SPEAKER_02 1:45

Welcome to a new season of the Hill Top Club Podcast. We are thrilled to kick things off with a special guest, Aramis Massenberg. Aramis is a father, entrepreneur, music artist, and career specialist. He wears many hats, and today we'll be exploring exploring his fascinating journey. Aramis is the co-owner, was the owner of the band. All right. Three, two. Welcome to a new to a new episode. Now I can't speak. One second. Welcome to a new season of the Hilltop Globe podcast. We're thrilled to kick things off with a special guest, Aramis Massenberg. Aramis is a father, entrepreneur, music artist, and career specialist. He wears many hats, and today we'll be exploring his fascinating journey. Aramis is the owner of Carl Alexander Creative Consulting, based right here in Columbia, South Carolina. His company provides comprehensive design services tailored to businesses of all sizes and budgets. By crafting effective digital design strategies, including stunning websites and engaging social media platforms, Carl and his team deliver real, impactful outcomes. Their expertise spans across digital marketing. WordPress, Shopify development, e-commerce development, content creation, and social media marketing. They've worked with notable clients such as Tiffany Sweet Eats and Meeting Place, Polar Express Heating and Air, and The Bride's Corner, to name just a few. Beyond his entrepreneurial ventures, Aramis has a deep-rooted passion for track and field. Known as Coach Carl at Ridgeview High School, he has led his teams to remarkable success, developing top-tier athletes and earning state championships in boys' track and field. Now, as the new career specialist at Ridgeview High School, Coach Massenberg continues to foster a culture of excellence, emphasizing discipline, hard work, and a winning mindset. Sit tight and join us as we dive into the life of Crazy Carl and his many talents. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 3:56

I mean, well, you know, with an introduction like that, you know, it's kind of good to say that today's a good day. Um, so yeah, you know, definitely I appreciate the research in the background. Thank you, Tomai. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, that's Tamai. Shout out to my man big facts. But yeah, man, I feel good today, man. I'm really happy to be here. You know, I've seen the work that y'all have been doing since you guys have started. Um, and so, you know, I just applaud the consistency and what you guys do, get what you guys are doing. So I'm just happy to be here. Appreciate it. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Man, we appreciate you. We appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Well, the first question we always ask folks, and just I always like to start off with this. Our podcast, as you're aware, we reach out to millennials. We're trying to contact millennials. We want them to know that there are ways for them to be successful and to be able to be themselves and still make it and be successful in life, even without a handbook. And so or a handbook that's grossly out of date. Preach facts. Preach. Remember what's that thing called occupational guide, guide uh occupational handbook? Yeah, those are nice. Right. But it's a different air, and that's one of the things that we've always uh discussed with this podcast is that basically we're creating a digital Rolodex and a resource for people to view people that look like themselves, sound like themselves, talk like them, and that are actually out here being successful out in the world with the career, with business, or whatever it is that they want to do that makes them happy or excited. And so it's always cool to speak with people that either work in that lane themselves daily, and so you know about career movement, success, how to move stuff like that, but also that are themselves inundated in being an entrepreneur and have that spirit because now you can give them both sides of the plane, and so it's cool to have these types of conversations. Um, but we always like to start off with the most boring question, most important question. Where did you grow up? And do you have any siblings?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Um, yeah, so I was born and raised in Virginia. Uh so you know, was born in a city called Petersburg. I grew up in a little village called like Etterick in South Chesterfield. Um, so you know, I grew up in a rural part of Virginia. You know, I grew up where my granddad was a farmer. So, you know, we got a bunch of land out there. Yeah, yeah. I'm a country boy at heart. Um, I got two sisters, um, both older, so I'm the baby of the family, you know. So And you got the sisters? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, so you know, growing up, you know what I'm saying? As much as people say having brothers is cool, you really learn how to fight when you got sisters now. I was about to say, I heard they're worse. You learn a lot of defense, you learn a lot of defensive mechanics when you got sisters. Um, so yeah, man, you know, growing up in Virginia was fun, you know what I'm saying? You know, really rural where I grew up at, but you had inner city, you know, elements attached to it. You can get to Richmond in 20, 30 minutes, you can get to Petersburg in 15. So, you know, you're right in the middle of a lot of you know different things. So yeah, it was cool. It was cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Awesome, awesome. Now, um, with that being said, who or what influenced you on from you being a youth, of course, coming up to leading into the career decisions and choices that you've made for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Man, that is a that's that's that's tough, right? Because, you know, I'm in my world, I'm kind of like the first of like my kind. Like I'm the first one to go to college, you know, my family to graduate, first one to get a master's degree. Wow. So, you know, like the first to do a lot of stuff. So for me, it's like my imagination is what really kind of like inspired me or like motivated me. Cause it's like when you grow up in a country town and it ain't a whole lot to do, you gotta think of things that could be done. And so when you think of things that could be done, right, and then you begin to like kind of walk or explore those things, you find yourself in some of the strangest of places if you're willing to like walk. And so, you know, for me, my imagination kind of inspired me. Like, I wanted to be the fastest kid in the world. That's why I ran track. Not because I thought like I was gonna go to school. Nah, I want to be the fastest kid in school here. Right. In this world, I'm the fastest kid in the world. Yeah, yeah. That's true. That's what mattered to me. But then like that imagination took me to running, and now I'm in school for running. Wow. So it's like just use your imagination, bro. Like, anything you really want to do is out here. You can do it. Like anything you can really think of, if you can visualize, you can probably do it. Yeah. So, you know, for me, that's my biggest inspiration is like imagination and then having family members that like supported that imagination. They let you try, they let you fail. They let you explore all of the heartache and pain that comes with trying and failing. You know, and so those things help you build up enough callous to keep trying. Yeah. So that when things do get tough, all right, I can keep trying. Because I failed enough as a kid. I cried enough and I had to get up. I fell off my bike 30 times. Get up, try again. You know, those things continue to build up the requirements to be a successful adult, you know, like just to survive out here. Cereal $7, bro. It's $10 a box for cereal. Yeah, it's $10. I keep bike cereal.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Like cereal. Uh the youths in my house like cereal too, but guess what they're eating right now? What are you eating? Honey nut Cheerios.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Hey. Hey. Family size box. You might be able to get one.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Family size box got bigger too. It's like a jumbo family.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Now the box got bigger, but the bag got smaller.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

