinion on something, and then 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.480 it got picked up by LA Times and then different 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.640 people ran in and then the vote literally it swayed, 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.360 and the person came out and said that it disgruntled work, 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:12.719 a disgruntled former resident. You use his platform for him 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:14.559 to lose, And it wasn't true. It was just that 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.000 you weren't a good mayor and you need to go. 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.800 So once it started seeing our influence, then I was like, yeah, 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:22.679 we were really honing in on making sure that we 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:28.920 were hitting all demographics, so pop culture, all things culture, politics. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.040 How do we hit all these three things from a 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.520 world perspective, like what do people want to hear that 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:35.839 the whole world can talk about? What can they talk 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:37.760 about in Nigeria that they'll talk about in London, that 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.320 they'll talk about in la that they're going to talk 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.000 about in Arkansas. How do we create that content? And 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:44.480 then it became a very strategic thing where then we 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.120 started looking at the needle like okay, this got twelve 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.720 million views of this got okay, now this show got 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:51.760 x amount of That's how we really looked at the 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:56.680 growth and now we're just growing. Yeah, you're also like 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.760 what I appreciate about you is that you're very like 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.200 you'll hop on the feed of the and like, hey, 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.480 if you're serious about your business, period, hit us up. 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:12.040 Because so many people think that success comes by luck. Yeah, 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.440 maybe if you hit the winning ticket in the lottery. Right. 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.560 This shit is a fucking grind. And I tell everybody 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.000 online that keeps posting these fucking tiktoks and he's boring 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:23.000 ass pieces of content. You're lazy and nobody likes lazy content. 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.000 Everybody can tell what's lazy. Some people may get that quick, 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.800 you know, overnight success, the boom gangs, the one hit 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:30.880 Wonders or whatever. And that's fine if that's what you want, 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:33.679 But if you want sustainable success, you have to invest 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.960 in your brand. I paid for advertising. I advertise Hollywood Aloe, 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:39.640 and I marketed the fuck out of my shit. Can 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.040 if you have an up becoming business or like a product, 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.960 why wouldn't you advertise your shit, especially on a platform 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.880 that creates small business programs for people who are new. 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:51.079 You know, we have the fashion novas of the world 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.080 or the McDonald's and Pepsis, but then there's you know, 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.000 somebody may start a haircare company or a t shirt 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.120 line or something. You know, we make sure we carve 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.200 out space for those people to be able to, you know, 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.559 advertise a brand that's dope man for you, When did 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.000 you kind of like want to expand because you know, 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:10.679 Instagram's one business model. Being a blog is a business model, 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.680 but you've kind of expanded the brand into so many 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:19.040 different like branches of like, uh, just expanding the portfolio. 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:20.960 You know. Obviously now we have the Jason Lee Show, 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.200 which which congrats on the first episode with Cardi B. 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.600 But when did you kind of realize, like, yo, there's 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.760 just way there's just so much more here than just 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.040 being a blog or being the gossip site. When my 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.760 Instagram went down, because that was like where most of 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:37.600 our revenue was coming from. And when that shit was 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:41.000 that twenty nineteen it was twenty shit, I don't even know, 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.480 it was probably twenty seventeen, twenty eight. It maybe maybe 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:45.080 been twenty It's a blur now it's been. It was 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:46.640 too it was I remember when that happened because I 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:48.280 and then I would try to there was like a 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:50.400 different page you guys had right there. We had we 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:53.200 had a fucking what do you call those? A backup page? Yeah, 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.160 the backup page going Yeah, and then that became complicated 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.680 because then Instagram was like, if you lost Hollywood Unlock, 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:00.680 you can't have a backup to that because you lost it, 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.840 because you lost it for a reason, company violid, you 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.080 know whatever. It was crazy. I think once I lost that, 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.160 it scared me because I think the thing that for 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.080 me that I never followed my dreams early on was 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.320 the fear of not being able to pay my bills. 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.640 That's everybody's dream, that's that's everybody's fear, which is why 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:18.360 a lot of people are afraid to start their own 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.560 brands and they're afraid to quit their full time job. 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.080 The union was paying me five thousand every week, every 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.360 other week, So every other week I was I was 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:28.320 hood rich on Thursday. On Friday, I was hood rich. 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.280 On Thursday, I was broke. But every other Friday I 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.160 was I have money. So to leave that, I was 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.000 forced to leave it, but then hustling to then leave 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.360 all that, to really focus everything into put all my 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.640 eggs in one basket was scary. And so when I 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.880 lost the Instagram, my whole focus was, Okay, fuck that. 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.280 When I come back, we're going to diversify this brand. 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.800 We're going to have at least ten to fifteen streams 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.400 of revenue, and if ten to fifteen streams of revenue 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:54.480 are bringing in five thousand needs, you can kind of 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:56.520 do the math. If we do that on a monthly basis. Now, 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.960 of course we're you know, making close to seven fifth 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.080 yours every month. But so now it's a more sustainable 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.000 model because now that the brand has become validated and 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.160 it has created its own lane, now it's just about 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.880 how to we plug and play into other areas. Yeah. Yeah, 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:16.040 I think like the one thing that most people you 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.440 were saying earlier, the fear of paying your bills. It's 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:24.320 like it kind of like paralyzes people's progress. Like so 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.520 many people I know, like in my personal life, have 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:28.600 so much potential, and I always am like, like, yo, 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.080 you should do this. Like I got a homie he 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.520 was like in the best shape every works out every day, 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:34.280 and I've been trying to convince him to be like 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:35.920 a personal trainer and start a gym for like it 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.960 feels like my entire adulthood. And now he just has 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.440 a normal job and he's miserable, and I'm like, dude, 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.680 you got to roll the dice. Sometimes you have to 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.600 feel like your dreams are worth fighting through the fear. 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:49.920 You know, my whole model. When I wrote my book, 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.560 God must have forgotten about me. I wrote about fear 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:54.680 over faith, a faith over fear. You know, when I 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:56.360 used to get on a plane early on, I'd be like, 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:57.800 oh my God, this plan is going to crash, this 0:16:57.840 --> 0:16:59.440 plan is going to be all the turbulent is We're 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.600 gonna die. But then on one hand, I'm over here 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:03.440 listening to gospel music telling people that you have to 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:04.760 have faith in God, you have to have faith in this. 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:06.680 So I had to really go back into what I believe. 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:08.760 What is my faith? What is the foundation of the 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:12.000 Jason Lee person, and what is the what is the 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:15.480 foundational belief that the Jason Lee experiencedick Zoot faith over fear. 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.120 So my faith is I had to find the faith 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.960 that I believed in myself enough to get through the 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:22.520 fear and most people. When I talked to him, like 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.760 I was talking about therapists today in therapy, I was 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.840 saying to him I'm going to do I said, I'm 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.560 gonna do this new show that I'm selling to this network, 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.000 and I want to bring you in to do this therapeuticccession. 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:35.480 But I was telling my creative idea for it, And 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:37.040 I said, well, why don't you do a show where 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.080 you sit down and work with people who've been canceled 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:42.720 and work through why they've been canceled in a way 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.679