August 15, 2025 • 31 mins
Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Benny Pough.
Shares his journey from a music executive to entrepreneur and author, emphasizing resilience, faith, mentorship, and personal branding.
🧠Key Takeaways 1. Career Evolution & Entrepreneurship
- Benny Pough transitioned from top executive roles at major labels (Motown, Def Jam, Epic, ROC Nation) to founding Diverse Media, a multi-tiered entertainment company.
- His pivot was driven by a desire to pursue personal dreams and create impact beyond corporate success.
“I left every job at the top… because I’m a believer in not just talking about it, but being about it.”
2. Life-Changing Car Accident
- Benny recounts a near-fatal car crash that inspired his book “On Impact”.
- The experience led to deep reflection on mortality, purpose, and legacy.
“At that moment, God put a book inside of me called On Impact, which takes you through my journey from 11 years old delivering newspapers to modern day.”
3. The Book: “On Impact”
- Acronym: IMPACT = Intuition, Mastery, Pivot, Authenticity, Connection, Teamwork.
- Each chapter ends with a “hit list” for readers to apply lessons to their own lives.
4. Faith and Resilience
- Benny emphasizes the role of faith in overcoming adversity and staying grounded.
- Rashawn shares his own health challenges (collapsed lung, cancer) to highlight the importance of perspective and purpose.
“Belief in the Almighty and belief in yourself is really important. Everything else is secondary.”
5. Mentorship and Giving Back
- Benny credits mentors like LA Reid and Dedra Tate for shaping his career.
- He stresses the importance of long-term relationships and pouring into others.
“People pour into you. You make sure that you’re able to give something back when it’s time to drink.”
6. Personal Branding
- Benny shares a childhood story about being teased for his last name “Pough” and how it motivated him to make his name matter.
- He insists on being called “Benny Pough” to reinforce his brand identity.
“That was the point when I decided to brand myself and make sure my name mattered.”
7. Value Over Money
- Both Benny and Rashawn discuss how value creation leads to financial success, not the other way around.
- Rashawn shares how he earned his role as executive producer by showing initiative, not chasing money.
“If you create value in any situation, somebody’s going to pay you some money.”
đź’¬ Notable Quotes
- “Fear is a good thing because unknown is a good thing.”
- “You don’t need a life-threatening event to pivot.”
- “A strong belief in what you want to do will be tied to the goals you put in place to achieve your dream.”
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
Steve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click the be
a Guest button. Chris Submit and information will come directly
(00:23):
to me. Now, let's get this show started.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
My next guest his name is Benny Pugh.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
He's a respected entertainment industry veteran of decades of experience
propelling the careers of some of the leading superstars. When
I say superstars, I don't mince words, including Jay z Rihanna,
Kanye West, Travis Scott, Future, DJ Khalig, and twenty one Savage.
He has left an indelible mark on the music industry,
holding the executive roles that labels like Motown, def Jam,
(00:49):
Epic Records, MC Records, rock Nation. That's when he called
me and said he was doing Rock Nation. I tried
to Rock Nation before ultimately deciding to pivot to This
is why he's on the show. Pivoting to entrepreneurship, because
that's what money Making Conversations Math Class is all about,
not getting so much locked in and what you're doing,
but what you're capable of doing for your own personal dream.
(01:10):
Over two years later, Benni Peughter's multi multi tier entertainment
company Diverse Diverse Media's home to record labels, distribution platform, publishing,
management and more. Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations
Math Class. The CEO Benny People.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
How you doing, my friend? Are you man? Well? You
know Bennie.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It's first of all, let me just tell you why
Benny is so special to me.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Steve Harvey.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Now he gave us our first record deal way back
in two thousand and one or two.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Man, Listen, that is a real story too.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Man.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
You guys, one thing I will say about you and
Steve is that you know there's no secret on why
you guys are successful because you know, I've been in
as I started my career in Motown Records.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So I was blessed.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
To start my introduction into the music business and a
black owned company, right, which is different. Everyone's journey is different.
But one thing that I feel blessed was is that
you know they made us work hard. You know how
it is when we with us, right, But they taught
me a lot and they wouldn't allow me to fail.
(02:19):
They made me work and wouldn't allow me to fail.
They made me working with me to fail.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
But when I when I met you and Steve, I saw,
like you know, the connection and the love and the driving,
the determination and one thing that you guys always had
was foresight and vision. So to see where you both
are isn't a surprise to me. Thank you, because you're
all with some tight top dress, yell super clean. I
(02:44):
ain't yo. You'all remind me of jam and Lewis. It
may remind me like I'm not gonna drop it. I'm
not gonna drop none of it. Words that I gotta
get to people, Oh, I gotta get to people with
a little bit about you know. I hear you all
that money making and all that good good, all that
good talk, but they don't know. Man, you a real
one and you know what you talk is really what
you're about. So I'm so excited to be here and
(03:06):
just you know, be able to speak to your audience
and that you're extending, you know, an opportunity for the
to do this with you.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
So appreciate your brother.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
We know, Benny, the the the the ability to communicate
has always been your skill set, you know which I mean.
I met him in the la I met him in Chicago,
I met him in Las Vegas, I met him in Atlanta,
I met him in New York City. But it's always consistent.
Your tone and your personality has always been consistent. Is
(03:35):
that intentional? Are you have a clear understanding that people
what they expect that you should be delivering that.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So it all starts for me. It started at home.
You know. My parents would never allow us to speak
what I had down in odds down. Never did that then,
as uh, you know, we were being reared realized the
value of what we say is what we mean, right,
and you know all of those things. We came from
a strong Christian background, Like my mother was a real Christian,
(04:04):
not like the fake Christians.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
But you all know the real Bible, you know, the
real Bible.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Like I never saw my mother at a pair of
jeans and pants because there's a scripture somewhere I haven't
founded yet in the Bible that women and jeans wasn't
even around then. But there's a scripture that women shouldn't
emulate men in any but you know, I'm sure your audience, them,
good old Baptist Christian women and men, understand that, and
so were. We grew up in a in a very
(04:31):
you know, devout household in that respect. But I think
what was really important for me and identification was the
fact that I started delivering papers and news newspapers at
eleven years old. And what you realize in the lessons
that were given and dealing with adults is kind of
like now in business managing up right, you know, just
(04:51):
like can you go to a restaurant you eat, believe
it or not. The servers of a disadvantage because you can
always say I don't like it, you go to the
bathroom and e right. There's a lot of things that
can happen, but you already provide the service. So at
eleven years old, I realized how shifty adults could be.
