Becoming Great: Your Path to Greatness Is Always Your Responsibility - Richie Mensah

Meet Richie Mensah, the visionary founder who transformed Ghana's music landscape with nothing but a $12 computer microphone and unwavering self-belief. In this profound conversation, Richie reveals how he built Lynx Entertainment from a bedroom studio into a multi-faceted media empire that's launched some of Africa's biggest musical talents.

What separates Richie's story from typical success narratives is his radical philosophy of personal accountability. "Whatever you are right now, if you are poor, you are a self-made poor man. If you are rich, you are a self-made rich man," he asserts, challenging listeners to stop blaming circumstances and start taking ownership of their choices. This refreshing perspective frames success not as luck or privilege, but as the natural outcome of disciplined decision-making.

Richie shares intimate details about his journey - from disappointing his doctor father by abandoning medicine for music, to his mother taking out loans to support his dreams, to the countless financial setbacks he overcame through strategic thinking. His insights on partnership, scaling businesses, and financial knowledge provide a masterclass in entrepreneurial thinking that transcends the entertainment industry.

The conversation illuminates Richie's counterintuitive wisdom about branding ("There's no good brand or bad brand - every brand works"), mentorship ("It's not the actions I took that you should take, it's the belief and consistency"), and achievement ("To succeed is simple, but it's not easy"). These principles have guided him through building multiple successful companies under the Lynx Group umbrella.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, creative professional, or simply someone seeking to take greater ownership of your life, Richie's story will transform how you think about success, failure, and the power of unwavering belief in your vision. Listen now to absorb the mindset that turned a passionate music lover into one of Africa's most influential entertainment moguls.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's no good brand .
There's no bad brand.
Every brand works Anywhere youdecide to be be there and be
there as the best.
This is what I did that workedfor me.
I am what every human being inthis world is when I share what
I did.
You cannot do exactly the samething to succeed.

(00:22):
What, then, is the purpose ofmentorship?
So mentorship gives you.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Making this decision was going to be an immense
success.
Did you think so?

Speaker 1 (00:31):
I was so confident I was going to succeed.
Wow, two brothers inventedflying In a time when no one had
thought of the ground.
I know, somewhere in the worldright now somebody is trying to
invent teleportation, and theywill achieve it.
A winner's mindset does notgive allowance for what if it
does not work out?
So, whatever you are right now,if you are poor, you are a

(00:52):
self-made poor man.
If you are rich, you are aself-made rich man.
Life will happen, but what youdo to life after that is your
choice.
To succeed is simple, but it'snot easy easy.
So anyone who doesn't succeed,it's because they chose the easy
way out you're welcome toconnected minds podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
My name is derek abayte and I tell you something
exciting We've just hit 104,000subscribers on YouTube.
It's very difficult to hitthose sort of numbers with
long-form content, especiallywith what we're doing, and you
guys have been so good to thebrand.

(01:39):
So thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
So many years ago, a young guyset out to change the face of
African music essentially, butstarted off in Ghana.
This man built a studio fromhis bedroom, producing music and
with the aim of becoming amultimillion dollar empire.

(02:02):
Today, that company has grownTo become Lynx Group, and the
conversation I'm about to havetoday Is the man himself who
started this entire journey,richie Mensah.
Do you know what is even moreexciting?
There is a book that I haveread in two hours.
It took me two hours to readthis book.
I usually don't talk aboutother people's books on this

(02:23):
podcast Because it almost soundslike it's advertising, but I
must tell you the honest truthIf it takes me two hours to read
this book, it will probablytake you.
That's because I was busy, butit will probably take you about
an hour to finish this book.
And this is what I like aboutit Every chapter of the book has

(02:44):
got key lessons, tips andtricks, and then some story
about him and then also research.
So I really do think you put alot of time in this book.
While I was reading I was likethis is a lot, and I'm wondering
how much you're selling it for,but it's so much so.

(03:06):
If you are ready to step intothe whole self-development,
self-improvement, this is thebook for you, and you're welcome
to my studio, richie Mensah howyou doing.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Thank you so much, derek.
I'm excited to be here.
So you guys know I'm actually afan of this podcast, thank you.
You know, I chanced upon it byluck on Facebook, so it was one
video I was like, oh, that'sinsightful.
Then, a week later, anothervideo is like oh, that's
insightful.
Then, a week later, anothervideo was like oh, that's
insightful, who's this guy?
And I just kept watching andwatching and you're doing a very
, very good job, thank you.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
I read a headline article that said that um,
richard Nii Amakwe bought thefirst copy of this book for
200,000.
The first copy of this book for200,000.
So while I was reading it I wasthinking why would he pay?
When I was starting I said whywould he pay 200,000?
At the end I realized why hedid.
You know and I'm not eventrying to make make it sound,

(03:59):
you know, blown out, but it's anawesome book.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, Thank you very much, and you know usually when
you read Ghanaian books, it'sfor them yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
But this is for the people, yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
It's a self-help book for the people.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
So you've taken my dream out of my head and you've
done it for us.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Oh, thank you, Thank you Pa.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, right, where do we start from?
When you started this, did youthink it was going to be worth
as much as it's worth today?

Speaker 1 (04:30):
I actually hope it will be worth more than it's
worth already.
I'm a big dreamer, you know.
I've always been a big dreamer.
You know go big or go home.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
So right from the day , from day one, I had a vision
of where I was going and nothingwas going to stop me.
Okay, so, young man, growing up, your father lived in Bemakam
this is where you guys livedexactly the same story in the
book.
What were the circumstancesaround that time that drove you
to start thinking the way youare today?

Speaker 1 (05:03):
actually that time I wasn't thinking like this.
So that time I was thinking thenormal route, I was thinking
the go to school, do science,you know, become a surgeon, you
know I'm an intelligent boy, sointelligent boys become doctors,
you know.
That was my trajectory.
Then I think my love for musicand creativity just kept coming

(05:27):
in more and more.
But I would always say I saythis everywhere I go that the
one thing that has attributed towho I am the most was my mom,
because my mom's a teacher andmy mom kept telling me something
very valuable that it is betterto teach someone how to learn
than to even teach them asubject.

(05:47):
So right from childhood shemade me hungry for knowledge.
She always made sure I ask whyalways made sure.
I was very inquisitive.
So if she's sending you to dosomething, she doesn't just send
you, she lets you understandwhy you are doing it, so that
even if she doesn't send you thenext time, you know to go again
because you understand why youwent the last time.

(06:08):
So that inquisitive mind justkept changing everything more
and more for me till it broughtme down this path.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
I kind of really understand that you have a good
relationship with your mom.
So I've got a whole chapterabout that that I want us to
talk about.
But I really want to understandyour relationship with your
father.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
In the beginning.
You know what sort of a dad washe.
What values did he also instillin you before we even get him
up.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
So my dad was, he's a doctor.
I mean, he was a doctor, hepassed away and he was also in
the army.
So disciplined medical research, that kind of stuff,
biochemistry, um, at the pointwe even had a clinic in the
house.
So I think that's even part ofwhat made me get more into
medicine, because seeingdifferent people come to the

(06:58):
house with their conditions thenhe would diagnose them and it
was was very exciting for me.
And the truth, my dad isactually a people's person, okay
, cracks jokes a lot.
You know the, the bell of theball, like he keeps people very
excited.
And also I did learn thosethings from him.
I actually picked that upbefore I went to senior high.

(07:20):
I was the studious, shy type.
Every day I'm behind my booksand all.
When I went to senior high Ireinvented myself by becoming
the guy who cracks jokes and theguy who you know is able to get
people captivated and stuff,and I think I got that from him.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah did he really support you becoming an artist?
No, no, no, not at all not atall.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Not at all.
As of the time I released Prima, he still brought me forms for
medical school.
That's not too late.
Why do you think he did that?
Because he felt that was abetter path, and I don't blame
anyone who does that.
You know, like everybody, everyadult in my life was doing that
.
It's only my mom who sort ofsaw the vision, but everybody

(08:09):
felt it was bad, and I was knownto be a genius kid, so it felt
like I was wasting myintelligence to do music.
That's how people saw it, so Idon't blame them for that.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Everyone just wants the best path for you and they
always choose the safest path,but you know how did that make
you feel in the moment.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Horrible.
It made me feel like they don'tsee the true potential.
Do you get it?
But I think one thing I'vealways been able to do is push
aside the noise and just stayfocused but it felt.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
It felt horrible.
Were you able to communicateyour, your vision to dad?

