Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews Famed music industry executive, Benny Pough, on how his near death experience redirected his life’s purpose!

Transcript

Rushion Interviews Famed music industry executive, Benny Pough, on how his near death experience redirected his life’s purpose! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My next guest. His name is Benipu. He's a respected
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: entertainment industry veteran of decades of experience, propelling the careers
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of some of the leading superstars. I say superstars do
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: mence words, including Jay z Rihanna, Kanye West, Travis Scott,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: future DJ Khalid. In twenty one, Savage q Is left
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: an indelible mark on the music industry, holding the executive
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: roles that labels like Motown, Deaf Jam, Epic Records, MC Records,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: rock Nation. That's when he called me, said he was
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: doing Rock Nation. I tried to hook up rock Nation
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: boy before ultimately deciding to pivot to This is why
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: he's on the show, pivoting to entrepreneurship, because that's what
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: money Making Conversations Masterclass is all about, not getting so
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: much locked in and what you're doing, but what you're
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: capable of doing for your own personal dream. Over two
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: years later, Ben and Pew's multi multitiered entertainment company, Diverse
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Diverse Media is home to record labels, distribution, platform, publishing
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: management and more. Please working with the Money Making Conversations
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Matter Class. The CEO Benny people, what uh are you doing?
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: My friends are you man, when you're Benny, it's uh.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: First of all, let me just tell you why Benny
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: is so special to me. Steve Harvey, Now he gave
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: us our first record deal way back in the two
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: thousand one or two. Man, listen, that was a real
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: story to man. You guys, one thing I will say
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: about you and Steve is that you know there's no
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: secret on why you guys are successful because you know,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I've been in as I started my career in Motown Records,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: So I was blessed start my introduction into the music
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: business and a black owned company, right, which is different,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: like everyone's journey is different. But one thing that I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: feel blessed was is that you know, they made us
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: work hard. Um, you know how it is when we
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: with us, right, But they taught me a lot, and
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: they wouldn't allow me to fail. They made me work
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and wouldn't allow me to fail. They made me working
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: all right. But when I when I met you and Steve,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I saw it, like you know, the connection and the
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: love and the driving, the determination and one thing that
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: you guys always had was foresight and vision. So to
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: see where you both are is in a surprise to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: me because you're always some tight top dress, yo, super clean.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I ain't yo, y'all remind me of jam and Lewis.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: He mayn't remind me like this. If I'm not gonna
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: drop it, I'm not gonna drop none. The worse that
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I gotta get the people. Oh, I gotta get the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: people a little bit about you know. I hear you
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  Speaker 1: all that money making and all that good good, all
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: that good talk, but they don't know. Man, You're a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: real one and um, you know what you talk is
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: really what you're about. So I'm so excited to be
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: here and just you know, be able to um speak
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: to your audience, and that you're extending, you know, an
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: opportunity for to do this with you. So appreciate your brother.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: We know, Benny, um, the the the the ability to communicate.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: It's always been your skill set, you know what. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I've met him in the l A, I've
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: met him at your car, i met him in Las Vegas,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I've met him in Atlanta, I've met him in New
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: York City. But it's always consistent. Your tone and your
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: personality has always been consistent. Is that intentional or you
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: have a clear understanding that people what they expect that
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: you should be delivering that. So it all starts for me.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: It started at home. You know, my parents would never
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: allow us to speak with our head down in eyes down,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: never did that. Um then as uh, you know, we
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: were being reared, realized the value of what we say
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: is what we mean, right, and you know all of
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: those things. We came from a strong Christian background, Like
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: my mother was a real Christian, not like the fake Christians.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: But you'll know the real Bible, you know, the real Bible.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Like I never saw my mother the pair of jeans
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: and pants because there's a scripture somewhere I haven't found
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: it yet in the Bible that women I don't in jeans.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Wasn't even around then, but there's a scripture that women
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't emulate men in any But you know, I'm sure
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: your audience, them, good old Baptist Christian men and men
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  Speaker 1: understand that. And so we gret. We grew up in
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: a in a very you know, devout household in that respect.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: But I think what what was really important for me
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and identification was the fact that um I started delivering
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: papers and news newspapers at eleven years old. And what
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: you realize in the lessons that were given and dealing
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: with adults, it's kind of like now in business, managing up.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: You know, just like when you go to a restaurant,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: you eat, believe it or not. The service at a
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: disadvantage because you can always say I don't like it,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: you go to the bathroom and leave right. There's a
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: lot of things that can happen, but you've already provide
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the service. So at eleven years old, I realized how
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: shifty adults could be. Not un delivered the paper all week,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: and rain had to get up at six in the
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: morning collect day. Y'all know when collect day is, you
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: either never dare they get a little bit, you gotta
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: come back later, come see me on Saturday, or like
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  Speaker 1: you know what, they disappeared for three or four weeks.