You not undelivered the paper all week, and rain had
to get up at six in the morning.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Collect day. Y'all know when collect day is, you eat it?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Never there, they give you a little bit, you gotta
come back later, come see me on Saturday, or like
you know, what. They disappeared for three or four weeks.
So at that point I realized, you know, I wasn't
a child anymore because I was dealing with adults. So
it's like playing up in basketball, right like you're freshman
playing with the seniors. So ultimately, I never really dealt
(05:38):
with kids my age in that aspect because I was always,
you know, dealing with adults. So I learned how to
customize myself and situations going up and down.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The interesting thing about just having you on the show,
we're going to talk a little bit about your book.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
So there's a story behind that. I never had aspirations
on doing a book, but August thirty first, I was
in a near death car accident. August twenty second, I
took my son to boarding school. He went to IMG
and Braden and Florida. And on the twenty sixth of August,
(06:19):
a friend of mine called me in the office and
he asked me if I wanted to go to a barbecue,
and I told him yes. The next day, he called
me on Wednesday and asked me if I was still coming.
That Thursday, he calls me again and asks me if
I'm still coming That Saturday morning, I took a flight
(06:40):
from New Jersey down to Charlotte, North Carolina, and from Charlotte,
I drove to Columbia, South Carolina to visit my sister
and my nephews and spent some time with them while
they were playing football. My sister and I we drove
from Colombia to Orangeburg to spend some time with my
(07:04):
Following celebrated seventeth birthday, I spent a little time with
my mother, who has Alzheimer's. My friend calls me again
and asked me if it's still coming. On the thirty first,
I drive from Colombia to Charlotte to take a flight
back to New York. It was a misty rain that day,
so the flight was delayed. Get on the plane, fly
(07:28):
back to New York. IM about an hour and a
half late. Now I call my wife and let her
know I'm going to be late because the flight was
delayed and I had a meeting in New York City.
In Manhattan, driving home, my friend calls. He asked me,
are you still coming? I said yes, called my wife,
let her know to get my youngest daughter and let
(07:48):
her know that we weren't going to take the convertible
because it seemed like it wouldn't be safe with this rain,
so we'd take the truck picked them up. We drive
out the rule in New Jersey. About twenty minutes out,
my friend calls me to ask me again, are we coming?
I said yeah. So finally we get to the house
and what I thought was just a barbecue, he actually
(08:09):
catered for the two families, so it was really sweet.
Four adults, three bottles of wine. He and I we
peel off out of the living room and we go
into the deck. It's house is ten thousand square feet,
so there's a lot of distance. We're sitting on the
deck and we're reminiscing. I've known them years, and you know,
talking about the good things. A lot of challenges happen
(08:31):
in his life, challenges happening in my life. That missy
ring happens again. So I don't know whether he said
or I said, Well, we both stood up and said,
you know what, let's go take a ride. He just
bought a new five to fifty Bends. So we walked
from the deck through the kitchen into the car port,
jump in the car, turns on the radio, he backs out,
(08:55):
jumps out of the car, walks in the house, gets
a cigar, gets back in the house. Now the women
and the two kids, they come out. I don't know
why black people always want to see people pull off,
but that's what we do, right, We do that in
a wave. He backs out, drives down his driveway, which
is probably the length of a New York City block.
We get to the end of the roadway, he opens
the gate. It's a two lane roadway and rule New Jersey.
(09:16):
He literally makes it right and I hear her and
the car just shoots off. So I'd made a call
all day, So I pick up my phone and I
cut my eyes and look at the old demaner and
the cars are seventy five miles an hour. So now
I cut my eyes and I turned my whole head
and he's out conscious with his foot on the accelerator.
(09:40):
So now from where we started to impact was half
a mile without the car moving forward, without a driver.
At that point, I did what I was always conditioned
to do, what my mother's always taught us to do,
is speak to God. And the first thing I said,
because I'd seen all of my family, they obviously my son,
(10:01):
saw my sister, my mother, and my father, my daughter,
and my sisters standing in the yard. I said, Lord,
I guess I'm not going to see my family anymore.
The second thing I said to God is, Lord, I
guess I'm going to see you soon, because now I
get a grips on my mortality, and you realize like
this can't in It can't end good because the car
(10:21):
is now without a driver at ninety miles an hour.
The third thing I do is I get mad with God.
But I'm glad God didn't get mad with me because
I thought about who's going to pour wisdom into my
son at this point, who's going to marry my two girls,
My wife's not prepared for this moment, who's going to
take care of my mother? And most importantly, you know, God,
(10:44):
have I known I was going to die today, I
wouldn't have came to this barbecue. As we start veering
off the road, we start clipping trees and bushes, and
every time he would take his foot off the car
with decelerate, he.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Was out right.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
He was out conscious, gone foot on an accelerated car
being driven by itself. So at some point we hit
something in the middle of the road and the car
just shot across through the opposite side of the road
and we hit an oak at ninety miles an hour.
I sustained a level two concussion L three to zero
(11:19):
four vertebrate fracture, bulging disc in my back. We hit
the tree so hard that elacerated my liver, which led
me to lead out half the blood in my body,
and the force of the tree and the belt restraining
me severed two feet of my small intestine. And at
that moment God put a book inside of me called
(11:43):
on Impact, which takes you through my journey from eleven
years old delivering newspapers to modern day. An Impact is
an acronym ITS that stands for intuition, mastery, pivot, authenticity,
connection and teamwork. And at the end of each chapter
is a hit list that the reader can apply to
themselves and say, pretty much, if Benny could do it,
(12:04):
I can do it too. And that is what led
me to this point in the pivot aspect of moving
forward in a different direction in my life.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Fear is a good thing, because unknown is a good thing.
I always tell people we live a life of being
too comfortable. And if you live that comfortable life, are
you happy with that comfortable life? And when I say
that I'm not talking about just a job. I'm talking
about a relationship. I'm talking about where you're living. I'm
talking about the call you're driving, the clothes you're wearing.
Are you're comfortable walking out that front door. Are you
comfortable sitting at that desk and where you're working? If not,
(12:35):
then you need to pivot. And when you pivot, there
are no guarantees the beauty of your life. Up to
that point, when you were with your friend driving down
the road, everything was normal.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You live in a normal life.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
When you looked over there and saw he was unconscious
ninety miles an hour, those few seconds, you had to
think everything was abnormal, everything was against the trend and
so but at that impact, it had to be everything
was in slow motion, if I that's how it.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Really does happen, in slow motion.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
And because I've been there, you know, like I was
telling y'allf air from a life journey, you know of
nineteen ninety my lung collapsed, stayed in hospital thirty days.
