Latest / Inside The Vault with Ash Cash / ITV #198 The New Rules of PR: Influence, Impact & Income w/ Ebony Porter Ike | Inside the Vault

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ITV #198 The New Rules of PR: Influence, Impact & Income w/ Ebony Porter Ike | Inside the Vault · Inside The Vault with Ash Cash

0:00
[SPEAKER_01]: It is okay, not to have a million followers.
0:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of people think that like PR is about being a scene, but you say it's about being a strategic scene.
0:13
[SPEAKER_02]: PR is not even like, it's not even optional.
0:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Why do you believe that PR is optional?
0:17
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a cost, but it's Bill Gatesid.
0:19
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the last dollar that he had.
0:22
[SPEAKER_01]: He would spend it on PR.
0:23
[SPEAKER_01]: because of no one knows that your product is this, it just doesn't.
0:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You're creating something that's great for you, but the world won't now.
0:30
[SPEAKER_02]: This might be controversial or not, but did he?
0:33
[SPEAKER_02]: You would all of the things that is going on in the media that if you was his PR person, he comes home, what are you telling him to do?
0:43
[SPEAKER_01]: We were running up again.
0:44
[SPEAKER_02]: What's the fine line between what the intensity and doing what's right for the business?
0:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Stop comparing yourself to everything you see on social media because most of that is a facade and just do this good for you.
1:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Wait, wait, I know you want to watch this next video, but listen, if you are an entrepreneur, business coach, business consultant or a small business owner who has a story and wants to learn how to create multiple strings of income from your story, I need you to text me right now, my book.
1:17
[SPEAKER_02]: to six, four, six, six, six, eight, seven, four, one, five, two.
1:20
[SPEAKER_02]: That is my personal number.
1:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I have been an author for over 12 years.
1:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I've written 10 books, four of them have been best sellers, and I've sold over 100,000 books.
1:29
[SPEAKER_02]: But I've also helped a lot of my clients, take their expertise and put it into a story, then create multiple streams of income from that.
1:37
[SPEAKER_02]: So I wanna help you do the same thing.
1:39
[SPEAKER_02]: So text my book to six, four, six, six, eight, seven, four, one, five, two.
1:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I, let's go back to the video.
2:02
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, so welcome to another awesome other sort of inside the vote with Ash Cash, the greatest money mindset shown on the planet today inside the vote.
2:12
[SPEAKER_02]: We're unlucky a different kind of currency, the kind that money cannot buy, but every millionaire, mogul and movement needs.
2:22
[SPEAKER_02]: This is public perception.
2:24
[SPEAKER_02]: because no matter how great your business is, if nobody knows you trust you or talks about you in the right way, you're invisible.
2:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And today, we're talking to the woman who helps brands, entrepreneurs, and public figures become unforgettable.
2:41
[SPEAKER_02]: We have thee!
2:42
[SPEAKER_02]: and any more like she is the president of the E.P.I.
2:46
[SPEAKER_02]: media group, one of the nation's most respected public relations and branch strategy firms.
2:52
[SPEAKER_02]: She's a visionary behind coinology, the podcast is she's on the side of the certified deal closer for a reason.
3:01
[SPEAKER_02]: So, decades, you've been behind the scenes, shooting narratives, managing crisis and building empires, helping our clients not only be seen, but be celebrated from reputation and management and media mastery, everything has guided some of the most influential names in business, entertainment and leadership.
3:20
[SPEAKER_02]: But here's what makes this conversation special.
3:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And then he isn't just, he are strategists.
3:26
[SPEAKER_02]: She's also the person that I trust.
3:29
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a managing God, many of my book coaching clients do the process of launching brand-in and positioning their book the right way, because here's the truth.
3:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Lighting a book is easy, but charting that book into a brand in a business and a lasting legacy.
3:46
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a strategy, an Everny Porter eye, is that strategy family?
3:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I need to put your hands together, right over applause, make all the words that you can for me, Everny Porter eye.
4:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my goodness, I love that energy.
4:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, okay, okay, I love it.
4:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I think it's a phrase, you know, because I want
4:07
[SPEAKER_02]: my audience to know, first and foremost, how much of a power out you are, right?
4:13
[SPEAKER_02]: But if also, like, I need them to understand, like, this is not what those interviews that you want to skip over, that you don't, like, you, I want you doing anything else.
4:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I give you you to pay attention because I don't think
4:26
[SPEAKER_02]: people give respect to what you do.
4:29
[SPEAKER_02]: You're from the out of the people.
4:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I think people look at it like a vanity thing.
4:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And they don't understand.
4:35
[SPEAKER_02]: But what you do is literally the lifeblood of business.
4:40
[SPEAKER_02]: If you want to be, if you want to be at the top of your game, what you do is the lifeblood of business, any business that I know,
4:49
[SPEAKER_02]: that has gone on to do major things.
4:52
[SPEAKER_02]: They have a PR partner that helps them get to that next level.
4:56
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'll excited to have this conversation.
4:58
[SPEAKER_02]: But before we even get there, before we just start in your words, who is Evan E. Poor guy?
5:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, first of all, Ash, thank you for having me here as my honor.
5:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It has Evan E. Poorty, E. K.
5:11
[SPEAKER_01]: That's okay.
5:13
[SPEAKER_01]: It has an Nigerian, it's an Nigerian last name.
5:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So most of us say, I eat for this weekend.
5:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a mother.
5:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a wife.
5:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a business owner.
5:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a business strategist.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I am a servant.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I am really big on how do I serve other people as?
5:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And the end of the day, I'm an entrepreneur, business mogul, things of that nature.
5:37
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's who I am.
5:41
[SPEAKER_02]: like PR, a lot of people, you know, like I said earlier, like a lot of people feel like it's, it's a luxury.
5:51
[SPEAKER_02]: But you and I know that PR that even, like, it's not even optional, right?
5:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Why do you believe the PR is not optional anymore?
5:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, this is the thing you said it early on.
6:02
[SPEAKER_01]: You can have the best idea.
6:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It can be great.
6:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It can be phenomenal.
6:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You can have the best product.
6:08
[SPEAKER_01]: But if nobody knows that it exists, it doesn't exist.
6:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's important for your brand to get as much elevation as possible.
6:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's also important that someone shapes the message for you.
6:22
[SPEAKER_01]: someone shapes it for you or not you yourself because the reality is people just don't respect if you call in yourself and say hey I'm the greatest ever did it you just don't get that level of respect the other thing is it's important to have someone on the outside help you craft your message it's really difficult for you to craft your own thing I don't care how great you are just like we always say every great player has a coach right so I look at PR from a perspective of coaching
6:52
[SPEAKER_01]: entrepreneurs and business leaders as well.
6:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And so why do you think they're like, you know, people look at it as a luxury, like why don't people, you know, see it as a, as I'm laying for.
7:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's because of the cost.
7:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It's expensive to get the right type of PR strategy or development around you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a cost, but as Bill Gates said, it was the last dollar that he had.
7:23
[SPEAKER_01]: He would spend it on PR because if no one knows that your product exists, it just doesn't.
7:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You're creating something that's great for you, but the world won't know.
7:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So many people just don't understand.
7:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Now what I will say is this.
7:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Every business is not necessarily ready for PR because you have to be able to build yourself up to a certain point where you can sustain the cost of public relations, right?
7:47
[SPEAKER_01]: If you can't sustain it, you are wasting your money.
7:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I get so many calls as if people tell me, I'm saving my money, I'm saving my money so I can get that first retainer.
7:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's all you can afford is that one retainer.
8:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I won't accept it.
8:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the reality of it is PR is like a snowball, a small and it gets bigger and bigger as it continues to go.
8:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And every time you stop the melts and you have to start back over again.
8:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't want my clients.
8:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want people that I know wasting their money.
8:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to be consistent so that you get the best results from your investment.
8:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's good, and you know, you know, a lot of people think that like PR is about, you know, being seen, but you say it's about being strategically seen.
8:37
[SPEAKER_02]: What's the difference?
8:38
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, you know, for me, it's about being strategically seen.
8:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So I will say all PR people are publicists are not the same.
8:46
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not all equal.
8:47
[SPEAKER_01]: For me, I am a strategist, which means I don't just go after getting your radio TV blogs and just throw things to see what sticks.
8:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I am strategically developing a campaign that's going to elevate and expand the brand.
9:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when you're doing that, you're being strategic.
9:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So every opportunity you're not going to take.
9:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's certain times you're going to take certain opportunities for instance, if the today show called today and wanted to have you on, but you didn't have anything to sell, promote, or to get out there.
9:22
[SPEAKER_01]: What would be the point of going on a today show?
9:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That's straight vanity.
9:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And your publicists would advise you to go on there only because you just want to be on a today show.
9:32
[SPEAKER_01]: but a strategist would say this may not be the right time for it or to help you structure a product or service that you would have so when you go on a today show it makes the most sense for you to do it.
9:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So you just have to be wise.
9:47
[SPEAKER_01]: The entity is if the only purpose of having PR is to be on a rare carpet and take pictures for your social media that's not the best you see your money and that's not what public relations really is.
9:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I agree and I think that a lot of and I've seen this a lot to a lot of entrepreneurs who make a lot of money You know, they they will pay to be seen and you know But financially doesn't make sense.
10:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like why are you pay X amount of money just to get this look when like you said You could create a product service or something like you like make it make it purposeful
10:24
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think a lot of times is that is that scarcity mentality where they're like, or what, well, if the today's show is calling right now, but I better take this opportunity because when will they call again?
10:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, how do you position people so that they,
10:42
[SPEAKER_02]: you know are are constantly like like like the today show is not just like a one off you know opportunity for them value you have to add value one of the key things um is that you have to be able to address the headlines
10:58
[SPEAKER_01]: your publics or strategies should know what is important today.
11:01
[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that the media cares the most about?
11:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And they should be able to structure you and your campaign and your offerings to meet the needs of the media.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If you constantly stay at the foot of what the media needs are, you will constantly get those calls.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the people who are the commentators.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the people who get the calls repeatedly.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the people.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, I love it.
11:28
[SPEAKER_02]: So you've helped build a protect branch through some of the toughest situations.
11:34
[SPEAKER_02]: What would you say is the biggest mistake you see entrepreneurs and public figures make when it comes to their image or reputation?
11:42
[SPEAKER_01]: moving to fast, speaking at a turn, or taking on opportunities without proper counsel.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Again, being too eager for something and not really fully thinking it through can come back to by two later.
11:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah.
11:58
[SPEAKER_02]: It was the far line though between authenticity and doing, you know, you know, what's in the best nature of your business, right?
12:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Because I know, for myself, like as a financial educator, I'd never really wanted to be a public figure.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I was just wanting to impact the world, if you will,
12:19
[SPEAKER_02]: But when you, you know, when the world shifted, I guess, where it wasn't just mainstream television, a lot of like podcasts and influences or whatever became public, public figures, sometimes it's like,
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm afraid to be myself, right, because, you know, I'm human, so sometimes there might be things I do that the world might not like agree with if you will, I'm not crazy, but just still there's, you know, I might curse every now and then, I don't know, you know what I mean, like,
12:51
[SPEAKER_02]: But you know, you know, I feel like we live in a culture where it's like I guess cancer culture like like the culture wants you to be like perfect and sometimes like you're producing a perfect self when that's not really you so what's the fine line between what the intensity and doing what's life for the business.
13:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you become a public figure, everything has to have counsel because one of the things about your public perception it may not really truly be who ash is 110% but it is in essence.
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[SPEAKER_01]: was important to grow the business, right?
13:29
[SPEAKER_01]: The core of it should be important to meet who you are.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But many of the public figures that you see, that is not really who they are, totality is a business.
13:42
[SPEAKER_01]: and it is a persona that they have.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When you are a public figure, I can't stress this or you own a business, you cannot just go out on social media because you get bored and say what you wanna say because it feels good.
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[SPEAKER_01]: For instance, I'll get a great example of we see our good sister, Tabitha Brown, right?
14:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Without proper counsel because a person like me would
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[SPEAKER_01]: point out, these are your risks.
14:11
[SPEAKER_01]: If you say this, this is what could potentially happen.
14:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you may make the decision to say, guess what I'm willing to take that risk and move forward, but you want to be made aware and you want to make decisions knowing fully where of what can happen from that.
14:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you become a public figure, there's no if, there's no hands, there's no butts about it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When you have a multi-million dollar business,
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[SPEAKER_01]: you cannot go before social media without proper counsel.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It is a risk.
14:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
14:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
14:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
14:44
[SPEAKER_02]: So let's let's talk a little bit about like co-coinology, right?
14:47
[SPEAKER_02]: So you created chronology, which connects money, media, mindset.
14:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you break down how these three things tie together when it comes to building well?
14:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so for me, when I studied, I'm making money.
15:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I figured out that the key to making it is finding your pain.
15:05
[SPEAKER_01]: When you unveil the pain in your story, and you dig deep into that, that is where your millions hide, right?
15:12
[SPEAKER_01]: and being able to tell that story authentically, being truthful about it and then finding a way to serve, that is where you make your money.
15:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I create it, coinology, I created a series of books, and then I have a speaking segment that I, you know, go around the country speaking on, but then again, COVID, right?
15:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that when COVID came,
15:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, the speaking stopped for a while.
15:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And then came the podcast.
15:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So the podcast was birth because many of the people said, I still want to hear because I, you know, Ash was me doing what I do.
15:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I have the opportunity to meet with some of the brightest minds and where you and I talked about some of the people that I represent are considered once in a lifetime legend.
15:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And most people don't have the opportunity to learn and sit at their feet and so I wanted to give people the opportunity to still be able to do that.
16:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So I created coinology off of the premise of W.E.B.
16:09
[SPEAKER_01]: the boys.
16:10
[SPEAKER_01]: on the talented tip, right?
16:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just changed it to fit 2025, where I say, the talented tip today, it doesn't require you to have a degree.
16:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't require you to be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, it requires you to have a certain mindset.
16:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So I invite, who I consider is the talent intent of today, the top within their industry.
16:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And they come in a coinology and they are very transparent about that moment in their life that transitioned them.
16:43
[SPEAKER_01]: What was that moment?
16:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you can't be transparent about that moment,
16:47
[SPEAKER_01]: that made you ash, then you wouldn't be a good candidate for the show, because my goal is to show the world that successful people are just like you, right?
16:59
[SPEAKER_01]: They bleed, they cry, they hurt.
17:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And most times the decisions that successful people make are 9% different than what everybody else makes.
17:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it allows you to kind of explain why you made that decision and
17:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's funny because I think that a lot of people don't realize that majority of successful people have failed more than they've succeeded.
17:25
[SPEAKER_02]: But the truth of it matters that you know, a lot of successful people are not smarter enough to know when to give up.
17:33
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's the one thing.
17:34
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like, you gotta be some level of crazy, or some level of passion, or some level of like, all right, it'll look like it's gonna work out, but I still, I'd be called to do this, so I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna start with the go.
17:48
[SPEAKER_02]: You never stop.
17:49
[SPEAKER_02]: How do you,
17:51
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I'm seeing this a lot with you know, I mean we see this with celebrities we see this with you know people who go through sort of like public, you know, like like the ups and downs of life, right?
18:18
[SPEAKER_02]: It's fine because at the end of the day, the embarrassment is only focused on, maybe my friend, America explains to my friends and family.
18:28
[SPEAKER_02]: But when you become a public figure, like feeling out in the open is like,
18:34
[SPEAKER_02]: really really tough like imagine like I think God that everything is fine like there's nothing going on but I couldn't imagine you know feeling in the public when people are especially now like if you feel like people are you know they they they love to to share your downfall how do you how how how
18:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Would you say a entrepreneur should prepare for that, or what are some ways to kind of like not allow that to affect you, especially as you're trying to climb back up?
19:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So one of the things, all publicists aren't crisis managers, right?
19:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's publicity and then there's crisis management.
19:13
[SPEAKER_01]: It just so happens that I am a crisis manager.
19:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm one of the top crisis managers in the country.
19:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So I tend to work on some of the most difficult cases that you've probably seen and probably no one heard of typically on behind there, orchestrating that.
19:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And what I would say is it's important again for a entrepreneur, business owner, influencer, person of interest to have certain people in their back pocket.
19:40
[SPEAKER_01]: We know, of course, you have to have a coach.
19:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to have your accountant.
19:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to have your attorney.
19:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to have a publicist and you need to have a crisis manager.
19:49
[SPEAKER_01]: The reality of it is when you are successful, there's always somebody trying to take that success from you, whether it is, whether it's because you did something wrong or not.
20:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to operate.
20:04
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to have someone always operating on your best interest.
20:10
[SPEAKER_01]: In that case, to be a successful person,
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: and not have your finger or phone on radio speed down.
20:18
[SPEAKER_01]: As you got my number on speed down, I get calls every day, all times of the day, with sometimes just, hey, I need to run something by you, right?
20:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the point of having those type of relationships.
20:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So that I can say, look, you need to see a clear of that.
20:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Watch out if you do do this as things that you need to have.
20:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And then if something were to happen, you need to have that person that you can call it 12 midnight and be able to convene.
20:43
[SPEAKER_01]: That's important.
20:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, I love that.
20:46
[SPEAKER_02]: What would you say, like you're experienced, how does like media visibility translate into like financial success?
20:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So I tell people, I'm glad you asked that, just wanting to be seen is a big mistake, right?
21:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Or if you have a product and then you're being seen, but your call to action isn't strong.
21:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a problem.
21:12
[SPEAKER_01]: The reality of it is you need to know how to transition being seen into actual sales.
21:19
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are struggling in that area, then that's what you need to talk with your publicists about, right, or your marketing expert.
21:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But the reality of it is, every time you are before someone, you should be having a very strong call to action.
21:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if it's not a sell from the stage or a sell from the, you need to be transitioning that over to a deal.
21:43
[SPEAKER_01]: period.
21:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Period.
21:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you are struggling in that area, you need to get help or you need to quit being an entrepreneur and go back and find a nine to five.
21:52
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't survive out here without being strong in that area.
21:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
21:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
21:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's the thing though, because like I've heard like nightmare stories of like entrepreneurs, cool.
22:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Like you said, just wanted to be seen, but didn't really have like a good
22:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, a financial business model behind what they were doing and complain about everything except their business model, right, which is true because I think like for me, like even as an author, I've written so many books, but every time I go like I do radio, I do television, every time I do those things, my sales go up.
22:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And, um,
22:28
[SPEAKER_02]: My sales don't go up because I'm like, hey, look at me, look at me.
22:32
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like, even in a way I answer questions.
22:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, you know, somebody asked me a question.
22:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll say, yeah, you know, you know, you know, you know, I wrote a book called, you know, when the cycle trips us to repair your credit and in that book, I give you the five steps of how to fix your credit.
22:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Here are those five steps.
22:48
[SPEAKER_02]: something along those lines so like subliminally I'm like answering a question and also giving you like a like a call action what is the like like how do you like like like like.
23:02
[SPEAKER_02]: is that entrepreneurs go to like media training, like how they have to get to that post.
23:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So first of all, I want to say the other reason like your sales go up is because you served.
23:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And entrepreneurship running a business, you're the people watching you have to feel that you care about them.
23:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So my job is to make you likable, approachable.
23:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of the people, everybody's not likable.
23:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody's not a putt, but my job is to make you feel and seeing that way, people buy from people that they like, that they relate to, that they feel like they know.
23:37
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the most important things about PR ash is the relatability.
23:43
[SPEAKER_01]: If people feel like they relate to you and they understand you and that you are just like them,
23:50
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to support you.
23:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Great example, Beyoncé has always been Beyoncé.
23:56
[SPEAKER_01]: But Beyoncé's numbers went through the roof when the manate came out.
23:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Because everybody was like, oh, she's not present.
24:03
[SPEAKER_01]: She's going through the same things that I'm going through.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Relatedability is key.
24:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you go on these shows and you do these interviews and you're likable, you're relatable, and you're serving them, you're providing them information.
24:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're not always saying, oh, the only way you can get this is dial in from $199.
24:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, people like that and that's important.
24:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think, and I like, I could have tested that because I feel like for me,
24:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I, my branch started to grow when I, like, I really try to just be myself and just serve and just, you know, again, like, I'm never trying to look perfect, you know, being transparent, like I think that that's the thing when you look like you're trying to hide something or you're being an authentic people could be right through that, but when you're like at that space where you're like, all right, I'm going to be transparent, I'm going to show people.
24:57
[SPEAKER_02]: The real means where you could learn from the lessons I think people appreciate that and I think my brand had built from that.
25:04
[SPEAKER_02]: You worked behind the scenes with some big names, right?
25:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Without naming names, what are a few key lessons you've learned from watching top tier entrepreneurs, handle fame, and visibility, whether it's the right or the wrong way.
25:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, one is acting fast, right, uh, but having a good team around them, um, typically when opportunities come, you can't him and hard around it.
