In 2019 a trio of childhood friends in Westchester County, New York, founded Earn Your Leisure, a media outlet dedicated to financial literacy.
In the years that followed, Earn Your Leisure has seen explosive growth, evolving from a simple podcast into a multi-media conglomerate, boasting expansive live events, a variety of video franchises, and a recent push into becoming a global brand.
On this week’s episode of Idea Generation's All Angles, we talk with founders Troy Millings, Rashad Bilal, and Michael MacDonald, to hear the full story behind Earn Your Leisure, and find out how a teacher, financial advisor, and web developer came together to create one of the most impactful new brands in media.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
When he said let's do a podcast, I'm like, that's easy.
Like we talk every day for twenty five years, Like
we already doing podcasts. We argue with each other. People
love it when we argue with each other. They watch it,
they watch us go back and forth and debate. I'm like,
I'm not even thinking, like, oh, this is going to
be difficult. And then we got to the first part
of like let's do a podcast, where we're like, well,
(00:21):
do you listen to podcasts?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Well, how do we even do that?
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Right?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Like, how do you create a podcast?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Welcome to Idea Generations All Angles, a podcast about culture's
most influential brands and the teams that built it. If
you're an entrepreneur, creative, or anyone interested in harnessing the
power of collaboration, join me Noah Callahan v Ever each
week as we dissect the most dynamic companies in culture,
because the only way to truly understand success is to
(01:00):
look at it from all angles. Idea Generations All Angles
is a Willpacker media podcast. In twenty nineteen, a trio
of childhood friends in Westchester County, New York, founded Earned
Your Leisure, a media outlet dedicated to financial literacy. In
(01:22):
the years that followed, Earned Your Leisure has seen explosive growth,
evolving from a simple podcast into a multimedia conglomerate boasting
expansive live events, a variety of video franchises, and a
recent push into becoming a global brand. On this week's
episode of All Angles, we talked to founders Troy Millings,
(01:44):
Rashad Balau, and Michael McDonald to hear the full story
behind Earn Your Leisure and find out how a teacher,
financial advisor, and web developer came together to create one
of the most impactful new brands in media. But before
any of that happened, years before they would put together
their own festival or land a partnership with Diddian Revolt,
Troy Millings was just a kid growing up in the
(02:06):
South Bronx.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So I was born in the South Bronx in the
early eighties. My parents are Jamaican and so I'm first
generation American.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
This is Troy Millings, co founder of Earn Your Leisure.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So growing up, man, it was a lot of you know,
family oriented things, and my parents always told me like,
the most important people are in this household with you,
and now you might have friends, and you might have cousins,
but this five family union is the most important thing.
My parents worked, but I always say this, man, they
worked so hard every day. I just didn't know what
they did. I had no idea. So my dad worked
(02:41):
for forty two years. I know he worked hard, but
I don't know exactly what he did. My mom, I
know she worked for Sax fifth Avenue, but I couldn't
tell you what she did. I know she answered the
phone when I called, but I didn't know what she did. Nonetheless,
what I did learn from them is work ethic. It
was one of those things where you know, they showed
(03:02):
up to work every day, even when we were sick,
they would still go to work and just call in
and check on us at home, like Ferris Bueller. So
I watched them work hard and show up every day,
and that kind of shaped my mindset as far as
work ethic, like being there every day, showing up on time,
making sure that you're present for everybody that you encounter,
and so watching that shaped how I would be as
(03:24):
an employee as I got older.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Would show up on time, be present, be punctual.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
But make sure you can impact people, like in social
settings I would watch my daddy.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
He was like a showman.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I would watch him just navigate a room and how
he you know, he just felt like the most important
person in the room to me because he knew everyone,
and everybody knew him, and everybody wanted to be around him.
And I would just just sitting there, I'm like, Yo,
he must be really important like that, you know what
I mean outside of work, Like watching him being rules,
I'm like, he must be really important. I want to
be that level of important when when I get older.
(03:55):
I want to walk in the room and I want
to like people to feel that way when they see me.
Or grew up with two older brothers, you know, I
kind of watched them growing up, man, and it was
it was interesting because at the time, you know, my
oldest brother's ten years older than me, and hip hop
was becoming something that was very popular I've seen in
the early eighties, and so anything he was listening to,
I was listening to. Anything he was trying to do,
I was following. And so that led to me getting
(04:17):
into music at a very young age. And I just
found a love for that and a love for sports.
Right that that seems like a stereotypical thing like sports
and entertainments and the things we're going to gravitate towards.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Eventually, Troy's parents wanted a better surrounding for the family,
so they made a decision to move out.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Of the Bronx.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
My parents moved us out of the South Bronx and
like nineteen eighty nine to Westchester County.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
It was it was a whole different thing.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Man.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Like I grew up, like I said in Soundview, so
you know, I'm used to being in the building.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Five B was my partner. When I got to Westchester.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
It was like I had a front yard and we
had a backyard and a porch, and I'm like, yo,
we have a street and we can play on it.
And I'm just like this is different. I could ride
my bikes in the neighborhood and so it was crazy. Man,
I was like, this is like the real Jeffersons.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Like we really moved on up.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So I was seven years old when we moved to
Westchester Greenberg, New York. Specifically, it was interesting because it was,
you know, there was familiar faces. It was a predominantly
African American community, but it was like homes. It was
like middle class families, but they all looked like us,
and I was like, oh, this is this is different.
Little did I know it would be the most important
piece of my life. I always said there's nothing I
(05:24):
could do to ever repay them. I often wonder what
would happen if I had stayed in the South Bronx.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
I met him when I was in sixth grade. I
think he was in eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
This is Rashad Balau, co founder of Ernyar Leisure.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
He had just moved into my neighborhood, so I didn't
know who he was, but he was at the movie
set for a movie, Eddie. It was a basketball movie.
It was in Masison Square Garden and they took some
kids from my neighborhood to be extras in the movie.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The movie was Eddie by Whoopi Goldberg.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
A guy in our neighborhood was pretty like known in
the basketball world, and so the movie needed extras for
a basketball scene and he called on the kids from
the neighborhood. At the time, it was me and my
friends who were in eighth grade, and they called this
like sixth.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Grade kid to come up.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
And I had never seen him before because I didn't
go to elementary school with him, but everybody knew him.
So I figured, like, if everybody knows them and they're
cool with him, I guess I'll I'll just be cool
with him too.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
And so, you know, I remember they I was like, Yo,
what's your name?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Man? And he was like Rasha and they was like,
everybody calls him shoddy. And so I was like, all right,
I'm like, I'll take him under my wing. He's gonna
be my boy too. So if he's y'all boy, he's
my boy. Because at the time I'm just figuring it
out myself.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
He just started talking to me like he knew me.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
That was the first time that we actually met on
the movie set, and then from there, you know, just
developed a relationship. After that, we went to school together,
you know, play sports together, and then you know, just
started hanging out in the same circle and became friends.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And then obviously the next year he made it. He
was in seventh grade and so we were all in
the same school together.
Speaker 6 (06:45):
Now, I met Troy when he was taller than me.
I'm six six. Me and Troy met probably like five
six years old. We were in camp.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
This is Michael McDonald, co founder of Earnier Leisure.
Speaker 6 (06:58):
We all grew up in the same community, so we
all went to high school together. But Troy actually he
came to our high school. I think in ninth grade Rashad.
I knew Rashad probably ten to eleven two. I came
from a single parent home, we had five siblings. Grew
up in like the projects, you know, every like everything
that could have possibly went wrong, Like what's going wrong?
We all grew up in the same community. Rashad used
(07:20):
to play basketball at the park in my projects. That's
where I met Rashad. So we've known each other for
a really long time. But when he came to high
school in ninth grade, that's when kind of he came.
We became like a clique, you know, brothers and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
The trio state friends through high school. But as it
came time to graduate, the three went on separate paths. Troy,
not wanting to be a financial burden to his family,
decided that he would stay close to home.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
At eighteen, you make the biggest financial decision of your life,
and that's where you're going to go to school, right,
and that could be a detriment to you if you
don't choose the right one, especially if you don't finish.
And so I knew that my parents want in a
position to send me away to school because it's just
going to cost so much. Plus my older brother, he
was in college at the same time. I might think
about the financial burden it would be if we had
two kids in college at the same time. And so
(08:04):
I decided to stay home. So I went to like
a local school, liber Row School, and I was like,
all right, cool, I'll do that. Some of my friends
were have wayd to school, but it was like we
were in the age of cell phones, so it was
like I always to stake in contact with them.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
While Troy stayed home, Rashad left the state and eventually
the country to pursue his basketball career.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
You know, I played basketball pretty much my whole life,
thought that I was going to be a professional basketball player.
But I was always interested in investing. I was always
interested in business. I used to watch a lot of
those movies Wall Street, Barbarians at the Gate, you know,
like I was just like fascinated about like corporate takeover
artists and very high level finance people. So between business
(08:44):
and basketball, that was like really the only two things
that I was ever really interested in that kind of
like it was my life trajectory. I knew I would
end up doing one of those two things. I went
to school, got scholarship, went to college, so once for
my first two years I was at a UNBC university
in Maryland, Baltimore County, and then I transferred to the University.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Of Hawaii for my last two years.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Sports really taught me a lot from every level, as
far as how to deal with coaches, how to you know,
fit in the system, deal with adversity, ups and downs, travel, nutrition,
working out, you know, having to get up early, having
to be places on time. All of these things you
learned from playing sports. And especially you know, the higher
up you go, it's it's more strict, more diligent, it's
more rules that you gotta follow. So the structured part
(09:30):
of it was very beneficial for me. And like I said,
just taking on the nutrition, taking on the workouts, taking
on all of that stuff, and the relationships of course,
and traveling with something that was very beneficial to me.
Especially you know, going to Hawaii, we got to travel
all across like the West coast, so that was my
first time in LA and Alaska and Arizona, Utah. Going
(09:52):
to all of these different places I haven't I hadn't
been before. That was the eye opening experience for me
and opened my eyes to different parts of the world,
different regions, different people, different culches. So that was something
that was extremely beneficial too, like you know, really going
very far away to school.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
While Rashad traveled the world, Michael became enamorative computers and
the World Wide Web.
