Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Benny Pough; decades of dedication and determination propelled Benny Pough to the forefront of the music industry and made him one of today’s successful and innovative business leaders. Pough has helped shape the sound and culture of music worldwide, having been instrumental in delivering radio hits for superstar artists such as Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye West, Travis Scott, Future, DJ Khaled, and 21 Savage. He is CEO of D.Verse Media, a full-service global music distribution and publishing company.
On one fateful afternoon, a tragedy nearly took his life and empire away. Discover how this devastating incident forever altered the life of this industry titan.
Support the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My next guest. His name is Benny Peugh.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
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 Khaled, and twenty one Savage.
He has left an indelible mark on the music industry,
holding the executive roles at labels like Motown, def Jam,
(00:24):
Epic Records, MBC Records, rock Nation. That's when he called
me and said he was doing rock Nation.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I tried to Rock.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Nation for before ultimately deciding to pivot to This is
why he's on the show, pivoting to entrepreneurship, because that's
what money Making Conversation Master 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.
Over two years later, Ben and Peughe's multi multi tiered
entertainment company Diverse. Diverse Media is home to record labels, distribution, platform,
(00:54):
publishing management and more. Please welcome to the Money Making
Conversations Mathterclass. The CEO Bennie People. How you doing my friend,
are you man?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
You know Bennie.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's first of all, let me just tell you why
Bennie is so special to me. Steve Harvey, Now he
gave us our first record deal way back in two
thousand and one or two.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Man, listen, that is a real story too. Man.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
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 (01:31):
So I was blessed.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
To start my introduction into the music business and a
black owned company right right, which is different.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Everyone's journey is different.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
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, right. But they
taught me a lot, and they wouldn't allow me to fail.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
They made me work and wouldn't allow me to fail.
They made me work, allow me to fail.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Thank you because you're all with.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Some tight top dress, yell super clean.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I ain't yo. You'all remind me of jam and Lewis.
Hey may you remind me? Like I'm not gonna drop it.
I'm not gonna drop none of the words. I gotta
get to people. Oh, I got to get to people
a little bit about you know.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I hear you all that money making and all that
good good, all that good talk, but they don't know. Man,
You're a real one and you know what you talk
is really what you're about. So I'm so excited to
be here and 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 (02:47):
So appreciate your brother.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
We know, Benny, the the the the ability to communicates
always been your skill set, you know which I mean.
I met him in the l A, I met him
and your 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 that intentional? Are you have a
(03:12):
clear understanding that people what they expect that you should
be delivering that.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
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 eyes down, never did that. Then,
as 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,
(03:39):
not like they fake Christians. But you don't know the
real Bible, you know, the real Bible. Like I never
saw my mother the pair of jeans or 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, the good old
Baptist Christian women and men understand that. And so we
(04:03):
grew up in a very you know, devowed 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
(04:24):
up right, you know, just like can you go to
a restaurant you eat, believe it or not. The servers
at a disadvantage because you can always say I don't
like it, you go to the bathroom and leave.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
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 know, und delivered
the paper all week and Rain had to get up
at six in the morning collect day.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
You all know when collect day is. You eat it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
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
(05:12):
with kids my age in that aspect because I was always,
you know, dealing with adults. So I learned how to
customize myself in situations going up and down.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Absolutely. The interesting thing about just having you on the show.
We're going to talk a little bit about your book
that's coming out in September. Yes, sir, in just that
note right there. Why are you writing a book, Bennibut?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So there's a story behind that.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I never had aspirations on doing a book, but on
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 braiding in Florida, And on
the twenty of August, a friend of mine called me
(06:03):
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 asked me if I'm still coming. That
Saturday morning, I took a flight from New Jersey down
(06:24):
to Charlotte, North Carolina, and from Charlotte, I drove to Columbia,
South Carolina to visit my sister and my nephews and
spend some time with them while they were playing football.
My sister and I we drove from Colombia to Orangeburg
(06:46):
to spend some time with my father and celebrated seventeth birthday.
I spent a little time with my mother, who has Alzheimer's.
My friend calls me again and asks 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
(07:08):
was delayed. Get on the plane, fly back to New York.
