 If you're trying to build a strong brand and maintain a great relationship with your fans, there's something that you should absolutely never do. Be Simone, a rapper slash entertainer, comedian actually made this mistake and we're gonna talk about it. And then after that, we're gonna talk about a 100K budget and what you should do with that or what's better than a 100K budget with that. In today's era, you just gotta stay tuned for that one though. I'm Brand Man Shine. And I'm Corey. And this is yet another episode of No Labels Necessary. The headline reads, comedian entertainer Be Simone reveals that she makes over $600,000 a year. And we're about to talk about how she does it. She revealed, like really broke it down. But, and then we gotta talk about how it relates to the artists that are building their brands. Cause it's a really, really, really important point that no artist should miss. 5,000 close friends that pay $10 a month is $50,000. You're doing non-traditional. Yeah. And Instagram does have subscriptions. So break down the close friend situation. So honestly, I started close friends because I didn't wanna be on blogs. Me and my team, we started close friends and it's a product on my website. It first started as entertainment, like I'm trapped. All right, so what did she do wrong in this clip? In this clip, she made a huge faux pas and that was revealed how much she made. I know a lot of artists say they don't wanna talk about how much money they're making. I know a lot of people wanna talk about how much money they make as well. It's people on both sides. Why is it a bad thing? It's not something that we think is bad. We say we want artists to come on and talk about how much money they make. We ask people to do an interview, someone won't do it. Like, but that's not the issue. This is how it relates to you. It's an issue with her audience, right? And this is something that you have to think. When you scroll through this post on social media, there's literally people that are saying stuff like, you have $10 per month to watch someone else live their life, it's crazy. So you're putting this on the open forum and then you have people that are actually following her saying that they're gonna unfollow her, all right? They were paying $10, but now they're hating because they're like, oh wait, now you out here bragging. She wasn't bragging. This is an educational platform that's supposed to help other people come out with business models and do things for themselves, see a better way. She was not bragging. However, the people who are a part of the platform feel like, oh, she thinks she's better than us. She's bragging about this. And now she's losing subscribers that were paying her $10 because of it. Now, how many we don't know for sure, but just from a small PR blip, she did have that negative response. And then you have the other side of it when I said there's not somebody who's paying for it, but they're basically kind of making fun of it. And then you got those insecure users who are your subscribers looking at other people judge them and then they don't want anybody to know that they were a part of it and then they're gonna get rid of their profile or say extra quiet about it as well. So for some audiences again, like shit like this could work, right? Like I'm a rapper, I'm bragging about how much money I have. Know your audience more than anything. It's nothing wrong with doing this if it makes sense for your audience, but whatever you brand yourself, don't brag on something that's bad for your brand and then don't hide the stuff that's good for your brand and be so insecure about shit that could be helpful based on, again, your demographic. That's my point. Yeah, I think some of it too has to come, has to deal with how she came up and it still applies to artists, right? Like a lot of B. Simone's early branding was very like girl next doorish, right? Like I'm your friend, I'm talking to my audience like you're my friend, like you sis, you know what I'm saying? I'm a treat y'all like that. And so sometimes the issue I see with that brand narrative is that the audience starts to kind of see you as like, not regular, but like just like them, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, one of them, yeah, one of them, right? And so the moment you reveal something that reminds them or maybe never reminds them, but like, you know, it informs them exactly that you are, yeah. I'm not you, I'm in a much better, and possibly in a much better position than you are. Yeah, that's gonna be a part of your audience that's like, oh, she might be sitting under cash, you don't need my $10, you know what I'm saying? I'm out, you know what I'm saying? Or like you said, like, oh man, like, man, I think about it, all these people are saying this stupid. Like it is stupid for me to be paying to see this celebrity when like, the reason they probably got into it in the first place was like, they were still attracted to that part of her brand that felt like talking to a friend and they wanted to see what their friend was doing, you know what I'm saying? And they can support you and all that type of stuff. Yeah, so I do think that's like one of the dark sides of artists and content creators being so accessible on social media is that you are, it's harder for you to put yourself on the pedestal than it's been for other artists in other decades, you know what I'm saying? Because now it's like, bro, I see you every day, like I just watched your story yesterday with you landing your apartment, you know what I'm saying, your bunnet and you was on the queen size, bro, I got the queen size, you ain't living better than me, you know what I'm saying? So how can you convince me of that? And then when I do something that does convince you of that, it's also a problem, you know? Yeah, so to me, like the frequency of visibility isn't as much of an issue