DJ to Sneaker Mogul: Vision, Risk, and Community Support w/Ro Spit

ShySpeaks [: 00:00:00

Welcome, welcome, welcome. This is the Minding My Creative Business podcast, the number one podcast to teach creative entrepreneurs strategy, structure and self development.

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

Yes. I am your host, Shy Speaks.

ShySpeaks [: 00:00:13

And I am your host, Ron, ironically. And today we have a phenomenal guest. So I've known his brother since high school actually, right? We went to rival high. Well, yeah, we went to rival high school and he played basketball in Pontiac. I played basketball in Southfield. So, you know, I knew him from then, but then, as you know, we were in our older, like young adult, formative years. We was doing music, right? So I produced. I knew him as a dj, right? But he transitioned from a DJ to an emcee, to an entrepreneur and now he's acting and whatnot.

ShySpeaks [: 00:00:53

So I want to introduce to everybody the one and only Ro Spit. Now that's how we would introduce you, brother Ro. But how would you introduce yourself?

Ro Spit [: 00:01:05

I mean, that was Steve Harvey esque, bro. That's pretty much it. You know what I mean? I'm just a doer of things and I, like a long time ago, I kind of just got into a space where like, if I can think it, I feel like I can do it. And then I'm gonna try.

ShySpeaks [: 00:01:25

No, listen, and that's. And I, I've. I've seen that. So I remember when you wasn't even MCing, you was just DJing. And then when you started MCing, you took everybody by surprise. Like, what? That's, that's what, like, I thought you were. Because you was DJ Friction.

Ro Spit [: 00:01:40

Yeah, yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:01:40

And then, let me, let me vouch.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:01:42

For it because listen, I haven't known him that long, right? I met him because I'm like, oh, this is a cool creative entrepreneur. Let me see how creative he is. So I know he owns some businesses. We're going to talk about that in a little bit. I see the DJ stuff. And then I said, he rap as well. He can act. Let me see if he can rap, right? So I went on there.

ShySpeaks [: 00:02:03

Right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:02:05

Yo, you creative, creative. So yeah, you help level this game, definitely.

ShySpeaks [: 00:02:13

So we're going to kind of talk about this, kind of that matriculation, right, from these different creative aspects. But, but now you're this, this entrepreneur, you know what I'm saying, where you have not just one, but you got multiple locations. So kind of tell us a little bit about that, about burn rubber and whatnot. And just, you know, how you, how you got from dj, MC to.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:02:36

Before you. Before you say that for. If you tuning in right now, you're like, this is another mind in my creative business episode, if you are interested in fashion, sneaker, Sneaker world, anything like that, I want to own my own store. I want to own a boutique. You want to listen in. So zero in on what he about to say.

Ro Spit [: 00:02:53

So, I mean, so Burnt Rubber is. It was. It was actually there. So it was a sneaker store that, you know, like, here we. We always went to the mall.

ShySpeaks [: 00:03:03

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:03:03

Right. We always went to. Whether it was Foot Locker or Athlete's Foot or whatever. And that's when we always got our shoes. So it was rare that you would see like a sneaker boutique. So to me, it was kind of like before Burnt Rubber even opened. I was. I had like a business plan.

Ro Spit [: 00:03:19

I saw it in, like, remember the Slam magazine? And. And the actual store is called that. I. That. That the article was about was called Undefeated. And like, now I know the owners, like one of the most legendary stores, like boutiques in the world. But at that time, it caught my attention. Cause I never heard, like, sneaker boutique.

Ro Spit [: 00:03:39

And I was like, I want to do that one day. Not knowing how, and then had a business plan, was kind of had this, like, this is how I'm going to do it. It's going to be called. I think it was going to be called Sneaker Heaven. And I had to like, logo. My man is crazy. You know Phil Simpson, artist.

ShySpeaks [: 00:03:55

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:03:56

I met him. He was at University of Michigan. I was at Eastern, and I had him do a logo for me back then.

ShySpeaks [: 00:04:03

Wow.

Ro Spit [: 00:04:03

And that. So, like, I've known Phil since that long, you know what I mean? And that just, you know, it didn't happen. But I had like a business plan and. And then it Burn rubber opened up.

ShySpeaks [: 00:04:16

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:04:16

And I was. I was kind of crushed because I was like, man, I wanted to be the first one in this area to do that. And then, you know, a couple years ago, I supported it. I used to go there and buy my shoes. I was a sneaker guy. And then four years after it opened, another three. Actually, three years after three, 2000. They opened in 2004 and we bought it in 2007.

Ro Spit [: 00:04:37

So three years after it opened, I ended up buying it.

ShySpeaks [: 00:04:40

Wow.

Ro Spit [: 00:04:40

Crazy to even think about, but it just kind of happened like that, man. The owners were. One of the owners, he got, like promoted and had to move out to the west coast. And they didn't want to run their business from so far away. And then we just kind of wiggled our way in there and ended up buying it.

ShySpeaks [: 00:05:02

Wow. So it started with what I'm hearing sound Like a passion, right? It was like, okay, I like sneakers. I like this. And what age was you when you started doing that business plan? When you're like, okay, I'm write this.

Ro Spit [: 00:05:16

Business plan, I want to say 25 ish, 6 ish.

ShySpeaks [: 00:05:19

Okay. Okay.

Ro Spit [: 00:05:20

I think I ended up. I ended up getting it when I was 27, I believe. Wow. I'm not mistaken around that time, though.

ShySpeaks [: 00:05:27

Wow.

Ro Spit [: 00:05:27

Wow.

ShySpeaks [: 00:05:27

So that seed was planted, like, yo, I want to do this based off this article in the magazine. That's dope. I want to do this. And then you just was like, okay, let me draw the business plan up and everything. Now what. What made you. How did you know to do a business plan? I know a lot of people. Yeah, I know a lot of people that's like, got the idea.

ShySpeaks [: 00:05:43

They ain't thinking about no plan. They just like, we just going to do it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:05:45

Yeah, I seen a deal.

ShySpeaks [: 00:05:47

Exactly. Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:05:48

It was the reason. You know, this might sound crazy, but it's just because that's what I thought people did. No, it was nothing more than that. Right. I just knew that, like, looking back, it's like, that was ridiculous. Right? But I just knew, like, I couldn't walk into a bank without something, right? So in talking to a couple people that. That, you know, have businesses or have tried to do whatever they like, you know, what's. What's the business plan? How many people are in the area, how many, you know, what's the median income? And, you know, all this stuff.

Ro Spit [: 00:06:22

So I did all that, and then I went to a bank, and they looked at me like I was crazy, you know, because they was like, all right, this is cool, but what do you own? Like, what am I gonna get? How am I gonna get my money back?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:06:37

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:06:38

And they were like, all right, nice to meet you, sir.

ShySpeaks [: 00:06:40

Right up outta here.

Ro Spit [: 00:06:41

Wow. You know what I'm saying? And that was really. That was really it.

ShySpeaks [: 00:06:43

So from there. Cause I said, now this is. This is taking another. Another direction. Which is perfect, though. So when you left there, then what was your. What was your. What was your thought and then what was your action? Cause it's like you said, it's like, okay, bet.

ShySpeaks [: 00:06:55

I. I don't know. Nothing to do but do a business plan. People tell me the business plan. So I did the business plan. I done went into the bank and like, yo, I got my business plan. I'm gonna give you the money, right? And they. So then it's like, you take your business plan and you.

ShySpeaks [: 00:07:10

You walk out.

Ro Spit [: 00:07:11

Then what's Next for you, mommy. All I can think is my mom, like, mom. And she ended up basically, like. Basically I went to family, you know, just like. Like doing, you know, like business classes and talking to these business people, like, they're. They're like these different things you're supposed to do. I didn't know what I was doing, like, why I was doing what I was doing, but that's what I ended up doing. And.

Ro Spit [: 00:07:40

But me, it was just like my mom was the only person that I know that I ever saw with more than like $5,000 or something, you know? But she basically believed in the point I got to. With the business plan. I don't even think she. She really understood what I would like what selling sneakers, like, you know. Cause she thinking Foot Locker, right? But for whatever reason, she believed in what I had placed in front of her and she. She believed in me. Hold on, hold on.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:08:13

First of all, while ago, you said when I did the business plan, he was like, man, that was ridiculous. It wasn't ridiculous, because had you not did that business plan, she wouldn't have known how serious. Like, oh, he really serious. He's put some real thought into this, I believe. Right? So I just want to say not ridiculous as in the business plan. You probably saying what you laid out probably wasn't.

Ro Spit [: 00:08:32

Really wasn't correct. Yeah, right, right, right, right. It wasn't the proper way to do it. But that goes into, like sometimes you kind of just gotta start. You gotta get going and get whatever it is, even if it's not all the way right. Because it'll eventually get. It'll eventually get right if you're going. If you're moving in the right direction.