Speaker 6 (10:15):
I think I was fourteen years old. I was using
my brother's computer, like on it, messing with it, which
she didn't want me to do because I guess he
felt like I was on mess it up. But I
was on this program called Adobe Photoshop three point zero.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
You know.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
It was a little neighborhood parties going on going around,
you know. So I was let me try to make
a little flyer because they were making flyers stuff. Let
me just try to make a flyer in it. And
I started making flyers. I started making logos like every
time I would get on his computer and he started
to show me, you know, how to use this Photoshop
three point zero. It was at that moment where I said,
I want to I want to do this for the
rest of my life. I want to be on computers
(10:48):
for the rest of my life. I was in special
education from like seventh grade to twelfth grade, so I
had to work my butt out to get out of
special education. I went to school for a couple of
years and for graphic design, all the same stuff that
you know I wanted to do. I realized that I
only could make busts so much doing flyers and doing
graphics and doing.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Logos and stuff.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
And I've never thought about hourly like people think about
hourly pay. My mind never been on hourly pay. Like
I'm that person that thought about how much you have
to make a day for a million to make a
million dollars a year's how much you make a month,
Like let's put it all a month, like I need
to make ten thousand dollars, I need to make fifteen
thousand dollars them.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I never was an hourly person.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
And the other thing is that I learned when I
was around like nineteen eighteen nineteen. I learned that you
want to work smart, like working hard. It's good, right,
it's great, and you do have to work hard to
get what you want. But if I can do something
really really well one time and continue to get paid
off of it forever and ever and ever and ever.
Then I created some residents your income. I'm creating generational wealth.
(11:51):
And that's what I was able to do at like
nineteen twenty years old, where I taught myself how to
do web design, and I learned dream Weaver, I learned Flash.
If you know these programs, they don't even didn't exist anymore.
But I learned all these programs, Dream River and Flash.
I was buying courses and stuff and learn these programs
that I was building websites. I knew PHP from the
back of my head, and Asian, I knew coding like crazy.
(12:12):
So I started building websites. Now I can make two thousand,
three thousand, four thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
As Michael grew into a burgeoning web developer making some
real bread, Troy was still a broke college student, so
we started looking for some income streams of his own.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I decided, like after my freshman year, I was like,
all right, well, if I'm gonna stay home, I gotta work,
you know, and not having money wasn't fun. So I'm
gonna work in a place that can give me at
least a bit of money and So one of those
things was like a couple of my older pairs were
working in schools. They would be in like teachers' aides.
I'm like how much you making and they're like thirty
five thousand. I'm like thirty five thousand. I'm the guy
(12:51):
that was just making like nine thousand hours. I'm like,
if I could make thirty five thousand, like, sign me up.
And so I got a job as a teacher assistant
in a school. I was like perfect. So my parents
were like, well, what are you gonna do about school?
I said, no problem, I'm gonna go at night. So
I would work from seven to three at the school
where I was working, then three five thirty at the
(13:13):
after school program, and then I would take classes from
like six to nine. I would do that every day
for like three years. I did that and then take
classes on Saturdays. And I was just like I'm just
gonna go for it, like I'm just gonna grind because
I want to have money in my pocket. And so
that's like when people were trying to figure out where
we got the name, I.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Told them because they never saw those parts of our lives.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
They never saw me going to school, they never saw
me going to work after school and like just trying
to stay on an academic path that would have me
graduating and I could do something with myself in the future.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
And so like everything I've ever done was earned.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
And then you know, as I kept going through school,
graduated with the health science degree, like I said, and
then I was like, look, I'm gonna go back and
teach for hisz Ed. I know I just have a
natural gift, like this might be my gift working with kids.
I knew this is one thing I did know. I
know I didn't want to be in a classroom. I
never wanted to be a classroom teacher. I was like, look,
I want to have fun, Like I want kids to
have fun. I want them when they see me, I
(14:07):
want them to think fun. But we're going to make
education such an enjoyable thing that you're gonna want to come.
And I knew in my school, like the class that
everybody wanted to go to and I'm sure for you too,
was physic like it. No, it was no brainer, like
that's the best teacher and that's the best class in school.
I'm like, that's going to be me, and I'm want
(14:28):
to make sure it's enjoyable, and I have this informal
interview and they're like, why don't you come interview with us?
I'm like all right, ended up getting that job. I
was like, yo, I got a job. This is crazy.
I'm about to make fifty thousand year, Like if I
was making thirty. Now making fifty, I'm like, I'm lit.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I got my.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Schedule and I looked and I was like, I saw
a phizzed and then I saw a H. I'm like H,
Like what's that? Like what's the age? They're like, oh,
that's your health classes. I'm like health. They're like, yeah,
don't you have a health science degree. I'm like yeah,
but I'm a physic at teacher. I'm supposed to be
in the gym. I don't want to be in a classroom.
They're like, nah, all the phist teachers teach hew. And
(15:03):
I looked and I'm like, I saw H on my
schedule thirteen times and I'm like, but I only got
twelve vis that periods. They were like, yeah, you're the newcomer,
so you got to show that in the stick. I'm like, wait,
I'm gonna be in the classroom and I'm gonna be
in the gym. This is I ain't sign out for this,
but you want the job, right, And so I did it,
and I'm so happy that I did it because even
(15:26):
though I didn't want to be a classroom teacher, I
needed to be a classroom teacher because my skill set
was facilitating conversations. I needed help on being more organized.
I needed more help on structuring lesson plans, I needed
more help on scaffolding lessons. And I had to do
that inside of the classroom.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
While Troy got used to teaching in the classroom. Rashad's
time as a college student was coming to an end.
Basketball had taken him all over the world, but now
we started to prepare for life after ball.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Yeah, I went to Germany for just a little bit,
like for a try out, and it was then for
a couple of weeks, but I didn't stay. They offered
me a contract, but I didn't. The money was really
no money at all. So at that point in time,
I kind of like started to lose the passion for basketball.
It felt like it was a job. So I didn't
really want to have to start at the bottom of
overseas and you know, make a couple of thousand dollars
a month, but then have to work my way up.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
It was just too much of a hassle. So I
felt like I just wanted to just.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Start life and just start making money and you know,
in a new career and switch switch gears. I felt like,
you know, I had ticket basketball as far as I
really could take it. So now it's just time for
me to, you know, try something else and try something different.
I know a lot of people, you know, have a
hard time making that switch from athletics to the real world,
but for me, I was I was kind of better
(16:49):
suited because I was already mentally preparing myself for years
before that that moment happened. So by the time the
moment happened, I was just like I was already ready.
I'm never afraid to kind of you know, start something new,
go in a different directions, and that was just something
that you know, I just felt like it was it
was time.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
The shot was you know, he had just got out
of college and he was kind of figure out what
he wants to do.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
He was like, yeah, I'm probably just gonna go into finance. Man,
I got my dad does that already.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
So you know, the first steps and becoming a financial advisory,
you have to get licensed, so you give it a
company and go back. Then at least you give it
a company and then they sponsor your license and you
got to study and past tests. So I had to
study for like a couple of months past the life
insurance test, life and health insurance tests. Then I had
to study and past security tests with like six and
sixty three which allow you to sell mutual funds about
(17:43):
twenty nine plays.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
So I was just in my room.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
I was in my room for like months, just studying
online study courses and you know, reading books and you know,
taking mock test. So that was that was the first step,
was actually just studying to take the test, you know.
And I took both of those tests. I passed the tests.
So once I passed the test and I was ready
to go, and then it was, you know, just hit
(18:07):
the ground running. My first job was working with pen
Mutual was an insurance company that had actually sponsored my
securities license and had sponsored me to take the life
insurance test. So I was working with them as an agent.
And so you know, the finance for how it works.
It's not like really a traditional job because it's all
a commission base.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
So it's not like you have to.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Go somewhere and you have to like, you know, be
at a desk, Like you go out in the fields
and you try to get clients. And then if you
can get a client and you can sell them life insurance,
you can sell them pot point non playing. You get
a commission over the products that yourself. So that really
is up to you how you structure it right, Like
you could be working at twelve o'clock at night and
have a meeting, and you can have a meeting on Christmas,
(18:50):
or you could close one big deal and not have
to work for the rest of the month.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
You just kind of out there on your own, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Rashad Hone did on the sales Chops and got a
taste for entrepreneur. Troy was in the classroom teaching but
also learning valuable skills himself.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I got to be in a classroom and I got
to see what was being taught because usually I would
come in and beat after a math or would be
after social studies, to be after a science or ELA class,
and I would look at the stuff and I'm like, yeah,
this isn't it. Like I'm looking at my colleagues like, yo,
what are you teaching? This isn't it you know, Like
this isn't gonna help them in the future, And like
as teachers, we used to have the great State tests
(19:26):
and I never forget I was grading a State Social
Studies tests from a student and he gave an answer
and I was like, Okay, from his perspective, this makes sense,
and then they graded him a zero and I'm like,
I don't think they get it, Like the things that
we're teaching them are not going to be affable to
their future. And I'm like, this makes no sense. We
need to teach them things that they're going to be
(19:47):
able to use. Like it's cool to see what they know,
but who are we doing this for? Like why if
we're not going to if we're teaching the quadratic equation,
like what career path that are they going to use
that in? I'm like, why are we not teaching them
things that they can use? Who's teaching him how to interview?
Who was teaching them how to write a resume? Who
was teaching them about life skills? Who teaching them about
financial literacy? And the answer was none, nobody.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Is well, somebody was trying to While he worked a
financial job, Rashad also started to build his own personal
brand on social media with the focus on finance and
financial literacy.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
So I was doing a variety of different things to
really build social media, my own personal social media. So
I had a public access show, I was going on
different people's radio shows. I was doing interviews or pretty
much anybody that would interview me. Photo shoots that I
was doing, I was doing like video selfie. So it
was like a gumbo of different things that I was
(20:43):
personally doing to build my own personal brand on social media.
