How to Boost Restaurant Profits with IMMERSIVE Events

Erik Grayson: 00:00:00

Don't hold on to it like most people. Like once I stack this content, I hold on to it. You got to put it out there. Release, release, release, release, release. Food is to get you there.

It's supposed to be a hook and keep you sitting there. And now you got the itis. You're like, okay, I'm a shave, baby. Let me grab this drink or let me grab this hookah or whatever.

But the food is just a bait. It's just like the marketing tools that you gotta have. You gotta have great food in this industry.

But then if you start adding the entertainment piece and you got great drinks, then you finna be in another level. Pour into your people, but don't let your people drink. You can't take everybody with you, but you continue to.

When you're building your teams, you're pouring into them. You're giving them all the resources. But don't let it drain.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:00:43

Welcome, welcome. And welcome to the Minding My Creative business podcast.

The number one podcast for creative entrepreneurs to learn strategy, structure and self development. I am one of your co hosts.

Shy Speaks: 00:00:54

Ron ironically Jr. And I'm your co host, Shy Speaks. And this episode is about to be interesting. Interesting. Ah, you know, I always say it.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:01:02

You do?

Shy Speaks: 00:01:03

Well, this probably gonna be one of my favorites. Why? Because you all may know me as a co host, you all may know me as even as an artist, but I am also an event curator.

And I found that to be a creative business structure that needs to be talked about a little bit more. Somebody who does that and that alone. Well, not that alone, but they do that to the max.

Without further ado, introducing our overdoses own, Mr. Co owner of the 5B Stroll himself, Eric Grayson.

Erik Grayson: 00:01:35

I might have to hire you to introduce me in return. If you go come like that, I'mma show you how to get paid with the festivals too. You can do announcements.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:01:46

So, Mr. Grayson, so that's how we would introduce you.

Erik Grayson: 00:01:49

Okay.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:01:50

Right. So how would you introduce yourself?

Erik Grayson: 00:01:52

Man, I don't want to mess it up, so I'm gonna give it to you the same way. Mr. Eric Grayson, native of Dallas, native of Dallas, Texas, ANU from Jarvis Christian College.

Shout out to Kappa Alpha Science Attorney Incorporated. But I'm part over those half man, half amazing and co owner, five Bistro.

Shy Speaks: 00:02:15

Yeah, that's what's up. So, okay, so let's. Let's get into. What is the five Bistro?

Erik Grayson: 00:02:22

Man. The five Bistro is a place for everybody to come to. We offer Southern comfort cuisine Tuesday through Sunday. Our main day is Sunday, Sunday fun day.

First we brunch, then we party. And I mean exactly how we say it. And we also go by don't play with the fire.

Because any other day it's a spirit in that building to where it's gonna turn up regardless.

Shy Speaks: 00:02:43

Yeah. So the reason why I thought it was important to bring you to the table and releases. Oh, I was talking to.

To release, who's a publicist and brand manager of mine, and I was just talking about what we're going to be doing for the podcast and she was just like, you know who will be fire? And she was like, Eric. And I was like, eric who? She's like the color. I was like, oh, yeah. Yes, yes. You know why?

Because like you said, it's Southern cuisine. Southern cuisine is culinary art. Now when we take culinary. When you have a restaurant, sometimes people think of restaurant as a place to eat.

But truly there is a culinary. There's usually a chef in there.

And that chef in there probably went to some school or went to the school of hard notch to have this exquisite ability to make food look and taste amazing, right?

Erik Grayson: 00:03:27

Correct. Correct.

Shy Speaks: 00:03:28

So we want to shout out to that. But then there is the creativity that goes into running the bistro, the restaurant and the in creating creative experiences that go with that.

You don't want the food food to taste great. You got to have a creative menu.

You have to have a creative approach on how you're going to program the night, whether you'll have a pianist that come out, a DJ that come out. What are you actually doing to bring people into the space and rally around that culinary art. So I think this is super, super cool.

Southern cuisine is what we're doing over here, right?

