Creative to CEO: Unlocking the Potential of Monetizing Your Creative Skills | MMCB Episode 2

ShySpeaks [: 00:00:08

What's up? Welcome to the mind of my creative business podcast. I am your host. Sha speaks.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:00:14

And I am your host, Ron Ironic Lee.

ShySpeaks [: 00:00:17

And before Ron tells you what we're talking about, I want you to know that this is the number one podcast for creative entrepreneurs to have strategy to get structure and self development all in one place. Ron, what are we talking about today?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:00:31

So today is episode two Dose, and we're going to be talking about CEO versus creative or creative versus CEO, however order you want to put it in. But pretty much how do we transition from being a creative or creator into a CEO?

ShySpeaks [: 00:00:50

That's good because it's different, but then there are similarities. So let's just hop straight into it. We want to talk about what is the difference and what are the similarities for a CEO and a creative type? Like, you want to just get straight into it. Let's go.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:01:10

Yeah, let's dive into it. No time for the pleasantries. We already did that. Let's get into the meat.

ShySpeaks [: 00:01:16

Okay. All right, so let's start with since everybody here is a creative entrepreneur, they see themselves as a creative right before the entrepreneur. Let's start with the creative side. What is a no, no? Let's do it backwards. Let's hop into the CEO. Let's talk about the CEO. Go ahead, Ron. Let's talk about it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:01:35

All right, so a CEO, right? So, first of all, we know it's an acronym, so we need to know what that acronym is. Right. So it stands for Chief Executive Officer. Right. So the CEO provides leadership for all aspects of the company operations with an emphasis on long term goals, growth, profit, and a return on investment.

ShySpeaks [: 00:01:59

Cool. Okay. So I like that definition. People are like, I mean, I know what a CEO is. Well, first of all, we got to be clear, because it's an executive position, it's operational position. It's a position that focuses on long term. But the part that I like about it is that it's a position that focuses on growth and profits and return on investment, which could not be the case with a creator. But before I jump ahead, let's talk about what is a creator? I'll give a definition.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:02:28

Go ahead.

ShySpeaks [: 00:02:29

A creator. You can give one. But what I want to say is a person who invents, produces, or makes things is called a creator, right? Invents, produces, or makes things. That's a creator. You got another definition?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:02:43

No, that's it. When we think of somebody that's a creative or creator, that's it in a nutshell.

ShySpeaks [: 00:02:50

In a nutshell. Right. So let's talk about the differences right here. What's the difference in between the creator type and the Chief Executive Officer? Like, just looking at those two type.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:03:02

Of definitions, the creative, they're just solely focusing on creative creating, right? Where it's like, okay, I want to get better at creating, so let me create more. Right. They focus on the craft of creating, right? So it's like let's say if you're a videographer, you learn things about video, you learn about the ISO, you learn about aperture, you learn about all these things that go into the craft of it. So that's where your attention is solely focused on is the craft of creating and becoming a better creator and creating more, right?

ShySpeaks [: 00:03:36

It's the phenomenon whereby something new is innovated, something valuable is formed, right? Something could be intangible or it could be physical, it could be created in the mind, like it can be proprietary thoughts. So it's something that is innovative, right? But it is something that is valuable. And when we talk about it being valuable, that's where we can then begin to assign price to it and make it a service or a product, right? That's where we start getting into the business aspect. But something valuable first has to be formed. So in order to even be any type of business, something had to be formed. So we see an innovation happening there.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:04:21

Exactly.

ShySpeaks [: 00:04:22

And then the part that you talked about is just the act of working on creating something new all the time. That's the only difference is that you're creating something new, you're using your imagination, you're bringing ideas into reality and all of that is cool. But if you stay right there, you're just consistently creating and consistently creating innovation. And corporations, what they call that is R and D, right? Sometimes, like there's a research and development department that specifically is researching new ideas, new products, new old patterns to find things that maybe problems that they can solve and then they're developing either new products or new software or whatever to meet those problems. So innovation is always happening in a company from those who are both historical researchers, thinkers, and from those who are developers and creators. So we have to have that. It's just a difference.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:05:26