Speaker 6 (20:46):
Before Rashawe knew I knew, I said, I could see
being the biggest financial advisor online. One was it was
super easy because it was nobody saying that.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
That was the first right.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
Two is like he had a lot of the elements
that people didn't have, Like he had the swag, right,
he had the ability to take all this complicated information
and make it simple for you. And then he also
had the focus and the dedication, you know, So all
those things seen it in them, I said, we just
got to package it up and do it.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
So the whole idea that I had behind this whole
thing was when I was being a financial advisor. I
was realizing that it was limited, and I realized I
could only go so far, like talking to people.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
On a one on one basis or doing a group
of talk.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
So I had an idea to become like a superstar
financial advisor where I wanted to like write books, I
wanted to travel the world. I wanted to be speaking,
I wanted to show. I wanted to work with athletes.
I wanted to build my personal profile to the point
where I was I was like a celebrity, but the
financial advisor of celebrity, and everybody kind of knew who
I was, and I'll be able to, you know, really
(21:49):
build my financial planning business.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
That was the first idea behind it.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
As Rashad built his own personal brand on the side,
Troy stumbled on an opportunity that would connect their two
worlds and change their lives forever.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
So I had this opportunity. I worked in this community
center for my entire life. They had this program, a
program for summer interns. A mentor of mind was like, Hey, Troy,
I need you to do me a favor. I need
you to run this program for me. I was like,
all right, cool, where do I start. They were like,
we got some payments for you, but you just do
your own thing. You can create whatever you want. I'm like,
all right, perfect. So I know how I felt inside
of school from the ten months of teaching, and that
(22:24):
complicency I started to feel like after I did like
three or four years, I started to feel complicit. I'm like,
I could be the most positive role model, you know,
the most stand up citizen, you could be the best teacher,
But every day I'm hitting reset because every day they
go home into the environment that they live in and
that's their reality, and I'm fighting an uphill battle. And
(22:47):
if I'm not helping them, then I'm complicit in their failure.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
That started away on me.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I'm like, look, I got to figure out something. So
that program. I was like, all right, this is what
I'm gonna do. I'm gonna interview these kids they tell
me what they want to be in the future, go
out and figure out people in the community who are
willing to take them in as interns so they can
see what it's like to be in that career field.
And so if a kid tells me you want to
be an architect, I go out and try to find
an architectural firm. That's like, all right, we're willing to
(23:13):
have a fourteen year old shadow us. They want to
be a pediatrician, I'm doing the same doctor belief all
these careers. Number one was because I remember, like I said,
when I grew up, I was watching sports and I
was watching entertainment, and that's all we thought we could
aspire to be. Like my parents were like, hey, be
a doctor or lawyer, and I'm like, I don't want
to be those two things. And then after that, I
was like, well, just be something, right, And so I'm like,
(23:35):
all right, well, what if I give these kids an
opportunity to see everything they can be outside of sports
and entertainment. I'm like, yeah, that's what we're going to do.
And while we do it, we're going to pay them. Right,
So we're going to pay them for their performance, just
like they would have a job. So they are fourteen
years old, I'm like, perfect, we'll pay them for their performance.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
But if we're going to pay them.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
We need to teach them about the foundations of money,
because we know at fourteen, if I pay you five
hundred dollar, once you get it, the next day, they'll
be going I said, all right, So look, if we
teach them about financial literacy, financial discipline, they're going to
know what to do with the money. And if they
learned it at fourteen, imagine what they'll do at eighteen.
Imagine what they'll do at twenty at twenty five. So
(24:18):
I'm like, this is perfect. We'll teach them financial literacy.
And at the time, I'm not forget. We sat in
the car one day. If you're a financial advisor and
I'm teaching financial literacy, you can come in and help
me with the classroom because you know finance.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
But I know how to write a lesson planned.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I know how to have classroom structure, right, I know
how to scaffold lessons.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
This is perfect. I'll write the lessons. You'd beat a
face shor it.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
With Rashad helping him in the classroom, Troy felt like
he had finally found his calling.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So we started doing that, teaching them the principles of
saving and spending and investing and sharing and what's docs
are and what real estate is and what taxes are
and what credit like, all these things, and I was like, oh,
this is great. I love this. So I did that
for ten years, bro ten years. Every summer. I did
(25:14):
this program while people were on vacation. While my colleagues were,
you know, vacationing until school started. I was in a
classroom and I'm like, cool, that's fine. The work that
we're doing here is going to help these kids in
the future. And after a couple of years of doing it,
and I was like, you know, for some reason, this
feels more fulfilling than the ten months of school that
I'm doing. So I'm teaching from September to June, but
(25:36):
I can't wait for July and August. I can't wait
for it because I know that that is going to
help these kids for the rest of their lives. So
I'm like, all right, how do I scale this that
became my thing? How do I get to a point
where I can now scale this and now community can
have it. Because I would tell people about the program,
(25:57):
You're like, I would love for my son to do that.
I would love for my daughters to be In fact,
I need to know it. I don't know that so well.
Shatty was like, look, man, these kids need the financial literacy.
But guess what, I'm running into adults and they don't
know anything about finance and I'm not just talking like
any I'm talking about highly educated adults, doctors, lawyers. They
don't know finance. They know what they know, that's their
(26:18):
field and they tell you that. So they don't know
about retirements, they don't know how to invest, they don't
know what stocks are, they don't know what riras are,
Like that's foreign language to them because that's not their
field of expertise. And I'm like, yeah, right, there really
is no age limit to financial literacy. So he has
idea like, hey, a friend of ours, she was incredible
for this. She used to record herself in a classroom.
(26:40):
Name was Valencia Clay. She would record her classes and
put them on Instagram, and her passion just came through
the screen. Like when you watched it, you were like, whoa,
I didn't have a teacher, like why where is she from?
And how come we don't have core teachers like her?
And so he was like, you know what, let's take
our lessons. I'm like, all right, my mind, I'm thinking
(27:00):
like I'm not thinking like this is how we're gonna
scale it.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I'm thinking like I got.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
To go to another place and tell them and sell
them on this vision of this program. And then we
can scale that way. I'll take one school district and
I'll get another one. Then I'll get the state and ba,
after I get the state, i will say the state.
And he was like, I'm just gonna record it. So
he started recording these lessons and people were just like,
I wish somebody would have taught me that at fourteen,
where's this program? I want my son in this, I
(27:24):
want my daughter in this. And we were like, oh, okay.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
So I liked the content of filming the classroom and
putting it on social media, and that became popular.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
We used to take the classrooms and then put it
on Instagram, and then people started to gravitate towards the
Instagram clip. But that is something that was you know,
people kind of liked it. And like I said, in
the middle of that, we were doing a bunch of
other stuff. I was doing a bunch of other stuff.
So it just all kind of, you know, came together
to helped build my own personal Instagram page. And then
(27:59):
once my personal Instagram page got to a point where
it was really starting to take off, that's when we
started earn your leisure.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
So he started putting on Instagram but then he wanted
to do his own thing. He wanted to be a
celebrity financial advisor and I'm like, cool, I'm teaching.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I'm gonna scale this thing. And then he used.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
To go to shows and people record him and he
would post it and they're like, Yo, where is this thing?
Where is this? He was like what do you mean?
They were like, yo, do you have your own podcasts?
He was like nah, And I never forget. He calls me,
He's like, you want to do a podcast. I'm like, okay.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
So I extroyed because obviously we have a relationship if
he wanted to be my partner in a podcast, because
it's like, you know, most podcasts.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Have two people. So I felt like it would be
a good idea.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
If we had you know whoa as opposed to me
just trying to put together podcast by myself.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
So he said yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
When he said let's do a podcast, I'm like, that's easy.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Like we talked every day for twenty five years, like
we already doing podcas.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
We argue with each other. People love it when we
argue with each other. They watch it.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
They watch us go back and forth to debate, and
I'm like, I'm not even thinking like, oh, this is
going to be difficult. And then we got to the
first part of like let's do a podcast, where we're like, well,
we listen to podcasts.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
No, well, how do we even do that?
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Right?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Like how do you create a podcast? And we were like,
we have no idea.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
So that's when we brought in our other partner, now, Mike,
and he was like, well, this is what you're gonna
have to use to record it, and this is how
we uploaded.
Speaker 6 (29:30):
He hit me up, He's like, yo, what's a podcast?
And I kind of told him what I knew about
the podcast. I didn't know too much, but I knew
like I knew Apple kind of created this podcast thing
because you had a podcast app in iTunes for a
really long time. People weren't using it because they didn't
have the exposure that they needed.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
They didn't know about it.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
I knew Gary Ve just came out with something called Anchor,
So I was like, we could set it up on Anchor.
You know, it's free, and then they'll also try to
get you ads if you start getting listened. He hit
up Troy like cause he's looking for a partner to
a host to go. I'm a person. Always been behind
the scenes. I don't really like to speak too much.
Troy said, yeah, let's do it, you know, because Troy
was down whatever you know. Well, brothers like whatever you say,
(30:08):
let's go, let's ride out. They tried to come up
with a name. It was like money, Power, respect, and
a bunch of different names.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
He's like, look, this thing on the internet is going
pretty crazy, like people are asking me if I have
a podcast. I want to create like a campaign for myself.
And so he was like, I need a hashtag though,
because this is big at the time on Instagram. I
need a hashtag. And I'm sitting there and I'm like,
all right, I got one flee and he's like, what
is it. I'm like, earn your Leisure And he was
(30:35):
like nah. I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Look this is great.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
This is great.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
It has to be earn your Leisure because people have
never seen the hard work.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
They've never seen the commitment, they've never seen the.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Sacrifice, They've never seen a level of dedication that it
took to get to these points. They see us like
they start to see us travel, they saw us have
nice cars. We used to throw these nice barbecues and parties,
and they thought, like, yo, these kids are from Greenbery
in Westchester, the Silver school kids. I'm like, oh, we
like everything we've ever done, we've earned it. But you
earned some freedoms. So I was like, earn your Lesia
(31:10):
has to be the man, because we're gonna earn our freedoms.