And I was one of those people who thought I could.
I was a self healer. You know, if I got sick,
I go play basketball. I just sweated out of me
you know, I never stayed in bed, and then in
twenty fifteen, that's when I was diagnosed with cancer. And
(13:32):
when you was talking that same story, it was very
relatable to me because what happens is when you met
with tragedy or a decisive moment in your life that
you can't control. That's the part right there that y'all
need to understand. When he was looking over there at
his friend, not knowing what was wrong with his friend,
he knew that car was driving and he couldn't stop
(13:53):
what was happening with it. That's not being in control.
And so when they told me I had cancer, I
had no control right there. But I had an understanding
that what was going on in my life at the time,
the people I cared about, the people I wanted to
be successful. That's why I'm living hopefully. That's why you're living, Benny.
(14:13):
That's why it's a blessing to have a family. It
carries on you have a reason to live. And so
I was all right, you know, I looked at everything
that was happening in my life, the people around me,
the people I had touched. I was alright with dying,
not saying I wanted to die. But it did tell
me at that point I needed to change.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
My direction exactly. And God finds a way of getting
any attention. And what you're talking about is in regards
to like the pivot. You know, when I look at
my journey in the music business after three decades, what
people fail to realize, like when I left rock Nation
and like, how could you leave that job? And well,
(14:52):
it's the best thing, Like it was an amazing situation.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
But have you followed my career.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I left every job at the top, right because what
I'm a believer is not talk about it, be about it.
And I left all of those people at starting in
Motown to finishing my career in corporate I Rock Nation
and def Jam and Epic and all of these situations
because as a giver, it's about teaching people.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan MacDonald.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
So at this point, even in the current landscape, a
lot of the people I taught to fish and now
the people that are now in control of the business.
Because it's not about me having the best folks with me.
It's about me going helping others to be the best right.
And when you're doing that, then you don't worry and
life is good.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Man. You know we done did up and down right.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
You know we know you don't have maynaise sandwiches and woggle, right,
you know how to do bone and sometimes you put
a little man's on woggle.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
The beauty of what we're talking about here, I want
everybody to hear this, But we got to slow it
down a little bit because see, your pivot was tied
to an accident and that Nedler killed you.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yes, one of my pivots, because that's not the only pivot.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
He always told you he left jobs at top, so
he was pivoting and seeing other opportunities. So we're just
talking about this one moment and not saying and we
want to let you know that everybody doesn't need to
have a life threatening diagnosis, a life threatning event to
change your direction. When you hear me talk like this,
how do you encourage people to step out on fear,
(16:38):
to past that fear and step And we always hear
this stepping out on faith. I would say, if you
don't have a plan with that faith, it's gonna be
a short journey. Talk to us, Benny.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
So you know, I think to your point is is
actually seeing the finish line.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I wake up every day knowing where I want to be,
so whatever comes along the way, I'm comfortable with it.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
If you know, if it's it's a great day, it's
a great day. If it's a bad day, it's a
bad day. Because as you know, you're in the moment
right right, the past is gone and you know today's
only you know yesterday for tomorrow. So you got to
take the time in order to accomplish what you're doing
today and the value of what it is. Because once again,
(17:19):
whether I never knew before the value of time until
I walked out of that house and realized in an
instant things change. So while I'm in control of what
I am in control of, make it matter now. The
finish line is how you see the finish happening, and
along the way you stay focused on what it is
that you want, don't stray, stay focused on what you want,
(17:44):
and that's where the accomplishments will come. Because if you
wake up every day truly loving what you do, nothing
else matters. It doesn't matter how much money you make, right,
it doesn't. And when you make a lot of money,
you know how to make that money work right and
if you just make because once again, I've been saving money.
My mom taught me how to save since I was
five years old. I had Christmas clubs. For those who
(18:05):
are old enough to know Christmas clubs. My mother used
to walk me a mile to the bank and we
put a dollar together in the bank. So she taught
me how to save money then at five. So that's
en rooted in me right, in which I rooted my
children and still in my children, which all of us
should do right. Because we don't know what the value
(18:26):
right of what we do and the responsibility of who
we are on what we're supposed to do right. I
think we get very sidetracked. And social media is a
problem with that right, like it's it's about to swipe up,
swipe down.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Well, you're the thing about you know, millennial's world problem.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
You know, we realize now that millennials just take advantage
of technology. While people were complaining about technology, Millennials are
an opportunity to skip tach steps.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
So technology is tied to that.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
So all you have to do is either join the
gag that line long line of people who want to change,
or that very short line of people who are frustrated.
And I say short line because a lot of people
getting out of that line, you.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
So you can look around and go, you You'll never
be by yourself, because there's stubborn people out there who's
just gonna admit, won't admit they can change. But the
thing that I really wanted to point out and just
hearing you talk and uh and and dealing with it,
you know, when we start, we've been fortunately have a
lot of famous names in.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Our tied to our resume.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I can go with Robert Townsend, Tia and Tamara Moory,
I can go with the Bonique. I can go with
Jamie fox U, Kevin Hard and they can and the
list goes on and on. In each one of those people,
Steve Harvey, Steven A. Smith, there's people always say we'll you,
wow you just these people have unique skills, unique skills
(19:47):
that separate them and make them special, make them add too,
because they can't work around everybody. They have to be
around a certain amount of people. And if you're around
them and you don't have that same mindset. They will
trample you because they want to be great. And if
you don't understand, if you're hanging out there just to
have a good time, you won't be around these people.
Long talk about hanging out with those type of people.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
It's not by chance that's successful. Yes, none of them.
The ones that you named your repertoire, you worked with
and equally show and the ones that I have, they
all have that unique skill set and that is determination
and drive by any means necessary. They're focused individuals. I
mean you see it. I've been with individuals that you
(20:32):
know that they would be who they are just because
of their work ethic. Like there is no break time,
it's work time, right. And ideally, when you're on a dream,
right and you're on a quest or you have a journey,
that's what your focus is. So you need people who
buy in and understand exactly where you're going. And those
(20:54):
are who you need around. Not nay sayers, not hanger
on right, not people that kill your spirit. But I
you knock on right, let them go right, let them
go and ideally you know that's what becomes most important
is is understanding the company you keep.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Music is always key to what we do, and it's
tied to everything we do in life. I always tell her,
you know, our relationship goes back to a record deal
he brought to Steve and I a long time ago.
