January 24, 2022 • 20 mins
Keenan Beasley is a business powerhouse! Before entering the entrepreneur space, Keenan served as Vice President of Marketing at L’Oreal, Associate Director of Reckitt Benckiser, and Brand Manager at Proctor & Gamble.
He currently serves as the CEO of Supply Factory Brands, President of Venture Noire (a non-profit), CEO of Kukua Corp, a global cannabis business and Infinite Looks, a textured hair care company, and is the co-founder of BLKBOX, a creative agency in New York City, whose multinational clients include Samsung and Diageo.
Keenan talks about his journey from the military to becoming a football player to entering the entrepreneur space. The development of his cosmetic line Sunday II Sunday. The value of listening to your clients/community to benefit your entrepreneur endeavors. He even shares his philosophy on how he sees capital.
If you ever wanted to poke the brain of a multi-faceted businessman, this is the episode for you.
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Guest IG: @keenanbeasley
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundances. Hey money Movers, Welcome
to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. Our guest
(00:22):
today can only be described as a business powerhouse. He
has served as the vice president of Marketing at Laurel,
the Associate director of RB and brand manager at Procter
and Gambled. Although for most of that span is spent
across an entire career, it wasn't enough for our guests,
and he only continues to innovate and create more, having
(00:43):
decided to enter into the world of entrepreneurship. He currently
serves as the CEO of Supply Factory Brands, president of
Ventour Noire, a nonprofit, and the CEO of Kuca, a
global cannabis business, and Infinite Looks, a textured hair care company.
You do It All, My Friend, and is also the
co founder of Black Box, a creative agency in New
(01:05):
York City whose multinational clients include Samsung and Diaggio. And
if all of that is not enough, he hosts a
YouTube series entitled The World's Greatest Game, which highlights various
entrepreneurs across different industries somehow here with us right now
and not getting off what I imagine is some of
the most well earned rest money movers. Let's welcome the
(01:27):
imitable Keenan Beasley. Hi, Keenan, are you doing? Thank you
for that. That was a really extraordinary introduction, and I'm
incredibly happy to have you here taking time out of
your obviously very busy schedule to speak and inspire us.
You've taken the word entrepreneur to a whole another level,
and I'm sure many of our Money Moves audience would
(01:49):
love to learn about you, your journey and what it
takes to do what you have done. My friend, thank
you now. I'm honored to be here. I appreciate you have. So, Keenan,
take us back to the beginning and tell our audience
a little bit about how you got your start in
your early career days. Yeah, you know, my My start
was a moment of transition, right. I was a medical
(02:10):
discharge coming out of West Point so UM the United
States Military Academy UM as a football player, just got
injured and had some unfortunate events happened, where after graduation,
I went into a corporate career much faster than I expected.
But I think that was a catalyst to what my
whole career has been about, which is transition, right and
and kind of thriving through the pivot is something that
(02:31):
I think all entrepreneurs have to do and embrace. Um.
There's a lot of just adversity that comes at you
as an entrepreneur, and you need to adjust accordingly. And
so I think that was my first kind of real
adversity where I thought I was going to be a
military officer and all of a sudden, I'm a corporate executive, right,
I'm going into that space. And so from there I
went in and I did what most West Pointers do.
I became an engineer, right. So I worked at Ray Theon,
(02:54):
I was assistant here there um, and then you know,
transitioned into Proctor and Gamble and kind of got in
to more of where I'd say, my lifelong passion is
around marketing and serving uh consumers. Oh, I love that.
That's amazing. So you sort of for right now into
this beauty industry. You were at Loreal, which for a
lot of our women audience, UM audience members here like
(03:15):
oh Loreal makeup beauty, and so many women are building
beauty brands, which is something you've become somewhat of an expert,
and tell us about your time at Loreal and in
Procter and Gamble, and that's consumer product goods industry. Yeah,
you know, I think the beautiful thing about consumer goods
is you're working on products that touch people's lives every day,
and there's very few things that you get that opportunity
(03:36):
right where you have you know, what we call a
percent household penetration. You know, everyone washes their hair, everyone
brushes their teeth, so you're finding ways to serve their needs.
Um and I've always loved that, right. You know, the
mission at PNG was touching and improving life and that
was just something that spoke to my core as a
as a former military guy. When you see that and
(03:57):
you get to touch that, you understand one the industries
that is most impactful happens to be beauty, right because
it's riddled with insecurities, right, riddled with a lot of
baggage that comes from external you know, external pressures. And
for me, I love working on things where I get
to be an observer. I run a hair care company.
I did grow my hair out, which was crazy long
right during the pandemic. But I normally, you know, don't
(04:20):
have long hair, so the product is not necessarily for me,
but it's for the people that were around me. Right.