Ro Spit [: 00:08:51

You know what I mean?

ShySpeaks [: 00:08:52

And even that, what's so amazing is that. But you had a track record of starting and doing things right just from. From DJing to MCing, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, I know that you just ain't come out of nowhere and mom is like, okay, I got you, baby. She was like, no. Like, nah, if. If Ross ain't gonna do it, I know he gonna do it.

Ro Spit [: 00:09:10

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:09:11

Because I didn't seen him do it with these other things, you know what I'm saying? So you was kind of laying the foundation for that, right?

Ro Spit [: 00:09:17

Yeah. And I think it started with DJ because I dropped out of school and it was. You know, it's kind of painful to me because it was something that I wanted to finish. Right. But I just realized that I was just wasting my. My parents Money. And then, then. But I still was like, there's these things that I have to do that I'm going to do.

Ro Spit [: 00:09:41

And then I was just like, I read, I read Rich Dad, Poor dad. And I was like, man, I'm about to just do these, I'm about to just do these things, right? And the one thing that I can, that I kind of picked up, that I'm not gonna quit on is learning how to dj. Because that's a skill, right? Low, when you talking about low. Low was. He was one of the first people that told me like, the thing about this rap, this hip hop world, it's a, you know, technically it's like a young man's sport, right? But the thing about it is there's a, there's only a couple of things that age is. Doesn't really matter as long as you connect it, right. One is a producer, right. And premiere can be 70.

Ro Spit [: 00:10:27

I don't know how old. I'm not saying 70, but.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:10:29

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:10:30

You Pete rock these guys. Yeah, these guys are. And they're in there as long as they're connecting with whomever is they're working with, right? And it's, it could still be relevant, right? The other thing is DJ, no matter how, as long as you're DJing, I mean, you're playing the song that people want to hear, you're getting the people moving. I don't care if it's, if it's a, you know, a high school party or you know, something mad little spot around the way, a 70 year old birthday party. If you're playing the right music, they don't care if you're in a wheelchair.

ShySpeaks [: 00:11:04

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:11:04

You know what I'm saying? But people don't really want to see rappers with gray hair, like a new rapper with gray hair on stage jumping around like.

ShySpeaks [: 00:11:12

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:11:12

You know what I'm saying? It's just not a thing.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:11:15

So you were thinking longevity. Like I'm gonna acquire skill, but I want to acquire a skill. That's longevity, right? So like I could rap, but I know that may, that may age out for at some point. At some point a certain one. Not can't be new, just. I guess, I guess at this point we got older rappers, right? It can't be new, just darn it. So you're like, okay, I need to have a skill that's going to have longevity to it because I know I can control the flow of income if I'm great at it. Okay, so not even great.

Ro Spit [: 00:11:43

Halfway decent, right?

ShySpeaks [: 00:11:44

Right, Right. No, right. That's real.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:11:47

So. Okay, so let's, let's. Let's. Okay, let's pivot. Right? So let's go straight into. Kind of like pick us back up.

Ro Spit [: 00:11:56

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:11:56

So you. You. You got the investment of some sort.

ShySpeaks [: 00:11:58

Right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:11:59

Is that what. What we call bootstrapping is when we go bootstrapping, we can't get a bank loan, we can't get a grant just yet. We don. All those different funding mechanisms, which we do recommend that you go watch the funding podcast that Ron and I did. It talked about all the ways to get funding, but in that sense, you got. You did bootstrapping, somebody investing, you got your. You raised your own money, and then you got your own private investor and all that. But you said it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:12:23

It didn't wind up happening. I picked up on that. You also said that somebody else did the idea first. And what I. What I hope that our audiences gained is that you didn't hate. You said, I went in there, I wanted to support it. Like, man, I didn't do it first, but I'm happy we have one. This is something I've seen done in a whole nother city, and we're doing that here.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:12:45

It's adding culture to our city. It's adding a unique something that you enjoyed and you went and you networked and you supported, and that built a relationship that ultimately, when the time was ripe for you to have this business that you always wanted to, it was right there for you.

Ro Spit [: 00:13:05

Yeah, that. That was exactly what it was. You know, between me and my old business partner. He ended up, like, working in the store and kind of positioned himself to, like, you know, he started just. He just picked up a camera and he became a photographer, and he made him a website. Never had did a website before, but. But that. That is that relationship thing.

Ro Spit [: 00:13:26

And then with that, it was like, that was the. The thing that kind of put us in position when it. Because it was. We weren't the only people that was talking about buying it, but it was like he was in. He was in. In the store, and I was supporting the store. And then even coming back around it when, like, I had the business plan. So it was nothing.

Ro Spit [: 00:13:48

It wasn't like we had to go make a business plan. You know what I mean? Like, I literally pulled it out the closet, like, right. And was like, all right, well, at least we got this.

ShySpeaks [: 00:13:58

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:13:59

To start with, that's.

ShySpeaks [: 00:14:00

That's dope, because it's like you was doing things that you didn't know that you was preparing for. It's like, okay, I'm doing this because I want this now. But like, I said, that no doesn't necessarily mean no. This means not right now.

Ro Spit [: 00:14:11

Not right now.

ShySpeaks [: 00:14:12

You know what I'm saying? So it's like, okay, I take it. I put it away. I'm gonna go support, because they didn't. Did what they did. But now the opportunity is there because you've been laying the groundwork. You know what I'm saying? Like, oh, boy. In there working. You can't get no better than that.

ShySpeaks [: 00:14:25

You know what I'm saying? He's literally working in the store. You build a rapport. Cause I'm going in there buying, and you a sneakerhead. So I know you in there quite frequently buying shit for sure. You know what I'm saying? Right? So you. And then you develop the rapport, and it's like, yo, we can do this. I got the business plan. And now it's just.

ShySpeaks [: 00:14:39

It's. It's easy to ease on in because y'all both providing value. And you've been. You preparing. And you thought that I was doing this for that time, but, like, no, it was just not right now.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:14:49

Vision is important. Ron always talks about vision clarity, right? So I. I encourage you guys to tap in with him because he's always talking about vision. And as we can see right here, you're proof positive that vision matter. Okay, so the vision came to pass, right? So you now become the owner. Did you bootstrap raising your own funds, get some private investors? How did the funding go about? So you can have the money to inquire, like, how do you get the funds to acquire a business?

Ro Spit [: 00:15:19

So this. It was a pretty unique story. So my business partner was. He was working in there, so he kind of got. He had to, like, the plug, right? Like, he kind of. He's the one that kind of knew that they were about to try to sell this. And then I reached out to a couple people. It didn't fall.

Ro Spit [: 00:15:37

I mean, those kind of fell through. And then he was like, let's. I'll try, right? Yeah, he came. He kind of came to me because he knew I had a business plan, and he knew that I was into that. And we had kind of talked about those things before, and it was crazy because some. Some things happened to him in his personal life that he kind of was like. He didn't think he was gonna be able to come up with the money. So I went from trying to come up with half to trying to come up with everything, right? But I'm like, all right, I'm here for it.

Ro Spit [: 00:16:10

Then he was like, you know, maybe I can work for you and hopefully buy in in the future or whatever and then try to get that money. Then my mom basically went to. My mom was the one that kind of went to my family members. So she went to my grandmother and I want to say one of my aunts or something like that, and came up with the half. And I was still working on that other half. He went on a random trip. Not random trip, but he went on a trip to visit his grandparents in, like, in Milwaukee. But he was just going on a Christmas, taking his family.

Ro Spit [: 00:16:46

And his grandfather was like. Because in his mind, like, when I thought my mom, he thought his dad, that it didn't play out, you know, how he wanted to, or he wasn't able to, you know, kind of ask his dad for that. So his grandfather was just like, hey, so what you got going on? You know, he's a kid, 24, 23 years old, or whatever he was. And, you know, he's like, yeah, you know, granddad, I've been doing this, I've been doing that. I'm, you know, I'm trying to buy this business, but I don't know. So his granddad was like, all right, well, how much is it? And he was like, well, my half would be blah, blah, blah. And he was like. So he called me like, no, I got my half.

Ro Spit [: 00:17:26

I'm like, what?

ShySpeaks [: 00:17:28

Right? He wasn't.

Ro Spit [: 00:17:30

He said when he was going on out there, he wasn't even. Like, if his grandfather wouldn't have asked him what he had going on, he probably wouldn't have even brought it up. And it just, you know, but that just shows if you. If, you know, if. If you a believer in a higher power, and you move in with. With clarity in the right direction, sometimes you. You know, the clarity will come after. You know what I'm saying? You kind of got to get through these things.

Ro Spit [: 00:17:55

And it just opens up. And then we literally went back and it was like a couple days later, like, here go everything.

