Most Entrepreneurs Fail - Here's How to Succeed When Others Quit | Shamori Battle | MMP #039

Most Entrepreneurs Fail - How to Succeed When Others Quit | Shamori Battle | MMP #039 Shamori Battle: I believe that your network is your net worth. The people who you surround yourself with and truly want to be with, that's your tribe and your vibe will attract your tribe. Unknown Speaker: You're watching The Marketing Misfits with Norm Farrar and Kevin King. Kevin King: Mr. Farrar. Oh, okay. All right. I thought you were waiting for me. No, it's... What's that song? Always Waiting on a Woman? I'm not waiting on you. Last I looked, you weren't a woman. You know what song I'm talking about? That country song where it's like, I'm always waiting for a woman, you know? Unknown Speaker: No, it's a country song. Kevin King: Oh, yeah, sure. Unknown Speaker: It's got really good lyrics. Kevin King: It's actually a pleasant song. It's a good song, but it's always waiting on a woman. You know, last time I actually I have a problem. It was traumatic when I was at your place and you put on your cowboy music, came out with your hat, your cowboy boots. Those are new ones you just bought, right? But it was those assless chaps. Unknown Speaker: You didn't like those? Kevin King: No. I got those at that special store at the rhinestones down the side and everything. Unknown Speaker: Yeah, you sure did. Kevin King: You didn't like those? No. I'd say, well, the part I didn't like is you didn't have a shirt on. Did you take a picture and show it to Connie? That was it. Take a picture and show it to Connie at least? Yeah. See what she thought? Yes, those chaps I was fine with. Well, I was just trying to get you to get out of the cold plunge, you know? Okay. Very good. You did. So, you know what? Yeah. We got a really great guest today and we met him. Where were we when we met him? We were at the AI… That's where we reconnected. Actually, we met him in Chicago at an Amazon event. I think you met him somewhere before that. No, it was Chicago. Chicago then. 2023, I guess, we were all there for an Amazon event. You know, it's always over cigars. I know we talk about this all the time, but we were sitting out on that balcony in Chicago. Remember when we went out there and held court? And we had like 15 or so people come out there. He joined us there. And then when we were in Orlando at the AI Bot Summit, you and I went out and braved the cold Orlando weather. It was a cold night in Orlando. It was warm. Unknown Speaker: I thought it was just going to be the two of us. Kevin King: I thought it was just going to be the two of us and then several other cigar smokers come out and he was one of them, joined us and told all kinds of cool stories and cool stuff and then I think he had a house rented there and he was trying to throw a little party and unfortunately, I think we were leaving or there's something, some conflict or something where we couldn't make it over there but no, really cool guy. Super stoked to have him on the show today. Yeah, and one of the thing well first let me introduce him so He's behind his back keep talking behind his back. We can we can say all kinds of stuff before you bring him on. Oh, yeah Okay, let's do that One of one thing you're gonna notice and with today's guest he's a little bit enthusiastic He's got this really incredible positive attitude and whether you're in a bad mood or not, this guy's going to solve that. But let me introduce Shamori Battle. And so I have a job here to do. Hit the button. Hit the button. There, I hit the button. You hit the button. You can do it. Unknown Speaker: Norm, give a big clap for Norm. Kevin King: He hit the button. Unknown Speaker: Good job. Good job, Norm. Shamori Battle: Gold star for Norm. Kevin King: Gold star. There we go. So before we say anything or get into you, Shamori, I just want to say this. You're the type of guy, now think of the Count of Monte Cristo. You're the guy coming down in the air balloon. As it comes down, dancers like Cirque du Soleil are going down the ropes. You come out with a gold robe and say hello and then go into the house. How's that? Did I describe it? Shamori Battle: That is fantastic. Yes, that's my ultimate birthday dream. I think I might try to make it happen this year for my 50th birthday. I just think that's one of my favorite movies, one of my favorite books. But that scene in the movie I just think is so badass, right? Because he says all of my three words. He comes out, looks over at everybody and is like, greetings. Kevin King: Oh, that was hilarious. Oh, we talked about that in Chicago. That's why in Orlando, and I was just cracking up. But yeah, so welcome to the show. For those who don't know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Shamori Battle: Oh, man. Let's see. What can I say that won't get immediately redacted or have the alphabet boys knocking on my door? So, let's see here. You know, me, born and raised here in Chicago, I've spent most of my life either entertaining, inspiring or selling something in one form or another, right? So, you know, a lot of people have Things they bring to the table, you know, whether it be their, you know, operational skills or this or that. I don't have any of those. I've never been that guy. If you looked at it, you know, if you look at it as a form of ingredient, everybody has their ingredients that they bring for a dish. I'm not that. I'm the heat. We put those things together to make it happen. Kevin King: Is it fair to say you're like a master at networking and like a people person? Shamori Battle: You could say that. You know, I've been called an entrepreneurial muse. Yes. Kevin King: I noticed, I pick up on little things and I noticed when we reconnected and had those cigars in Orlando. You're one of the few people that actually sent a follow-up message. I think you even did it that night. When you got back to your place or something, you sent a nice, kind little message, something to the effect of, it was great to meet you. A good story about this or that. Let's keep in touch. Here's my number or whatever. But the way you said it, it wasn't just like a business way of, I want something. It was like a caring way. And it was in a way that I was like, I even showed it to Norm. I was like, look. And I was like, all right, this guy, he ain't fooling around. He's the real deal, which impressed me. So I was like, that's why I just asked that question. Are you like a network connector, kind of like the glue that holds a lot of people together and brings people together? Shamori Battle: Man, I really appreciate that. And it's true. I did too. And I believe I said Norm one too. Actually, everyone who I met, who I interacted with. Kevin King: Norm just deleted his. He just deleted his. He's like, bam, bam. Shamori Battle: You put me on your not call list. Kevin King: No, it was actually emoji, emoji, emoji. Shamori Battle: You know, for me, my whole life has been about developing the things they didn't teach me in school, which were the soft skills and learning how to deal with people. You know, in the beginning, for me, it was out of necessity. I didn't come from a very wealthy family. I didn't have, you know, a silver spoon in my mouth. I was young, I was a large