BOOTSTRAPS : professional journey of Black Excellence

My guest Nick Lopezzo, Director of Marketing for Gatorade, offers a master class on marketing, aka brand building. His most recent work includes a marketing campaign that's an homage to Serena Williams, narrated by Beyonce, that has been critically acclaimed worldwide.  Because many people don't have a background in marketing, they wrongly think marketing is just advertising, and they launch their company with no marketing at all. Then once they're down the road a ways and they're having a hard time scaling their business, they discover that they need marketing; and they've needed it for a while. Marketing, done right, is the revenue driver for the business. It identifies strategic opportunities for growth, and the most efficient way to go get it. Put another way, launching a company without marketing is throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping something will stick. And hope is not a strategy. 

As an entrepreneur, you’re the captain of the ship. And as such, it’s up to you to chart the course for the crew, so the speak, by crafting a vision that both outlines success and also inspires action. I can tell you from first-hand experience, the top performing team isn’t always the best funded or stacked with the most talent. Instead, top performing teams are clear about WHY their work is important, and they’re motivated to help the team achieve success. The reason “quiet quitting” is a trending topic in work world is because workers don’t know what the company’s vision is, or they’ve stopped believing in it. As a result, a large portion of the work force is only doing enough to not get fired. As an entrepreneur, a key contributing factor to your success lies in the quality and authenticity of your vision.

Guest: Tisha Sampson If you want to be a leader, you must serve others. Far too often, we think leading is about having others serve us, but it's the exact opposite. As an entrepreneur, if you want your venture to be successful you will need employees, contractors, and agencies to rally around your vision and set of goals. Success will require day in and day out dedication, and that comes when your team believes you are genuinely invested in their best interest, not just what you can get from them. Your level of concern for your team members will directly reflect their level of commitment. If they perceive you, the leader, as only looking out for yourself, they will begin to only look out for themself. They won't go above and beyond in their effort and it will immediately show up in the quality of what your company creates. If you do, however, commit to serving your team as a leader--to ensuring they have clarity in their role and all that they need to succeed--they will outperform expectations regularly. And that's how you succeed as a leader of people. 

Guests: Jason Brown, BJ Jacobs. As Aniefre has stepped away from corporate America to launch his own company 30FIRST, he sits down with fellow entrepreneurs Jason Brown of PGP Advisors, and BJ Jacobs of Goshen Park Capital, to discuss what it’s like to take the entrepreneurial leap, and steps you can take to set yourself up for success. “Playing it safe” with a job isn’t always safe. If you have the skills, you have to put up or shut up. Having an advisory circle helps mitigate risk.

From Far Rockaway to far away places, both physically and mentally. Hear the inspiring story and acquired professional wisdom of Kareem Edwards, whose worked for esteemed companies such as Lehman Brothers, Kraft, and Google before opening his own Chick-fil-A restaurant in Chicago.

Julius Bryant is an ideal combination of curiosity and ambition. Being curious is an important trait in life, and it’s vital as a business leader. It’s been said that as soon as we open our mouths, we stop learning. So it’s important to want to ask questions and observe instead of jumping to conclusions because you will understand the topic at hand to a greater degree. That’s the reward of curiosity! And if you couple curiosity with ambition, you will be able to act on what you discover to get ahead in this world.

Independent musicians, especially those with staying power, are entrepreneurs in every way and have a lot to teach us. A perfect example of this is found in Detroit’s finest Mr. Marv Won, a battle rap icon, amazing producer, and brilliant business man.

We can learn a lot from studying great business strategies, and some of the best business strategies of the past 20 years have come from Hip Hop. Enter Dan Runcie, the founder of Trapital, a hot new media company and consultancy dedicated to the “business of Hip Hop.” Learn from Dan’s extensive experience, having had interviewed the likes of Master P and Steve Stout, and having broken down the marketing strategies of Beyoncé and Cardi B.

Fortune favors the prepared. In this episode you’ll learn about the importance of perseverance and grit, taking advantage of all the resources at your disposal, and the importance of aligning your resources today with your desired outcome for tomorrow. Related topics: Marketing CPG NFL Seattle Seahawks Baltimore Ravens Indianapolis Colts Jacksonville Jaguars NCAA Football UC Berkeley Notre Dame University Audio Engineer: Dakare Dixon-Essien

“Mentality is 9/10 of the law.” Kevin Hamilton embraces this mantra as part of his decision to not lose. Whether it was overcoming poverty as a youth, becoming an All-American track athlete at the University of Texas, or turning Avocados for Mexico into a standout Super Bowl advertiser, Kevin operates with a strong will to win. Kevin’s journey is perfectly captured by one of his favorite quotes: “Luck finds those that work hard.”