Give them the difference, right? So once again, the creative, you're solely focusing on creating. But when we talk about the CEO, right, they're focusing more. So once again, it's already an executive role. So we're already thinking executive, we're thinking operations. So how does my brand or my business like what needs to be in place for me to function? What systems and processes need to be in place? Right? And once again we're thinking about long term goals. So if I'm saying that, okay, we're going to be a seven figure or eight figure brand and this is my product and service that I offer, how do I get to where I am now to where I want to go from a financial standpoint? So we're looking at those systems and processes. We're looking at, okay, what do I need in order for me to grow? And we kind of talked about that last episode where we talked about the artisan or the artesian, however you say it, or the technician, right, where they're good at this one skill. But then how do you scale it? So that goes to the CEO? It's like, okay, how do I scale it? How do I take it from where it is now to where we're trying to be? How do we make a profit? Because it's one thing to generate revenue, but then once again, understanding that you have expenses and your income and your expenses offset each other. So it's like, okay, no, but how do I make a profit then? How do I get a return on said investment? Whether I'm investing my time as a creative because you're spending time creating, and you also probably spend some resources. So how do I get a return on the investment of the time and the resources or money that I put into what it is that I'm creating?

ShySpeaks [: 00:07:05

igh quality. So you spent the: 3000

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:09:18

Yeah, it's almost like with the CEO, you have to learn how to reverse engineer what it is that you're trying to do from an income standpoint. Right. So where, once again, I'm saying if you're saying, okay, I know that I and once again, creatives and CEOs just approach it differently. Like a creative, you're solely approaching it to create. Right? You're solely approaching it. Like, I just want to create this. It makes me feel good. I like it. Right? I know somebody else may like it, but if they don't, oh, well, I know I like it. So I'm just creating where CEO is like, okay, I'm creating something. But now I'm taking this creation. I'm taking it to market now. So in order for me to take it to market, there's some things that I got to see to make sure first, is there a market for it? And if it's a market for it, how do I get this to the market? Right? And then what's going to be the cost to take it to market? What's going to be the cost that I'm trying to recoup, like you said, okay, the $3,000 I spent on this equipment, how do I first of all, I got to get that money back. And then once I get that money back, once I recoup that money that's invested, now how do I turn a profit? So it's just two different approaches, right? It's two different approaches.

ShySpeaks [: 00:10:31

Because what will happen is, if you're going back to our example about the videographer, if you're not thinking about, okay, I've made a return on investment, that's fine. But as a CEO of a company, if you're not thinking about making a profit, then you're not going to be able to make a living. Right. If all you did was break even, then you're not making. So now it's like, okay, how many more videos do I need to create? And then eventually, maybe you can get to that film that you're trying to produce or that documentary that you're trying to create, and then you can put that out and get that deal and so forth and so on. But in order for there to be a business, there has to be something of value that is being sold.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:11:08

Exactly.

ShySpeaks [: 00:11:08

And then you have to move from it being sold as a creative to actually watching the margins, watching the key performance indicators is what they will call it, right? How am I performing on return, investment wise? How am I performing on profit? How am I performing on growth? What's going on? Okay, I started off doing just five or six video for artists. Now I'm able to do like 20 videos a month because I started getting my word out there. People know about me. So now I'm doing 20 videos at $500 apiece. Now I'm at what's that $10,000 or what? I don't know what. So now, okay, things are going, and I see myself growing. And so those are the things that you're thinking about when you're coming from a creative entrepreneur perspective. That's the difference is that you're thinking long term. Here's the similarity. I would say. I'm sorry. The difference is that you're thinking about return on investment, profit, and growth. The similarity, though, when you go back to that definition, is that you're thinking long term. It said the chief executive officer. They're looking at all aspects of the company, the company's operations, and they have an emphasis on long term goals. I would like to say it's easy for creatives to transition into the CEO mindset, because as a creative, you already think long term. I know you do. I'm always around creatives run. I'm sure you're always around creatives, whether they are videographers florists, going back to the filmmaker. I met a guy the other day. I said, what you been up to? He said, Man, I got a documentary I'm working on. He's like, Then after that, I'm going to do this documentary. And then after that I have this documentary. He's like, so it's crazy. I have ideas and stuff that's in the works, and I'm working on different one. So that's a long term strategy.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:12:57

Yeah. Creators are visionaries at heart, right? So like you said, they can see big picture. They can see further down the line. Right? So like you said, they have that long term in place. It's just the long term focus is different. But being able to think long term and longevity, they do have that in common. I agree with you on that.