I created Infinite Looks and Sunday to Sunday really to
serve my niece, who is a swimmer right in thirteen
and now likes boys. And you know, she's sweating, she's
in the pool. And as a black woman who swims
every daymol trust me, it's it's it's a real black
(04:42):
girl problem. It's a real problem, you know. So when
I looked at that, I said, you know, how do
we make beauty and fitness more accessible, right for women
of color? Right when they're looking to to sweat, to
work out, to lead healthier lives and just have fun, right,
just to go out and not fear sweating, you know,
your hair out on the dam spore, whatever it is
that makes you feel good. Who's there to watch that, right,
(05:04):
who's there to care for? Because this process of managing
hair and yours is gorgeous. Right, you have amazing hair
and styles all the time, but that takes work, right,
There's there's time and energy that goes in that. How
do we make that process easier. So, you know, as
much as I say we're a beauty business, I think
we're a wellness business, right, you know, we're about making
people feel good, right, That's ultimately what our products are about. Well.
(05:26):
I love that there's like this tough military guy who's
trying to make women feel good and understand how important
cosmetics are in a woman's life. That is, that's a
really interesting dichotomy there, but we're loving it. But you know,
one of the things you also talked about is your
marketing brand. And I can hear even in listening to
talk about your business, is you're so clear on your
customer and how you market and what your products mean
(05:50):
to your consumers. Talk about the importance of that and
how you've sort of learned that along the way, and
if you could give us some sort of tips for
our audience out there as they consider how they can
and create brands. Yeah, I think the first thing you
do is forget the brand, right, If the brand really
it's about the community. And for me as a marketer,
I think it's shocking that that I speak in that way,
(06:11):
but you know you, yeah, you're you're here to serve, right,
So Ultimately, what you're doing is you're touching and improving
other people's lives, right, not your own. So it's not
about your idea or what you think, it's about what
they think. So what I tend to do is I
spend most of my days listening to the people i'm serving, right,
not talking at them. Part of marketing is not about
(06:33):
shouting at other customers. It's about listening to their needs,
their wants, their desires. So you know, go deep in
social media, read the comments, interact with people who have
purchased your product, see how you can improve those right. So,
customer services the best form of marketing because it's a
great way to listen and interact with an audience. And
I tell anyone, if you're gonna be an entrepreneur and
(06:54):
you want to sell something, sell it one to one,
sell one on one. You learn a whole lot about
if you campaign is effective and that if your product
is good enough, etcetera. So I'm all about service, I'm
all about the community, and the brand is what comes last. Oh, Kenan,
I think that's so true, And I feel like that's
become a lost art because everyone thinks they can just
sell on social media. And they don't actually have to
(07:15):
touch their consumers or their customers. But there's so much
to be said when you are face to face, when
you are pounding the pavement. You know, back in the day,
you'd have to set up a little booth or you'd
be giving out flyers talking like you learn so much
doing that. Yeah, I mean, look, entrepreneurship is hand to
hand combat, right, It's still a one to one game,
even though you know, we can have scale and social
(07:37):
but you know, you can look at most people's financials
and understand that, well, they're not necessarily selling online. They're
spending online, They're they're buying a lot of ads, but
that r o I is not really there, right, Their
leveraging influencers and and oftentimes they're not getting proper returns
and that's because some of the fundamentals aren't there. So again,
in order to build a great brand and build fundamentals,
(08:00):
you have to build a community. Yeah, an authentic community
that understands what it is that you're trying to provide
to them and they actually are saying they want you
can get that transaction. Well, now you can scale. Yeah,
it's so funny, just we have so many entrepreneurs and
so many successful people that come on the show, and
this idea of authenticity, you know, it's like it's really
(08:22):
high level, but I really hope our audience pays attention
to the recurring things. You can sell things when you
are authentic and truly passionate about the brand. And I
think you know, people who are successful like yourselves, they've
realized that and they're in their lane and they are
like vibrating at such a higher level that it's just
it all comes together. Well. It takes a lot of
(08:42):
the pressure off, right in the ego off, because I
think there's a tendency as an entrepreneur to feel like
you have to be so smart, right, so gifted. It's
it's part of why I wear normalized black excellence, you know,
as a hat and as a montrat for myself, because
it's about leaning into who you are. Like, you're already great.
You don't have to prove that to anyone. So when
(09:02):
you when you kind of embraced who you are, it
allows you to be extremely humble and focus your energy
on serving and not trying to showcase how great you are. Right,
I'm actually here to provide something for you, So I
need to listen to you, and I have to be
humble enough to take whatever feedback you give me. Feedback's
a gift. So if you tell me my product sucks,
it may hurt, right, it may sting. Right. That happens
(09:25):
because you know what kind of work went into that.
But at the end of the day, they just gave
you a gift, Right, that's a blessing. Now you have
a chance to fix it, so you can improve it.
