 It's the network bow. What's up everybody? What's again is brand man Sean and I haven't done this in a while But I got an interview for the individual who is it's pretty accomplished You know I'm saying he's done quite a few things Just to read a little bit off his resume. He's the former VP of that bad boy records and Diddy road management Probably stories on stories from that alone, right? One of the biggest impacts and hip-hop that whole camp, right? Then you have the CEO of power moves in currently doing a lot of things With that and the global spin awards, which if you don't know, right global spin awards is one of the the few platforms that truly honors DJs Today, which they're the core and the heartbeat of the culture, right? You know, it was it was more DJ and mc before it was so heavily wrecked. You know what I'm saying? So um They there's so much I could talk about. Um, just from the research not the things I've gotten seen From you Sean Prez to introduce him officially is Sean Prez But first and foremost, we'll we'll get into the details, but but how you doing, sir Yeah, Sean. I'm doing good man. So it's always my pleasure to be in the presence of another Sean So I feel like family. I feel like I'm right at home So It's a rare occasion. I always take note when it is Uh-huh Well, as I started to tell you before we even hop um, like got into the official part of the interview Because you've done so much, right? So many different things, right? I read a little bit off the resume I'm sure there's so many things that you you don't even put out there, right? um Because I would like to really just dig into how you think, right? Yeah, because We hear so much on yo, this is specific advice on this and specific advice or a little bit of story here But the people who achieve constantly what I found is most important that you want to get from them Is how they think about problems how they view opportunities, right and how they process in general. So um That's where I want to go with things But before we get a little bit more in depth Can you give us an idea how you got into this thing, right? Like The first thing off off the resume is the vp of bad boy records. How do you even get? become a part of Of such a storied history like that, you know, whenever I get a question like this It's always so difficult for me to answer it because I literally have lived This I'm on my fourth career in each one of them I have achieved at a very high level and I'm a humble guy and I don't say that in a braggadocious way But you know, I have had extreme success in the music industry Uh, I created a marketing and promotions agency that has you know, still to this day does extremely well The the founder the global spin awards and now I'm a motivational speaker So when I think about the music industry days Getting into the music game for me. It wasn't like what it was, you know, I didn't have an easy role It was very very challenging. Very difficult. I had a million door slammed in my face People know me for bad boy records because that's where I finally got my foot in the game But truth be told Over the course of six years I took five different unpaid internships Every time I took it in and when I say unpaid it was unpaid. That means no car fare That means no lunch money. That means If you want to work here, you better figure out a way to get here And once you get here, you better figure out a way to eat because we're going to give you the experience We're going to let you in the building but other than that you want your own So every single time I took an internship, you know, I work for independent record labels I worked at Atlantic records. I worked at Arista records. So so many different record labels And I just couldn't get a job. I was made to feel like I was unhirable So when I got to bad boy, and this is the part that people need to understand Like so often we want to tap out so often we say, you know, I got this dream And I want to do x y and z. Okay If that's the case, you're going to be tested. God don't just give you stuff on the on a silver platter I was tested. It took me damn near six years to get the bad boy and when I got there It was like the holy grail I was right at the front line of a record label that would change history. It would change entertainment It would change music in all of those years that I thought were A waste of my time. I kept getting told no, I couldn't get a job to save my life I came in so battle tested the bad boy people asked, how did you rise to BP? Because by the time I got there I was like a soldier who had been to vietnam world war two Korea and every other I was Rambo by the time I walked in the building I just was so damn battle tested and I shot up the ranks. So, you know, it I guess I was summing up to say I started as an intern The to me the best way to ever get in the music industry if you're trying to work behind the scenes But it was a lot of hard work to get to that point And I just don't believe there's any wasted Um experiences in our life because what I thought was a wasted experience Not getting those other jobs turned out to be the best thing for me So you talk about not getting jobs and made to feel like you were unhireable What was that like at that time, right? Like what was the feedback that you were getting to be unhireable You know, that's a great question. And you know, I know Sean you work with a lot of independent artists You know, you you really provide Great insight on how independent artists can market themselves and brand themselves and really get their music out there to the masses If you ask me how I felt Felt like I was one of them independent artists that I'm putting out record after record song after song single after single mix tape after mix tape And I can't get nobody To listen to me. I can't like for the life of me. I couldn't get a fan base. So you What you are to so many independent artists is what bad boy eventually was for me Whereas you finally when people knock on your door and you say, you know what? I'm gonna take you on as a client I'm gonna really show you how to take your career to the next level That's what it was like for me. But before that I just felt like I know i'm dope just like so many artists. They know they're dope They know if the world the world ever just heard them If they could change the game they could be the next big one But you have to stay believing in yourself. You and I tell us to people all the time When you got a dream Everybody ain't gonna see your dream. God gave it to you. He didn't give it to brand man Sean he didn't give it to Sean prez He gave it to you and back in them days. God gave me a dream to be in the music industry I was going one day be a real player in the game Nobody else saw that because they wasn't giving me a job But like real talk but I couldn't turn back on what I had in here And I couldn't turn back on what I had in here And if anybody's looking to listen to this on podcast form i'm pointing to my heart into my head God gave me this dream and I just could not go back because I had to trust and I had to believe that Yes, I wanted the dopest dudes ever to walk this planet I believe that I don't care if y'all don't see it And i'm gonna keep walking forward until