I'm about an hour and a half late.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
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, Call my wife, let her know to
get my youngest daughter, and let her know that we
weren't going to take the convertible because it seemed like
(07:35):
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. We're 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 catered
for the two families, so it was really sweet. Four adults,
(07:57):
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 him about thirty five years, and you know,
talking about the good things. A lot of challenges happen
in his life, challenges happening in my life. That missy
(08:19):
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 point 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,
jumps out of the car, walks in the house, gets
(08:41):
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. He
literally makes it right and I hear her and the
(09:04):
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 Dewan 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. So now
from where we started to impact was half a mile
(09:29):
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, obviously my son, saw my sister, my mother,
and my father, my daughter and my sister standing in
the yard, I said, Lord, I guess I'm not going
(09:51):
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 my mortality,
and you realize, like this can't in It can't end good,
because the car 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
(10:12):
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, 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
(10:33):
start clipping trees and bushes, and every time he would
take his foot off the car with decelerate, he was
out right. He was out conscious, gone foot on the
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
(10:56):
the road and we hit an oak. At ninety miles
an hour, I sustained a level two concussion L three
to zero four vertebrate fracture, bulging disc in my back.
We hit the tree so hard that ilacerated my liver,
which led me to lead out half the blood in
my body and the force of the tree and the
(11:16):
belt restraining me severed two feet of my small intestine,
and at that moment God put a book inside of
me called on Impact, which takes you through my journey
from eleven years old delivering newspapers to modern day. An
Impact is an acronym. It's that stands for intuition, mastery, pivot, authenticity,
(11:38):
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,
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 (11:56):
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? 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 your 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,
(12:19):
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 (12:31):
You live in a normal life.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
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 really
does happen, in slow motion. And because I've been there,
(12:54):
you know, like I was telling you all, air from
a life journey, you know of a nineteen ain't my
lung collapse. Stayed in the hospital thirty days, and I
was one of those people who thought I could. I
was a self healer.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
If I got sick, I go play basketball. I just
sweated out of me. I never stayed in bed. And
then in twenty fifteen, that's when I was diagnosed with cancer.
And 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
(13:28):
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
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,
(13:49):
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.
That's why it's a blessing to have a family, Carizon.
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
(14:11):
I wanted to die, but it did tell me at
that point I needed to change.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
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, when
people fail to realize, like when I left rock Nation
and like, how could you leave that job and well,
(14:36):
it's the best thing. Like it was an amazing situation.
But have you followed my career. 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 at rock Nation and death Jam
and Epic and all of these situations because as a giver,
(14:57):
it's about teaching people, giving them the opportunity, showing them
how to fish, and then let them fish.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master
Class with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making
Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald, right right.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And 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 (15:40):
Man.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
You know we don't did up and down, right, you know,
we know we don't have mayonnaise sandwiches at woggle right.
You know how to do bone right, and sometimes you
put a little mayonnaise on woggle.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
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 nearly killed you. Yes, one of
my pivots, because that's not the only pivot. 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
(16:11):
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, to pass 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.
(16:33):
Talk to us, Benny.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So you know, I think to your point is is
actually seeing the finish line. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I wake up every day knowing where I want to be,
so whatever comes along the way, I'm comfortable with it. Right,
If you know, if it's if it's it's a great day,
it's a great day.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
If it's a bad day, it's a bad day.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
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, whether
I never knew before the value of time until I
(17:11):
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,
(17:31):
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,
it doesn't. And when you make a lot of money,
you know how to make that money work. 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
(17:53):
are old enough to know Christmas clubs. My mother used
to walk me a mile to the bank and we'd
put a dollar together in the so she taught me
how to.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Save money then at five.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
So that's in rooted in me right, in which I
rooted in my children and still in my children, which
all of us should do right. Because we don't know
what the value right of what we do and the
responsibility of who we are on what we're supposed to
do right.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I think we get very sidetracked.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
And social media is a problem with that, right, like
it's it's about to swipe up, swipe down.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Well, you know the thing about you know, millennial's world problem.
You know, we realize now that millennials just take advantage
of technology. While people were complaining about technology, Millennials are
an opportunity to skip tech steps.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
So technology is tied to that.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
So all you have to do is either join the
game 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 (18:54):
Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So you can look around and go you'll never be
by yourself because there's stubborn people out there who's just
gonna admit, won't admit they don't 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 our tied to our resume.