And if P Diddy were the released the artist that
we needed as our first single, he and I might
(21:31):
not be sitting here.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It's the cheeks, but it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
So I want to just drop some nuggets about what
this book is all about. You talked about how it
got started, but your impact man on how to motivate
people and take them to the next level. Let's talk
about a couple of keys, the key to building mental
relationship because people don't understand young people understand the value
of mentorship because they understand that, but what is really
the value of building mental relationships?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Benny pe Mentoring changed my life. As I said when
I started at Motown Records. The woman who actually gave
me my first job works for me now, right because
you know, once again, you know, life goes through it cycles,
and that's what long term relationships are about.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
People pour into you. You make sure that you're able
to give something back when it's time to drink and
that's how it works. And you know, like for me
with the companies that I've worked for, it's about teach,
especially for US as Is, minorities and African Americans and
you know all folks is. You know, we need a break,
(22:38):
we need an opportunity. There's a lot of things we
don't know. So instead of making a mistake, like think
of it in its most rudimentary basic terms. If you
don't know, green means go, yellow means caution, and red
means stop, you'd always just walk in the street. But
there's someone to teach you and didn't move you along
in life and that respect and and that's what I
(23:01):
was able to do with the people that I've worked with.
I've had some amazing mentors from dd tate L A Read,
you know, just to just to name a few. And
it's a great resource for those to have an opportunity
to be able to ask questions that you know, you
may not feel that confident in asking what those where
(23:21):
you can be vulnerable. And that's the importance of giving
people an opportunity to be vulnerable to grow, because if not,
they'll make mistakes right and mistakes that you already have
the answers to why would you do that? Right?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
We know.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
The interesting thing about it, I always talk about you know,
because we talked about money early. I would tell people
I never go into a relationship thinking about money, you know.
I think about what I can build and what value
I can create, because do you create value in any situation?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Somebody gonna pay you some money.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Somebody gonna pay you some money. Man, somebody gonna pay
you some money.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
They're gonna pay it. And a lot of people miss that.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
They come in this what I this is what I
want to get paid and it guess what? And then
people start judging you based on what they paid you. Now,
when you create value a need, they don't judge it.
They know they have to pay to maintain that relationship
and maintain that skill or product that you're delivering on
a consistent basis. But you have to be consistent about it.
(24:18):
I remember that when I was how I got started
in the radio, was just sitting in the back of
the studio watching Steve Harper every day and final line went,
I can do this, and I started dropping producer notes producing.
Next thing, you know, I was the executive producer of
the morning show because I had value, and I saw
it and I learned my craft. But nobody paid me
extra money to get up at five point thirty to
go in the studio at six o'clock.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
I could have stayed at.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Home and just collected my commission check because I got
paid on the deal.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
But you knew where you was going, yes, and the
opportunity was the value. Like there was an when I
was at a company. It was an interesting point I
had to make a decision on whether I was going
to stay at the company, and I was at I
was going to take another job and take a six
figure pay cut.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Right, that's betting.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
That was probably the first real bet on yourself, right,
the real bet on yourself. But there was an opportunity
at this particular company that they never gave outsiders an
opportunity to come in, right, and they were the best.
So for me, the value was I want to go
learn how they do their business right, and that opportunity
(25:30):
wound up paying thirty x right. Like at the end
of the day, that money that I didn't make for
that period of time, I didn't make it. Oh, I
made that over and over and over again because of
the education, right and realizing following and looking at where
I wanted to go.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
And these are steps. Right, it's the tuition that you
pay to be yourself right right. Let me just give
you an example my relationship to that. I remember when
I was a writer was on ABC. The show got counseled,
Steve Harvey and the boys got counseled. And then I
went over to Robert Townson's first show and they cut
my money in half. I said, cool, I'm working and
(26:08):
then they but they kept my job titled. They didn't
the same, and so I went to I went to
Wanner Brothers Studios and I sat down. They said, uh,
I said, I just want my job title to be elevated.
He said, we can't give you no more money. I said,
I'm not asking for no more money. I just want
my job title to be elevated. He said does that mean?
(26:32):
I said yes, because see that's about you know, like
I said, showing value with your name, because you know
it's a staff writer, executive story editor, you know, assistant producer, producer.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Super right. So I was about to miss a step.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
That guy looked at me and go, nobody's ever coming here,
and said they wanted a title, but not worried about
the money. That small move got to me eventually be
co executive producer of the Jamie Fox Show. If I
didn't go in that room and tell this guy, don't
worry about the money, just give me the job title,
I would have never gotten to be the co executive
producer of the Javid Fox Show because I would.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Have been the title behind correct, I see you.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And so that's what that's my slide over to your
The value of personal branding something you know oh too well,
And I want to let somebody know on my side,
I did a personal branding move way back then before
branding was as they said in Vogue today, everybody used
it so much, but nobody knows what it really means,
talk about personal branding bending Pew.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
So it started for me as a child. You know,
it's a it's a funny story. My sister Regina and
I and the rest of our family. We grew up
in a five family house and in the attic is
which where our apartment was, and the winners were really
cold in the summers, really hot. And what was the
chances that my last name being Pew, that there was
(27:51):
a family of skunks that lived in proximity of the
house under the house and you know, in a far distance.
So when whether the raccoons or cats or dogs would
agitate these skunks, they would spray, and what would happen
is that the scent would go the draft would pull
(28:11):
through the house and come in to our apartment, and
me and my sister literally would smell like skunks. So
we would go to school with the last name Pew
smelling like skunks, and kids as mean as they are,
you know, like children, like they're just nasty.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
You know, we can be bad like kids.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
We all we were back kids, right, and realized at
that point, you know, it could have been a pure negative.
I can't change my name, right, and obviously I'm not
in control of the circumstances with the skunk. So that
was at the point when I decided to brand myself
and make sure my name mattered right. So that's why
I'm always Bennie Pugh, not ben not Benny Benny Peugh,
(28:56):
because I wanted my name to matter right because of
the I can say that, you know, like I would say,
you know, Oprah.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
I'm not trying to be Oprah because you know, Oprah
can top you, you know, if you if you got
a bad thing that happened, you're like Oprah got a
bad thing happening your life.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
You know what I'm saying, Oh, you're a long listen
you know I was a long Listen to I have
two friends. That's Oprah show.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Because you know, because of my name Rushan, you know,
my father's really enunciated Russian. And so I had to
make a decision is it Russian? To Rashan and said,
pick a name, brother, I was, I remember twenty two
he said, pick a name. I say Rashan. He said,
but don't say it like that. Don't say it like
you guessing. Say Rashan, Okay, Rashan. And so same thing there.