That box is larger, that bag's smaller.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

It's all a finesse, man. So, you know. Yeah, it just, you know, use your imagination, man. Find ways to create something out of nothing.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah. I I I think that's a man. And you were I we always talk about this. So whenever we have our our our podcast sessions and we're sitting talking, there's always a line, a string that ties everything together. And we don't do this on purpose, it just happens. Yeah, serendipity is what we call that.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Things happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

And you jump right into it. So our our first guest that we taught today, we're actually speaking about like just getting things done.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Um, that that's one of the biggest hurdles for most people. And there's a podcast that I listen to, Father Son Podcast, called Urban X Podcast. And one of the things they they talk about on there um is the fact that, yeah, you can get an app, you can plan things out, you can make sure, yeah, this is what I want to do. I'm gonna blah, blah, blah, and all this stuff talk about it. But it's that until you get to the process of actually just doing it. Yeah, and none of that stuff matters. Just do it. Go out there, bust your behind. Yeah. Get get some um get a couple scars, get some bruises, skin your knee, whatever it is, right? But get back up and keep getting on that horse and just keep trying and keep pushing at it. By doing that, you're gonna teach yourself the things that you need to succeed, which is through failure. Like you have to do that. And I'm happy that you said that today because a lot of our a lot of our generation just seeing uh failure and having to deal with it, a lot of them can't deal with it. You gotta imagine, like, we have a lot of folks that deal with things nowadays, just talking about counseling, et cetera, dealing with being uh bullying, cyberbullying, other things that they see online, just dealing with not being able to speak properly with people and having the interaction that they want to have, and it keeps people from living their dreams. And I think that's the saddest thing to see because you don't have that wherewithal or you haven't been taught that strategy, like sort of getting being get building up the callus to be able to deal with it. And so with with saying that, especially with what you do, especially with with business and music and etc. You keep pushing through, and like you said, it's because of all the other things you have going around you. Have there ever been any times that you thought about, gosh, you know what? This is pretty darn hard. How yeah, I know I've been taught to do better, but I don't know if I'm gonna make it right now. Have you had any of those any of those situations to just explain it to our audience so they understand that yes, you're telling them to do these things, but it's because it's coming from personal growth from experience.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Man, listen, all right? Being an adult is hard, period. It's it's period. It doesn't matter whether or not you want to have ambition and go off and be the biggest business owner or if you want to be an adult who just works a nine to five. This is hard, period. So if I want to do something that's hard, I might as well do it at the highest level so that then I can have whatever freedoms come with doing it the hard way. Right? If I sit and I just say, all right, cool, I'm just gonna do the regular, everyday nine to five, which is cool, right? But I don't save my money to then give me the freedom.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Having a nine to five doesn't mean that you can't be wealthy.

unknown 12:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

You can be wealthy, it's about financial literacy, it's about understanding what you're doing with your money. So for me, it's like, yes, adulting is hard when you're not prepared. When you leave out of high school and you're not prepared, you find yourself doing the same things that you might have seen in your upbringing.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