And he sat with it and he used it and
then he stopped. He's like, I'm not really feeling that.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Yeah, he gave me the name Alsia.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
I thought.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
I thought, you know, it didn't strike me as anything special.
I didn't dislike it. I just didn't think that it was,
you know, anything special. So I just stopped using it.
After a while, another one of my friends had asked me,
he's like, you know, whatever happened to earn your Legsia? Is like,
you know, I don't use that anymore. I asked, but
you like it? And he's like, yeah, that was that
was dope. So I'm like all right, So I started
using it again. So when it would time start the podcast,
(31:44):
you know, we came up with a few different names.
None of the names that we came up with was original. Well,
already got earned your lesia and using that and that's original,
like you know, nobody, that's something that was created, So man, why.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Not just row with that?
Speaker 3 (32:01):
When Shot, I was like, nah, I don't like it.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
I don't like it. Let me say, let's just do it.
Speaker 6 (32:04):
We did it, and it just I mean this thing
called Wildfire, and you know, my job was to handle
all the digital media. But at that point we had
no employees. It was just Shot, me and Troy, so
I was kind of like everything else besides the front
of the camera. So if I had to be the
operations manager, if I had to be the role manager,
if I had to be the booking manager, I created
(32:25):
the LC. You know, I was doing the lawyer to
the trademarks everything, whatever I had to do, that's what That's.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
What I had to do.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
With a brand name in hand, the team went to
work planning on exactly what they would talk about on
the Earnier Leisure podcast.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Before we started the podcast, we did the framework of
how we wanted the podcast to kind of be, so,
you know, the beginning stages of it, it was like
case studies where we would look at somebody like Soldier
Boy and like kind of break down like you know,
his his early career, and different things on that show.
We'll do like George Foreman Grill and the story behind that,
(33:07):
and like you know, had that ties into with Hawk Holegan.
It was like very interesting little known case studies. It
was niche based, and it was three different segments, so
each segment was a different story. It was a lot
of storytelling. That was the original format.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Of the show.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
It was supposed to be like the finance stories behind
sports and entertainment.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
And they were like, look, rather than doing them every week,
let's do two every Saturday.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
That way, we only have to record twice a month.
We were like, all right, cool.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So we recorded episode one and two together, and then
three and four were together, and we just put a
sagramount and we sat there and we were just in
his office and we did them there. I had my
notes and he had his notes, and we just we're
just going back and forth like we always do, and
I never get We put it out and I was like,
I wonder if anybody's gonna listen to this. So, like
(33:58):
I remember we were anchored, and I want it was like, oh,
twenty plays. I'm like, oh, people listen to it. And
then like a week it was like oh, sixteen hundred
plays and like sixteen hundred people listening to this. All right, cool,
and then people could write reviews and they're like, oh,
this is fresh, this is I haven't heard like anything
like this.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
This is so dope.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
It was an easier lift because it wasn't like we
were starting from not like I had probably fifty thousand
followers at the time when just started. So to start
with fifty thousand followers is helpful. We will put clips
up and every clip was just going viral, like one
hundred thousand views, one hundred and fifty thousand views, So
it just started circulating online and people just started sharing.
(34:40):
Everything was just organic, the word of mouth. So we
experienced success right away and really kind of never never
looked back.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
I'll be honest, man. Once we hit the ground, it
it was on. It was on.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
It was sixteen hundred, three thousand and fourth thousand, and
it just every time we just put out an episode,
it would it would just grow and grow and grow,
and I would just watch, like, wait, now we got
twenty thousand people listening. I remember going to work because
at the time I'm still teaching, I'm watching the impact
that's happening as we this is like twenty nineteen. I'm
(35:13):
watching on Instagram how people are reacting to the information
and the content, and I'm like, this is crazy. And
I told my coworkers, I'm like, you know, if I
get to twenty thousand people listening, they're not going to
see me anymore.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
And they're like, whatever, each your sandwich, you be quiet.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
I'm like, nah, I'm seriously like, if I can get
to twenty thousand listeners, that means I could tell somebody like, hey,
you should pay us like a thousand dollars to put
an add on our show.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
And if I get like four people to do that,
that's four thousand dollars a show.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
And if I put out two shows in a week,
then that's eight thousand dollars. Every day I bring my
laptop to work, I'm looking up articles, I'm editing episodes,
I'm reading.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
They're like, what are you doing.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I'm like, if I get to twenty thousand, you're not
going to see me anymore, and they're like whatever.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
I was sitting in the back.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
I would record ads like they used to send us ads,
like Anchor used to send us ads do I'd be
in the bathroom in my office recording What are you
doing back there?
Speaker 3 (36:03):
In millions?
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I'm like, I'm recording, like I can't, I can't talk.
I'll go in somebody's room during lunch, like record ads.
I'm always working. They're like, yo, what are you doing.
I'm like, look, if I get to twenty thousand, y'are
not gonna see me anymore. And then like in December
of twenty nineteen, we got to twenty thousand, twenty three thousand.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
As Earned Your Leisure grew, the guys started to evolve,
sharpening their process and elevating their product. They became more
aware of what their competitors were doing, what equipment to use,
and how to refine to Earn your Leisure sound.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Sometimes we would go out and visit places and I'm
looking around, I'm like, what are they recording?
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Then I started watching shows.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I'm looking at the breakfast club and I'm looking at
Joe Budden. I'm like, well, what is he using when
he talks to the microphone? That's what we need. Oh
what are they using? When what cameras are they use?
That's what we need? What in the face of the Okay,
that's what we need.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
We were always striving to be just as good as
saying when Drake gets his album produced, we need to
have our audio on that level. Like we didn't try
to compete with people around us or people in our space,
we try to We wanted to compete with the best
of the best. We always looked at it as being
the best and being the.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Biggest a sa Sean and Troy found their groove talking
to each other on air. They also started to book
celebrity guests, taking the show to another level.
Speaker 6 (37:19):
I remember our first like celebrity guests was DJ MVY
and Al Harrington. DJ MVY definitely let us hit the out.
He gave us an episode where we kind of hit
the algorithm with DJMVY. I think that was one of
the first. And Al Harrington, you know, because I watched
him play basketball and we interviewed him about the his
Mawana business and that that took off to Mark Cuban,
I mean, Steve Harvey, that was a big one. Tyler Perry,
(37:42):
did I think it was gonna be as big as
we are? I absolutely I would be lying if I
told you I did. But I knew it was gonna
be something big. I knew it was gonna change things
because you got these two black dudes and hoodies talking
about financial advice, not basketball, not sports, not rat about
financial advice. I got your attention because you got a
hoodie and you look like us, but you're talking about
(38:03):
how to make money now, and you're talking like you're
making it simple, simplified into the terms that we're doing.
Like it, Yo, if you got this deal, you are,
you know, breaking it down like that.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
You can't you can't lose it was it was a
win win.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
We started YouTube I think after like episode seven, so
that was something that you know, we started building a
YouTube channel, so that was a way to kind of
build revenue.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
And then of course, you know, like.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
The audio didn't murder, and then we started doing live
event and then we started something called Eyo University, which
is a description based model, so like you every every
couple of months we would just add something new to it,
Like you know, we would learn something and just see
different ways to make money and then add something new
and just kind of keep keep building from there.
Speaker 6 (38:47):
We had an event in Brooklyn and we literally flooded
the whole blockout, Like the place could probably hold three
hundred people and there's probably a thousand people there. It
was it turned into like a block party. I was like, wow,
this is a little different. When we went to London
and it was almost three thousand people outside in line,
I'm like, this is amazing, Like we're touching the world.
(39:08):
And that's when that was one of the times where
I was like, this this is gonna be talked about
in high school, but like school books, this will creating
history literally that people are going to talk about from
years a come with.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
A podcast, continuing to set record numbers, sold out live
events at partnerships with other top brands, Earn your Leisure
is just getting started.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
I think twenty twenty three is the year of global expansion,
and so you should expect to see us take the
message of financial education not just here in the United States,
but overseas in Africa. You know, we're making a strong
push to be on the continent because the issues that
we talk about and the things that we talk about
are very unique to our country. But other countries obviously
(39:50):
have different laws, different tax codes, different you know, things
that they're facing. There are some similarities, but there's obviously
other issues that they're facing. And if there's no platform
right like five years ago, there was no one in
your leisure, So who becomes that for you know, countries
throughout Africa, countries throughout Europe. Then let's find the voices
that can speak to these issues.
Speaker 6 (40:10):
More, more tours, more speaking engagements, more stuff outside of
the country into different places like Africa, We're gonna go
to uh, you know, Europe, We're gonna go different continents
of the world, different countries of the world. A lot
more stuff gonna be done in Canada invest Fest twenty
twenty three, August twenty fifth, twenty seven. That is definitely
(40:31):
gonna happen. And look for much I don't want to
say much bigger guests because that's disrespecting the old guests,
but look for bigger guests as well.
Speaker 5 (40:40):
The goal on your leasha is to, you know, have
the top business platform when it comes to media, trusted
source and media and education and events and really revolutionize
education when it comes to finance. Make it something that's exciting,
make it something that's you know, global in scale, and
something that you know is really revolutionary in a way
(41:02):
that people learn.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
The story of earn your leisure is one of friendship,
authenticity and flat out a lot of really hard work
that Troy, Rashad and Michael started as childhood friends is
crucial to their chemistry, and when they saw the opportunity
to commodify that chemistry, packaging up their natural rapport with
their shared interest in teaching and financial literacy, the authenticity
(41:28):
of that relationship made the product irresistible, and that they
built the business together brick by brick as a unit
in real time in front of their audience, has engendered
even more by it, and that engagement has given them
the leverage to scale their ambition and truly, whenever it
is that they decide to take their foot off the gas, Troy,
Rashad and Michael will all have earned their leisure for
(42:00):
Idea Generation. I'm Noah Callahan Bever. Thanks for listening to
The All Angles Podcast presented by Will Packer Media. If
you've enjoyed this episode, please don't hesitate to like, comment DM,
or tell a friend to tell a friend about Idea
Generation and the All Angles Podcast. This episode was brought
(42:21):
to you by Will Packer Executive produced by John Valachick
and Helena Os. Original music by Valentine Printz, edit and
sound mixed by Nonsensible Production and hosted by me Idea
Generation founder Noah Callahan Beverer Idea Generations. All Angles is
a Will Packer media podcast
When he said let's do a podcast, I'm like, that's easy.