(29:42):
If you make a decision, ride the decision out. And
then if you don't want to be called Chris, your
real name's Christopher, say let people say.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Your real name Chris. There for her.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
And that's what people so much and so long in life.
They allow of the people to define their path. What
is the thing that really sets you apart as far
as defining people with advice?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Faith?
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I mean, it's very clear, you know what you believe
is important because it all starts with the beliefs and
the almighty, and then belief in yourself. It's really important.
Everything else the secondary to me. Ultimately, you know someone
who's been in some of the worst situations and the
best in some of the best situations. What's been most
(30:26):
important is my driving for us has been my faith.
So that's really is simple for me, right And.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I always tell people that a strong belief in what
you want to do will be tied to the goals
you put in place to achieve your dream. But it
all starts with a dream. But a dream cannot be
a complised with that goal. The goals you put in
action next level opportunity being in people. Thank you for
coming on the show, brother man.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
That was good man.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Say that again.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guess
on the show today and thank you you are listening
to the audience now. If you want to listen to
any episode I want to be a guest on the show,
visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember to always
(31:13):
leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Keep winning
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click the be
a Guest button. Chris Submit and information will come directly
(00:23):
to me. Now, let's get this show started.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
My next guest his name is Benny Pugh.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
He's a respected entertainment industry veteran of decades of experience
propelling the careers of some of the leading superstars. When
I say superstars, I don't mince words, including Jay z Rihanna,
Kanye West, Travis Scott, Future, DJ Khalig, and twenty one Savage.
He has left an indelible mark on the music industry,
holding the executive roles that labels like Motown, def Jam,
(00:49):
Epic Records, MC Records, rock Nation. That's when he called
me and said he was doing Rock Nation. I tried
to Rock Nation before ultimately deciding to pivot to This
is why he's on the show. Pivoting to entrepreneurship, because
that's what money Making Conversations Math Class is all about,
not getting so much locked in and what you're doing,
but what you're capable of doing for your own personal dream.
(01:10):
Over two years later, Benni Peughter's multi multi tier entertainment
company Diverse Diverse Media's home to record labels, distribution platform, publishing,
management and more. Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations
Math Class. The CEO Benny People.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
How you doing, my friend? Are you man? Well? You
know Bennie.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It's first of all, let me just tell you why
Benny is so special to me.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Steve Harvey.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Now he gave us our first record deal way back
in two thousand and one or two.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Man, Listen, that is a real story too.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Man.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
You guys, one thing I will say about you and
Steve is that you know there's no secret on why
you guys are successful because you know, I've been in
as I started my career in Motown Records.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So I was blessed.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
To start my introduction into the music business and a
black owned company, right, which is different. Everyone's journey is different.
But one thing that I feel blessed was is that
you know they made us work hard. You know how
it is when we with us, right, But they taught
me a lot and they wouldn't allow me to fail.
(02:19):
They made me work and wouldn't allow me to fail.
They made me working with me to fail.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
But when I when I met you and Steve, I saw,
like you know, the connection and the love and the driving,
the determination and one thing that you guys always had
was foresight and vision. So to see where you both
are isn't a surprise to me. Thank you, because you're
all with some tight top dress, yell super clean. I
(02:44):
ain't yo. You'all remind me of jam and Lewis. It
may remind me like I'm not gonna drop it. I'm
not gonna drop none of it. Words that I gotta
get to people, Oh, I gotta get to people with
a little bit about you know. I hear you all
that money making and all that good good, all that
good talk, but they don't know. Man, you a real
one and you know what you talk is really what
you're about. So I'm so excited to be here and
(03:06):
just you know, be able to speak to your audience
and that you're extending, you know, an opportunity for the
to do this with you.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
So appreciate your brother.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
We know, Benny, the the the the ability to communicate
has always been your skill set, you know which I mean.
I met him in the la I met him in Chicago,
I met him in Las Vegas, I met him in Atlanta,
I met him in New York City. But it's always consistent.
Your tone and your personality has always been consistent. Is
(03:35):
that intentional? Are you have a clear understanding that people
what they expect that you should be delivering that.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So it all starts for me. It started at home.
You know. My parents would never allow us to speak
what I had down in odds down. Never did that then,
as uh, you know, we were being reared realized the
value of what we say is what we mean, right,
and you know all of those things. We came from
a strong Christian background, Like my mother was a real Christian,
(04:04):
not like the fake Christians.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
But you all know the real Bible, you know, the
real Bible.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Like I never saw my mother at a pair of
jeans and pants because there's a scripture somewhere I haven't
founded yet in the Bible that women and jeans wasn't
even around then. But there's a scripture that women shouldn't
emulate men in any but you know, I'm sure your audience, them,
good old Baptist Christian women and men, understand that, and
so were. We grew up in a in a very
(04:31):
you know, devout household in that respect. But I think
what was really important for me and identification was the
fact that I started delivering papers and news newspapers at
eleven years old. And what you realize in the lessons
that were given and dealing with adults is kind of
like now in business managing up right, you know, just
(04:51):
like can you go to a restaurant you eat, believe
it or not. The servers of a disadvantage because you can
always say I don't like it, you go to the
bathroom and e right. There's a lot of things that
can happen, but you already provide the service. So at
eleven years old, I realized how shifty adults could be.
You not undelivered the paper all week, and rain had
to get up at six in the morning.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Collect day. Y'all know when collect day is, you eat it?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Never there, they give you a little bit, you gotta
come back later, come see me on Saturday, or like
you know, what. They disappeared for three or four weeks.
So at that point I realized, you know, I wasn't
a child anymore because I was dealing with adults. So
it's like playing up in basketball, right like you're freshman
playing with the seniors. So ultimately, I never really dealt
(05:38):
with kids my age in that aspect because I was always,
you know, dealing with adults. So I learned how to
customize myself and situations going up and down.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The interesting thing about just having you on the show,
we're going to talk a little bit about your book.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
So there's a story behind that. I never had aspirations
on doing a book, but August thirty first, I was
in a near death car accident. August twenty second, I
took my son to boarding school. He went to IMG
and Braden and Florida. And on the twenty sixth of August,
(06:19):
a friend of mine called me in the office and
he asked me if I wanted to go to a barbecue,
and I told him yes. The next day, he called
me on Wednesday and asked me if I was still coming.
