Unbankable with Alex Shvarts

Welcome to Unbankable, the podcast for entrepreneurs who won't take no for an answer. I am Alex Schwarz, CEO and founder of Fun Kite. And today, oh my god, talking about a family of legends. This is definitely a very successful um going to be an inspiring conversation here. Let me introduce my next guest. has spent his career doing something most people underestimate. He built a business out of being the most valuable person in the room without being the one on stage. BB Lewis is a marketer, brand strategist, media producer, and the CEO behind Circlehouse Studios in Miami and AlmBG Media and the son of reae star Ian Lewis from Inner Circle. He's worked with artists like Two Life Crew, Bald Greasy, Bad Boys of Reggae, and others. He runs multiple podcast. He's building a docky series and he's doing it all through own media, owned relationships, and owned infrastructure. No label, no corporate backing, just leverage. BB, welcome to Unbankable. Thank you, man. Thank you. It's such a pleasure to be here, man. The vibe from my walked in this building has been amazing, my brother. Thank you. Look, um I'm never at a loss for words. Um but I am quite often humbled by the people I'm around because you know what you've done, what you've pulled off, what you continue to do every day. Um man, it's inspiring and it just makes me feel good to sit with someone like you and have a normal conversation and a good conversation. So this podcast is about helping entrepreneurs succeed, you know, fill their dreams. Maybe we can show them a shortcut or or help them avoid the mistakes we've made because we've we've probably hit a few mistakes along the path, right? A lot of mistakes. So, um All right, BB, you've spent decades helping artists, producers, and brands become successful, but at some point you stopped building others people's dreams and started building your own. What made you realize that your greatest asset was BB Lewis himself? Man, it just it just it just uh it's almost like a movie scene. You know that movie scene where like everybody's shouting so loud and there's so many things going on, but you're moving in slow motion. And I was in the room and I felt like that and I felt like people were like taking advantage of me, taking advantage of my work ethic, taking advantage of of of how I love something so much and how I just look past so many other things, you know. So I said to myself, I I saw so many gaps and holes where where the people wasn't they weren't following through, you know, they weren't following through with the culture. They weren't following through with the ethnicity. They weren't following through with so many other things they could have been doing, you know? And I'm like, yo, I got to work on myself and I got to come at this a totally different way. You know, being born in Jamaica, raised in Miami, I got to know so many cultures, you know, from religious to the Spanish to the Jamaican to the like, you know what I'm saying? Miami is like a melting pot of so many different things. And that just kind of like when I was in that room, it just my my just a finger snapped and was like, "Yo, work on yourself, build yourself, then throw your lasso down, and then you can, you know, bring the ones up that you think is is plurable that can help you and help your business and help Miami or South Florida on a whole." So, I think teams are important. However, the first and most important team is me, myself, and I, right? So if we and like I'm very similar to you, you know, I do it all. Whatever I need to do, there's no job too small or too big in this company and I do it. And I think that the first, you know, most important member of the team is you who has to get it together. And that's what I tell a lot of entrepreneurs. You got to get your [ __ ] right. Once you get your [ __ ] right and your plan is working, then everything else will come. You can't just expect other people to to fix things for you. They might help you in your journey, but they're not going to do things for you. Look, I I think we got to do this because people are watching this and they just don't put two and two together yet, right? So, I got to do this now. Maybe after this you're going to give me a recording contract in your studio, right? But, you know, the the family tree from one of the biggest songs in in movie history, Bad Boys, Bad Boys, what they going to do? So this man's father, you know, was was part of Inner Circle. This is their song and and and you work a lot with your dad and you guys build a lot. In fact, I was just on the phone with him, which is was was great. And so people need to know that. And so look, you've been able you've never been on stage. Yeah. And you've leveraged, you were smart enough to say, "Hey, look, I've got an opportunity. I'm going to run with it." Now, you in yourself have done extremely well and you know you you're not just living off of that song, but you were smart enough and a lot of people aren't to use something and say, "Hey, you know what? I'm going to take this. This is going to open doors and I'm going to build homes with it and that's what you've done." Um, what was the moment that you realized you were creating more value than you were receiving from others? It's just uh it was a lot of moments, but the thing about it, you know, when you work in a family business, it's a little different cuz uh working in a family business, you don't get the accolades as you should, you know, cuz you're a family member. You're supposed to do that. You know what I'm saying? So my numbers started just to get gynamuous in a sense of being able to uh maneuver through the different businesses that we have from the recording facilities to the production of the shows, the marketing, and just doing a bunch of different things. So it just it just it just it just switched to me at a moment. I can't even remember the moment, but it was just just a lot of different things. Did anyone ever doubt you when you decided to bet on yourself? 