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  Speaker 1: So at that point I realized, you know, I wasn't
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: a child anymore because I was dealing with adults. So
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: it's like playing up in basketball, right like your freshman
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: playing with the seniors. So ultimately, I never really dealt
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: with kids my age in that aspect because I was always,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: you know, dealing with adults. So I learned how to
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: customize myself in situations going up and down. Absolutely. The
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: interesting thing about just having you on the show. We're
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: gonna talk a little bit about your book that's coming
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: out in September, and just that note right there, why
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: are you writing a book bene of you? So there's
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: a story behind that. I never had aspirations on doing
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  Speaker 1: a book, but on August thirty feet I was in
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  Speaker 1: a near death car accident. August two, I took my
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  Speaker 1: son to boarding school. He went to i MG and
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  Speaker 1: Brandon and Florida, And on the twenty sixth of August,
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  Speaker 1: a friend of mine called me in the office and
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: he asked me if I wanted to go to a barbecue,
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  Speaker 1: and I told him yes. The next day, he called
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  Speaker 1: me on Wednesday and asked me if I was still coming.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: That Thursday, he calls me again and asked me if
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: I'm still coming. That Saturday morning, I took a flight
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  Speaker 1: from New Jersey down to Charlotte, North Carolina, and from Charlotte,
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  Speaker 1: I drove to Columbia, South Carolina to visit my sister
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  Speaker 1: and my nephews and spend some time with them while
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: they were playing football. My sister and I would drove
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  Speaker 1: from Columbia to Orangeburg to spend some time with my
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  Speaker 1: father and celebrated send me a birthday, and I spent
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: a little time with my mother, who has Alzheimer's. My
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  Speaker 1: friend calls me a getting asked me if we're still coming.
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  Speaker 1: On the thirty one, I drive from Columbia to Charlotte
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  Speaker 1: to take a flight back to New York. It was
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: a misty rain that day, so the flight was delayed.
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  Speaker 1: Get on the plane, fly back to New York about
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: an hour and a half late. Now I call my
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: wife and let her know I'm gonna be late because
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the flight was delayed and I had a meeting in
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: New York City. In Manhattan. Driving home, my friend calls.
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  Speaker 1: He asked me, are you still coming? And I said yes.
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  Speaker 1: I called my wife, let her know to get my
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  Speaker 1: youngest daughter and let her know that we weren't going
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  Speaker 1: to take the convertible because it um seemed like it
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't be safe with this rain. So we take the truck,
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  Speaker 1: picked him up. We drove out the rule in New Jersey.
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  Speaker 1: We're about twenty minutes out. My friend calls me. He
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  Speaker 1: asked me again, are we coming? I said yeah. So
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  Speaker 1: finally we get to the house and what I thought
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  Speaker 1: was just a barbecue. He actually catered for the two family,
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  Speaker 1: so it was really sweet. Four adults, three bottles of wine.