That Thursday, he calls me again and asks me if
I'm still coming That Saturday morning, I took a flight
(06:40):
from New Jersey down to Charlotte, North Carolina, and from Charlotte,
I drove to Columbia, South Carolina to visit my sister
and my nephews and spent some time with them while
they were playing football. My sister and I we drove
from Colombia to Orangeburg to spend some time with my
(07:04):
Following celebrated seventeth birthday, I spent a little time with
my mother, who has Alzheimer's. My friend calls me again
and asked me if it's still coming. On the thirty first,
I drive from Colombia to Charlotte to take a flight
back to New York. It was a misty rain that day,
so the flight was delayed. Get on the plane, fly
(07:28):
back to New York. IM about an hour and a
half late. Now I call my wife and let her
know I'm going to be late because the flight was
delayed and I had a meeting in New York City.
In Manhattan, driving home, my friend calls. He asked me,
are you still coming? I said yes, called my wife,
let her know to get my youngest daughter and let
(07:48):
her know that we weren't going to take the convertible
because it seemed like it wouldn't be safe with this rain,
so we'd take the truck picked them up. We drive
out the rule in New Jersey. About twenty minutes out,
my friend calls me to ask me again, are we coming?
I said yeah. So finally we get to the house
and what I thought was just a barbecue, he actually
(08:09):
catered for the two families, so it was really sweet.
Four adults, three bottles of wine. He and I we
peel off out of the living room and we go
into the deck. It's house is ten thousand square feet,
so there's a lot of distance. We're sitting on the
deck and we're reminiscing. I've known them years, and you know,
talking about the good things. A lot of challenges happen
(08:31):
in his life, challenges happening in my life. That missy
ring happens again. So I don't know whether he said
or I said, Well, we both stood up and said,
you know what, let's go take a ride. He just
bought a new five to fifty Bends. So we walked
from the deck through the kitchen into the car port,
jump in the car, turns on the radio, he backs out,
(08:55):
jumps out of the car, walks in the house, gets
a cigar, gets back in the house. Now the women
and the two kids, they come out. I don't know
why black people always want to see people pull off,
but that's what we do, right, We do that in
a wave. He backs out, drives down his driveway, which
is probably the length of a New York City block.
We get to the end of the roadway, he opens
the gate. It's a two lane roadway and rule New Jersey.
(09:16):
He literally makes it right and I hear her and
the car just shoots off. So I'd made a call
all day, So I pick up my phone and I
cut my eyes and look at the old demaner and
the cars are seventy five miles an hour. So now
I cut my eyes and I turned my whole head
and he's out conscious with his foot on the accelerator.
(09:40):
So now from where we started to impact was half
a mile without the car moving forward, without a driver.
At that point, I did what I was always conditioned
to do, what my mother's always taught us to do,
is speak to God. And the first thing I said,
because I'd seen all of my family, they obviously my son,
(10:01):
saw my sister, my mother, and my father, my daughter,
and my sisters standing in the yard. I said, Lord,
I guess I'm not going to see my family anymore.
The second thing I said to God is, Lord, I
guess I'm going to see you soon, because now I
get a grips on my mortality, and you realize like
this can't in It can't end good because the car
(10:21):
is now without a driver at ninety miles an hour.
The third thing I do is I get mad with God.
But I'm glad God didn't get mad with me because
I thought about who's going to pour wisdom into my
son at this point, who's going to marry my two girls,
My wife's not prepared for this moment, who's going to
take care of my mother? And most importantly, you know, God,
(10:44):
have I known I was going to die today, I
wouldn't have came to this barbecue. As we start veering
off the road, we start clipping trees and bushes, and
every time he would take his foot off the car
with decelerate, he.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Was out right.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
He was out conscious, gone foot on an accelerated car
being driven by itself. So at some point we hit
something in the middle of the road and the car
just shot across through the opposite side of the road
and we hit an oak at ninety miles an hour.
I sustained a level two concussion L three to zero
(11:19):
four vertebrate fracture, bulging disc in my back. We hit
the tree so hard that elacerated my liver, which led
me to lead out half the blood in my body,
and the force of the tree and the belt restraining
me severed two feet of my small intestine. And at
that moment God put a book inside of me called
(11:43):
on Impact, which takes you through my journey from eleven
years old delivering newspapers to modern day. An Impact is
an acronym ITS that stands for intuition, mastery, pivot, authenticity,
connection and teamwork. And at the end of each chapter
is a hit list that the reader can apply to
themselves and say, pretty much, if Benny could do it,
(12:04):
I can do it too. And that is what led
me to this point in the pivot aspect of moving
forward in a different direction in my life.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Fear is a good thing, because unknown is a good thing.
I always tell people we live a life of being
too comfortable. And if you live that comfortable life, are
you happy with that comfortable life? And when I say
that I'm not talking about just a job. I'm talking
about a relationship. I'm talking about where you're living. I'm
talking about the call you're driving, the clothes you're wearing.
Are you're comfortable walking out that front door. Are you
comfortable sitting at that desk and where you're working? If not,
(12:35):
then you need to pivot. And when you pivot, there
are no guarantees the beauty of your life. Up to
that point, when you were with your friend driving down
the road, everything was normal.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You live in a normal life.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
When you looked over there and saw he was unconscious
ninety miles an hour, those few seconds, you had to
think everything was abnormal, everything was against the trend and
so but at that impact, it had to be everything
was in slow motion, if I that's how it.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Really does happen, in slow motion.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
And because I've been there, you know, like I was
telling y'allf air from a life journey, you know of
nineteen ninety my lung collapsed, stayed in hospital thirty days.
And I was one of those people who thought I could.
I was a self healer. You know, if I got sick,
I go play basketball. I just sweated out of me
you know, I never stayed in bed, and then in
twenty fifteen, that's when I was diagnosed with cancer. And
(13:32):
when you was talking that same story, it was very
relatable to me because what happens is when you met
with tragedy or a decisive moment in your life that
you can't control. That's the part right there that y'all
need to understand. When he was looking over there at
his friend, not knowing what was wrong with his friend,
he knew that car was driving and he couldn't stop
(13:53):
what was happening with it. That's not being in control.
And so when they told me I had cancer, I
had no control right there. But I had an understanding
that what was going on in my life at the time,
the people I cared about, the people I wanted to
be successful. That's why I'm living hopefully. That's why you're living, Benny.
(14:13):
That's why it's a blessing to have a family. It
carries on you have a reason to live. And so
I was all right, you know, I looked at everything
that was happening in my life, the people around me,
the people I had touched. I was alright with dying,
not saying I wanted to die. But it did tell
me at that point I needed to change.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
My direction exactly. And God finds a way of getting
any attention. And what you're talking about is in regards
to like the pivot. You know, when I look at
my journey in the music business after three decades, what
people fail to realize, like when I left rock Nation
and like, how could you leave that job? And well,
(14:52):
it's the best thing, Like it was an amazing situation.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
But have you followed my career.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I left every job at the top, right because what
I'm a believer is not talk about it, be about it.