Erik Grayson: 00:03:57

Yeah. So Southern cuisine is what we're doing, but it's programming of the night. It's every night doesn't look the same.

Pretty much Tuesday, you're going to get more of your adult game night fear. Then you're also going to be a main feature from a culinary aspect is gonna be our pasta Wednesday. I used to be the king of wings day.

Shout out to my guys trio DJ Fife at but we used to do gators and so we still had that. So 50 cent wings. And then Thursday, Faith, she's a talent in the city and voice of the city.

So we just kept it with amateur karaoke where everybody comes in sing along R B Friday, that's kind of your happy hour turn up. So we got everything on happy hour from the drinks to the food. Everything's pretty much kind of Half off to where? Hey, it's number.

It's the number one happy hour in the city as far as Saturday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday is. The emphasis is brunch. Yeah, come get the brunch. Come try a Southern catch, which is our number one item next to the moondog, chicken and waffle.

So in all those different aspects will provide you with some type of programming of either entertainment as well, about brunch, food, or our dinner menus.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:05:04

No, that's what's up. That's what's up. So it's like each, each day there's a different experience.

Erik Grayson: 00:05:09

It's a different experience.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:05:10

Now with those different experiences, are you marketing to the same audience, or does each experience, each day have a different audience that you, that you market?

Erik Grayson: 00:05:19

So. So I'm kind of one that's kind of like big on loyalty.

And I've tried to bring those that work with me laterally lateral across to bring them to the forefront. So I have my own set of DJs that manage the DJs. So, you know, shout out to Mike Reed, shout out to DJ Soul, shout out to Kid Black, shut down quiz.

If I miss somebody, they'll charge it to my heart. But I put somebody like Mike Reed in charge. A guy from Jackson, Mississippi, real high energy guy, graduate of Jackson.

He's a graduate of Valley too as well. But he was One of the DJs that stayed locked in with me. So I said, hey, man, you know what? You're gonna be in charge of entertainment.

And when I say in charge of entertainment, you're gonna say, hey. Identify what DJs need to be on what days, and made the schedule, made the town to where no day is pretty much the same, you know what I'm saying?

So it's kind of one of those things to where with you being a high energy guy, what do you want to hear when you go to these different restaurants? Because everybody's in the new lane of Bob dynamic. So everybody gets into the culture of Bob Dynam.

How do you make the different nights look feel different, vibe different? Because you could be. You could throw karaoke up there, but you gotta have a real karaoke dj, right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:06:31

Right.

Erik Grayson: 00:06:32

Somebody that's in tune with the people. They can sing the songs. They could be a voice for the people when they don't have their voice and just say, hey, I'm gonna be your backup.

Just get up there and do your thing. So I'm letting him do the programming on that.

And then as far as, like, when it comes to graphics, with this situation, to make each day a little different, it's got. I gotta work with one of the best. She's from. She's from Houston, went to school at OU. Her name is Lauren McMillan.

She's also one of my co founders of our Overdose. Yeah, so that's just kind of in a nutshell with who's helping God, this. This ship.

Shy Speaks: 00:07:03

So, okay, so that's what you were saying. When you're saying unilaterally, you work, you. You're working with somebody that you're putting over that particular creative element.

But they know they're supposed to be creating the vibe for their night. So the target audience is going to be whoever is attracted to that type of vibe.

Erik Grayson: 00:07:18

Exactly.

Shy Speaks: 00:07:19

Do you see that there are some people who come to like multiple nights, or do you see. Oh, yeah, there are certain people. Like these my Tuesday night people. These my Thursday night.

Erik Grayson: 00:07:26

Oh, yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:07:26

You know, do you see?

Erik Grayson: 00:07:27

It's totally different to where we don't look at. I mean, if you ever went to Gators on Wednesday, it's always been like a 21, 20 up and up, 21 and up type of vibe.

But now, shifting gears that we older, we still doing the same months for the event, the older folks are appreciating it now to where my Saturday night, Bathroom City Saturdays, is more your 21 and up. Because beforehand the fire was. Was only open for brunch and closed.