25:31
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to know, um, you got to be real versed enough in, um, your area, which means mastery is important.
25:39
[SPEAKER_01]: The people that I've worked with that are considered legends and my, and in my lane of work,
25:45
[SPEAKER_01]: They are masters at what they do.
25:48
[SPEAKER_01]: They may be good other things, but you know specifically what it is that they are known for, for instance, if someone were to say, what is Ash Cash known for?
25:59
[SPEAKER_01]: You right?
26:00
[SPEAKER_01]: of course now publishing books but before that of course you're the money man right clearly but the problem is people who there's a lot of people today on Instagram that you ask what is it that they do you really can't say they're just popular on those that doesn't have longevity.
26:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so one of the things I would challenge you as a business owner or whom ever it is is watching this episode, what is it that you are known for?
26:27
[SPEAKER_01]: That's one of the first things I ask people when they come into my office for their first meeting is, what is it that you want people to know you for?
26:35
[SPEAKER_01]: If you can't explicitly say, I want to be this and know this multi-hiphonet stuff, I don't subscribe to that because people need to know that you are a master at something.
26:50
[SPEAKER_01]: that's when they're going to trust you.
26:52
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a time as during the pandemic where people didn't have to have as much trust and people that considered themselves as experts.
27:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of people made a lot of money and didn't know what the heck they were talking about, right?
27:06
[SPEAKER_01]: But today is a different world.
27:09
[SPEAKER_01]: People are really tight with their spend and they are doing the lot more
27:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I love that.
27:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I love that.
27:22
[SPEAKER_02]: So let's talk, let's talk about books, right?
27:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I like that's my my favorite topic, you know, you've written books.
27:29
[SPEAKER_02]: You represent a lot of people who, you know, written books.
27:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And so so we both believe that, you know, books are one of the most powerful tools as an entrepreneur can have from your perspective as a PR strategist.
27:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Why is a book still the ultimate credibility?
27:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Ultimate.
27:47
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things I tell people, the first thing I say when they come into my office is, do you have a book?
27:55
[SPEAKER_01]: One, people need to know your story because most of the times if they're coming into my office, they've reached a certain level of success.
28:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember just to be honest with you by the time they've made it to EPI Media Group.
28:05
[SPEAKER_01]: But secondly, if you want me to book you for speaking engagements and appearances and so forth,
28:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to have monetize that because the reality of it is every speaking engagement is not going to be paid and you should not turn down every speaking engagement because it's not paid really that realistically speaking you need those opportunities for people to get to know you see you and fill you and understand a brand but the book allows your new fan base or people the followers to have something to take home with that.
28:36
[SPEAKER_01]: When people meet you and they see you and they are intrigued by you, they want to take a little bit of you back home.
28:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, the truth is, as people are emotional buyers, right?
28:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So why they're there, they're hearing your story, they're excited about your journey.
28:52
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to support you, right?
28:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And so why not have a book, the worst thing to do is to go to a speaking engagement.
28:59
[SPEAKER_01]: not be paid for the engagement, get a couple of pictures for social media and go home.
29:06
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a waste.
29:08
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to have had something that they could have purchased and learned more about you and something to take home.
29:15
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I'm really big on having a book.
29:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, not love that.
29:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And so let's let's talk about launching a book at the right way, right?
29:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, first of all, you need to have some decent head shots.
29:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure you've seen this as people will try to put their buy on the back of the book with a selfie.
29:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Get some professional shots.
29:42
[SPEAKER_01]: We also need to have a professional buy-o-written, right?
29:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So that people know who you are.
29:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Start working on EPKs.
29:50
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important for you really to start building out whatever your book topic is going to be on your social sites.
29:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So most people think that once their book drops, that's the time to start promoting.
30:02
[SPEAKER_01]: No, you can't, it's difficult.
30:05
[SPEAKER_01]: You say that again for the people in the back.
30:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Can't start then you need to be building up your expertise and your mastery.
30:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Well before the book drops, so that when the book drops, you already have a warm audience ready to buy and devour with it, with it is that you have in that book.
30:24
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would say at least a quarter before you're about to drop your book, you need to start being aggressive about your messaging on social media.
30:33
[SPEAKER_01]: you need to be consistent.
30:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you start to talk about your book coming.
30:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And once you talk about your book, I think one of the things that's important when you work with someone like ash is to make sure that your book is available and multiple distribution outlets.
30:48
[SPEAKER_01]: When the mistakes I've seen some people do, they may just have a book and it's just on Kendall.
30:53
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no slide on that, but I can't get you in Barnes and Noble.
30:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't get you at borders and books a million if you're not in the system.
31:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So you need to work with a publishing company that can do that and help you and guide you.
31:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but then once your book is about to launch, it's important for you to start working on press runs.
31:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, start aligning with organizations that are lying with whatever the top of your book is because sometimes those organizations would do bulk purchases and things that that nature start looking for conferences and events that you can start vending and having your book available and start looking at what that lunch is going to look like realistically speaking ash.
31:36
[SPEAKER_01]: people think that their book launch is going to look like Cardi B's launch down at the, you know, with 100 people waiting in line.
31:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And let's just not the way it is.
31:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to really be strategic and realistic about which a launch is going to look like.
31:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
31:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
31:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I love that because I think that
31:52
[SPEAKER_02]: But you said a lot that I want to unpack, because I feel like, again, people think like those who understand the power of books and credibility, they feel like once they write a book that automatically that gives them the credibility, but like you said earlier, if nobody knows you, then it doesn't even matter.
32:12
[SPEAKER_02]: But then also,
32:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Just coming out and saying you're off the does it give you the credibility like you have to give value You have to give people a reason to want to even buy your book That's fine, and so people think that all right.
32:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna wait to this book is done I'm gonna launch this book and then and then this one like I'm a book on famous off of that But like it not like oh yeah, this is what you're seeing by famous on it, right most of the people you're seeing They put in work first they built the the the the demand
32:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And then they supplied it with, you know, with with the actual book became a master exactly.
32:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And what it is that they do and then people had a desire to learn more from them.
32:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
32:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
32:56
[SPEAKER_02]: So so what advice would you have, right?
32:58
[SPEAKER_02]: So let's just say there's somebody out there who, you know, they've already launched their book already, right?
33:04
[SPEAKER_02]: But they didn't, you know, they didn't launch it correctly.
33:07
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, what, what are some things that they could do to like reintroduce it into
33:15
[SPEAKER_01]: You and I always have a second release, right?
33:17
[SPEAKER_01]: You can have a forward rewritten, you can do re-thoot your cover, you can add a couple of chapters in the back of the book.
33:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's ways for you to repackage a book that's already been written that you don't feel received the right amount of glory the first quote around because the reality of it is, and this is important people need to think about this.
33:40
[SPEAKER_01]: the first 90 days of your book launch are the most important because after that, it's just not important.
33:49
[SPEAKER_02]: It's all new.
33:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
33:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
33:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
33:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, you know, you call yourself the certified Declot Deal Closer.
34:00
[SPEAKER_02]: What would you say is that the biggest deal you've ever
34:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I've closed quite a bit of deals.
34:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I think one of the largest deals that I've closed would say would be probably about a two and a half million dollar brand deal.
34:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But I typically close, and I'm just coming off the top of my head from that.
34:35
[SPEAKER_01]: But I I close large deals like every day, um, ash, um, and one of the things that I am really, um, proud of is like 98% of the deals that come across my desk small medium of large, I'm closing them and the 2% that I don't close is because they didn't want to close anyway.
34:56
[SPEAKER_01]: They came there, looksy, Lucy, just looking around, but I'm real confident in understanding the DNA behind deal closing.
35:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
35:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Is that, would you say, like when you look at like, people who represent brands, things that I nature,
35:16
[SPEAKER_02]: What's the gap between like the it factor and hard work right being in like when you when you see the people that you represent or even just just brands in general.
35:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Can you look at a brand and say, oh, they got the it factor and this is what's making them successful or can anybody just work the way that work they work hard and work the way up to the top.
35:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I, you, you're born with it, so it is the thing and it's, it's, it's the most frustrating thing for me ashes to see a person or entity that had the it and they refuse to do the work because they just sit in the one it.
35:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I see some others who desire and they just work work work work work work work work and it just won't They just it just doesn't connect it's a connectability Relatedability it's it is is it and I and everybody can't see it As I happen to be able to see it
36:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I see it, I'm also, I have a gift of being able to understand what's required to motivate it, to get it going.
36:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And once that person, because many times folks try to use a cookie cutter approach, you can't and PR, some people will say, okay, I take this client, I take them from this, this, this, this, this, the cookie cutter approach doesn't work for the
36:42
[SPEAKER_01]: because the it's are out of the different, they don't operate under the same guys as everybody else.
36:50
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have to be able to think like that, you have to have the it yourself in order to identify.
36:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
36:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
36:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
36:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that a lot of, um, and well, I mean, it's one of one of the reasons of that.
37:06
[SPEAKER_02]: That's that question because a lot of times there are people who, uh, think to take a buy their way to success, right?
37:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, like, all right, I'm a, you know, I got money.
37:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to work my way.
37:16
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I'm going to buy certain positions.
37:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And then, you know, don't don't get to that.
37:21
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't get to the level that they thought that they need.
37:23
[SPEAKER_02]: They wanted to get to because they don't have.
37:25
[SPEAKER_02]: sort of like that if factor and so so what like for for those people who if they know right they're like I don't have the if factor for whatever they're doing like what is the you know I don't know what is the what is the pivot for them is it is you know like like winner a goal if they if they've tried to be the front the face and it's just not clicking
37:50
[SPEAKER_01]: A smart business person knows how to remove their their emotion and their smart enough to say, I don't have it, but I'm going to hire an ambassador.
38:00
[SPEAKER_01]: It does.
38:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to put this person.
38:03
[SPEAKER_01]: and front to run this particular business.
38:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to make it look like if you are, arrogance and ego will be the demise of any business.
38:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for those who can't step to the side of that, you can't help them.
38:20
[SPEAKER_01]: But a smart business person will know that if they don't have it, I will position this person or this entity to be it.
38:30
[SPEAKER_02]: let's let's let's now learn.
38:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's talk about, you know, Ebony Fort for the E.K., right?
38:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, what's her story?
38:39
[SPEAKER_02]: We're like, we're this, you start, like, what makes Ebony Fort a E.K.
38:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Ebony Fort?
38:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I started, yes, the first time somebody asked me, what was my story?
38:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, you know, I came from Virginia, um, went through all of the, the realms of all the degrees and,
38:56
[SPEAKER_01]: went on a corporate America and then went up the ranks of that.
39:01
[SPEAKER_01]: But can always ask at a very young age had this drive for entrepreneurship.
39:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So I've always had my own businesses even when I was in corporate and climbing the ladder.
39:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to a point where I started questioning, you know, what was life going to be like for me?
39:18
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I've always had this desire, this dream to do, the entertainment, the industry type stuff, but I was buttoned up and corporate and going that route because that's what I thought I had to do.
39:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to a certain point in my life and I looked back and said, is this going to be it, right?
39:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And one of my mentors said to me, she said, you know what, why don't you just take a year and try it?
39:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And if it doesn't work, guess what?
39:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It's another job out there.
39:47
[SPEAKER_01]: You can go back out there and get another job.
39:51
[SPEAKER_01]: My kids were young and I was traveling more than I was at home.
39:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I was very rarely at home with my family.
39:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And I made a tough decision.
40:02
[SPEAKER_01]: It was hard because I had obtained a certain level of success and corporate that the rest of my family had not achieved.
40:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And I felt as she like, I was betraying them initially.
40:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, my parents sacrificed all of this for me to get through this point.
40:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm walking away from it as if it doesn't matter.
40:23
[SPEAKER_01]: But when my father told me that he had my back,
40:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And he was proud of me.
40:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It released that level of guilt.
40:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And I went after it, Ash, I went after it, I cut off all of my friends at that time.
40:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just, and another reason why I cut the friends off, not that they did anything wrong.
40:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I just didn't need to hear about the corporate promotions.
40:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't need to hear about, girl, you need to come back.
40:50
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a new wall open over here.
40:51
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to come like, are you crazy?
40:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You're walking away.
40:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't need to hear that.
40:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I just kept my head down to the ground and I just stayed focused.
40:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mastered the craft.
41:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't allow myself to be
41:03
[SPEAKER_01]: embarrassed because there was plenty of times to be embarrassed.
41:07
[SPEAKER_01]: There were plenty of events where nobody showed up or you didn't get any media or press for that particular because you start off small, you got to keep building or the other folks.
41:18
[SPEAKER_01]: the other people in PR in the industry aren't accepting or welcoming you in because I didn't come from spellmen or clock because in Atlanta it's a clip.
41:27
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a clip.
41:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a clip in Atlanta, right?
41:30
[SPEAKER_01]: So but I kept going.
41:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
41:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I stay focused even when the portrayals came, the back because the betrayals, if you think that you're going to be in business and you're not going to be
41:47
[SPEAKER_01]: you are crazy right I kept going on when people kept telling me that you know that's not going to be for you you can't do that that's not I kept going and kept going and kept mastering and getting better and building relationships and going and going
42:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and that's my story.
42:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I just kept going.
42:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I won't.
42:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you say you got to be crazy, yeah, because I kept going.
42:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I kept going when everybody told me to stop.
42:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
42:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
42:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, what is your, uh, what is your mission?
42:15
[SPEAKER_02]: What is your purpose in life?
42:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Like why, why, why is everything here?
42:18
[SPEAKER_01]: My purpose in life is to serve and I'm really big on that but I know that it is to help give people a second chance even though I'm a publicist.
42:30
[SPEAKER_01]: My heart and my passion is in crisis management.
42:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I enjoy helping people.
42:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I enjoy helping the unheard be heard and helping people have a second chance.
42:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe that everybody deserves a second chance.
42:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And so my job is to not only help you navigate through the difficult times, but also help you bounce back.
42:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's my purpose.
43:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah.
43:06
[SPEAKER_02]: sort of becomes rewarding, right?
43:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Because as you serve, you're now being able to serve and build a successful business.
43:16
[SPEAKER_02]: When you look at the legacy of, you know, you know, EPI, media group, what you do, when do you see your company in five, 10 years, what do you want the legacy to be?
43:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm proud to say that we are global conglomerate today.
43:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So we represent entities across the globe.
43:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So that is important to me.
43:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I would like to have, I hand quarters is here and true as part.
43:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I would like to probably open a couple of offices, one in LA and one in New York.
43:49
[SPEAKER_01]: But my most important outside of the office spaces is I'm leaving a legacy from our children.
43:55
[SPEAKER_01]: My son just graduated from Georgia State with a film, a media degree, so he works in my production office at the agency.
44:02
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, helping a groom and develop him, my daughter is about to go off the college this year.
44:09
[SPEAKER_01]: My goal, what I see for them is I would like to, when I close my eyes,
44:13
[SPEAKER_01]: have something to be able to leave from my children.
44:17
[SPEAKER_01]: That's important to me.
44:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
44:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Did you grow up?
44:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you grow up like Rich?
44:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you like what was your like monetary background?
44:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't rich.
44:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I came from a two-parent household.
44:29
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a working class family.
44:33
[SPEAKER_01]: My father worked at the shipyard, and that's an Virginia of anybody knows about that, and my mom worked as like an accounting clerk and accounting supervisor and so forth, but we weren't rich.
44:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But I didn't want for anything and I came from a really good family.
44:51
[SPEAKER_01]: My father is a great man and he instilled a lot of what I operate off of today.
44:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And my mom taught me how to be a woman.
45:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So I will say, you know, how sometimes I'm as you hear people have this this story, that's not my situation.
45:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I came from a very blessed home.
45:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure for sure.
45:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And like, what would you say, like, what does wealth look like to you, you know?
45:19
[SPEAKER_01]: What looks like to me is two things.
45:22
[SPEAKER_01]: It's freedom and peace.
45:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I often had this conversation with people and they don't understand that God's gift to us is the peace of mind.
45:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And you should utilize the financial gains that you've had to acquire peace and freedom.
45:42
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're using it for other things, then you're not really living out the purpose of your life.
45:47
[SPEAKER_01]: At the end of the day, you should be able to be at everything when I ask and close your eyes without having anxiety and stress.
45:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You should be able to wake up in the morning and say, you know what, I need to be in New York next week.
46:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I have the freedom to be able to do that.
46:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, do you care about having $1.2 billion in a bank?
46:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
46:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's what you acquired, you know, but for me, it's about just having peace.
46:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
46:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
46:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
46:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the piece of mine is something that you can't buy.
46:19
[SPEAKER_02]: $1,000, I agree, I agree.
46:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think people want money to they get money, right?
46:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that regardless of your background where you come from, I think that the world has made us believe that money will solve everything.
46:38
[SPEAKER_02]: And so we want the money, it will work.
46:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, damn they kill ourselves, we're the money, but then when we get the money and realize that that won it, that's when we start to like, we're starting to look at other things.
46:53
[SPEAKER_02]: From a business perspective, if somebody wanted to get into the public relations business, if they wanted to start and learn, you know, how to represent people and then really give others the visibility that they think that they desire,
47:12
[SPEAKER_01]: The first thing I would say is you should probably intern at an agency, you need to learn.
47:18
[SPEAKER_01]: For some reason, we have this adage today that everybody graduates from college and they are immediately a boss.
47:27
[SPEAKER_01]: boss of what?
47:29
[SPEAKER_01]: What have you mastered?
47:31
[SPEAKER_01]: See, I'm old school as I'm all about mastering a craft.
47:35
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to go out there and be a master.
47:38
[SPEAKER_01]: When you are a master, people are looking for you.
47:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not looking for them, right?
47:43
[SPEAKER_01]: They're looking for you.
47:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I would say, in turn, at an agency, learn the ends and outs of what it is that you like and you don't like.
47:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I've learned the most from Balsas or Leaders that I didn't like, I didn't agree with, because I learned the things I didn't want to do, right?
48:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Volunteer for different events, different opportunities, and then I would say also surround yourself with highly successful people.
48:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Once you start to understand, and successful people in the industry in which you want to be a PR person for because there are some Publices that only do fashion, there's some that only do music, there's something that only do faith base.
48:27
[SPEAKER_01]: It just so happens that my agency is diverse.
48:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I do it, you know, across industries.
48:32
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I would say is surround yourself with the people that you ultimately want to serve because when you surround yourself with them, you'll understand what their needs are.
48:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you understand their needs, you can customize your business to meet their needs.
48:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's how you become overly uber successful.
48:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Biggest mistake to have in business as is creating a product that nobody is looking for.
48:58
[SPEAKER_01]: It's something that you want to offer.
49:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
49:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
49:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
49:02
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that's the, I mean, I kind of know why, but like, I think that's one of the biggest mistakes.
49:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I think people are like, I want to say South Century, but like, they'll see a problem or they'll see something that affected them and automatically believe that.
49:20
[SPEAKER_02]: This is when everybody needs without doing like the proper vetting and re-proper, you know, understanding and knowing, you know, how to, you know, how to ask people what they want before you start giving them, you know, sort of like the solution, if you will.
49:37
[SPEAKER_02]: What was the biggest money mistake that you've made so far as an entrepreneur?
49:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, well, well, the biggest one because you know, you make mistakes every day, okay.
49:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
49:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
49:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
49:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
49:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say, um, pick his money mistake that I may.
49:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say, okay, yeah, scaling, right.
50:07
[SPEAKER_01]: The EPI Media Group isn't just me, is a full agency of professionals that work at my agency.
50:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And there was a point where the agency was growing super, super fast.
50:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And response to that, I just continued at Headcount, Headcount,
50:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And I recognize that there's a certain spice, certain space, but you have to be careful about just growing too fast.
50:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Because as a leader, you can lose the grip of what's going on in your business.
50:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you lose the grip of what's going on in your business,
50:48
[SPEAKER_01]: you will lose your business.
50:52
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be in your business to know what's going on.
50:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not saying that you have to go to work every single day.
50:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I just though happen to, but there's a lot of business owners who've opted to take their hands off, but you still need to have some kind of way to know what's going on in your business.
51:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for me, I know for me, I had to hire the operations manager and she helped me.
51:16
[SPEAKER_01]: That was one of the things I will tell business owners that is so important.
51:20
[SPEAKER_01]: You need someone in your business that can handle the operations of your business.
51:26
[SPEAKER_01]: the staffing, the clients, complaints that are questions day in and day out so that you as a business owner can focus on the mastery of your business and that your staff can work on the delivery of whatever that is.
51:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Not having the operations manager will drain
51:49
[SPEAKER_01]: the owner, drain the business.
51:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think for me, scaling very fast and not having that proper operations person there.
52:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But then when I felt like the world was moving and I was blessed because I was getting all these accounts and it's netted up and then I was hiring.
52:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I had the, to hire, but it was like a circus.
52:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just said, what is going on, right?
52:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this what I signed up for?
52:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And then once I got that right person, because it has to be the right person, right?