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  Speaker 1: He and I peel off out of the living room
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  Speaker 1: and we go into the deck. His house is ten
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  Speaker 1: thousand square feet, so there's a lot of distance. We're
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  Speaker 1: sitting on the deck and uh, we're reminiscing. I've known
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  Speaker 1: him about thirty five years, and you know, talking about
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  Speaker 1: the good things. A lot of challenges happen in his life,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: challenges happening in my life. That misty rain happens again.
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  Speaker 1: So I don't know whether he said or I said, Well,
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  Speaker 1: we both stood up and said, you know what, let's
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: go take a ride. He just bought a new five
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  Speaker 1: fifty bends. So we walked from the deck, through the
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  Speaker 1: kitchen into the car. Poard jump in the car, turns
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  Speaker 1: on the radio, He backs out, jumps out of the car,
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  Speaker 1: walks in the house, gets a cigar, gets back in
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  Speaker 1: the house, down the women and the two kids. They
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: come out. Don't know why black people always want to
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: see people pull off, but that's what we do, right
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: when we do that in a way, he backs out,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: drives out his driveway, which is probably a length of
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: a New York City block. We get to the end
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: of the road where he opens the gate. It's a
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: two lane roadway and rule New Jersey. He literally makes
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  Speaker 1: it right and I hear him and the car just
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: shoots off. So I made a call all day. So
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  Speaker 1: I pick up my phone and I cut my eyes
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: and look at the old demo and the cars the
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: seventy five. So now I cut my eyes and I
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: turned my whole head and he's out conscious with his
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: foot on the accelerator. So now from where we started
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: two impact was a half a mile without the car
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: moving forward without a driver. At that point, I did
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  Speaker 1: what I was always conditioned to do, what my mother
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  Speaker 1: has always taught us to do, and speak to God.
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  Speaker 1: And the first thing I said, because I've seen all
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: of my family obviously my son, saw my sister, my mother,
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  Speaker 1: my father, my daughter, and my sister standing in the yard,
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  Speaker 1: I said, Lord, I guess I'm not going to see
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: my family anymore. The second thing I said that God
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  Speaker 1: is Lord, I guess I'm gonna see you soon. Because
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: now I get a grip so my mortality, and you realize,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: like just skin in it can't end good. Because the
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: car is now without a driver. At ninety miles an hour.
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  Speaker 1: The third thing I do is I get mad with God.
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  Speaker 1: But I'm glad God didn't get mad with me, because
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: I thought about, who's gonna pull wisdom into my son
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: at this point, who's gonna marry my two girls, My
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: wife's not prepared for this moment, who's gonna take care
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: of my mother? And most importantly, you know, God, have
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I known I was gonna die today, I wouldn't have
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: came to this barbecue. As we start veering off the road,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: we start clipping trees and bushes, and every time he
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: would um take his foot off the car with decelerat,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: he was out right. He was out conscious, gone foot
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: on the accelerator, car being driven by itself. So at
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: some point we hit something in the middle of the
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: road and the car just shot across um through the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: opposite side of the road, and we had an oak.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: At ninety miles an hour, I sustained a level to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: concussion l three old four vertebrae fracture, bulging disk in
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: my back. We had to tree so hard that a
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: lacerated my liver, which led me to lead out half
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: the blood in my body and the force of of
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: the tree and the belt restraining me um severed two
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: ft in my small intestine, and at that moment God
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: put a book inside of me called on Impact, which
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: takes you through my journey from eleven years old delivering
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  Speaker 1: newspapers to modern day. An Impact is an acronyms that
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: stands for intuition, mastery, pivot, authenticity, connection and teamwork. And
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: at the end of each chapter is a hit list
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: that the reader can apply to themselves and say, pretty much,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: if Benny could do it, I can do it too.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: And that is what led me to this point in
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the pivot aspect of moving forward in a different direction
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: in my life. We'll be right back with more Money
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Making Conversations Master Last with Rushan McDonald. Now let's return
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Fear is
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: a good thing, because unknown is a good thing. I
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: always tell people we live a life of being too comfortable.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: And if you live that comfortable life, are you happy
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: with that comfortable life? When I say that, I'm not
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: talking about just a job. I'm talking about a relationship.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about where you're living. I'm talking about to
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: call your driving the clothes you're wearing. Are you're comfortable
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: walking out that front door. Are you comfortable sitting at
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: that desk and where you're working? If not, then you