Speaker 1 (08:53):
I tried but I'm, I'm a, I'll communicate it.
If you don't understand.
We move kind of person.
You know I don't dwell too longon the negative, I dwell longer
on the positive.
So if I'm telling you somethingand you're supporting me,
you're ready for us to go.
We'll have a long conversation.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
If you're not ready, it's fine, it's cool, then we
move so a lot of ghanians wouldsay that you came from a
privileged home.
I like how they think that.
Would you agree?
Not at?

Speaker 1 (09:22):
all okay, not at all, okay, not at all.
So I had to fight foreverything that I have right now
.
Let's say so.
We were at Burma camp, like youknow.
But once we moved from Burmacamp, you know, in Burma camp
life was awesome and when youstay in Burma camp you have the
library, you have the.

(09:42):
You know everything is rightthere.
You are at gonna be in a niceway.
When we moved from bernard camp, life just turned upside down
real quick.
We moved to a house in medinawhere we didn't have electricity
for like three to four monthsor something like that.
You know, um, at that time.
So bernard camp schools arevery, very good.
Then the first term I was inclass one at this time.

(10:03):
Okay, the first term my momtried for us to keep going to
bama camp, but the journey, thetraffic, it was too much.
So the second term we went to asite, to school, near the house
, you know, and I keptcomplaining like, oh, me too, I
was a stubborn child.
I would come home and complainthat they didn't teach me

(10:24):
anything in school.
Am I wasting my time?
The third time they took me toanother school too.
I was complaining that like theywere wasting my time, I might
as well just stay home and learnon my own.
Hey, I was stubborn.
So my mom actually went to geta job at Christ the King Because
we couldn't afford the fees.

(10:44):
But if you are a teacher atChrist the King then they slash
the fees, so I think you getlike a 50% discount or something
.
So she kept applying and shegot a job at Christ the King so
she was able to move as the kidsthere.
So our education got betterDuring these times what was your
dad doing?

(11:06):
He had the clinic and everythingOkay, and the clinic was not.
It hadn't reached yet.
Because you've gone from Burmacamp where you're getting a
salary, your house is paid foreverything, like when you're in
the military.
Everything is taken care of foryou.
So you are not rich, but youdon't need you get me.
You think that can fool peoplea bit.

(11:29):
Yes, it can, because everythingis done for you, you're
comfortable, you know.
So when you switch from that toyou're on your own, it's a bit
of a you know a bounce back.
So when we went to Christ theKing too, now the new problem
came.
So now I'm in a good school,but I'm the poor kid in a good
school.
I remember months of beinglaughed at because my shoes were

(11:54):
this, but we go with it.
I think one thing that I neversaw those things as challenges.
I just thought, ah okay, andjust kept going.
Peer pressure never got to me.
I was stupidly focused.
I don't even know where it camefrom.
Now that I'm sitting here, Idon't know where that focus came
from.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
But how could you have been?
Because, look, dad wants you tobecome a doctor, mom is willing
to support you in whatever youthink you want to do.
How could you then be thatfocused and still get?

Speaker 1 (12:29):
things done because it sounds like a lot of
distractions, a lot ofdistractions.
But at that time, actually, Iwasn't focused on the music.
At that time the music was apart-time love.
So I was on the on track toheading towards medicine and
then I love music.
So it started with when I'mwatching cartoons, you know tom
and jerry, then the score likeoh, wow, okay.

(12:51):
So all those kind of thingscaught me.
Then I watched sound of music,then I watched blues brother.
So the sound from movies was myfirst attraction to sound.
Then I started singing, startedsinging with my brother and
sister and everything.
So all those things startedlike capturing me.
But it was just a passion, itwas like a kid having fun.

(13:12):
It's when I went to senior highthat I actually took the music
serious.
Huh, I, I, I was told to jointhe choir.
I didn't take them seriousbecause I'm like child.
I came here to you know, learnmy science, pass, go to knust,
do my medicine and continue.
Don't come and distract me withthe choir.
But eventually, when I heardthe, the choir master himself

(13:34):
asked me to come and join.
It's like okay.
So I went and I joined thechoir.
Then one day he asked me thatwhy am I so talented and I'm
wasting my talents doing science?
I told him I love music, don'tget me wrong, but I'm also a
scientific person, like I'm thekind of person that I break
things down, you know, make sureeverything is on point.

(13:57):
I'm always doing research andstuff.
So I don't think I can moveaway from that style of life.
And he asked me have you heardof sound engineering?
That's the science of music.
I was like, oh, I think that'sthe biggest aha moment in my
life.
Yeah, but it showed me, okay,so there's a path where I can
combine my two worlds.

(14:19):
So from then I just starteddoing research into sound
engineering and led me to soundproduction.
Then I learned about recordlabels.
So I started seeing thestructure in the entertainment
industry and I realized, okay,there's a place for me here, you
know.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Richie, was your father ever proud of you for
doing music?
Oh yeah, eventually he was.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Did you guys have the conversation?
No, we never had theconversation, but he was, I
heard, because he was lecturingum some students.
He used to teach medicine andconferred at a point and he used
to brag about me to hisstudents.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
I'm like look at this guy.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
He said my son is rich.
Okay, it's like that.
I tell people this all the time.
It's happened to a number ofartists.
I've had artists whose parentshave disowned them because they
were doing music and then twoyears later their parents are
hailing them because they'redoing music.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
But do you understand that the era you were coming
from baby boomers.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah.
They were quite Please, please,let's make it clear I'm not a
baby boomer.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
The way you said it.
Don't think I'm baby boomer.
No, no, no.
Our parents our parents werebaby boomers right, I know, I
know, so our parents right.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
So they were very stubborn in what they wanted
their kids to dreams throughtheir children and I always say
this everyone has a perfectlylogical reason for what they do.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
Nobody is unless the person is actually insane.
Everyone has a logical reason.
So if you disagree with someone, you just have a different
reason, it doesn't mean thatthey are not reasoning.
So our parents were doing thebest they could for us because,
as per all the evidence, thepath I wanted to go on was going

(16:09):
to lead to failure.
So you can't get angry withsomebody for just trying to move
you in a direction they feel isgood.
It's up to you to prove to them.
Like even my mom supporting me,it wasn't automatic.
Okay, when we finished seniorhigh and I told her, like she

(16:29):
always supported, when we'redoing the music thing as fun, it
wasn't going to be a profession.
So when I finished senior highand I told her I wanted to do
the music, she was scared thatI'm going to throw away your
education, throw away everythingfor this.
So we struck a deal, said, okay, I have one year between senior

(16:49):
high and university, so withinthis one year I'll set up the
studio and see what I can build,and if we both feel I'm on the
right direction, then I'llconcentrate on the music.
And within three months shewent to take a loan to buy
equipment for me.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
You know there's something about when mothers
decide to support their kids.
Sometimes I think they canreason more and be more
accepting than the fathers can.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, the truth is men are more logical, which
means that we don't have time tolook at things like gut feeling
, intuition, certainpossibilities.
We are just calculating thenumbers and what can work.
So, whereas women feel morethan men do, so sometimes,

(17:42):
especially a mother who has somuch love for her son can
actually feel the possibility ofsuccess.
There's a lot that we don'tunderstand, but we pretend to
understand it.
But gut feeling is real andthere's a lot that can be
achieved by trusting your gut.