In iterate, I'll share with you a story one of
the first forays I sort of took myself into entrepreneurship
as I wanted to start a beverage and it was
called Limitless smart Shot, And the idea was I was
working as a nurse at the time, and there was
(09:45):
nothing that actually supported me being smarter. We go to work,
we drink coffee. We're making life or death decisions, but
it was like coffee. And so I formulated the dietary
supplement beverage that was designed to increase your focus, attention,
and memory, and I was going to launch it into
the tech space. I was gonna send it to all
these tech e's that were hacking overnight, drinking mountain dew
and popping adderall and I just I knew that there
(10:06):
was going to be a hit. It was going to
be a success. And I started going to these conferences
trying to sell it at like death Calm, etcetera. And
they were all like, I'm already smart, I don't need this,
and nobody was buying my product. Like nobody. They literally
would be like I don't need this. Do you know
who I am? I'm x y Z on the deep
y reb, I'm the smartest dude around, right, And I'm like,
who's not buying this anyway? So I had like hundreds
(10:28):
of thousands of like unusable product because nobody wanted to
buy it, and I thought I had the answer, and
that's how I had to go back to figure out
who was going to buy this, And it turned out
it was moms. All these moms who were like, I
forget where I put my keys, my kids, got me sleepless,
where my glasses they're on top of my head. I
forgot to pick you know, just who had that like
(10:49):
mommy brain? And like I had to completely pivot my business.
But I found a niche market for it and they
just couldn't get enough. But it was so humbling to
me because I you, I had this product and I
thought I knew who was gonna like it, and I
just I never took the time to actually listen to
the community. Hey, that that's the that's the beauty of it.
And I can tell you look as a as a
(11:11):
new father of a three month old UM partner, she's
going through it, so she might need to buy that drink.
But I'm telling you, and it was, it was all
the moms. It was. I was totally wrong. But it's
just when you talk about understanding, you know, the feedback
you get from community and customers and who really you
know wants your product. Yeah, you know, my my trick
has always been I start with the community that I'm
(11:31):
looking to serve, and then I built the product UM
and and it's me. It's about this loop of information application, right.
So you know when you when you lock in on
a community, you're trying to understand what problems they have
or what aspirations they have, et cetera, and then you
want to first try to provide information to that group.
(11:52):
Information is usually free, It doesn't cost you a lot
as the entrepreneur to to develop or create UM. Sometimes
it's research. Right, it could be a class a webinar,
a piece of content that can go viral, whatever that is.
But you end up not spending a lot, but you
learn a lot. Once you've validated that, you can move
to the application of building something right that now is
(12:14):
going to sell and become, you know, a bigger or
a more important piece of I p um and and
that Loupe has saved me a ton of money over
the years. And yeah, so let's move to some fun stuff.
You also have produced a YouTube series. Tell us a
bit about that. Yeah, so I created through my nonprofit
(12:34):
of platform called World's Greatest Game on YouTube. Definitely subscribe
now you know it was It was a platform that
was really created about the process of self master right,
uncovering what are our natural gifts. What I was finding
with a lot of entrepreneurs is they were so fixated
on the end result, right, the end goal, right, the
exit right in the liquidity event. Right, this this making
(12:57):
of money. And you see these people successful online right
or maybe even within your community, but you don't understand
the process and in the process of being an entrepreneur
and creating something really successful is deeply understanding yourself, your background,
who you are, how you actually move and make And
you know, a lot of us were calling being an
entrepreneur it's like being an athlete. Right, you can run fast,
(13:19):
jump high. Right, you have hand eye coordination, You're gonna
be a great athlete. Right, you can play a lot
of sports. Same thing with an entrepreneurship. Right. We see
people that are successful in tech, in service businesses and nonprofits,
et cetera, because they fundamentally understand who they are and
how they operate, what their skill sets. And so World's
Greatest Game is about just that, right, tapping into these
(13:42):
guests and these hosts, the Brandon Marshall's of the world,
the Tommy Duncan's of the world, the T'tavio Samuels of
the world. Right, these guys that have been extremely successful.
But let's talk about their process, how they got there,
not just the end result, not just the Tommy Duncan
you know, not love doc, that's right, Yeah, I love them,
love them to death. Right, I was over there for
dinner yesterday. But it's like, how did he get there? Right? Process,
(14:07):
and that's what's important. So the show was about uncovering
the process of wealth creation, not just the end results.
So I what's so interesting about that. I'm sure you've
seen this too, is like the more and more entrepreneurs
you talked to, like there actually is a roadmap, Like
you hear the same themes over and over and over again.