Like we talk every day for twenty five years, Like
we already doing podcasts. We argue with each other. People
love it when we argue with each other. They watch it,
they watch us go back and forth and debate. I'm like,
I'm not even thinking, like, oh, this is going to
be difficult. And then we got to the first part
of like let's do a podcast, where we're like, well,
(00:21):
do you listen to podcasts?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Well, how do we even do that?
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Right?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Like, how do you create a podcast?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Welcome to Idea Generations All Angles, a podcast about culture's
most influential brands and the teams that built it. If
you're an entrepreneur, creative, or anyone interested in harnessing the
power of collaboration, join me Noah Callahan v Ever each
week as we dissect the most dynamic companies in culture,
because the only way to truly understand success is to
(01:00):
look at it from all angles. Idea Generations All Angles
is a Willpacker media podcast. In twenty nineteen, a trio
of childhood friends in Westchester County, New York, founded Earned
Your Leisure, a media outlet dedicated to financial literacy. In
(01:22):
the years that followed, Earned Your Leisure has seen explosive growth,
evolving from a simple podcast into a multimedia conglomerate boasting
expansive live events, a variety of video franchises, and a
recent push into becoming a global brand. On this week's
episode of All Angles, we talked to founders Troy Millings,
(01:44):
Rashad Balau, and Michael McDonald to hear the full story
behind Earn Your Leisure and find out how a teacher,
financial advisor, and web developer came together to create one
of the most impactful new brands in media. But before
any of that happened, years before they would put together
their own festival or land a partnership with Diddian Revolt,
Troy Millings was just a kid growing up in the
(02:06):
South Bronx.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So I was born in the South Bronx in the
early eighties. My parents are Jamaican and so I'm first
generation American.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
This is Troy Millings, co founder of Earn Your Leisure.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So growing up, man, it was a lot of you know,
family oriented things, and my parents always told me like,
the most important people are in this household with you,
and now you might have friends, and you might have cousins,
but this five family union is the most important thing.
My parents worked, but I always say this, man, they
worked so hard every day. I just didn't know what
they did. I had no idea. So my dad worked
(02:41):
for forty two years. I know he worked hard, but
I don't know exactly what he did. My mom, I
know she worked for Sax fifth Avenue, but I couldn't
tell you what she did. I know she answered the
phone when I called, but I didn't know what she did. Nonetheless,
what I did learn from them is work ethic. It
was one of those things where you know, they showed
(03:02):
up to work every day, even when we were sick,
they would still go to work and just call in
and check on us at home, like Ferris Bueller. So
I watched them work hard and show up every day,
and that kind of shaped my mindset as far as
work ethic, like being there every day, showing up on time,
making sure that you're present for everybody that you encounter,
and so watching that shaped how I would be as
(03:24):
an employee as I got older.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Would show up on time, be present, be punctual.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
But make sure you can impact people, like in social
settings I would watch my daddy.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
He was like a showman.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
I would watch him just navigate a room and how
he you know, he just felt like the most important
person in the room to me because he knew everyone,
and everybody knew him, and everybody wanted to be around him.
And I would just just sitting there, I'm like, Yo,
he must be really important like that, you know what
I mean outside of work, Like watching him being rules,
I'm like, he must be really important. I want to
be that level of important when when I get older.
(03:55):
I want to walk in the room and I want
to like people to feel that way when they see me.
Or grew up with two older brothers, you know, I
kind of watched them growing up, man, and it was
it was interesting because at the time, you know, my
oldest brother's ten years older than me, and hip hop
was becoming something that was very popular I've seen in
the early eighties, and so anything he was listening to,
I was listening to. Anything he was trying to do,
I was following. And so that led to me getting
(04:17):
into music at a very young age. And I just
found a love for that and a love for sports.
Right that that seems like a stereotypical thing like sports
and entertainments and the things we're going to gravitate towards.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Eventually, Troy's parents wanted a better surrounding for the family,
so they made a decision to move out.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Of the Bronx.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
My parents moved us out of the South Bronx and
like nineteen eighty nine to Westchester County.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
It was it was a whole different thing.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Man.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Like I grew up, like I said in Soundview, so
you know, I'm used to being in the building.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Five B was my partner. When I got to Westchester.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
It was like I had a front yard and we
had a backyard and a porch, and I'm like, yo,
we have a street and we can play on it.
And I'm just like this is different. I could ride
my bikes in the neighborhood and so it was crazy. Man,
I was like, this is like the real Jeffersons.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Like we really moved on up.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So I was seven years old when we moved to
Westchester Greenberg, New York. Specifically, it was interesting because it was,
you know, there was familiar faces. It was a predominantly
African American community, but it was like homes. It was
like middle class families, but they all looked like us,
and I was like, oh, this is this is different.
Little did I know it would be the most important
piece of my life. I always said there's nothing I
(05:24):
could do to ever repay them. I often wonder what
would happen if I had stayed in the South Bronx.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
I met him when I was in sixth grade. I
think he was in eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
This is Rashad Balau, co founder of Ernyar Leisure.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
He had just moved into my neighborhood, so I didn't
know who he was, but he was at the movie
set for a movie, Eddie. It was a basketball movie.
It was in Masison Square Garden and they took some
kids from my neighborhood to be extras in the movie.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The movie was Eddie by Whoopi Goldberg.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
A guy in our neighborhood was pretty like known in
the basketball world, and so the movie needed extras for
a basketball scene and he called on the kids from
the neighborhood. At the time, it was me and my
friends who were in eighth grade, and they called this
like sixth.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Grade kid to come up.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
And I had never seen him before because I didn't
go to elementary school with him, but everybody knew him.
So I figured, like, if everybody knows them and they're
cool with him, I guess I'll I'll just be cool
with him too.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
And so, you know, I remember they I was like, Yo,
what's your name?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Man? And he was like Rasha and they was like,
everybody calls him shoddy. And so I was like, all right,
I'm like, I'll take him under my wing. He's gonna
be my boy too. So if he's y'all boy, he's
my boy. Because at the time I'm just figuring it
out myself.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
He just started talking to me like he knew me.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
That was the first time that we actually met on
the movie set, and then from there, you know, just
developed a relationship. After that, we went to school together,
you know, play sports together, and then you know, just
started hanging out in the same circle and became friends.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And then obviously the next year he made it. He
was in seventh grade and so we were all in
the same school together.
Speaker 6 (06:45):
Now, I met Troy when he was taller than me.
I'm six six. Me and Troy met probably like five
six years old. We were in camp.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
This is Michael McDonald, co founder of Earnier Leisure.
Speaker 6 (06:58):
We all grew up in the same community, so we
all went to high school together. But Troy actually he
came to our high school. I think in ninth grade Rashad.
I knew Rashad probably ten to eleven two. I came
from a single parent home, we had five siblings. Grew
up in like the projects, you know, every like everything
that could have possibly went wrong, Like what's going wrong?
We all grew up in the same community. Rashad used
(07:20):
to play basketball at the park in my projects. That's
where I met Rashad. So we've known each other for
a really long time. But when he came to high
school in ninth grade, that's when kind of he came.
We became like a clique, you know, brothers and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
The trio state friends through high school. But as it
came time to graduate, the three went on separate paths. Troy,
not wanting to be a financial burden to his family,
decided that he would stay close to home.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
At eighteen, you make the biggest financial decision of your life,
and that's where you're going to go to school, right,
and that could be a detriment to you if you
don't choose the right one, especially if you don't finish.
And so I knew that my parents want in a
position to send me away to school because it's just
going to cost so much. Plus my older brother, he
was in college at the same time. I might think
about the financial burden it would be if we had
two kids in college at the same time. And so
(08:04):
I decided to stay home. So I went to like
a local school, liber Row School, and I was like,
all right, cool, I'll do that. Some of my friends
were have wayd to school, but it was like we
were in the age of cell phones, so it was
like I always to stake in contact with them.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
While Troy stayed home, Rashad left the state and eventually
the country to pursue his basketball career.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
You know, I played basketball pretty much my whole life,
thought that I was going to be a professional basketball player.
But I was always interested in investing. I was always
interested in business. I used to watch a lot of
those movies Wall Street, Barbarians at the Gate, you know,
like I was just like fascinated about like corporate takeover
artists and very high level finance people. So between business
(08:44):
and basketball, that was like really the only two things
that I was ever really interested in that kind of
like it was my life trajectory. I knew I would
end up doing one of those two things. I went
to school, got scholarship, went to college, so once for
my first two years I was at a UNBC university
in Maryland, Baltimore County, and then I transferred to the University.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Of Hawaii for my last two years.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Sports really taught me a lot from every level, as
far as how to deal with coaches, how to you know,
fit in the system, deal with adversity, ups and downs, travel, nutrition,
working out, you know, having to get up early, having
to be places on time. All of these things you
learned from playing sports. And especially you know, the higher
up you go, it's it's more strict, more diligent, it's
more rules that you gotta follow. So the structured part
(09:30):
of it was very beneficial for me. And like I said,
just taking on the nutrition, taking on the workouts, taking
on all of that stuff, and the relationships of course,
and traveling with something that was very beneficial to me.
Especially you know, going to Hawaii, we got to travel
all across like the West coast, so that was my
first time in LA and Alaska and Arizona, Utah. Going
(09:52):
to all of these different places I haven't I hadn't
been before. That was the eye opening experience for me
and opened my eyes to different parts of the world,
different regions, different people, different culches. So that was something
that was extremely beneficial too, like you know, really going
very far away to school.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
While Rashad traveled the world, Michael became enamorative computers and
the World Wide Web.