I can go with Robert Townsend, Tia and Tamara Moory,
(19:17):
I can go with the Bonique. I can go with
Jamie Fox, uh, 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
sell you, wow, you just these people have unique skills,
unique skills that separate them and make them special, make
them odd too, because they can't work around everybody. They
(19:42):
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. Talk about hanging out with those type of people,
it's not about chances success. Yes, none of them.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
The ones that you named your repertoire you worked with
and equally so and the ones that I have. They
all have that unique skill set and that is determination
and drive by any means necessary.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
They're focused individuals. I mean you see it.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I've been with individuals that you 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
(20:37):
and understand exactly where you're going. And those are who
you need around, not nay sayers, not hanger on right,
not people that kill your spirit, but eye you not
gonna make it right?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Let them go right, let them go and.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Ideally you know that's what becomes most important, is is
understanding the company you keep.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Music is always key to of 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 not be sitting there, mister cheek.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
But it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
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 (21:45):
Bennap You 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 with
cycles and and that's what long term relationships are about.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Right. People pour into you.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
You make sure that you're able to give something back
when it's time to drink, and and that's how it works.
And you know, like for me, with 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. We need
an opportunity. There's a lot of things we don't know.
(22:28):
So instead of making a mistake, like think of it
in its most rudimentary basic terms. If you to 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 thedn't move you along in life
and that in that respect, and and that's what I
was able to do with the people that I've worked with.
(22:51):
I've had some amazing mentors from Ddre, tad 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
you can be vulnerable. And that's the importance of giving
(23:12):
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?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Right? Right? We know.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
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 if you create value in any situation,
somebody gonna pay you some money.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Somebody gonna pay you some money. Man, somebody gonna pay
you some money.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
They're gonna pay it. And a lot of people miss that.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
They come in this is what I this is what
I want to get paid and it guess what? And
the if 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, maintained that skill or product that you
were delivering on a consistent basis.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
But you have to be consistent about it.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I remember that when I was how I got started
in the radio, was just sitting in the back of
the studio watching Steve Harver 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. I could have
(24:26):
stayed at home and just collected my commission check because
I got paid on the deal.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
But you knew where you was going, yes, and the
opportunity was the value. Like there was an when I
was at the 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 (24:50):
Right, that's betting.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
That was probably the first real bet on yourself, right,
the real bet on yourself. But it was an opportunity
at to 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
(25:17):
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. And these are steps, right, it's
the tuition that you pay to be yourself right.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Right. Let me just give you an example my relationship
to that.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I remember when I was a writer, was on ABC
the show got counseled. Steve Harvey, Me 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 then they but they kept my job titled.
They did the same, and so I went to I
(26:02):
went to Warner 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?
I said yes, because see that's about you know, like
(26:24):
I said, showing value with your name, because you know
it's a staff writer, executive story editor, you know, assistant producer, producer,
super right. So I was about to miss a step.
That guy looked at me and go, nobody's ever coming
here and said they wanted a title, but not worried
about the money.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
That small move got.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
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 Jamie Fox Show
because I'll have been the title.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Behind correct I see you.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
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 there 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 (27:16):
So it started for me as a child. You know,
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, and
the summers were really hot. And what was the chances
that my last name being Pew, that there was a
(27:39):
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.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
The draft would pull through the.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
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. You know, we can be bad
(28:19):
like kids. 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
(28:42):
Bennie Pugh, because I wanted my name to matter.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Right because of the I can say that, you know,
like I would saying, you know, Oprah, I'm not trying
to be Oprah.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Oprah can top you.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
You know, if you if you had a bad thing
hapen your like Oprah got a bad thing after your life.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
You know what I'm saying. Oh, you know I was
all with you.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I have that's show 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.
(29:22):
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. 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 (29:37):
Your real name Chris. There for her.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
And that's what people so much and so along 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 3 (29:50):
Faith, I mean, it's very clear. You know, what you
believe is important because it all starts with with the
beliefs and the almighty and then believe 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
(30:10):
best in some of the best situations. What's been most
important is my driving for us has been my faith.
So that's really is simple for me right.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
And 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 accomplished with that goal, the goals you put in action,
next level opportunity. Bennie peughle thank you for coming on
the show.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Brother Man, that was good man. Say that again. It
is I'm ra Sean McDonald and that's been Bennie peugh
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
Making Conversations Master Class. Money Making Conversations Master Class with
rough Sean McDonald is produced by thirty eight to fifteen
Media Inc. More information about thirty eight to fifteen Media Inc.