kid. I looked like 10 years older than I already was. And I'm in Chicago and I was black. So, you know, it scared a lot of people, especially getting into business. And I got into business at a young age in the financial industry. Forget about it, you know. So, you had to be able to connect the little things that moved in between those parts, right? And I believe that your net worth is your net worth. You know, the people who you surround yourself with and truly want to be with, that's your tribe and your vibe will attract your tribe. Kevin King: And it's marketing too. I mean, it's genuine, but it's also subtle marketing. It's staying top of mind and being memorable. Shamori Battle: And wanting to add value. I think the problem that a lot of marketers have today is, well, I can go down a whole rabbit hole with that. I think most of them have been in a job working somewhere and they realize now after 5, 10, or maybe even 20, 25 years that this ain't it. That's not what they want to do. So everybody goes, oh, I know what I'll do. I'll start my own business. And then they jump into business. But just because you have a business doesn't mean that you know business. And most of them get in a situation where they have no idea what they're doing, but they still need to do something. What they're really doing is running from the pain. You know, they're running from the pain of not being able to spend time with their family. They're running from the pain of not answering their phone because they don't know what to tell this bill collector again. You know, they're running from the pain and they aren't running to something they really want to do. And because they aren't doing that, they don't look at it as a way to provide value to the other people around them. And they look for just a way for them to gain something. I think once we realize that the way you truly gain is by giving freely of yourself to the people around you. That's when you really get it. So for me, I love to be able to provide value, man. And I think both of you are stand-up dudes from the moment I met you. I loved your energy. I love the way both of you conduct yourselves. And I love the way that people around you treat you. It's very important when you watch how other people treat people around them. And watch what they say about them when they're not present in the room. And you'll learn a lot about them, you know? And so being able to want to provide that kind of value and level of Community is huge. Kevin King: Hey, what's up, everybody? Kevin and Norm here with a quick word from one of our sponsors, 8Fig. Let me tell you about a platform that's changing the game for Amazon sellers. That's right. It's called 8Fig. On average, sellers working with 8Fig grow up to 400% in less than a year. Apefig offers both funding and free tools for e-commerce growth and cash flow management. And here's how it works. Apefig provides flexible data-driven funding tailored to your exact needs. You know, they could fund anywhere from up to $50,000 all the way up to $10 million. Apefig gives you free tools to forecast demand, manage inventory, and analyze cash flow. Visit 8Fig.co, that's 8Fig.co to learn more or check the link in the show notes below. Just mention marketing misfits and get 25% off your cost. That's 8Fig.co, 8Fig.co. See you on the other side. It's a skill. It's a very subtle skill that when you're creating a network and we go to a lot of events and you'll get a text or you'll get an email or you'll get a message but it turns me off when all of a sudden you get that hit you up for something. It's so hard not to just, you know, you have to form a relationship, I think, like anything, you know, you have to get engaged before you get married. And just, you could just have that one email that it's great. Okay, now we can go to the next step, start to go back and forth, meet the person at the next event. But it's that hard hitting approach that really turns me off. And I don't know about you. Kevin, you must get this a lot too, but I don't like following up with those types of people. I want to give you an example of the worst. I was never heavily into the, what are they called? Network marketing. And, you know, some people are and that's, that's great. But this one event I went to, and I think I told you, Kev, this guy came up to me, and he went and he shook my hand. Hey, welcome to this event. Now, in his palm, he had this paper. I unfolded the paper and he said, and that's what I made last month. And I went, what did I get myself into? Shamori Battle: Um, and something tells me that guy has to nail the piss. Kevin King: Oh, you know, he might be successful, but I don't want to be part of that network. Shamori Battle: Yeah. Yeah. Kevin King: Yeah. Exactly. I mean, so you said you've been doing this like 30-something years, I think you said. You're about to turn 50. So at 20, you were doing wealth advisory stuff? Shamori Battle: Yeah. I started in – so let's see. I started – my first paycheck, I was five. I was five. Yeah, I was selling. At five years old, I was out. My parents had me singing and dancing at birthday parties and bar mitzvahs. Because at that time, it was all about the Jackson Five and I was Michael Jackson. So I've been performing my whole life. So they had me out singing and doing the whole thing at birthday parties and all that. And then I was selling snow cones on Lakeshore Drive. And I remember writing out a business plan for my parents because they wouldn't just give me the money. You know, my father was a banker in the financial industry, the whole bit, so I had to have a business plan. So I had to get $20 to pay for the ice, the napkins, the straws, the cups, the juice, and the ice, and set it up on a table and sell it. That went really well until, we did that for years. But you figure, even as a kid, if you're making, you sell $50 a day at a buck, sell $50 a day. Kevin King: That's real money for a young man. Shamori Battle: In the late 70s, early 80s, that ain't bad. But so, I got licensed in the financial industry. Let's see, I started doing that when I was 18, 19 years old, going into that. And so, yeah, so I get licensed, 66, 63, 26, life health, the whole bit. I got into a I got into a network marketing company, a marketing company, and their product was financial services. So I was like, okay, wait a minute. So I can build a team and have residuals and renewable income. Oh, and my product is money? Okay. That sounds like a deal made in heaven. And I made it work for what it was, right? So, yeah. Kevin King: So, how did older people relate to that? I mean, older people listening to a 19, 18, 19, 20-year-old, were they like... Shamori Battle: In this face, to this day, I don't... You see this? Kevin King: You said you looked 10 years older back then than you were. Shamori Battle: I looked 10 years older, but okay, fine. That put me at, what, 25? I still look like a kid to this day. This is like two weeks worth of growth. Kevin King: Back in the days and you said it was you were working with a network company, network marketing company. Shamori Battle: Yeah. Kevin King: They have a very strict format for the most part, just like any type of franchise. Shamori Battle: Right. Kevin King: How could you create