Welcome to a special episode of the Minding My Creative Business

podcast, where we’re celebrating the end of an incredible Season 4 with a

live recap! Join your hosts, ShySpeaks and Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr., as

they reflect on four seasons and over 33 episodes of inspiring

conversations, candid challenges, and major wins in the world of

creative entrepreneurship.

In this episode, we revisit some of our favorite moments and insights

from a diverse lineup of creative trailblazers—including salon owners,

DJs, media moguls, choreographers, PR pros, and more. Whether you’re a

veteran creativepreneur or just starting on your business journey,

discover the gems our guests dropped about niching down, scaling with

systems, finding mentorship, building teams, leveraging associations,

collaborating across industries, and embracing self-development.

Tune in for key takeaways, practical strategies, and a whole lot of love

for this thriving community of movers, makers, and visionaries. Plus,

if you’re joining us live, you’ll have a chance to interact, ask

questions, and become part of the creative conversation. Let’s recap,

grow, and get ready to level up for Season 5—because all it takes is

laser focus, consistency, and intention to mind your creative business!

Time Stamped Overview:

00:00 Perseverance Through Podcast Seasons

09:07 Streamlining Business Processes Efficiently

13:38 The Importance of a CPA

18:01 Michigan Black Business Association Shoutout

22:30 Empowering Teams: Scaling Success

29:59 "Passion and Career Alignment"

32:19 Magazine Sales Strategy Revealed

38:33 Media Growth through Collaboration

42:38 Boost Sales with Social Media Management

49:30 Job Form Features Mini Podcast

54:23 Stay Connected with Simple Gestures

01:00:53 "Boosting Restaurant Sales Tactics"

01:05:48 Join Our Creative Entrepreneur Community

01:08:23 "Locate My Creative Business"

Links & Resources:

[Business Funding] (https://www.creditsavnt.com) - Get your creative

business funded through Credit Savant.

[Creativepreneur Gear] (https://www.whatstheirony.com) - Get your

creative entrepreneur apparel from What's the Irony.

If you want to connect with Faith or explore her services, check out The

Divine Creators Co. on Instagram.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Minding My Creative

Business Podcast! We hope you found valuable insights and strategies to

apply to your own creative journey. If you enjoyed this episode, please

rate, follow, share, and review our podcast. Stay tuned for more

enriching discussions and expert advice in our upcoming episodes. Keep

creating and stay inspired!

THE CREATIVE’S CORNER NEWSLETTER 📫 Gain monthly access to motivational

tips & practical steps that will shift the way you think and operate

in business - in 5 minutes or less. Sign up: MMCBPodcast.com

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ABOUT US We’re Ron & ShySpeaks, two music industry creators marching

to the tune of entrepreneurship. Our goal is to help our creative peers

keep in step by taking them behind the brands of some of wildly

successful creative entrepreneurs. Our interview-styled podcast gives

access to the strategy and structure that turn creative arts into viable

6, 7, and even 8 figure business!

Foreign.

Welcome and welcome to the Minding My Creative Business podcast.

The number one podcast for creatives to learn strategy, structure and self development.

I am your co host, Ron ironically.

Jr. And I am your co host, Shy Speaks.

And this is our live stream version of this season's recap.

We call it the finale recap.

And what is this season?

This is season four, season four of the cre minded, my creative business podcast.

Four seasons shy.

We have done four seasons and 32.

Well, technically 33 because we have a episode zero, but we got 33.

33 episodes in this thing.

Man, this is crazy.

This is exciting.

I'm actually proud, you know, I mean, because I know what we've been through, you know, just to keep it going, just to.

Yeah, do what we feel like would be helpful for the community that we're part of and that is creative entrepreneurs.

Right.

So we're doing all of this to try to serve creative entrepreneurs and it didn't always come easy, but it's, it's always worth it.

And so shout out to season four.

That's why I had to hit the dance.

You get a round of applause because like you said, it's, it's been a lot.

But listen, we, we enjoy it right there, there's a, there's a level of enjoyment, there's a level of just like fortitude in this self development where it's developing us right as we are as we've persevered through it.

I mean, you know, just thinking back to season one, how many times did we record?

So one was.

It was like three.

It was like three or four times.

We, we had to record episode one just to get, get it going.

But we was like, nope, we still gonna push through it and persevere and we hear season four, you know what I'm saying?

So we were able to, you know what I'm saying, start the season with episode 25 and end it with episode 32.

Well, it'd be 33 after, after today's episode.

So yeah.

All right, so here's the thing.

If you're tuned in right now, you are tuning in to the live version of the stream, but if you're listening on the playback, shout out to you too.

We're actually gonna make sure it's impactful no matter what.

Now, not all of our episodes are live.

We only do the last episode of the season, our finale.

Our finale episode.

Our season finale is a live stream, right.

So that you have, have an opportunity to interact with us.

So please, if you're watching this live like, drop a comment wherever you're watching.

If it's on.

We're streaming to several different places at the same time.

Right.

So if you watch this on YouTube, we don't definitely want your comments because we'll see those in an evergreen format.

But if you're watching on Facebook or Instagram or any of those places where we're pushing this to please chime in, please say something, and we will incorporate it into this episode because we want to make it live and interact with you.

Definitely.

Definitely.

So.

So let's.

Let's get it in.

Right?

So season four, this has, hands down, been my favorite season.

Right?

And I know we say that every season, but I think it.

The podcast gets progressively better each season.

Season with.

With me and you as hosts, but then also the guests and.

And just the.

The level of gems and just the juice, as you say, that they give us in these episodes is.

Is.

It's just getting better and better.

So, yeah, let's start off with.

With.

We started the season with Billy J. Ross, a phenomenal hair stylist, salon owner, and coach down there in.

In the Dallas Fort Worth area.

And she was on here, like, dropping gems.

And let me say this before we unpack, Unpack some of the gems that she was dropping.

This season was my favorite as well, because we had such a plethora, right?

We had such a variety of creative entrepreneurs, starting with the hairdresser, a hairstylist turned salon owner turned teacher, online teaching coach for other people who are in the hair space.

Like, so that there's that.

But, like.

And I won't say she turned.

She's still like, listen.

It's just that then we also had, like, podcasts.

So if you're into that.

And we see podcasters as creative entrepreneurs.

If you're.

We had a restaurant here.

We had a DJ who owns.

Now owns three companies.

We had, oh, my gosh, social media.

Agency, owner media, a media company.

Right.

They started off as print magazine and transitioned into this media conglomerate.

A PR person.

Yeah, it was like a.

It was a plethora of people.

So.

Right.

So if you're watching this now, you've let us, like, give you all of the.

The.

The preliminaries.

But if you're.

You're tuning in, please don't go away because we're gonna actually extract all the best insights from each episode.

It's almost like we're giving you the Cliff Notes, the summary, if you will.

And if you fall into any one of those realms, it would be super helpful.

But it doesn't matter if we didn't touch on your, for your particular mode or medium of creativity, you still should be listening.

You still should stay tapped in if you are a creative entrepreneur, if you're an entrepreneur, period.

I think you should, yeah, you should, you should lock in.

So let's talk about Billy J.