(18:02):
It's actually beenscientifically proven now that
your gut actually has a lot ofnerves and is able to think the
way your brain does.
So sometimes when you have agut feeling, when you meet
somebody and you have a gutfeeling, this person, you don't
click with this person.
It's telling you something.
You just can't interpret it theway you can interpret from your

(18:26):
brain, but it's telling yousomething you know.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
You just can't interpret it the way you can
interpret from your brain, butit's telling you something.
You definitely listen to AlanWatts.
You definitely do.
These things are real man.
It's wow.
I want to believe that.
You think you thought at thetime making this decision was

(18:49):
going to be an immense successdid you think so at the time?

Speaker 1 (18:54):
how, I have no idea.
I just had so much confidence.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
How many things have you done during those times
where you were thinking musicwould be a great success?
How many things did you do thatfailed?
How many other things?

Speaker 1 (19:09):
I don't think I've done anything that's failed
before.
I personally don't believe infailure.
Okay it's.
It's either I win or I learn alesson.
But never fail.
And I was so confident.
Look, there's something I usedto say um, those days, you know,
we finished ss, fresh boys.
Boys will say each other let'sgo to the club and stuff.
And I would say something.
It sounds so arrogant when Ithink about it, but I was so

(19:30):
sure.
I would say I don't want to goto the club right now for some
bouncer to flex me, because Iknow I'm going to be a superstar
one day.
I don't want some bouncer tohave it on his record that he
flexed me when I hadn't hit.
I was so confident I was goingto succeed.
It's weird, I know, but it'slike I just knew it, I felt it.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Well, especially with music, it's almost a thing of a
chance.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
So for you to be that sure, it's like a footballer
that starts out playing in ateam of 11 people and says that
I'm going to be a superstar.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, but it's exactly what you said.
It's so damning right.
It's a thing of chance, whichmeans somebody will have that
chance, so why not me?

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Wow, what if it had not worked out?

Speaker 1 (20:17):
It would work out.
And that's the thing I alwayssay that there's a winner's
mindset.
You know, a winner's mindsetdoes not give allowance for what
.
If it does not work out, itwill work out.
The only question is how longwill it take to work out?
You know, like I keep saying,two brothers invented flying yep
in a time when no one hadthought of the ground something

(20:41):
as crazy as let's fly.
They did that.
How much more getting a hitsong.
Come on, it's possible.
You just need to believe it'spossible.
I know somewhere in the worldright now somebody is trying to
invent teleportation and theywill achieve it.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
It's only a matter of how long now let's talk about
this thing, about your motherbeing a huge support to what you
started and even now, you knowshe's still very much in support
of what you're doing.
Yeah, how did you win her overto say that?

(21:18):
You know, I'm on this journey,mom, you know, give me some
resources, because I read in abook that you know loans had to
be taken here and there.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
I didn't win her over .
It's more, she won me over.
Okay, my mom just alwaysinstilled in us that you can do
whatever you want to do, just doit really well.
She always told me this thingthat her grandfather I mean her
father, my grandfather used tosay so when you're eating fufu,

(21:56):
if all you know how to do inthis life is cut the fufu, cut
it.
Well, one day, one day, they'llbe looking for someone who can
cut fufu and they will call you.
And it's actually true.
You know, when you do researchon professions, there's a man

(22:17):
out there who's an island sitter.
He takes care of people'sislands.
That's all he does.
He will come and live on yourisland, supervise the workers.
He's not even working, no, hewill just supervise, like the
cleaners, the gardeners andstuff for you, and he gets paid
$600,000 a year to take care ofyour island.

(22:40):
Is that a job?
Isn't that like a dreamvacation?
Somebody's a wine taster gettingpaid three hundred thousand
dollars a year.
The best wine, charlie.
Some boys have been going toace every night.
They quaff.
Won't you take it serious andbecome a wine taster?
So anything?
I tell people this all the time.
A lot of people talk about thisperson has a good brand, this

(23:03):
person has a bad brand.
I say it's never true.
There's no good brand, there'sno bad brand.
There's only good branding andbad branding, because every
brand works.
There's a day you are lookingfor coca-cola and you will drink
coca-cola.
There's a day you are lookingfor a healthy option and you

(23:24):
will drink pineapple.
There's a day you are lookingfor a healthy option and you
will drink pineapple juice.
There's a day you are lookingfor expensive alcohol you know
which one to pick and there's aday you want something cheap
that will still give you a kick.
You know which one to pick.
So, anywhere you decide to be,be there and be there as the
best.
What most of us do is we gothere halfway.

(23:48):
Do you get me?
So it's like oh, I'm a healthydrink, but I also have a lot of
sugar.
Oh, I'm a soda, but you know Ihave pineapple flavor, so I'm
healthy.
No, it doesn't work.
The person who's looking for asugar boost is not looking for a
healthy option, and the personlooking for a healthy drink is

(24:12):
not looking for a sugary drink.
So, be there Wherever you are,be there and be the best.
Excellence.
I believe in excellence.
So my mom kept teaching me that.
So I was just practicing whatshe taught me, right?
I could have said oh, mommy, Iwant to do music, I'm going to

(24:36):
sing, I'm going to sing.
But no, I opened a studio, Iopened a record label.
In a short time, she saw aTaiwanese coming to the studio.
A man's, a boy is coming to thestudio.
So it's like, okay, he is beingthe best at what he's doing.
You know, I've carved a pathand everything.
You're through the app on yourpiano.
That's true, exactly so if youwant to be pushed, climb the

(24:59):
right tree, but don't bestanding at the bottom of the
tree and shouting I need help,come and lift me up.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here.
But if you haven't become partof the family, connect with us,
hit the subscribe button andlet's carry on the conversation.

(25:26):
You know this feeds very muchinto what you've spoken about in
your book.
You know taking ownership ofyour life yeah, you know being
the best at what you do.
Essentially, you know.
But you see, what I'm alsopicking up is you can be very
stubborn with your dreams Rough,but why do you think that is

(25:47):
important for success?

Speaker 1 (25:49):
I think it's important because everyone has a
path.
You have to be stubborn aboutyour path.
It's your path, it's no oneelse's path.
Don't expect people tounderstand your path.
Don't expect anyone to knowyour journey.
You have to know your path.
Don't expect anyone to knowyour journey.
You have to know your journey,be sure and then do everything

(26:10):
possible to get it.
You have to be stubborn.
Henry Ford was stubborn.
Elon Musk is stubborn.
People are waiting for ElonMusk to drop.
He just hit 400 billion andhe's on course to become the
world's first trillionaire.
You have to be stubborn Becauseonly you know why you believe
in what you believe.

(26:31):
Your higher self is telling youthings personally.
It's not telling the other guy,so don't assume they understand
your path.
When somebody is giving youadvice, they are giving it to
you from their point of view,not from yours.
That's why I say, even all thisme, I don't believe in
motivation.

(26:51):
It's funny because I keepmotivating people, even what I'm
telling you.
You need to take it and thenfind your own path, but not
follow what I've said.
You know somebody saidsomething so wise.
Sorry to say this, a lot ofrich men will get angry at me.
They said.

(27:12):
Here are the numbers.
I used to win my $5 millionlotto, said every entrepreneur,
motivating others.
You see, this is what I did tosucceed.
This is what I did that workedfor me to succeed, when I share
what I did.
You cannot do exactly the samething to succeed.

(27:35):
The conditions are different.
What, then, is the purpose ofmentorship?
So mentorship gives you a guideto let you know that it is not
the actions I took that youshould also take.
It's the belief, it's theconsistency, it's the fact that
I took an action, do you get me.

(27:58):
It's the mindset.
So mentorship is normally aboutpassing on mindset.
But a lot of people thinkmentorship is about getting a
template to follow.
It's not that you cannot followa template.
You need to carve your own path.
You can follow a template tomediocrity.

(28:21):
That that's just fine.
You know go to school, graduate, get a job, work hard for the
rest of your life, retire.
Template mediocrity, just fine.
But if you want to be great,you have to carve your own path.
So you get information from somany different people, different
mentors, different books,different podcasts, grow your

(28:44):
mind and then, after theexternal influence, you now turn
into the internal influence andbuild something greater right?
What's that?
internal influence you that'swhy it's your fault, because the
truth is going to sound kooky abit.
Knowledge comes from within,not not from without.
We know everything already whenyou were born, as a baby.