Shy Speaks: 00:07:52

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:07:52

So when I got over there, I'm like, man, I missed the day party. We're gonna have brunch plus day party. And then I started. You started calculating those numbers.

You're like, man, if I made $5,000 for brunch, I made six for day party. I got another opportunity to make another six.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:08:09

Right.

Erik Grayson: 00:08:10

I'm leaving money on the table, not being open till two. So now I've kind of opened up for my Saturday nights to be more of your 21 and oh vibe.

Shy Speaks: 00:08:16

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:08:17

Now question, what was the strategy behind that? Right, so I'm hearing you saying, okay, no, we got these different people on laterally on these different days. That's bringing an audience.

But like, from a business standpoint, like, what was your strategy? Why have all these different groups coming these different five days?

Erik Grayson: 00:08:35

Well, I can only do so much. I wish I could toot my own horn and say, hey, I'm the man who could do this 24, 7. But it takes a team, man. So being able to put.

Being able to inspire and put people in place, in position to own ownership, to where, hey, I want you to Own this piece of the business, and however you grow with it, you grow with it. If you take off at paparazzi or whoever else picks you up in the meantime, I gotta respect that.

But I gave you an opportunity to grow in that position. So it's also taking a guy who's normally a DJ, but to manage DJs and manage talent, to manage time slots and start saying, hey, you know what?

One day you're gonna be me, you're gonna be managing your own club, you're gonna be managing your own dj, so get used to running it right now. Right?

Shy Speaks: 00:09:14

Yeah. So it's a pretty much a team effort to come up with.

Erik Grayson: 00:09:16

It's a team effort to come up with more.

Shy Speaks: 00:09:18

So it seems like the strategy was based out of demand. From what you were saying earlier when you were saying that vibe culture, people are used to Bob dining, that's what you're saying. They.

They want to go to these Instagrammable places. People want to. Or if that. If it's not even Instagrammable, they just want to go. If they want to sit and chill for a while, they want it to be a vibe.

Other than that, you're gonna go eat, get some food and get out of there.

Erik Grayson: 00:09:40

Oh, yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:09:41

So, yeah, you're trying to. Is that. Is that.

Erik Grayson: 00:09:42

I'm trying to hold on to you. I want you to come stay tonight. I want you to come stay fast. Happy hour. Come on, jump on in and call some more people. Tell what I say.

Or call up the crew Saturdays. And I mean that. Call up the crew Saturdays, call up the crew for brunch. Like, hey, you know, when you get in here, you feel the vibe.

You feel the energy from the DJs. We might have a live band, we might have live performances. So. So the different elements kind of reach out to say, you know what?

This is a place to where six days out the week, I can come vibe and chill. And it's kind of a staple in the city.

Shy Speaks: 00:10:09

Right?

Erik Grayson: 00:10:09

Wow.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:10:10

Wow. No, I like that. Right.

Because when you think about, you know, just marketing and how you market to your audience, your thing is like, okay, no, the food is good. Don't get it twisted. But I want to go beyond the food.

Erik Grayson: 00:10:24

Right, Right. So I'm going to be on the food. Let's talk about it. There's no real money in the food industry. The margins are so high, the spreads are so thin.

Maybe if I was in a grab and go type of situation, because you don't have to worry about, guess what? Remakes or the food was cold or I wanted this dish.

Shy Speaks: 00:10:42

So that number is super high luxury food.

Erik Grayson: 00:10:44

Super high luxury food. So that number is steady being pinged when you sit down. But guess what? My high end maximum margins of where I could do is on the alcohol.

So food is to get you there. It's supposed to be a hook and keep you sitting there.

And now you got the items, you're like, okay, I'm a shaved and grab this drink or let me grab this hookah or whatever. But the food is just a bait. It's just one of the marketing tools that you got to have. You got to have great food in this industry.

But then if you start adding the entertainment piece and you got great drinks, right, man, you finna be in another level. And I don't like to pop myself as far as like Millionaire Thousandaire. I'm gonna just say you are gonna be on another level.

I don't like to talk about.