And I love how you liken it to being an
athlete because I think some of the best athletes they
(14:29):
have a self awareness that you you know, sometimes surprises us,
and they're coachable. So when you work with entrepreneurs, do
you see ability to be coachable and self aware? I
think people think they're all like Mark Zuckerberg and they
have Asperger's or like see jobs, but it's not the truth.
They're really fascinating characters and people. Yeah, no, there there's
(14:52):
there's a wide range. I think for me, you know,
especially making an investment, I look for that sense of humility,
um and to be coachable because you know, what we
find oftentimes is it's not the first business idea, it's
the pivot that really creates success. And in order to
have that pivot, you have to be coachable, right, you
have to be you know, humble enough to listen and
(15:13):
and to make that adjustment. So I think that's an
amazing trade The other trade that I find with all
these you know, successful entrepreneurs is discipline, like the ability
to really lock in on a task, on a mission
and block out distractions, right and and stay relentlessly focused
and committed to that task at hand. I'm oftentimes in
(15:33):
awe of a lot of entrepreneurs discipline, and I come
from a very disciplined organization and upbring right military football. Right.
Everything about me is is discipline and structure. And I
still time block my day right like I can tell
you when I eat. But you know, I'm finding entrepreneurs
there's something that are even more disciplined. Th Wow, Okay,
(15:56):
I'm taking notes. So I love that about about the journey. Yeah, Keenan,
tell me a little bit about your philosophy on capital,
because it's a question that comes up, um, over and
over and over again, even even more now, I think
as we've come out of Black Lives Matter and this
question of you know, black founders raising money. Yeah, my
philosophy is very tied into the name of the show, right,
(16:17):
and I think you guys nailed. It's called currency for
a reason. Right. Money is currency because it has to
go back and forth. Right, there has to be this motion.
But I had a great line from this brother Chris Coal,
where you know, he was talking about money is the
realization of energy, right, and we possess the energy. So
when you have the energy, you have the ability to
create capital. You have to understand how it's moving and
(16:40):
where you can be in that ecosystem. But I fundamentally
believe that you can't sit on capital. You have to
put it to work, and the best way to put
it to work is by a creation of assets. So
I think, you know, find something that you can own,
put your name on, that you can collateralize, right, meaning
you can raise dead against so that you can constantly
reinvest and do other things. And that's my my personal
(17:02):
belief on on money. I love that. That's incredible. I
like it. Great philosophy. So what's coming up next for you?
I'm sure you were not just sitting. There's always a
million pots on the fire. So what's next for you, Keenan?
You know, I'm I'm really relentlessly focused on on growing
our brands. You know, Sunday to Sunday is is my baby,
It's I I spend the bulk of my time there,
(17:24):
you know, growing that business and and I think we're
only scratching the surface. So you know, landing in Sepphora
and Alta, you know, we'll keep going, right, the skuy's
the limit, and I think we'll continue to create better
and better products to meet the needs of of active
women around the world. So really really excited about continuing
to grow that business. And then on the other side, right,
(17:45):
continuing to develop and take viternal Are to other markets. Right,
I think, you know, we we've done a great job
in Arkansas. We're doing a really good job in Kansas City.
We're going down to Louisiana, will extend, you know, market
by market and really creating this fainable economic impact ecosystem
for people of color. Right, And I look forward to
working with people like you and and your foundations, right
(18:07):
and all the many other guests that you've had on
here that are doing some great work and just social
and sustainable economy impact for for our community. So I'm
excited about those two things. Well, Keenan, you are definitely
part of the community now, you're part of the Greenwood team,
So we appreciate you. We continue to uplift you and
all that you're doing for the community. So thank you
so much for joining us today. Tell us again where
(18:30):
we can find you on Instagram and your products as well.
So I'm easy, I'm boring. It's Keenan Beasley on all platforms.
It's not boring, that's masterful. Is it is? Just my name?
So at keen and Beasley on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, you
name it right, That's that's where I am. But our
products Sunday to Sunday you can find at my Sunday
(18:52):
number two Sunday dot com or you can catch it
at Sepphora or Alta, but anywhere. Please please support and
then Benjamin Ore. For those that are looking to sign
up for accelerators or just understand ecosystems and how they
can grow their businesses, definitely stopped by Venture Noir dot
org and sign up for our mentoring programs or one
of our our many accelerators around the Okay, great, Thank
(19:13):
you so much, Keenan, and we wish you all the best. Um,
have a great day and enjoy beautiful l A. That
view looks amazing. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you
so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you
want more or a recap of this episode, please go
to bank Greenwood dot com and check out the Money
Moves podcast blog. Stay tuned tomorrow and every day this
(19:37):
week for very special Money versus Moves is not a
new thing. I think that more and more, like all brands,
people are paying much more attention to what's by us,
yes or from our expert. We're talking about improving the
well being in the lives of people of color right
through entrepreneurship, and the only way to do that is
to create healthier businesses and a celebrity guess you won't
(20:00):
want to miss Money Movers. Let's welcome the one the
Only Angela Yeats podcast. You know my busum to Bane.