52:20
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to trust your operations manager explicitly, right?
52:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they're basically, they can see, they can see naked.
52:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything.
52:28
[SPEAKER_01]: they see everything right so you have to be able to trust them but once you bring them in and they can help you see you know what's going on, what's happening under the covers, what the problems are, I would say operating without one was my biggest mistake and I was losing money hand over fist.
52:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
52:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I, you know, got that in place and it was the best investment I could have made nice nice right when you when you think about the best money the best thing you've done with money like what what would you think I think
53:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say actually moving to an office space, I remember I was in business at that time for five years and I had come to a crossroads where I had become very comfortable growing my business remotely from my basement, right, I had, I had team members, but everybody was remote.
53:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But if I had to make that tough decision to actually go and get a brick and mortar office building and some people said, well, why are you doing that?
53:33
[SPEAKER_01]: That's unnecessary calls.
53:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Why is that a number of reasons one?
53:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm really big on collaboration of the mines.
53:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that when you put brilliant people under one roof, and you're able to
53:48
[SPEAKER_01]: do get out, that's what you get the best work, right?
53:53
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the people that's here with me today, Terrence.
53:55
[SPEAKER_01]: He and I typically on a two separate ends of the state.
53:59
[SPEAKER_01]: But when we go at it and then we get to the middle part, we usually find some type of harmony there.
54:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's number one, the collaboration.
54:08
[SPEAKER_01]: The other reason why a business or a brick and mortar was important to me is because I was ready to elevate my client roster.
54:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And I could no longer meet Netflix or CBS or whomever at Starbucks, right?
54:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I had ran my course with meet me at Starbucks to the corner at the right side of that of the night, right?
54:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Most people when you get to a certain point, they want to know that if I'm doing business with you and I'm doing big business, multi-million dollar business, I need to know that I can find you so that if something goes wrong, I know where you're located.
54:49
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't have that.
54:51
[SPEAKER_01]: sense of location and so forth.
54:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And I will tell you the moment that I am invested into my business and got a brick and mortar office.
55:01
[SPEAKER_01]: My client roster went through the roof.
55:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it was just the competence.
55:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
55:07
[SPEAKER_01]: But my business went through the roof and some people kept saying, that's just money that you could be, that it was the best money spent for me.
55:14
[SPEAKER_02]: That was, that was God saying, hey, because you were faithful, and you trusted this vision, I gave you, and you were willing to invest in yourself.
55:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's the reward to that, what part does faith play into your success?
55:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, my goodness, faith is everything for me.
55:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, as an order to be an entrepreneur, you have to have a certain level of faith whether you know it or not, so far.
55:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Even people who call themselves atheists operate off and they're an entrepreneur, they operate off a some level of faith.
55:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're getting up every single day and you had no earthly idea where the next thing is coming from.
55:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you don't have a certain level of faith, you're going to lose your mind from fear, from scarcity, from betrayal, from drama, you have to know at the end of the day, as I know in my heart that is going to work out.
56:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But I also start my day every morning.
56:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I might start my morning off with meditation and Peloton.
56:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I do Peloton in the morning and I meditate and pray and then I get my day going.
56:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's very important to me.
56:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
56:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
56:29
[SPEAKER_02]: you said earlier that everyone is not sort of like ready for PR if somebody's watching right now and they're trying to get to that level, right?
56:41
[SPEAKER_02]: What advice would you give them?
56:43
[SPEAKER_02]: What should they be working on right now to get them to that level where they can work with an
56:49
[SPEAKER_01]: consistency.
56:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the biggest thing is stop allowing your business to be a hobby or afterthought and just, you know, remain consistent.
56:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Once you get your revenue to a consistent space where you can comfortably pay that retainer on a monthly basis, that's when you're ready for a PR company.
57:12
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't want to make that payment.
57:13
[SPEAKER_01]: stress and stress and then also second guess your practitioner.
57:18
[SPEAKER_01]: The worst thing in the world for me ash is for someone to pay a retainer and then call it an egg.
57:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever you don't, maybe don't mint.
57:25
[SPEAKER_01]: If you hire me, you should know that I'm the best person for the job, but allow me to do the job.
57:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so that's what I would say.
57:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say just continue to be consistent to build to the point where you, you can comfortably play the retainer.
57:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So what you would do is start reaching out to the, the PR companies that you are interested in working on working with, find out what their retainers are.
57:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And then also find out what they require to get started.
57:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Every PR company is different.
57:55
[SPEAKER_01]: There's some PR companies that won't work with you unless you've already appeared and for major magazines and you had to be this and you have to be that.
58:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Your name has to go on her.
58:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I just so happen to specialize in development.
58:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I like working with the unknown, the underdog.
58:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I love developing.
58:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I told you before, I think it's serving and given a voice for the voiceless.
58:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So I can work with someone who comes to me with nothing, but they need to have
58:29
[SPEAKER_01]: a great concept of a product or service.
58:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't make you into a star and you have nothing.
58:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't.
58:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
58:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
58:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, this might be controversial or not, but, um, you know, did we recently saw that he was, you know, convicted, uh, 50 months in jail about, you know, four years, we're on a how long he'll do, um, but if you would all of the,
58:54
[SPEAKER_02]: things that is going on in the media, the things that, you know, he was convicted of, the things that people are showing him for.
59:01
[SPEAKER_02]: If you was his PR person, he comes home.
59:06
[SPEAKER_02]: What are you telling him to do?
59:08
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to do it all.
59:09
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to run it up again.
59:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
59:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I, most people that I talk to would always say they wouldn't even take them.
59:18
[SPEAKER_01]: They wouldn't even touch the Diddy case, right?
59:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm probably one of the few that would.
59:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I believe that everybody deserves a second chance.
59:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I also believe that there's a development that needs to happen.
59:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I think to expect a person like Ditty to come home and just whether away is not realistic.
59:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But how do you turn your test into a testimony?
59:47
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you go out here now and talk to these young music
59:51
[SPEAKER_01]: and tell them and show them how to watch out for this or that, right?
59:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if you don't agree with the time that he got or whatever the case may be, the justice system.
1:00:05
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to talk about mental health.
1:00:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
1:00:08
[SPEAKER_01]: and abuse.
1:00:10
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to talk about drug abuse, like, what can you do now to go back and serve the community that made you a billionaire?
1:00:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And so many of those people have been disappointed.
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you go back and help heal the broken heart?
1:00:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I will tell you, Ash, there's so many people from that grew up in the 90s that are so broken hearted behind this.
1:00:36
[SPEAKER_01]: It is an era that people grew up on and they feel as if it was hanging.
1:00:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, yes, hanging.
1:00:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was just, so I think there's still work that he has it.
1:00:49
[SPEAKER_01]: He's still young.
1:00:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's what I was saying.
1:00:51
[SPEAKER_01]: He's still can go in.
1:00:52
[SPEAKER_01]: He still can give a lot back.
1:00:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And my job would be, how do you do it?
1:00:58
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you do it?
1:00:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:00:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:01:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I know, I mean, I look, I'm one of those people who it's like, I, you know, I grew up in the, I grew up in the 90s.