ShySpeaks [: 00:18:03

That's dope.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:18:04

All right, so. Okay, so I want to. I know you had the vision. So now we own the store. We're getting ready to work some of my vision. I had to go retool it. Cause it's a little bit outdated. I gotta now what I.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:18:13

I know what I know. I gotta now execute on this. And so you ready? You're all ready to execute? I'm gonna start getting this plug. I'm gonna go tap in with these people, and I'm gonna work with these companies, gonna do these partnerships. You probably already had all this in your mind.

Ro Spit [: 00:18:28

Was it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:18:28

Was it easy to. To get.

Ro Spit [: 00:18:31

No clue what we were doing, okay? We had absolutely no clue. Zero. I mean, wow. We knew they had a Nike account, okay? Nike Jordan account, okay? And that was what. That was where the value, the real value was. But it didn't immediately transfer. So we had to get our. We had to get our own Nike account.

ShySpeaks [: 00:18:51

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:18:52

The deal we made was, you know, we gave them half of the money, and then we could pull away from the deal if the Nike account didn't come through.

ShySpeaks [: 00:19:03

Okay.

Ro Spit [: 00:19:04

Because it's like if they don't got a Nike account, we don't even really want to do this, right? And then. But he got. He worked for Nike, right? So he was able to, like, we knew that he would kind of be like, go to the credit department, like, listen, I need to get the rest of my money. Why don't you get these guys in the car?

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

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:19:20

And that's what ended up happening for the most part.

ShySpeaks [: 00:19:22

So they said the owner. The. The owner, you would buy from the seller. He. The seller worked for work for Nike. Okay.

Ro Spit [: 00:19:29

His promotion was taking him out to Nike headquarters in Oregon.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:19:33

All right, so. So real quick. So, you know, if you want a sneaker boutique, you have to have accounts with to be able to be a reseller, right?

Ro Spit [: 00:19:43

Give us a. So it's a difference, okay? They're. They're resale shops, and then there's retail shops.

ShySpeaks [: 00:19:49

Okay?

Ro Spit [: 00:19:49

We're retail. So. So, you know, the easiest way to put it is we're directly through. We have an account, a line of credit through every brand. Nike, Jordan, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, New Balance, the list goes on. Right? And you know, it's a net. Whatever. Net 60, net 90.

Ro Spit [: 00:20:09

They sent us the product. We have 90 days of paying back whether it sells or not. You know, that whole deal resale is they basically are the people that are in line at our store buying it from us at retail price and then selling it for a higher price.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:20:26

They. The consumer is reselling it. And sometimes stores can be resellers, but it's. You're reselling and already buying wild product.

Ro Spit [: 00:20:33

Yeah, but. But the thing is, regardless if they're personal reselling them, even the people that own the stores are sending people to our stores to get them, because that's the only way they can get the product.

ShySpeaks [: 00:20:42

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:20:43

You know what I mean? Right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:20:44

Okay. So before you. I want. He Just mentioned something that I want y'all to be mindful of. He said net 30, net 60, and net 90. Right. So that might be new to some of y'all. Because y'all, you know this is new to me, Right, Exactly.

ShySpeaks [: 00:20:56

New to you. So understanding that they sent you product, you have. And you said they send you product before you pay them, correct? Right. But they send you the product with an invoice, knowing that you're gonna pay them. But it's within. You need to pay within this. If It's a net 30, 30 days, you got to pay it. If It's a net 30, 60, you got 60 days to pay it up.

ShySpeaks [: 00:21:17

Isn't that nine? You got 90 days, three months to pay it back, but you've got to pay it back. They don't. They don't want to hear nothing about nothing. They want their money. So you got excuses. None of those excuses. So you got to understand when you're dealing with companies, how they work, because they do have these terms where these net 30s, 60s, 90s. And like you said, sometimes that's what you got to pay back, but then sometimes that's what people pay you as, well, depending on how you.

ShySpeaks [: 00:21:41

You know who you're working with, right? Where it's like, okay, you. You are. I provided a service for you. I sent you an invoice, but I'm not expecting payment because you don't pay. You only pay on a net 90.

Ro Spit [: 00:21:53

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:21:53

So I didn't. I didn't gave you the services already. We done. So now I gotta wait 90 days to get my money.

Ro Spit [: 00:21:57

Well, on that 90th day, I need my money.

ShySpeaks [: 00:22:00

Exactly. So, yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:22:02

Okay, so you. You had Nike. Okay. But event we. I now, I seen the. The store, like, it's got a lot of styles in there. So was it easy for you to get those accounts? Were people wanting to work with you and, like. Because I know y'all were new to it, and they knew you all were new to it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:22:18

So how did you. What was the strategy to get, like, the. Get your brand to be able to work with other brands when you weren't a big store and you kind of was new to the game?

Ro Spit [: 00:22:29

Yeah, well, that was a great question. So what it is, what we did in our strategy was start from the bottom up. So we started with smaller brands that. And try and just, you know, to show Nike or, you know, the bigger brands, like, this is what we can do with this. So, like, a smaller brand would be like, especially at the time, would be like, the first account that we actually got was New Balance. But New Balance wasn't like a big brand at the time, right? It was like 2 for 80 at Foot Locker. Right? It's like, oh, man, I. I only got $40.

Ro Spit [: 00:23:09

Me and my man's got $40 a piece. We bought to go get some shoes and rock them this week. You know, I mean, it was kind of one of those things. But so we reached out to New Balance and got new and started to build New Balance. And then I think our next account was Adidas, which. Which. Which was just a lot of, you know, these brands are huge brands, but then they'll have, like, a rep. Like I said, my Nike rep is in Dallas right now.

Ro Spit [: 00:23:31

So the Adidas rep was. Was actually here, like, in Michigan.

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

Okay.

Ro Spit [: 00:23:36

So we were able to reach out and kind of, hey, we'll go to brunch or lunch. Like, we'll treat you. Come on. You know, so we just had. We just developed this relationship and. But just started with the small brands, and then, you know, we had that going, and business was moving. It wasn't where we wanted it, but it's like we show. Was showing that this is a real thing.

Ro Spit [: 00:23:58

You know what I'm saying? And then the clothing. We started with smaller clothing companies, a lot of clothing brands in the streetwear industry. From the outside looking in, you're thinking, you know, these. It's these big brands. But a lot of them are like people in an office. It's five people, you know what I'm saying? Running the whole brand, doing everything. So once you start noticing that, it's like, oh, my man gave me a cell phone number.

ShySpeaks [: 00:24:26

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:24:27

You know what I mean? But not. And then it's. At that point, it's just like, showing them what you're doing. And then. And then the ultimate thing, though, that. That really got us started was making our own clothes.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:24:37

Right? Okay. So just really to kind of increase your business, you started getting these different. These different relationships. But that was actually one of our questions we were going to ask you is like, especially for someone who's a boutique owner or current boutique owner who's trying to sc. And they have. Okay, they have all the sneakers, but they want to get into the clothing. And then they're like, I want to start my own brand. How do you know when it's time to, like, scale to a new product line?

Ro Spit [: 00:25:08

The thing is, now it's so. Everything's changing so fast. You know what I mean? Like, content. If you're not dropping three different pieces of Content, almost a day now. You, like, you on the back burner. And it's the same. It's the same thing in fashion. You know, you kind of like, it's always a new brand.

Ro Spit [: 00:25:29

So it's kind of like one of those things you just kind of start. And for me, it's always been like this gut feeling or this, like it's fresh. I know it's fresh, right? For my whole life, when I throw something on, people say, that's fresh. Even if I'm not thinking, like, I'm going out trying to be fresh today. So if I see that shirt, it's fresh. Hey, let's try that.

ShySpeaks [: 00:25:51

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:25:51

And that's that. So when it comes to that. And then you. And you build that brand, right? Because a lot of, A lot of the brands that we were carrying, a lot of people around here didn't know about. So it's kind of like you build that brand and you start seeing people coming in for it, right? It's like, you know, asking about like a month and a half ago, y'all didn't even know this existed, right? Now you're asking, when is the next one coming out? So then it's like, all right, now that's going. Now let's see what the next one is. Okay, Right. And I hate.

Ro Spit [: 00:26:20

I don't even know. You might have to cut this part. I don't even know if this is discounted conversation, but the. It's. I always equate, I have these conversations with people, and one of the best business mod like models is the drug. And that's what it is, right? You know what I'm saying? So if you have, if you have any kind of inkling into what that life was, whether it was your brother, your cousin, your father, whatever, it's, it's, you know, you, you, you get a product that people want, get it for the price you can get it for, sell it for. You know what I mean? And that's what it is. And then you put back into it, right? And grow and grow until you become whatever you're going to become, right? And that's what it was.

Ro Spit [: 00:27:02

You know what I mean? So then you. And then the, the, the, the thing where you, you find something you make the best margins on, right? And that's always going to be what you create and what you produce. And that's when it comes to. All right, well, we're going to make our, you know, we're. So we build this brand, we build this brand, Build this brand. And then it's like, all right, you start. You start saying like, okay, I need something. I need y'all to do something for the kids here.