(29:08):
I personally believe the mostknowledgeable people in the
world are babies and then, as wegrow, we unlearn everything we
know.
So your job is to go back inand figure out what you know
Like.
Look at the universe.
Scientists are in and figureout what you know like.
Look at the universe.
Scientists are trying to figureout the universe, forgetting

(29:30):
that we were made of theuniverse.
We are part of the universe.
So, the same way that, have younoticed something that a dog
naturally knows how to swim?

Speaker 2 (29:42):
oh my god, he just took my mind on it yeah, even a
dog has never entered water.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Drop it in water and it will swim.
Try that with a human being andmost of the time, when you're
learning how to swim, youunderstand.
The reason people drown themost is fear, because naturally
the human body floats, which iswhy a dead body floats.
So the only reason you can'tfloat is you are afraid and you

(30:11):
are trying and you are tryingwrong and you fail.
So true knowledge comes fromwithin.
So when you are able to tapinto mentors and books and stuff
, what happens is what is meantfor you will come to you.
You know somebody will read mybook.
I have 15 chapters.
Somebody will only grab onechapter.

(30:32):
Yes, because that chapter ismeant for them.
Yes, and that's just fine.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
It's like a sermon.
Thank you, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wow.
Now you mentioned fear, mm-hmm.
Now you mentioned fear when youread the book and you hear your
story and the journey you'vetaken.
It's almost as if fear waseliminated from the whole
picture and that you were on afreeway.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Just moving at whatever mile per hour you
wanted.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
How did you do that?
As I learned more and more, Icame to realize the opposite of
fear is actually what should bethe goal of everyone, and that
is acceptance.
Acceptance means understandingthe fact that I don't control
everything, but I can controlwhatever happens next.

(31:27):
Okay, I'm driving.
I don't control that person inhis car who could be coming to
hit me, but I can control ifI'll swerve in time.
I can control if, even if hehits me, I can control.
Am I going to the hospitalinstantly?
Do you get me?
So you eliminate fear when youcome and accept that life will

(31:53):
happen, but what you do to lifeafter that is your choice.
You make the right choice.
A lot of people.
When you say yes, it's yourfault, the first thing that
comes in people's minds is butsomeone did this to me.
It wasn't my fault, this thinghappened.
Comes in people's minds is butsomeone did this to me.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
It wasn't my fault, this thing happened to me, it
wasn't my fault, but yourresponse was your fault I was
having a conversation with abunch of young guys and I said
we can all point fingers and sayhe is the bad leader, or we can
all point the fingers atourselves and then awaken each

(32:28):
other.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
He won't become a leader anyway.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Exactly who made him a leader.
You hear a girl saying he's abad boyfriend.
Who made him the boyfriend?
She's a bad girlfriend.
Who started?
Who went to court her?
As for yours, there's evenworse.
You know, I hear so many thingsand I realized that you just
don't have enough knowledge.
Let's say, you hear people talkabout the government and how

(32:54):
horrible the government ishandling our finances, blah,
blah, blah.
Inflation rate is so high.
Here's the funny thing.
I don't know if you both havethis knowledge.
At every point in time, theinterest rate of treasury bills
is higher than the rate ofinflation.
So if inflation rate is high,put your money in treasury bills
.
Currently, inflation rate is, Ithink, 13%.

(33:18):
Treasury bills is 14%.
When inflation rate is, I think, 13%, treasury bills is 14%.
When inflation rate was 25%,treasury bills was 27%.
So, yes, the government may doa bad job with inflation or
whatever it is, but there'streasury bills options.
So if your money is losing value.
It's not the government's fault.

(33:38):
It's your fault for notinvesting it.
Look me losing value.
It's not the government's fault.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
It's your fault for not investing it.
Look me, I've read this andmany other self-improvement
books so I understand whatyou're saying, yeah, but a 20
year old busy on the street,things are not happening.
You tell them that everythingis his fault.

(34:04):
How do you really want to breakit down, for them to understand
it, to come to thatself-realization, to say, nah,
what Senior Rich is saying istrue let me say it like this to
succeed is simple, but it's noteasy.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Let me say that again .
To succeed is simple, but it'snot easy.
So anyone who doesn't succeed,it's because they chose the easy
way out.
If I wanted to be a macho man,I know what I need to do.

(34:47):
I need to go to the gym everyday for years.
So if I'm not a macho man, it'sbecause it was not easy.
I went to the gym one, two,three times and my body was
hurting and I stopped.
It's simple.
Everyone knows you want to bemacho.
Go to the gym one, two, threetimes and my body was hurting
and I stopped.
It's simple.
Everyone knows you want to bemacho.
Go to the gym.
You want to be healthy.

(35:07):
Stop eating late, stop takingsugar.
It's easy, it's very simple.
But it's not easy.
But it's not easy.
So when you are failing atsomething, know that you chose
the easy way.
Let me use money as an example.
Back to the basic treasurybills.
Right?
Anybody, anybody can become amillionaire if they save, if

(35:35):
they invest 500 cities a monthin treasury bills at a current
rate of 14%, it will take you 24years.
So which means if at 20, everymonth, you invest 500 cities,
nothing more.
When you get more money, don'tdo 2,000.
If only 500 cities consistentlyfor 24 years, you will become a

(35:59):
millionaire.
So if you start at 20, by 44,you will become a millionaire.
So if you start at 20, by 44,you will be a millionaire.
Very simple, but it's not easy.
And when you say this, thefirst thing somebody will say is
hey, 24 years, but it's longer.
But guess what?
You will turn 44, no matterwhat those 24 years will pass.

(36:21):
The only question is did youbecome a millionaire or not?
That's in between, in betweenwhat is happening there.
Because it's not easy, becauseyou know this man chalet, I
won't go chill small and andthis month I get some new girl,
I won't buy something for arm.
You will lose discipline andyou will never become that.

(36:45):
And then you will blame thegirl, you blame the friends you
went with, you blame the personwho took your money, you blame
everybody but yourself.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
You make the decisions.
It's just very difficult tomake those right decisions.
But once you start takingresponsibility, then every time
something goes wrong you askyourself two important questions
what did I do to contribute tothis going wrong?
And then what can I do tocontribute to this going wrong?

(37:21):
And then what can I do to makeit better?
That's accountability.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
When you're starting off with this, these two
questions, it can be verypainful, very.
It can be very difficult toaccept.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
How do you calm yourself?

Speaker 2 (37:45):
to come to that place of acceptance.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
It's by realizing that, even though it's painful,
what you get at the end of it ismore pleasure.
There's a saying that says thatmake the tough decisions to
live an easy life, or make theeasy decisions to live a tough
life.
So I just keep that in my mindall the time.

(38:10):
So let's say, like I mentionedto you the club thing.
So while my mates were chillingall the time from 17, 18, 19,
they're going to the clubchasing girls, doing all those
things I was locked in my roomlearning how to play beats,
learning business, learning,sound engineering, and I worked

(38:30):
consistently and aftersucceeding, now I was being paid
to come to the club.
Okay, so I made the toughdecision and so I just had to
wait and what I would havewasted my time on now I was
being paid to do it.
but if I decided to go out everyday you know, chase girls all

(38:53):
the time, do this, do that thenI wouldn't have become who I
became and life would have beendifficult for me, you know why I
admire what you do?

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Why?
It's because we see a lot ofcreatives.
After they shine, they end upbegging.
You have decided that I'm goingto be an artist Great.
But it's not just for me.
I need to be an artist great.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
But it's not just for me.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
I need to empower other artists, other creatives.
And now you are taking it to aneven higher step, which is
let's empower more people beyondartistry.
And that is, you know, when thedream is beyond you, the divine
helps.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
There's actually more fulfillment in giving to others
than there is.
The dream is beyond you.
The divine helps.
Yeah, there's actually morefulfillment in giving to others
than there is in taking.
So when your dream involveshelping other people, like it's
like the universe conspires tohelp you achieve it.
Like somebody is a CEO with1,500 employees, when the end of

(40:04):
the month is coming and hiscompany is not making money, the
universe is helping him makemoney because 1,500 people can
go broke, versus you, who aredoing your own small thing on
the side and you are rippingpeople off.
No one cares about you.
And even personally, likethere's no greater fulfillment
than helping other people.