But she usually is the teacher of what you end up doing. So, like you say, experience is the best teacher. I've only experienced parents that might struggle with money. I'm probably gonna struggle with money. Boom. We never had a conversation about money. We never talked about how to balance a check, but we don't know anything about that. So when I go out about the things I like, about what I feel, not what I need. And so, you know, it's a variety of things that I think make this hard. So, yeah, nothing in life worth having is easy. Because if it was, everybody be having things. And people ain't having stuff out here. People ain't having stuff out here. Yeah. Why? Because it's hard to get. I tried to teach my son, like, he be like, hey dad, can I have some money for this and the third? All right, how much you willing to work for it? How much time you willing to put in? Yeah. Because like, and if I paid you the average $725 for what you're asking for, you gotta work for a week and a half. Objectively, you gotta work for a week and a half to get what you're asking for at the rate that I would pay you for what you're doing.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

It just is what it is. You don't like that, right? All right, figure out a way to make more money. Figure out a way to use your skill set to identify ways to make yourself more valuable so that you can use your brain and not your time. You can find ways to get to the paper without stressing.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

You know, so it's it's hard. Period. I mean, so and if you don't want to do the hard work, that's fine. You know, go to work, save your money, do the financial literacy thing so then now you can find your way to that same freedom or that same comfort. It's all a bunch of ways to get there. Yeah. And it ain't no one way to get to that place of comfort. It's just you gotta have discipline and you gotta want to do it.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

I think that's the biggest one.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Yeah, you know. And to your point, is that yes, our generation struggles with failure because one, we live in a society now where they only show success. Yes. Instagram only shows you success. Only success. Oh, look at me. I'm here, I'm lit, right? But you don't know I might have missed my rent to pay for this trip so you can see it.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

You ain't take no picture of that. You ain't take no video, you not making that rent.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

I ain't tell you about that. I didn't tell you that I'm I'm, you know, really out here scraping pennies to put together just to buy these sneakers. I ain't really telling you that. Keeping the real went straight out the window with Instagram. Like it's just gone. People will lie. They will just sit and lie to you about their entire thing. Everything. Literally. Everything. Everything. That makes no sense to me. Like they say, you ain't got a lot of kick it, bro. Like a lot of kick it. If you ain't got it right now, it's okay not to have food, yeah. Okay. Sometimes I don't got it. Why? Because I got bills.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Bam.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

I got kids. They like to eat. I got things I like to do. You know, it's like, it's just stuff that you gotta take care of. And so, like, to live and existence if that's not real, you ain't got to lie to me, bro. Like, I know that you got some stuff going on. Just like I got stuff going on. We all got the same type of.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Matter of fact, that's what you were saying when you came in.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, bro. It's like we all got the same problems, bro. It's like, even if you're rich, yeah, my overhead is just as high as yours. If I'm a billionaire, I'm paying for buildings, I'm paying for staff, I'm paying for overhead, insurances, all of that stuff is stretched. People think having money just means you're gonna be good. You gotta keep that money. Yep. You gotta keep it coming. And to keep it coming, that's the stressful part. You know what I'm saying? When it don't add up, that's the stressful part. When you used to living like this, but now this money adds up right. That's entrepreneurship. Yeah. What you're gonna do with your back against the wall. Last month you made $10,000, but this month you made three. Shh. That's seven differential main depending on what you got going on, it could really hurt. Okay, yeah. It can hurt. And so, you know, if you get comfortable living a certain way and you operate under certain guidelines with how you move as a business owner, you might find yourself, you know, just as stressed out as a person who's not making ends meet with their record nine to five. And now you owe people money too.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

That's even worse.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Now you owe people money. You owe people that did work for you money possibly. Yeah. There's a variety of things that come with this life of entrepreneurship that people just say, I'm gonna go out there and start my own business.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Okay. I hope I hope that I hope you can fall enough times and get up enough times and keep getting up and fall again and get up. And then realize you're gonna fall again because like you ain't never gonna stop falling.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

No matter how strong you get in your business.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

I'll tell you one thing that I've fallen into lately is um like I've I've done work for enough people and enough startups and enough nonprofits to the point where I'm really good at citing all of the expenses and all of the problems and all of the stuff that you're gonna have to face. And I'll talk myself out of every single idea I'll come up with because of this giant list. And then what really happens is when it's somebody else's project and they say we're gonna do it anyway, you solve half of that stuff on the way. You're right. Yeah. You're right. I mean what do you think of that? What do you think of that angle of it?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Um a lot of that is is more of a it's that's a fear mindset, right? I'm a hurdle coach, right? So like I have to do. Oh, I was about to ask what coach kids out of fear a lot, right? Like, I ask people to run at a barrier, right, with blind.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

You can't run at the wall.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

I ask people to run at a barrier as fast as you can with no concern for yourself. Yep, right? And and I'm gonna teach you how to get over it. That's that's what you have to do. I'm gonna run at this barrier at this goal as fast as I can, and I'm gonna teach myself how to get over it. If I hit it, I get to try again. If I hit this wall, I get to try again. It's my business. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

True.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

It's it's not yours or yours, right? Well, now if I hit this wall, now everything stops, right? Yeah, things might stop, but I get to try again. So if I try again, now I'll learn how to get over number one, in the number two, in the number three, in number four. And now when I get back in number one again, I already know how to get through five.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