Ro Spit [: 00:27:30

And then they like, wow, man. Come on, bro. That's what the brands is. Because they in New York, right? Doing stuff for people in New York. They in LA doing. But it's like, all right, well, what about the kids in Detroit, man? You know what I'm saying? I just gave you, you know, $10,000 a season, and you telling me you can't throw a couple backpacks for one classroom of a random Detroit school? So then you start thinking, well, like, well, why am I building these brands? I need to build my own brand.

ShySpeaks [: 00:27:58

Yeah, yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:27:59

You know what I'm saying? And that's when you start. And then you start thinking, like, okay, well, I'm giving them $15, selling it for third. Selling a T shirt for 30. I can make my own T shirt for $5.

ShySpeaks [: 00:28:16

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:28:16

Sell it for 50. And people want to represent that more here.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:28:23

Yeah, Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:28:23

You know what I'm saying? And then now it's like, okay, well, well, let's do our own backpack ride.

ShySpeaks [: 00:28:28

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:28:28

You know what I'm saying? And kind of give back to the city and give back to whatever. And that's kind of. That was like our whole motto and that and making our own clothes at the beginning is what kept us open, what kept us going, started the whole thing.

ShySpeaks [: 00:28:40

Wait a minute.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:28:41

So come on.

ShySpeaks [: 00:28:43

Doing your own thing now, once again, you like, okay, the vision that you had initially, oh, I want to sell sneakers and whatnot. I want to do this, and this is the plan for that. But once you got in and you was like, okay, in order for us to stay open and to make the impact that we want to make, we can't just keep doing they thing. We got to do our own thing.

Ro Spit [: 00:29:02

Correct. Yeah. And that's more with clothing because obviously, it's harder. It's easier to make a T shirt than a pair of shoes, Right?

ShySpeaks [: 00:29:09

Definitely.

Ro Spit [: 00:29:09

And obviously, Nike is going to be what Nike is Jordan going to be with. Jordan is right. They've established. But when it comes to, like I said, the clothing aspect of it, you know, it's like we're building these other brands and these other people up. That's not really doing nothing for us other than taking. It's kind of like with trick tricking and no fly. Like, y'all not going to just come in here and just get our money and not put other MCs and like, @ least do a song for the. For the love, you know, with just one verse.

Ro Spit [: 00:29:38

Right, right. And then that's what. That's like I said, that's what we started doing. And, like, because we didn't get. We didn't get our first account, I want to say it was like eight months into us taking the key.

ShySpeaks [: 00:29:50

Okay, Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:29:51

We gave them that down payment.

ShySpeaks [: 00:29:52

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:29:53

The Nike account didn't come.

ShySpeaks [: 00:29:55

I'm sorry.

Ro Spit [: 00:29:55

The Nike account didn't come for eight months. The first account we got was like. I think it was New Balance. I said was like six or seven months into it. So it's like, all right, for that six, that first six, seven months. We hadn't got any product in from any shoe brands. What are we going to do? Right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:30:12

So you just had existing inventory that was old, though.

Ro Spit [: 00:30:15

It was like over a year old. Like, you know, once a Jordan come out on the weekend.

ShySpeaks [: 00:30:19

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:30:20

Three, if it's still there three weeks later, don't nobody really. And this was a year later.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:30:24

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:30:25

So I only had a couple sizes because they had sold some of the product.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:30:29

So you got a little bit of product to sell from just what's in inventory. But that's not, like, that's not going to give me the profit margins I need to keep this place open. I need something that's going to give me the profit margins. And I love what you said is that you, you, you knew when to scale into having another product when you realized, I want to have a margin and I want to be able to take a brand and let this brand make impact. I just thought that was really cool to hear your why behind it. So there's a. There's a social impact side, but then there's also like a regular old business strategy on the back end of it.

ShySpeaks [: 00:31:05

So before. And I, I. Okay, because so for that eight months. Because that's a long time.

Ro Spit [: 00:31:11

That's a long time. Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:31:13

What are y'all doing in them eight months, man?

Ro Spit [: 00:31:16

It's funny. We would, you know, we had our family come through, families and the homies. You know, at the time, it was, you know, it was Detroit hip hop, the scene, you know, Ms. Corona Mara one. And they was just coming through, just trying to support, like, Marv wears 13. We didn't have any 13 in the store.

ShySpeaks [: 00:31:36

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:31:36

He wears a 4X shirt.

ShySpeaks [: 00:31:37

We don't have. You know what I'm saying?

Ro Spit [: 00:31:39

Like, man, just give me a hat.

ShySpeaks [: 00:31:40

Buy a hat.

Ro Spit [: 00:31:41

Right? Wow. So it was things like that, but that's not enough to kind of keep you going. And we was literally sitting There plotting, just kind of like, man, what do. Like, what do we got ourselves into?

ShySpeaks [: 00:31:50

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:31:51

We're hoping that Nike could come. Could knock on our door any day and say, okay, we ready? Right? But that's still. They still gotta send the product. We still gotta put an order in. Which sometimes is. Futures is when you're ordering for the future, which, you know, we were actually about to put an order now in for next. Next summer. You know what I'm saying?

ShySpeaks [: 00:32:14

So it's like, right, right.

Ro Spit [: 00:32:16

You know, so you putting an order.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:32:18

In for stuff that's about to drop of what's going to come. So you may not even get that right right away, like to. A couple months or so.

ShySpeaks [: 00:32:25

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:32:25

So we. We. And we don't even have the account yet. So we just, like, that's it if.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:32:29

It came today, Right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:32:30

You know what I'm saying?

Ro Spit [: 00:32:31

Which it didn't come for. For eight months. But so we just plotting. And if I'm remembering right, because my old partner, he was working in the store, and he used to tell the old owners, like, y'all need to make your own clothes. Because he was. He was doing a screen printing, right, for people. And he was like, man, y'all need to make your own shirt. And they never did.

Ro Spit [: 00:32:51

So he like, man, we need to find a logo. And, you know, we just. In the store, they had like, a terrible logo. So we, like, man, we need to rebrand. We need to find a new logo. And I don't know. I can't remember if it was me or him, but we in the office cleaning out the drawers from the old stuff that they had, right? And then open up this folder and there was some. Just some little drawings, little doodles, you know what I'm saying? And I'm like, damn, that's kind of dope, man.

Ro Spit [: 00:33:20

It was a chef with, like a serving up, shoes on a little platter. It was. But it was like a little edge. So I'm like, man, one of the guys that used to work there is the one that did the sketch.

ShySpeaks [: 00:33:35

Wow.

Ro Spit [: 00:33:36

So we hit him up and he like, like, yo, can we use this? And he like, like, how. You know. Yeah, go ahead. How much do we owe you? He's like, man, just give me a pair of shoes.

ShySpeaks [: 00:33:46

Wow.

Ro Spit [: 00:33:47

Came in, got a pair of shoes. We got it digitized and start putting it on hats and shirts.

ShySpeaks [: 00:33:52

Wow.

Ro Spit [: 00:33:53

And then that was. People like, oh, they. They kind of take ownership of it. You know what I'm saying? It's like, that's my man's this his store. I'm rocking it. So you gonna see. You know what I'm saying? I don't even gotta say it. What's that? What's that right there? No, man, you need to go out on Bench.

Ro Spit [: 00:34:08

And that's kind of how it. We sold. We did 12 shirts, you know, going back to that great business model. Started with 12 shirts, got those done, they sold those, made 24 shirts, sold off, made 48.

ShySpeaks [: 00:34:22

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:34:22

You know what I'm saying? And then. Then it's like, okay, well, let's do another shirt. May12. And then it just grows there and then kind of keep going.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:34:30

Right. So now you just start pushing. When you say earlier, you're saying, I'm building these brands, technically, those brands are already established. You're saying you're building them up because you're building them up in this network. Some people didn't even know about the brand. So you're shouting them out. You putting out content, you telling people about it. You rocking it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:34:47

You see you putting people onto, which is building up the brand. And so now you're still. You're doing that same thing before a brand that you can get profit margins off of. Like, that's.

Ro Spit [: 00:34:58

Yeah. And it's like, then that's when you start realizing that you're. That, you know, you're meaning. You know, you start looking a mirror and realize that you're the influencer.

ShySpeaks [: 00:35:07

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:35:07

You know what I'm saying? Before influencer, being an influencer was a job. It's like, well, I'm influencing people. Like, people are looking at me and saying, like, oh, dang, roll. Rocking it. Or they rocking it over there.

ShySpeaks [: 00:35:18

Exactly.

Ro Spit [: 00:35:20

I'm gonna see what it's about, you know, and then it's like. Like once again. Then you start seeing the value in yourself.

ShySpeaks [: 00:35:26

Exactly.