(40:25):
I wish everyone would try it.
You know we look for happinesseverywhere, but most of the time
we look for happiness inpleasing ourselves.
But when you help others, thehappiness you feel is unrivaled.
There's this peace and calm youfeel like you've contributed to

(40:49):
.
You know life.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
You know, if you had not taken other people's careers
on, did you think you wouldhave still become?

Speaker 1 (40:59):
No, I don't think I would have still become.
No, I don't think I would have.
I would have just taken selfishdecisions and would have
withered away by now.
But like now, when I wake upevery morning, I'm thinking for
so many other people.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
But wasn't there that temptation in the beginning?

Speaker 1 (41:14):
oh, it was there.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Okay, it was there, but and how did you turn it
around?
Discipline, you just have to bedisciplined.
Who spoke to you, though?
Because, Freema, you know a fewother songs you know.
You did pretty well foryourself.
Right.
You could have easily said andwe see that a lot, a lot of
artists, they blow and boom.
You know bodyguards here andthere, you know, do a lot of

(41:36):
stuff.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
And then after maximum, between seven to 11
years, and we don't see themagain.
So I noticed something that Istarted this company, I started
this family right, and itreached a point when my success
demanded so much like my successas an artist demanded so much
for me to keep going, and thesuccess of the company also
demanded so much from me and Iwouldn't be able to do both.

(42:06):
So I had to choose if I wasputting my energy in continuing
to build myself or my energy inbuilding everyone else.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
But did you always think of this as a business?
Always from the beginning?

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Not.
In the beginning I didn't evenknow what a business was.
I saw it as a passion, but Isaw it as I was building
something larger than me.
So maybe not the word business,but a movement, a family, a
cause, like whatever it was.
I never thought I was doingthis for me.
I was building something biggerBecause I know a lot of

(42:41):
producers.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
You know, they just make the songs in their, their
bedroom or the little studiothey have.
Artist picks it up, you know,record goes out, boom, that's it
they're not thinking of youknow, let's develop, let's put
this structure in place, nothinglike that.
So I really want to understand,because you're not a business
student either?
No, I'm not, so where did Icome from?
I're not a business studenteither?
No, I'm not, so where did thatcome from?

Speaker 1 (43:01):
I'm not a student of anything.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Everything I've learned, I don't use it.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
I can tell you about the egg dices of a cockroach,
seven stages, where it sheds itsexoskeleton, but when I see a
cockroach, I step on it.
I am what.
Every human being in this worldis Self-made.
We are all self-made.
So, whatever you are right now,if you are poor, you are a

(43:25):
self-made poor man.
If you are rich, you are aself-made rich man.
If you are a womanizer, you area self-made womanizer.
If you are a loving, devotedhusband, you are a self-made,
loving, devoted husband.
So everything I am self-made,loving, devoted husband so
everything I am.
That's painful, man, verypainful.
I know somebody's in thecomments insulting me right now,
but it's cool.

(43:46):
You're a self-made hater.
Wow, because you have thechoice.
We all have choices.
We are filled with choices.
In a day, the average humanbeing makes 2,000 choices.
How can you tell me that these2,000 choices with compound

(44:09):
interest is not what has put youwhere you are, but it's
somebody else's choices?
No, do you know how many peoplehave gotten inheritance and won
the lotto and gone back tobeing broke?
85% from the last statistic Ichecked.
So you have no excuse.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
At what point in this beautiful journey did you think
at the initial stages?
Maybe I want to leave this andgo back to medical school.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Oh, never.
As for music, the number oftimes I've thought I want to
leave this.
I back to medical school oh,never.
As for music, the number oftimes I've thought I want to
leave this I think yesterday Ithought it, but never because
you have to.
I don't believe in leaving, Ibelieve in adding.
I'm not the person I was fiveyears ago.
I'm more, and in five yearstime I'll be more than this.
You get me.

(44:59):
So, as much as it's beentempting, this is too difficult.
This is too painful.
I'm never leaving.
What makes it difficulteverything makes it difficult
financially is difficult.
Managing human beings is one ofthe toughest things in the
world, because not only do youhave to control yourself and

(45:21):
control like uncontrollablethings, now you have to control
human beings.
Getting someone to understandthis path is meant for you so
stressful.
It's your fault.
It's your fault, it's my faultfor choosing the job.
So once you just have thatunderstanding, you know you take
it like that and you just keepgoing with the punches.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
My viewers and listeners want to know what was
your initial investment in LynxGroup.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
My initial investment .
Yes, is there a?
Okay, I think I bought acomputer mic for 12 CDs.
Okay, yeah, it was 12 CDs.
You see those computer mics,the one that has a long stem,
and you can bend it like thisOkay, yeah, it was 12 cities.
You see those computer mics,the one that has a long stem,
and you can bend it like this oh, my God.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Yeah, that's how I started.
We used to use that for Skype.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Yeah, that was exactly.
It was a mic for what do youcall it?
Video calls?
That was my recording mic, sothat was my initial answer,
Please don't go and say thatRichie said he started.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
He became successful from 12 cities.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
But I don't get why people get angry with those
stories.
Everyone needs to start at zero.
Do you think somebody startedat a million?
Nobody started at a million.
Even if somebody started withan inheritance, his father made
the money and gave to him.
Everything starts at zero.
So don't cry that you startedat zero and you're only at two

(46:46):
and somebody.
Everything starts at zero, sodon't cry that you started at
zero and you're only at two.
And somebody started at zeroand they've reached 500.
It's it's once again.
It's your fault.
Do something about it.
Let me give you guys some freeknowledge right now.
Your level of money, your levelof riches, is directly
proportional to your level offinancial knowledge.
Simple as that.
How much money you have isequal to how much knowledge you

(47:08):
have about money simple and foryou.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Where did you get that knowledge from?

Speaker 1 (47:14):
I'm still getting it.
I'm not as rich as I want to beyet, so I'm building my
financial knowledge when I reachyou know.
When I reach you know.
Yeah, that's why you seedifferent people.
You see somebody like, um,somebody had 200 million dollars
and now they are down to 400000, and somebody else started

(47:39):
slow and is now at 10 milliondollars over the same amount of
time.
Do you get?
Because one had more financialknowledge than the other.
Anytime you hear the story ofthis person became very rich and
they lost it all.
Then they didn't have financialknowledge, because how can you
lose it?

Speaker 2 (47:57):
all do?
Do you think within yourindustry they have financial
knowledge Some?

Speaker 1 (48:01):
do.
Okay, those who do are stillaround, because the unfortunate
thing about money is as much asyou hear.
You know, money doesn't solveall problems.
Money doesn't buy happiness andstuff.
Money is a tool and with thattool you can do more.
So when you don't understandhow to make money, what you can

(48:23):
do is now limited.
So I keep saying all the time Idon't know why, like money is
not a cost in school.
It's almost like theyintentionally do it, but that's,
that's a topic for another, Iguess.
I guess yeah, so I've thoughtabout it as well in it.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
So I I guess the purpose of school is for the
government.
Yeah, right, and the governmentwants workers so that they can
keep their GDPs up.
You know Exactly, but me andyou, what we are doing now.
It's not for the government,yeah, it's for us.
So, really, that's why, ifpeople want the knowledge, they
should be reading for themselves.
Yeah, would it ever be inschools?

Speaker 1 (48:55):
I don't think so.
I don't think so think so?