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: need to pivot. And when you pivot, they're no guarantees
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the beauty of your life. Up to that point, when
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: you're with your friends driving down the road, everything was normal.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: You live in a normal life. When you looked over
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: there and saw he was unconscious and eighty miles an hour,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: those few seconds you had to think everything was abnormal,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: everything was against the trend and so but but at
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: that impact, it had to be every think it was
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: in slow motion, if I that's how it really does
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: happen in slow motion. And because I've been there, you know,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: like I was telling you all fair from a from
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: a life journey, you know our my lung collapse, stayed
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: in hospital thirty days. And I was one of those
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: people who thought like I was a self healer. You know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: if I got sick, I go play basketball. I just
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: sweat it out of me. You know, I never stayed
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: in bed. And then in that's when I was diagnosed
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: with cancer. And when you were talking that same story,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: it was very relatable to me, because what happens is
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: when you met with tragedy or a decisive moment in
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: your life that you can't control. That's that's the that's
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the part right there that y'all need to understand. When
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: he was looking over there at his friend, not knowing
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: what was wrong with his friend, he knew that car
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: was driving and he couldn't stop what was happening with it.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: That's not being in control. And so when they told
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: me I had cancer, I had no control right there,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: but I had an understanding that well is going on
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: in my life at the time, and the people I
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: cared about, the people I wanted to be, to be successful.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: That's where I'm living hopefully. That's why you're living, Benny.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: That's why it's a blessing to have a family. It
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: carries on you have a reason to live. And so
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: I was all right, you know, I looked at everything
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: that was happening in my life, the people around me,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the people that had touched I was all right with die.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Not saying I wanted to die, but it did tell
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: me at that point I needed to change my direction exactly.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: And and God finds a way of getting the attention,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: and what you're talking about is in regards to like
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the pivot. You know, when I look at my journey
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: in the music business after three decades, what people fail
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: to realize, like when I left UM rock Nation and like,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: how could you leave that job? And well, it's the
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: best thing, Like it was an amazing situation. But have
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: you followed my career. I left every job at the
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: top because what I'm a believer is not talk about
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: to be about it. And I left all of those
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: people that starting in Motown to finishing my career in
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: corporate rock Nation and def Jam and Epic and all
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: of these situations because as a giver, it's it's about
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: teaching people, giving them the opportunity, showing them how to fish,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and then let them fish right. And so at this point,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: even in the current landscape, a lot of the people
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I taught to fish and now the people that are
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: now in control of the business. Because it's not about
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: me having the best folks with me. It's about me
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: going helping others to be the best. And when you're
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: doing that, then you don't worry and life is good. Man.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: You know, we don't get up and down, you know,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: we know we don't have manna sandwiches and woggle right.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: You know how to do bone right and sometimes you
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: put a little manna's on woggle. The beauty of what
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: we're talking about here, I want everybody hit is but
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: we got to slow it down a little bit because see,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: your pivot was tied to an accident that nearly killed you.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: One of my pivots, because that's not the only if
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: he always told you he left jobs at top, so
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: he was pivoted and seeing other opportunities. So we're just
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: talking about this one moment and not saying and we
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: want to let you know that everybody doesn't need to
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: have a life threatening diagnosis, a life threatening event to
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: change your direction. When you hear me talk like this,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: how do you encourage people to step out on fear,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: past that fear and step And if we always hear
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: this stepping out on faith, I would say, if you
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: don't have a playing with their faith, it's gonna be
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: a short journey. Talk to us, Benny. So you know,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: I think to your point is is actually seeing the
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: finish line? Right? Um. I wake up every day knowing
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: where I want to be, so whatever comes along the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: way I'm comfortable with it, right. If you know, if
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: it's uh, if it's a it's a great day, it's
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: a great day. If it's a bad day, it's a
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: bad day. Because as you know, you're in the moment
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: right right, the past is gone and you know today
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: is only you know yesterday for tomorrow. So you gotta