Ro Spit [: 00:35:26

And then you want to. You know, it's like, okay, I gotta put myself out here more because I know. I. Trust me.

ShySpeaks [: 00:35:31

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:35:32

You know what I mean? Going back to what you said about those brands, some of those brands weren't even established at all. They were small brands.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:35:40

The clothing blend, we used to say.

Ro Spit [: 00:35:41

You guys, it was us. It was just like, you know, it was a trade show. It's still a trade show, but it was a trade show called Magic or end up being. End up changing. Changing it to Agenda is what it was called. But all of those brands would, like, just set up booths, and we will walk through and be like, oh, that's cool. Oh, what's the name of your brand? Oh, okay. We're in three stores around the country.

ShySpeaks [: 00:36:02

Like, wow.

Ro Spit [: 00:36:03

So we sold them 15 shirts each, right. It's like, oh, man, we gonna mess. All right. Send me. Send me an invoice. Boom, boom. And then it's like, okay. Then you see that brand start growing.

Ro Spit [: 00:36:15

But a lot of those brands we. We created, you know, I mean, like, not just saying us, like our, like, independent retailers, boutiques around the country are a lot of these streetwear brands. We're the ones that made them cool. We're the ones that made them accept. Accepted in each of each of our own pockets.

ShySpeaks [: 00:36:33

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:36:33

And then they kind of, you know, you start seeing them rocking Rolexes and diamond chains, it's like, damn, bro.

ShySpeaks [: 00:36:39

You know what I'm saying?

Ro Spit [: 00:36:40

Like, I did that for you.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:36:42

Then build the brand.

ShySpeaks [: 00:36:44

It's one thing I don't want people to miss. Right. Because I heard it, but that's just. Because that's just how I view things. He was like, initially, the people that was coming out was the local hip hop scene with the Detroit hip hop scene. But the reason why the Detroit hip hop scene was coming out is because you had your hand in the local hip hop scene. Like, that was you. You know what I'm saying? So it's like you was in that, and you were networking, Right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:37:07

You was just developing and creating relationships. And then when you had something to offer them outside of, you know, music or whatever, they were still coming to support.

Ro Spit [: 00:37:15

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:37:15

You know what I'm saying? So I just want people to get that where it's like, once again, you was doing that for the sake of doing that you wasn't doing that for. Okay, when I opened up my burnt rubber store, I want y'all to come support. No, I'm an emcee. I'm a dj. I'm in it with y'all. We doing this thing together, but we develop authentic relationships. And now, yeah, you built a community, and they coming to support you.

Ro Spit [: 00:37:36

Yeah, yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:37:37

You know what I'm saying? I think that's key in anything that we do when it comes to entrepreneurship. Got to build a community. You know what I'm saying?

Ro Spit [: 00:37:42

It has to be authentic, too.

ShySpeaks [: 00:37:44

It got to be authentic. It got to be authentic.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:37:47

I thought of something. What you. When you said, like, hey, I wanted to be one of the first to bring a boutique here, ultimately, people don't realize until you say anything. As you're listening, you have the ability to influence fashion in your entire city. Like, what? Obviously, people are in hip hop cult. They're going to rock certain things, but you have the ability to, like, oh, this is what we own. Oh, down here, we wear this. You know how in certain regions, people wear certain things?

ShySpeaks [: 00:38:12

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:38:13

You can be like, oh, they were. We. Everybody was on the fittest. We started wearing the regular old. You know what I'm saying?

ShySpeaks [: 00:38:19

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:38:19

So we.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:38:20

We changed that, and we did this, and so you can actually be that. And so that's a really cool thing to be in there. So I see you as a creative, but I see you as a culture maker. Like, you wanted to, like, be. It's. It's passion, but there's also you, like, okay, I get to build this up. So I think that's. I think that's dope.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:38:36

And I just want to shout. Shout that out. I also want to say, like, okay, we talked about, like, the. The struggle days, right? But at some point, it kind of got out of a struggle day because you don't have not. You don't just have one location. You didn't just expand into sneakers and clothes and your own brand. You've even expanded into another location.

Ro Spit [: 00:38:56

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:38:56

So you can't be, like, not doing well and scaling up at the same time. So before we talk about the other location, shout out the name of the brand real quick.

Ro Spit [: 00:39:05

218.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:39:06

Before we talk about 218, I want to ask, when did burn rubber become. Come above the ground? And you're like, we making.

Ro Spit [: 00:39:14

We make money.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:39:16

We're making this much in sales. We're doing this much a month. Like, tell us about that, man.

Ro Spit [: 00:39:20

To be honest, it was not a long. It was not a long time ago. It was really right before. Right before we opened. 2018 was the first kind of. Actually, not even before. Yeah. I'll tell you exactly when it happened.

Ro Spit [: 00:39:39

2020 pandemic. Like, September. September's where it started.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:39:46

Yeah. And you opened the store in 2017?

Ro Spit [: 00:39:49

No, the second store opened in 2022.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:39:53

No, no, I'm talking about the first store.

Ro Spit [: 00:39:55

2007.

ShySpeaks [: 00:39:56

2007, right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:39:57

2007, yeah. So from 2007, 2020, it is just coping steady. It wouldn't.

Ro Spit [: 00:40:05

It's robbing Peter to pay Paul. Right. Hustling, like, hoping this money come through and hoping to sell this weekend.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:40:14

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:40:15

I could pay myself, just so stay.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:40:17

Just enough to keep the store open.

Ro Spit [: 00:40:18

Working every day in the store.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:40:20

Pay yourself and pay your other. You know, y'all both were able to draw something, keep the store open, but y'all not, like, killing it like that. Okay. What?

Ro Spit [: 00:40:28

Well, not even. Not even. So. So I bought my Business partner out in 2015.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:40:34

Okay. So now.

Ro Spit [: 00:40:36

And it was. That was because we were in a rough space because it wasn't enough to sustain two families, you know what I mean? And employees and all this stuff.

ShySpeaks [: 00:40:45

Right, right.

Ro Spit [: 00:40:46

And we got into some financial troubles. Had to have some. Some investors come in, help us out. The investors got us into the. You know, out of the red, back into the black. And then they were like, we out. They was like, man, it's not. It's just not enough.

Ro Spit [: 00:41:02

It's not. You know, it's kind of one of those things where, like, it's like. It's a. It's a. It was a passion project they didn't want to see. They knew. They knew about us, and they knew, you know, we weren't, like. I don't say classically trained, but we weren't trained in business.

Ro Spit [: 00:41:15

We were just trying to. You know, two young black guys trying to figure it out. And, you know, it kind of got. It got away from us when we tried to open 218. Another. The first we tried to open 2018, like, year. I think, like 2011 or something like that, 2010. And it failed miserably.

ShySpeaks [: 00:41:33

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:41:34

And then that is what put us into these. This financial crisis. It might have been like more like 2012 to. When we had 2015. You know, it was kind of like, we gotta. We gotta shake. Right?

ShySpeaks [: 00:41:48

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:41:48

My business partner was. He wanted. He didn't really want to be in retail at the time because of the stresses of it, I think. You know, never really had that. The exact conversation, but a lot of it was because, you know, with these. With the bigger brands, it's a line of credit. So we have to do a personal guarantee. You know, it's like, yeah, we'll give this.

Ro Spit [: 00:42:08

We'll give you this line of credit. We've seen this product. But if you don't pay us on that 90 day enough times, right, we come in for whatever you own. So that means. That means if you own your house, I need that.

ShySpeaks [: 00:42:21

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:42:21

If you want your car, I need that. If you own property, if your grandfather left you property and Idlewild, we need that.

ShySpeaks [: 00:42:29

Wow.

Ro Spit [: 00:42:29

Right? But the thing was, I own that. Come get whatever personally guarantee you want these shoes. Shoes and some shirts.

ShySpeaks [: 00:42:39

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:42:39

But my business partner was buying his house. He owned his car, this thing. So a lot of those pressures when they was like, yo, you know, y'all in debt.

ShySpeaks [: 00:42:48

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:42:49

I think that's when his mind was going like, yo, I got a family, a wife, kids, so. So he Wanted to kind of out. And he was, like, more of a creative when it comes to, like, design and these other things, you know, And. And he was. He was more established in the other things that he had going on. So he's like, you know, buy me out. And then you kind of. If you want to keep it going, keep it going.

Ro Spit [: 00:43:16

So I was able to set up a plan to buy. Pay the investors back and then buy him, you know, and then buy him out. And then it's still. That was 2015. It still took five years of me, you know, building everything back up, working in the store every day, you know, hustling and all this stuff. And then it was crazy, man. It was really. When the, like, George, Floyd, Breonna Taylor, around that time, it was.