ShySpeaks [: 00:13:18

Right? That's a similarity. So you already have a CEO has to be a visionary. A CEO has to be a long term thinker. A CEO has to think about things that our company is innovating and products that we already have and keeping them both going. Right. So if you're a CEO of Chick fil A, for example, you have the regular old number one chicken sandwich. But every now and then, you're coming out with a new strawberry watermelon tea. You're coming out with a new they're thinking about those things as well and how we're going to launch those and bring those to the market and so forth and so on. But I think that I want creatives to be encouraged and realize that you already have what it takes. You already think long term.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:14:02

Go ahead. You threw Chick fil A out there. We have probably talked about this in later episodes, but just even that scarcity piece where you mentioned, okay, they may bring they have this watermelon mint iced tea that I love, but it's not an all year round thing, right? So that creates that scarcity. So, you know, a CEO, somebody is thinking, okay, we're going to bring it out here. This is going to drive sales up, you know what I'm saying? Because once again, it's new, and they know they can only get it for this amount of time. It's not going to be there all the time. And then we're going to have it for a couple of months. Then we're going to pull it. Then when people come in like, where is that? It ain't going to be there. So they can be like, oh, man. But then when we bring it out next year around the same time, because it's a seasonal product, right? It's going to drive sales for us, and it's going to keep them wanting to come back for that particular product, knowing that they can only get a certain time. But understanding scarcity once again, that's something that a CEO would understand, right?

ShySpeaks [: 00:15:01

That's the strategy.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:15:02

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:15:03

Now, I have long term goals, but I'm coupling that with long term vision. So long term, I want to stay in business. Everybody's goal is to stay in business, right? And then the long term goal is I want to continue to make sales, so I keep doing what we're doing, but then I want to grow or I want to make profit. And so how am I going to do that? This is just one strategy. I have a product that can be produced if it's watermelon. Watermelon is a seasonal fruit in an organic sense.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:15:33

Yeah, right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:15:34

You can produce anything all year round, genetically modified, right? But in an organic sense, watermelon has a season. So we're going to be able to get as much watermelon as we can make this and make it a seasonal product. And it's going to be great. They're going to get it. They're going to come back and get it again. They're going to love it. So that's a strategy. So now, as a creative, now it's not just we just didn't make this product, like, oh, we just have this juice. Now it's like, there's a strategy that.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:15:59

I like that, but I like you said that too. So the creative would be like, okay, once again, I want to make this new lemonade, this watermelon, mint lemonade. We're going to put it out. We're going to create this product. Boom. Take it to market, and it's out there. But like you said, the CEO is strategizing like, wait a minute, no, let's create the product. But we're not going to make the product available all the time. We're only going to make this product available certain times of the year, and that's going to drive our revenue more than if we left it to be a staple product.

ShySpeaks [: 00:16:30

Because it's not just when you're driving profit, you are keeping expenses down and you're trying to do sales. So, yes, you talk about scarcity supply and demand. That's what's making people get it. But also, if I try to keep it all year round, it's going to be more expensive to produce this organic watermelon. You know what I'm saying? I want to do it at a certain time where it's more affordable so my profit margins are even higher when it's cheaper to make watermelon. So they think all of that's all being considered. I love it. I love it. The cool thing about listening to this podcast is you're going to always hear Ron tap in and talk about strategy and how it coincides with the brand and the overall concept of the business. And I'm going to lean in to talk about the systems and the structure that must be in place in order for that to happen. When we talk about profit, you have to have both. There's a both and there right? So I'm thinking about the supply chain of the matter, right? Because the timing on when you can get this cheaply and you can get this produced and you don't have to wait for it and all that kind of stuff. That's what I'm thinking. The when is this readily available? Ron is thinking, okay, what's the strategy on how you do that? And so as a CEO, you'd be thinking that way. If you were stuck in creator mode, you'd be like, man, that watermelon mentee was busting. Let me see what else I can do now. I can do a great now I'm just making up.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:18:03

Listen. And that's one of the biggest things as a coach who coaches creatives, that try to help them transition from creative to creativepreneur, that's the biggest thing is trying to get them to see, to pull back on creating. I'm like, don't get me wrong. I want you to create. Yes, create. Yes, create more, be innovative. But just because you create more doesn't mean, as a creative, you have to take that more to market, right? Now, that's something that you may want to delay doing or hold off on doing it. I'm not saying don't create because you can't tell a creative not to create. That's like telling a fish not you know what I'm saying? Not to swim, right? You can't do that, right? So I'm telling you create. But just when we're talking about now creative entrepreneurship and we talk about being that CEO, you may want to hold off taking that to market because you still got this original thing that is a phenomenal product, right? You have proof of concept to where there's people that's been buying it from you, but you've only sold it to this small subset of people because you haven't taken the time to market it and push it out to you know what I'm saying? Whoever your niche or your audience or your market may be. So it's like, Yo, wait a minute. Before you go on to the next thing, the shiny object, right? Let's stay here for a minute. And let's now put a strategy and a plan behind this to take the.