Speaker 6 (10:15):
I think I was fourteen years old. I was using
my brother's computer, like on it, messing with it, which
she didn't want me to do because I guess he
felt like I was on mess it up. But I
was on this program called Adobe Photoshop three point zero.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
You know.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
It was a little neighborhood parties going on going around,
you know. So I was let me try to make
a little flyer because they were making flyers stuff. Let
me just try to make a flyer in it. And
I started making flyers. I started making logos like every
time I would get on his computer and he started
to show me, you know, how to use this Photoshop
three point zero. It was at that moment where I said,
I want to I want to do this for the
rest of my life. I want to be on computers
(10:48):
for the rest of my life. I was in special
education from like seventh grade to twelfth grade, so I
had to work my butt out to get out of
special education. I went to school for a couple of
years and for graphic design, all the same stuff that
you know I wanted to do. I realized that I
only could make busts so much doing flyers and doing
graphics and doing.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Logos and stuff.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
And I've never thought about hourly like people think about
hourly pay. My mind never been on hourly pay. Like
I'm that person that thought about how much you have
to make a day for a million to make a
million dollars a year's how much you make a month,
Like let's put it all a month, like I need
to make ten thousand dollars, I need to make fifteen
thousand dollars them.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I never was an hourly person.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
And the other thing is that I learned when I
was around like nineteen eighteen nineteen. I learned that you
want to work smart, like working hard. It's good, right,
it's great, and you do have to work hard to
get what you want. But if I can do something
really really well one time and continue to get paid
off of it forever and ever and ever and ever.
Then I created some residents your income. I'm creating generational wealth.
(11:51):
And that's what I was able to do at like
nineteen twenty years old, where I taught myself how to
do web design, and I learned dream Weaver, I learned Flash.
If you know these programs, they don't even didn't exist anymore.
But I learned all these programs, Dream River and Flash.
I was buying courses and stuff and learn these programs
that I was building websites. I knew PHP from the
back of my head, and Asian, I knew coding like crazy.
(12:12):
So I started building websites. Now I can make two thousand,
three thousand, four thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
As Michael grew into a burgeoning web developer making some
real bread, Troy was still a broke college student, so
we started looking for some income streams of his own.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I decided, like after my freshman year, I was like,
all right, well, if I'm gonna stay home, I gotta work,
you know, and not having money wasn't fun. So I'm
gonna work in a place that can give me at
least a bit of money and So one of those
things was like a couple of my older pairs were
working in schools. They would be in like teachers' aides.
I'm like how much you making and they're like thirty
five thousand. I'm like thirty five thousand. I'm the guy
(12:51):
that was just making like nine thousand hours. I'm like,
if I could make thirty five thousand, like, sign me up.
And so I got a job as a teacher assistant
in a school. I was like perfect. So my parents
were like, well, what are you gonna do about school?
I said, no problem, I'm gonna go at night. So
I would work from seven to three at the school
where I was working, then three five thirty at the
(13:13):
after school program, and then I would take classes from
like six to nine. I would do that every day
for like three years. I did that and then take
classes on Saturdays. And I was just like I'm just
gonna go for it, like I'm just gonna grind because
I want to have money in my pocket. And so
that's like when people were trying to figure out where
we got the name, I.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Told them because they never saw those parts of our lives.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
They never saw me going to school, they never saw
me going to work after school and like just trying
to stay on an academic path that would have me
graduating and I could do something with myself in the future.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
And so like everything I've ever done was earned.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
And then you know, as I kept going through school,
graduated with the health science degree, like I said, and
then I was like, look, I'm gonna go back and
teach for hisz Ed. I know I just have a
natural gift, like this might be my gift working with kids.
I knew this is one thing I did know. I
know I didn't want to be in a classroom. I
never wanted to be a classroom teacher. I was like, look,
I want to have fun, Like I want kids to
have fun. I want them when they see me, I
(14:07):
want them to think fun. But we're going to make
education such an enjoyable thing that you're gonna want to come.
And I knew in my school, like the class that
everybody wanted to go to and I'm sure for you too,
was physic like it. No, it was no brainer, like
that's the best teacher and that's the best class in school.
I'm like, that's going to be me, and I'm want
(14:28):
to make sure it's enjoyable, and I have this informal
interview and they're like, why don't you come interview with us?
I'm like all right, ended up getting that job. I
was like, yo, I got a job. This is crazy.
I'm about to make fifty thousand year, Like if I
was making thirty. Now making fifty, I'm like, I'm lit.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I got my.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Schedule and I looked and I was like, I saw
a phizzed and then I saw a H. I'm like H,
Like what's that? Like what's the age? They're like, oh,
that's your health classes. I'm like health. They're like, yeah,
don't you have a health science degree. I'm like yeah,
but I'm a physic at teacher. I'm supposed to be
in the gym. I don't want to be in a classroom.
They're like, nah, all the phist teachers teach hew. And
(15:03):
I looked and I'm like, I saw H on my
schedule thirteen times and I'm like, but I only got
twelve vis that periods. They were like, yeah, you're the newcomer,
so you got to show that in the stick. I'm like, wait,
I'm gonna be in the classroom and I'm gonna be
in the gym. This is I ain't sign out for this,
but you want the job, right, And so I did it,
and I'm so happy that I did it because even
(15:26):
though I didn't want to be a classroom teacher, I
needed to be a classroom teacher because my skill set
was facilitating conversations. I needed help on being more organized.
I needed more help on structuring lesson plans, I needed
more help on scaffolding lessons. And I had to do
that inside of the classroom.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
While Troy got used to teaching in the classroom. Rashad's
time as a college student was coming to an end.
Basketball had taken him all over the world, but now
we started to prepare for life after ball.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Yeah, I went to Germany for just a little bit,
like for a try out, and it was then for
a couple of weeks, but I didn't stay. They offered
me a contract, but I didn't. The money was really
no money at all. So at that point in time,
I kind of like started to lose the passion for basketball.
It felt like it was a job. So I didn't
really want to have to start at the bottom of
overseas and you know, make a couple of thousand dollars
a month, but then have to work my way up.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
It was just too much of a hassle. So I
felt like I just wanted to just.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Start life and just start making money and you know,
in a new career and switch switch gears. I felt like,
you know, I had ticket basketball as far as I
really could take it. So now it's just time for
me to, you know, try something else and try something different.
I know a lot of people, you know, have a
hard time making that switch from athletics to the real world,
but for me, I was I was kind of better
(16:49):
suited because I was already mentally preparing myself for years
before that that moment happened. So by the time the
moment happened, I was just like I was already ready.
I'm never afraid to kind of you know, start something new,
go in a different directions, and that was just something
that you know, I just felt like it was it
was time.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
The shot was you know, he had just got out
of college and he was kind of figure out what
he wants to do.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
He was like, yeah, I'm probably just gonna go into finance. Man,
I got my dad does that already.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
So you know, the first steps and becoming a financial advisory,
you have to get licensed, so you give it a
company and go back. Then at least you give it
a company and then they sponsor your license and you
got to study and past tests. So I had to
study for like a couple of months past the life
insurance test, life and health insurance tests. Then I had
to study and past security tests with like six and
sixty three which allow you to sell mutual funds about
(17:43):
twenty nine plays.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
So I was just in my room.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
I was in my room for like months, just studying
online study courses and you know, reading books and you know,
taking mock test. So that was that was the first step,
was actually just studying to take the test, you know.
And I took both of those tests. I passed the tests.
So once I passed the test and I was ready
to go, and then it was, you know, just hit
(18:07):
the ground running. My first job was working with pen
Mutual was an insurance company that had actually sponsored my
securities license and had sponsored me to take the life
insurance test. So I was working with them as an agent.
And so you know, the finance for how it works.
It's not like really a traditional job because it's all
a commission base.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
So it's not like you have to.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Go somewhere and you have to like, you know, be
at a desk, Like you go out in the fields
and you try to get clients. And then if you
can get a client and you can sell them life insurance,
you can sell them pot point non playing. You get
a commission over the products that yourself. So that really
is up to you how you structure it right, Like
you could be working at twelve o'clock at night and
have a meeting, and you can have a meeting on Christmas,
(18:50):
or you could close one big deal and not have
to work for the rest of the month.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
You just kind of out there on your own, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Rashad Hone did on the sales Chops and got a
taste for entrepreneur. Troy was in the classroom teaching but
also learning valuable skills himself.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I got to be in a classroom and I got
to see what was being taught because usually I would
come in and beat after a math or would be
after social studies, to be after a science or ELA class,
and I would look at the stuff and I'm like, yeah,
this isn't it. Like I'm looking at my colleagues like, yo,
what are you teaching? This isn't it you know, Like
this isn't gonna help them in the future, And like
as teachers, we used to have the great State tests
(19:26):
and I never forget I was grading a State Social
Studies tests from a student and he gave an answer
and I was like, Okay, from his perspective, this makes sense,
and then they graded him a zero and I'm like,
I don't think they get it, Like the things that
we're teaching them are not going to be affable to
their future. And I'm like, this makes no sense. We
need to teach them things that they're going to be
(19:47):
able to use. Like it's cool to see what they know,
but who are we doing this for? Like why if
we're not going to if we're teaching the quadratic equation,
like what career path that are they going to use
that in? I'm like, why are we not teaching them
things that they can use? Who's teaching him how to interview?
Who was teaching them how to write a resume? Who
was teaching them about life skills? Who teaching them about
financial literacy? And the answer was none, nobody.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Is well, somebody was trying to While he worked a
financial job, Rashad also started to build his own personal
brand on social media with the focus on finance and
financial literacy.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
So I was doing a variety of different things to
really build social media, my own personal social media. So
I had a public access show, I was going on
different people's radio shows. I was doing interviews or pretty
much anybody that would interview me. Photo shoots that I
was doing, I was doing like video selfie. So it
was like a gumbo of different things that I was
(20:43):
personally doing to build my own personal brand on social media.