And I left all of those people at starting in
Motown to finishing my career in corporate I Rock Nation
and def Jam and Epic and all of these situations
because as a giver, it's about teaching people.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan MacDonald.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
So at this point, even in the current landscape, a
lot of the people I taught to fish and now
the people that are now in control of the business.
Because it's not about me having the best folks with me.
It's about me going helping others to be the best right.
And when you're doing that, then you don't worry and
life is good.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Man. You know we done did up and down right.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
You know we know you don't have maynaise sandwiches and woggle, right,
you know how to do bone and sometimes you put
a little man's on woggle.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
The beauty of what we're talking about here, I want
everybody to hear this, But we got to slow it
down a little bit because see, your pivot was tied
to an accident and that Nedler killed you.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yes, one of my pivots, because that's not the only pivot.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
He always told you he left jobs at top, so
he was pivoting and seeing other opportunities. So we're just
talking about this one moment and not saying and we
want to let you know that everybody doesn't need to
have a life threatening diagnosis, a life threatning event to
change your direction. When you hear me talk like this,
how do you encourage people to step out on fear,
(16:38):
to past that fear and step And we always hear
this stepping out on faith. I would say, if you
don't have a plan with that faith, it's gonna be
a short journey. Talk to us, Benny.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
So you know, I think to your point is is
actually seeing the finish line.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
I wake up every day knowing where I want to be,
so whatever comes along the way, I'm comfortable with it.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
If you know, if it's it's a great day, it's
a great day. If it's a bad day, it's a
bad day. Because as you know, you're in the moment
right right, the past is gone and you know today's
only you know yesterday for tomorrow. So you got to
take the time in order to accomplish what you're doing
today and the value of what it is. Because once again,
(17:19):
whether I never knew before the value of time until
I walked out of that house and realized in an
instant things change. So while I'm in control of what
I am in control of, make it matter now. The
finish line is how you see the finish happening, and
along the way you stay focused on what it is
that you want, don't stray, stay focused on what you want,
(17:44):
and that's where the accomplishments will come. Because if you
wake up every day truly loving what you do, nothing
else matters. It doesn't matter how much money you make, right,
it doesn't. And when you make a lot of money,
you know how to make that money work right and
if you just make because once again, I've been saving money.
My mom taught me how to save since I was
five years old. I had Christmas clubs. For those who
(18:05):
are old enough to know Christmas clubs. My mother used
to walk me a mile to the bank and we
put a dollar together in the bank. So she taught
me how to save money then at five. So that's
en rooted in me right, in which I rooted my
children and still in my children, which all of us
should do right. Because we don't know what the value
(18:26):
right of what we do and the responsibility of who
we are on what we're supposed to do right. I
think we get very sidetracked. And social media is a
problem with that right, like it's it's about to swipe up,
swipe down.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Well, you're the thing about you know, millennial's world problem.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
You know, we realize now that millennials just take advantage
of technology. While people were complaining about technology, Millennials are
an opportunity to skip tach steps.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
So technology is tied to that.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
So all you have to do is either join the
gag that line long line of people who want to change,
or that very short line of people who are frustrated.
And I say short line because a lot of people
getting out of that line, you.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
So you can look around and go, you You'll never
be by yourself, because there's stubborn people out there who's
just gonna admit, won't admit they can change. But the
thing that I really wanted to point out and just
hearing you talk and uh and and dealing with it,
you know, when we start, we've been fortunately have a
lot of famous names in.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Our tied to our resume.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I can go with Robert Townsend, Tia and Tamara Moory,
I can go with the Bonique. I can go with
Jamie fox U, Kevin Hard and they can and the
list goes on and on. In each one of those people,
Steve Harvey, Steven A. Smith, there's people always say we'll you,
wow you just these people have unique skills, unique skills
(19:47):
that separate them and make them special, make them add too,
because they can't work around everybody. They have to be
around a certain amount of people. And if you're around
them and you don't have that same mindset. They will
trample you because they want to be great. And if
you don't understand, if you're hanging out there just to
have a good time, you won't be around these people.
Long talk about hanging out with those type of people.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
It's not by chance that's successful. Yes, none of them.
The ones that you named your repertoire, you worked with
and equally show and the ones that I have, they
all have that unique skill set and that is determination
and drive by any means necessary. They're focused individuals. I
mean you see it. I've been with individuals that you
(20:32):
know that they would be who they are just because
of their work ethic. Like there is no break time,
it's work time, right. And ideally, when you're on a dream,
right and you're on a quest or you have a journey,
that's what your focus is. So you need people who
buy in and understand exactly where you're going. And those
(20:54):
are who you need around. Not nay sayers, not hanger
on right, not people that kill your spirit. But I
you knock on right, let them go right, let them
go and ideally you know that's what becomes most important
is is understanding the company you keep.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Music is always key to what we do, and it's
tied to everything we do in life. I always tell her,
you know, our relationship goes back to a record deal
he brought to Steve and I a long time ago.
And if P Diddy were the released the artist that
we needed as our first single, he and I might
(21:31):
not be sitting here.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It's the cheeks, but it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
So I want to just drop some nuggets about what
this book is all about. You talked about how it
got started, but your impact man on how to motivate
people and take them to the next level. Let's talk
about a couple of keys, the key to building mental
relationship because people don't understand young people understand the value
of mentorship because they understand that, but what is really
the value of building mental relationships?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Benny pe Mentoring changed my life. As I said when
I started at Motown Records. The woman who actually gave
me my first job works for me now, right because
you know, once again, you know, life goes through it cycles,
and that's what long term relationships are about.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
People pour into you. You make sure that you're able
to give something back when it's time to drink and
that's how it works. And you know, like for me
with the companies that I've worked for, it's about teach,
especially for US as Is, minorities and African Americans and
you know all folks is. You know, we need a break,
(22:38):
we need an opportunity. There's a lot of things we
don't know. So instead of making a mistake, like think
of it in its most rudimentary basic terms. If you
don't know, green means go, yellow means caution, and red
means stop, you'd always just walk in the street. But
there's someone to teach you and didn't move you along
in life and that respect and and that's what I
(23:01):
was able to do with the people that I've worked with.