the day that I see light at the end of that tunnel And that's truly what it felt like for me. I felt like a starving artist got you No, that's that's dope. And I that's a great analogy. Um I mean with that being said well, you've got to the label bad boy and you actually started to get into work What were the experiences? What were the things that you were doing that helped them see you Finally and acknowledge that yo this guy is like he's delivering. What were those first like jobs that you had? Well, I'm gonna answer your question short and then I'll go into a longer More expanded answer you asked me what was I doing? work period like It's as simple as that like everybody wants The glitz everybody wants to glamor everybody wants to fame and the fortune But before you get there before you get noticed before anybody on planet earth Knows your name or even cares to know your name You got to put in the work and to quote my man Ed Hennings He said nothing works like the work and it's just as simple So when I got in the door I'm gonna keep it a hundred with you. I wanted to be an a and r that was always my dream But bad boy was like look We're only looking for people to be on a street team A and r like we don't need no more people working in and like in the studio So it was taken and leaving and for me I had to get in where I fit in and I had you know, inky johnson who you know, you're from Atlanta. He's he's another Atlanta icon He got a quote Play the hand you dealt like it's like it's the hand you always wanted I was handed the street team hand So I had to play that hand like it's the hand that I always wanted and I went so hard and so aggressive on those streets And then finally and mind you I didn't even want this job When I they saw how crazy I was going on the streets Handing out flyers telling people and really marketing and letting people know all of our next Upcoming acts and upcoming singles and you know when albums was gonna drop They was like, yo, if you're doing this so hard here in new york Maybe you should come in the office And start to run our national street team Like replicate what we're doing here in new york and go city to city state to state And find all of these different influences who can do what you're doing right here And then I did that and then I got promoted and I started to work on mix show radio From there I started to work on um regular rotation radio And and then became pups tour manager and enrol manager and I just kept Excelling kept it selling but it really comes down to I kept my head low I never started feeling myself I always understood because I got passed over for so many internships over the years This was a privilege. I didn't have to be here There's a million people who want to be in this spot. I take this serious. Yes We we we the hottest label. Yes, you know, you got biggie faith mace locks all of these different iconic acts at the time I'm hot as fish grease out there But I always kept my head low because I understood nothing works like the work So to answer your question, I work like a savage, man hustle hustle That's it Okay, now you now it's great to hear that you were on that street team early on because There's so much, you know marketing. That's that's that's where I come from and now and they're actually Right. It's interesting that you wanted to do that. I mean you didn't want to do that, but you got to do and I personally just hear your story and knowing, you know, a little bit about what you do now It seems like that street team Probably gave you a lot of that marketing know-how or understanding from a trenches level And and now we're reflecting what you're doing today. You start you now have a marketing agency that that's killing and all that stuff, you know So it's it's dope to see that you're just taking whatever you're served with and Making it work one way or another Are there some Are there's well actually I'll say this first Do you think a street team could be valuable today in the digital era? I know a street team could be valuable today in the digital era Why I feel like that is You know, I'm gonna tell you something Sean is as real as I could put it There is no substitution for Sean telling Sean You got to check out this artist Yeah, this dude or this chick Is crazy. She's the next one. He's the next one That peer to peer mouth to mouth Coming from a reliable source somebody who you know love and trust Putting you on to what's next. There's no substitution for that Yes, you can hit more people more quickly On digital there's no doubt about that But the part that's so many of these young artists they want to skip the line They want to take the easy way out and they're not putting in the hustle on the ground And I've always been a firm believer that you got to start on your block Like you got to start in your hood. You got to start in your region in your city People got to be screaming your name. That's where your army your tribe Where where your fan base where people are like yo like where it might just start with you And then it's a few people on your block Then it's people in your school and people in your neighborhood and it just grows and grows and grows Those are your soldiers. So I believe you know A street team is as valuable today as it always has been It you know, but a lot of people want to take the easy way out And a lot of people it's it's it's much easier to push a button on your computer It's much easier to upload something on your phone and say, okay, go check out my new joints on iTunes. That's easy hitting the bricks hitting those clubs Doing all of the stuff locally that you should be doing traveling city to city state to state In in in a in a van with about six of your boys people stinking breath stinking sleeping on a how all of that stuff That's hard. Nobody wants to put in that work But what about artists who aren't club artists? Do you think they could get value? Right more of a pop style or I don't know a hipster style or something like that Do you think they can get value from a street team? I do I honestly do you don't you don't have to be in the club like we have broke True be told over the course of my career. I know I started at bad boy But like you said, I have a marketing agency. We've marketed every artist under the sun And I don't care if you are in B. I don't care if you're a pop artist having people Endure you screen your name um hit people with a live work in play Get you familiar with a new single And just talk to you about it. It does make a difference But everything doesn't start in a club sometimes things just start right in front of your building right in your hood So I I believe that that it doesn't matter Okay While we're on it then what's the code? To proper street team marketing. How do you break that down into the science to execute? You know, that's a great question. I don't know that there's one specific answer with it That's almost like me asking you what what's the code? Um, you know, and I did when when I sat down and spoke with you. I was like, yeah, what's the cheat code? Um, you tell me like no, there ain't no cheat code in in terms of digital You put in the work and you get out of it what you put in and then ultimately you got to you You got to have a hot