ShySpeaks [: 00:19:34

Market so it's create and then take time to be the CEO and mind your business behind what you just created.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:19:48

Mind your business.

ShySpeaks [: 00:19:49

Mind your creative business. Come on. All right, so another thing we want to talk about, and later on, I'm going to go back and answer something that I said that I would in episode one, which is talking about delegation and batching and automations and how all of that goes into having the mindset of a CEO. But before we get into that, I want to actually talk about one more aspect of being a CEO that a creative has to tap into and that is embracing scalability. You have to first believe that what you're doing is scalable, because I'm saying scalable. But the word that we used earlier in that definition of a CEO, it talked about growth, profit, and return on investment. So far, we talked about return on investment. Cool, I got to pay for the $3,000 camera. Cool, I got to pay for the studio time. I just spent all this money on a studio time. How am I going to recoup that on the song I just created or cool, I just made this balloon arch or whatever it is that you just made. Like, how am I going to we got it. Return on investment. Talked about profit, putting some type of strategy in place of watching your expenses and figuring out ways to blow up the sale of a thing, your revenue. But we didn't talk about the growth piece, so I want to talk about that. Growth is the same thing as, like, scaling, in a sense. Right. How can I grow my business? Growing my business may or may not. May or may not more than likely will not entail creating another thing. Right. So how do we grow something? And I think that a lot of times creatives feel like what they're doing is not scalable. Right. How can I grow it when it's just me, I'm the person, I make the balloon arches, or I'm the person, I do the flowers. I got to go pick the flowers. I trim them, I bring them to the wedding. They don't see where there's room for scalability. You want to speak to that for a little bit? Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:21:43

No, listen, no matter what you do, it's always room for scalability. Right. But once again, that's being able to focus as that CEO. So, like, okay, let's talk about the balloon arch person. Right. Once again, when we talk about scaling, being able to grow once your time is limited, so you can't spend all your time buying the flowers, buying the balloons, then you got to figure out the design. Then you got to put the design together. So a way for you to scale may be, okay, maybe I have somebody that's a buyer. Right? Maybe I have somebody that buys the flowers and the balloons for me. Let's say I want to be the designer. So here, how about I do the designs, but now I can bring on people that can create them for me, right? To where now I'm not spending my time creating, but I'm spending my time designing, not have somebody else doing the shopping. And then you know what I'm saying? And I might have somebody else go out and get the clients that does my marketing promotion for me. So that's a way where you can scale. Now, let's say, okay, but I'm a recording artist, so how do I scale? There's always ways to scale, especially as a recording artist. I'm like that, right? It's like, okay, then what you do for you to scale is you're going to grow your audience, grow your fan base. But once you grow your audience and grow your fan base, let's say you may only have okay, all I'm doing is offering music only all I'm doing is offering streaming. Right? But for you to scale it now to be able to increase revenue, maybe you want to add a product line aware, okay, now, I'm not just giving them music, but I'm also giving them merch or I'm not just giving them music and merch. But are you doing a live show right, in person or online live show. There's always ways to scale it. No matter what your business in you. Just once again, you have to start thinking as a CEO and figuring out, okay, how can I scale it based on what it is that I do? So those are just a couple. But like you said, I know in the first episode we talked about being a baker. So having pastries, and you go from one facility that you're providing for to maybe multiple. So you're able to scale that way.

ShySpeaks [: 00:23:43

Right? Hold on. You're getting into it because you're kind of leaning into, we got to pay these bills and stuff like that. But listen, because you're talking about Batching, first of all, you just talk about delegation. That's one way to scale. But now you talk about batching. And I said I was going to talk about that here in a minute. I just wanted them to embrace the idea that even as a creative, there is room to scale. So you believe 100% there's always room to scale.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:24:10

It's always room to scale. Always.