Episode.

The first episode of this season.

Yeah.

Episode 25.

So.

Yeah.

So one of the things right, by Billy J.

What stood out to me, right?

I know you're the systems person, so I know when she was talking about systems, that was that kind of got you, got you excited, right?

Because she, she went in and was talking about, like, listen, her salon systems, like she has her client on board and education.

And that education piece was very big on me.

Was big to me as well because it was like, she does a good job in educating her clients on, on what to expect.

So if you're coming to me, it's certain stuff you just not coming to me for, right?

She, she, she talked about how she was very big on like, niching down, right.

Whereas, like, I'm focusing on healthy hair, right.

I'm focusing on healthy, natural hair at that.

Right.

So, you know, I'm not doing all, all the other stuff.

I think she talked about how, you know, at the time when she got started, they wanted the housewife hairstyles and whatnot.

And she was like, well, your hair isn't healthy enough for that.

So let's focus.

I'm focusing on giving you healthy hair.

And she educated her clients out the gate so they knew what to expect.

And going with her, that was huge for me.

Exactly.

Client education, right.

Is what we call that, but also a niche and a focus.

Like I'm, I'm saying, I'm saying yes to all these clients.

I'm saying no to all this.

Right.

And a lot of times people are afraid to do that, especially within the creative realm.

We're so creative, like, we could take anything and customize it and make it work for you.

But it's like, no, I'm, I'm not doing that.

So I would say she's like, textbook definition of what it means to like, niche down and have a, have a focus, an area of focus and have a lane that she occupies.

And of course, when she first started doing the hair, I'm sure she's a generalist.

I know she, I, I happen to know her, so I know she can do everything, but she's like, I want to focus on having, having women have healthy natural hair, silk presses and things like that.

So to me, that was like something applicable for any creative entrepreneur.

For real?

No, definitely, Definitely.

I mean, because that's key.

Like, when you understand who you're serving and what you're doing and you're not spreading yourself thin, you're not all over the place.

And then that overwhelm doesn't take place a lot of times with us creators, because we can do a lot, we end up doing a lot, and we're spread thin and we burn out.

So to be able to have that narrow gaze and that narrow focus.

Right.

I think she prevented herself from burning out.

And then she talked about if you go back to the episode and watch, she talks about that matriculation, you know what I'm saying?

As far as her being able to scale and do other things to where she just didn't stay in a chair.

Right.

She started off in the chair and she's focusing on healthy hair and whatnot.

Right.

But then she was like, wait a minute, there's some other things that I can do that can add to my business that's not going to take away from me and spread me thin.

Right.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

And that's when she moved into the part that lit me up.

She talked about she started realizing she had the system.

And how she realized she had the system is because she did her very first hire.

Because now business is going well.

I'm starting to.

But I'm starting to be overwhelmed with the amount of business and I can't keep up with all the things, so I probably should hire some help.

And she brought in her first assistance assistant.

And as she was training the assistant on how she does things, she's like, I really do have a way on doing these.

I really do have a way on doing that.

And I want to say, if you're a creative entrepreneur, most of us have a way, like there's a way you're doing it may not be the most effective, but she still happened to have an effective way, a strategic way, on how she did things, not just with the hair techniques, but how she handled business so that the assistant can handle it on her behalf.

And if you do not have that, if you have a way of doing things, but it's not efficient, I want to encourage you to start fine tuning your process before you hire someone so that when you do hire them, you can, like, train them easily on what to do.

Right.

So anyway, I just thought that was pretty cool.

So she hired somebody.

And then.

So that's going to help her skill take a little bit off her Plate.

And then she's teaching them her system.

And not only did she teach her, her assistant, her teammates, the system, she wound up realizing eventually to the point that she is now that she can teach this system to other stylists.

Right.

But before she got to the point of realizing she can teach her the stylish, she had to start working with other stylists.

She moved from just being a freelance hairstylist and then saying, okay, I'm gonna own a salon and suites.

So she's had an opportunity to work with all types of stylists.

She know.

She know the different parts probably archetypes in the character types in.

In that.

So she knows, like, okay, I'm pretty sure I can teach them.

If I can teach them how to do my system in my salon, I can teach people who are not in my salon how to do a system.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

And then she transitioned from that to that.

That whole digital product piece.

Right.

Like, she's like, I don't want to do products.

Right.

But, you know, she was thinking she had to do a hair.

A hairstyle product or some flat irons and things like that.

But, like, no, she was able to create a digital product in that teaching piece, and she actually loves doing it.

Right.

So, yeah.

No.

So if you're a creative entrepreneur and you have a skill set, you can create a digital product.

But watch the episode.

She gonna go into detail on her journey.

Yeah.

And yes.

How she.

How she.

What types of products she have, how she.

How she prices the products, how she sells the products, and if not, like, go actually follow Billy J. Ross.

Like, go follow her.

Her page.

Because she's taken.

Not just being a hair stylist, she's taken that and learned some things about social media and how to use and leverage social media to attract people to her salon and to attract people into her.

The online courses that she's teaching and the things that she has to offer, even the community of some sort.

So just go, listen, you're not a hair stylist.

We get it from.

But I guarantee you, you can learn something from her.

And if you are a hair stylist, you.

Exactly.

You need to just go ahead and go to the episode, click it, hit save, put it in your queue, and.

And gear it up, you know?

So let's keep it rolling.

Definitely.

So.

So after her, we had another phenomenal entrepreneur, creative entrepreneur in Sergey, the dj.

Right?

Now, Sergey, he started off as the dj, right.

But now he has three companies.

Right.

That.

That stood out to me because it was like, he was very intentional about the additional companies that he acquired.

Right.

But even before we get to that, you know me, I'm, I'm in the, the non profit mentor space.

So he spoke very highly and of how important it was for him to have a mentor.

Right.

That was able to teach him not the skill set of a dj.

Right.

But the mentor taught him the best business side of being a dj.

And he, he spoke very highly of dj.

Bow Tie was the name of the DJ that, that he had mentioned.

Yeah.

So that was showing him the business side of DJing.

And here's the thing that also I feel like creative entrepreneurs, she lean in right here, especially if you're newer entre or you may be even emerging.

He was interested in knowing the business side because he was like, okay, I'm doing this DJing, but how can I, like where, where are the pockets of revenue so that I can grow and expand?

And I see this dj, he seems to be doing it and he's going to tell me some things.

And so first of all, it starts with interest.

Like I'm, I just, I'm not interested in that.

I just want to do the creative side and I want somebody else to do the business side.

All right.

If you want to be a six.

Yeah.

Or eight figure creative entrepreneur, what we find is they have an interest.

Yeah.

For business.

So it starts there.

And then of course going to get that mentor who can mentor you and that, that guy.

Yeah.

Who can guide you along the way.

He also talked about, he also talked about, like, to me, I feel like he had a lot of structure in his business.

He talked about having the importance of having a cpa.

Yeah, that's something that he was like one of the first ones that literally leaned in, I would probably say, in the entire, all four seasons.

He talked about how crucial it is to have a cpa because if you have a cpa, you're able to, they're, they're able to help you along your journey.