100%. uh the way I marketed, they call the gorilla marketing uh because the typical PR marketing agency wasn't going about attacking the people like that. You know what I'm saying? Or when they make a commercial, I've make my commercial in four different languages, you know? So, I'm doing it in Creole. I'm doing it in Jamaican PWA. I'm doing it upscale Jamaican. I'm doing it in Latin. I'm doing, you know what I'm saying? Cuz you have to touch every demographic to really cross the board and win cuz everybody likes reggae music. That's one thing. I think the greatest thing about reggae it's people that don't even speak English like regga music you know so having that aspect of it and being able to happy music it's a happy music it's a happy media and it can sell a lot of different things it can sell patties and food and clothing and tourism it's a mood music put you in a good mood right there's some music you could listen to and you're like oh my god and no no you're right you're right about that it's a it's a very relatable music or no matter where you come from, right? What did building your platform cost you? I mean, there was there was some hard times, I'm sure. Well, I I built it I always say this, like um the three little pigs, like I I built my structure out of bricks, you know? A lot of people rush and build their structure out of straw. You know what I'm saying? So when the big bad wolf comes, somebody can huff and puff and blow their house down. You're not blowing my house down cuz I built it from bricks. I mean, for me going out there, learning how to pass out flyers, me learning how to speak to people, you know, I caught the I just turned 50 uh last week, you know, but we don't talk about our age here, but the the learning curve was I got the world before social media, beginning of social media, during social media, and now. So I saw of how to sell something real, you know, like when you when we were promoters on South Beach and you had to give a flyer out and you had it wasn't no video, wasn't no this, it wasn't no that. You had to be that likable person and those traits uh of our age group are the ones that are taking me to the next level are those traits of learning. And you had to keep it real back then. People today, I mean, people today on Instagram, I mean, you don't know phony baloney fake or everybody looks good, everybody sounds good. You don't even know. Half the people don't even know they're listening to fake. 100%. With AI music coming out now, too. I don't even know. Sometimes I'm looking and I'm like, "Oh my god." And so, we come from a time where um building success, you didn't have all these tools. No. And I think that so if I had to say if you know if tomorrow social media was gone, Instagram was gone, all of that was was gone, you'd be able to rebuild, you know, in no time, even bigger because I am a such a credible source that you think about me without social media. You know what I'm saying? You think about me without a phone in your hand. Oh, BB. Oh, inner circle. Oh, circle. Like, you know what I'm saying? You're going to think of those things because the the things we've done to make you not forget us. the music, the sales, the footprint, the footprints, the moments, you know, and the relationship, the relationship. So, let's let's tell people here, whatever product you're selling, whatever you're creating, don't just rely on this fake image or this image that you want people to believe in on social media. You need to be real. You need to have relationships with your customers, right? Cuz you have customers, right? I have customers. I have friends. I have I can pick up the phone and call Dave Grubbin. I could pick up the co the phone and call Nas. I could pick up the phone and call a lot of people and without my as I call it my sweat equity that I put because somebody sometime sometimes people always I got a podcast called sweat equity too but people always come how much you going to put down where's the money who do you know I can make one call and save you $10,000. You know what I'm saying? I can make one call and save you a hundred grand or before you make a mistake I can save your mistake cuz I've made that mistake. call David Grutman and get me like a discounted commoder or something. I mean, listen, every time I go, I got to call like Lending Club and get a loan or something. I've been I've been knowing Dave since he was a barback. I think that David Grutman has built an amazing brand. Ask David Grutman. He's an amazing brand. And so, let's let's say another thing. The people you align yourself with can help you become more successful. 100%. Um, you should in business align yourself with like-minded people, people that you can turn to for questions cuz we don't know everything, right? We think we don't. And so, you know, we have a, you know, you know, we use a word called rolodex. A lot of young people don't even know that. Don't even know what a black book. But your rolodex and people, you know, is so important and keeping it real. And you know I often meet people and there's something I get that moment but you know from the conversation I don't know like I take their number I might need you know and I call and reach out. So people see Circle House, the relationships, the success. What's the hardest season that nobody knows about? Well, with Miami now, it was a lot of hard seasons, but now with FIFA, with Art Basil, with the Miami Open, with the uh this year the Hurricanes going to the national championship, sports has opened up and filled every gap in Miami that was there. You know what I'm saying? year round where we had a couple things now we have immense things that's why I said it's just it's for you to figure out how can you structure your business to fall in place of what's happening FIFA I'm in the music industry advice for a new artist do a FIFA song I love soccer is fun I play you know what I'm saying then now that song goes out on a playlist it starts moving then who knows a restaurant sees that a brand sees that now a small restaurant in Brooklyn wants to use your song now issue the video now here now it's just it's just a domino effect and th these are the greatest things that we have here locally in Miami if you got smarts and you got brain power and you can sit down and strategize there's so many things that you can get yourself into so many opportunities but it still all comes down to the grind 1% right you got to go out and do all these things just cuz you posted a video on Instagram and you got a million views it means [ __ ] you're going to move on to the next thing tomorrow is another video right so you've got to use that opportunity today now and go out and do all that and you know so you come off as a mentor to a lot of these young artists or brands cuz you know today brands reach out to you know music and all that so so that's important um listen was there ever a moment that you thought it all might disappear oh man just with the change I'm not going to make it easy for us I mean just like the change when when everything changed like when social media came in and