So at a certain level, like expecting to fail. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

You have to expect failure if you plan to succeed. Period. That makes total sense. Anybody who says otherwise is just not telling the truth.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Well, if you think about it, like when I start a project, uh-huh, I expect that there's going to be prototyping, there's going to be failure, there's going to be re-evaluation, and then you come back around and you try it again. But we don't always give ourselves that room in a business startup. Grace. You know, grace. It's the money.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

It's scary.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I like how straightforward is. It's the money. Yeah. It's period.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

You don't want to lose it.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

If it was just my time, I'd drop it all the time. But when we talk about money and bills. Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

But see, the thing is, like, if you put enough time into your business, right, you can avoid some of the money pitfalls. Because like a lot of the stuff that you really need to be doing, you can find ways around.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

You can outsource a lot of stuff. You can you have to network. You know, like for me, I utilize a lot of different networks and a lot of different people to achieve the goals that I have, right? Because I can't do it all myself. So like you have to learn one to trust around you so that you can delegate. So if I can't delegate to anybody, then I find myself having to do all the work. And so I'm overwhelmed. Now I can't possibly have the wherewithal to do all of this or to oversee all of these things. Right. So you've got to find people that you can trust, right? The same way you say, hey, that's a Maya, can you do this part? That's delegation. That's the only way that this thing works, is with you all doing the same thing and being on the same page, right? And mastering what you do best, what you do best, what he does best. And then now when we work together, now we got a machine. This is like the Power Rangers, bro.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Like, I like that. Yeah, man. Mighty Morgan.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

We all gotta get together so we can get this big Zorg and when the Zorg comes back. Where the left leg at? Let's go. Yeah, legit. Yeah, exactly. The left leg can't show up, bro. We can't walk. Uh we leave all of y'all here, you know, to do the work. And so that's true. Yeah, so that's what it's about, man. Like, get out of the fear mindset and teach yourself how to get over those things. Teach yourself by failing. Yep. I'll fail enough times until I can. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Yeah, that's why I'm cool to speak to people that are doing both. Yeah. Because he sees both sides of it. Because when we speak a lot of people, if especially if all right, so if you're speaking to someone who's just a career coach and not an entrepreneur or an entrepreneur, not a career coach, they're gonna give you very good information from both sides. Yep. But not at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

You're right.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

So what's cool about speaking with you about this, we're gonna throw crazy stuff at you today because I know you can answer it. Yeah. Right? Because you get to see it and you've dealt with it from both sides, especially as track as a track coach, too. I think it's really cool because um people don't understand, like, track is a sport of pain. You are doing what everybody else does when they get in trouble. So if when I play football, I'm messed up, run. Run. Yeah. When I play basketball, I'm messed up. It's a punishment. Run. It's a punishment. So I remember, and I ran distance, right? I ran 3,200 and I ran 800. And people are like, so what are you out here? Why is that? Why are you you throwing up back here? You look like you died. Why are you doing this? I'm like, Because I want to win. Right. And so, like, you're putting yourself through pain on purpose. I'm like, yeah. So when I used to play football and I play basketball, and they asked us to run. It's nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

We can do that.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Yeah, we can do that. We get that done. And that goes into what he's saying about failing. Purpose. I don't care. It's fine if I fail. I don't care. I'm over there. I'm being painful a little while. Because when I complete the task, that feeling after completing the task and actually getting it done and getting that goal is way better.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Because the thing is in track and fail, like there is no like real failure in that sport. No. Right? Like it's all right, you might not have achieved your goal. Yep. Right. You might not have won the race, but you didn't necessarily fail, right? Like to go to failure at practice means that every day I'm gonna push my body beyond what was comfortable yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

That's failure.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

That's failure.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

That's two failure. I'm going to run until failure if that's the goal. So if I got 10, 200s and they're saying that the time is 23 seconds and I got to do all of that with 90 seconds rest, I'm going to run until failure. If I can get to eight, I failed at eight. I didn't fail. Yesterday, I failed at six. So I'm actually better today. Exactly. And so every day that I get better, that's you being able to, you know, advance your understanding about what the task is, what the objective is. How hard do I really need to go? How much time do I really need to put into my finances or to the accounting of my business? How much time do I need to put into the marketing? Because I failed at these strategies. And so now I've got experience now to tell you, yes, this works, this doesn't work, that don't work, this will work. And if you listen, you know, that's up to you. You can run it, you can run at the hurdle and you can crash out until you figure it out yourself and you can listen to sound device and somebody might be able to help you navigate faster. It just depends, you know? So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Man, that's a great way to put it. I just had to had to touch on that because I I think that's a really good viewpoint to be able to have. And it's hard to obtain it without being in specific areas or realms. And a lot of folks, they you don't have a lot of people that are in multiple areas of life or or or areas of access. So you'll have folks in finance who don't who aren't gonna be in um lifestyle stuff, who won't be in food and bev administration, or won't be in in um in your your normal political uh uh spheres. And so usually you'll have all those things separate. I love when things cross over. So awesome understanding.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

That's the millennial thing. Yeah, but we have to do it. Everybody's crossing over now.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

So that's it gives us a different look at it. Um and this is interesting because this goes into this this is our third question, but we live in a time when creating content is more important than building relationships. Now, can you explain the importance of building business relationships to latter collaborate and create meaningful content and connections?