They can pull up your profit and loss statement and say, this is where you are, this is where you're going.

They can look at your cash flow and say, okay, seasonally, this is where you do well.

And in other seasons, this is where you slump.

So we see cash flow coming in.

10,000amonth.

10,000amonth.10,000amonth.

You go, so it tells you what, what to watch.

And then it, he even went even super further into structure because it's not just having a cpa.

They talk.

He talked about them structuring his business.

So now he's not just a dj, he has a DJ company.

He then moved from having a DJ company into having another company.

Right.

Which is the, the, the what he learned from DJ Bowtie, which is like, maybe you should offer to have that 360.

A 360 booth.

You know, people booking a DJ, they have an event, they're probably gonna book somebody else for the booth, but if they can do you all in one, you can hit them with a package.

Right.

And then he has a super creative way on how he ran his booth and which taps you back into the creative side, but back to the structure.

He was like, eventually I have this three.

This 360 booth company, and there's another company he acquired.

And all of that has to be packaged under a holding company.

Right.

And this is not the language that I typically hear out here when I'm around my creative entrepreneur friends talking about a holding company.

Is that something you hear?

No, definitely not.

Definitely not.

But.

But once again, going back to that CPA piece to where he's able to track the profit and loss.

So he's able to now take that, that, that, that additional.

That profit that he has and acquire these other aspects.

He's able to invest in the DFW360 signs.

360 boost.

He's able to then take the money, the profit, and now acquire the.

The dfw.

Neon or Neon.

I'm, I'm.

No, I'm mixing up the names.

A 360 booth company and a Neon signs company.

So, yeah, that's what you were saying.

Right?

So.

So he talked about the importance of a God.

He talked about the importance of a CPA as a creative entrepreneur.

But what you talked about, he was one of the first ones that I would say talked about merger or acquisitions, rather talking about the acquisition.

And oftentimes I, I've not really heard.

I'm telling y', all, it's, it's, it's gems.

Because I've not really heard other creative entrepreneurs talk about how they can go and buy a business if they do go buy a business.

Like, I'm gonna go buy a business in a whole nother realm.

He won't.

He's like, he had the opportunity to buy a business in the realm that he's already in.

And how did he get that?

Takes me back to the stuff that I'm excited about is that, that structure stuff, that system stuff.

He joined associations, right?

Yeah, he had joined an association and, and that's a, that's another key, right?

So we got mentorship, CPA merge, buying business or acquiring a company.

But he learned to do that through this fourth mode, which is being a part of an association, being a part of a group.

Group, right.

And, and of course, some of you guys may already be a part of groups.

Like maybe.

I know Ron is.

I'm.

I am a part of Facebook groups, and that's a group of a specific community and a specific niche.

Right.

So I, for example, previously was an event space owner.

Right.

And I too should be like Sergey.

I should be a part of some event industry associations.

They operate a bit different than just the Facebook group.

Facebook social media group.

But an association is a true membership.

They're curating content for you in that particular niche.

We're bringing in experts to show you certain things.

You're networking with those different people.

And he was using that as a thing that run strategy.

It's a strategy to generate more revenue.

Right.

So those associations caused him to get more business.

You want to talk about that?

No, listen, I'm, you know, I want to give a shout out to mbba, Michigan Black Business Association.

That's an association I'm a part of here in Michigan.

And I've been able to be a part of that association.

And like I said, it's like I'm able to network.

I'm able to find potential clients, I'm able to do some collaborative cap.

Collaboration, right?

And the fact is they're looking to do business with their members, right?

So whenever I go to an MBBA event, the person that's catering it is an MBBA member.

Right.

The people that's doing photography is, is nbba, you know, members, you know what I'm saying?

So it's, it's been.

Is a plethora of benefits of joining these, these associations within your.

You got, you got city, you got county, you got state, right?

You even have some national ones.

So find out which ones make sense for you to be a part of based on your creative industry and be a part of them.

And it's.

And people think like, man, I already have community.

You already have community within that realm of community that you met on an interpersonal level.

Right.

If you're a musician, there's probably some music association network.

If you are a painter, if you are a sculptor, if you are a jewelry maker of some sort, if you are a mover, like a dancer or something like, I guarantee you there's some type of association that exists that you can use as an opportunity to.

To gain.

To up level your expertise as well as find potential clients and gain revenue.

So it was so much in that episode and it was super cool because again, this all came from a DJ on the.

We just got like four strategies out of him right there.

So.

Easy, easy, easy.

Let's keep it rolling.

Come on.

So next was one of my favorite, right?

Just from this personality standpoint.

I mean, everybody had great personalities, but Mrs. A. Bretta, I love Mr.

Brother because.

So now this is.

This is a little, Little secret.

We tried to interview Mr. Bretta.

Was that season two or was that season one?

Nice secret.

He inviting you behind us.

Exclusive.

And by the way, I'm pointing at a microphone.

The exclusive.

Right?

This is exclusive information.

Go ahead.

Yeah, no, we.

We had her.

Come on.

Right.

But it was, it was a scheduling thing where we, it didn't pan out, right?

It was like.

No, we had a.

We had interviews that were when we try to give gap space in between us interviewing people.

But one of our interviews ran over and it ran over and she had to have a hard stop at a certain time.

So we ran over, we rushed and hopped on here.

This one was doing it virtually and we were able to get something done.

But we, it just wasn't.

It wasn't, it wasn't what we wanted.

So we ended up scrapping it.

But we invited her back and I'm so glad that we did because it was a phenomenal episode and just see, it's a sweet spirit.

But just hearing her story in.

In regards to her being a choreographer and, and all that she's done and now she has her, her.

Her co.

Working space for creatives.

I mean, it was, it was, it was just inspiring itself just to, to hear it.

But yeah, like, yeah, she was definitely one of my favorite interviews because you.

Were saying her personality.

And I think the personality piece is the first time we're introduced here in this conversation, which we talked about systems, we talked about strategy, we talked about structure.

But she helped us lean into self development.

Yeah, right.

Because her personality is what helps her be likable.

And people buy from who people they.

Like, like know and trust.

Right?

And she, and she has that personality to where you.

You would like her.

You.

When I was done, I felt like I knew her, right?

And I feel like I can trust her.

It's like, yo, what Sign me up.

What you do?

What we doing?

Like, and.

But that speaks volumes.

And like you said, because she has that.

That creates more opportunities for her.

She did.

She.

She did.

She Wasn't standoffish.

She didn't seem, you know what I'm saying?

Like, she was very personable, very open, very welcoming.

And that's key when we're talking about and being in business, right?

So, yeah, that, that, that piece definitely, definitely, definitely stood out.

And as a result, it created more opportunities for her.

Yeah.

All right, so here's the thing, y'.

All.

I'm gonna actually keep it super 100.

I'm gonna let Ron handle this next particular topic with Zaretta.

I gotta run.

I'll be right back.

All right?

So, yeah, so, so with her, one of the things that, that stood out to me was in her scaling, right?

So she, she's, she's a choreographer, right?

But she, in order for her to be able to scale that and have an agency, she talked about building a team.

One of the things that I liked about her and has her, her approach and how she builds the team, she builds her team to where they can benefit with her or without her.