Speaker 2 (49:01):
I don't think so.
I don't think school is thereto teach you what you you need
to know to become independent.
I don't think the purpose ofschool is for people to become
self-reliant.
No, no, no, no, you know if itwas taught in school, I wouldn't
need to write this exactlyexactly, and this really should
be a course like it should be acourse in a class extra
curricular activity or somethingyou know that people can do,
and, yeah, maybe I'll speak todr charles yabua about it and

(49:22):
see what that would be great ifwe could start this at a like
fundamental level yeah if fromgrowing up like this.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
The way you see, when someone says I'm entitled, I
was entitled, I mean I am I.
I was born into entitlementbased on the fact that I got
this knowledge from childhood.
So I wasn't born into money.
I wasn't born into riches orgood luck or good fortune.
I was born into a family whereI had a mom who made me

(49:51):
understand you have to fend foryourself and do great things,
and if everyone has thatfundamental knowledge, you would
be amazed at how the worldwould be moving.
You'll be amazed If all thepeople hustling out there really
knew that the power to stophustling is in their hands.

(50:11):
You'll be shocked what willhappen in two years.
But nobody's telling them, sothey just need to keep blaming
it's my boss, he's not raisingmy salary.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
You know, in the beginning you were doing it
because of passion.
At what point was it because ofmoney?

Speaker 1 (50:28):
It never became because of money.
Like I mentioned, money is atool.
Money is a tool.
That's like saying I'm agardener because of my hoe.
No, the hoe is a tool that I'musing to garden, like.
One thing people don'tunderstand about money is money
is worthless.
Money is just exchange forvalue.
So I never try to make moremoney.

(50:50):
I always try to increase myvalue.
When you increase your value,the money will find you.
Like somebody said, it's notthat you don't have money, you
don't have an idea to make money, because if you had an idea,
you'd be making the money,Richie.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
you've hired a lot of artists through your label.
Your group has done an amazingjob for the industry, this
conversation we're having.
How important do you think itis for some of the artists
you've raised through your label?

Speaker 1 (51:30):
Very important.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
And has this always been part of the education of
the?

Speaker 1 (51:35):
artists, I mean.
One thing people say about meis I'm a talkative because I
like to share knowledge.
You know, I had a mentor,ibrahimo Hinejan, from 2007, for
a long, like 10 years.
I used to just go sit in hisoffice and listen to him talk.
He has so much knowledge andit's made me also want to become

(51:56):
that kind of person.
So when you are around me, Iwill share these things all the
time.
I can't control if you listenor not.
And one thing I remember, onereason I don't take it
personally someone doesn'tlisten is we used to go and sit
next to abraham.
All the time I wasn't alone,but when we leave, the other
people are going to becomplaining.
Abraham, he talks too much.

(52:16):
Every day he's talking, but yetI'll be there.
I would have written down whathe said.
I'll be planning based on whathe said.
So I realized the same thingthat when there are 10 people
around me and I'm saying these,my plenty things, nine of them
are probably walking awaythinking, hey, richie, that's
right.
Every day this, every day,every day that, but maybe I'm
changing one's life and that'sgood enough.

(52:38):
He will also change another'slife and ripple effects.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
Let me this show.
I want you to subscribe andbecome part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here, but if you
haven't become part of thefamily, connect with us.
Hit the subscribe button now.
Let's carry on the conversation.

(53:03):
Some of the hit artists you'vehad, if you check the plan you
had for them and how they'veturned out today financially.
How does that make you feel?

Speaker 1 (53:13):
Sad, honestly, some of them.
But, like I always say,everybody's path is different.
And because time is a very bigfactor in life, I never like to
judge people because you don'tknow what time is going to do
for them.
Like I mean, colonel Sandersstarted KFC at what?
63?
So I shouldn't judge somebodybecause they're in their 20s and

(53:36):
they couldn't maximize theirmoney.
You don't know what they'regoing to do in their 40s.
But I do get disappointed.
So my disappointment is notwhere they're at.
My disappointment is that mycoaching wasn't impactful.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Because we are still seeing more and more of it, you
know, and it's not even justmusic, it's the actors and
actresses, it just keepshappening all the time.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
The footballers, everybody.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
Yeah, it just keeps happening.
But I mean it's worse forfootballers because they make
more money.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
They make more consistent money.
Yeah, like can you imagine whatit means that maybe every week
$100,000 is?

Speaker 2 (54:15):
hitting your account.
Yeah.
So even if, after taxes andeverything, you still end up
with 50K, that's still a hugeThank you.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Every week.
That's worse than the artists,the actors and stuff.
There's this oh, I played oneshow and I got big money.
This one is every week you getso used to it.
And this thing like it's one ofthe first lessons I try and
give artists all the time youknow our industry right, you

(54:42):
make more money from October toDecember than you do from
January to September Becausethere's more events, there's
more music being streamed,there's more adverts being done.
Every source of incomemultiplies within that era.
So what can happen to an artistwithin that era is they get so

(55:05):
used to the constant flow ofmoney and then by January,
february, they are broke Becausethey got used to it.
An artist is playing threeshows in a week, four shows in a
week, so they are used to moneycoming all the time.
Oh, my mother needs to buy this.
Oh, send it away.
Oh, I want to go chill with theboys.
Oh, book a hotel, do this, dothat and then when things slow

(55:26):
down, january, february, theyare still spending like the
money is going to be comingweekly.
Then they'll go hungry, thenthey'll start slowing down like
me.
Then they'll wait.
Then October, back to the samesentence.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
You know, I call it, I'll get paid mindset right yeah
.
So a lot of people they spendtheir money before they get paid
.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
So they keep thinking oh, I'll get paid.
I'll get paid, yeah, so theykeep thinking oh, I'll get paid,
I'll get paid.
So in fact, for some people,they borrow against their pay
yep.
So as soon as the money comesin, it's already gone.
Then they are waiting for thenext pay yep, the next paycheck,
and that is what the governmentschooling structure does to
people yeah it's it's like aprison it creates dependencies.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
Yes, like we have so many people right now who are
dependent on things that theyshouldn't be, and so many people
feel entitled to things thatthey shouldn't be entitled, I
deserve.
The words I deserve should notbe in your dictionary.
I earned it.
You don't deserve anything.
You have to earn it.

(56:27):
You don't deserve a salary.
You don't deserve a hit song.
You don't deserve success, youhave to earn it.
You don't deserve a salary.
You don't deserve a hit song.
You don't deserve success.
You have to earn it.
And the day?
One thing I tell my artists allthe time is you are doing a
full-time job, so the day youdon't show up at work is a day
your salary will be deducted.
And what I mean by that is whenyou wake up in the morning.

(56:50):
You're a musician.
Do something about your music,record a song, learn how to do
interviews, go and promote yourmusic somewhere.
Do a photo shoot every singleday.
Six days of the week rest oneday because you're a human being
.
But if you sit there and yousay I have a hit song, so I'm
working one day in a week andthe other six I'm playing video

(57:10):
games, those six days are sixdays.
You go hungry in the future?

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Yeah, and I read in the book where you said that
when you initially started, youwere creating.
You made it an effort to createat least one beat a day.
Every day and it wasn't reallybecause you wanted to have a hit
song Basically for you.
You're just perfecting yourcraft every single day yeah,
right, and then through that.
That's how you become muchbetter, and then you get the hit
song yeah you know, because, ifyou don't show up, you don't

(57:37):
know what today's creativity umit's gonna so many people don't
understand the power ofconsistency.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
You know they believe in motivation and you know one
strong, impactful effort versusconsistent strides.
The person who shows up everyday and even does just the basic
will be more powerful than theperson who shows up sometimes
and does the most.