He wasn't in the office a lot. And it's so funny,
by the way, watching the Wu Tang Mulu show, because
I'm like, oh my god, that's so how. Money Moves
is an I heart Radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive
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(20:24):
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you get your podcasts from.
Hey Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundances. Hey money Movers, Welcome
to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. Our guest
(00:22):
today can only be described as a business powerhouse. He
has served as the vice president of Marketing at Laurel,
the Associate director of RB and brand manager at Procter
and Gambled. Although for most of that span is spent
across an entire career, it wasn't enough for our guests,
and he only continues to innovate and create more, having
(00:43):
decided to enter into the world of entrepreneurship. He currently
serves as the CEO of Supply Factory Brands, president of
Ventour Noire, a nonprofit, and the CEO of Kuca, a
global cannabis business, and Infinite Looks, a textured hair care company.
You do It All, My Friend, and is also the
co founder of Black Box, a creative agency in New
(01:05):
York City whose multinational clients include Samsung and Diaggio. And
if all of that is not enough, he hosts a
YouTube series entitled The World's Greatest Game, which highlights various
entrepreneurs across different industries somehow here with us right now
and not getting off what I imagine is some of
the most well earned rest money movers. Let's welcome the
(01:27):
imitable Keenan Beasley. Hi, Keenan, are you doing? Thank you
for that. That was a really extraordinary introduction, and I'm
incredibly happy to have you here taking time out of
your obviously very busy schedule to speak and inspire us.
You've taken the word entrepreneur to a whole another level,
and I'm sure many of our Money Moves audience would
(01:49):
love to learn about you, your journey and what it
takes to do what you have done. My friend, thank
you now. I'm honored to be here. I appreciate you have. So, Keenan,
take us back to the beginning and tell our audience
a little bit about how you got your start in
your early career days. Yeah, you know, my My start
was a moment of transition, right. I was a medical
(02:10):
discharge coming out of West Point so UM the United
States Military Academy UM as a football player, just got
injured and had some unfortunate events happened, where after graduation,
I went into a corporate career much faster than I expected.
But I think that was a catalyst to what my
whole career has been about, which is transition, right and
and kind of thriving through the pivot is something that
(02:31):
I think all entrepreneurs have to do and embrace. Um.
There's a lot of just adversity that comes at you
as an entrepreneur, and you need to adjust accordingly. And
so I think that was my first kind of real
adversity where I thought I was going to be a
military officer and all of a sudden, I'm a corporate executive, right,
I'm going into that space. And so from there I
went in and I did what most West Pointers do.
I became an engineer, right. So I worked at Ray Theon,
(02:54):
I was assistant here there um, and then you know,
transitioned into Proctor and Gamble and kind of got in
to more of where I'd say, my lifelong passion is
around marketing and serving uh consumers. Oh, I love that.
That's amazing. So you sort of for right now into
this beauty industry. You were at Loreal, which for a
lot of our women audience, UM audience members here like
(03:15):
oh Loreal makeup beauty, and so many women are building
beauty brands, which is something you've become somewhat of an expert,
and tell us about your time at Loreal and in
Procter and Gamble, and that's consumer product goods industry. Yeah,
you know, I think the beautiful thing about consumer goods
is you're working on products that touch people's lives every day,
and there's very few things that you get that opportunity
(03:36):
right where you have you know, what we call a
percent household penetration. You know, everyone washes their hair, everyone
brushes their teeth, so you're finding ways to serve their needs.
Um and I've always loved that, right. You know, the
mission at PNG was touching and improving life and that
was just something that spoke to my core as a
as a former military guy. When you see that and
(03:57):
you get to touch that, you understand one the industries
that is most impactful happens to be beauty, right because
it's riddled with insecurities, right, riddled with a lot of
baggage that comes from external you know, external pressures. And
for me, I love working on things where I get
to be an observer. I run a hair care company.
I did grow my hair out, which was crazy long
right during the pandemic. But I normally, you know, don't
(04:20):
have long hair, so the product is not necessarily for me,
but it's for the people that were around me. Right.
I created Infinite Looks and Sunday to Sunday really to
serve my niece, who is a swimmer right in thirteen
and now likes boys. And you know, she's sweating, she's
in the pool. And as a black woman who swims
every daymol trust me, it's it's it's a real black
(04:42):
girl problem. It's a real problem, you know. So when
I looked at that, I said, you know, how do
we make beauty and fitness more accessible, right for women
of color? Right when they're looking to to sweat, to
work out, to lead healthier lives and just have fun, right,
just to go out and not fear sweating, you know,
your hair out on the dam spore, whatever it is
that makes you feel good. Who's there to watch that, right,
(05:04):
who's there to care for? Because this process of managing
hair and yours is gorgeous. Right, you have amazing hair
and styles all the time, but that takes work, right,
There's there's time and energy that goes in that. How
do we make that process easier. So, you know, as
much as I say we're a beauty business, I think
we're a wellness business, right, you know, we're about making
people feel good, right, That's ultimately what our products are about. Well.