Ro Spit [: 00:43:45

It was. It was cool to be down with black business. That makes sense. As messed up as the situation, all that was. And in the climate of the world, these bigger brands were, I think, terrified that they did not want to be the company. The company that let that little black business or that little Latinx business go out of business, because whatever. So they started. They started feeding us, right? It's like we went from getting 12 pair of a Jordan that came out on the weekend to 150 selling out in seconds.

Ro Spit [: 00:44:24

Wow. 500, 600. Like, it started getting crazy, like, overwhelmingly crazy. And that was the. That was when. But it's crazy because other boutiques were doing business like that around the country.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:44:40

They were already.

Ro Spit [: 00:44:41

We just didn't know nothing about it.

ShySpeaks [: 00:44:42

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:44:42

You know, it's like, you know, obviously, Yeezy's gonna come out. They're gonna sell out, right? But, yeah, we get 24 pairs. It's cool. You sell out, but some people getting 1200 pair selling out instantly, right? So we started moving up into that world, and like I said, it came up, and. But that's when the money kind of came in. It's like, okay, some breathing room finally. All right. I don't have to worry about this and that not paying this guy what he deserves to get paid.

Ro Spit [: 00:45:06

So he's working harder, right? And then I was able to step away from it and a lot. And it was, you know, since then, it's basically in a position where it's able to run itself, Right. You know, things have tapered back down. It's not like that no more.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:45:21

Okay. You got something you want to say?

ShySpeaks [: 00:45:22

No, I mean, that's. I'm just saying that there where it's like they started giving. They started giving more. So that allowed for you to do more.

Ro Spit [: 00:45:31

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:45:32

And as a result of that, it's like if they would have been giving you more before you probably. You probably still would have been selling them. You know what I'm saying? So it's one of them things where it's like.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:45:40

Yeah, it's another topic for another.

Ro Spit [: 00:45:44

Yeah, it is.

ShySpeaks [: 00:45:44

It is. Oh yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:45:46

I'm shot speaks and I'm on here and I'm gonna talk about that real quick.

ShySpeaks [: 00:45:48

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:45:49

That is why I like to talk about economic equity. We can talk all this about minding my creative business. You're trying everything you can do, but there's a little bit of equity that's not there. Like you said, there are other boutiques and you was really calm with how you just said other boutiques. You ain't even go deep offensive.

Ro Spit [: 00:46:04

I'm politically. I'm profess.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:46:07

It was other boutiques who were getting that amount.

ShySpeaks [: 00:46:09

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:46:09

But I was only getting this amount.

ShySpeaks [: 00:46:11

Why?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:46:12

Because they see me as a. Sometimes it's not because of I'm melanated or something like that, a black business or Latinx business. It's because they see us as a smaller boot business and it's not really that much afloat. But not realizing that I can do it. You're not. They didn't. It's not like necessarily giving me anything. It's trusting me with more, aligning me with more.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:46:32

Just really quick, before we go into the next question and because I want them to know more about how you have creatively diversified not just from the. The BR brand to the 218 which is part of the BR brand to just all the other aspects of you. But really quick, explain the difference of how when black businesses are start being supported not necessarily by just the bigger brands, even from other. Just the regular consumers are supporting it. Okay, so how then what's the difference numerically for the people who trying to mine. They put them if I get 20 pairs versus if I get 100 pair. Not. I ain't doing nothing different.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:47:07

They just trusted me and a lot of me more financially. What run those numbers for us real quick. Just a quick.

Ro Spit [: 00:47:13

I misses what it was. Whatever that percentage, whatever that percentage is. If that's a. If that 20 to 100 is a. Is that five? I mean like five times? I don't know. Yeah, yeah, whatever. That's what, that's what it is. You know what I'm saying?

ShySpeaks [: 00:47:28

More.

Ro Spit [: 00:47:28

Yeah, so. And it's instant.

ShySpeaks [: 00:47:30

So.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:47:30

So like for example, if I get a. If I get a Yeezy, I Get a shoe. It's 200. 200 for the shoe, and they only send me 20 pair. That's $4,000. Whatever my profit margin is, that's what I walked away with.

ShySpeaks [: 00:47:41

Correct.

Ro Spit [: 00:47:41

Which is 2000. Usually it doesn't make it, you know, for everybody to understand. It's 50. Just say 50. Oh, so wholesale is 100. Sell it for 200.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:47:49

Right. So now. So now you have 2,000. So now, okay, that shoe came in. I made that. But then everybody kept walking in the store, and you were like, oh, we out, bro. We try to see if we can get some more, but they going so good.

Ro Spit [: 00:48:04

It's no getting no more.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:48:05

So now. Now you. They coming in. Oh, you got them? Yep, still got them. You got the size? Yep, still got them.

Ro Spit [: 00:48:11

Now.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:48:11

So now I sold a 100 pair times 200. So now I'm at 20, 20, 20. And now I'm walking away with 10,000, as opposed to 2. I'm the same person. I still build it up. I still have the passion. Same location. Not a lot change, just a different level of overhead.

Ro Spit [: 00:48:28

Still the same.

ShySpeaks [: 00:48:28

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:48:29

You know, or that's still the same.

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

So I give. I give kind of passion.

Ro Spit [: 00:48:32

And then that. And I mean, and then put. Just to put that into perspective, that went from. That's not just easy, right? Yeah, that's. It went from getting, you know, let's say 20 pair of Yeezys, 18 pair of Dunks, 15 pair of Jordan, whatever that came up Saturday, to getting 100 pair of Yeezys and 200 pair of guns and, you know, 90 or 100 pair of Jordans. Right, right. So it just took from making, you know, about 5 this, you know, 5 to 7,000 profit.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:49:13

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:49:13

To, like I said, like, we had.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:49:16

Like, somewhere 30 to $50,000.

Ro Spit [: 00:49:19

Yeah, 20 to 30.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:49:21

Probably like 20 to 30.

Ro Spit [: 00:49:22

You know what I'm saying? Like, in a weekend, though, in a weekend where it's like, man, we've not. Like, we have never done that in 15 years. Right? But like I said, it just puts. It just put everything into perspective and put us in a position where we can breathe and just allow it to. And then even, like a lot of times, you know, I'm pretty sure everybody that is into this world of independence and entrepreneurs, like, sometimes you feel like the one mistake is gonna be the end.

ShySpeaks [: 00:49:51

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:49:51

You know what I mean? That's a stressful way of living, definitely. But like I said, I was probably 15. 15 years strong in being like that. And. And it's still. It's still Peaks and valleys, you know what I'm saying? It's still ups and downs in. It became a lot easier, though. But it's just having that.

Ro Spit [: 00:50:07

That sense of being able to just exhale and just sit back and be able to think and just. It's like they say in sports, the game start moving a little slower. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, oh, okay, yeah, you go over there and drop that right there. It's an easy. And that's how it is.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:50:20

Yeah. Easy layup. Okay, so we.

Ro Spit [: 00:50:24

We.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:50:25

We almost out of time.

Ro Spit [: 00:50:26

I know, right? But I got.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:50:27

We gotta ask two questions about. Pertaining to, like. So usually Ron likes to know, like, what was the strategy behind it? And I like to take people into the back office. Give me the. Okay, this is cool on the interview, but take me in the back scene. So I want to talk about 218 you eventually. Cause it's something you wanted to do before, and we see that as a pattern. You wanted to do it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:50:48

We weren't able to do it, but eventually you were able to do it again. See, that happened with the store. So you were able to open Another location called 218 under the burn Rubber Umbrella. Now, you didn't open it in the same area. You intentionally open it in another area, right? So a whole different territory. And you didn't call it burn Rubber. So technically this will be a run question. Go ahead.

ShySpeaks [: 00:51:14

Yeah, no, I want to know, like, why not call it burn Rubber in whatever that location is, opposed to giving it a whole new name? Like, was it a strategy behind that? Was it like this, a creative strategy or was it actually a business strategy behind that?

Ro Spit [: 00:51:27

No, it was a business strategy.

ShySpeaks [: 00:51:29

Okay.

Ro Spit [: 00:51:29

It was a business. So what. What it was is when my. So when I bought my business partner up, I. I bought. We. We had the business set up in two different things, right? It was equity, we felt in two. In two different things, right? It's equity in the brand, and then it's equity in the brick and mortar and actual store.

ShySpeaks [: 00:51:48

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:51:48

The physical location, right? So we. We kind of split that in half. And I. I bought them out of the physical location to be able to do business and sell sneakers and the Nike account and all that stuff. But the brand of burnt rubber we still technically own together.

ShySpeaks [: 00:52:07

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:52:08

So with that being two, you know, still new business businessmen that were a little green in a lot of things, we had never. I never sold a bit. I never bought a business like. Like that, you know, I'm sorry. Or split a Business before. And we went. We had the same, you know, same attorney, and he wrote up a contract basically for us to. For us to split and still own the brand together.