ShySpeaks [: 00:24:13

Especially if it's not delegation. If you can't delegate that, there's something you can do to batching. We can talk about it here in a minute, talk about this other piece, which is automation, and we can talk about another piece that I want to but let's do this. Let's just go ahead before we talk about how because I got some perfect examples of people who are creatives, and they scaled things that you would think, like, nah, you can't scale that. This is just me doing it and it's just going to be me and that's it. We're going to talk about it here in a second. But first, let us pay these bills.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:24:46

What's the irony?

ShySpeaks [: 00:24:48

It's because it's us in different color clothing. I mean, listen, we've been doing a lot of talking and we want to make sure that you have an opportunity to make a statement as well.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:24:57

Because we've seen people make statements with their athletic apparel. We've even seen people make statements as entrepreneurs. But one thing I haven't seen is somebody make a statement as a creative entrepreneur. So what we have done is we have given you an opportunity to make a statement as a creative entrepreneur.

ShySpeaks [: 00:25:20

Okay? So if they want to make sure that they're rocking that creativepreneur gear, where can they go get that?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:25:26

You can go get that gear from what'stheirny?

ShySpeaks [: 00:25:30

Com drip. I told you we were going to pay the bills, but it was really just us. There are no current sponsors at this particular moment. We want you guys to be the sponsors by going out and getting that gear because it helps support the channel, but more importantly, it helps you rock out with what you really are. And that is a creative entrepreneur. You ready to keep it going, Ron?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:25:58

Yeah, let's keep it going. Let's keep it going.

ShySpeaks [: 00:26:02

Okay, so I said that we were going to give some examples because I just want them to embrace the idea, right? That it's totally possible. So we talked about you already leaned in, you already talked about delegation, you already talked about Batching. And we were just giving some examples of like, okay, let's roll with that. But let's give true, real world people who've been able to scale things that you would think are unscalable as a creator. All right? So I want to start I have one. I would say that people who feel like they do maybe YouTube videos, right? Those are now considered creators, YouTubers, right? And so they sit down at their computer or wherever their desk is, and they make videos, right? It's them always making the videos. So how can I delegate that? I can't delegate the part that only I can do, right? So what we found is most creators started leaning towards things like Batching. This is how they were able to grow. So instead of recording a video, if they say, I'm going to have a video drop every week, instead of them just recording one a week, what they do is sit down and record four all at once, right? The same individual records four videos and they're already and all they have to do is schedule them to go out week by week. And so they've kind of savored their time. And so now instead of every week, some time being having to go to that and then editing, they're doing it all at once. Or not only did they record four videos, if there's any editing. Being done, they then delegate it, which is where they outsource and sent those four videos to an editor to help add the transitions, the beginning, the intro, chop out any unnecessary things. So now they're not the person who's sitting there spending time editing, if that's not their strong suit.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:27:51

Exactly.

ShySpeaks [: 00:27:51

So where that was taking up their time, they had to record. They had to script the video. I mean, they script the video, record it and edit it. So now they say, hey, I'm going to let somebody edit. I only script and record. This is the way batching works, right? Creators. So then they get to the point where say, hey, maybe I can let somebody else help with scripting. I tell them, these are the video concepts that I want. If you're good at writing, can you write my outlines for me? Now they hire somebody else who's great at writing, who can do that quickly. Now scripting and editing are outsourced, and all they have to do is record. So they're buying back more time. So now the time they used to spend recording, the time they used to spend editing, they're no longer doing that, right? Okay. Got back hours. The time they spent scripting, they're no longer doing that. And so now they can move on to make the next couple of videos. So now they have all these videos in the can. And so where they were putting out one video per month because they've sped up their processes, they now are able to start putting out two to three videos I'm sorry, one video per week. They're now able to start putting out two to three videos per week because of delegation and batching. Did I break it down good or not?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:29:00

No, you broke it down. That's a perfect example. That's a perfect example. I want to use an example as well as far as just being able to scale, being a creator, right. I'm not sure if anybody on here is familiar with B Simone, right? So B Simone, she started out she was an online personality, right? As a result of her being an online personality, she got on wilding out. As a result of wilding out, you know what I'm saying? That opened up some other doors for her. So you think, okay, what about her story? Right? As a result of her being an online personality, she came out with like a beauty line, right? So she went from, okay, I'm generating revenue from being an online content creator. I have an opportunity to now get a bigger platform. Now let me go ahead and let me create this product line because I have people tuned in, rocking with me, asking me about certain aspects about my beauty or whatever regimen. So, boom, let's do a product line. Then I'm going to write a book, right? So now I have a book telling you how I manifested these things, right? Then I still take my show on the road. Right. I can sing or rap or whatever. So now I'm going to put out some music as well. Right, so now it's like because you're this creative person and it's like, okay, well, how do I scale it? Part of her scaling process was now creating different products and making them available to her audience and to her fan base and the people that's rocking with. Right. So it's like you have that way to where we can batch, we can automate delegate and then this other way where in the same thing she's still using that batching. That delegation automation. Because she definitely brought on people. I can guarantee you she ain't the one that made the product line, but she brought somebody on to help her with that product line. To my understanding, she ain't was the one that wrote the book. She brought on somebody to ghost write and help write the book. You know what I'm saying?