product, right? So it's the same thing whether it's digital in terms of marketing or whether it's on the ground offline marketing for one it starts with a hot product and Let me let me let me tell you something that I'm sure you know and I think your audience needs to listen up to this When I was working records actively every artist every a and r When when they come out of that studio, I'm a marketing guy. I'm a promotion guy But the a and rs and the artists this studio rats. That's where they live. That's where they hibernate In everything that they that they do in that studio they don't listen to that record 500 times at 100 decibels to the blowing your mind damn there and they love every snare They love every kick drum. They love everything about it and they all come out and think it's hot but what I know what I've come to learn Adult record it talks back to you Adult product it talks back to you It don't matter what it is. It could be a record. It could be a regular product out there You could market the hell out of whatever But if people are not feeling it They're not feeling it But you're always gonna know when you got some heat on your hand because your phone start ringing People start to call you like yo It's right here. It's kind of crazy. You start to see them numbers running up So when you ask me what's the code the code is number one Put in the work You know first and foremost you got to know and and I love that you broke down Or you asked me earlier about every artist is not a club artist. Well, that might be true Figure out where is your audience? Where do they live? Where do they work? Where do they play and then you have to attack them In their environment not where you want them to be not where you feel most comfortable But the code is to go to them Mark it to them in a place with where they are just chilling at Introduce your music there introduce your product there and that's when they're most receptive to it That's when their guards are down and they can give you real feedback, but it always starts with a great product Got it got it. Hey, yeah, I look I can't speak enough on on great product That makes everybody's job so much easier. Oh really do Have you have you had an experience pushing a product that wasn't so great Had experience pitching a hundred products that wasn't so great Like like are you kidding me? You know, I have pushed Uh, you know, we work with with upstart beer companies that they swore was going to be the next great beer People tasted it. It's like what's this piss like get this out of here My job is to get it to the people. I can't make them like it I can just get it to them. I've worked with a million artists that swore that That right there or something that people who don't who've never hired a marketer before or they need more experience Have to understand the job is to distribute and put in front of people You cannot make them like it more if it's if it's bad you can make you can even make it more digestible But you can't make them like it What you can do Is you can expose it to them You can ram it Down their throats and I don't mean down their throats, but you can saturate their world So wherever they go Whatever they're doing, they see that logo They see the artist name or the brand's name or the or the product's name you can do all that That's your job as a marketer So people need you know, if if somebody came up to them random and was like, yo Do you know who brand man sean is be like, I don't know him personally, but I see that name everywhere I go Okay But what we can't do Is make them like the product and that's what a lot of these artists they get it twisted And they think you're not doing your job because they don't get the feedback that they're looking for When you hire a marketing agency or a marketer You you judge them based on awareness you judge them based on them presenting your product To the right audience now if you're a rapper And you hire a marketer and and and he got you joined at at a country music concert Then that's the wrong marketer The right marketer should be able to distinguish Like me and you talked about throughout this conversation You know, even within rap music, they're they're different genres of rap And we need to be able to decipher who's the best audience for this type artist But we can't make them like the product Right, right. Well, like you've actually, you know touched on the next thing right that transition out of music into Or from bad boy records and more general music exact Um part of your career into hey, I have a marketing agency. I'm working with companies like a beer company All right, which is so far removed How do you even get into that? Why did you get into that? And um, and then let's talk about how I worked out for you Okay, I'll start with that with the how first the how was and this is something I tell people all the time And I hope your audience is is really locked in and they're paying attention Do good work That first and foremost do good work I got on people's radars I never I never dreamed big enough To market products outside of music But within music I did a hell of a job I took every record that I worked extremely serious My name was on the line forget the artist name forget bad boy. Sean Prez name was on the line That's how I took it when you hand that when when puff on my man Harpie Handed a record off to me It was like putting it in the hands of uh, uh Freakin who's one of the greatest running backs out there? Emma Smith or somebody I don't know because I don't really football dude But it's like putting it in the hands of Kobe Bryant or putting it in the hands of of LeBron James or Michael That's how I took it. I'm gonna deliver this I started to get calls because people Wanted to know Who is behind all of these incredible acts that keep hitting and keep hitting and keep hitting? Yes, you got to give puff In half their flowers puff was puff Half was it was was the head a and r at the company who went on to be the president of the company So they was making hits. They made my job easy But there's a lot of people who have hits and don't break those records And the way we had those streets and the way we had those clubs popping I was like a Animal I was I was a savage out there so People who were not in our industry. They still party they still walk the streets and I started to get calls from These these corporate execs who work in marketing who was like, yo, you know what I know you do records But we need to hit that audience that you specialize in and You know Like that's what mattered and when I really started to think about it music It's a widget My talent was not music although. I thought it was my talent was marketed my talent my talent was getting into these black and brown communities in a way that's you know Colgate palm olive HBO ESPN all of these companies They couldn't get into our community in a seamless way Like I could I could take their corporate message and I could change a few words and I can add a little something to it And I can make it stick within our community and everybody now is talking about it. So that's the how they they approach me the the why I started doing it just truth be told Those checks were it's crazy like like Music checks are nice