in a very competitive field a USP or just something different or something different in marketing that made people come over to you? Was it your personality? What was it? Shamori Battle: So, you don't know what you don't know, right? And I was horrible at sales. The first year or two after I got licensed, it took me just to make my first sale. And I was doing appointment after appointment after appointment after appointment. And I was doing appointments for other people, doing appointments, doing appointments, wasn't getting paid. But what I did do is I got a lot of no's. I got bloodied up a lot, real, real fast and early. You know, and I think that is one of the credits I look at to my successes in life was because most people They either they get lucky out of the gate and they do really, really well. Or, you know, they do have a meteoric rise and then they do really well. But most of them have been punched in the nose, you know, and knocked out or told no. And I believe the person who gets the most nose wins. Because it's easy to feel great and smile when everything's going right. When you're bouncing checks for ramen noodles and living out the trunk of the car and trying to figure out what you want to do and still be able to put a smile on your face and go out there and make it happen the next day, that takes a certain amount of grit that you only form when you're able to go through those kind of situations. There are people who make millions of dollars a month who never had to deal with that. If they ever did, they'd fold like a blanket, right? It's amazing. Kevin King: I think hardened entrepreneurs are the best entrepreneurs. And the rest of them, like you said, have gotten lucky. But people that have gone through, I've been, just like you just said, I didn't write a hot check for ramen noodles. I think I wrote it for ice cream. For a little thing of ice cream and some macaroni and cheese, like three for a dollar a box of macaroni and cheese. But I've been there where you're like, how am I gonna dig myself out of this? Bankruptcy may or may not have been an option at that time. How are you going to dig yourself out of this? And that's where you get resourceful. Your best ideas sometimes come when your back's against the wall. And that's when you get the most creative, if you're a true entrepreneur, I think. Shamori Battle: You're absolutely right. And to Norm's question, for me, I think the biggest thing was there were guys who were in that industry who were older than I was, much more successful than I was. Well, not too many were handsomer than me, but I'm sure there's one or two. But what I did have is the one thing they couldn't take from me and the one thing that nobody else could duplicate was me. Just, I just had to be genuine. I had to be me. And that means I was going to rub some people the wrong way, but it was going to rub the right people the right way. And they were going to follow you. Kevin King: So how important is that? I mean, people, a lot of times they try to conform. They take a job and they're putting on the suit or they're putting on the mask and they're trying to conform. And then when they go home and kick off those shoes, I don't have to be that person anymore. They try to be something they're not. And they think that's the way to success. But you just said it's like, no, I'm going to be myself. And I am who I am. And it's either you like it or you don't. And I don't care. Why do so many people have, do you think, have trouble doing that and just being themselves? Shamori Battle: Well, there's, I think the biggest reason they have problems being themselves is because most people don't know who they are. They don't know who themselves are. They've never taken the time to sit and think about that. No one's ever asked them, who are you? Who do you want to be? Unknown Speaker: Who do you want? Shamori Battle: When the world talks about you and you're not there, what do you want them to say? When you're dead and gone and you have children and people come up to your children and say, hey, I knew your father, what do you want them to be able to say about you? Kevin King: You know, if you want to find yourself, I've seen this with partners. It's greed and fear. Then you see the true person. Shamori Battle: Yeah, man. You nailed it on the head, especially with partners. I've never been married, but I've had a lot of business partners who were married. So by default, I was married to their spouse. Because when you get in business, your business partner is probably as close to you as a spouse, if not more, Closer to you. Kevin King: Why do you think I was running around in my bottomless chaps with Norm? Shamori Battle: Right, you know. I'll tell you what, you just brought up a big point that was crazy. So, and I'll ask both of you the same question too, is if you've ever, what was the one that got away? What was the one business, has there ever been a business that you're like, man, this thing's gonna set me up, get my private eye on the whole bit and something happened and it slipped right through your fingers? Because for me, I was in a situation coming out of college, ran into a guy who I went to college with, grew up in the same neighborhood in Chicago. So that was crazy that we just ran back into each other. And he was like, hey, we need to talk. I got a hold of this product. We have the, what is that called? Not the permit, the licensing, but the patent. There we go. So he's like, hey, we have the patent, but we have a window on it. It's like five years. They get it from some university. I didn't know the university. You know, universities have those things tucked away on shelves, stored somewhere that could be doing all kinds of stuff because that's not the business they're in. So they don't even think that, you know, hey, we could be making money on this, whatever. They don't know how to do it. They don't have the markers there apparently. But they came in something that says, hey, we got the money. We have the operations. We don't have a face for the company. We need somebody who can really do that thing well, and you're the guy. And at that time, I had just lost everything from my hedge fund that was Character building. And so, and I told him, I said, look, I don't have any money. I just, I let you know up front, I don't have any money that I can invest in. I can invest in this the whole bit. I, you know, I don't mind working. I don't mind putting stuff together, but I want you to know up front where I'm at, where I'm coming from. And if that's okay, then we can keep moving. And they're like, no, don't worry about that. We got all that covered. We just need you to be you and do the Shamori thing. I was like, I got that. Let's do it. He was engaged. Yeah, they weren't married, but as things really started to look like they were going to take off with this product, which was going to put us in position to literally Like I told her when she said she wanted a house, she found out the kind of money we're about to start making. She says, oh, you know, I really need a house. And I was like, I'm not working with you. I'm working with him. And we have business to take care of. Let's get this together first and then you can get a house. Right. And she kept coming to