Shy Speaks: 00:11:26

People.

Erik Grayson: 00:11:26

Play a six figure guy. I would just leave it there cuz I don't want nobody say, hey, can I borrow some money?

Shy Speaks: 00:11:31

Yeah, exactly.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:11:32

They want to go ahead. No, I mean, but that's, that's like the strategy, right?

That's the thing where it's like you said, no, the food is the hook that's going to get you in the door. But because I'm creating this vibe that's going to get you there. Not just get you there, but it's going to keep you there longer.

So now you know when you know them, you there for, you know, about an hour. Right. You go down for about an hour, but now you there for about four, five hours. You did from four, five hours. You feeling good?

Because the vibe is up.

Erik Grayson: 00:11:57

Right? Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:11:58

The, you know what I'm saying, The food good, the drinks is pouring. You know what I'm saying?

Erik Grayson: 00:12:03

So it's like you got all these just to give it to it in the text. I done took you from 450, you came to 50 cent wings day. You probably wanted to spend eight wings. It's got 450, right?

You done spent the $5, that was the bait.

Shy Speaks: 00:12:15

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:12:16

Now the drink done baited you in. Now you done bought two drinks that said $15. Cause you got the $5 drinks, that's. That only took you from 7 to 9. So you had $20. Now after that 9O'.

Clock. Yeah, them prices gotta go to 14 and 30 hookah. So I still baited you in for 70 bucks.

Shy Speaks: 00:12:33

Wow. And then also if you sit around long enough, you, you know, normally you say you have room for a dessert at a regular restaurant.

You're like, nah, I'm finna go and go. Cause you finna go. But if you done sit around, you probably got room for dessert now, or you probably like, can I get some fries?

Another little appetizer or something?

Erik Grayson: 00:12:47

You want something with some salt on it so you can be like, okay, let me get something to munch on again.

Shy Speaks: 00:12:50

Yeah, one more munch.

Erik Grayson: 00:12:51

It was one more appetizer.

Shy Speaks: 00:12:53

Wow.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:12:53

No, that. Listen, that's. I. I don't know if y' all just picked up on it, but he.

He literally gave y' all a blueprint, if you all are in the culinary arts industry, on how to take that. That $4 and 50 cent order that I'm coming in for 50 cent wings. But now I done took that to about $70.

Erik Grayson: 00:13:13

$70. You like, man, I ain't coming back to this place, but you like, man, you know what?

I coming back next week for the 50 cent wings, but I'mma put my 20 over here.

Shy Speaks: 00:13:24

But, you know, but you know, the thing I love about this podcast, as creative entrepreneurs, it's a different way. You're talking about a business concept and what they would call that is how do I increase your cart total, right?

So if you're going to Walmart, if you're going to some kind of retail store, you came there to get one thing, but then eventually they want to get your foot more in your car, right? And so you're listening to businesses sometimes talk about how do you increase your car? How do you increase the. The amount of money that the artist.

I mean, or that the customer is spending? That's what you're thinking about, right? I want to increase that, but it's not helping. You know, how to apply in a creative space.

And you just basically talked about increasing it. The lifetime, the value of the customer, the order value right there.

Erik Grayson: 00:14:10

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So, and this is just one of those things to where, man, everything costs, the venue, from the paper, from the paper goods.

When you see, hey, your carry outs, your portion cups, when you want sauces and things of that. So it's kind of like the margins are so low when you deal with food to where.

When these restaurants are throwing these different things, they might say, hey, I got $3 lamb chops, but you gotta buy them in increments of 4. Now you gotta do the 3 times 4. We got 12. So they still are getting quite.

They ain't get quite what they wanted, but now you're getting a thinner cut when we Start talking about special. So they ain't just they getting right there at the tour.

Hey, how can I take a slight hit, but bait them into the building to where they're going to buy, and then when you get there, you'll be like, hey, they got us 40, 14 lamb chops. But their drink was 15. So that 15 plus that 14 puts you right at about 30 to what they were trying to make per person anyway.

Shy Speaks: 00:15:04

Right.