(58:04):
Show up every day for yourself,like when we say you're going
to be disciplined every day.
Show up for yourself.
You say you take a walk everymorning.
Some morning you're not feelingwell, take a five minute walk.
Yeah, someday do a two minutewalk.
I.
I watched some guy talk about atwo minute discipline reset and

(58:26):
it's so good.
I haven tried it, but it soundslike it should work when he
said if you want to build a newhabit, do it for only two
minutes every day for one month.
So if you want to like, startdoing press-ups every day when
you wake up in the morning,first of all make sure it takes
you only two minutes to getready, so your mat is already

(58:48):
laid, everything is ready, sothat the thought process is not
too difficult and then, once youstart, do it for only two
minutes.
Once you show up every day anddo it for two minutes, it will
now become a habit, because itactually takes 21 days of
consistency to build a habit andum.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
on top of this, right there's a lady on Instagram and
she has about half a millionfollowers.
So I sat down with her, aisha,and I said so how did you do it?
And she goes oh, I post like 10times a day and I just keep
doing it.
One day the account wasn'tgrowing All of a sudden, there
was a day she started getting10K followers a day.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
10k followers Before she, all of a sudden, there was
a day she started getting 10kfollowers.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
A day, 10k followers before she knew it.
She went all the way to 400,000and then it dropped again and
then she kept, she kept on.
Now she's on half a million andshe said people were wondering
whether she bought the followersand she said no, she showed me
in a day, in a month, in 30 daysshe can reach about 18 million
people on the internet.
Wow, 18 in a month.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
So that's the power of you know, being consistent,
and one thing that killsconsistency is perfectionism.
I hate perfectionism.
I have to do it, just right.
No, just do it, just keep doingit.
Like you mentioned, she posts10 videos a day 10?
Somebody is there.
They've been spending threemonths working on one video, you

(01:00:13):
know just keeps showing up.
It's like this podcast.
I started watching the podcastbecause it kept popping up and
every time it was something new,something insightful.
So that person who is trying toshoot that one perfect episode
in an expensive luxury hotel andhave a conversation with Dango
that nobody's done before willnever succeed like you.

(01:00:35):
Oh good, because you just keepshowing up.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Yeah, that's what we need to do for ourselves Show up
every single day, every singleday, ricky, there were points in
your business where you neededsome cash injection.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
What did you realize was happening to the business
and why did you need the money?

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
So what happens in my business is delayed
gratification.
It's one unfortunate thingabout the entertainment industry
.
Whereas with most industries,while you are investing, you can
actually calculate your profitmargin, calculate your revenue
and stuff, entertainment is notlike that.
Okay.
So let's say like, let's sayright now that I'm doing Lynx

(01:01:18):
Reverb the headphones.
It's a very different type ofbusiness.
So I know how many headphonesI've made, I know what my
marketing budget is.
I know my profit on eachheadphone.
So if I sell it, I'm makingthis amount of money.
Beautiful In entertainment.
You make a song, you promote thesong and hope that people are

(01:01:38):
going to stream it so that youmake money.
You hope it's going to hit sothat you get called for shows
and all this.
You can't even determine howmuch they're going to pay you
for the show when you're makingthe song.
I see you can't determine howmuch you're going to make from
the streaming Because there'ssomebody out there right now who

(01:01:59):
is getting $2 a month fromstreaming in Ghana and there's
somebody in Ghana who's getting$40,000 a month from streaming.
So you can't calculate.
So the problem is to invest.
It's more hard than anythingelse.

(01:02:22):
So now, when the companydoesn't have money, you need to
find a way to keep injecting themoney, knowing that I will take
the right steps and hopefullythe money will multiply,
hopefully, hopefully.
Let's call a spade a spade.
It's hope.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
But for you it's even more risky because it's in
somebody else's craft, isn't ithey?

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Charlie, it's not easy, bro.
It's not easy, wow.
And the worst thing is all thethings that can go wrong,
because you're investing in ahuman being, you know so.
If the person God forbid has acar accident, if the person
falls ill, if the person decidesI don't want to do this anymore
, if people decide I don't likethis person because you know

(01:03:09):
they are too tall or whatever itis, you've wasted your money.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
That's a huge risk, huge risk.
Now, what were your plans?
Making your money back?

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
So what I did was I started building structures
where I can keep making moneyback.
So I used to do a lot of notused to.
I still do a lot of music forcommercials, so things like Gino
, vodafone.
I think I've worked with almostall the big companies in Ghana,
okay Right.
So there was a point in timewhen I was very active in that
part.

(01:03:40):
Always in the studio, I wasdoing like four to five
commercials every month, yeah,so when I take a loan to maybe
invest in an artist's career,I'm not expecting to pay back
the loan with the artist'scareer.
Yeah, so I've done mycalculation and I know that,
okay, I'm playing four to fivecommercials every month.

(01:04:03):
Let me do a monthly projection.
If I only play two, If I onlyplay two, after six months I can
pay this amount of loan off.
So then I go for that loan, payit off, then when I need money
again I go back and you actuallydid take a loan.
Yeah, oh, over and over again,okay, so I had a car that people
used to laugh at me all thetime.

(01:04:23):
They used to think the car wasalways in the mechanic shop, it
was draining.
I was using it to collect loan.
All the time I'd use it ascollateral.
It reached a point that themicrofinance I was taking from
they became like a car park forme.
I was going to park the carthere three months.

(01:04:43):
When I come for it two weekslater, I park it again and I'm
back.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
But these times were you not thinking maybe I should
have taken dad's path ofbecoming a doctor, you know?

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
Oh yeah, I thought it .
I thought it and I keptthinking maybe it's not too late
, but no, I just had thestrength.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Who was there to give you that kick and say no, keep
going.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
My mom is still there , still giving me Vim all the
time, even when you werethinking, maybe daddy's choice
would have been better.
Yeah, still there, still there,always telling me to believe in
myself.
You know, one thing my mom toldme from when I was a child was
that I was born to be great.
I shouldn't settle for anythingless.
So anytime I'm slipping fromthere, I want to be great.

(01:05:28):
She'll remind me, richie,anything from there, I want to
be great.
You remind me Anything.
You do succeed.
Just keep going, don't stop.
So now I'm there.
I think I was born very lucky,but that's where my luck is.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
My luck is that inspiration I always had, right?
The top three artists thathelped you a lot as a record
label.
Who would they be?

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
Top three would be unfair okay five, okay, five.
So I think the most successfulartists that have been on links
in chronological order have beenasem myself.
Okay, chronological order.
So myself, asem msv.
Kiddy kwame yuji I think thoseare the Odaso myself.

(01:06:10):
Asem Mizvi.
Kiddy Kwame Uche.
I think those are the top five.

Speaker 2 (01:06:13):
And you would think you would say that these were
the artists that made up thewhole Lynx entertainment right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
In terms of monetary value yeah, these are the five
artists that have made the mostmoney for Lynx.
Yeah, but, like I said, itwould be unfair to compare
because of difference in timeyes, yes the kinds of money, the
kinds of exposure andeverything would we ever?

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
see a links.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
Reunion, oh yeah, definitely it's coming up.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
I started planning it already taking it out of your
head.
That's beautiful, beautiful.
Now in terms of investmentrecently I read or saw somewhere
that there's a company in Ghanathat has a stake in the
business.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
Yeah, Quik Angels Limited.

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
So that happened in 2022.
So actually let me tell thestory properly.
So when I met Mr K quay, thefirst thing we worked on was
actually taigon creative studios.
So taigon is an idea by me andmy partner, baba for those who
know her, baba moaba so she's aninterior designer and a set

(01:07:25):
designer and everything.
So we came up with an idea oflet's open a studio you know,
that can shoot music videos,commercials, everything but I
didn't have the finance to.
You know, build the studio.
But that time I'd heard of mrquay, I'd worked with him on a
few things, so I said, okay, Ipitched it to him.
There's no studio like this,should we do it?
And he said, okay.
So then we built Tygon together.

(01:07:47):
So after doing Tygon for like ayear, I started to respect
working with him, not based onthe investments he puts in, but
based on his business mind,based on the way he solves
problems and stuff and Irealized that, okay, I want to
grow links to the next level andI think this man's mind is

(01:08:10):
going to be a great asset forwhere I want to go next.
So we had the conversation.
Then he came on board withlinks some people.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
There were speculations that it was a
buyout.

Speaker 1 (01:08:23):
Oh no, as you can see I'm still here, you know, yeah,
but I think you have anincredible mind actually.

Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
Oh, thank you.
It's a really good way ofthinking, you know, because a
lot of Ghanaian businesses, theydon't like partnership.

Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
Yeah, but that's why they die.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
You know, if you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go witha team.
So if you don't likepartnership, you will die.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
Do you think the?

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
inclusion of um.
Uh, mr richard has been, uh,he's been good for the business,
it's been very good for thebusiness.
It's opened my mind to so manythings we've put in.
We've put more things in placeand everything like the company
has grown as a company I think.

Speaker 2 (01:09:07):
I don't know that.
You know, I never spoken to him, but he strikes me as somebody
who is a man of structure andsystems and incredible wisdom.
Yeah, yeah, because somebodywas complaining about how their
business he himself, hisbusiness is running.
And then I said, well, hold on,but how is the Chicken man and
Pizza man?
How have they been able to doit?

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
Yeah, you know Like I just want everyone to think
about that, yeah piece of magic.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Man has about 100 branches, so how have they been
able to manage the problems thatwe, that we have two, three
shops.
We are completely have so.
And then somebody said a lot ofhuh that he puts you in the
system rather than you are dead,then the system Rather than you
are there, then the systemcomes.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Yeah, like, honestly speaking, ghana needs to steady
that man's mind.
They need to steady that man'smind.
He really is a business genius.
What does the structure of Lynxlook like?
It's a beautiful structure now.
So we have Lynx Group Limited,which has different companies
underneath it.
So the original LinksEntertainment is there as a

(01:10:14):
label and a distribution company.
So what we did is Tigon.
So once they got involved withLinks, then we added Tigon
Creative Studios to the Linksumbrella.
Then we have ACN.
Acn is African Creative Network.
So ACN handles bookings forartists, for actors.
You know, monetizing talents.

(01:10:35):
We are using our years ofexperience on monetizing talents
to do the same for othertalents.
So you don't need to be signedto links, you can just have a
deal with ACN where they bringyou deals, brand deals, shows,
movies, that kind of stuff.
Then we have Pantera.
So Pantera is a creative agency.
So anybody who's looking forcreative ideas social media

(01:10:57):
management, digital push,anything they can work with
Pantera.
Then we have the Ogboro OGwhich is Link Studio.
The studio works on its own, asyou know, its own company.

Speaker 2 (01:11:13):
Then the newest baby is links electronics, which has
unleashed the links reverbheadphones which, what do you
think has been the your biggestchallenge on this journey of
entrepreneurship?

Speaker 1 (01:11:23):
I guess, um, the fact that I'm learning on a job.
And notice, I didn't say Ilearned on the job.
I am learning on the job as, asI'm here right now, I have
three Udemy courses that I'mdoing today, today, still to
perfect my craft.
Um, so one of my biggestchallenges is, whenever I learn

(01:11:45):
something new, it makes merealize, oh, if I knew this six
months ago, if I knew this oneyear ago, I would have done this
and done that and done that.
It's, it's.
It's quite challenging for me,especially being someone who
loves knowledge.
It's not easy, it's, it's not,it's not easy um.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
Your mom is an amazing woman.

Speaker 1 (01:12:09):
Yes, she really is.
Yeah, yeah, a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
You know it's well.
You see, when you see mostpeople that have great
relationships with their moms,you see how they turn out.
Yeah, you know there'ssomething about the power of a
woman, eh.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
Yeah, you know, somebody once told me there's
not a lot like two years ago orsomething.
He met me two or three timeswith my mom and then he said,
richie, I've seen yourrelationship with your mom and
that's why you stay successful.
Not for anything, but just theway you still interact with your
mom will make you staysuccessful.

Speaker 2 (01:12:43):
Now, is there anything we could have spoken
about, that we still we haven't,that we still can.

Speaker 1 (01:12:51):
Media.
If you want to unpack, there'sa lot, so let me see what can we
talk about.
Okay, let me talk about onething.
Let me talk about one of thebiggest mistakes I made.
Don't spend money that you havenot made as a businessman.
Okay, I made this mistake.

(01:13:11):
This was the lowest time forLynx.
So at the time when Lynx wasdoing very well you know, when
we started fresh in two, threeyears in, and everything was
going very great and all Iweren't making much money yet I
actually got an opportunity toproduce for a record label

(01:13:32):
outside and I was going toproduce a lot for them over a
long period.
So they're going to pay me alot of money consistently, right
?
So at that time, we had to movefrom where we were.
So when we were coming to move,we moved to a place that was
charging about the same amountas where we were, except in

(01:13:54):
dollars.
So as in, maybe, if we'repaying 1,000 CDs, no, it's 1,000
dollars.
But bear in mind, at this timethe dollar and the CD were about
the same.
This is when you know.
It was like maybe one dollar is1.2 CDs, this is right.
The know it was like maybe $1is 1.2 CDs, this is right.
The Kufu era when he redid theGhana CD and everything.

(01:14:17):
Yes, so it wasn't a bad idea.
And at the same time, too, Iwas about to be paid a lot of
money, consistently in dollars.
So it made sense.
So you spent in anticipation,spent in anticipation, so I got
the new place in dollars.
So it made sense.
So you spent in anticipation,spent in anticipation, so I got
the new place in dollars.
After getting the new place indollars, then the deal outside

(01:14:40):
the record label collapsed.
It's not my fault, I didn'tlose the deal.
The label collapsed.
So that big money I wasexpecting to come.
It didn't come.
Then now Assem left the labelaround this time.
You know, irene had left thelabel around this time.
So things started to go down abit and the dollar started to

(01:15:07):
whoop the city.
Wow.
So within a very short time ithad gone from $1 to one city to
$3 to one city, do you get me?
So now we were making less.
The money that was promisednever came and our expenses had

(01:15:28):
skyrocketed.
It was a very big lesson for meDon't spend money that hasn't
come.

Speaker 2 (01:15:41):
You heard it.
You should never do it.
I mean, I'm seeing a lot ofpeople who have shops in East
Ligon and when they come,especially from the diaspora,
they come to East Ligon.
They're bougie, yeah, doeverything up.
Take a three year lease.
They paid a dollar $40,000 flat.
After three years they realizethat they don't.
Even the rent would have goneup.

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
Yep, after three years you don't have the money
and then they have to move andthe business itself is not
making as much as you thought itwas going to make yes, yes, so
I learned that lesson the hardway as well.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
You know, I guess we all have our lessons, you just
have to learn.
But you made a statement.
You said it wasn't your fault,but actually the truth is we
need to tell them.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
Yes, it's my fault.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
That is his fault, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
Motivation or discipline?
Oh, discipline, a hundredpercent.
Okay, put motivation aside,though.
The only way.
Look any part of your lifewhich you are failing at, it's
because you're not disciplinedthere.
If your relationship is notdoing well, you are not
disciplined at home.
If your money, if you are poor,it's because you don't have

(01:16:47):
financial discipline.
If you are not healthy, you arenot disciplined with your
fitness.
Discipline is everything.
So if you want to do well withanything, stay disciplined
amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
What's the best advice you've ever received?

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
um, be who you are those who matter, don't mind.
Those who mind, don't matter.

Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
Wow that's a beautiful advice, and can you
recommend a book for us please?

Speaker 1 (01:17:15):
which one, the most impactful book that I have read
is seven habits of highlyeffective people.
I love that book.
Next to that, um then I'll betorn between Think and Grow Rich
and Ikigai, okay yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
So that's three books .
We asked for one.
He gave us three.
It's beautiful.
Thank you so much.
I think this has been abeautiful conversation.
I have gotten to know youdifferently, you know which is
beautiful and you have a verylovely personality.
I must say thank you so muchfor coming to our studios and to

(01:17:59):
my viewers and my listeners.
If you made it to the end,you're definitely a connected
champion.
So let me see it in thecomments and to the people that
made it to our event at theBritish council Thank you so
much for your support and foryour time.
We are going to carry on.
If you're not part of thecommunity on WhatsApp, on the
email list or on the schoolplatform, get yourself in there,

(01:18:19):
because there are a lot ofthings happening.
My name is Derek Abayte.
Stay connected.
I'm out.