Is available at thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And
always remember to lead with your gifts.
My next guest. His name is Benny Peugh.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
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 Khaled, and twenty one Savage.
He has left an indelible mark on the music industry,
holding the executive roles at labels like Motown, def Jam,
(00:24):
Epic Records, MBC Records, rock Nation. That's when he called
me and said he was doing rock Nation.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I tried to Rock.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Nation for before ultimately deciding to pivot to This is
why he's on the show, pivoting to entrepreneurship, because that's
what money Making Conversation Master 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.
Over two years later, Ben and Peughe's multi multi tiered
entertainment company Diverse. Diverse Media is home to record labels, distribution, platform,
(00:54):
publishing management and more. Please welcome to the Money Making
Conversations Mathterclass. The CEO Bennie People. How you doing my friend,
are you man?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
You know Bennie.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's first of all, let me just tell you why
Bennie is so special to me. Steve Harvey, Now he
gave us our first record deal way back in two
thousand and one or two.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Man, listen, that is a real story too. Man.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
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 (01:31):
So I was blessed.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
To start my introduction into the music business and a
black owned company right right, which is different.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Everyone's journey is different.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
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, right. But they
taught me a lot, and they wouldn't allow me to fail.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
They made me work and wouldn't allow me to fail.
They made me work, allow me to fail.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Thank you because you're all with.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Some tight top dress, yell super clean.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I ain't yo. You'all remind me of jam and Lewis.
Hey may you remind me? Like I'm not gonna drop it.
I'm not gonna drop none of the words. I gotta
get to people. Oh, I got to get to people
a little bit about you know.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I hear you all that money making and all that
good good, all that good talk, but they don't know. Man,
You're a real one and you know what you talk
is really what you're about. So I'm so excited to
be here and 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 (02:47):
So appreciate your brother.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
We know, Benny, the the the the ability to communicates
always been your skill set, you know which I mean.
I met him in the l A, I met him
and your 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 that intentional? Are you have a
(03:12):
clear understanding that people what they expect that you should
be delivering that.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
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 eyes down, never did that. Then,
as 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,
(03:39):
not like they fake Christians. But you don't know the
real Bible, you know, the real Bible. Like I never
saw my mother the pair of jeans or 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, the good old
Baptist Christian women and men understand that. And so we
(04:03):
grew up in a very you know, devowed 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
(04:24):
up right, you know, just like can you go to
a restaurant you eat, believe it or not. The servers
at a disadvantage because you can always say I don't
like it, you go to the bathroom and leave.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
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 know, und delivered
the paper all week and Rain had to get up
at six in the morning collect day.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
You all know when collect day is. You eat it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
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
(05:12):
with kids my age in that aspect because I was always,
you know, dealing with adults. So I learned how to
customize myself in situations going up and down.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Absolutely. The interesting thing about just having you on the show.
We're going to talk a little bit about your book
that's coming out in September. Yes, sir, in just that
note right there. Why are you writing a book, Bennibut?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So there's a story behind that.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I never had aspirations on doing a book, but on
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 braiding in Florida, And on
the twenty of August, a friend of mine called me
(06:03):
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 asked me if I'm still coming. That
Saturday morning, I took a flight from New Jersey down
(06:24):
to Charlotte, North Carolina, and from Charlotte, I drove to Columbia,
South Carolina to visit my sister and my nephews and
spend some time with them while they were playing football.
My sister and I we drove from Colombia to Orangeburg
(06:46):
to spend some time with my father and celebrated seventeth birthday.
I spent a little time with my mother, who has Alzheimer's.
My friend calls me again and asks 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
(07:08):
was delayed. Get on the plane, fly back to New York.