She empowers them, right?

She finds out, okay, what is your, what are your goals?

Right?

What do you want to do now based off that?

Here, I'm going to take that and we're going to incorporate that and build you up so that you can be the best dancer or the best person that you can be within my agency.

But listen, if opportunities come as a result of that and it takes you elsewhere, away from me, God bless, so be it.

Right?

So I love that approach because that's one of the approaches that I take as well, where it's like, I'm going to train you, I'm going to coach the person, not, not, not the skill or anything.

I'm coaching a person.

So whatever you need, I'm gonna give you.

And the thing is, the way it works out is they end up staying, right?

Because like, yo, I'm able to break bread with Ron or I'm able to break bread with Zabretta, you know what I'm saying?

Like, it's, it's been a benefit me being a part of her organization.

I've grown professionally and personally being a part of it.

So I want to stick with her, right?

I've seen that firsthand.

So that's one of the things that, that stood out to me that, that, that she talked about.

And I, I, I gravitated to that because that's my same approach, you know what I'm saying?

So that, that leadership and team development, where it's like, it's, it's a, it's a selflessness it's not about me.

Right.

It's about we.

We're coming together as a team.

Right.

And that's part of.

In how she brings them in and trains them as well.

Right.

When you're there and you're representing the brand, so making sure that as you're developing and bringing your team on, you're.

You're very clear on the culture and climate that you want to create and being intentional about that.

Yeah, good.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm good.

That was a quick run.

So if you were watching this on video and not just listening to the audio, you saw me step away for a few seconds, but I was in earshot.

I can.

Talking about.

That's how you do things as well.

Right.

It's kind of ease out of the camera.

You don't even notice.

You didn't even notice.

So.

Yeah, I like what you're talking about because you were saying how that's the way you are as well when it comes to, like teamwork and building and building with the spirit of collaboration, so to speak.

Yeah, I like that because she talked about how those people turn around and come back.

Even.

So you're going to build with this person all the long, all the while, right?

All the while, you're gonna be building with them, they're building with you.

They're working on their goal, you're working on your goal.

Y' all are accomplishing something.

But then even if it.

It's over, it's okay.

Y' all come to the end of your road.

It don't mean they're not going to come back around later.

Right?

Right.

No, no, that's it.

Anything else jump out with you with Zabretta?

Oh, yes, of course.

When I was talking about the.

Her being self development.

Because that's a crucial part of what we do here at mine in my creative business on the podcast is we.

We spotlight how people take those things.

Self development can help you generate revenue.

Self development can help you generate profit.

Self development can help you satisfy your.

That's actually what it takes.

You can't just.

You have to become a certain person along the way to keep.

Keep, keep doing this.

And she talked about being a student, and she talked about being a student so much.

She had that same thing like being able to listen to not just one in particular guy, but she sees everybody as somebody to study.

Which if you are a dancer.

Right.

If you're a ballet instructor.

Instructor Cabueta.

Or maybe it's Capo Red.

I think that's what it is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Or you know, we, we don't have the accent that we need to pronounce what we're saying.

But if you are that, if you're in that dance realm, any of that, you probably too should embrace the heart that Ms. Debrett is talking about.

You have to go let her listen to it.

She talks about it a little bit better than we do, but she talks about being a stud.

If you, if you're a choreographer, you probably need to study, you probably need to study the person who you're trying to choreograph for.

Choreograph for.

She's listening, right?

I'm listening to the music and studying being a student of what it's saying so I can know what motions to put to it.

She's worked with Fred Hammond, she's worked with Don Rashad.

Don Rashad of Dan King.

Well, she's now a solo artist, but I mean, she's worked with myself.

She's working, I mean she's working with a lot of artists, right?

And so in the midst of doing that, you have to study them.

Right?

But that only happens if you're already a student.

And I think that we'll, we'll be so busy being a student of the craft that we may not be the student of those around us who we are co laboring with.

Preach.

Preach.

No, that's, that's, that's big.

That's big.

Oh, I got another one.

Go ahead.

She's had such an expansive mindset as it relates to collaboration.

She also is in collaboration with her mom on a non profit organization.

It's the art of movement or the joy of movement, I think it is.

And so I think there are some gems there for someone who is perhaps in that dancer, mover kind of vibe.

If you do something in that regard, maybe you can even have a karate studio.

What she's talking about is applicable because she's a choreographer.

She talks about how she applies her, her, all her.

It's like almost like she does so much work on herself as a person.

It helps her to thrive in all these different regards as a choreographer, as a studio owner, even as an actor, even as a director of a non profit that's also housed within the studio.

And also this studio is an open space for other creatives like you can you go listen to it, you'll extract something.

And she talks to you about how to gain the money.

Like some people are like, I'm not immersion.

I'm not already going, I'm just starting.

Remember, she dropped some jewels on like okay, this is what I would do.

So she's very, very willing to share.

And you.

You got.

You gotta go check them out.

Let's keep it rolling because I can talk about Ms. Z.

Okay.

Shout out to Ms. Zabretta.

Nah, definitely, definitely.

So next after Ms. Zabretta, we had the phenomenal KG and with.

With Cosine Entertainment.

And no, it was once again just a plethora.

Just dropping gems and.

And giving us the juice in regards to just somebody who wants to be in that.

In that media space.

Right.

I liked, once again, going back to the whole mentor piece, right, where he talked about he wanted to go to college for.

He wanted to go in psychology, right?

But somebody was able to help lead and guide him into media, right.

Into journalism, because it was like, well, you want to do psychology, but you don't want to.

You don't want to be in school all that time, right?

So you might want to look into marketing, because it.

In marketing, there's aspects, right.

Of psychology, right?

So he was able to see that and was like, cool, I'm going this direction.

So he went in that direction and hasn't looked back on his.

He.

He out here killing it.

Yeah, there are so many.

There was so much from that particular episode, even in addition to what you're talking about, like the having a.

Having a love and a passion for something because he had a passion for magazines and all that kind of stuff.

And it's like, but how can I take my love and my passion gain skill set being it?

Because at the end of the day, you can try all these different things just to make money, but you do need to kind of like what you're doing.

Like, you need to.

You need to make sure it's still within a realm, right.

A particular, I would say a space.

It needs to be a spectrum on which you can fall into that.

Like, hey, if I'm doing this, I'm doing something that I like.

I'm doing something that I love.

I gotta stop and shout out to some of the people who are in the.

In the room.

I got definitely, definitely, you know, this is a live episode, and we want to make sure it's interactive.

I see Sarah janae.

I see Ms. Tara Butler.

Lynn Rogers just joined in.

Darius west, who is also a phenomenal creative entrepreneur in his own regard.

I'd love to interview him as well and bring him on the podcast on, you know, so we could talk about how he's minding his creative business.

So.

Yes.

Listen, you got anybody you want to shout out while we're here.

Mary Lou Tangy.

I had a few other people, Antoine Crowder, Mark, Spike, some of those people have joined us and hopped on.

Yeah, yeah, no, listen, we appreciate you guys.

And listen, this is live.

So put comments if you're on here, comment, leave the comments.