Ro Spit [: 00:52:35

And so, so with that, how it was set up is if I were to me or him wanted to open a second location, we would have to talk and get approval from the other person.

ShySpeaks [: 00:52:48

Okay. Okay.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:52:49

Because.

Ro Spit [: 00:52:51

And then if I. All the way down to anything that that logo goes on other than the. The first store, because it was grandfathered in.

ShySpeaks [: 00:52:58

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:52:59

So. But that, but so, like, if I was. If I was to make a shirt, then I owe him 50% whether he does any work or not. If he was to make a shirt and sell it, he owes me 50, you know, or we can still kind of work together and try to work with these other brands. And. And in that, you know, it's like we just kind of stopped seeing eye to eye. Not like, not like really on a personal level, just on a business level. It just.

Ro Spit [: 00:53:26

It just didn't materialize how we thought it might. Right. And then. So I was presented. Now, how the second store came about is that it's a longer story, but basically Nike reached out to me and was like, how about you open your own store? Open another store. So I was like, all right, well, okay. Got Burn Worker going. But, you know, I haven't really worked with him at that level.

Ro Spit [: 00:53:54

And probably at that time, five plus years.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:53:58

Gotcha.

Ro Spit [: 00:53:58

Not more. Yeah, actually, I think it was longer than five years. And then, you know, I was. I was just thinking, like, you know, had the conversation to try to buy the rest of the brand from them.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:54:10

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:54:11

And like, our number, we were nowhere in the same vicinity. It just didn't work out. Right. So then it's like, okay, well, well, what can I. You know, Nike wants me to do this. They're going to support me. Do y'all care if I. Does it have to be called Burnt Rubber? They're like, no, you call it Rolls Shoe Store.

ShySpeaks [: 00:54:31

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:54:32

They don't care.

ShySpeaks [: 00:54:32

Right, right.

Ro Spit [: 00:54:34

So then I. So then I started thinking, like, when it came to the original 218, like, I created that name.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:54:42

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:54:42

Like, we had business partners and we had this whole thing. And what it ended up being, we were going to call that original store BR by Burn Rubber. Like an annex store.

ShySpeaks [: 00:54:50

Right, Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:54:51

And Banana Republic sent us a cease and desist.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:54:55

Oh, br.

ShySpeaks [: 00:54:56

Okay.

Ro Spit [: 00:54:56

Who. Who would have even thought?

ShySpeaks [: 00:54:57

Right? Yeah, exactly.

Ro Spit [: 00:54:58

So then as a. Like a. Kind of like a fu. To Banana Republic, I started thinking, I'm like, all right. We gotta come up with a new name. But we still wanted to kind of have the burnt rubber DNA. And then it's crazy is my name starts with an R, right? My name is Roland, but when I think of the letter R, I think of Rakim. Right? Right.

ShySpeaks [: 00:55:20

Hip hop.

Ro Spit [: 00:55:21

Everything goes back to hip hop.

ShySpeaks [: 00:55:22

Right, right.

Ro Spit [: 00:55:22

So the 18th letter.

ShySpeaks [: 00:55:24

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:55:24

So then I was thinking, like, all right, second and 18. Second, 18th, or I'm like, that kind of sound like. Like football, like.

ShySpeaks [: 00:55:31

Right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:55:32

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:55:32

You know, second down to 18. And I'm like. And I'm like, what? A B is the second letter Alphabet. And then I started thinking, you know, And I was just like, 218br. 2B is the 2. R is 18. So. 218.

Ro Spit [: 00:55:47

So it's still like, regardless. You could send us a seizure desist. You could do all this stuff. But we still. It's still br.

ShySpeaks [: 00:55:53

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:55:53

You know what I mean? And that's what hip hop. That's what hip hop is. That's what the streets is.

ShySpeaks [: 00:55:56

That's what the culture is.

Ro Spit [: 00:55:58

To kind of disguise it.

ShySpeaks [: 00:55:59

Yeah, yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:56:00

And then it's a bar. Bar. Yeah. So that. That ended up, quote, unquote, failing. Like, we. It didn't. We were open for like, a year or two, and then we ended up closing it down and completely dissolved the business.

Ro Spit [: 00:56:13

And then I was thinking of, like, you know, I even went back to that original name, Sneaker Heaven.

ShySpeaks [: 00:56:18

Okay.

Ro Spit [: 00:56:18

You know what I'm saying? And I'm like, nah, that ain't hidden. And then my designer was. I was talking to my man, you might know, Rio Dove.

ShySpeaks [: 00:56:25

Remember Doug?

Ro Spit [: 00:56:25

Yeah. He still do all my, like, all my design stuff. That's dope. That's dope. So he was like, man, just on a regular conversation, he was like, man, I think you thinking too hard, man. The best name y'all ever had was 218. And I was like, well, then I did come up with it. Like, it's available.

Ro Spit [: 00:56:42

I looked it up. It's available because we completely dissolved it as a group.

ShySpeaks [: 00:56:46

Right?

Ro Spit [: 00:56:47

So now it becomes available. Like, all right, call them. Call my other business partners. Like, what y'all think about this? It's like, man, I don't care. They got their own thing, right? Yeah. Locked it down. And then it was like, that's what it's gonna be.

ShySpeaks [: 00:57:00

Yeah. So it's almost like some. The artist formerly known as type thing.

Ro Spit [: 00:57:04

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 00:57:05

Where it's like, okay. Yeah. So that I can have complete ownership of it and not have to go through the hoops and Everything.

Ro Spit [: 00:57:12

Because the thing is, man, when it comes to, you know, it's kind of like cooks in the kitchen. You know what I mean? And it's like, it doesn't mean you're like, to design this table. You have a vision. You have a vision, and I have a vision. And for however many years, our visions came together and were amazing. And then it kind of got to a point where it's like, man, it feel like you just trying to take over the whole vision, bro. And not, like, not even trying to give me no. And I get it.

Ro Spit [: 00:57:40

I get it. That's what you do. But it's like, I'm a part of this, too. You know what I'm saying? And we've been going at a 50, 50 pace, doing very well, and now it's starting to feel like, you know, you trying to make it 820 or. Which is. Which is cool. You know what I mean? It just. But it just.

Ro Spit [: 00:57:58

And then I started trying to push to be 64, you know what I'm saying? It was just this battle, and it's like, man, I don't got. It's enough. I feel like it's enough for everybody, and it's enough. That's what being creative is. Right? You just have to have the space to be able to get whatever it is out. And sometimes the battle is the block.

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

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:58:26

You know what I mean? I'm like. I just so. To not even have to deal with that, you know, Nike cool with it. The three fourths of the rest of the business group, that it was cool with it. It's available. Like, technically, I didn't even have to ask them.

ShySpeaks [: 00:58:41

Right.

Ro Spit [: 00:58:41

You know what I'm saying? Like, it's literally. You could have got 218. It was like, literally, I got it out of the trash, and. And it. It dissolved so bad. None of us wanted it. Right. It was like I kind of went in the trash and was like, clean this off.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:58:54

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:58:54

You know what I'm saying?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:58:57

So. Okay. So really, it sounds. It's a business strategy in the sense of, like, intellectual property.

ShySpeaks [: 00:59:03

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 00:59:03

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:59:04

Right. Legalities. There are legalities. And I think that creative entrepreneurs sometimes forget about those asp. And I'm happy that you brought that up. It's because it's like, it's harder because if I keep moving with this, then this remains the intellectual property of multiple people. And it's harder to move because we got a shared vision. But it's like, create a new thing in this entrepreneur thing, then I have more fluidity.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 00:59:25

And I can keep it going. I can move in that way. So it's cool to know that the strategy had to do with legal things.

Ro Spit [: 00:59:31

Yeah. And another side to that is that it's very tough. And this is just a tidbit or, like, a nugget for everybody. When it comes to brands and intellectual property, it's a fine line between nostalgia and, like, personal feel in reality. You know what I mean? Like, when. When we were going through this and we were trying to come up with a number, right? Because, like, you kind of look back at everything that you've done, right? And it's like, all right, we did. We designed 20 pairs of shoes, and this. And the brand is and this.

Ro Spit [: 01:00:05

So worldwide. This was sold in Japan and all these different things. And it's like, you know, all right, well, then, all right, now we got. We got to try to sell it, right? And it's like, how. What's the number?

ShySpeaks [: 01:00:19

Right?

Ro Spit [: 01:00:20

Like, what is it? What is it worth?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:00:21

Like, now, it's hard to quantify. Yeah, quantify.

Ro Spit [: 01:00:23

Because when we bought. When we bought the store, it was crazy to even, like, to go back and think about it now, but when we bought the store, it's almost like, forget the name, right? You know, from the. That was our part of the negotiations. Like, forget the name. Yeah. We probably keep it the same. But what. It's all about the product in the store and what the store has, because you can't make.