and and at first when the fake started Yeah. And then the fake started, you know, if you're if you're a better videographer than me, you may uh show and that person may pick you over me, but then you don't know nothing to actually make him some money or make him some paper. That's the crazy and scary thing about social media. You don't know who you're dealing with for real. You know what I'm saying? So, that's where relationships come in and that's where you got to vet. Vetting programs are very good where you can sit down and be like, "Who's the person in between that can help me with all these different people and understanding of these different brands?" Cuz you can get yourself trapped into not finishing nothing, starting 20,000 things and have no end result for none of the things that you started. You know, how did you survive financially during difficult times? Innovation. Innovation. Just innovation. COVID time. Uh we we moving, we're doing parties, we're doing this, we're finding uh other brands that need help. We just always stay on the innovative uh movement. But the thing about it, when it was co for an example, the music business never slowed down. The music the music business doubled up. You know what I'm saying? Netflix doubled up because everybody was home listening to songs, listening to music, watching movies. Listen, co was the greatest time for Florida and the greatest time for the music industry. I mean like yeah for sure what else what else could you do? I was all my numbers were in Florida at least you I I was living in New York at the time and I was literally afraid all my numbers were 10x you know we laugh about this right but here you you know life was open and everything in New York I remember going to you know super I have to laugh about this now and now you're reading all this news about what really happened but I remember I would you know you put on all the gear you put on the mask and you put on the goggles and the jacket and rubber gloves and you know I'm walking to get some food for you know my wife and kids and like somebody coughs and you're looking and the dude's like a block away and you're like, "Wait, he just It was crazy." But it was like, you know what what what you know they they made you believe. But there's another side to you know how powerful music and entertainment is. It changes moods. It changes trajectories, perspective, and it's a really that's why I listen to music. I don't watch I don't watch TV. Right. It can bring so many people together. You know, music can bring every culture and you can stand there and and usually it does bring people together. Usually music I I there's Yeah, I can't ever remember something that some music that pushed people apart. Yeah, Bob Marley brings one love, brings everybody together. Look at soccer. That's a great one. Soccer brings everybody together. What did adversity teach you about yourself? Uh that I have to control my emotions. And that's one thing I teach all my people that work with me is control your emotions. Cuz through adversity, you're going to get mad. You know what I'm saying? And as you get mad, how are you going to handle the anger? Do you go social media and rant? Do you while out? Do you What do you do? I've learned to now take that energy and strategize that energy and put it back out there in the most proper way. I use that, you know what I'm saying? I use that anger and I use that to just get me better ideas and dig deeper with my spirituality. I I get up at 4 in the morning, 5 in the morning, every morning. I'm I'm reading. I'm I'm the first outside. And I know my neighbors think I'm crazy. You know what I'm saying? But I feel like I I'm up before the haters are up. I'm up before the evil spirits are up. So being up at 4:5 in the morning, by the time the 8:00 hater wakes up, I'm on the phone like, "Hello, what's up, man?" He's like, "Yo, you know what's happening? I already fixed that. I already did that." They're like, "What the hell?" You know what I'm saying? I posted 8 10 times already on social media. My day is already moving. When people are waking up the same way. I'm up I'm up at 4:30, right? I try to beat everybody. Yeah. I'm up and I'm I'm walking to work as people are leaving space, right, for 11, you know, it's pretty wild. Um, so listen, you've been in rooms with legends, celebrities, and power players, right? In fact, you are a power player, and you know, most people don't know that, and you're not. Yeah. Yeah, but you are. You know, people just um people think that the real power players are the ones that you see all the time, but a lot of the real power players are the ones that you don't. What's the biggest misconception people have about access in relationships? Sometimes people think they have the access through the relationship, but they really don't cuz that person sees them as just that that thing. How can I explain it? They just see them as a friend that can come along with them. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes having too much access to things is not a good thing. You know what I'm saying? To be what's what's the word? Sometimes I go invisible on people. You know, they always say my Gemini spirit. Yeah, I'll disappear. You are a Gemini. My brothers and my wife is a Gemini. Yeah, I have uh like, you know, Gemini. So, you know how we do. We'll disappear on you. You know what I'm saying? You're very Yeah. Like, yeah. Sometimes I don't see my wife for for weeks when she's upset with me. Like, I don't you know, well, I'm afraid to surface. But Geminis are very creative also. Very creative. Very creative. Very multitask. And I've learned to like be multitask but also get the job done in the in in the end. The relationship go back to that because it's so important because people they think they have the access. You know what I'm saying? Like and they think they have the relationship but they don't really they're not monetizing it cuz that's how when I see those when I see that if I'm not making money with you like we're friends and I have access to you but like why we ain't making money? Why we not breaking bread? Yes. But a lot of times I I I hear what you're saying. A lot of times people think that access to someone means that they owe you something. Yeah. They don't owe you nothing. They owe you nothing. The relationships have to be both ways. You have to It's okay to know someone, but once you start to ask, you got to be able to give. It's got to work both ways. It's got to be beneficial. Otherwise, you're just le trying to leech off of