But those corporate brand checks is a different like that's a different beast. Like that that's something different. So for me And I don't I don't want to say it because I never work for money. I truly don't Yeah, that's a benefit to what I do. So when I say the why Yes The the the benefit was the checks But it allowed me I never I never I never wanted to to to Be the biggest Fish in a small pond I I I'm trying to play this game to win and win on a very very high level So if that means expand My circumference get out of my comfort zone Why not? Yes, I do records But I can also market big max I can also market sneakers. I can also market When when when when dr. Dre beats by drape first came out It was us putting them on those djs across the country. I can also market headphones. Why cannot same thing So that that's the why and that's the how and I don't know what your third question in there was No, I mean we we basically already alluded to it because it's just wanting to get into the details and the process of Going through it. Um, like how you did what was the success of looking like and Obviously, you know, you did Find success in it, but that first brand that you work with Uh, well actually why even say that? It's huge just to hear yet again Doing something at a high level will bring that attention to you over time All right, just like you just did the work where you were before it seems like that's your model All right, just do the work do the work do the work. Um And when you do it well people will find a way for you because every everybody has needs somebody Everybody needs somebody to do the work All right Who with money and Enough time taking from the work that they're doing where they can't do the the other work that they need All right, so those people are always looking for people like that. Um, your first time Working with a brand what brand was that if you can say a week like outside of music and what type of campaign was that? I really don't remember. I mean we're going back so many. I don't remember what my first brand was outside of music Uh, because we were I've worked in so many categories. I've worked again. I mentioned Colgate palm olive I know they weren't my first brand, but they were in the early stage of me branching out Beyond music. Oh, it's not like that's I mean you're talking about dishwashing liquid No, like toothpaste at that time at that time. Okay. Okay palm olive is always there, uh The parent company is called. Oh, okay palm olive. I didn't know that. Okay Yeah, yeah So so so the same people who palm olive had um soap dishwashing soap that that's a Colgate company Got it got it. Okay. So toothpaste. What was that like then? You know, it was it was it was dope because it challenged us to to think outside of the box Right, like we came up with so many great campaigns for Colgate palm olive like one of the things at that time They were they were marketing Now forget what it's called. It's called um Something fresh is is the name of the toothpaste winter fresh or something like that I don't remember that but it's when it first it still exists to this day And it was when it first came on the market and we came up with a dope college national college campaign where we were doing these amazing College study breaks across the country. Um, and we did it to where you could literally Go into the student unions and we teamed up with all the frat and the sororities on the different college campuses across the country um, we we we did it with I don't know something like 12 or 15 hbc use it just was a crazy dope campaign And we did these study breaks um during the midterms and all sort of finals where where the kids could take a break From their day and they can come into the student union and we had djs and we had Pizza and we have masseuses and all of these different things where the kids could relax But when they got there it was all in a signage where it went um Colgate and then we had these care packages because when you're away at school You know, that's what you really need is is toothpaste and all of these different things for your toiletries Like college students are broke. So all of that made a made a difference and my philosophy always was You know get an apple before it falls from the tree and what I mean by that is If we got these kids Uh to really adopt the brand Colgate Early in their career if if we show them that Colgate actually cares about your studies Colgate cares about your mental health Colgate cares that that you could come and take a break on them Those same kids when they graduate school and they get out there into the world And they start building their own family They're already invested in that brand emotionally And that was was one of the successes of that particular campaign and we ran it for many years And it was multi layered. So it wasn't just on schools, but off the top of my head and I'm talking about something that happened 20 years ago Um off the top of my head. I know that that college program doing those study break lounges was huge for us Gotcha Gotcha. Well, how do you evaluate how you What you should do, right? So we go from music to beer to Colgate, right you all across these different things After doing stuff for a certain period of time Right, there becomes this This system for yourself and how you approach things when when you start off no matter where you're starting Um, what what is that that you kind of develop for yourself in terms of how you would approach a product that I might just give you today About an industry that you don't really know First and foremost, like the way I always do it and the way I've always done it I'll go into our conference room and we we we Sit around our conference table me and our team. We call it the war room and we just brainstorm period it's no no no There's no idea. There's no suggestion. There's no question. There's no answer. That's a bad one So we have a product. So let's just say you came to me and you Are interested in in in getting puppy food out there to dog owners I got a First introduced it to my team. We all do individual research on it We do individual research on the marketplace and then we go into the war room and we think about extremely creative ideas Ideas that are going to resonate in my strength. Like I said earlier is our community The black and brown community that that's where we excel We do a lot of market marketing in the general market But most times companies come to us specifically because they want it They want their product Um in in into our community with our people So we'll sit around and we just come up with some of the most creative ideas that we can Sometimes we hit it out the park with three four five great ones off the rip And sometimes it might take us two three four days a week A brainstorming before we can narrow it down to even three dope ideas to put on a proposal and go back to the client Now You work in the world of digital marketing Offline marketing is very different and when I talk about offline marketing, I'm talking I don't know uh grassroots and alternative marketing Print ads uh more general on more general marketing like like television radio spots It's not it's quantifiable. We don't have the same metrics that somebody in