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: take the time in order to accomplish what you're doing
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: today and the value of what it is. Because once again,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: whether I never knew before the value of time until
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I walked out of that house and realized in an
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: instant things change. So why I'm in control of what
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I am in control of? Make it matter now. The
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: finish line is how you see the finish happening, and
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: along the way, you stay focused on what it is
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: that you want. Don't don't straight, stay focused on what
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: you want, and that's where the accomplishments are come. Because
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: if you wake up every day truly loving what you do,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: nothing else matters. Doesn't matter how much money you make, right,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: it doesn't. And when you make a lot of money,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: you know how to make that money work right. And
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: if you if you just make because once again, I've
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: been saving money, my mom taught me how to save
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: since I was five years old. I had um Christmas clubs,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: some of for those who are old enough to know Christmas.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Cause my mother used to walk me a mile to
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the bank and we put a dollar together in the bank.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: So she taught me how to save money then at five.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: So that's enrooted in me right, in which I rooted
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: my children and still in my children, which all of
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: us should do right. Because we don't know what the
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: value right or what we do in the responsibility of
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: who we are on what we're supposed to do right.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I think we get very sidetracked. And social media is
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: a problem with that right, like it's it's about to
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: swipe up, swipe down. What you're the thing about? You know,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: millennials world problem. You know, we realized now that millennials
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: just take advantage of technology. While people were complaining about technology,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: millennials saw an opportunity to skip tax steps. So technology
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: is tied to that. So all you have to do
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: with either during the game that line long line of
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: people who want to change or that very short line
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: of people who are frustrated. And I say short line
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: because a lot of people getting out of that line.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, So you can look around you.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: You'll never be by yourself because there's stuffing to people
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: out there who are just gonna admit. We won't admit
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: they change. But the thing that I really wanted to
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: point out and just hearing you talk and uh and
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: and dealing with it, you know when we start, we've
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: we've been fortunately have a lot of famous names in
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: our tied to our resume. Go with Robert towns Unti
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: and Tamara Maori, I can go with the Bo Neigue.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: I can go with Jamie Fox, uh, Kevin Hard, Nick
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Can and the list goes on and on and each
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: one of those people, Steve Harvey, Stephen Nay Smith, there's
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: people always say wow, you just these people have unique skills,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: unique skills that separate them and make them special, make
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: them all too because they can't work around everybody. They
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: have to be around a certain amount of people. And
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: if you're around them and you don't have that same mindset,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: they will trample you because they want to be great.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: And if you don't understand, if you're hanging out there
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: just to have a good time, you won't be around
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: these people. A long talk about hanging out with those
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: type of people. Um, it's not my chance that's successful. Yes,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: none of them, the ones that you named your repertoire
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: you worked with and equally showing the ones that I have.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: They all have that you not unique skill set and
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: that is determination and drive by any means necessary. They're
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: focus individuals. I mean you see it. Um, I've been
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: with with individuals that you know that they would be
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: who they are just because of their work ethic, Like
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: there is no break time, it's work time, right. And
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: and ideally, when you're on a dream, right and you're
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: on a quest or you have a journey, that's what
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: your focus is. So you need people who buy in
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: and understand exactly where you're going. And those of who
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: you need around not naysayers, not hanger on right now,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: people that kill your spirit? What are you not gonna
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: make it? Let them go, right, let them go and
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: and ideally you know that's what becomes most important, is
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: is understanding the company you keep. Will be right back
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Now,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Music is always key to what we do, and it's
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: time to everything we do in life. I always tell
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: you know, our relationship goes back to a record Daily
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: brought to Steve and I a long time ago. And
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: if and if P did he were released the artist
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: that we needed as our first single. Uh he and
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: I might not be sitting here, but it's a beautiful thing.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to just drop some nuggets about what
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: this book is all about. You talked about how I
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: got started, but your impact man, on how to motivate