him. No, but you know, I deserve a house. We need to do this right now. And I said, look, you see that globe? I'll spin it and you can stop it with your finger. I'll buy you a house wherever it lands. I don't care. After we get this done, let's not fry the golden goose. You know, let's just let's let's get some eggs first, you know, and he folded to the pressure. That whole business wind up dissolving and nothing came of it, which is very, very, very unfortunate. They're not together anymore. And she has the house that he bought her. Kevin King: Yep, that happens. That definitely happens. I mean, so what was the business? What was it supposed to be? Shamori Battle: Basically, what it did was it would remove the alcohol from your bloodstream. Right. So normally the only way you can do that is through time waiting for these enzymes to neutralize that alcohol. But this was able to go in, neutralize the alcohol in a very short amount of time. And side effect, there was no hangovers. So it's fantastic. Right. I won't say the name of the brand that we created in the hope that I don't feel like dealing with these lawyers again. Kevin King: But it ended up coming out of some version of it. Shamori Battle: We created it. We had it. I was able to negotiate the price of us getting it to a very, very, very small amount of what they were originally paying for it. So it was set to do well. I put it in the hands of some celebrities. I put it in the hands of some athletes, some doctors. Everybody loved it. They're like, hey, no, this is good. And I was like, if this does half of what I think it's supposed to do, we're going to be in really good shape. Really good shape. And it was working. And we had about a year left on the patent when all this, you know, stuff started to happen. And that whole thing fell apart. Now, I know they didn't pick it up. Kevin King: How long ago was that? Shamori Battle: Oh, that was, that was, let's see, I do everything by the age of my daughter. Isn't that crazy? Once you have kids, you're like, okay, I'll just make the kid go with it. So I think that was like, see, she was like. Unknown Speaker: Three or four. Shamori Battle: So 2020 or 2006, like right in there. Kevin King: Wow. Shamori Battle: Yeah. And then we obviously the patent door closes. I'm sure someone else probably want to pick it up. But by this time, we'd already done all the research. We've done everything else put together so that the university knows what they have. And they want to charge you not five million for that patent, but now one hundred million. You see what I'm saying? So there are companies that have certain things out now. I always wonder when I see that, I wonder if they just picked up our stuff, which they probably did. I mean, that's what happens, I'm sure. But, you know, that was the one that got away for me. That was the big one that got away for me because that could have been a trillion dollar ticket if you did it right, you know. How about you? Unknown Speaker: Yeah, that could have been big. Yeah, that could have been big. Kevin King: And there's always those, I mean, but the only way you have those things that get away is by putting yourself out there, is by actually networking and making those connections. And sometimes something that's bad can actually turn into something that's good. It can flip. And it's serendipitous, almost like, well, if this thing hadn't gone bad, this next thing that... Happened wouldn't have gone good and a lot a lot that happens in relationships. It happens, you know, personal relationships as well as business relationships a lot of times too. And do you work with when you're doing is that the only partner that you've ever had in business or have you had other partners? Shamori Battle: No, I've had other partners of business and some of them we did for I think I learned a lot about so it was it was It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it was a great experience in the fact that I took a lot of lessons from it. Right. So I learned what not to do and how to do things a little bit different because I've always been a handshake kind of guy. You know, this is how I was raised. You know, my word is my bond. If I say we're going to do it, we're going to do it. If I shake your hand and say, hey, all right, we're buds. We're partners. We're going to do this. Let's do it. And that's how I do things most of the time. Unfortunately, everybody doesn't have the same set of ethos. So that makes it difficult in business because money is funny. People When people lose money or when people make a lot of money, you start to see who they are. I won't say they change. A lot of people say that money changes you. I don't believe that. I think money is a magnifier. It makes you more of who you are. You know, if you're a jerk. Kevin King: Leopards can't change their spots. Shamori Battle: Yeah. Yeah. If you give a jerk a lot of money, he's become a bigger jerk. You know, if you give a good person a lot of money, they're able to do more things for more people. All right. Kevin King: Now, a quick word from our sponsor, Lavanta. Hey, Kevin, tell us a little bit about it. That's right, Amazon sellers. Do you want to skyrocket your sales and boost your organic rankings? Meet Levanta, Norm and I's secret weapon for driving high quality external traffic straight to our Amazon storefronts using affiliate marketing. That's right. It's achieved through direct partnerships with leading media outlets like CNN, Wirecutter, and BuzzFeed, just to name a few, as well as top affiliates, influencers, bloggers, and media buyers, all in Levanta's marketplace, which is home to over 5,000 different creators that you get to choose from. So are you ready to elevate your business? Visit get.levanta.io slash misfits. That's get.levanta.io slash misfits and book a call and you'll get up to 20% off Levanta's gold plan today. That's get.levanta.io slash misfits. Shamori Battle: But I heard a saying once in a movie, and I thought it was fantastic. It said, make your friends rich and your enemies rich, and then you'll find out which is which. Kevin King: That's a good one. That's so true. I mean, especially where we're in the Amazon world, there's a lot of very quick millionaires and they start off being approachable and nice. And then you see some of the, and like, it's the first kick at the can, right? They make a million bucks. Now they think they're, you know, just too hot for anybody. And you can see a lot of arrogance come out. And I mean, this is the true person. Until they get kicked between the legs and they go down, you know, one or two or three or five times. But that's what I like about entrepreneur, true entrepreneurs, is that you can get kicked between the legs, go down. You could get depressed and not show your face for, you know, six months, a year. But then you do recover. And the more kicks you get between the legs, you really know what kind of entrepreneur you are. I think that's really important, like resilience is a key factor making up an entrepreneur. Shamori Battle: Yeah, no, grit is everything and being able to, I think a lot of times the better you do out of the gate, the harder it is for you to get kicked in the nuts. And I think once you do, some people think I've been