as again, what you're frequently showing me, right? Like nobody was dominating the internet and being shown to the audiences as much as Gary Vee. But at no point did most people feel like, dang, I'm on this dude's level, right? That's true, that's true. But what he was showing, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's a good point because it makes me think too, it's like, you know, like B Simone isn't really like a super flashy person. Not for what I've seen, like, I mean, you know, she's an entertainer, she's gonna go to the nine when she has to. Yeah, she's a woman, she's gonna dress cute and all that stuff, but yeah, she's not like, she's not like extremely opulent, you know what I'm saying? And so I can see that, like it's people being, I can see people being like, damn, like, I knew you was up, but, and she said just from this, so this don't include. That's what I was thinking. This don't include her Wild'n Out deal, her book deals, like all the other stuff, but so the educated fan is gonna start, you know, put some mouth together, like, damn, she makes 600K just from this, you know what I'm saying? She probably making at least this a year. Yeah, you don't need my $10. Oh, I won't say a fan, but like that weird middle ground of like, that personal life is one tip away from being fan or hater, it could really go either way. Bro, no, fans too. I always tell people about a homie of mine that's still a great homie and loves Beyonce, always has loved Beyonce. And I never forget being in college when I asked about, was she gonna buy this Beyonce project? And she was like, nah, she got enough money. Like, she don't need my money. That was my answer. And she said it with a straight face and it wasn't any bit of hate, she love her to death still to this day. But it was just like, what do you need my support for? Like, if you were down bad, I might show up for you. You know, if people go off on you on the internet, I'm gonna show up for you in that way, right? And be like, oh no, y'all ain't gonna talk about Queen B, but yeah, money, nah, she don't need that. She's good over there. And it's a legitimate belief in the mind. So you really have to be cognizant about what you show your fans and the impact of showing your fans that particularly if you're in a position where it would have a big impact on you because her doing that with Beyonce, yeah, legitimately doesn't impact Beyonce. So I was like, fair enough, I think that's some kind of, that's kind of weird that you're thinking that way. But you know, it actually doesn't impact her. You're not wrong, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, so to speak, you know, but B Simone, I'm not saying that she's not doing decently for herself, but I'm sure this 600K a year, if she, let's just say I got wiped out, has a significant impact on her life. You know what I'm saying? That was money that had to go to work. That wasn't, that's not money. That was just been extra sitting and I never touched it in my life type money, you know? So what are other categories and things like that? Because I think some people might not fully understand like how this ties together. It's just because there's other things other than money. There's people in relationships, for example, right? Sierra, when she came out with an independent song, whoa, what do you mean independent Shadi? You've been in a relationship for a long time. You know what I mean? Or I never really believed in this, but I saw somebody comment about this where like back in the day, they wouldn't want you to reveal because the audience wouldn't yearn for you as much. They wouldn't look at you as much of a sex symbol. And I was like, okay, well, maybe that's true for women, or no, I was just thinking like women or whatever, but I'm like, you know, cause I just know me as a man, that's not really gonna change much. Especially it's like, this isn't a like sensible relationship anyway. It's not, I'm not gonna be like, this person's less cute, you know what I'm saying? But recently, probably within the last week, I saw in the comment section, a guy basically said something like that. I don't know if it was like Holly and DDG or it was some relationship though. And I just happened to see in the comments that the guy basically said the girl was like less attractive or it was a turn off or he didn't want to see the content as much because she wasn't in a relationship. You know, I was just like, man, that really impact her brand with some people. Now, some things you might say, I don't want any more of those people anyway. That's the specific decision that you can make. But there's a lot of examples in terms of just like little things that you can show or not show, like especially when the block is hot, you might not be able to be seen with a certain individual in public. It's like, hey bro, I'm gonna need you to figure out your PR situation. Or a job bro. Remember when Tira Weck made that post about her going to work in the internet a little? I mean it worked out well for her, you know what I'm saying, thankfully, but a lot of rappers that would have been in. That goes back to brand. For her, showing that she had a regular job, actually boosted her brand, but for another rapper that would kill baby or something. Everything would have been over. And that goes, the lesson is not, you should never reveal how much money you should make. The lesson is you should never reveal something that negatively impacts your brand without understanding what actually your brand is. You have to understand, I mean, do they like me for this? Do they like me for that? What story have they bought into me for? And that's hard to know sometimes because you'd think someone's buying into that vision in your head that you're putting out. And this is where it comes important to actually pay attention to fans. People will mess with you for reasons that you're