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Um Content creation is cool. It is the thing that gets you visibility, right? So if you're an artist or a business or anyone that's in this space that needs to be seen, then yes, content is the key to doing that. Um but in order to consistently do those things, you need relationships.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

True.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

So it's like, yeah, I can have all this content, right? And let's say if this is a one-off and we don't really like each other.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Because I don't really like how you talk to me. Or whatever. And so now a business relationship is a little sour. So I get this one thing, this piece of content, but without the relationship, I don't have the ability to come back and have a follow-up. Thanks so much. We'll call you. Yeah, yeah, we'll call you next time. And now you now it's kind of that's dead. So for me, the business relationship still supereces the content that you create. Okay. Because like you need people. You need people. That piece of content after a while, you know, even if it goes viral, after a while, it'll be viral. Great. I saw it. Now what? What's next? Like, what's next?

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Like, what's your next like thing? And for me, I think like I'm I'm kind of good off the gimmicky stuff too. Because it's like the internet makes things really gimmicky now. So it's like everything is a point to go viral. Everything is like, I gotta do this to get here instead of just existing. These relationships will exist. We can do this all day.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

All day long. Literally all day.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

So yeah, I mean, the content will create itself when you got good relationships.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Ah, so relationships just supersede content.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

It'll create itself. If you sit down with a camera with a good relationship and a good conversation, you'll create content. Voila, that's what we're doing right now.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Yeah, that was kind of the plan.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Right on the money. I love I love it. I like how you said that. I think it's so important because I I I know, and I guess this goes back to what we were saying earlier. The fact that we only see certain things, finished product, perfect, pristine condition. We don't, they don't realize that there is this uh the I like to say the ugly work that goes behind it, right? To make it look good, the building of the relationship, you sitting down, chit-chatting, shooting the breeze, making sure that you all actually have something in common to have a good conversation. One thing I always like to tease and I can compare it to is growing locks. You have something called the ugly phase.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Oh, yeah, facts, facts.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Oh my lord.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

I've had locks multiple times. Oh, you see, you see them all. You're like, yo, what's wrong with you? Why are you looking like this right now? They do what they want, how they feel like that. And when they drop, when they drop, that's when it's like, okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Okay, I know why I did it. I know how I did it. It looked good now. And so you gotta go through those processes. And again, again, you find this stream of logic. That goes back to understand that sometimes you have to go put that hard work in. All the relationships that you try to create, too, and I like to tell folks this, they aren't all gonna work.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Right. Facts. And then everybody ain't meant for everybody. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

That's something people fall into a lot, too, is if you if your mindset is on this project, yeah, then everything is a fix for that project. Right. And then you switch to another project and you forget, oh, wait, this relationship I burned on this thing would have been really perfect for this other one. Perfect. Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Yeah, those things again, those things cross over. So in order to keep those things rolling, you have to nurture them. And you gotta keep those relationships going. And I I would have always thought that it would be easier nowadays with the technology, but it actually seems like there is a bit of a noise. Noise, yeah. That's a good point. The noise. Internet noise.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

It's all internet noise. You know, it's it's and it exists, right? Part and parcel because everybody has an opinion now. Uh everybody has a uh a platform to speak from.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

And we're supposed to know about everything. Like I'm supposed to know how to solve economics. I didn't why why the hell would I be the person solving economics? You don't want my opinion about people.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

You're supposed to be on earn your earn your leisure right now, mate, dropping that knowledge, making that money.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Do not listen to me or join my political party because I do not know.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

But everybody knows. Yeah. But everybody knows because everybody's an expert, right? And I'm not an expert in anything that I know. I just know what I know. I know what I know. Okay, the things that I know might be more than what you know. But I ain't gonna say I'm an expert at any particular thing. I'm just really good at what I do. And so, you know, the internet, like you stated, everybody has that platform to speak their peace, even if it's educated or non-educated. It's you know, it's your right because this is America's That's why I tease all the time. This is America. This is America. Say what you want to say. Be who you want to be, do what you want to do. Do whatever you want to do. Just know that things have consequences. Ah, they have consequences, they just have consequences. So, you know, and if you're okay with the consequences for the things you do, go ahead. Go ahead, run at the hurdle. Yep. Run at the hurdle.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Wait, I gotta say that just because you say that. Did he be running at mad hurdles?