somebody, right? Um look, I know a lot of very influential, powerful people. Um, I'm not going to abuse that number unless I bring something of value to the table. It's not right. I mean, you know, so I respect boundaries like that. And sometimes, you know, you have an idea and you know, just the right person to call at the right time and and it's a fit. So, um, what's more valuable, talent or trust? Trust. Most valuable, right? Yeah. Trust. I can't, if you're talented, I can't trust you. I can't do business with you. I can't be comfortable to let out my ideas. I can't be comfortable to to introduce you to somebody and I know I'm going to come back the next week and you're in that other person's office without me after I introduce you. You know what I'm saying? And that's what I don't like about, you know, like a lot of things, you know? Um, and how long does it take for you to build a meaningful relationship, man? It could be a week, could be 30 seconds. It could be 30 seconds. Like I always believe that strangers are going to help you more than your family members, more than people that you know for like your whole life. You know what I'm saying? Like I just met you and I'm I'm comfortable already. We're going to do some business. I I'm going to say this that I don't know like we sat, we talked, the first thing you did was you called your dad. Now look, a lot of people and I didn't even realize it you cuz you're like daddy daddy. And a lot of times, you know, people have names today that, you know, someone who's daddy like who's he talking to? Then I realized it was your father. I But um and that's the first thing you did, man. You called your your father when you It's like my business partner. It's like my best friend is like my dad was my best friend, too. I miss him very dearly. And uh No, that's that's amazing. Well, they said the only man that wants you to do better than that better than them is your father. Yeah. You know, that's true. I want my kids to do better than me. In fact, I'm going to judge uh I want my uh legacy and my success and and everything to be judged by how well my kids do. Wow. That's all I care about. You know, I don't care if this guy in the studio audience remembers me 20 years from now, but that's what I really care about. Um All right. So, creative businesses don't fit neatly inside traditional banking boxes. Yes. Right. Mh. Um, how did you fund Circle House and everything you've built when the numbers didn't always fit conventional models? Did you ever go to a bank for money? Uh, see that's my dad's question right there. You know what I'm saying? But I I've never, me personally, for any businesses that that I I have done because of just the abundancy of being in Miami and being connected with access and relationship relationships where I could go find funding myself without a bank. I Well, let me ask you this. Would you feel comfortable walking into a bank right now? No. You don't have to say anything else. Your face right now said it all. Most people don't, right? You know, because we all even even without trying, we have a stereotype of what we think banks are looking for, right? Do you know the name of your banker? Um, was it Bank of America? But I don't I don't know the name of my bank. You don't know? Yeah. Now, you're old enough before we had direct deposit, did you have a check that you got paid like you had to go deposit in a bank? Yes, I remember those. You went to the same, you know, before we even had those ATM machines. You might have had to walk into the bank 100%. And you probably knew the girl behind the teller cuz you mostly girls back then, right? You knew it was whatever Lucy or Sandra, whatever she Right. Kesha. Kesha. You wouldn't even know who who the hell's at Bank of America today. Exactly. Right. That's how bad it got. That's why we exist in the business funding world to give people options. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with banks. Um but you know one fit isn't for everyone. Yeah. And you're more niche where you're going to you're going to pick the right business in the sense of like we look at different things than the business funding 100%. Um what's a bad day? A bad day is Oh man, I really can't have a bad day living in Miami, man. It's really It's really tough to say it's a bad day when you can get up and walk to the beach and just go to the pier and speak for yourself. Not every Not everybody lives on the beach. I don't even want to be what I'm saying, but you can always just go to the beach. You can just rethink everything. And being in the music industry, I've had so many like bad experiences or or you do a song, people don't like it. You think it's going to be the biggest album, it's the biggest flop. So, it's like you just got to redirect that energy because nowadays, that's the only thing good about Tik Tok and different things like that because a song you did 30 years ago may blow up tomorrow. You know what I'm saying? song you did 40 years ago may just a influencer just grabs it and it explodes. So the the uh the gift and the curse of streaming that people complain about. Think about this. Would let's say where's the where's the the Gibbs right there? The the Beges. Yeah. Okay. Would you still go back to the store and buy this album? I have their album. I know. But you wouldn't keep going and buying it, but you're going to keep streaming it because it's Yeah, of course. Streaming does help the older groups because you're still coming back listening to their music. But if you had their cassette tape or their vinyl or their CD, you wouldn't be they wouldn't once you pay that16 or $10, that's it. That's it. Right. So the residual of the residual of the residual. That's why a lot of the music industry people are they're looking for older catalog stuff that can keep playing. Then the new stuff they got to tap dance and explode. You know, we're trying to have a a normal conversation and we do want to go without saying [ __ ] those [ __ ] All them [ __ ] are full of [ __ ] But they are, man. But they are. But no, but I mean, I could tell already that you you have um you're very subtle with people, but you're you're definitely like me. You get into a meeting like, "What the [ __ ] am I doing here?" Right? What the [ __ ] is this going on? I just I just notice certain things with people and just being here in Miami. And remember, I got a chance. Wait, where'd you grow up? here. Watching everybody grow up, bro. I watched every marketing company from Smack Entertainment to Mike Gardner headliner to Dave Grdman to George