Speaker 6 (20:46):
Before Rashawe knew I knew, I said, I could see
being the biggest financial advisor online. One was it was
super easy because it was nobody saying that.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
That was the first right.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
Two is like he had a lot of the elements
that people didn't have, Like he had the swag, right,
he had the ability to take all this complicated information
and make it simple for you. And then he also
had the focus and the dedication, you know, So all
those things seen it in them, I said, we just
got to package it up and do it.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
So the whole idea that I had behind this whole
thing was when I was being a financial advisor. I
was realizing that it was limited, and I realized I
could only go so far, like talking to people.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
On a one on one basis or doing a group
of talk.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
So I had an idea to become like a superstar
financial advisor where I wanted to like write books, I
wanted to travel the world. I wanted to be speaking,
I wanted to show. I wanted to work with athletes.
I wanted to build my personal profile to the point
where I was I was like a celebrity, but the
financial advisor of celebrity, and everybody kind of knew who
I was, and I'll be able to, you know, really
(21:49):
build my financial planning business.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
That was the first idea behind it.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
As Rashad built his own personal brand on the side,
Troy stumbled on an opportunity that would connect their two
worlds and change their lives forever.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
So I had this opportunity. I worked in this community
center for my entire life. They had this program, a
program for summer interns. A mentor of mind was like, Hey, Troy,
I need you to do me a favor. I need
you to run this program for me. I was like,
all right, cool, where do I start. They were like,
we got some payments for you, but you just do
your own thing. You can create whatever you want. I'm like,
all right, perfect. So I know how I felt inside
of school from the ten months of teaching, and that
(22:24):
complicency I started to feel like after I did like
three or four years, I started to feel complicit. I'm like,
I could be the most positive role model, you know,
the most stand up citizen, you could be the best teacher,
But every day I'm hitting reset because every day they
go home into the environment that they live in and
that's their reality, and I'm fighting an uphill battle. And
(22:47):
if I'm not helping them, then I'm complicit in their failure.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
That started away on me.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I'm like, look, I got to figure out something. So
that program. I was like, all right, this is what
I'm gonna do. I'm gonna interview these kids they tell
me what they want to be in the future, go
out and figure out people in the community who are
willing to take them in as interns so they can
see what it's like to be in that career field.
And so if a kid tells me you want to
be an architect, I go out and try to find
an architectural firm. That's like, all right, we're willing to
(23:13):
have a fourteen year old shadow us. They want to
be a pediatrician, I'm doing the same doctor belief all
these careers. Number one was because I remember, like I said,
when I grew up, I was watching sports and I
was watching entertainment, and that's all we thought we could
aspire to be. Like my parents were like, hey, be
a doctor or lawyer, and I'm like, I don't want
to be those two things. And then after that, I
was like, well, just be something, right, And so I'm like,
(23:35):
all right, well, what if I give these kids an
opportunity to see everything they can be outside of sports
and entertainment. I'm like, yeah, that's what we're going to do.
And while we do it, we're going to pay them. Right,
So we're going to pay them for their performance, just
like they would have a job. So they are fourteen
years old, I'm like, perfect, we'll pay them for their performance.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
But if we're going to pay them.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
We need to teach them about the foundations of money,
because we know at fourteen, if I pay you five
hundred dollar, once you get it, the next day, they'll
be going I said, all right, So look, if we
teach them about financial literacy, financial discipline, they're going to
know what to do with the money. And if they
learned it at fourteen, imagine what they'll do at eighteen.
Imagine what they'll do at twenty at twenty five. So
(24:18):
I'm like, this is perfect. We'll teach them financial literacy.
And at the time, I'm not forget. We sat in
the car one day. If you're a financial advisor and
I'm teaching financial literacy, you can come in and help
me with the classroom because you know finance.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
But I know how to write a lesson planned.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I know how to have classroom structure, right, I know
how to scaffold lessons.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
This is perfect. I'll write the lessons. You'd beat a
face shor it.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
With Rashad helping him in the classroom, Troy felt like
he had finally found his calling.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So we started doing that, teaching them the principles of
saving and spending and investing and sharing and what's docs
are and what real estate is and what taxes are
and what credit like, all these things, and I was like, oh,
this is great. I love this. So I did that
for ten years, bro ten years. Every summer. I did
(25:14):
this program while people were on vacation. While my colleagues were,
you know, vacationing until school started. I was in a
classroom and I'm like, cool, that's fine. The work that
we're doing here is going to help these kids in
the future. And after a couple of years of doing it,
and I was like, you know, for some reason, this
feels more fulfilling than the ten months of school that
I'm doing. So I'm teaching from September to June, but
(25:36):
I can't wait for July and August. I can't wait
for it because I know that that is going to
help these kids for the rest of their lives. So
I'm like, all right, how do I scale this that
became my thing? How do I get to a point
where I can now scale this and now community can
have it. Because I would tell people about the program,
(25:57):
You're like, I would love for my son to do that.
I would love for my daughters to be In fact,
I need to know it. I don't know that so well.
Shatty was like, look, man, these kids need the financial literacy.
But guess what, I'm running into adults and they don't
know anything about finance and I'm not just talking like
any I'm talking about highly educated adults, doctors, lawyers. They
don't know finance. They know what they know, that's their
(26:18):
field and they tell you that. So they don't know
about retirements, they don't know how to invest, they don't
know what stocks are, they don't know what riras are,
Like that's foreign language to them because that's not their
field of expertise. And I'm like, yeah, right, there really
is no age limit to financial literacy. So he has
idea like, hey, a friend of ours, she was incredible
for this. She used to record herself in a classroom.
(26:40):
Name was Valencia Clay. She would record her classes and
put them on Instagram, and her passion just came through
the screen. Like when you watched it, you were like, whoa,
I didn't have a teacher, like why where is she from?
And how come we don't have core teachers like her?
And so he was like, you know what, let's take
our lessons. I'm like, all right, my mind, I'm thinking
(27:00):
like I'm not thinking like this is how we're gonna
scale it.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I'm thinking like I got.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
To go to another place and tell them and sell
them on this vision of this program. And then we
can scale that way. I'll take one school district and
I'll get another one. Then I'll get the state and ba,
after I get the state, i will say the state.
And he was like, I'm just gonna record it. So
he started recording these lessons and people were just like,
I wish somebody would have taught me that at fourteen,
where's this program? I want my son in this, I
(27:24):
want my daughter in this. And we were like, oh, okay.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
So I liked the content of filming the classroom and
putting it on social media, and that became popular.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
We used to take the classrooms and then put it
on Instagram, and then people started to gravitate towards the
Instagram clip. But that is something that was you know,
people kind of liked it. And like I said, in
the middle of that, we were doing a bunch of
other stuff. I was doing a bunch of other stuff.
So it just all kind of, you know, came together
to helped build my own personal Instagram page. And then
(27:59):
once my personal Instagram page got to a point where
it was really starting to take off, that's when we
started earn your leisure.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
So he started putting on Instagram but then he wanted
to do his own thing. He wanted to be a
celebrity financial advisor and I'm like, cool, I'm teaching.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I'm gonna scale this thing. And then he used.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
To go to shows and people record him and he
would post it and they're like, Yo, where is this thing?
Where is this? He was like what do you mean?
They were like, yo, do you have your own podcasts?
He was like nah, And I never forget. He calls me,
He's like, you want to do a podcast. I'm like, okay.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
So I extroyed because obviously we have a relationship if
he wanted to be my partner in a podcast, because
it's like, you know, most podcasts.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Have two people. So I felt like it would be
a good idea.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
If we had you know whoa as opposed to me
just trying to put together podcast by myself.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
So he said yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
When he said let's do a podcast, I'm like, that's easy.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Like we talked every day for twenty five years, like
we already doing podcas.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
We argue with each other. People love it when we
argue with each other. They watch it.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
They watch us go back and forth to debate, and
I'm like, I'm not even thinking like, oh, this is
going to be difficult. And then we got to the
first part of like let's do a podcast, where we're like, well,
we listen to podcasts.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
No, well, how do we even do that?
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Right?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Like how do you create a podcast? And we were like,
we have no idea.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
So that's when we brought in our other partner, now, Mike,
and he was like, well, this is what you're gonna
have to use to record it, and this is how
we uploaded.
Speaker 6 (29:30):
He hit me up, He's like, yo, what's a podcast?
And I kind of told him what I knew about
the podcast. I didn't know too much, but I knew
like I knew Apple kind of created this podcast thing
because you had a podcast app in iTunes for a
really long time. People weren't using it because they didn't
have the exposure that they needed.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
They didn't know about it.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
I knew Gary Ve just came out with something called Anchor,
So I was like, we could set it up on Anchor.
You know, it's free, and then they'll also try to
get you ads if you start getting listened. He hit
up Troy like cause he's looking for a partner to
a host to go. I'm a person. Always been behind
the scenes. I don't really like to speak too much.
Troy said, yeah, let's do it, you know, because Troy
was down whatever you know. Well, brothers like whatever you say,
(30:08):
let's go, let's ride out. They tried to come up
with a name. It was like money, Power, respect, and
a bunch of different names.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
He's like, look, this thing on the internet is going
pretty crazy, like people are asking me if I have
a podcast. I want to create like a campaign for myself.
And so he was like, I need a hashtag though,
because this is big at the time on Instagram. I
need a hashtag. And I'm sitting there and I'm like,
all right, I got one flee and he's like, what
is it. I'm like, earn your Leisure And he was
(30:35):
like nah. I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Look this is great.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
This is great.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
It has to be earn your Leisure because people have
never seen the hard work.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
They've never seen the commitment, they've never seen the.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Sacrifice, They've never seen a level of dedication that it
took to get to these points. They see us like
they start to see us travel, they saw us have
nice cars. We used to throw these nice barbecues and parties,
and they thought, like, yo, these kids are from Greenbery
in Westchester, the Silver school kids. I'm like, oh, we
like everything we've ever done, we've earned it. But you
earned some freedoms. So I was like, earn your Lesia
(31:10):
has to be the man, because we're gonna earn our freedoms.
And he sat with it and he used it and
then he stopped. He's like, I'm not really feeling that.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Yeah, he gave me the name Alsia.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
I thought.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
I thought, you know, it didn't strike me as anything special.
I didn't dislike it. I just didn't think that it was,
you know, anything special. So I just stopped using it.