I'm about an hour and a half late.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
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, Call my wife, let her know to
get my youngest daughter, and let her know that we
weren't going to take the convertible because it seemed like
(07:35):
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. We're 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 catered
for the two families, so it was really sweet. Four adults,
(07:57):
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 him about thirty five years, and you know,
talking about the good things. A lot of challenges happen
in his life, challenges happening in my life. That missy
(08:19):
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 point 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,
jumps out of the car, walks in the house, gets
(08:41):
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. He
literally makes it right and I hear her and the
(09:04):
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 Dewan 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. So now
from where we started to impact was half a mile
(09:29):
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, obviously my son, saw my sister, my mother,
and my father, my daughter and my sister standing in
the yard, I said, Lord, I guess I'm not going
(09:51):
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 my mortality,
and you realize, like this can't in It can't end good,
because the car 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
(10:12):
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, 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
(10:33):
start clipping trees and bushes, and every time he would
take his foot off the car with decelerate, he was
out right. He was out conscious, gone foot on the
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
(10:56):
the road and we hit an oak. At ninety miles
an hour, I sustained a level two concussion L three
to zero four vertebrate fracture, bulging disc in my back.
We hit the tree so hard that ilacerated my liver,
which led me to lead out half the blood in
my body and the force of the tree and the
(11:16):
belt restraining me severed two feet of my small intestine,
and at that moment God put a book inside of
me called on Impact, which takes you through my journey
from eleven years old delivering newspapers to modern day. An
Impact is an acronym. It's that stands for intuition, mastery, pivot, authenticity,
(11:38):
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,
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 (11:56):
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? 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 your 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,
(12:19):
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 (12:31):
You live in a normal life.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
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 really
does happen, in slow motion. And because I've been there,
(12:54):
you know, like I was telling you all, air from
a life journey, you know of a nineteen ain't my
lung collapse. Stayed in the hospital thirty days, and I
was one of those people who thought I could. I
was a self healer.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
If I got sick, I go play basketball. I just
sweated out of me. I never stayed in bed. And
then in twenty fifteen, that's when I was diagnosed with cancer.
And 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
(13:28):
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
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,
(13:49):
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.
That's why it's a blessing to have a family, Carizon.
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
(14:11):
I wanted to die, but it did tell me at
that point I needed to change.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
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, when
people fail to realize, like when I left rock Nation
and like, how could you leave that job and well,
(14:36):
it's the best thing. Like it was an amazing situation.
But have you followed my career. 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 at rock Nation and death Jam
and Epic and all of these situations because as a giver,
(14:57):
it's about teaching people, giving them the opportunity, showing them
how to fish, and then let them fish.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master
Class with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making
Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald, right right.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
And 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 (15:40):
Man.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
You know we don't did up and down, right, you know,
we know we don't have mayonnaise sandwiches at woggle right.
You know how to do bone right, and sometimes you
put a little mayonnaise on woggle.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
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 nearly killed you. Yes, one of
my pivots, because that's not the only pivot. 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
(16:11):
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, to pass 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.
(16:33):
Talk to us, Benny.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So you know, I think to your point is is
actually seeing the finish line. Right.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I wake up every day knowing where I want to be,
so whatever comes along the way, I'm comfortable with it. Right,
If you know, if it's if it's it's a great day,
it's a great day.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
If it's a bad day, it's a bad day.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
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, whether
I never knew before the value of time until I
(17:11):
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,
(17:31):
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,
it doesn't. And when you make a lot of money,
you know how to make that money work. 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
(17:53):
are old enough to know Christmas clubs. My mother used
to walk me a mile to the bank and we'd
put a dollar together in the so she taught me
how to.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Save money then at five.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
So that's in rooted in me right, in which I
rooted in my children and still in my children, which
all of us should do right. Because we don't know
what the value right of what we do and the
responsibility of who we are on what we're supposed to
do right.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I think we get very sidetracked.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
And social media is a problem with that, right, like
it's it's about to swipe up, swipe down.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Well, you know the thing about you know, millennial's world problem.
You know, we realize now that millennials just take advantage
of technology. While people were complaining about technology, Millennials are
an opportunity to skip tech steps.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
So technology is tied to that.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
So all you have to do is either join the
game 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 (18:54):
Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So you can look around and go you'll never be
by yourself because there's stubborn people out there who's just
gonna admit, won't admit they don't 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 our tied to our resume.