1:01:09
[SPEAKER_02]: And so like, like, my form rule, the year is like, like, all I listen to was bad boy reckons.
1:01:14
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's like, you throw them all now.
1:01:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, I don't know if I can be listening to this because of, you know, I'll tell you this.
1:01:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Ash, I actually answered into the industry because of
1:01:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I, one of my dreams growing up was to be the public's foreshank homes.
1:01:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I, that's all I thought about.
1:01:37
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I wanted.
1:01:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I told you I went through that crossroads, when I was in corporate, I was looking at myself button up and I was like,
1:01:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be a banker, and I want to really experience my dream, the thing that I want it to do.
1:01:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I want it to be that person for a Sean Combs, and so I started down this path and that was my goal.
1:02:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I tell you when I saw this, I was so
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_01]: hurt.
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
1:02:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So broken because it was like a dream shattered before your face, right?
1:02:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But who's to say that someone like a Sean Combs at this point could I serve more of a purpose?
1:02:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, if I'm helping him,
1:02:21
[SPEAKER_01]: redeveloped tell the story over again make right what was wrong.
1:02:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe that's the angle.
1:02:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:02:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's the the whole story.
1:02:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's funny because I think people forget, you know, like, let's say like a Malcolm X like Malcolm X was Detroit Red at one point.
1:02:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:02:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that, you know, we live in a we live in a society that is quick to cancel.
1:02:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.
1:02:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, you know, you know, they look at it and they're like, yeah, he's done, but to your point.
1:02:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he's still a young man still has an opportunity like this, you know, I don't believe God makes mistakes, right?
1:02:56
[SPEAKER_02]: This could be.
1:02:58
[SPEAKER_02]: God using him, right, and using him in a way to because I mean, when I look at it, right, you, you, you go so far, you get like you're at the top, you know, and to be taking down, if you will from the top now.
1:03:17
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a, I don't know, to me, that's a better story, right?
1:03:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Like if, if now you've made all of these mistakes, you've been held accountable for those mistakes publicly, right?
1:03:29
[SPEAKER_02]: The embarrassment, whatever you did, whatever, the embarrassment, you've been held forward publicly, the world is paid attention and now to be able to come home and really, you know, redeem yourself and use your life now,
1:03:45
[SPEAKER_02]: in a positive way, I think that will be a deficit, come back story, if you will.
1:03:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And not a comeback from a perspective of like, all right now, let's say if you can make a billion dollars again, but really a comeback from a humanity perspective, from a perspective of, you know, because I do think he's a brilliant man, right?
1:04:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And can you use that brilliance in a way that can uplift our community?
1:04:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, most definitely.
1:04:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And you had access of two ash.
1:04:15
[SPEAKER_01]: If everybody would have pulled back the layers of themselves, is there something that if it was known to the public, is everybody 100%.
1:04:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I think the other thing would did it too.
1:04:28
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a perfect example when we talked about earlier when you obtained so much money, you become bored.
1:04:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're not using the money to serve.
1:04:36
[SPEAKER_01]: you're just running and looking for the next high, the next thing and you get yourself in trouble.
1:04:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You get yourself with a lot of trouble.
1:04:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think a lot of times when people judge the question would be, who would they be if they were a billionaire?
1:04:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, did he?
1:04:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you be the same person?
1:04:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you make those same decisions or would you make different decisions?
1:04:59
[SPEAKER_01]: would know, right?
1:05:00
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm really big on again, second chances.
1:05:08
[SPEAKER_01]: and being able to to navigate that.
1:05:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, not love that.
1:05:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, he would have to be, he would have to want to be a change, man.
1:05:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I could not just for clarity, I don't support physical balance of any means at all.
1:05:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, he was not tried for domestic violence.
1:05:30
[SPEAKER_01]: That was not what his charges were.
1:05:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, if we were to go back and talk to 18 year old Ebony, what advice are you giving her?
1:05:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I would tell her it's going to be okay.
1:05:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, don't be so serious.
1:05:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I think.
1:05:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I lost my 20s and the early part of my 30s being so serious as I was on a drive for corporate success and it was I was so very serious from 21 years old.
1:06:14
[SPEAKER_01]: One of, and it was, so when I hear some of the young folks today talk about, oh, I'm at the club to two o'clock in the morning, and I just hear, and I mean, I went to India and Bali for three months, and I was a bartender for two months, and I lived here, and I did that, and I didn't experience.
1:06:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I came out.
1:06:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I was so over-focused that I think that some of my better years went past me as a blur.
1:06:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember them.
1:06:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And now I'm looking back over life and I'm like, wow, because, you know, we're only here for a minute.
1:06:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, yeah.
1:06:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I would say, don't be so serious and enjoy your life.
1:06:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:06:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, love that.
1:07:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Final final question.
1:07:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Any, you know, with the, many things that you want to leave or anything, I didn't ask you that you wish I would ask.
1:07:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, wow.
1:07:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You, you, you asked me everything.
1:07:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Even you asked him about diddy.
1:07:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad you asked me because yes, I was a conversation we always have in the office.
1:07:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So, um, I think the biggest thing is, um, everybody is not made to be an entrepreneur.
1:07:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It is okay.
1:07:28
[SPEAKER_01]: to be a Robin to a Batman, right?
1:07:31
[SPEAKER_01]: It is okay to operate at your pace.
1:07:36
[SPEAKER_01]: It is okay not to have a million followers.
1:07:40
[SPEAKER_01]: It is okay to be 55 years old and just starting.
1:07:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It is okay.
1:07:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Stop comparing yourself to everything you see on social media because most of that is a facade and just do was good for you and that will be the wisdom I would say find out what makes you take and do that.
1:08:05
[SPEAKER_02]: So if somebody wants to find you, if they want to connect with you, we can be found.
1:08:08
[SPEAKER_01]: You can find me on my website at www.epiatmediagroup.com.
1:08:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You can also find me on Instagram, our Instagram page, is E.P.A.
1:08:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Media Group, or my personal page is The Ebony Porter E.K.
1:08:21
[SPEAKER_01]: You can also call our office at 770-635-8170.
1:08:27
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, we are closing out the vault, another powerful episode.
1:08:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much.
1:08:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate all you did here, you know, it's great again to have you on because I know the power of public relations, but I want my insiders to know you know how powerful it is and you know, again, if you want to get to that next level, you're going to have to add all of the powerful tools to get you this.
1:08:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I, John, listen, I need y'all to like share, tell your friend to tell a friend, you know, this is a powerful episode, make sure you're tapping y'all tune in, follow us on all social media platforms at inside the vault, visit our website inside the vaultshow.com.
1:09:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Also, make sure you join the abundance community.
1:09:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Go to theabunnancecommunity.com.
1:09:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Meet IMSCAS, make sure you visit me.
1:09:17
[SPEAKER_02]: IMSCAS.com.
1:09:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Follow me on all social media platforms at IMSCAS.
1:09:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I will see you next time.
1:09:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Same time, same place, but guess what?
1:09:27
[SPEAKER_02]: In God's will.
1:09:28
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, y'all.
1:09:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Peace!