(05:26):
I love that there's like this tough military guy who's
trying to make women feel good and understand how important
cosmetics are in a woman's life. That is, that's a
really interesting dichotomy there, but we're loving it. But you know,
one of the things you also talked about is your
marketing brand. And I can hear even in listening to
talk about your business, is you're so clear on your
customer and how you market and what your products mean
(05:50):
to your consumers. Talk about the importance of that and
how you've sort of learned that along the way, and
if you could give us some sort of tips for
our audience out there as they consider how they can
and create brands. Yeah, I think the first thing you
do is forget the brand, right, If the brand really
it's about the community. And for me as a marketer,
I think it's shocking that that I speak in that way,
(06:11):
but you know you, yeah, you're you're here to serve, right,
So Ultimately, what you're doing is you're touching and improving
other people's lives, right, not your own. So it's not
about your idea or what you think, it's about what
they think. So what I tend to do is I
spend most of my days listening to the people i'm serving, right,
not talking at them. Part of marketing is not about
(06:33):
shouting at other customers. It's about listening to their needs,
their wants, their desires. So you know, go deep in
social media, read the comments, interact with people who have
purchased your product, see how you can improve those right. So,
customer services the best form of marketing because it's a
great way to listen and interact with an audience. And
I tell anyone, if you're gonna be an entrepreneur and
(06:54):
you want to sell something, sell it one to one,
sell one on one. You learn a whole lot about
if you campaign is effective and that if your product
is good enough, etcetera. So I'm all about service, I'm
all about the community, and the brand is what comes last. Oh, Kenan,
I think that's so true, And I feel like that's
become a lost art because everyone thinks they can just
sell on social media. And they don't actually have to
(07:15):
touch their consumers or their customers. But there's so much
to be said when you are face to face, when
you are pounding the pavement. You know, back in the day,
you'd have to set up a little booth or you'd
be giving out flyers talking like you learn so much
doing that. Yeah, I mean, look, entrepreneurship is hand to
hand combat, right, It's still a one to one game,
even though you know, we can have scale and social
(07:37):
but you know, you can look at most people's financials
and understand that, well, they're not necessarily selling online. They're
spending online, They're they're buying a lot of ads, but
that r o I is not really there, right, Their
leveraging influencers and and oftentimes they're not getting proper returns
and that's because some of the fundamentals aren't there. So again,
in order to build a great brand and build fundamentals,
(08:00):
you have to build a community. Yeah, an authentic community
that understands what it is that you're trying to provide
to them and they actually are saying they want you
can get that transaction. Well, now you can scale. Yeah,
it's so funny, just we have so many entrepreneurs and
so many successful people that come on the show, and
this idea of authenticity, you know, it's like it's really
(08:22):
high level, but I really hope our audience pays attention
to the recurring things. You can sell things when you
are authentic and truly passionate about the brand. And I
think you know, people who are successful like yourselves, they've
realized that and they're in their lane and they are
like vibrating at such a higher level that it's just
it all comes together. Well. It takes a lot of
(08:42):
the pressure off, right in the ego off, because I
think there's a tendency as an entrepreneur to feel like
you have to be so smart, right, so gifted. It's
it's part of why I wear normalized black excellence, you know,
as a hat and as a montrat for myself, because
it's about leaning into who you are. Like, you're already great.
You don't have to prove that to anyone. So when
(09:02):
you when you kind of embraced who you are, it
allows you to be extremely humble and focus your energy
on serving and not trying to showcase how great you are. Right,
I'm actually here to provide something for you, So I
need to listen to you, and I have to be
humble enough to take whatever feedback you give me. Feedback's
a gift. So if you tell me my product sucks,
it may hurt, right, it may sting. Right. That happens
(09:25):
because you know what kind of work went into that.
But at the end of the day, they just gave
you a gift, Right, that's a blessing. Now you have
a chance to fix it, so you can improve it.