ShySpeaks [: 00:30:45

Editing and proofreading and all of that. You're not doing all that by yourself. So yeah, that's definitely true. What you're saying is so she's using delegation and batching because they're like I don't know about all that but she actually kept using more creativity. She kept creating new, not new videos because she started off doing online videos. I don't have to keep making new videos. Now I need to pivot and add a new product line. Exactly, right. Maybe let's go back to a restaurant. Maybe they only had chicken sandwiches but now we need to add a salad because that's going to appeal to a different group of people.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:31:20

Exactly.

ShySpeaks [: 00:31:20

So she was making videos. So you think, well, I'm going to just make more videos, more videos, more videos, more videos that will be just kind of stuck on the creation of the videos. No. I am a Creator. So now because every day I get up, I put my makeup on, I'm into beauty, I'm going to create something around that and then I'm going to create a book around that. So she keep creating new product lines and then she takes the time to mind the business of that new product line that she just created.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:31:48

Exactly. And let me point this out again back to the CEO piece. She didn't do it all at one time, right. She did it all in stages and phases. Right. And part of it too was the market to tell you what they want. So the market is asking for some of these things. So that was like, AHA, okay, since the market is asking for this from me, let me provide.

ShySpeaks [: 00:32:11

ching. No, I'm doing freaking: 45678

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:34:44

No, listen, so going back to that understanding, like anybody you may heard of Earn Your Leisure. It started off as one platform. But like you said, they're an agency. They have other podcasters that come up under that brand of Earn Your Leisure.

ShySpeaks [: 00:35:01

So go back. It's two guys. Earn your leisure. They were doing a podcast.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:35:05

Exactly.

ShySpeaks [: 00:35:06

It was going well. And you're saying now there are other people whose podcast is on Earn Your Leisure.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:35:12

Exactly. They have their on Your Leisure network and there's other people that are on that network. If I'm not mistaken, I think Ash Cash is a part of earn your leisure. David Shands I know, but even him, he's branching off and doing his own and having his own agency. But he started off know, Earn Your Leisure and things like yeah, no, that agency model, that's a way to where you can scale, right? To where now, okay, I'm not solely doing everything. I'm not even the one that's doing all of the content. Now I was able to partner with other people to do the content, help them get to give them a platform, right. And they give me a percentage of what it is that they're bringing in a part of their revenue. You know what I'm saying? There's always ways to scale.

ShySpeaks [: 00:35:54

They went from a podcast to seeing themselves as a network, right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:35:58

Exactly.

ShySpeaks [: 00:36:00

And it goes back to what we're talking about, which is the creator to CEO mindset. They went from seeing themselves as just podcast creators to the CEO of a podcast network. Exactly. The only thing different is how they see it. Once you see it differently, you're going to implement things in a different way.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:36:23

Wait, hold on. Once you see things differently, then you're going to implement things in a different way. Right? That reminds me of a scripture as a man thinketh he is.

ShySpeaks [: 00:36:40

Come on. Seeing yourself that way, you're going to govern yourself exactly.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:36:46

Accordingly. So when you solely think of yourself as a creative and we're saying, listen, and we're not saying there's anything wrong with that. We're just saying when you solely see yourself as a creative, you think and act like a creative.