We share them live.

We definitely want to interact and engage with you guys.

It's not just we, we're talking at you.

We want you guys to be a part of the conversation.

Conversation as well.

We could just record it, you know.

We don't want to record it.

We want to make sure it's interactive.

And so again, if you're listening to this on the recap, in the replay, thank you for tuning in.

Make sure you join us live next time as well.

You know what I mean?

Because we want to interact with you.

Right now we're talking about the episode with kg who went from being a magazine enthusiast to a, a media empire.

So he has the cosign magazine.

He talks about how he.

Oh man, it was so much with having a magazine.

One of his first tactics that he did was he, he did a thing where he, he had an in person event to sell the magazine, right?

So in this in person event he, he, he's like, okay, I gotta sell this magazine.

I gotta sell this magazine.

I gotta sell this magazine.

And it was a pretty cool story about how he went about selling the magazine.

So Ron, you want to talk about that, like how he, he had like some marketing and psychology that he intertwined into like media when he did like his big deal with like, you know, I'm talking about where he did this, how he was selling the magazine in person or something like that.

Yeah.

So one of the things he had, he had found this group that was a, that was a local group that was on the rise in, in the Dallas area.

But he's like, he wanted to, he wanted to, he wanted to highlight them within the magazine.

And, and he, so he created a vent.

It was just like, okay, I'm not just gonna put him in a magazine and then release it.

It's like, no, we're gonna have a, a release party for the magazine.

They're going to be on a cover.

I'm going to take the magazine, I'm gonna frame it and present it to them as like this, this big thing, right?

So in doing that, right, the, the, the group, they were so ecstatic and honored to be, to, to be honored, right.

So they invited they people to come out because this was a big thing for them because nobody's ever Highlighted them like that, but then presented them with this magazine that was framed and all these things and whatnot.

So yeah, so that there and just highlighting and honoring the people that you're partnering, collaborating with, putting them on a, on a pedestal, giving them a platform and them now inviting their audience and bringing eyes to the magazine, to the platform.

Right.

To where now you're increasing your, your viewership and your watchership or listenership because you know, you've done it this way so you have that human element, that human approach, that human impact.

Yeah, yeah.

There was other things that I liked about the episode.

Not only was he strategic, that's a strategy like marketing to sell it with, with the whole human impact.

It was also in the midst of that there was this spirit of collaboration that's there.

Yeah, right.

And when I say collaboration, I truly mean it in the sense of the word.

Like he was really collaborating with them.

Right.

They already had platform.

Right.

They already have an audience.

He also has a platform and he has something that he can give them that they don't have, which is the ability to have it all centerfold and it's a keepsake and it's an official thing.

Like so he, he partnered with them in doing this and then this became a, a strategy that he deployed several times after working with them.

And he kept doing it over and over, you know, I mean, so it was like it was really truly a partnership.

And he also talked about the partnerships and sponsorships because as a magazine he has to co sign awards and so you have to have sponsorships.

But a lot of times before you have the sponsorship with this organization, you probably should have some, some type of collaboration or some type of business with them and it could be something.

I mean, I'm looking for a ten thousand dollar sponsorship from you.

But first we'll start off with like a two thousand dollar deal where it's like, hey, we're doing a two thousand dollar sponsorship on partnership.

Hey, I want to have this particular event, I want to do this thing.

This company is looking to do this.

Like so he figures out a way to talk about it in such a really cool way.

And I know I'm saying this and that and this and that because you need to go watch the episode.

Yeah, but seriously, he talked about collaborating with other businesses.

I truly think a lot of times creative entrepreneurs do well with collaborating with each other.

Right.

You know, we'll feature each other to this.

Like, yeah, you know, I'm a producer, you're a producer.

Let's tag team like A beat.

And I mean, you're a muralist, and I'm a muralist.

Let's tag team and do this collage together on this wall.

Like, you're an art music artist, I'm a music artist.

Let's, you know, let's share audiences.

But he talked about how you find revenue is creating partnerships with other businesses.

That's a gym.

Yeah, no, definitely, Definitely.

So once again, go back and watch that episode before we transition to the next creative entrepreneur.

The next episode for this season, we want to take this little break.

But don't go nowhere.

Break, like, stay here.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, stay right where you at and just watch something that we got to show y', all, and then we're gonna get into the next person.

Cool.

Cool.

What's the irony?

It's because it's us in different color clothing.

I mean, listen, we've been doing a lot of talking, and we want to make sure that you have an opportunity to A statement as well.

Because we've seen people make statements with their athletic apparel.

We've even seen people make statements as entrepreneurs.

But one thing I haven't seen is somebody make a statement as a creative entrepreneur.

So what we've done is we have given you an opportunity to make a statement as a creative entrepreneur.

Okay.

Okay.

So if they want to make sure that they're rocking that creativepreneur gear, where can they go get that?

You can go get that gear from whatstheirony.com.

we haven't seen that one in a minute because, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shout out to the gear.

You gotta get you some mind in my career.

Yeah, yeah, you gotta.

You gotta listen.

You gotta support.

You can't be a creativepreneur out here, and you're not rocking that.

You will listen.

I'm actually.

Listen, I. I wore this shirt the other day, and somebody literally stopped me.

I was like, hey, hey, yo.

Is that what you.

Is that what you above?

That's what you want?

And I'm like, yeah, no, this.

This is what I.

So we had a conversation.

They have a podcast as well.

They invited me onto the podcast, and I sent him the link to our podcast, and he responded with the fire emoji, like, oh, this is dope.

So.

So, yeah, listen.

Yeah, these are conversation starters right here.

See?

All right, so let's keep the conversation rolling, right?

Yes.

We were.

We were talking about kg.

We told him to go watch the episode.

You want to.

You want to tell them anything else?

You want to go ahead and Keep it rolling.

Yeah, let's keep it rolling.

Because I mean, listen, that you will be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't, if you didn't watch the episode because he was dropping gems.

Especially if you're somebody who is into communications and media.

Not even if you don't have a magazine, maybe you have a blog, right?

Talks about how to milk that blog that, that media outlet that you have created into an award ceremony.

Now he has a studio right now he has, I mean it's just really a lot like talking about how to really find the funds and like he really leans in on collaboration and partnerships, how to, how to access those partnerships with other businesses.

Yes.

You as a creative entrepreneur can go direct to another entrepreneur who has, maybe who has a larger business than yours.

They may have the same level, it doesn't matter.

But there's always a way to find a sweet spot and he tells you exactly how to do it in this episode.

Let's go.

This train gonna keep.

Yeah.

So next we had the honor of interviewing Ms.

Faith Williams, right?

Now this young lady, what really stood out to me, she's from Louisiana, right?

But she uprooted herself and moved from Louisiana to Dallas, right?

And not only did she move to Dallas, but she's in Dallas killing it, right?

She has her social media agency and she's doing the dang thing, right?

And, and that, that definitely inspired me because I think a lot of times people get comfortable right where they are, right?

Especially us as creatives, right?

But I tell people there's no growth in comfort, right?

So you have to do some things that may be uncomfortable, that's going to stretch you in order for you to grow.

So we talk about self development piece.