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: people and take them to the next level. Let's talk
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: about a couple of keys the key to building mental
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: relationship because people don't understand young people understand the value
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: of mentorship because they understand that, But what is really
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the value of building mental relationships? Man? If you mentoring
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: changed my life? Uh? As I said when I started
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: at Motown Records. The woman who actually gave me my
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: first job works for me now, right because you know,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: once again, you know, life goes through with cycles and
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and that's what long term relationships are about. Right. People
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: pour into you. You make sure that you're able to
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: give something back when it's time to drink, and and
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: that's how it works. And you know, like for me,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: with with the companies that I've worked for, it's about teach,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: especially for US is IS minorities and African Americans and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: you know all folks is you know, we need a break,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: we need an opportunity. There's a lot of things we
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: don't know. So instead of making a mistake, like think
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: of it in its most rudimentary basic terms. If you
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: didn't know green means go, yellow means casting, and red
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: means stopped, you'd always just walk in the street. But
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: there's someone to teach you and didn't move you along
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in in in life in that in that respect, and
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and that's what I was able to do with the
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: people that I've um worked with. I've had some amazing
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: mentors from Dietre taid L, a read Um, you know,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: just to just to name a few and um. It's
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: a great resource for those to have an opportunity to
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: be able to ask questions that you know, you may
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: not feel that confident and asking what those where you
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: can be vulnerable. And that's the importance of of giving
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: people an opportunity to be vulnerable to grow, because if not,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: they'll make mistakes and mistakes that you already have the
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: answers to why would you do that? Right? Right? We know.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: The interesting thing about it, I always talk about, you know,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: because we talked about money earlier. I would tell people
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: I never go into a relationship thinking about money, you know.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I think about what I can build and what value
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: I can create, Because if you create value in any situation,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: somebody's gonna pay you some money. Somebody gonna pay you
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: some money. Man, somebody gonna pay you some money. They're
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: gonna pay And a lot of people missed that. They
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: come in this was this is what I want to
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: get paid, and it guess what, and then people start
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: judging you based on what they paid you. Now, when
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: you create value a need, they don't judge it. They
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: know they have to pay to maintain that relationship or
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: maintain that skill or product that you're delivering on a
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: consistent basis. But you have to be consistent about it.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I'll remember that when I was how I got started
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: in radio. We're just sitting in the back of the
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: studio watching Steve Harbor every day and frontally, Ie went,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: I can do this, and I started dropping producer notes
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: producing next to you know, I was then executive producer
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: of the morning show because I had value and I
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: saw it the I learned my craft, But nobody paid
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: me extra money to get up at five thirty to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: going to student at six o'clock. I could have stayed
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: at home and just collected my my commission check because
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I got paid on the deal. But you knew where
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: you was going and the opportunity was the value like
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: there wasn't um when I was at a company. Um,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: it was an interesting point. I had to make a
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: decision on whether I was going to stay at the company,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and I was I was gonna take another job and
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: take a six figure pay cut. Right, that's better that
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: That was probably the first real bet on yourself, right,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the real bet on yourself. But um, it was an
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: opportunity at this particular company that they never gave outsiders
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to come in and they were the best.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: So for me, the value was I want to go
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: learn how they do their business, and that opportunity wanted
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: up paying thirty x Right. Like at the end of
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the day, that money that I didn't make for that
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: period of time, I didn't make it. Oh, I made
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: that over and over and over again because of the education,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: right and realizing, following and looking at where I wanted
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to go. And these are steps, right. It's the tuition
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: that you pay to be yourself right, right. I literally
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: just give you an example of my relationship to that.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: I remember when I was a writer, was on ABC.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: The show got counsel of Steve Harvey, Me and the
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: boys got counseled. And then I went over to Robert
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Town's first show. You know, they cut my money in
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: half or so cool I'm working and then they but
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: they kept my job titled. They didn't the same, and
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: so I went to UM. I went to Warner Brothers