not even trying. They just see something naturally and in your head, you're like, yeah, they rock with me because it's the music. It's like, nah, I just think you look good. Or I think you funny. Or I don't think you're musically talented by like your song somehow in a way or something. You know, there's so many different reasons. Or you remind me of something, you know, and I relate or whatever. Or, hey, I do like you for that style of music, but whoa, I don't see you as an artist. Artist, what you doing like way over there? Like I'll let Donald Glover or Kanye do that or Andre the Thousand do that, but you, nah, bro, I need you in this box. Did you back in the truck? You know what I mean? Exactly, get back in the trap. I need to see the kitchen with the light that's barely on, you know what I mean? Like that's the reality. Now you can, once you realize that reality, cause I know some people like, well, a lot of artists get turned off by that idea of that kind of box. It doesn't mean you can never do that stuff, but being cognizant of it helps you move accordingly and not get surprised, you know what I mean? Come outside and there are things on fire and then also build a strategy. Well, how do I make that connection? You know what I mean? How do I do it? He's speaking of more of a trap style, little dirt, right? Okay. His journey has created more flexibility in things that he could do versus where he started. Yeah, exactly, yeah. So you can lengthen your box, create more space in your box over time where your box goes from a block to a whole city to a city to a state, you know? But you gotta go through that process. Yeah, that's a good point to make too. Tom can also change the impact of it because if we go back to the B Simone situation, let's say this was like 20 years from now and she's now B Simone, the entertainment mogul, you know what I'm saying? Like with a big media company, you know what I'm saying? And she had came out and said this, it wouldn't have been the same reaction because we would have already assumed, you know what I'm saying? She was already killing it like that. It's fueling her brains. Like when Jay-Z does another deal, it's like that makes him more Jay-Z. Exactly, yeah, exactly. So I agree, Tom does play a big part in it. Let me take a quick second to say, if you're looking for a music distributor that cares about educating their artists so they can get in a better position, you should check out Two Loss because every single Monday, they have office hours where they bring on dope people in the industry to hop on calls, give artists insights on the future of the music industry and answer some of the questions they have going on in their personal careers. So if you aren't a user of Two Loss or just wanna have a little bit more information about them, go to Two Loss on Instagram, that's T-O-O-L-O-S-T, Two Loss on Instagram and it'll take you to everything you need to see and for me about the sessions and more. Back to this episode. Now we gotta ask y'all a question. Oh. Would you take? Me or the audience? Corey. Okay. You know, let the audience hear what you think, man. Would you take $100,000 advance or three years of free, unlimited promotion and marketing on your favorite platforms? Which one would you take? I am taking the free, unlimited promotion and marketing a couple of reasons. One, I have a couple of different favorite platforms. At least three, you know what I'm saying? So that already makes the advance not worth it because I feel like I would probably end up spending the advance money on marketing anyway, you know? Like marketing is typically for most artists one of the most expensive costs of the business, you know what I'm saying? So I was like, I can immediately wipe away one of my most expensive costs? Yeah, yeah, I fucked that advance. So it is where I go with it. There's a couple ways that this is like, obviously take three years of marketing. So I'm gonna make it a little bit harder because hustle man a rapper says, some people need that $100,000 though to feed the family. Ah, ah, family. I need y'all to buy into the vision. All right? So we're gonna have to eat some other way. But this is not $100,000, it's $100,000 advance. Are you giving that back? Yeah, so like, let's take advance out of the whole conversation because that makes it obviously wrong. It's like, I gotta pay this money back. And it's finite? Nah. And then you know, when we were talking, I was like, oh yeah, a free unlimited, promotion and marketing on your favorite platforms. Not only am I like gonna market myself unlimited, I'm also gonna say, hey Corey, you want some marketing? Hey Coca-Cola, you know what I'm saying? You want some marketing? I become a whole agency and I can offer it for the low because I get it unlimited. So like, by my mind goes a billion different ways with it. But I think it is a great exercise and getting people to understand like the value of promotion on these platforms and flipping it to real money because most of this game is testing, right? Like for you not to take an L on your testing, I think about that in life. For you not to have to suffer for your mistakes. On this new thing. At all, yeah. And you only get the upside. That's basically what this comes down to unless you like do like a wild poster, just fucks with your bread. That's what I was saying. That's what I was saying on camera to you is I was like, bro, I had free marketing on these different platforms. I would just be trying shit. Like every week of new product, like, oh man, I read that Q-tips are back in style. Let me try selling some Q-tips with this marketing and see, you know what I'm saying? What happened? Cause you know, I seen another comment it said like, bro, you use the marketing right, you gonna make the money, you know what I'm saying? You gonna make the money. And I completely agree, you know? Cause at that point, you're