on social media, I've been here, I've done this, nobody's seen me like crushing it and now I'm getting my teeth kicked in. I can't show my face, right? And I mean, I get that. There's a point that we have to go lick your wounds and, you know, kind of sit back and figure out what's what and have a conversation with the powers that be and figure out what you can do. But then you dust yourself off and you can get back out there again. Right. I think the more successful they are in the beginning, the harder it is for most of them to get back out there again. Because I know, growing up for me, the first time I said, hey, I'm going to be a millionaire. I'm going to be this and this. It was like, no, you're not. No, you're not. I was like, yeah, I am. Watch this. And then I went and I did it. And then guess what? I lost it. And oh, they couldn't wait. They couldn't wait to be like, oh, see, told you. There he is. Kevin King: Yeah. Shamori Battle: You know, where's the fancy car? Where's this? Where's that? You're like, you know, so how many friends did you lose? I didn't lose any friends. I lost other people who I thought were my friends though. You're going on dates with Playboy Centerfolds. You're traveling to Vegas and hanging out doing this and going here and fancy cars and everybody wants you in their restaurant. You know, going on a first date with a girl and it turns into the scene from Goodfellas when you're walking through the kitchen, they bring you and give you your own table. I mean, I've had that happen. I was in my 20s and had that happen a few times. That was just a Tuesday for me, right? And then all of a sudden, your phone stops ringing. And nobody calls you back. And, you know, you can't even get a friend to come change a tire or help you change a tire in a snowstorm. And that hurts when you truly believe that these people care about you. Kevin King: I think that happens to a lot of athletes, a lot of athletes that come out of college and making all the kinds of money and don't have the proper wealth management skills and proper planning skills, living high on the hog with the women, the lifestyle, the money, and then three years in get a major injury or get cut and their life turns upside down. They end up riding the back of a garbage truck to make a living being a host on a sports talk radio show or something making 30 grand a year. We're a podcast. On a podcast. Yeah, exactly. But I think one of the things I like is like in our business, Norm and I are well known in the Amazon space. We go to an Amazon event. We can just sit somewhere and people come up to us. They know us. People want to take selfies with us. We're pretty popular in the Amazon space because of our podcast, because of our trainings, because of our speaking. What helps keep that in check for me at least, I'm speaking for myself and maybe Norm too, is when I go to a non-Amazon event. I go to a Funnel Hacking Live or Go High Level or something like that and nobody there knows me and you know like two people know me like oh Kevin good to see you what are you doing here and you know and nobody knows you that keeps it in checked where your ego if you let it go to you it can it can get to your head. Shamori Battle: You're absolutely right. I think that social media It has a lot to do with that now too because we live in echo chambers, right? Amazon is a perfect example. So a year, almost two years ago, I was showing people how to get their credit in the right position and build out their credit profile so that they can go get an LLC and get business funding and then take that and go run a business, right? And for proof of concept, I started an Amazon business. I didn't know anything about Amazon. Right, but I went was able to get a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of funding from business and I was like, okay, let's go do it and see what see what we can do. I went and found some people who someone had mentioned. He come to me and I was like, okay. Well, maybe I'll give this a shot and the first person who I talked to about it who I spent a lot of money on a course. And in there, they were telling me about going to these stores and, you know, driving up and grabbing some things off the shelf and they were scanning them and checking them. And it was like, you know, arbitrage. Right. And I was like, OK, but I mean, there's only so many items I can get off the shelf, like. Where's the money at? I mean, like, again, I got, you know, just about 200 grand burning a hole in my pocket. I can't buy $200,000 worth of stuff, you know, at the local Ross or Marshalls. And even if I could, there was no guarantee that I'd be able to do that next week or next month, that they'd have the same items and all that. So I was like, okay, well, I need to find another vertical. In the ecom space and then I found something else I found, you know, the private label was funny private label is something that also came up afterwards But unfortunately person who I spoke to about it didn't be very careful who you get your your information from because everybody doesn't understand So so they had at that point. It really turned me off a private label and Because they didn't know what they were doing, right? So I wind up going to the middle road, which, you know, it was the Goldilocks zone for me, which was wholesale. So went into wholesale, found some mentors in that who are amazing guys. You know both of them. They're like brothers. And they took me under their wing, showed me that, and I was able to get that business up to, I think it was close to a quarter million dollars at that point. When, right, like hey, most people start a business, majority of businesses fail in their first year or first two years. This first year, we got up to a quarter million dollars. I thought that was great and it was great, right? But just in that small space, I would be at events and people in the Amazon business want to start taking pictures with me. They want to join my Instagram. And in my mind, because I've been in multiple other businesses before, I was like, I really haven't done anything yet. But okay, I don't want to crush your dream. All right, fine. I'll take a picture with it. Great. You know, or sign your thing or, you know, follow you on whatever. But I was like, man, that's so fleeting. But if all you know is that echo chamber that you're seeing, and there were people there who were doing Less than I was, but you wouldn't know that by the way they presented themselves, you know, through this and that. And you realize that people are renting Lamborghinis and all of that to, you know, to do videos and all that for social media. I'm like, man, how long do you think that's going to last? You can't, you can't do that without burning yourself out. And you now have put people who watch you and believe in you think they think that that's the road and that's the way to do it. And then they wind up burning everything they got and doing it. Now, you've not only ruined yourself, but you got other people who could be there. For you, it might have been 50 grand that you lost. May not have been anything, but for them, 50 grand could have been their whole life savings. You know what I mean? You could have put them and their family in a whole