In iterate, I'll share with you a story one of
the first forays I sort of took myself into entrepreneurship
as I wanted to start a beverage and it was
called Limitless smart Shot, And the idea was I was
working as a nurse at the time, and there was
(09:45):
nothing that actually supported me being smarter. We go to work,
we drink coffee. We're making life or death decisions, but
it was like coffee. And so I formulated the dietary
supplement beverage that was designed to increase your focus, attention,
and memory, and I was going to launch it into
the tech space. I was gonna send it to all
these tech e's that were hacking overnight, drinking mountain dew
and popping adderall and I just I knew that there
(10:06):
was going to be a hit. It was going to
be a success. And I started going to these conferences
trying to sell it at like death Calm, etcetera. And
they were all like, I'm already smart, I don't need this,
and nobody was buying my product. Like nobody. They literally
would be like I don't need this. Do you know
who I am? I'm x y Z on the deep
y reb, I'm the smartest dude around, right, And I'm like,
who's not buying this anyway? So I had like hundreds
(10:28):
of thousands of like unusable product because nobody wanted to
buy it, and I thought I had the answer, and
that's how I had to go back to figure out
who was going to buy this, And it turned out
it was moms. All these moms who were like, I
forget where I put my keys, my kids, got me sleepless,
where my glasses they're on top of my head. I
forgot to pick you know, just who had that like
(10:49):
mommy brain? And like I had to completely pivot my business.
But I found a niche market for it and they
just couldn't get enough. But it was so humbling to
me because I you, I had this product and I
thought I knew who was gonna like it, and I
just I never took the time to actually listen to
the community. Hey, that that's the that's the beauty of it.
And I can tell you look as a as a
(11:11):
new father of a three month old UM partner, she's
going through it, so she might need to buy that drink.
But I'm telling you, and it was, it was all
the moms. It was. I was totally wrong. But it's
just when you talk about understanding, you know, the feedback
you get from community and customers and who really you
know wants your product. Yeah, you know, my my trick
has always been I start with the community that I'm
(11:31):
looking to serve, and then I built the product UM
and and it's me. It's about this loop of information application, right.
So you know when you when you lock in on
a community, you're trying to understand what problems they have
or what aspirations they have, et cetera, and then you
want to first try to provide information to that group.
(11:52):
Information is usually free, It doesn't cost you a lot
as the entrepreneur to to develop or create UM. Sometimes
it's research. Right, it could be a class a webinar,
a piece of content that can go viral, whatever that is.
But you end up not spending a lot, but you
learn a lot. Once you've validated that, you can move
to the application of building something right that now is
(12:14):
going to sell and become, you know, a bigger or
a more important piece of I p um and and
that Loupe has saved me a ton of money over
the years. And yeah, so let's move to some fun stuff.
You also have produced a YouTube series. Tell us a
bit about that. Yeah, so I created through my nonprofit
(12:34):
of platform called World's Greatest Game on YouTube. Definitely subscribe
now you know it was It was a platform that
was really created about the process of self master right,
uncovering what are our natural gifts. What I was finding
with a lot of entrepreneurs is they were so fixated
on the end result, right, the end goal, right, the
exit right in the liquidity event. Right, this this making
(12:57):
of money. And you see these people successful online right
or maybe even within your community, but you don't understand
the process and in the process of being an entrepreneur
and creating something really successful is deeply understanding yourself, your background,
who you are, how you actually move and make And
you know, a lot of us were calling being an
entrepreneur it's like being an athlete. Right, you can run fast,
(13:19):
jump high. Right, you have hand eye coordination, You're gonna
be a great athlete. Right, you can play a lot
of sports. Same thing with an entrepreneurship. Right. We see
people that are successful in tech, in service businesses and nonprofits,
et cetera, because they fundamentally understand who they are and
how they operate, what their skill sets. And so World's
Greatest Game is about just that, right, tapping into these
(13:42):
guests and these hosts, the Brandon Marshall's of the world,
the Tommy Duncan's of the world, the T'tavio Samuels of
the world. Right, these guys that have been extremely successful.
But let's talk about their process, how they got there,
not just the end result, not just the Tommy Duncan
you know, not love doc, that's right, Yeah, I love them,
love them to death. Right, I was over there for
dinner yesterday. But it's like, how did he get there? Right? Process,
(14:07):
and that's what's important. So the show was about uncovering
the process of wealth creation, not just the end results.
So I what's so interesting about that. I'm sure you've
seen this too, is like the more and more entrepreneurs
you talked to, like there actually is a roadmap, Like
you hear the same themes over and over and over again.
And I love how you liken it to being an
athlete because I think some of the best athletes they
(14:29):
have a self awareness that you you know, sometimes surprises us,
and they're coachable. So when you work with entrepreneurs, do
you see ability to be coachable and self aware? I
think people think they're all like Mark Zuckerberg and they
have Asperger's or like see jobs, but it's not the truth.