your case may have And that's okay, you know with you you could you could you could give Direct messages. Well the reach was this much this many people Um shared this many people open this many people spent 30 seconds watching your video yadda yadda yadda We don't have those same metrics but what we do have is You know and we've come up with a system in house I won't necessarily he's saying here because I don't want other companies You know taking our our metric system, but we can see how many people were affected By these campaigns that we ran how many people participated in it What was the feedback the retention all of that good stuff? So it's a little different process But it's kind of the same Gotcha, got you what made you develop that system was it? Um The companies you're working with asking for or where you having trouble Convincing them of what you needed Um both and that's a very smart and very insightful question on your side Uh, it was both when when when I worked records for a living, um, you know Now everything is online. It's about streaming, but it's same different But when I was working records we everything was about radio So, you know, you would have to look at at BDS every week Um, which pretty much would tell you what look, you know The record got spun this many times at this station in this market. Um, so forth and so on When it came to marketing regular products, we don't have a bds system There's no real way to to you know at the time There was no real way to develop these metrics So number one, we had to justify why these The companies they wanted to invest in us they wanted to invest in our community because they understand we are The top spending community on planet earth and more important than that We're the trendsetters when we say something is hot When when we put our stamp of approval on it It might start on a city block But it goes viral and now little joey In in in main or middle america's at a suburb somewhere Is wearing his pants saggy or wearing his pants tight or rocking these new jays We have that kind of influence So we had to really come up with a system for the exact same reasons that you said number one We had to justify You know our job and our effectiveness and number two They work in they they work in corporate office Everything for them is numbers How do how do they justify the spend to their higher ups to their bosses? So so that was the reason why we came up with this system Got you got you. Did you ever? Fully completely get out of music right and say i'm done with music or um Has I don't know or has it always been an in and out type relationship What what's your current relationship with music since that's where you started? Currently i'm fully out I'm fully well if you want to consider global spin awards global spin awards keeps me one foot in but My my day-to-day love for the music It doesn't it doesn't compare To my love For giving back to our community my love for motivational speaking my love for educating my love for showing people That if a a a a young man Born Dead broke in the south bronx new york can somehow figure out a way to to Pull his self up by his bootstraps with very very little help no mentors any of that stuff and do Some of the things a portion of what i've done You can do it too And I just so so to answer your question These days with the exception of global spin awards. I'm pretty much out. I've outgrown it Um, I love my time in it, but I I always have been uh a huge proponent Of doing purpose driven work working within my gifts And when I no longer when my heart doesn't beat when when I don't wake up and I'm like yo I'm just I'm just ready to go savage I'm just ready to to to go out there and conquer the world not for not for anything other than This is what I do when that feeling leaves me Then I know it's time to move on and um that feeling had left me for music A couple a few years ago now and um, you know And that's why I spend the majority of my days doing what I do in terms of motivational speaking and just educating Gotcha when you talk about motivational speaking, um and educating in What are your plans with that? Is that like a um Like you know, you you do it to do it in certain places. Are you trying to build some kind of career out of it? Or like, you know, is it casual? Why what's the what's your outlook on it? Are you trying to are you trying to be the vp of Of you know motivational speaking. How how what is that? Okay, that's a great question. Um, well, it ain't casual Uh, this is what I do for a living. This is how I I well, I'm not gonna say how I earn my living I earn my living through through two places. Well, let me stop lying I did a lot of investing all of that good stuff. So so there are revenue streams that that are just passive But still the marketing agency does extremely well. And now the motivational speaking You know is is another major revenue stream for me. You'll be surprised how many how much Motivational speakers make you be surprised the the demand for motivational speakers I never saw this as a career for myself. I never ever knew it was a career that existed again I did it for the love. I did it because I wanted to give back. I did it because I want to to encourage people I don't care, you know, what life what the hand that life has dealt you so far That's that's today That's yesterday, but there's always a tomorrow and For me right now my goal is to speak and And breathe life into and pour into At least 150 million people before I leave this earth. And maybe that's even a low number But but I do travel I do, you know, I spend a huge part of my day Now especially with coven speaking to corporations speaking to schools speaking to correctional facilities via zoom Virtually i'm almost and this is almost literally Three four times a week at this point. So so my schedule is is is extremely packed. We're just speaking you be surprised Man, yes, it's interesting to hear right. You're just there's so many different industries and ways to Yeah, not only make a living but just Like the formal ways where people have fine value and stuff and are willing to whether it's paid for it Um or however they acquire service and I just motivational speaking actually was like music to me Where it's hard to see that as a career All right, like I didn't think of music as a career space or if you made money It's just something you enjoyed or you consumed. Um, and would that be said The that that that just brings light on the other side of things the entrepreneur side And I want to get an idea right you talked about you know, you motivational speaking right now but that's not something that you could be doing in the way that you're talking about if you Just did The the record label thing was just that bad boy and that was like your peak Right, you sustained you evolved and you've built some things from an entrepreneurial perspective Where you you have to have some systems in place if you're spending this kind of time Right doing this and you're still good. Like you said financially, you know, I mean don't look like that's the cheapest chair behind you It's probably a nice office. So how do you How do you get to that point where? you're You're able to live and focus on just the things that make