So her uprooting herself and say, hey, I'm gonna go here and I'm going to pretty much in essence start over now, mind you, better being social media.

She, I'm sure she probably took some clients or whatever the case may be, she can work remote.

But that's, that's huge because listen, I'm born and raised in, in Detroit, Michigan, metro Detroit area.

And I ain't left here.

So I tell me that they do that, I'll be in all of them.

Exactly.

No, it does take something.

And also back to the self development piece.

It actually takes a mindset of positivity to say, hey, I'm strategically going to move to this location because it works for what I'm doing.

This is what my creatives based business is about.

And I'm an agency she's serving, she's in the content space, social media space.

So if you are into that, you want to lean in on what we're talking about here.

She created it.

She moved from freelance into creating a content space.

I mean, an agency around content creation for other brands and other companies.

So she needs to be around places where it's not like a whole bunch of huge Fortune 500 companies.

It's like there needs to be some, like, small businesses that I can go provide my services to who don't mind paying.

I need to be around this.

And so she strategically moved and then she has the attitude is, I'm gonna make my mark and it's gonna work.

And it's been working.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, listen.

And outside of her, you know, so she, she built her agency so she was able to hire and bring on people so she can scale.

So it's not just her in freelance mode, but one of the things too.

And I think this is how, if I'm not mistaken, this is how you caught wind of her, where she, she built a community.

So, right, she has this, this online community, right?

To where and she created it based off of a need she had.

She said, I'm in Dallas, right?

As I, I just moved here, I don't know a lot of people.

So she took it upon herself to create her own social community and she's able to benefit from that as well.

Yeah, and I think that's pretty cool.

Like, she's on, she's on social media talking.

I met her on social media and her doing it so well landed her on this podcast, right.

And so she.

And I've had an opportunity to connect even further.

She, she even created a content day.

Like, she's very creative when it comes to the content, right?

So it's not just, hey, I see that you are a restaurant, right?

You're a small restaurant, you have two locations.

I'm gonna go to you and see if we can help you dial up your social media content.

And in doing that, that should drive sales, right?

We should be bringing foot traffic, but maybe you're going to pay us the four figure number.

You're gonna pay us a month and we're going to manage your social media.

We're going to come in, we're going to do the content days.

We're gonna film on these days, and these days we're gonna do this instead.

We're gonna push it and you're going to see Your social media content go to another level.

In exchange, you're going to see your revenue go to another level.

And she talked about being able to track it, right?

So if you're going in and you're offering social media enhancement and content creation for companies, how do you know if what you're doing is working?

Right?

So if you're interested in that, it's like, okay, but what am I deliverable?

Like, what's the KPIs, right?

What are the key performance indicators to know that what we're doing is really working?

Of course you should be able to know.

Okay, well, revenue is increasing, sales are increasing, links that show.

She talked about tracking tools, I think Metro, something.

Go watch the episode.

Go watch it, Go watch it.

So, yeah, let's keep it rolling.

Let's keep it rolling.

Definitely, definitely.

All right, so then next we had the phenomenal Jonathan Speaks Jones.

Right?

Yeah.

And listen, that there, that, that was, it, was it book brand business, right?

He.

So his, his father so told him he need to write a book, right?

Not only did his father tell him he need to write a book, so going back to that mentorship, that guidance, right?

His father said, I'm going to help you, you write the book, but it's gonna cost you, it's Gonna cost you $5,000 for me to help you create this book that you're gonna publish, right?

And his father did not back down.

He did not give him a discount where it's like, okay, because you, my son, I'm gonna give you a discount.

No, he charged him full price because he's, he was teaching him how to invest in himself, right?

So to be able to have that level of.

Okay, nope, I'm.

You're gonna, you're gonna invest in yourself.

And my.

He said something that, that stood out to me.

He says, I, I borrowed my father's belief, right?

I didn't believe I could do it.

I didn't, I can do it.

But he believed that I can do it.

So I had to borrow his belief in order for it to get done.

And then because I made this investment, I'm going to do the work because I want to get an roi.

I want to get a return on that investment.

So.

Wow.

Come on.

We got a little central theme going on here.

Yeah.

Guidance and seeking guidance and being open to guidance and being a student and getting that mentorship.

That's a very strong thing that we see throughout season four.

So if you really want to be a six, a seven or eight figure creative entrepreneur, you actually have to go behind the brands and see what they're doing that's working.

And it sound like that's working.

Okay.

So he also said a couple of other cool things.

One of the.

One of the most jarring things that he said is who should have a podcast.

And the reason why I feel like it's jarring because we're in a day and age where a lot of people have podcasts and a lot of people have opinions and commentary about who should have a podcast.

Mr. Jonathan Jones, who is a speaker, an author, and a podcaster himself.

Yeah.

What did he.

What did he have to say about who should have.

He said, if you have something to say or something to sell, you should have a podcast.

So that's.

Hey, if you got something to say or something to sell.

So, in essence, all our listeners have a podcast.

Because I know y' all got something to say.

Y' all definitely got something to sell.

And let me say this.

That on me.

That.

Just let me not say.

It's so slang.

You know, they're gonna make sure.

Make sure I.

They know I'm shy, speaks, and I have command over the English language, and I know how to articulate and conjugate a verb.

Let me make sure.

You do not have to start a solo podcast.

You could team up with the other person, like Run and I have done.

You can team up with a group of people.

A podcast doesn't have to look the way you think it looks.

It could be a mini podcast.

It could be a m. So just be creative.

Creative with how you think about having a podcast.

But I want to ask the audience, if you're watching right now, if you're tuning in anywhere live, or if you're listening to watching this on the recap on YouTube, do you believe everybody?

Do you agree with Jonathan Jones that everybody should have a podcast?

Who has something to say or has something to say?

I wanna know, do y' all thinking.

Drop some comments.

Drop it in the comments if you agree with that statement that if you have something to say or got something to sell, you have a podcast.

Hey, listen, I'm gonna go on here.

I'm.

Drop my.

Drop my.

Drop your comment.

Okay, okay, here we go.

Let me drop my comment, too.

Let me see.

Let me see.

Do you.

Okay, I feel like.

Let me be.

Do I do.

Do I agree?

If you really have something to say.

If you really have something to say.

Yeah, but just because you have something to sell.

I don't know.

You know what I mean?

I mean, because, well, you listen and this Is the thing.

This is what I've.

What I've learned.

Generally, if you have something to sell, you're.

And it's not.

This is not this, not everybody.

But if you have something to sell, you're selling something that, that solves a problem.

Right.

And benefits somebody.

Right.

So if I'm, if I'm selling you something that's benefiting you, that's solving a problem, there's things that I can communicate and articulate and educate you on to better, either have you use the product or service or whatever it is better.

Right.

So it's like the education piece.

So I'm using the podcast to educate you on the what, the why and the how and all that thing.

So.

No, I agree.

I agree as well.

I just wanted to see.

I agree.

I've even seen it pretty cool.

Like QuickBooks, for example, they have a podcast, but it's not.

Well, I don't know if they still have it at the time, but at the point in time they had a podcast, it wasn't a public facing podcast.

Right.