Ro Spit [: 01:00:44

You can't really make money off of that name, right? Because a lot of times when it comes to intellectual property, it falls back onto the people that are the intellects in it. And that's kind of what it. What it is. And so that's why, like, the nostalgia of a. Of. Of. You know, from like, let's say his point of view is like, well, that man, Big Sean, where this and Wale and all these different people, right? You know, we did these products and this, that. And third, it's like, well, okay, well, I'm.

Ro Spit [: 01:01:12

I've been here every day, and ain't nobody coming here. Ask for this, Right? Right. And don't nobody want. I might not even use it in all reality. I don't have to. So don't get caught up in the personal.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:01:24

The.

Ro Spit [: 01:01:25

The personal aspect of the. Of the intellectual property. Because it's like. It's just this relative thing, right? You know what I mean? It's kind of like battle rap, y'all battling. I think you won for no reason, right? Yeah, he thinks you won for no reason. Because it's just relative. Right. And that's what, a lot of times intellectual property.

Ro Spit [: 01:01:44

Until you start talking about, like, Target. Yeah, yeah. You can put a value on Target. Right. You can put a value on Meijer or something like that, but these are humongous companies. It's all one independent small boutique. So that's what makes it tough, you know, and that. And that was the.

Ro Spit [: 01:02:01

That was the biggest space in between. Like, you know, when it comes to negotiation, you got to kind of be here to come to this. When you hear, it's like, man, we never. We might as well not even talk.

ShySpeaks [: 01:02:12

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 01:02:12

And that's kind of what it is. So.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:02:13

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 01:02:14

Don't get caught up in the, in the.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:02:16

That's good. All right, so we. We. We. We got to get out of here. And I told the people we were going to talk about creative diversification. And I'm gonna ask you this, because I want to make space for you as a brand. Ain't nobody can have the equity on you, right? You, you, you, you.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:02:31

Nobody. You own 100% of you, right? So you. We know you're an entrepreneur. You out here having $20,000 weekends, you know, all this kind of stuff at your store. Entrepreneur. But you're also a dj, you're also an emcee, and you're also an actor. Speaking of equity and percentages and all that kind of stuff, give us a quick synopsis. Because it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:02:51

It has to be a reason why you still do those other things as well. I'm sure you make money from those profitable for you to some degree. So percentage wise, if you could just real quick, real quick, how much percentage of, like, what you say of your. Your, like, income comes from DJing, so how much comes from acting, rapping, and then, like, a sore ownership? So you got four. So it could be like 25, 25. 25, 25. Or is it like.

Ro Spit [: 01:03:19

No, it's more like. So the, The. The way I have everything set up is, and this is how I've always looked at it, even when we acquired Burn Rubber originally, is that for the most part, as long as I do business the way it's supposed to be done, that's going to be the foundation. Right? So I always looked at, like, I always looked at every. Everything else as extra. Right. I always looked at rapping as, you know, it's something I, I think I'm pretty good at, and I'm making a couple dollars and I'm having fun.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:03:53

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 01:03:53

But I'm not. I would. I'm not trying to like, say, forget burn rubber. I'm not making that much money.

ShySpeaks [: 01:03:59

Right?

Ro Spit [: 01:04:00

So. And even, like, I used to talk to Sean back, you know, back in the day, Big Sean back in the day, and he said he used to always talk about trying to get something because. And then even the level that he had got. What he wasn't at the level at the time, he was still here. He had gotten to where he, you know, we're in Big Sean. But he always talked about, like, man, y'all got a store. I'm like, bro, you got Kanye West. What are you talking about?

ShySpeaks [: 01:04:23

Right?

Ro Spit [: 01:04:24

But it's. It's a. It's like a foundation thing where, like, you know, a lot of times the best money is like the money you make in your sleep.

ShySpeaks [: 01:04:31

Right.

Ro Spit [: 01:04:31

You know, I mean, when you don't have to be there and you don't. And it's kind of running itself. And so I would. I mean, I would probably say burn rubber is burnt rubber in 218. Now it's probably 60. 60. It's the foundation and then the every. You know, you would know with.

Ro Spit [: 01:04:47

With the arts and everything, man, it's up and down. It's time. It's times.

ShySpeaks [: 01:04:51

She know, too. She ain't tell you she spit.

Ro Spit [: 01:04:54

But, yeah, so. So it's. It's time. And it's times in my rap career where I. The. The. The month, the money I was. The little checks I was making from two.

Ro Spit [: 01:05:06

A burnt rubber. A 218 went open. Yeah, but burn rubber was like, I don't even really care what happened with that, because I was making so much money as a. As a rapper. And then, you know, but then it's like a couple months go by, and it's like a. No shows. Barely even be in the studio. Like, it's.

Ro Spit [: 01:05:22

It's crazy.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:05:23

So you. Okay, so you supposed to be giving me. You got 60% off.

Ro Spit [: 01:05:26

Okay, so 60. Now, rapping is 1%. 1%, but so 60, I would say DJing is probably like 30, 25, 30. And then acting and then acting as a, you know, 15, 10, 15. Doing a little stuff here and there, man.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:05:51

Y'all heard it all. All it is from Rose Fit.

Ro Spit [: 01:05:55

Yeah.

ShySpeaks [: 01:05:56

So if people wanted to get in touch with you. Right. They loving the interview and whatnot. How would they get in touch with you, really?

Ro Spit [: 01:06:05

It's probably Instagram. Row Underscore Spit. I'm in and out the store. I don't work there.

ShySpeaks [: 01:06:13

I don't work there.

Ro Spit [: 01:06:14

I don't know what's going. I can't get you a shoe. Right, Right. I don't know where this shoe is in the back, but I'm always in there. I'm always in and out of both of the stores, and that's probably. I mean, that's really, really it. You know, even if I'm not there, they'll give me the message.

ShySpeaks [: 01:06:31

No.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:06:31

So follow burn rubber.

ShySpeaks [: 01:06:33

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:06:33

218.

Ro Spit [: 01:06:35

Yeah, I think.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:06:35

And that's tw. O18, right?

Ro Spit [: 01:06:38

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:06:38

And then Burn Rubber.

Ro Spit [: 01:06:40

I think the Instagram is Burn Rubber Detroit. I probably should know this. And I believe it's shop 218.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:06:47

Okay.

ShySpeaks [: 01:06:48

And we'll leave it in the description. Y'all have a link in the description. So. But no, listen, we want to thank you. Thank you for. For giving your time and. And dropping the gyms and whatnot. Like, I'm hearing a lot.

ShySpeaks [: 01:06:58

I'm hoping y'all are.

Ro Spit [: 01:06:59

I don't have to come back, man.

ShySpeaks [: 01:07:00

No, we got.

Ro Spit [: 01:07:01

The acting thing is a whole another. I mean. I mean, I got time, right.

ShySpeaks [: 01:07:06

No, we. We. We got another guest coming, but we know.

Ro Spit [: 01:07:08

We know.

ShySpeaks [: 01:07:09

We definitely gotta.

Ro Spit [: 01:07:11

Y'all heard it.

ShySpeaks [: 01:07:11

I heard it here. He coming back.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:07:14

Because we could talk about the acting, get into that. That piece of the financial and creative side of that and the entrepreneur side of that and the DJing, and. It's a week.

ShySpeaks [: 01:07:24

Yeah.

Ro Spit [: 01:07:24

Because that's about the turn. That 15 is about to turn up a little bit. I'm about to start.

ShySpeaks [: 01:07:29

I already see it. Because I. I know you. So I'm like, he about to start producing. He about to start directing. He about to start. So I already see it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:07:35

So. So, yeah, so you got to tune in next time.

ShySpeaks [: 01:07:38

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:07:38

Listen, let me thank y'all so much for watching this podcast. We appreciate you all. Thank you, Ro. Thank you to anybody who is watching this. Like. Like. Oh, no, not watching. Listening to it on wherever you listen to your podcast.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:07:52

Thank you so much. Do the thing, like, write a review or, like, buttons, you know, do all the stuff so we can kind of boost this up so we can keep having people like this share with you guys. So you. To go from, you know, nothing to something from vision to clarity, from minding your whatever, to create a business. So this is what I normally like to do. I like to make sure we get out of the episode with a mantra. Can I do the mantra? We gotta get out of here, because I know they gonna be going. Next thing you know, we're gonna be talking about.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:08:18

So break down this.

ShySpeaks [: 01:08:20

Right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:08:21

So this is what I want everybody to say. Everybody in here said as well. You said online. All it takes all it takes is intention, intention, consistency.

ShySpeaks [: 01:08:31

Consistency.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:08:32

And laser focus.

ShySpeaks [: 01:08:33

And laser focus.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr. [: 01:08:34

To mind my creative business.

ShySpeaks [: 01:08:35

To mind my creative business.

Ro Spit [: 01:08:37

Peace.

ShySpeaks [: 01:08:38

Peace.