getting paid to, like marketing for me is basically just paying to stay in the game. So I was like, I get to be kept in the game for basically three. Three years. For three years. What about this person? This person said, give me 50 K in a year and a half and a year in promo. Nah, I'm still taking the three. Give me three years. You don't understand how fast that 50 K goes away. And I think most people don't understand like how little 50 K is in marketing, especially on these platforms. That could be, that could be gone in a month. But that's what I'm saying. Let's do the math on it, right? Like most artists at least like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Yeah. So it's at least three. Like I was saying earlier, for a majority of artists marketing and production in terms of recording and your content, these are typically your, like three of your biggest expenses as an artist. So out the gate, like I said, the free marketing you can wipe away one of your biggest expenses. But we would take that 100 K because like I said, I feel like most people that take it don't end up spending it on marketing anyway. So now we're talking about three platforms, 100 K. Let's do across the same time span of three years. That's basically what 10 K a year divided by three platforms. You're talking about a $3,000 budget a year for three different platforms. You know what I'm saying? If you have to spend the money on marketing anyway. Crazy, bro. It's not worth it, bro. That's the math I'm doing in my head. That's a hundred percent not worth it. It's not even close to what you meant. This person said something interesting. He said, well, let me see. Snake Gang, I think that's how I say his name. Anybody saying 100 K, don't know the feeling of waking up in the same spot you were three years ago. Trying to make your dream work with no promo. That was deep. That shit was deep. Now there is a dark side to that. That he just made me think about. You could get all of this unlimited free marketing just to learn that it's not going to work. And then you do kind of wish you took the 100 K. That's the only dark side I can kind of see this is like you just are trash. You know what I'm saying? You somehow found this magical genie that just grants you this wish. And you know, genie's like giving people fuck that lesson. So that's some shit a genie would do anyway. I think, I mean, so look, that just goes if you're not smart, man. I feel like there's no way to lose out of that unlimited marketing. Yeah. Because after you figure out it's not going to work for you. It's like, let me attach you to something else. Exactly. There's no way unless you just are like completely delusional and don't pay attention to feedback that you should not figure your way out of this. What 100 K is more than enough to pay for promo and drop multiple songs with videos to go with them. Here we go. Ring, ring, ring. Don't know what you're talking about. 100 K is more than enough to pay for promo and drop multiple songs with videos to go with any new videos. What kind of videos? Videos, yeah. And I'm not saying that it's not enough to do that. Enough three years. Three years in comparison to what that free promo can get you for three years. And this is the issue that, these are the people that have a negative responses and stuff like that in our comments. People who just don't know what they're talking about. Promotion, if that's all, GuapDead4000, an artist who's actually established to a certain level, he said 100 K basically. Like that's all I need. That's all I need. The promo is worth more than 100 K, no cap, but I know I can flip that 100 K to a million. The confidence, I love it. Let's, but no. I mean, we'll do two less comments. I'm taking 100 K promo. Ain't 100, no, I'm taking promo, 100 K, nothing but the cash promo is an investment. If you fire and believe in yourself, you are spending that 100 K on promo. Free promo is easy. See, I love this. Most of the world, most of the artists are educated to a point now where they get the value of that. I feel like the good work is being done and we're a part of that way. The gospel is spreading. The gospel is spreading. People are realizing that everything that isn't a dollar doesn't mean that you're not getting your worth because people would do something like that as well. Like, oh no, I can't believe that you're not paying me 100, like 100 K, I'm worth that kind of money and you want to give me free from promo instead? Like 50 cents, homie, who didn't want to take points at first and he was like, give me 30 K and then points ended up being worth 1.5 million. He's like, oh no, you just trying to get work for free. It's like, no, bro. Understand the value of these conversations and decisions you're making. So that's all we want to put that out there. To throw that bait, if y'all what happened to be on that 100 K side of the conversation, hopefully it's been made painfully obvious that you got some inner work. Got some growth to do. Some growth to do for sure. But this is yet another episode of No Labels That's Serious. I'm brain man, Sean. And I'm Kobe. And we out. Peace. Appreciate you for watching. If you like content like this, you'll love seeing our music marketing strategies that we use as an agency to actually blow up artists to millions and even billions of streams that are available for free at nolabelsnecessary.com and the cool part about it that's gonna really make you love it is we don't have to be all entertaining and add all this fluff just to get some views that we do on YouTube. We get straight to the information. There's play by play in courses that give you a breakdown of every step that you should do to get success. And you have the ability to have communication with us. We get on live talks, a lot of cool things for members and it's free just to hop in. So check it out right now at nolabelsnecessary.com.