ShySpeaks [: 00:36:58

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:36:59

Once you transition to CEO, now you're going to start thinking and acting like a CEO. We're not telling you to get rid of that creative side. We're just saying in this creative entrepreneurship as a creative preneur, you have to be now a CEO because you're going to think differently. And as you think differently, you're going to be and do differently, right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:37:21

You're going to then grow, you're going to then profit, you're going to get returns on your investment and that's when you can start building a company and you start adding more people and more resources and you start making more impact, right. And having more influence and all that type of stuff. Okay? So here's the thing. Ron and I are talking about it and I want to talk about my AHA moment from when I went from creator to CEO mindset, I would say. But I want to say that in future episodes we are going to interview I just want to reiterate, we're going to be interviewing some of these people and we're going to listen to them talk about how they went from one level of creativity to another level of creative output as a creative entrepreneur. So some of the names that we just named and people beyond we're going to say like, okay, Sean runs as it's possible. We know that there are people, there proof, but what exactly you because how did you just start there's plenty of podcasts who are not networks, so something had to happen in their mind and we can't unpack it all right here on the episode. The best way to do it is to let you hear it yourself from those who've done it, okay? So just be looking forward to that because I'm excited about some of the people that we're going to be interviewing and the things that you all and we'll all be able to learn from them. Okay? So I said I was going to talk about.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:38:46

When you made that transition. When Shy Speaks was like, okay, I am no longer just a creative anymore, but I am a creative entrepreneur or creative Pneumur.

ShySpeaks [: 00:38:55

Okay? So I will say there were several moments, there were actually several moments for me when I realized but when I think about them, they all relate to me being able to use my creativity for kind of like a money making project, right? It wasn't just me creating for my own sake of creativity. Some kind of opportunity was presented to me. I would be able to make money but by using my own creativity, right? So it was always something like that. I'll give you one that's the most stand out because it was several. But there was a time where I was approached by a corporation. I'd always been approached by corporations as an artist to come in on certain special occasions and accompany events to provide my performance services, right? I myself had to do that and be there. But one time I was contacted by a corporation to create video, some creative video that they can show during their conferences, their seminars online. Like they just wanted to have these multipurpose videos that comprised of both entertainment but also kind of told the story of what happens in their business exchange. And so they tapped me because they knew I could do the entertainment piece. But they also saw me as a writer. They didn't just see me as a performer, the service that I perform if I was there live. They saw me as being able to write and script out skits and all of that kind of stuff, right? So the company reaches out to me and they offered me, should I tell them the amount you can. They want me to do three videos, right? Three videos. And they want me to show networking. They want me to show community and they want me to show it was some other concept and they wanted some music or some type of poetry entertainment wrapped in that, right? $7,500, right? $7,500. Take a song. And all I was going to do is take music and then chop in something from a skit, just like take the video, add some broll into it on top of music and then I would be done. And I was like, okay, you know what I mean? This is almost $10,000 to make three videos. Let's be clear something that the three songs are the three entertainment pieces that comes to me naturally. I already have concepts in mind. As soon as they say community, networking or whatever the other themes were, I already knew the three songs that I want to do. So guess what? I tapped in. I delegated half of the task to somebody else and of their role that they would help me play in it. Because I didn't want it to be all me, right? I wanted to have the feminine and the masculine both in there. So I tapped a male artist. And then also I wanted it to have some kind of layers to it. I scripted what the broll would look like. The broll would show them that community, all those themes. I picked the songs, I put them together. I also delegated. I found somebody to contract to film us. We went to film it. We did all of this in I want to say, I booked like a space for about 2 hours and a videographer about 2 hours, asked the person to come with me. We did that for 2 hours there doing the scripting part more of like the TV scripting side. That will be the bro. We spent another 2 hours in the studio creating the live performance of the entertainment piece. And then all that was passed over to the videographer to Splice put together. So for about 4 hours of my time, I made $7,500 for something for a corporate thing. And I realized like, right, listen, I talked about 4 hours that I did. But there were hours that went into editing that I didn't do. There was some time that went in that I hired the other person to come along with that I didn't do. That was their role. I pretty much facilitated the thing. I was like producing it. But as an artist, I allowed myself to make appearance in it as well. So I wrote, script, produced, spent about 4 hours, maybe 5 hours total doing this. And boom. $7,500 from Corporation, three videos. And I was just kind of like, wow. This was not for my own music. I wasn't creating a new song for me to release to my audience and gain new fans. I wasn't doing a voiceover for something that this was specifically for someone else and I was going to make money from it. And I was like, okay, I'll make money. I'll be creative. And I saw my creativity in a different light that I could be tapped by other people who are tapping different layers or different aspects of my creativity to produce something. And I make money. And it was a great I'm telling you, I could talk about it all day, which is great. I loved it. 5 hours, $7,500. Where they do that at?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:43:48

And you didn't compromise your creative integrity or anything like that, right?