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Listen, regardless of the consequences, regardless of the consequences, he said, you know, hey, he'd say, you know what, this track slipping. This slippery, I'm going for it. I'm going for it. You know, and that and that's his thing. That's his work. Oh, Jesus. Hey, I wish you the best, my brother. I wish you the best.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

You know? Oh man, so how did you sharpen your skills over the year um in building your clientele? Because like we're talking about building relationships, especially for what you do with marketing specifically. Clientele base matters. Oh, yeah. Because if you do a good job, they'll keep you. Yes. Can you explain that? They need to hear this. If you do a good job, they'll keep you.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Quality work, quality work will keep you employed. It's that simple. If you do what you do and you do it well and you can build those relationships, it's the soft skills that matter. Oh my gosh. I talk to you on the phone. That's how I articulate what we're working on together. You know, if I can articulate it to you, if you don't have any knowledge of what I do, you just hired me to do the job for you. Provide them with enough transparency. Yeah. Provide them with enough information so they can feel comfortable knowing that, all right, that's the expert in that space that he can get the job done. And then provide them with actual tangibles. Like, hey, this is what it looks like. This is what the website has done in the last 30 days, this is what your social media platform has looked like in the last 30 days. You can provide them with information. Don't withhold information from your client. Really kind of overshare if you can, right? So then now they tell you, hey, now I'm good. I don't need to know all of that. Yeah. You can just do you and then circle back from me later.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

It builds trust. It builds trust. And if there's something you're trying to hide from a client, they they already know it or they will short. They will short. Like, just go ahead. Here's the challenge we're facing. Truth.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

You know, and so in that, it's like I provide quality work and building those long-term relationships really is just about being honest and being authentically you. I'm gonna tell you the things I can do, I'll tell you the things I can't do. If there's something I can't do, we can probably solution for it because it's the internet we're talking about. That's a good point. We're talking about the internet, we're talking about, you know, people, places, and things and resources that are damn near infinite online. So if there's a solution that I need that I can't find, I know between myself and my team, we can find the resource. And then finding the resource, do you want to pay for it?

SPEAKER_02 30:39

That's it. That's it. That's it, that's it. Do you want to pay for it?

SPEAKER_01 30:41

It comes down to do you want to pay for it? If you want to do advertising in Orlando, which is something that I do for clients. You want to advertise, are you willing to pay for it? If you're willing to pay for it, we can get you billboards plastered up and down the highway. It doesn't matter. You know, if you want to do that in North Carolina or North Dakota, we can get those things done. But do you want to pay for it? You know? And that's that's what it boils down to. If you want to pay for it, we can do it. Yeah. But if you don't, it's cool. Yeah, it's cloudy. It's all right. It's okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

That's a good mentality, though, because a lot a lot of times, especially if you're working on a client that you need. You're right. Yeah. In the past, I've been afraid to give them a large number. But at the end of the day, if you underbid it, then you end up not doing the goodest work that you could. Right. The goodest. That's what it is, it's the goodest. Right. Right? Because you've got because it's not the best.

unknown 31:28

It's not the best.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

It's only the terrible. It's only the goodest. It's only the goodest. It could be 40 hours to do the job, and I'm doing it in 20, guess what? It's not the goodest.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Probably not the goodest part. Not the goodest. That's the word of the day. Like even in there, right? Like, you know, I've had I've got clients, man, they're like certain relationships just work a certain way. So when you help clients make money, sometimes, depending on what the relationship is, they break bread. Yeah. So like they break bread. Like I've got clients that just break bread because of what we were able to do. I'm able to help you generate this many more clients, and I can send you these referrals. I can send you these from the work that I'm doing. Now, yo, you're breaking bread. Yeah. Like I'm helping you. It's like finders' fees almost. So like you're not going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

No, I'm not talking about literal, straight, like you said, straight line.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

In a lot of ways, as an entrepreneur, like, you know, as a consultant, there are many ways for you to get paid. It's just you have to know what kind of vehicles you can create. I mean, you can create these like things. You can write them on paper and say, I want to be paid this way with this and this and the third that's attached to this metric.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

If I do this, I get paid for this. You used a great word right there. Metric. Yeah. I don't think a lot of us, especially coming new into business, new business entrepreneurs don't understand metrics. And it's interesting. I'm gonna shout out my wife because my wife works for Blue Cross Bushi and she deals with grant stuff, and they listen to people bring in Oh, grants care only about metrics. And people come to them asking them for money with no metrics. And by metrics, we mean a number of indicators.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

What is the KPI? If you have a business and you're trying to give you speaking with that language, what is the KPI? Key performance indicator. You can't give me a key performance indicator, I can't gauge performance.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

I can't gauge performance.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

How do we know? Are we trying to sell a widget? Are we trying to get phone calls? Do I just want people to click on the website and know we exist? Right.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Or do I want them to follow down an actual funnel to fill out a form, sign up for a class, pay me? And then like Conversion. Yeah, those are things that matter.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Those words matter.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Those things matter. So if you're writing proposals up and you don't have any of the language that the person who put out the proposal is gonna understand, then you're not gonna win. You're not gonna win. There's no way you're gonna win in anyone's world. Even if you had a friend in the door, you still can't win. That's true. Because your proposal doesn't read right.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