Dukes to Roman Jones to Chris Jones to I can I can I've been here in the '9s. You had the Delano was was whatever. Madonna had her, you know, a couple of places in Ocean Drive was pumping and dude, the place to go was the Forge. There was none of this other stuff. And then China Grill came a few years later. Share let us do a soul food night in there. Oh no [ __ ] So we did a soul food. So we changed the menu. I mean we got fried fish in there. No [ __ ] Girl, I love that. He got this. But then what was coming were the celebrities. Forel was there. Everybody. Everybody. Everybody. Yo, I'm going to tell you a story. My brother picked up a girl that Julio Gllesius came in with. Sophia was her name. She was dating Julio. one of the girls dating Julio. Julio lived here on uh I think Bezos owns this house now. But you know, Julio actually owned most of Indian Creek. Him and Gloria Estafon owned like almost every property and they held it on and they they still own a few. Just imagine the money, right? Anyway, and so Julio and we're having dinner and I was, you know, we're all wearing those Miami Vice Weiss, you know, the time, right? The '9s. And I'm telling you, Julio walked in with this beautiful girl. I don't know how I'm going to show you pictures one day and my brother Roman I don't know how 15 minutes later you know he took this girl he started dating this girl and I couldn't believe it like anyway but it was the forge was yeah it was it it's a it was a different legend it's a different very different time the forge had at the time they had the one of the biggest wine collections in the country if not the world 304 $40 million in the '9s in wine and Florida Power and Lighting whatever the electric company at the time was they had an outage and um the seller the wine seller degrees changed and the forge filed a claim that all the wine went bad. Well, they're saying look, you know, the the temperature in the wine seller was 10° off. You know, the wine spoiled. They got paid out like $30 million for the wine. All those wines went back to went to auction. I mean, nobody knew until opening the wine if it was really bad or not. And they bought all the wine back in an auction for like $8 million and put it right back in the seller. I I I mean, I remember reading this. Maybe some of the facts are a little different, but it was great. I can see them doing that. I can see them doing that. I can see. Um, if you like this uh podcast, please uh subscribe, drop a message, drop a comment. Let me know what you'd like to hear. Who would you like to bring on? New legends, old legends. Any suggestions? And and of course, thank you for listening. Let me go on. Bi. Definitely. So, all right. We talked about owning media, owning relationships, and owning your platform. Which one creates the most leverage for you? Media. Tell me how. Because once I control the marketing, I can control everything else. You know what I'm saying? Because that's what they want the numbers to do. They want to be a packed venue. They want to sell tickets. They want to sell their product. They want to do anything. Once you have the marketing leverage, why uh Jeff Bezos, what does he own? Uh the New York Times or something? No, no. Washington Post. Washington Post. Like why are these guys controlling media? Why is it Cuz they want to control I think. But I also think a lot of rich people at some point just like to buy newspapers and magazines cuz it's just part of something they have. But it helps them with sales and it could help me with sales. Like if I own the Miami Herald, I would we should buy them, you know? I could I could sell or I could put whatever on the cover I need to put on the cover or in in the in the m in the newspaper and sway certain thought processes and you know how media you know media media is the strong point of everything on my angle you know cuz once I lock in um a big concert and I'm the marketing guy then I can be like hey here's who I want to perform matter of fact book my dad then matter of fact I want you to use this company to do soundstage and lighting which is my company big And it all dwindles to me having the marketing power because if I don't have the marketing power, I can't control any of those things down there. Right. Right. You know, what would you say is um the difference between followers and influence? Big difference. Uh I'll give you an example on Spotify. They have followers, but then you have your super fans. So, somebody can have 10 million monthly listeners, but then you'll see they have only a half a million super fans. Those are the people that come back, check your page, check on you, and do all that. And I I say that because those are the people that I'm really influencing. So, that's your real number, but that number is hidden. So, it's all a fake. So, I I I I'm I'm keeping track of that. I have 12 on my Instagram page. I just call them stalkers. Yeah. And some of them are like people I know and they never like anything I post anyway. So they're just stalking me. Like they at least like something. Good press, bad press. It's all press. It's how you now take that and you spin that into what you're doing. You know what I'm saying? Cuz there's networks like the Zeus network that people want to see that type of thing. And then there's networks like Netflix and then there's other, you know what I'm saying? There's so many different components, but there is a niche market for every single thing. Before somebody buys something, typically they have to begin to trust your product, right? Yeah. How do you monetize trust? That's a good one, man. Man, it's it's just it's tough. Uh, when it comes to music industry and songs, it's just giving the consumer what they want. You know what I'm saying? Far as your lyrical content. But you're not just doing music. You help You're helping brands. I know you help brands maybe just just to be able to be a factor like you know what I'm saying and Instagram I'm not going to lie is almost like your resume because that's something where if the brand is in a meeting and you're not there the first place they're going to go to is look at your social medias and then they're going to judge you from that and they're going to judge you how many followers you have many maybe sometimes but if you have eight or 10 followers and you got a hundred pictures with 50,000 celebrities in your backyard are doing the thing like that [ __ ] got the that I'm looking for. This person knows this person. Like people would look at my page and know I know Nas or no I know this person. You