After a while, another one of my friends had asked me,
he's like, you know, whatever happened to earn your Legsia? Is like,
you know, I don't use that anymore. I asked, but
you like it? And he's like, yeah, that was that
was dope. So I'm like all right, So I started
using it again. So when it would time start the podcast,
(31:44):
you know, we came up with a few different names.
None of the names that we came up with was original. Well,
already got earned your lesia and using that and that's original,
like you know, nobody, that's something that was created, So man, why.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Not just row with that?
Speaker 3 (32:01):
When Shot, I was like, nah, I don't like it.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
I don't like it. Let me say, let's just do it.
Speaker 6 (32:04):
We did it, and it just I mean this thing
called Wildfire, and you know, my job was to handle
all the digital media. But at that point we had
no employees. It was just Shot, me and Troy, so
I was kind of like everything else besides the front
of the camera. So if I had to be the
operations manager, if I had to be the role manager,
if I had to be the booking manager, I created
(32:25):
the LC. You know, I was doing the lawyer to
the trademarks everything, whatever I had to do, that's what That's.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
What I had to do.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
With a brand name in hand, the team went to
work planning on exactly what they would talk about on
the Earnier Leisure podcast.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Before we started the podcast, we did the framework of
how we wanted the podcast to kind of be, so,
you know, the beginning stages of it, it was like
case studies where we would look at somebody like Soldier
Boy and like kind of break down like you know,
his his early career, and different things on that show.
We'll do like George Foreman Grill and the story behind that,
(33:07):
and like you know, had that ties into with Hawk Holegan.
It was like very interesting little known case studies. It
was niche based, and it was three different segments, so
each segment was a different story. It was a lot
of storytelling. That was the original format.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Of the show.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
It was supposed to be like the finance stories behind
sports and entertainment.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
And they were like, look, rather than doing them every week,
let's do two every Saturday.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
That way, we only have to record twice a month.
We were like, all right, cool.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
So we recorded episode one and two together, and then
three and four were together, and we just put a
sagramount and we sat there and we were just in
his office and we did them there. I had my
notes and he had his notes, and we just we're
just going back and forth like we always do, and
I never get We put it out and I was like,
I wonder if anybody's gonna listen to this. So, like
(33:58):
I remember we were anchored, and I want it was like, oh,
twenty plays. I'm like, oh, people listen to it. And
then like a week it was like oh, sixteen hundred
plays and like sixteen hundred people listening to this. All right, cool,
and then people could write reviews and they're like, oh,
this is fresh, this is I haven't heard like anything
like this.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
This is so dope.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
It was an easier lift because it wasn't like we
were starting from not like I had probably fifty thousand
followers at the time when just started. So to start
with fifty thousand followers is helpful. We will put clips
up and every clip was just going viral, like one
hundred thousand views, one hundred and fifty thousand views, So
it just started circulating online and people just started sharing.
(34:40):
Everything was just organic, the word of mouth. So we
experienced success right away and really kind of never never
looked back.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
I'll be honest, man. Once we hit the ground, it
it was on. It was on.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
It was sixteen hundred, three thousand and fourth thousand, and
it just every time we just put out an episode,
it would it would just grow and grow and grow,
and I would just watch, like, wait, now we got
twenty thousand people listening. I remember going to work because
at the time I'm still teaching, I'm watching the impact
that's happening as we this is like twenty nineteen. I'm
(35:13):
watching on Instagram how people are reacting to the information
and the content, and I'm like, this is crazy. And
I told my coworkers, I'm like, you know, if I
get to twenty thousand people listening, they're not going to
see me anymore.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
And they're like, whatever, each your sandwich, you be quiet.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
I'm like, nah, I'm seriously like, if I can get
to twenty thousand listeners, that means I could tell somebody like, hey,
you should pay us like a thousand dollars to put
an add on our show.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
And if I get like four people to do that,
that's four thousand dollars a show.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
And if I put out two shows in a week,
then that's eight thousand dollars. Every day I bring my
laptop to work, I'm looking up articles, I'm editing episodes,
I'm reading.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
They're like, what are you doing.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
I'm like, if I get to twenty thousand, you're not
going to see me anymore, and they're like whatever.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
I was sitting in the back.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
I would record ads like they used to send us ads,
like Anchor used to send us ads do I'd be
in the bathroom in my office recording What are you
doing back there?
Speaker 3 (36:03):
In millions?
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I'm like, I'm recording, like I can't, I can't talk.
I'll go in somebody's room during lunch, like record ads.
I'm always working. They're like, yo, what are you doing.
I'm like, look, if I get to twenty thousand, y'are
not gonna see me anymore. And then like in December
of twenty nineteen, we got to twenty thousand, twenty three thousand.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
As Earned Your Leisure grew, the guys started to evolve,
sharpening their process and elevating their product. They became more
aware of what their competitors were doing, what equipment to use,
and how to refine to Earn your Leisure sound.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Sometimes we would go out and visit places and I'm
looking around, I'm like, what are they recording?
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Then I started watching shows.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I'm looking at the breakfast club and I'm looking at
Joe Budden. I'm like, well, what is he using when
he talks to the microphone? That's what we need. Oh
what are they using? When what cameras are they use?
That's what we need? What in the face of the Okay,
that's what we need.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
We were always striving to be just as good as
saying when Drake gets his album produced, we need to
have our audio on that level. Like we didn't try
to compete with people around us or people in our space,
we try to We wanted to compete with the best
of the best. We always looked at it as being
the best and being the.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Biggest a sa Sean and Troy found their groove talking
to each other on air. They also started to book
celebrity guests, taking the show to another level.
Speaker 6 (37:19):
I remember our first like celebrity guests was DJ MVY
and Al Harrington. DJ MVY definitely let us hit the out.
He gave us an episode where we kind of hit
the algorithm with DJMVY. I think that was one of
the first. And Al Harrington, you know, because I watched
him play basketball and we interviewed him about the his
Mawana business and that that took off to Mark Cuban,
I mean, Steve Harvey, that was a big one. Tyler Perry,
(37:42):
did I think it was gonna be as big as
we are? I absolutely I would be lying if I
told you I did. But I knew it was gonna
be something big. I knew it was gonna change things
because you got these two black dudes and hoodies talking
about financial advice, not basketball, not sports, not rat about
financial advice. I got your attention because you got a
hoodie and you look like us, but you're talking about
(38:03):
how to make money now, and you're talking like you're
making it simple, simplified into the terms that we're doing.
Like it, Yo, if you got this deal, you are,
you know, breaking it down like that.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
You can't you can't lose it was it was a
win win.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
We started YouTube I think after like episode seven, so
that was something that you know, we started building a
YouTube channel, so that was a way to kind of
build revenue.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
And then of course, you know, like.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
The audio didn't murder, and then we started doing live
event and then we started something called Eyo University, which
is a description based model, so like you every every
couple of months we would just add something new to it,
Like you know, we would learn something and just see
different ways to make money and then add something new
and just kind of keep keep building from there.
Speaker 6 (38:47):
We had an event in Brooklyn and we literally flooded
the whole blockout, Like the place could probably hold three
hundred people and there's probably a thousand people there. It
was it turned into like a block party. I was like, wow,
this is a little different. When we went to London
and it was almost three thousand people outside in line,
I'm like, this is amazing, Like we're touching the world.
(39:08):
And that's when that was one of the times where
I was like, this this is gonna be talked about
in high school, but like school books, this will creating
history literally that people are going to talk about from
years a come with.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
A podcast, continuing to set record numbers, sold out live
events at partnerships with other top brands, Earn your Leisure
is just getting started.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
I think twenty twenty three is the year of global expansion,
and so you should expect to see us take the
message of financial education not just here in the United States,
but overseas in Africa. You know, we're making a strong
push to be on the continent because the issues that
we talk about and the things that we talk about
are very unique to our country. But other countries obviously
(39:50):
have different laws, different tax codes, different you know, things
that they're facing. There are some similarities, but there's obviously
other issues that they're facing. And if there's no platform
right like five years ago, there was no one in
your leisure, So who becomes that for you know, countries
throughout Africa, countries throughout Europe. Then let's find the voices
that can speak to these issues.
Speaker 6 (40:10):
More, more tours, more speaking engagements, more stuff outside of
the country into different places like Africa, We're gonna go
to uh, you know, Europe, We're gonna go different continents
of the world, different countries of the world. A lot
more stuff gonna be done in Canada invest Fest twenty
twenty three, August twenty fifth, twenty seven. That is definitely
(40:31):
gonna happen. And look for much I don't want to
say much bigger guests because that's disrespecting the old guests,
but look for bigger guests as well.
Speaker 5 (40:40):
The goal on your leasha is to, you know, have
the top business platform when it comes to media, trusted
source and media and education and events and really revolutionize
education when it comes to finance. Make it something that's exciting,
make it something that's you know, global in scale, and
something that you know is really revolutionary in a way
(41:02):
that people learn.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
The story of earn your leisure is one of friendship,
authenticity and flat out a lot of really hard work
that Troy, Rashad and Michael started as childhood friends is
crucial to their chemistry, and when they saw the opportunity
to commodify that chemistry, packaging up their natural rapport with
their shared interest in teaching and financial literacy, the authenticity
(41:28):
of that relationship made the product irresistible, and that they
built the business together brick by brick as a unit
in real time in front of their audience, has engendered
even more by it, and that engagement has given them
the leverage to scale their ambition and truly, whenever it
is that they decide to take their foot off the gas, Troy,
Rashad and Michael will all have earned their leisure for
(42:00):
Idea Generation. I'm Noah Callahan Bever. Thanks for listening to
The All Angles Podcast presented by Will Packer Media. If
you've enjoyed this episode, please don't hesitate to like, comment DM,
or tell a friend to tell a friend about Idea
Generation and the All Angles Podcast. This episode was brought
(42:21):
to you by Will Packer Executive produced by John Valachick
and Helena Os. Original music by Valentine Printz, edit and
sound mixed by Nonsensible Production and hosted by me Idea
Generation founder Noah Callahan Beverer Idea Generations. All Angles is
a Will Packer media podcast
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