And so, you know, you gotta learn how to write people. Yeah. Like legit.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

They write the way they want you to. You're right.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

You have to write for your industry. Like if you're an entrepreneur in a certain industry, your language has to read of that industry. If it does not, then they're gonna kind of look at you like, uh, doesn't really understand what he's talking about or what she's talking about. So, you know, it's important to educate yourself on whatever it is that you want to do. Education don't mean you gotta go to college. No, like there are certifications out here you can take, there are courses online that you can take. They've got literal, like libraries of Congress. They've got libraries in Richland County full of information, like literally full of information.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

They got people waiting to help you. They get paid. They go every day. And they like doing it.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

Legit. So, like if you don't take advantage of the things and the resources, but then complain about outcomes. I have zero sympathy for that.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

There we go.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Zero sympathy for that.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

I can tell you a coach.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Yeah, like I just I have zero sympathy for that. Like, you want to run faster, do these things. If you don't do these things and you don't get the outcomes, zero sympathy for that. Did you do your best? Did you try your hardest? Yeah. Did you give it your all? Did you stay up late and read the books and get off Instagram?

SPEAKER_02 34:56

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Watch the YouTube podcast about finance, or did you, you know, watch the hottest tea about Diddy? Who does that? Which one's gonna make the money right now? It's hard to decide, right? But you know, ultimately, where do you fall when it comes to your discipline? Yeah. What do you really want? Yeah, you know? I want nice things. Hey. My kids want stuff, you know. I'm really working to pay for cereal boxes.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

No, I was about to say, it seems like the kids are like, We all trying to buy butter right now. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

You have child care, you have to and from for sports. My son plays AAU basketball.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

Y'all parents know what it is. Oh, AAU basketball.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

So, yes, all of those things, right, put you in the mindset of I have to achieve more, but I have to do it where I can find balance in my family. I gotta have family time, I gotta have balance, but I need to get more.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

This man interviewing himself. No, I like him. Wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

Tell us about your work life balance.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

No, no, seriously, because we're gonna answer that question. We're gonna answer about work life.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Honestly, bro, work life balance is like challenging. It comes with its own ups and downs. A lot of it is because like you have to work hard consistently.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

Yeah, work is consistent when you're an entrepreneur.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

It's not like, all right, I put this work down and I have a nine to five.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

That's the thing I do.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Yeah, please tell people that this man got a cool nine to five. Yes. And I have a business. Why? Because I need money. Money. What's my man's name? I need money. I need money. And so, you know, in needing money, you gotta put the infrastructure together to make that happen. Yeah, that's why I make music. That's why, you know, I do career coaching. Yep. That's the reason why, you know, I privately coach kids in track and feel. Why? Because kids want to get better. You know, kids want opportunities, and I've got experience. And so my goal is to leverage that experience for as long as I can until, you know, I'm too old to be trying to do all this stuff. Hey man, track and feel is pretty pretty good, though. It's pretty good. I mean, yeah, it is, but I mean, there's not many of you out there.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

That is true. That's what I was about to do. I I I ran here and I couldn't find many of y'all to teach me. Listen, and that is true. I had an older white woman taught me.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Don't laugh. It was the way you said it.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

But that was my coach. She she ran at Georgia.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

So I trust her because you but that's the only person I can find that would be. But I'm gonna tell you, man, coaching, coaching, good coaching in tracking field comes in all shapes and sizes. Yep. Like legit. Like I've had some of the best coaches of all backgrounds, like legit. Like, yeah, because you never know. People run, bro. Yeah, they do. They enjoy running, they run hard, they enjoy it. So, like I said, and you ran distance, so it made sense. You said you ran the 32, so that'd be perfect. You really coach was that makes sense. Perfect person. But yeah, work life balance, you gotta find time to work it out, you know, between music, trying to I have a studio in the house, so I don't have to leave. I can record at home. So I'll try to you know save money. That's a financial play, too. Smart. You write that stuff off in your taxes, people. It's listen, it's a hustle. It's a hustle. Yeah, tax game is a hustle. So if you're a business owner and you do work in your home, write it off in your taxes.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

Find new ways to get creative as to how you write off your electric bill or your phone bill. Give me all some game. It's stuff out here you can be doing. Get in account. What's it say? Listen. Yeah, listen. Listen, message. Yeah, message. So, you know, I look at it as an opportunity to one, create the lifestyle that you want when you become an entrepreneur.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

Smart, smart. Um, very important question, just talking about marketing. I know a lot of people that are gonna be listening, they're gonna be interested in this question, but brand identity. Creating a brand and establishing a brand identity are two of the most important steps when building your business. Can you highlight a couple of aspects, a couple aspects most entrepreneurs fail to consider when creating their brand identity?