know what? Don't be humble. Call BB. You don't have to be humble. Yeah. They they call call BB because they see the people that that I know or and but they want that access. But how do you utilize that access? You you you get that celebrity and you get him to host a party. While he host the party, he goes by the restaurant. But he goes by the restaurant. You're taking the photos. When he leaves now all the clubs are calling your phone. and you you got it's just a whole entertainment Miami cluster of the whole world. But now here comes the Spanish came in and just took over. You know what I'm saying? So when your hip-hop nights were so huge, these Latin nights are the nights now. They they are the demographic. I'm not even going to lie to you. They are what's happening in Miami right now. You know, the Latin scene, the soccer scene. You know, Beck come over there with that new stadium. I've never seen something get built so fast. What's Who's his partner? What's his name again? Uh Raul or whatever. The mast the architect guy, the guy that builds everything. So they did it so fast. Look who their partner is. Like they can't build this bridge already for 10 years of downtown Miami. But that that that went up. They wanted that FIFA. They wanted that look. Miami is just man, this this is like in a world of its own, right? Like I'm I'm every like I see more man I see more cranes here than at Home Depot. I've never seen anything like it. It's like and then I think Miami is moving. so fast that the people that are in place to like monetize can't even keep up. No, you got to play catch because it's so many different things. No, not everything's going to work. You know, a lot of a lot of restaurants aren't going to make it because they're not unique in delivering. I want to say this, the Caribbean market, huge Juicy Patty is a patty franchise that's killing it. Um they're just like uh they're not they're not like a Raisin Canes. No, no. Let me let me say this, right? So people um look at Miami and and and they think about Glamour and all these like big brands and and they have a a longevity, right? Most of these like name brand restaurants aren't going to be around for so long because it's a fat. But then you have like real places that people will continue to go to because it's good value. and and and it's just an incredible market location and they you know they serve so look you know we have a lot of tourists here that come in and they want to go to most fancies but we have a lot of people living here that need to be served that aren't going every night to you know a Michelin star or trendy place you know there's real life here it's not always sun and and beach right um so you're building brands documentaries books medias companies I mean you're doing a lot how do you know when you're building an ecosystem and when you're just simply staying busy. I I can feel it. Me personally, I feel it when I'm starting something and it's just starting to maneuver like um it's just it's just it's just a feeling. My dad's going on tour right now and it's called we call it the Stay Strong Jamrock Tour cuz he wants to like you know give back to Hurricane Melissa and the different things and all of a sudden this morning I wake up to like every publication posting my dad's tour. So that's when I know I'm like, "Wow, these are big brands that are I didn't even ask them." So they're seeing the motion and and they're seeing everything. So that's when I know I can feel it through the media aspect. And that's why I said the media is number one to me because that's the driving force to get everything else moving in in how I feel. You know, what projects are assets and what projects are just hobbies? Um there's a lot of projects that are hobbies, but the asset projects to me is the legacy. When I mean legacy, like as you see on your wall, these people are still kids are, you know what I'm saying? There you go. Like, you know what I'm saying? So, when you talk legacy, one or two songs can take care of your family forever. I mean, kids, kids, kids, you know what I'm saying? And if you do it right, like a bad boys that's grab that's jumped into a billion-dollar movie industry, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, then it it just it just metamorphosis and just keeps going and it keeps going and it keeps going, you know, and on social media, you got to understand how to do a lot with the brand but not do too much where the song gets overdosed where it's it's just it's it's a strategy. It's definitely a strategy when it comes to certain things. So, you know, in a world obsessed with going viral, um you you're methodical about how you do stuff. Do you think that patience is underrated? Definitely. Patience is 1,000% overrated because the kids wake up or under underrated. You know what I'm saying? Because they they wake up in the morning and they want to they want to just move so fast. You know what I'm saying? And and you know, growing up around Rostafaris, you know, with the dreads, everything is soon come. Soon come. Everything I take your time, man. tell these guys soon come I come soon for yes what you know so it's like you learn their methods of thinking you know as you see Bob Marley nothing was ever rushed with him you know what I'm saying everything was thought out methodical just just h okay and just and look at the way he thought he carved out a niche that not just his kids inner circle and us can live for a long time ever the way Bob Marley did his interviews the he did his music, the way he took everything so serious in for the record industry. You know, a lot of um entrepreneurs quit too early, right? How long should someone stay committed before changing direction? Shoot. It matters if we if we talking about like a song, a business, a business, a song. Like my business is music. So like I just never know when a song is going to blow up. And then if I'm in So sometimes it takes a while. It takes a very long while and it takes a lot of money. At what point do you say, "Okay, you know what? This one's not going to work. Let me move on." And cuz, you know, sometimes you can just feel it. I I feel it. And I can look at the numbers and the stats, but it's not even just that. It's just the feeling of it. A lot of people should pay attention to their gut. Your gut is real. Your gut is real. And even if you got a little time, hey, cuz the the the mind is the last to know, you know, trust your gut, follow your heart. My wife tells me, trust your gut, follow your heart, cuz this is a little slow. This this