ShySpeaks [: 00:43:51

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:43:52

So my AHA moment is very similar, right? My AHA moment was I was commissioned by a corporation to do something similar. They came to me asking me to create a song for one of their events or some day that they had some special day right? So they came to me. They asked me what would I charge to do it. So what I did, because once again, it was out of my wheelhouse as a producer. Now, mind you, I'm a producer, but it was out of my wheelhouse. I don't produce that style of music and whatever the case may be. But I still knew I had human resources and other resources I can tap into to where I can delegate. So I reached out to my producer friend. I said, hey, I got this project. What would you charge for this? He told me, what do you charge? I'm like, okay, Bet, we're going to need some singers. I reached out to my singers like, hey, I got this project. What would you charge for this? They told me what they charge, right? So I was able to pull all these things together, right? Got their price of what they charged, tacked on my fee on what I charged, submitted that, and they ain't blinking eye at it. They was like, okay, Bet, that's what we need. So I was able to executive produce it. I brought all everything together, made sure it got done, submitted it. They loved it, right? Then they was like, okay, we want some sheet music. So I reached out to another partner of mine who does sheet music, like, hey, what you would charge me for this? You charged me for this upcharge, right? Okay, I know you all already paid for the original. That's what you all paid for. But you all asked me for this. So now this is a couple of bands more, right? So when it was all said and done, it was about a $10,000 project. Once again, once again. Now, mind you, these are people that I've used before in the past, and I was able to pay them more than I paid them in the past because once again, I'm getting a bag now, you know what I'm saying? Before, it's like I'm coming out of my pocket recreating for the love of it. But this here, once again, being able to utilize my gifts and talents, not compromising who I am as a creative, as a producer, because I'm a purist at heart, right? But this is something where it's like, yo, I see that you have this gift and this skills and this talent. Can you do this for our corporation that we want to use for this? And once again, it was an AHA moment, like, oh, snap, wait a minute. I can get paid to utilize my gifts and my talents opposed to going to a job that I can't stand or not even that I can't stand, but I'm going to a job to where I'm not utilizing my gifts, my skills and my talent, right? So it's like, I can now use my gifts and my skills and my talent to bring in revenue for my business and my family and things like that, right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:46:20

of these at a time to buying: 1000

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:50:02

I guarantee it. I guarantee it. So, listen, we can continue to go on and on, and we want to, but we are going to have to call it for this episode. Once again, tap in with us because we are going to get deeper and deeper as the time permits and as time goes on, right? But we want to wind it down because we don't want to keep you all here too long. We appreciate you all being here, spending the time with us fo

Thank you for tuning in to the MMCB podcast. Peace.r this amount of time that you have been on this episode. And we don't want to abuse that. You know what I'm saying?

ShySpeaks [: 00:50:35

We definitely don't want to abuse it. We want to keep our episodes to about 45 minutes or less, and we've given you some extra games that we're overtime. So thank you so much for tagging in with us, staying in with us, wrapping your mind around the creator to CEO mindset and the importance of transitioning right into that. I'm happy that you rock with us. Ron, you got something else you want to tell them to do?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:50:59

Most definitely. We want you all to join the Creative Corner community, right? Which is a Facebook group and a newsletter. If you go to the Mmcbodcast.com right, you'll be able to join the newsletter. And once you join the newsletter, you'll also get an invite to join our Facebook community, where you'll be surrounded by other creatives who desire to be entrepreneurs or who are already entrepreneurs, to where we can now be in a community where we are amongst people that think like us, understand like us because there's other creative or not, there's other entrepreneur environments and entrepreneurs themselves solely they think and function a little bit differently. But those who are creative, we think a little certain way. So to be able to be surrounded by peers that are on the same journey as you be a part of our creative corner. So, yes, go to the Mmcbpodcast.com to join today.

ShySpeaks [: 00:51:57

All right. You got it. Mmcbpodcast.com, we look forward to seeing you in the community. As always, I want you to say this out loud with me. All it takes all it takes is intention.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:52:12

Is intention.

ShySpeaks [: 00:52:13

Consistency.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:52:15

Consistency.

ShySpeaks [: 00:52:16

And laser focus. And laser focus to mind my creative business.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:52:22

That's it.

ShySpeaks [: 00:52:23

Thank you all so much. My name is Sha Speaks.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:52:26

And I am Ron. Ironic Lee.

ShySpeaks [: 00:52:28