your heartbeat Versus yo, I gotta get this next check in the business. I gotta build this out. How did you get to that point? You know, you're asking beautiful questions. Sean real talk I I love that you're asking these questions because it allows me to do what I do and what I love to do Which is give advice and the end to shed light and to pour into people uh, you know I I did it the same way or I treated the same way That that I treated music back in the mid 90s. Um, you know I was like you I didn't know I didn't know music was a career. I had no idea. I didn't know like I grew up in the south bronx Music was in my soul Hip hop was in my blood from the day I was born like south bronx is where this hip hop culture was created But I never ever ever knew That it was a career attached to it and more important I don't sing. I don't rap. I can't make a beat to save my life I hate the studio even though I thought I wanted to be an a and r I hate the studio I don't smoke weed All artists do when they get in them studios. It ain't no windows. I can't open the window They smoking weed killing me in there I thought you had to be in front of a microphone Yeah, if you wanted to be in the music industry But that didn't stop my passion And it didn't stop my desire for knowing That that was the industry for me And if you just trust if you trust like we are all born with this Call it a gps call it a six six call it an inter compass It always points you in the right direction of what you should be doing Where you should be taking your life But most of us don't listen we we wave it off We don't want to hear it is is we know better than this internal guidance system that god gave all of us And you know and in many times we's too scared to trust that in a voice So when I back in the days just started Researching and and and and understanding. I know i'm not supposed to be in front of a mic But there gotta be other ways God opened up the door to the first internship And I was able to be like go to a record label and be like yo these people are just like me Like like like they don't have a desire to be in front of a microphone And they're making great money and it's the same thing here truth be told shion I never saw this as a career. I didn't even know it was a career me giving advice Me helping people Me me me trying to always be the one to speak positivity into my staff friends family That's that's that's who I was god made me this way and when I when I Started to fall out of love with music And I really didn't know which direction up because I always did music in my in my um Marketing agency kind of simultaneous. So when I speak music, I'm also speaking um power moves ink marketing and promotion because we worked so many records and so so myself But when I fell out of love with the music, I didn't know what was the next chapter in my life I really didn't And then I started to say yo, you know what? I'm gonna just do what is in my heart to do And it's like I told you earlier and I think the biggest mistake That people make Is they look at what's in front of them. They look at what they know They look at what they can see You can't see the part of the of gold that's on the other side of that rainbow God didn't reveal that to you yet. He just told you follow the yellow brick road And get to the other side. That's all you're responsible for doing So when you asked me how did I you know take this risk into motivation? I'm speaking a career I didn't even know that existed. I didn't even know you could make a living at it I trusted my heart. I trusted my gut. I trusted my spirit It's always it has never ever ever ever failed me And when I just surrendered and I just said to myself Well better yet. I said to god I submit If this is what you want me to do. I don't know where this road is going to leave me I had no idea, but if it's what you want me to do I am bold enough and and and and I am obedient enough to walk down this road And when I did door started to open God started to reveal to me. This is a career just like music was it's actually a career So, you know, I just trust the process. I really do I hope if nothing comes out of this interview that your people can take away I know we spent a lot of time talking on marketing But I like to speak on life and and I would tell any and everybody Trust the process. Trust it that inner voice in you. It never lies. If it tells you to go left Don't even look right. Go left Yeah, I like that. Um, well Speaking of life, right you mentioned your staff That's dealing with people right and then I mean, you know What you were doing in the 90s. It's a lot of interesting people that you've been around How do you deal with people? Right now, how does that? Yeah, how do you deal with people and judge People's character Are we talking people who work for me or in general? People who work for you and specifically People yeah people who specifically work for you Okay, I am an extremely loyal human being by nature. That's just who I am But I'm a very difficult boss and I believe I'm a person I give it my all I I truly do I'm ready. I'm ready to to to get on the battlefield of life And fight to the death Either either life is going to bend either life is going to break either life is going to fold And i'm getting to the other side of success Or we both going to die on the battlefield. It's just as simple for me But I have that same expectation For my staff I have the same expectation for anybody who I hire You got to go as hard as me I'm not saying that you have to be the smartest I'm not saying that you got to be somebody with 10 degrees on the wall What I am saying is you have to be someone that understands No, the word no is an invitation for you to stop for a second say, okay This way didn't work now. Let me figure it out But I don't tolerate people who take no and just accept it as That's your final answer. Yes. That's my final answer Okay, you got to get fired because we not we're not working and in seeing out of eye right here, but Truth of the matter is Finding good people finding qualified people finding hungry people. It's very difficult And that's why I am very slow to hire and I'll tell you You know, it's kind of my Achilles heel because I don't like firing people, but I'm getting better at it That now I try to be a little quicker with letting people go Dead weight is the worst thing you can keep On your ship When you are trying to grow a company and I'll tell this to any business owner Like I can only tell you my experience, but when when I was building the the the agency We started out with people we could afford Usually that's friends is family and more times than not. I hate to say it, but they're not qualified they're qualified to take you maybe from from Bringing them revenues of zero to to 50 thousand dollars a hundred thousand dollars annually But that's where their skillset might stop and if those people are not willing to grow If those people are not willing because a lot of time people want to throw in your face Yo, I've been there with you from day one. I was here when it was no business coming in the door Well, I thank you for that and you got paid for it I appreciate it But if you are not willing to invest in yourself And now get this company