They're really fascinating characters and people. Yeah, no, there there's
(14:52):
there's a wide range. I think for me, you know,
especially making an investment, I look for that sense of humility,
um and to be coachable because you know, what we
find oftentimes is it's not the first business idea, it's
the pivot that really creates success. And in order to
have that pivot, you have to be coachable, right, you
have to be you know, humble enough to listen and
(15:13):
and to make that adjustment. So I think that's an
amazing trade The other trade that I find with all
these you know, successful entrepreneurs is discipline, like the ability
to really lock in on a task, on a mission
and block out distractions, right and and stay relentlessly focused
and committed to that task at hand. I'm oftentimes in
(15:33):
awe of a lot of entrepreneurs discipline, and I come
from a very disciplined organization and upbring right military football. Right.
Everything about me is is discipline and structure. And I
still time block my day right like I can tell
you when I eat. But you know, I'm finding entrepreneurs
there's something that are even more disciplined. Th Wow, Okay,
(15:56):
I'm taking notes. So I love that about about the journey. Yeah, Keenan,
tell me a little bit about your philosophy on capital,
because it's a question that comes up, um, over and
over and over again, even even more now, I think
as we've come out of Black Lives Matter and this
question of you know, black founders raising money. Yeah, my
philosophy is very tied into the name of the show, right,
(16:17):
and I think you guys nailed. It's called currency for
a reason. Right. Money is currency because it has to
go back and forth. Right, there has to be this motion.
But I had a great line from this brother Chris Coal,
where you know, he was talking about money is the
realization of energy, right, and we possess the energy. So
when you have the energy, you have the ability to
create capital. You have to understand how it's moving and
(16:40):
where you can be in that ecosystem. But I fundamentally
believe that you can't sit on capital. You have to
put it to work, and the best way to put
it to work is by a creation of assets. So
I think, you know, find something that you can own,
put your name on, that you can collateralize, right, meaning
you can raise dead against so that you can constantly
reinvest and do other things. And that's my my personal
(17:02):
belief on on money. I love that. That's incredible. I
like it. Great philosophy. So what's coming up next for you?
I'm sure you were not just sitting. There's always a
million pots on the fire. So what's next for you, Keenan?
You know, I'm I'm really relentlessly focused on on growing
our brands. You know, Sunday to Sunday is is my baby,
It's I I spend the bulk of my time there,
(17:24):
you know, growing that business and and I think we're
only scratching the surface. So you know, landing in Sepphora
and Alta, you know, we'll keep going, right, the skuy's
the limit, and I think we'll continue to create better
and better products to meet the needs of of active
women around the world. So really really excited about continuing
to grow that business. And then on the other side, right,
(17:45):
continuing to develop and take viternal Are to other markets. Right,
I think, you know, we we've done a great job
in Arkansas. We're doing a really good job in Kansas City.
We're going down to Louisiana, will extend, you know, market
by market and really creating this fainable economic impact ecosystem
for people of color. Right, And I look forward to
working with people like you and and your foundations, right
(18:07):
and all the many other guests that you've had on
here that are doing some great work and just social
and sustainable economy impact for for our community. So I'm
excited about those two things. Well, Keenan, you are definitely
part of the community now, you're part of the Greenwood team,
So we appreciate you. We continue to uplift you and
all that you're doing for the community. So thank you
so much for joining us today. Tell us again where
(18:30):
we can find you on Instagram and your products as well.
So I'm easy, I'm boring. It's Keenan Beasley on all platforms.
It's not boring, that's masterful. Is it is? Just my name?
So at keen and Beasley on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, you
name it right, That's that's where I am. But our
products Sunday to Sunday you can find at my Sunday
(18:52):
number two Sunday dot com or you can catch it
at Sepphora or Alta, but anywhere. Please please support and
then Benjamin Ore. For those that are looking to sign
up for accelerators or just understand ecosystems and how they
can grow their businesses, definitely stopped by Venture Noir dot
org and sign up for our mentoring programs or one
of our our many accelerators around the Okay, great, Thank
(19:13):
you so much, Keenan, and we wish you all the best. Um,
have a great day and enjoy beautiful l A. That
view looks amazing. Yes, thank you very much. Thank you
so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you
want more or a recap of this episode, please go
to bank Greenwood dot com and check out the Money
Moves podcast blog. Stay tuned tomorrow and every day this
(19:37):
week for very special Money versus Moves is not a
new thing. I think that more and more, like all brands,
people are paying much more attention to what's by us,
yes or from our expert. We're talking about improving the
well being in the lives of people of color right
through entrepreneurship, and the only way to do that is
to create healthier businesses and a celebrity guess you won't
(20:00):
want to miss Money Movers. Let's welcome the one the
Only Angela Yeats podcast. You know my busum to Bane.
He wasn't in the office a lot. And it's so funny,
by the way, watching the Wu Tang Mulu show, because
I'm like, oh my god, that's so how. Money Moves
is an I heart Radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive
produced by Sunwise Media, Inc. For more podcast on iHeart Radio,
(20:24):
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