I can go with Robert Townsend, Tia and Tamara Moory,
(19:17):
I can go with the Bonique. I can go with
Jamie Fox, uh, 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
sell you, wow, you just these people have unique skills,
unique skills that separate them and make them special, make
them odd too, because they can't work around everybody. They
(19:42):
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. Talk about hanging out with those type of people,
it's not about chances success. Yes, none of them.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
The ones that you named your repertoire you worked with
and equally so and the ones that I have. They
all have that unique skill set and that is determination
and drive by any means necessary.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
They're focused individuals. I mean you see it.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I've been with individuals that you 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
(20:37):
and understand exactly where you're going. And those are who
you need around, not nay sayers, not hanger on right,
not people that kill your spirit, but eye you not
gonna make it right?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Let them go right, let them go and.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Ideally you know that's what becomes most important, is is
understanding the company you keep.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Music is always key to of 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 not be sitting there, mister cheek.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
But it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
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 (21:45):
Bennap You 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 with
cycles and and that's what long term relationships are about.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Right. People pour into you.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
You make sure that you're able to give something back
when it's time to drink, and and that's how it works.
And you know, like for me, with 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. We need
an opportunity. There's a lot of things we don't know.
(22:28):
So instead of making a mistake, like think of it
in its most rudimentary basic terms. If you to 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 thedn't move you along in life
and that in that respect, and and that's what I
was able to do with the people that I've worked with.
(22:51):
I've had some amazing mentors from Ddre, tad 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
you can be vulnerable. And that's the importance of giving
(23:12):
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?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Right? Right? We know.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
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 if you create value in any situation,
somebody gonna pay you some money.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Somebody gonna pay you some money. Man, somebody gonna pay
you some money.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
They're gonna pay it. And a lot of people miss that.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
They come in this is what I this is what
I want to get paid and it guess what? And
the if 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, maintained that skill or product that you
were delivering on a consistent basis.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
But you have to be consistent about it.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I remember that when I was how I got started
in the radio, was just sitting in the back of
the studio watching Steve Harver 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. I could have
(24:26):
stayed at home and just collected my commission check because
I got paid on the deal.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
But you knew where you was going, yes, and the
opportunity was the value. Like there was an when I
was at the 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 (24:50):
Right, that's betting.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
That was probably the first real bet on yourself, right,
the real bet on yourself. But it was an opportunity
at to 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
(25:17):
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. And these are steps, right, it's
the tuition that you pay to be yourself right.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Right. Let me just give you an example my relationship
to that.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I remember when I was a writer, was on ABC
the show got counseled. Steve Harvey, Me 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 then they but they kept my job titled.
They did the same, and so I went to I
(26:02):
went to Warner 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?
I said yes, because see that's about you know, like
(26:24):
I said, showing value with your name, because you know
it's a staff writer, executive story editor, you know, assistant producer, producer,
super right. So I was about to miss a step.
That guy looked at me and go, nobody's ever coming
here and said they wanted a title, but not worried
about the money.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
That small move got.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
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 Jamie Fox Show
because I'll have been the title.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Behind correct I see you.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
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 there 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 (27:16):
So it started for me as a child. You know,
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, and
the summers were really hot. And what was the chances
that my last name being Pew, that there was a
(27:39):
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.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
The draft would pull through the.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
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. You know, we can be bad
(28:19):
like kids. 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
(28:42):
Bennie Pugh, because I wanted my name to matter.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Right because of the I can say that, you know,
like I would saying, you know, Oprah, I'm not trying
to be Oprah.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Oprah can top you.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
You know, if you if you had a bad thing
hapen your like Oprah got a bad thing after your life.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
You know what I'm saying. Oh, you know I was
all with you.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I have that's show 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.
(29:22):
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. 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 (29:37):
Your real name Chris. There for her.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
And that's what people so much and so along 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 3 (29:50):
Faith, I mean, it's very clear. You know, what you
believe is important because it all starts with with the
beliefs and the almighty and then believe 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
(30:10):
best in some of the best situations. What's been most
important is my driving for us has been my faith.
So that's really is simple for me right.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
And 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 accomplished with that goal, the goals you put in action,
next level opportunity. Bennie peughle thank you for coming on
the show.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Brother Man, that was good man. Say that again. It
is I'm ra Sean McDonald and that's been Bennie peugh
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
Making Conversations Master Class. Money Making Conversations Master Class with
rough Sean McDonald is produced by thirty eight to fifteen
Media Inc. More information about thirty eight to fifteen Media Inc.
Is available at thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And
always remember to lead with your gifts.
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