from a hundred thousand to a million from a million to five million Sometimes you got to do some spring cleaning. You got to be willing to change your staff because I mean we see it. I don't know, you know, if anybody who's watching this are fans of sports, but you see Some of these athletes who are world renowned they can get their team to the playoffs But they can never get them out of the playoffs They can get their team to the final But they can never win the chip It's like Sometimes you have to Be ready to to to say look You served your purpose Just like the seasons Everybody ain't meant to be with you for eternity. You got summer spring winter fall those seasons change And it's okay. It might hurt you. I've had to let go family members. I've had to let go friends I've had to look people in the face who put the guilt trip on me talking about I was here when you wasn't making no money and you wasn't quote unquote showing praise and that's true But if I showing Wake up every day at three four in the morning And I'm working on my craft and I'm doing whatever I gotta do to win If you're not putting in that same effort to take your skill set to the next level You can't make me feel bad because I want to continue to grow this company It's just not fair What's the impact of keeping somebody on too long? Deaf Deaf for your company You you you have to if you're somebody And again, I'm a lawyer person. So I say this with with with loyalty running through my veins One of the biggest mistakes showing praise has has made one of the biggest regrets I have in business Is keeping the wrong people on staff too long It your business can't grow your business is It's accumulation of the people in it the people who run it you shown You're at the head of the table Your job is to be ceo. You're the visionary But you you can't do all of the little things that you once did You gotta like you gotta go out there and hunt You got to bring business in and if your staff ain't allowing you to be a ceo To be the person who hunts and brings back that that that fool to So that the staff the bills can get paid the lights can stay on that they that they checks clear week over week If they're not allowing you to do what you do best, then you got the wrong staff So keeping the wrong people on payroll too too long will result in your business closing the door It's just that simple What is that impact on other team members? Like the person, you know business not dead, but it's You're lingering and it's taken too long. Like what do you what have you seen in terms of details? Signs that this is starting to take an impact or um Or yeah, like just what is what is some of that close impact just a practical insight into Uh a space where there's somebody that that that is outgrowing or I'll say this way I'll make it clear How does it become clear? Right that the wrong person is now in that role Okay, yeah, because I was gonna ask you I was like, you know, I need clarity on that question True truth is If you have to talk to someone I'm a details person. That's just who I am um me Working on Diddy's management team me being his tour manager for many years. I was responsible for 50 million moving pieces at once Making sure that everybody had their room keys Making sure the hotels were paid for in advance making sure everybody knew what time they were supposed to be in the lobby Making sure the bus was outside making sure the plane tickets was bought all of those little things that nobody thinks about I was responsible for and that didn't even mention making sure You know rehearsals and people get on stage when they're supposed to making sure that the drummers and the musicians knew their cues and the Transition and all of that craziness. So I'm detailed I don't I'd say by nature, but it was really amplified When when when I was in that role working side by side with puff for so many years so If I find myself Talking to the same person about the same thing again and again Then that means I can't do my job because now I'm micromanaging you on you doing your job That doesn't help me. It don't help you and it don't help this company So you would know off rip if you have to continue to talk to the same person if if if Things are dropping through the holes and every time you turn around The balls are being dropped and it always comes back to that same person Is letting you know that either this person They don't take their job as serious as you take it Is letting you know that this person You know, maybe it's time for a suspension or talking to but if it continues to happen It it's time for them to go and I can tell you this people who care You know because I've had assistants who work for me And I'm not the easiest person you're going to get emails at three in the morning I'm demanding Because I demand a lot for myself And some of these assistants felt like they was going to break some of them was like, yo I can't take this it's too intense I don't get paid enough like like what you what you paying me I can go somewhere else and make a lot more And and I can be offered five and that might be true But when you work for sean prez, I'm building green berets like like like I'm building navy seals We we have war here like like you okay, you can go over there But you're not going to come out of there as experience You're not going to come out of there season as you are working with me and the people who Have challenges Some of them are going to to recognize This guy is not on my back for no reason. I actually am dropping the ball Some of them are going to tap out and put a name resignation and then others I've seen recognize This is not him picking on me. It's not him even wanting to get my behind on a daily basis I am responsible for anything that he's talking to me about And then they step up and they rise to the occasion and those are the stories that I love Those are the people who to this day, even though they've gone on the greener pastures will tell you I'm the best boss they've ever had because I challenged them in a way And made them step up in a way that they didn't even know they had in them got you got you That's what's up. So I mean, obviously we we've got touched a range of topics And I think it's extremely insightful and useful to hear Just that perspective um in terms of the Entrepreneur and dealing with people because so much of this is people All right, you you really summed it up when you said the business is output Is a commute an accumulation of the people right inside of it. Um at what point Did you personally? Feel like Yo Me as a as a boss as a leader I need to improve right you found yourself personally the same way you might look at people and say, yo, you're dropping the ball Did you feel like yeah? I know I go hard and it might not even be like for lack of effort, but It's just something that that's missing that I need to get over and um and in faith and improve that Are you asking me for specific examples? That'd be nice if you had like just maybe just one thing. Um And that mentality on how you had to approach it because In leadership at some point, right? There's there's usually something where It's what do they call it the uh I forgot the name for it imposter syndrome almost at some point Right where