It was for the internal community of QuickBooks users, you would imagine.

QuickBooks has thousands of users.

And so you're serving them, talking about different tools and different financial tactics and so forth and so on.

So you're really actually solving a problem.

So.

And then sometimes they have it for even smaller communities.

People who are their affiliates or people who are associates and partners.

You're speaking directly to them.

And it's an informative thing.

Job form, right.

Who is.

I'm throwing out these names because these are probably bigger companies that people know of, bigger brand names that people know of.

A job form has a little podcast of some sort.

So it's like, it's something that they put in their newsletter.

Yeah.

In the newsletter they're updating you on what's going on.

And then here's an episode of a mini podcast and they tell you all the new features, they tell you, you know, what you can be looking for, how you, how things are moving in the form.

Well, and intake and all that.

So there's a, there's a unique way to get it done.

He also talked about how to monetize.

So before we move on to the next person, because we had a few more people on this episode like in this season that really dropped some gems.

Just rattle off real quick, what are some of the ways to monetize a podcast?

Jonathan Jones talk about, because he's also a podcast coach.

So definitely, definitely.

Now, one of the things he was like putting episodes behind the paywall.

Right.

So that's like premium episodes.

So where you got these front facing ones that are free but then sometimes they go a little bit deeper.

Right.

So having some of those behind the paywall and that's like a monthly subscription.

He talk about transcribing episodes and turning it to an ebook or a book.

He talked about many courses from the podcast content, paid speaking from podcast exposure, YouTube monetization, affiliate deals, running ads.

He talked about creating a member community and then offering coaching consulting services to your listeners via your podcast.

Right.

Let's keep it rolling.

Yeah, you need to go back and rewind it.

Yeah, no, definitely.

Several nuggets of how to monetize.

I'm not about to be doing all this for no reason.

Okay.

All right.

Definitely, definitely.

Then next we had the lovely Valise, the neighborhood PR public relations person.

No release episode.

It was.

I learned so much about PR from watching that episode.

Right.

I've.

I have a couple of associates that, that does PR work, but we don't ever necessarily talk about pr.

Right.

So to be able to, for her to sit down and, and her to communicate and articulate what PR is and how it benefits is clients and things like that was, was very key.

She said one of the things that she does for her clients is being able to educate.

Going back to educating.

So I, I'm.

So we're hearing some constant things, but educating, educating her clients on what is a genuine piece and then what is like a piece that has been pitched right to where it's like, okay, no, this is, this is some, this is somebody's pitching this to make you think and feel or, or you know, believe a certain way.

And then this piece here is just them, this them sharing the news or whatever the case may be.

So that, that was key.

Yeah, that stood out.

And then she talked about.

But going back to educating her clients on what is what, what her role is.

Right.

A lot of times people hire a PR person, they thinking they are an assistant, they thinking they are a marketer, they think amount PR is a part of marketing.

But I'm not your marketing director.

Right.

I'm your publicist.

So you tell me where you want to get to.

I'm gonna get you over there.

You want to talk to these people about this thing, I'm gonna get you over there to talk to them about that thing.

I'm not doing all these other things that, that you're trying to get me to do because that's not a part of my scope of service.

So going back to Educating was key.

I love that.

Yeah.

And one of the things that she does is she says, like, what is your.

Who are you?

Or what is your brand?

Where do you want it to be positioned?

What space do you want to have authority in?

How do you want to be viewed?

And we're going to help you shape the public opinion in that way.

You know what I mean?

Like, and put you get you amplified and in.

Into spaces that.

Where you want to sit.

But another part of her job is networking, right.

With different people so that when the time is right, she can get you positioned in the position that you really want to be in.

Okay.

So.

And we talk about.

People love networking, but the power of networking in a publicist is to maintain relationships.

Right?

That's what makes a public like a PR firm.

What they have a deep bag of relationships that they've maintained.

And how do you maintain the relationships?

People think, well, I got to go out to dinner with them, I got to call them on the phone and follow up and do a meeting.

And just checking in.

Like, she was like, there are very different.

And she actually came up with some unique and subtle ways to maintain relationship.

So what was one of the ones that stood out to you?

Yeah, I think she mentioned like, if it's just if you sending them, you scrolling.

We, we all, we always scrolling online.

So if I'm scrolling online and we see a video that reminds us of our client or reminds us of somebody that we have this relationship and you know, that's, that's a part of our network, just say, hey, this video made me think of you.

There's something this, something that small and simple, right?

And now that, that keeps you top of mind, right?

And I've done that.

I remember somebody, I sent somebody a video one time and he was like, oh man, me and Ron must be friends because he, he sent me, he sent me a video, right?

So that, that, that spoke volumes.

That, that.

Because you know, I'm saying videos to everybody, right?

So yeah, yeah.

She, yeah, it.

Listen, she gave.

Okay.

She also talked about like being the other aspect of her, which is like an event, like an event manager of some sort, right?

Because when you're doing publicist, let's say I'm a public, a PR person for a high profile person.

Some of these people have events, like they may have galas, they may have banquets, they may have conferences.

And so usually they, sometimes they have to hire another event manager.

But she has that skill set and she talked about that.

So she dropped some gems.

If you're interested in being an event manager.

We do consider that a creative entrepreneur because you have to have a creative approach in doing that.

She talked about some of the behind the scenes of pr, like, hey, okay, so this is the scoop.

This is what really happens.

And of course one of the things that I love is being able to charge your worth.

Right.

A lot of pricing is a strategy.

I'm sure Ron would love for me to talk about this.

Right?

Pricing is a strategy.

Am I going to charge a dollar?

Am I going to charge a hundred dollars?

And why?

Right.

And she talked about as creative entrepreneur, being able to charge your worth and knowing what the worth is and not being able to budge off of it.

So that's a gym.

If you need to hear about that and be encouraged and be kind of built up in that way.

A lot of us do.

It's like, man, I really need to go up in price.

You probably want to go listen to this episode.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then another thing that she talked about that was really crucial and this maybe not be.

Well, I was gonna say maybe not for the person who's starting, but maybe emerging.

You're already a great entrepreneur.

You're going.

She talked about the importance of contracts for her clients as well as her team members.

Right?

Yeah.

Because in PR there's a lot of like private information, a lot of non disclosure agreements, aka NDAs.

Right.

And so you have an NDA with this person, an NDA with that person.

And then so she talked about the importance of contracts.

That is how you make sure your business goes well.

So maybe we've talked about contracts, you and I, but for somebody else who is a six, seven, seven figure entrepreneur.

Six figure.

I don't want to throw people out there.

I just want to say six, seven or eight.

So we don't, you know, you don't want to go counting the pocket.

But for somebody to, to say like literally this is what helps my company.

Right.

Because she doesn't just work with individuals and small brands.

She works with some of what we would call the, the Fortune 500 companies and making sure that contract is right, that they're going to pay the, the, the PR firm correctly as well.

Amongst the team.

Hey, you guys can't say these things because we have this NDA here.

And then of course, how's the business going to be structured so it again, structure your business, get some information or even if you don't have the information yourself, go get you a lawyer or go find a friend who's a legal aid, something, go do something and get some contracts around your business, because that's a form of protecting your business.