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Studios and I sat down. They said, uh, I said,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I just want my job title to be elevated. He said,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: we can't give you no more money. I said, I'm
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: not asking for no more money. I just want my
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: job title to be elevated. He said does that mean us? Yes,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: because see that's about you know, like you said, showing
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: value with your name, because you know it's the staff writer,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: executive story of it, you know, assistant producer, producers super right.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: So I was about to miss a step. That guy
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: looked at me. He goes, nobody's ever coming here, and
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: said they wanted a title but not worried about the money.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: That small move got to me eventually be co Executive
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Producer to the Jamie Foxx Show. If I didn't go
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: in that room and tell this guy, don't worry about
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the money, just give me the job title, I would
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: have never got to be the co executive producer to
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the j B. Fox Show because I live in the
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: title behind correct, I see you? And so that's what
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: that that that that's my slide over to your the
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: value of personal branding something you know, oh too well,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: And I want to let somebody know on my side,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: I did a personal branding moved way back then before
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: branding was as they said in Vogue today, everybody uses
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: it so much, but nobody knows what it really means.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Talk about personal branding, Bene Pew. So it started for
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: me as a child. You know, it's uh, it's a
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: funny story. Um, My sister Regina and I and the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: rest of our family. We grew up in a five
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: family house and in the attic is which where our
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: apartment was, and the winners were really cold in the
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: summers were really hot. And what was the chances that
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: my last name being Pew. That there was a family
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: of skunks that lived in proximity of the house under
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: the house and you know, for our distance. So when
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: whether the raccoons or cats or dogs would would agitate
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: these skunks, they would spray, and what would happen is
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: that the scent would go the draft would pull through
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: the house and come in to our apartment, and me
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: and my sister literally would smell like skunks. So we
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: would go to school with the last name Pew smelling
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: like skunks. And kids as mean as they are, you know,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: like children, like just nasty. You know, we can be
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: bad like kids. We all we're back heads, right, and
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: realized at that point, you know, it could have been
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: a pure negative. I can't change my name, right, um,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and obviously I'm not in control of the circumstances with
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the skunk. So that was at the point when I
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: decided to brand myself and make sure my name mattered.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: So that's why I'm always Benny Pew, not Ben. I'm
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: not Benny. I'm Benny Pew because I wanted my name
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: the matter, because of the I can say that, you know,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: like I would say, you know, Oprah, I'm not trying
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: to be open. Open can top you. You know if
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: you if you got a bad thing that happened, you're like,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: we got a bad thing after your you know what
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, Oh you are? You know I was on
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: listen that's open because you know, because of my name Rushan.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: You know, my father's really annaunciated Russian. And so I
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: had to make a decision is it Russian? To Rashan
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: and said, pick a name? Brother, I remember two? He said,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: pick a name. I say Ros. He said, but don't
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: say it like that. Don't say it like you're guessing.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Say Rashan, Okay, Rashan. And so same thing there. If
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: you make a decision, ride the decision out and then don't.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: If you don't want to be called Chris, your real
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: name is Christopher, say let people say your real name
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: christ for her. And that's what people so much and
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: so long in life. There are a lot of the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: people to define their path. What is the thing that
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: really set you apart? As far as defining people with advice, faith,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: I mean it's very clear, Um, you know what you
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: believe is important because it all starts with with the
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: beliefs in the almighty and then belief in yourself. It's
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: really important. UM. Everything else the secondary to me. Right. Ultimately,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: you know someone who's been in UM, some of the
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: worst situations and the best and some of the best situations.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: What's been most important is my driving for us has
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: been my faith. So that's really it's simple for me.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I always tell people that, UM, but a strong belief
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: in what you wanna do will be tied to the
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: goals you put in place to achieve your dream. But
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: it all starts with a dream. But a dream cannot
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: be a complience without goals. The goals you put in
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: action to create create next level opportunity. I thank you
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: for coming on the show, brother Man. That was good man.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Say that again, Rashan McDonald, and that's been benef you.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Thank you so