you feel like yo like can I really do this? It's not even like oh, I'm not a confident person But it's like yo, it's it's a lot going on. This is crazy. How can I Actually make this happen. There's a lot of people relying on me for life and everything I'm feeding people in their families at this point Did you ever get to any of that kind of point where it just happened to be the right storm? where you actually processed it in that way and And there was a hill to get over and you knew that if we didn't get over this hill All right, and I didn't figure out how to get over this hill that things might you know, the shit might crash Did you ever ever ever find a place yourself in a place like that? Sean are you kidding me? If any CEO Tells you that they have never found themselves in a place like that either They are managing a team of one which is themselves Or they are just downright lying like bottom line is they know, I don't care if you Steve Jobs Bill Gates Jeff Bezos, I don't care who you are Listen As a CEO of a company I remember early When when I would look around the office And I would look at these individuals and they were doing on me like Their checks says power moes, Inc They feed their families based off A business that I built I mean we built it together But at the end of the day If that check don't clear That responsibility falls on me So there's not a CEO out there who has one employee or a thousand employees Who hasn't sat and had that thought but To answer your question more specifically I lived through Not just lived through but I was in business through the greatest recession since the great depression Oh 09 10 11 Do you think Anybody in business y'all think COVID is bad Try going back to that market crash Of 080708 Go go back that far If you really want to be tested As a CEO As a leader as a visionary as somebody's boss Those years were so freaking trying And that is I hang my head on those years because Our phones did wasn't they wasn't ringing for months on end Nobody was spending money Nobody was hiring marketing Now we trying to keep the doors open. We ain't got time to be marketing our products But I've never ever ever laid anybody off during that time And that is when I will honestly say or one of the well, I'm gonna say that was That was the greatest test to me As a CEO A good friend of mine told me prayers Good leaders survive hard times and I can't tell you I always thought I was a good businessman, but that what that right there Like like I feel like I graduated summa cum laude Loudie magna cum laude from a freaking ivy league institution Just to get out of those difficult years was so very very difficult and and I'm so proud of myself I can't tell you how many times the staff left the office And I was staying there till we I was in the morning because I was praying and trying to strategize and figure things out because by day I had to keep my game face on with that staff They couldn't see me stress They couldn't see me. Yo, I'm the leader of this ship Like I can't be up in their sweat and bullets Even though the phones wasn't ringing even though we had no money coming in the door and then going home I got a family And and I didn't want to go look dumb in the face like yo, damn that we it's another Week two weeks month that went by And and no money came in the door So I was staying in that office praying Strategizing stressed and just telling myself prayers you can do this prayers You can do this God did not put you on this path to leave you You can do this and it was nothing but the grace of God that got us through those difficult years So you damn right when you asked that question I've been through it I'll be lying to you if I told you I didn't and that's why I'm so appreciative Like like like whenever Uh, you know with flourishing I know what it's like to to be You know a client might call and and The client don't know how twisted you are the client don't know how bad you need that check And I got to sit there and negotiate with them knowing damn well if they'd be like well We're going to take this business and give a check to another agency I Could be the difference between us closing the door or not I know what it is to be in that place and I think anybody who's done anything great Or built anything great has been in that same position True words man true words I appreciate I mean really really again just that aspect and that insight on things Um, I feel like there might be another time we have to talk where we can go just deeper in just the business the leadership and Those trials and tribulations. That's a whole conversation in and of itself Um, but they don't want to even take too much more of your time. I really appreciate you Do you have anything that you would like to leave with the people a place that they should go? You know find you at a piece of advice where you want to leave them off Yes, first and foremost, I want to tell you Sean. Thank you so much. I know you don't interview a lot of people Um, so thank you for for allowing me on to your platform I appreciate you and I applaud you for all the good work you're doing Really sharing your knowledge Really helping to break so many of these artists and and and just what you're doing on youtube in terms of giving out all of that free game um to anybody it's it's crazy, right because You can you can put that out there But it's up to the people to seek it out Like they should be nobody out here who's broke It should be nobody out here who who's not making it because people like yourself You you you're giving away the gems for free. You're giving away the jewels all people got to do is do the research so With that being said I can be found across all platforms at power moves pres p o w e r m o v e s And my last name is prez p is in paul r's and roger is in elvis z is in zebra And I would also like for anybody if you love interviews like this Uh, I really dedicated my life to interviewing high network individuals people who are Kindred spirits similar mindset people I've come into contact over my journey and I sit and I do exactly what shawnded to me I tried to interview and extract as much Information education wisdom and gems from these people who are willing to give away their knowledge Um for free actually shawnd was a guest on on our um youtube channel So please go ahead just punch in paul move prez On youtube, please subscribe to our channel and in you know At the end of the day shawnd I really want to see the advancement of our people So if anybody is trying to advance Those are the places that you can find me you're never going to see me bragging about what I have The places I've been it's really about education. So if you're serious about your career if you're serious about success Go follow me subscribe to me on youtube and if you're just looking for flashy colors and all of that I'm not your god Love it man. Love it. That's a great way to end it and once again, this was shawnd prez Definitely check him out power moves will put all his information up on the screen all of that good stuff And of course if you like this video go here to like button if you like it You might as well share it and if you're not subscribed, you know what to do hit that subscribe, but it's the network