different situation. So I think we have, as leaders, as success stories, we have a responsibility to be Fiscally responsible with the people who take in what we bring. Kevin King: So that goes to like you said earlier that you're one of your businesses is helping people that are in credit trouble fix their credit and turn themselves around a little bit. Those people, when you're marketing to those people, they're almost willing to try anything. There's a lot of things they should not be trying and they should not be trying. There's a lot of unethical stuff that goes and a lot of people that prey on those type of people because they're desperate. They're already in a bigger hole and a lot of times, the marketing just makes them create an even bigger hole. So what was your approach to doing that and like you said, you've helped a lot of people turn themselves around. How did you do that differently and how is the marketing What do you see in that space and how did you differentiate from what you did in the marketing? Shamori Battle: I think that space is scary because I think you have people who really want to help and really want to provide value to people. I also think that you have people who are hungry and see an opportunity to make a quick buck. They don't think about the repercussions from doing that. It's like, hey, I was going to go ahead and get this while I can get it. And then they're out the door and they really don't think about what's left of their wake. When I do that, I think there are a lot of people who didn't like the way that I brought it to them because as much as everyone's like, hey, look, we can do this and in two weeks we can get you $25,000 on a business credit card. I'm like, great. Yeah, that's possible. But for what? What are you going to do with it? Because if all you're going to do with it is go get with your buddies and rent a couple cars for the weekend and go down to Florida or, you know, LA or do whatever, and then come back and you spent it all, now you're not only in the spot that you were before, but you're in a worse position because you now owe that money, you know, and you've done nothing to create the life that you said that you wanted. And, but most people haven't thought that far because they're starving, you know, and some people say, hey, you know, if I give a man a, you know, I give a man a fish, I just feed him. But if I, if I, if I teach him how to fish, I'd feed him for a lifetime. So I just want to teach them how to fish. I'm like, I understand that thought. But when a person is starving, when a person is drowning, they can't even hear what you have to say yet. So you might want to feed them to satiate the hunger to bring that down so they can actually open their head up to hear what you have to say, and then you can teach them how to fish because now they're, you know, they're not starved crazy, you know, or you can stop them from drowning. Now you can teach them how to swim, you know, because now they have air in their lungs like, oh, okay, great. Now I can get bored. The trend that I'm seeing now, unfortunately, is people don't even want to learn how to fish. They just want, you know, they want a fish sandwich brought to them with fries and a drink from DoorDash. They just want it right now, want it right now. And they don't want to learn how to do it or make it. But the people who take the time to actually learn it and get it, they'll be able to do it for a lifetime or even longer. Kevin King: Instant gratification, right? This is our generation right now. This is a society that we're living in right now. You know, I want to talk about a different subject. We touched on it before and I talked about resilience for becoming an entrepreneur, but what prevents other people from becoming that entrepreneur and becoming successful? Now an entrepreneur is Success doesn't have to mean money. It could mean a great failure that you learn something from. It's an education point, an obstacle. I'm curious on your views on that, the prevention. What stops people from getting into the entrepreneurial world? Shamori Battle: Fear. Fear. Knowing what they don't know is one of them, but really it's fear. It's fear of failure for a lot of them. It's knowing that I have If I have to pay bills and I know I can go get this job, that's going to make me just enough money to pay my bills. In my contrast, that person will do just enough not to get fired. That's how it works, right? In the fear of risking that, We're something more. They want it. It sounds good, but man, I can't, I don't think I, if I let this go, what if I, what if I can't make it? What if I can't do it? Um, it's, I think the fear is the biggest thing that that's, that's why for me, it's so important to help inspire, you know, um, entrepreneurs into entrepreneurs and letting them know that, Hey, you know, One, delayed gratification is the key, you know, and you just touched on that second. For me, that's like the biggest thing for most people is if you can learn to delay that just for a minute, there's so much more for you on the other side. If you're willing to just put your head down and do it. I tell people all the time, if you put your head down for three months, you'll change your life. Turn all the other stuff off and give as much attention to your life as you do to the celebrities who don't care about you or even know who you are. You'll be shocked what you can do and what kind of change you can make in your life or life around the people of you. Kevin King: Are you looking to quickly boost new Amazon product launches or scale up existing listings to reach first page positioning? The influencer platform Stack Influence can help. That's right. Stack Influence pushes high volume external traffic sales straight to Amazon listings using micro influencers that you only have to pay with your products. They've helped up-and-coming brands like Magic Spoon compete with Cheerios for top category positioning while also helping Fortune 500 brands like Unilever launch their new products. Right now is one of the best times to get started with Stack Influence. You can sign up at stackinfluence.com or click the link in this video down in the description or notes below and mention Misfits, that's M-I-S-F-I-T-S, to get 10% off your first campaign. Stackinfluence.com. Very good. You mentioned when we were in Orlando something about You got some big project working or something. So what are you, what's rocking your world right now? What are you working on? Is it still the wealth stuff? Is it the credit repairs type of stuff? Shamori Battle: No, you know it's not either. Kevin King: What is there, because you're like, I got to get this big one. It's going to be like a million dollar project or something like that, that we're working on right now? Shamori Battle: Yeah, right now what I'm working on is, you know, I'm teaching people about offers and how to create and convey Offers and then how to, how to scale those offers and then how to come up with continuing offers. Right? But AI has been. Amazing for me and just watching the growth and the change like every week if you're not on top of it, things change. Things that we thought that we couldn't do before, we can now do with ease. And things that we never thought