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Um, brand identity is a very complex, like, when people think brand, they only think like, oh, Hilltop Glove podcast. Yeah, I got my logo already. That's my brand. That's my brand. No, they're when reality your brand goes so much deeper into like who you are, like what you do, how you operate. Your brand could be poor communication. Oh objectively, like your brand could be, you know, bad customer service. Oh, that could be your brand. McDonald's, Jamaican restaurants.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Yeah, like literally, they screwed up probably 20, 30 years ago and they can't get past it. McDonald's is always gonna be known for bad customer service. You're right.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

And that's what it is, right? So a part of your brand is like, what do you do consistently well? Man, the way you broke that down. What do you do consistently well? Yeah if I make quality music consistently well, all right, cool. That could be a part of his brand, right? If I do high-level career coaching and I get people good job placements, that's a part of my brand. That's true. I that's the brand. You come to me for this thing.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

Because that's what the brand is. You know, so it's not just about you having, you know, a logo or a website. It's about what you offer. You know, like what do you really offer? You know, and then what you offer is then expressed through the visual aid of this is my logo, this is my website, this is what I do. So when you see it, it comes along with the brand. Yeah, the brand. The actual brand, the background. Yeah, the brand is the background, it's the foundation of what you do, it's who you really are, and then I express that through this.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

So man, that was dope. Very well put. I like that. That was dope. And um, what what could you say? What sets your firm apart from others in the area?

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Um, I take my time working with clients. I have more of a like boutique style approach because I don't take on a bunch of clients. I work specifically with certain types of clients because I want to see them reach their goals. Uh and if I spread myself too thin, right, then the clients that I should be working with might not get the attention that they deserve. So, you know, what sets me apart is that I spend more time being dedicated to just jeep and I'm not out here chasing a bunch of business.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

So they're actually getting proper attention to what they're requesting.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Customized services. If you call me and say, hey, Carl, I got this idea, but I don't know how to do this thing. All right, cool. I'll get back to you. And then we'll circulate and figure out what you need and how to do it, and then present you with that thing. And then the question is, do you want to pay for it? Hey, okay. I said, you wanna pay for it? If you want to pay for it, we can do it. We can do it. If you don't want to pay for it, that's cool. But we give you options. So you know, hey, give plenty of options.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

That's awesome. Um, so now to finish out, we always like to, we're gonna let you do your shameless plugs at this time. Let them know what you got going on, where they can find you at, and then you gotta make sure that you show them that ring, too. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

I've been looking at that brain, bro. So we won, we won last year, boys and girls last year.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Both? Whoa, that's dope. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Yeah, man. You know, Richie, we're doing a lot of good work in track and fields. Yeah. Very, very proud of the team, very proud of the culture that we're developing over there.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

That's a very good point. Culture. Yeah, change culture.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

But yeah, um, shameless plug, man. You know, uh, you can find me on most platforms underscore crazy carl. Um, I've got music out. I got a project that just came out last month called For Her. Uh it's for you know the ladies who like good hip hop music. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you like to ride with a girl who's cool and you want to have some vibes, that's the music you want to play, you know, in the car. You know, I also have a project out called House of Fabrics. You know what I'm saying? That's for the hustlers, the ones who trying to get some money and get money the legal way. Like the real way. Or like, you know, that's for them. Um, you know, you can check out my website, K Alexander Consulting. Um, you know, and if you ever need anything from me, you know, just reach out, man. You know, find me on any platform that's available, you know. And yeah, that's it, man.

SPEAKER_02 42:04

So man, I appreciate you, man. You're a really sharp dude, man. I appreciate it, man. I was checking out your site and stuff, and I was like, he looks like he's a sharp guy. We see what it looks like when he comes in and playing.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Yeah, I appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

But like you said, brand. You gotta I know what it is. So now whenever I see your name, you're gonna match with Brandon.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

Okay, I know he's gonna bring me a certain quality. Yep. And that's all it's about, man. So, you know, I appreciate y'all, man. Because y'all gotta get brand over here, too, man. Here's how gloves, man. It didn't hit, he was gonna get hit. I'm just saying, you gotta get hit.

SPEAKER_02 42:32

Uh yo, cut that. Make sure you put that together right there. We gotta cut print and paste it. We got a little snippet for you. We need to snippet on that. So we're gonna wrap up for today. DJ and what? A mic. You gotta skip in the background. And then our esteemed guest, Crazy Carl. Awesome, man. It's been a pleasure having you speak with us today, especially with your experience. A lot of our listeners are are gonna be excited to hear this and then they just to hear what you have to say about what's going on because they try to do this, some successfully, others unsuccessfully.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

However, we're gonna try to see if we can change that percentage.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Oh, yeah, most definitely, man.

SPEAKER_02 43:05

But until the next time, tell somebody next to them that you love them, that you cherish them, that you care about them, and we will see you on the next episode of the Hill Talk Love Podcast. Peace.