thing plays trick and then test the record. Uh find a a a mover and shaker to take you to the club and you know you go meet the DJ pointing to you take the CD and you he put it on for you and you just you sit back. You don't say you're in the building, you just watch the audience watch your music. You know many artists I know as soon as they finish the song at night, they're off to every strip club and every club in Miami to try to just to watch the reaction point of them playing their song. Because doing that, you may see a guy go like this. They be like, "You know what? That's the dance for the Tik Tok." Then it's just a whole remember the DJ is gone out the music industry. It's now the DJ is the influencer on the phone, right? So before I would have to run and take my music to the radio cuz the DJ is the biggest thing. But no, the influencer is now bigger than the DJ, which is crazy. So the whole that's why people are lost when it comes to music marketing because the whole game is totally changed. Totally. So, what makes somebody a really a true good entrepreneur? Is it the vision? Is it the relationships? Is it the resilience? Resilience. The resilience. Just just the never giving up understanding that health is wealth. You know what I'm saying? Like you may be not thinking straight because you're not in the gym working out trying to get your body right to get your mind clear. So when you get into that point of greatness at 12 1:00 when you're in that meeting, you're not thinking because your brain is brain fogged and you're not focused on the right things. So that's why I said resilience. And I always say when I go to the gym and I play basketball and I go to the gym. Yeah. And and I play basketball. I said I tell all the kids basketball is like business. So when I pick my starting five, I'm going to pick me the right team cuz I know my I know how I can play. I know how good I am. A good manager, man. Just Water Boy. Water boy, towel boy, cuz I can't. But I always say business is like picking your team at, you know what I'm saying? Okay, I'm going to pick the rebounder guy. I'm going to pick this this guy going to shoot a bunch of threes, but he going to get his rebound. Okay, okay, I'm happy with my team. Now, let's go. And I made a decision and I'm the captain. So, if we lose, I'm taking credibility and I mean, I'm taking it on. I understand because I picked my team. And if we lose, I feel comfortable losing because I picked my team. You do you mentor people. I'm sure people come to your advice. Um, what is the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make today? And I'm going to give you some options. Is it a lot of entrepreneurs are chasing attention? A lot of them are trying to scale too quickly and a lot of them just not owning anything. Yeah. So, what do you think is the biggest mistake? All three of those, man. Not owning, not owning nothing, not you trying to move so fast and don't even understand your demographic. Like when you're selling a burger, you can sell the burger three different ways. I can do a jerk burger, attack the Caribbean market. I could do a rompo burger attack the Latin market. Now I got the same burger six different ways. What that entail those six burgers, okay, the the the the hood burger is number one. Okay, now I know in line who's selling. Then from there, I can, you know, take it take them out, you know, just slowly just start packaging them up differently. I mean, it's just it's just it's just it's just it's just a game. It's it's it's all a game, bro. You made some bad deals, right? Of course. What's the most amount of money you lost on a deal, man?$150 $150 million. $150,000. Thank God, man. Thank God. What's wrong with this dude? Wow. I want to put you up on the wall on that one. Yeah. All right. That hurt. It's a bad record deal. Um publishing, sync, licensing, those things which you're not looking at the proper contract. Like let me give you an example. Like let's say tomorrow on Versus it's Pretty Ricky verse B2K. Pretty Ricky did a whole album at my studio. Listen, that album had generated probably 10 20 million off one album. You know what I'm saying? That's what I'm trying to tell you. People think you got to do 20 projects. If you put one good body of work together to understand what you're doing, know where you're going, you can win. But it's not going to happen overnight. Music business is a fiveyear plan business. There's some people that come in here and get the home run, but if you look back at them five to six years later, where are they? Yep. You You made some money. Make some good money. That's a good day. What's the a killer day for you, man? Tomorrow, if you could make What would it be? A quarter. 250 grand. Yeah. It's not a bad day. That's 75 million a year. You do that every day. Not every day. You do that like, you know, Oh, whatever. Why not? Oh, come on. You do that once a month. Twice a month. You getting slow now? You know what I'm saying? No, I just, you know. Okay. Is is the consistency of being consistent and that's why a lot of these big hedge funds are buying the cataloges because the music is being what? Consistent. You know what I'm saying? Like how many times play someone else on it and I said, you know which artist still produces the most amount of money? Yeah. Michael Jackson's catalog. 100%. Billion a year or something. 100%. Like how many people play Michael Jackson right now? It's probably trillion plays before. You know what's a lot of money today? A lot of money today. Not a million. Not even 10 million. Damn. It's not even a like a 100 million is a lot. But in the scheme of just living, if you lived in Wisconsin, I can say $100 million. But living 10 million in Wisconsin's It's a lot of money. You in Miami and you trying to rub shoulders, you trying to live in the neighborhoods. Your kid got to go to the colleges. You know what I'm saying? like what you doing? You know, this is Miami, bro. You know what I'm saying? This is this is crazy. It's crazy what this place has turned into. But big shout out to Miami Vice cuz they they started all of this, too, you know. Yeah. Right. All those things are like coming to real like it's coming. It's amazing, right? I was uh all of a sudden and again, you know, Instagram follows what you do. So you if you search something, all of a sudden I'm getting, you know, a lot of um stories coming up about Miami V. I don't know. Something's going on with Miami Vice right now. No, but look at the episode. But I'm getting like a lot of Miami Vice stories and stuff. I think I