we could do, we're doing even quicker. So that's been changing. You know, the newsletter is about to relaunch again. So that's for me. It's been learning how we can use these things to help entrepreneurs handle the things that they either can't or don't want to do. Kevin King: So you're right now, you're playing with AI, figuring out what are some of the basics that I can then teach to entrepreneurs and other people that they can use to give them a leg up and give them an advantage and then putting that out into a course or a training of some sort or something along those lines. That's what you're working on right now. Shamori Battle: Yeah, that and the only other thing that I really love working on, but I need more people to be successful to do it, I need more of the right people to be successful to do it, is I want to really create a community where Entrepreneurs can just relax and maybe spend some time and remember why they became entrepreneurs in the first place, not the work, where they can just have some fun and fellowship and network with each other. And not necessarily about business, but just life in general, just have good people around you, even if it's not in your industry. We all have, there's a certain thing that ties all of us together, right? So one person may be in the restaurant industry, one person may be in e-com, one person may be in entertainment, whatever, but there's a thread between all entrepreneurs, right? And I'd love to have a community where we can all just really Be and enjoy each other for who we are and not so much what we bring to the thing because it's not about that. It's about having good people who you know are good people around you because you truly are a culmination of the people you're around, the books you read, the places you go, you know, but you see so, yeah. Kevin King: If they smoke cigars in this group, that's even better. Shamori Battle: Yes. Kevin King: Yeah, you got to check out Collective Mind Society. I mean, that's what it's all about is just bringing like-minded individuals that we don't have to talk about business, but it's just camaraderie and having that cigar, having a drink and sitting around that campfire, just discussing what comes up. So that's definitely something that we're going to be talking to you about after we get off this podcast, but you just described it perfectly. It's something that Norm and I do. We have a group that's called Collective Mind Society and right now it's in the early stages, but we've done two events where it's not presentations. It's more People from their like-minded exactly like you said 12 to 16 people that get together and just go do an experience So we did one the first one we did was in 2022 at the f1 races in Austin So we really we got a big Cabana, you know, we spent like 80 90 grand on this So this wasn't a cheap little weekend, you know a little party that was just for the Cabana. Yeah Everybody had to pay like 10 grand or so 10 12 grand whatever it was to come and But it wasn't a moneymaker. Norm and I actually lost a little bit of money. But it was to cover the cost and these are entrepreneurs that can afford it and appreciate good things and nice things in life and good experiences. And we just hung around for four days, you know, got to know each other better and a few business things might pop out here or there. And then we just did another one last year in August and we took the We took a Rocky Mountain Express train from Vancouver to Calgary basically and through the Rocky Mountains of Northern Canada and we had a VIP service on there. We had our own little, primarily our own little car with a restaurant on the bottom, two-story train car with big wide windows and we cruised for two days through the Rocky Mountains and then ended up at Lake Louise on this beautiful lake at the Fairmont and did some stuff around that and then ended up going to Calgary. Over those four or five days on that trip, everybody bonded. Everybody's like, you know, by the end of it, like, where are we going next? Where's next year? And we had good food along the way, good drinks, good people, and just hanging out, experiencing life and not worrying about, you know, what's the latest marketing technique or what's the latest hack or latest this or that. And, you know, in discussion, something might come up and Norm actually just sitting on the train, just talking to somebody sitting next to him that's in the group. Saving what 40 grand or whatever you whatever you said it was it was 20 grand within a half hour of our trip on the Rocky Mountaineer, but what what I like is what you were describing is You can what I got out of it. Is that you could be an entrepreneur you might not know that person you might not be in the same industry, but you have an event and And then you walk in as strangers or you might know the person, acquaintance, and you really walk out with, like Kevin said, that bond, that you're friends. I can call these people anytime. It's like when I was in the army. You go into boot camp and you're complete strangers. When you come out of boot camp, you're solid. It's the same cigar. I mean, we started the conversation with that's why we reconnected with you. It's like it was over cigars. You guys came outside and like instead of sitting in your own little war over here like, hey, can we join you? Because you have that instant connection already because chillness of cigar smokers. It's an instant bond. And you know something, Kevin and I talk about this a lot. I don't know about your feedback on this, but have you ever noticed, like we started talking, a lot of people don't like cigars or cigars smokers. They think it's terrible. But I look at it as this session Where politics does come up, it's not a great thing to talk about. Politics comes up, religion comes up, really things that are most people can't talk about. But when I've seen it come up in a group, It's a debate. It's like when people were talking before. It's not a hatred. It really is that bonding where you can, yeah, I can have a different opinion than you. Sit back, have that cigar, take a sip, and for 45 minutes, you're talking about it. Shamori Battle: Yeah, it's there. There's something to be said about human beings being human, right? Cigars will bring that out of you. Hookah will bring it out of you. Alcohol sometimes will bring it out of you. Jazz brings it out of you. You're right. Jazz music and house music. Jazz music and house music are the, you know, they are the great unifiers. I'm a house head. I've been born into house music here in Chicago from day one of my life. And same thing with jazz. My family has owned jazz clubs around the country. Spent a lot of my time in jazz clubs. And when you're sitting around with somebody who's got a cigar, maybe, you know, a snifter of Sambuca with three coffee beans and they're sitting back, It's hard to be upset and yell and argue over some jazz music. It doesn't really happen, right? It's like, you know, you can chill now. If we're playing a poker game, different story. Kevin King: Hey, Kevin King and Norm Farrar here. If you've been enjoying this episode of Marketing Misfits, thanks for listening this far. Continue listening. We've got some more valuable stuff coming up. Be sure