You don't want.

You want to stop money from going out the window.

It's not always about making it.

It's also making sure you don't lose it.

So contract.

No, we.

We talked about that.

On protecting.

Protecting your.

I think that was season two.

So.

No, we definitely.

But, no, but like you said, go back and watch Velik's episode because she definitely goes into that.

So go check out episode in season two.

All right, let's keep it rolling because we got one more.

One more, one more.

Right.

So to bring us home, we had Eric Grayson, the owner of.

What is it?

What is it?

Five Bistro.

Art.

Art Overdose.

Right.

He's doing some phenomenal things in.

In the Dallas area, and I enjoy.

Listen, I gotta get his glasses.

If y' all watch the episode.

You see what I'm talking about?

But I gotta.

Yeah, glasses.

I gotta get those glasses.

Yeah.

I was with somebody the other day, and they talked about how they watched that episode, and they was like, man, them glasses, those were.

Those were like.

Yeah, them with them.

Them alone were fire.

So go watch the episode.

We're not gonna give it away.

Yeah.

One thing she just said.

He's owns two different companies, two from two different realms.

One of them is in a restaurant world, and the other one is like an event or a community gathering of some sort.

Right.

And he said owner, but he's actually part owner.

Right.

Of both those companies, because he was the one that talked a lot about equity.

Creative entrepreneurs out there.

I need you to say it with me.

Equity.

Equity.

Equity.

Yes.

You know all the creative terms, but I need you to learn equity, because you don't have to be the person to do the business again by yourself.

Just 100.

Just you.

Like we was talking about with the podcast, if you want to start one, you can actually go partner with people and have equity within the company.

Right.

So that was.

That was like, one of that.

I wanted to come up, talk about that a little bit later, but I want to kind of lean in because he owns multiple companies.

That's not only the only company he owns, he actually owns.

He's part owner of a couple others, but they're all around the same realm.

Eric is a creative director, and he's a marketer.

Right.

And so if you are that person who is into, like, helping create a vibe, like, man, I.

And I. I know how to promote an event.

I'm a promoter.

I can get people here.

I can Set the atmosphere just right.

People gonna love it.

Then you will love this episode.

He.

If you are a restauranteer, right, which is another creative entrepreneur, you have a creative based business.

The culinary art of it all is at the center point of your business.

You create entrepreneur.

You want to go watch it?

He said something that was like.

It became my thumbnail title.

What was it run like?

Are you talking about the.

Him about the food?

Yeah, he said.

Yeah, he said food is debate.

Food is the thing, right?

If you, if you own a restaurant, the food is debate.

Like that just gets people in the door.

But there's other things that goes into that strategically that's going to get that ticket up.

So he talked about how he has like, okay, y' all might be coming in for the 50 cent wings night, right?

So you get you, what, 10, 10 wings.

That's $5, right?

But no, there's things that are going to go into that to where now that tick is going to be more.

Right.

The fry is going to be salty.

So you're gonna get you a beverage, right?

But when the time you're done, you're gonna get a dessert.

But then he talked about creating the atmosphere and the culture and the vibe of that restaurant to where you want to stay and sit a little bit longer.

So now you're staying longer.

So where now you might only would have been there for about 30 minutes or 45 minutes, but now you're just going to stay longer.

So the longer you're staying, the more that you're going to spend.

Because now you're willing to probably do a dessert.

Oh, now you're probably gonna get you another.

Another.

Another beverage.

He talked about, you know, I think they got hookah.

So now you might want to do the hookah or whatever, you know what I'm saying?

So just creating it to where now you're staying longer.

We have somebody comment fire, right?

No, definitely that.

That listen to fire fire strategy.

So go back and watch that episode.

That was the episode we just launched last week.

And he was dropping them gems, right?

Dropping them gems.

He talked about how even if you have a, any entity that you have, if you build up an email list.

So, yeah, you can sell whatever product you have.

You can sell beverages, whatever other things.

You have sections in there, people.

So we have a band here, we have a DJ here, we have a mariachi band, if you're allowed to, you know, whatever it is that you have that's gonna.

So he creates a vibe on a different night, so that attracts different groups of people.

So you.

Because you.

You always gonna have your regulars that just love your restaurant.

But how can I get more people coming?

They're coming because they seen this flyer, and they.

Seeing this atmosphere is gonna be focusing on this particular style of music or this particular vibe and ambiance or this group.

So anyway, I'm gonna attract them there.

So that is what we call lead.

Like basically generating leads, right?

He uses the night.

He creates a vibe and.

And gets people in the door.

And once people come in the door, they become a customer.

And eventually, once they become a customer, you can get that ticket up.

Is what Ron was talking about is how can we raise your.

Your.

Your cart value?

So think about it.

When we say raise your cart value, if you go into a grocery store, if you get a cart and you go in there and get one thing that's cool for the grocery store, but they would really love for you to fill that card up.

The more you can spend in that particular cart, the better for their business.

Right?

And so even if you did come in there and get one watermelon and grab that orange juice, use focus.

When you get to the front, they got them little side owls right there.

You know, they're going to throw something else in the basket.

You're trying to raise the value of your.

The cart cost, right?

And so that's what we talk about, getting a ticket up.

So per customer, when they come in, they may not come back in, right?

We hope they do.

We hope they become a regular.

We hope they become a.

You know, but if.

If not right now, I want to make sure that they're spending with us and they're enjoying their time here.

We talked about a section while ago, because if I have a stage in my restaurant, sometimes people want to be seated closer to the entertainment.

So they may be willing to pay.

Pay for a reservation at some of those front spots, right?

So now I'm.

I'm not just paying for his food.

Well, we're sitting way back here.

We want to be by the band.

Well, those are.

It just added.

We just add 40 more dollars to your ticket.

You know what I mean?

So you can have that prom.

See, otherwise, we keep those reserved for people who make reservations.

Okay, I'll go ahead and take that because I want to be up there.

Right?

So it was just so many, like, little gems on how to do things.

He also owns an event.

That company is like some art overdose.

He's.

It's a marketing company, and he uses that same thing.

It's like a community gathering.

A Block party.

It's a vibe you're coming for an experience.

He knows how to market an experience that makes you want to come.

You know what I mean?

Like, and listen, we.

It, the season was so good.

It was so good.

Not just Eric's episode and not just like, oh, I want to be a creative director and I want to do it in the event world, in the restaurant world.

I want to know how to do.

It's not even just about.

It's not even an episode before that.

It's not even.

It's all the episodes are so good that Ron and I have gone over our time.

We usually try to keep our episodes condensed, but we've gone over our time just simply trying to talk about all the value that's there.

And Ron, I'm talking to you directly, literally, genuinely, you and I, even pregame and thinking about this, it.

It caused us to take so much time to think about it.

And now on this call, it's still taking time to even try to explain.

That means season four was valuable.

So I got a shout out to you.

Shout out to us for putting together an amazing podcast is helping creative entrepreneurs.

And in season four, which took things to another level, Shout out, yeah, yeah.

Shout out to you inside out.

Yeah, no, listen, listen.

And it's only gonna get better, right?