I've had some amazing mentors from dd tate L A Read,
you know, just to just to name a few. And
it's a great resource for those to have an opportunity
to be able to ask questions that you know, you
may not feel that confident in asking what those where
(23:21):
you can be vulnerable. And that's the importance of giving
people an opportunity to be vulnerable to grow, because if not,
they'll make mistakes right and mistakes that you already have
the answers to why would you do that? Right?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
We know.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
The interesting thing about it, I always talk about you know,
because we talked about money early. I would tell people
I never go into a relationship thinking about money, you know.
I think about what I can build and what value
I can create, because do you create value in any situation?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Somebody gonna pay you some money.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Somebody gonna pay you some money. Man, somebody gonna pay
you some money.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
They're gonna pay it. And a lot of people miss that.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
They come in this what I this is what I
want to get paid and it guess what? And then
people start judging you based on what they paid you. Now,
when you create value a need, they don't judge it.
They know they have to pay to maintain that relationship
and maintain that skill or product that you're delivering on
a consistent basis. But you have to be consistent about it.
(24:18):
I remember that when I was how I got started
in the radio, was just sitting in the back of
the studio watching Steve Harper every day and final line went,
I can do this, and I started dropping producer notes producing.
Next thing, you know, I was the executive producer of
the morning show because I had value, and I saw
it and I learned my craft. But nobody paid me
extra money to get up at five point thirty to
go in the studio at six o'clock.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
I could have stayed at.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Home and just collected my commission check because I got
paid on the deal.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
But you knew where you was going, yes, and the
opportunity was the value. Like there was an when I
was at a company. It was an interesting point I
had to make a decision on whether I was going
to stay at the company, and I was at I
was going to take another job and take a six
figure pay cut.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Right, that's betting.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
That was probably the first real bet on yourself, right,
the real bet on yourself. But there was an opportunity
at this particular company that they never gave outsiders an
opportunity to come in, right, and they were the best.
So for me, the value was I want to go
learn how they do their business right, and that opportunity
(25:30):
wound up paying thirty x right. Like at the end
of the day, that money that I didn't make for
that period of time, I didn't make it. Oh, I
made that over and over and over again because of
the education, right and realizing following and looking at where
I wanted to go.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
And these are steps. Right, it's the tuition that you
pay to be yourself right right. Let me just give
you an example my relationship to that. I remember when
I was a writer was on ABC. The show got counseled,
Steve Harvey and the boys got counseled. And then I
went over to Robert Townson's first show and they cut
my money in half. I said, cool, I'm working and
(26:08):
then they but they kept my job titled. They didn't
the same, and so I went to I went to
Wanner Brothers Studios and I sat down. They said, uh,
I said, I just want my job title to be elevated.
He said, we can't give you no more money. I said,
I'm not asking for no more money. I just want
my job title to be elevated. He said does that mean?
(26:32):
I said yes, because see that's about you know, like
I said, showing value with your name, because you know
it's a staff writer, executive story editor, you know, assistant producer, producer.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Super right. So I was about to miss a step.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
That guy looked at me and go, nobody's ever coming here,
and said they wanted a title, but not worried about
the money. That small move got to me eventually be
co executive producer of the Jamie Fox Show. If I
didn't go in that room and tell this guy, don't
worry about the money, just give me the job title,
I would have never gotten to be the co executive
producer of the Javid Fox Show because I would.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Have been the title behind correct, I see you.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And so that's what that's my slide over to your
The value of personal branding something you know oh too well,
And I want to let somebody know on my side,
I did a personal branding move way back then before
branding was as they said in Vogue today, everybody used
it so much, but nobody knows what it really means,
talk about personal branding bending Pew.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
So it started for me as a child. You know,
it's a it's a funny story. My sister Regina and
I and the rest of our family. We grew up
in a five family house and in the attic is
which where our apartment was, and the winners were really
cold in the summers, really hot. And what was the
chances that my last name being Pew, that there was
(27:51):
a family of skunks that lived in proximity of the
house under the house and you know, in a far distance.
So when whether the raccoons or cats or dogs would
agitate these skunks, they would spray, and what would happen
is that the scent would go the draft would pull
(28:11):
through the house and come in to our apartment, and
me and my sister literally would smell like skunks. So
we would go to school with the last name Pew
smelling like skunks, and kids as mean as they are,
you know, like children, like they're just nasty.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
You know, we can be bad like kids.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
We all we were back kids, right, and realized at
that point, you know, it could have been a pure negative.
I can't change my name, right, and obviously I'm not
in control of the circumstances with the skunk. So that
was at the point when I decided to brand myself
and make sure my name mattered right. So that's why
I'm always Bennie Pugh, not ben not Benny Benny Peugh,
(28:56):
because I wanted my name to matter right because of
the I can say that, you know, like I would say,
you know, Oprah.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
I'm not trying to be Oprah because you know, Oprah
can top you, you know, if you if you got
a bad thing that happened, you're like Oprah got a
bad thing happening your life.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
You know what I'm saying, Oh, you're a long listen
you know I was a long Listen to I have
two friends. That's Oprah show.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Because you know, because of my name Rushan, you know,
my father's really enunciated Russian. And so I had to
make a decision is it Russian? To Rashan and said,
pick a name, brother, I was, I remember twenty two
he said, pick a name. I say Rashan. He said,
but don't say it like that. Don't say it like
you guessing. Say Rashan, Okay, Rashan. And so same thing there.
(29:42):
If you make a decision, ride the decision out. And
then if you don't want to be called Chris, your
real name's Christopher, say let people say.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Your real name Chris. There for her.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
And that's what people so much and so long in life.
They allow of the people to define their path. What
is the thing that really sets you apart as far
as defining people with advice?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Faith?
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I mean, it's very clear, you know what you believe
is important because it all starts with the beliefs and
the almighty, and then belief in yourself. It's really important.
Everything else the secondary to me. Ultimately, you know someone
who's been in some of the worst situations and the
best in some of the best situations. What's been most
(30:26):
important is my driving for us has been my faith.
So that's really is simple for me, right And.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I always tell people that a strong belief in what
you want to do will be tied to the goals
you put in place to achieve your dream. But it
all starts with a dream. But a dream cannot be
a complised with that goal. The goals you put in
action next level opportunity being in people. Thank you for
coming on the show, brother man.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
That was good man.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Say that again.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guess
on the show today and thank you you are listening
to the audience now. If you want to listen to
any episode I want to be a guest on the show,
visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember to always
(31:13):
leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Keep winning
Hosts And Creators
Steve Harvey
Shirley Strawberry
Thomas "Nephew Tommy" Miles
Carla Ferrell
Kier "Junior" Spates
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