think they're coming with a new movie. I think uh what's the name? Is there another Miami coming out? I forgot his name. The one Lorie Harvey the the dude. Oh, maybe he was in Sinners. Michael B. Jordan. Yeah. And I forgot I forgot who's playing um Crockett and tell I mean who's playing, you know, but that that that was that was great. Miami Vice was a great that shows you what branding can do. Miami that actually was probably worldwide that brought people here. People still talk about that. It's so crazy. You know what I'm saying? My That's why I tell you with songs, television, music. It it it can sell you to the point where you're monetizing and buying all this stuff. You want to come live a lifestyle. You want to come to Miami and record at Circle House and get interviewed on the podcast and then go to live and pop bottles then go to, you know, go to um Sharice restaurant to forge and eat. I want to live my life through yours, man. Cuz your life sounds like a lot. No, what we're going to do for you is we're going to make you a song. We're going to make you We're going to make you a song and you're going to perform. We're going to have a your theme song is going to be you. Do you know what I'm going to do right now? So, you can actually make custom vinyl records. You can choose your songs and they'll print it and and and forget the process, but they'll make vinyl with your songs and you know, you can design your own cover. So, I'm actually going to do that for my birthday. Not I don't even know who has, you know, record play like I do turntables, but I'm going to send it to my friends like for holidays and I'm probably going to give it to my guests on the podcast, you know. Well, come do the song. Do the song at my studio. Okay, done. Come on, dude. You don't want to hear me sing. Like I said, the only the only the only thing that can tolerate my singing is the is the water on the shower in the shower on the walls. No, no. I mean,

no. I mean, I can't. Listen, I got a computer that can make anybody sound. Oh, I'm sure you do. And you sounded very good right there. You see, now we're going to do the opera. See, look. See, now I see why. Oh, no. No. I can't do the opera, man. I could do Johnny be good. Chuck Barry of Chuck Barry. Yeah, those are the good old days. Down in Louisiana, across the New Orleans, back up in the woods, I'm on the ever greens. Student old cabin made of earth and wood. I could do that, but that's it. That's it. So, if everything disappeared tomorrow, Circle House, the podcast, the studios, the brands, um, and all that remained was your reputation. What would you want people to say about you? Uh, I'm a standup guy. I'm a real dude. be like, you know, when I come to a BB and he is going to tell me something, it's going to get done, you know, and that's what I'm all about is finishing, you know, being that finisher. You know, a BB Lewis is going to finish the job. That's good. There's somebody watching this right now who feels like they don't have the connections, the money, or the opportunities they need. What's the price of waiting? And what would you tell that person who's still asking for permission? Listen, just go. Don't even just go. Just go try things and uh strategically try things. You know what I'm saying? But go because all you can get is a no. You know, there's so many things that I I I wish I would have tried that I'm trying now, like podcasting, radio, television, but back then I didn't have like the heart to really try those things. But the confidence in me just, you know, pushed it. So, keep good people around you and just try it, man. That's that's all I can say is just try. Um would you like to give your um Vinmo address to the people uh listening? Maybe they need some advice. They just got to send some money first, man. I just keep can't keep caught. No, I know that I think that if anybody ever reached out to you for help, advice, I have no doubt that you would try to give them the best guidance. And um on on my Instagram in my link in my Tell everybody your Instagram, BB Lewis. But on my Instagram, I do free 15minute consultations. You just got to click book your time and I sit down there and I have a talk with you about for 15 minutes about what you're trying to do with your branding. It could be music. It could be fashion, it could be podcast, and it could be anything. But we just have that conversation because when I speak to people, they open my eyes too and my mind too because they're thinking totally different than me cuz sometimes they don't have my resources and they're still getting it done. Sometimes even better. So that's what you got to look at now because the work ethic and the strategicness of these kids are is crazy. Look at streaming. Look at this whole streaming. Look at this whole thing. these these guys are making money and that's disrupting the music industry because now people are making money with music on it's it's a whole the the the game is wide open right now bro I mean it's wide open right now for innovation uh for new thoughts for new genre like my dad's even launching a new genre of music my dad you know what I'm saying called edub music you know so it's like he's into so many different things because people want to what what they say alcohol sales are down. Everybody's working out more. It's it's it's so many different things the world is going through. Sales in Miami are down cuz they're all chewing mushrooms or something. I don't know what they're taking here in Miami. I mean, I don't know what they're on lately. But yes, they are down there. Think about this. I don't think the young generation 5 10 years ago, it wasn't so many buildings here. There wasn't so many people here. Like, it's just so much opportunity. But what do you Amazing life is going and growing and and people are, you know, building and accomplishing. Yeah, BB, this was a really powerful com. I mean, we could probably talk for days, right? I'll be back. I'll be back. But what I want to say, um, what I take away from from this is, and for our unbankable audience, um, it isn't about, uh, having access to the biggest rooms, it's about becoming the person everybody wants in the room, owning your relationships. Thank you for this opportunity and thank you for the information, the insight and you know I know that you change many lives and people watch you and listen to you and and even if they don't know you, you're an amazing mentor. Thank you so much. Thank you my brother. I really appreciate. We're going to do some business. Watch. I like this guy, y'all.