to hit that subscribe button if you're listening to this on your favorite podcast player or if you're watching this on YouTube or Spotify, make sure you subscribe to our channel because you don't want to miss a single episode of The Marketing Misfits. Have you subscribed yet, Norm? Well, this is an old guy alert. Should I subscribe to my own podcast? Yeah, but what if you forget to show up one time and it's just me on here? You're not gonna know what I say. I'll buy you a beard and you can sit in my chair too. You can go back and forth with one another. Unknown Speaker: Yikes! Kevin King: But that being said, don't forget to subscribe, share it. Oh, and if you really like this content, somewhere up there, there's a banner. Click on it and you'll go to another episode of The Marketing Misfits. Make sure you don't miss a single episode because you don't want to be like Norm. I never thought about jazz and. EDM music is, that is true. I mean, you have some of the biggest festivals in music are actually those two genres. Shamori Battle: Yeah. Kevin King: It's not, I mean, country and rock and they have theirs, but really some of the biggest are in those two genres and they're all over the world. Shamori Battle: Yeah. Kevin King: And that does, that, that does make sense. And that those, those are both musical genres without lyrics for the most part. Shamori Battle: Yeah. Kevin King: So that's, that's, it's more of a feeling, I think more of a, I wonder why it's more of a vibe, more of a feeling, more of the, the music creates this either in the case of jazz, it's like this relaxation, this inner peace kind of thing. And I guess in EDM it creates that excitement, that, that, that hormonal reaction. I don't know, but, but, but yeah, that, that, that, that makes sense. All right, guys, we're getting to the end of the podcast and this has been great. We've talked about a ton of different subjects. Kev, do you have anything else? Unknown Speaker: Any other thoughts? Kevin King: No, I mean, how do people follow you if they want to learn more about what you're up to or about some of the AI stuff you're doing or whatever? What's the best way for people to check out what's going on? Shamori Battle: The easiest way to get a hold of me really is probably my YouTube channel, Instagram, or my school community right now. And I'll give you the links. It's Shamari Battle on Instagram. It's Shamari Battle on YouTube. And I believe in school, it's Shamari Battle also. So I'm easy to find. Kevin King: Awesome. And we'll post all those links as well. Shamori Battle: Yeah. Kevin King: So I got to ask you. Shamori Battle: Yes. Kevin King: At the end of every podcast, we ask our misfit if they know a misfit. Shamori Battle: I do. I know a few. And really, who do I think would be the, in my head, I'm like running through them, but it's like, there's one or two I think would fit in great. I think you guys would really like to show it. And you may know, do you know Eric? You know Eric, right? Castellano? Unknown Speaker: Yeah, I know, yeah, uh-huh. Kevin King: Yeah, we know him. Shamori Battle: Yeah, yeah. So, that's my guy, who actually, as we're filming this right now, I believe is having a baby. Kevin King: How is he? Oh, wow, okay. He's awesome. Shamori Battle: So, he will be a new father, which is really cool. Kevin King: Oh, fantastic. So we will reach out. Thank you very much for that. And thank you for being on the podcast today. You were awesome. And, Kev, I don't know about you, but the official invite goes out to Shamori right now for our CMS event, our cigar event in Tampa that's coming up in a couple of months. So hopefully we'll see you there. Yeah, make sure to make sure you're invited to that. We're doing it We're still planning it, but the plan right now is possibly, we're not sure the exact month, but we're looking at October as a possibility. So yeah, we're working on a really cool event with some sporting events and some other things maybe tied around to it. So we'll definitely make sure we let you know. Shamori Battle: The question is, can I show up in a hot air balloon. Kevin King: In fact, I will be one of the dancers coming down the rope. Kevin will be on the other side. And we'll welcome you to the event. I'll just be the anchor. The rope will be tied around me so the balloon doesn't fly away. Oh, okay, okay. I'll be the big anchor on the bottom. Shamori Battle: Thanks for having me, guys. I appreciate it. I appreciate both of you. I really do. Kevin King: Thank you. No problem. Now, I'm going to remove you. Don't leave. We'll come back and talk to you in a second. All right, buddy. Yeah, I think I'd be a good anchor for a balloon. I think I would too. Well, we might have to take both sides. Unknown Speaker: Both sides as anchors. Kevin King: Maybe that's what we do. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it could be a new job opportunity, a new industry, balloon anchoring. Yeah, there we go. We are entrepreneurs. We're always looking for that next thing. Entrepreneurs are always looking for that next shiny object or that next venture to go into. So you never know. It could be balloon anchoring. I'll sell the balloon. There we go. I mean, that's what our buddy Perry Belcher says. The money right now is in the dirty industries, the ones that nobody wants to do. You know, the sewage removal or the tree cutting or the carrying pianos up three flights of stairs. That's where the big money is at. So maybe balloon weights is something we can look into. You know what's very interesting with what What you just said there my dad my dad still alive and his philosophy going through his business is entrepreneurial journey was. Do you like find products that other people can't or won't produce. So just to give you an example, shoe counters. He made the majority of the back part, the hard parts of the back of your shoe. He made them for most of the shoe companies for women's and men's shoes in North America. And he did box stores and then got into some other types of chemicals and he did tons of things that just, he lived to his word. Just, you know, just do things that other people either don't want to or it's a dirty job, you know? Nope. That's where there's, especially in the world of AI where things are getting automated and it gets much easier. That's where probably a lot of the opportunity is going to be. And that kind of stuff. Hopefully you like The Marketing Misfits. If you do, be sure to check out our YouTube channel where we have all the back issues or on Apple or Spotify or wherever you may be listening to this. Share this episode. Forward it to a friend. Let them know. We're back every Tuesday with a brand new episode. So all kinds of stuff all over the world of marketing. It's fascinating stuff. And look for our newsletter coming soon as well. That's right. There'll be a Marketing Misfits newsletter. You can follow everything that you need to know about Marketing Misfits at marketingmisfits.co. I know I'm a domain guy, but it's not always dot com. It's marketingmisfits.co. marketingmisfits.co. You can follow, keep up with all the latest there. But other than that, I guess normal. Well, I'll see you next week on Tuesday. Another episode. Howdy, partner. See you later. Yes. Giddy up.