Erik Grayson: 00:15:04

And they're already doing those numbers based on, hey, how much volume do I have to move for them?

Shy Speaks: 00:15:09

Right. And then I want to talk about another element we talked about. So we. We increased their cart order or really their ticket size in the.

In the creative restaurant industry or whatever. But then you talked about the event.

Sometimes since it's a restaurant, you would think that it's always free to come in because you're gonna just eat and then pay that. But do you have some of the nights where it's like you kind of got to pay for this experience and you ordering food? Do y' all do it like that too?

Erik Grayson: 00:15:35

I can't speak about nobody else. I can speak about what we do with the 5. So. Nah, it's. The longevity for the 5 is not charging.

And the reason why I say that is it's more so of a situation where I've seen people try to deliver at a ticketed price. And when you start digging into a ticketed price and you ticket it, ticketed ticketing, you start losing your niche.

Shy Speaks: 00:15:58

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:15:59

And it's kind of like, hey, what were my values? My values was having somewhere for some people. For reason, some. But people always have somewhere to go.

Shy Speaks: 00:16:05

Right.

Erik Grayson: 00:16:06

And we're not gonna get away from that. It's like, hey, one of the things to where I got talent coming in this Sunday, a new hot rapper named Sage Michael.

And he's got a real clicky little Dallas song. And I'm like, okay, vibing with it, but do I charge my customer for that? No, that's something that we like.

We wanna get him on the platform to where, okay, hopefully this is something the customers like and they come experience because.

Shy Speaks: 00:16:28

Exactly.

Erik Grayson: 00:16:28

They not catching it nowhere else for free. And hopefully he takes off after coming to hang with the Five. But at the same token. Yeah, that's risky.

Shy Speaks: 00:16:35

Yeah.

Because another reason I asked that, because it's like, I know you put that Saturday night piece and that was an extra that's outside of Yalls typical hours. So that's. That could have been a. A charge.

Erik Grayson: 00:16:44

It could be a charge, but it's Also saying, hey, for the long run, do you get colored would be in a restaurant or a club.

Shy Speaks: 00:16:51

Exactly.

Erik Grayson: 00:16:52

And that and the shelf life for the restaurant is going to last longer than the club and that club is going to constantly rebuild it. So it's going to constantly rebrand itself.

Shy Speaks: 00:16:59

Right.

Erik Grayson: 00:17:00

Where that restaurant can. Man, I done seen some restaurants last the test of time. Like you start speaking about things that staple in other cities like a 50, 15 or a groove.

Rules gonna be grooves because they got good drinks, the ambiance is nice and the food is consistent.

Shy Speaks: 00:17:14

Right. It's all, it's like you going to a free day party. I ain't had to pay to get in here, but I'm gonna pay for the food.

Another thing that I've seen some restaurants do and this is a creative approach to marketing as well, they make it to where like, or even in the comedy world, I see them do it. You can come in here but it's like you have to have the two drink minimum.

A two drink minimum where you have to order something or you have to ten dollar or up or twenty.

Erik Grayson: 00:17:40

So yeah, something like that. That's something that we offer as far as minimum spins when it come into our after hours sits. So you come in from the nine to two part.

We do offer saying hey, our main room has spend minimums based on that section that you want. Now you come in 10D, you're going to have to pay 10D type of prices. So 10D probably starts at 250 own up to 406 seaters might go down to 150 minimum.

And once you divide that up, divided by that group, it's kind of like, man, that's looking at $30 per person, man. And then we got our four seaters, maybe $100 minimum spend. So that's a drink, two drinks and a hookah and a wing basket.

So it's just kind of like we don't price ourselves out. We just put ourselves in the market to where had you already getting in free. You getting class A entertainment. Hey, go ahead and beat the minimum.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:18:27

Yeah, no, that's, that's. And that's dope because you're still. Yeah, you're adding value.

Erik Grayson: 00:18:31

Yeah, we always gonna add value to where it's like you're not gonna get subparted what you walked in with. You didn't pay the part and it was free to get in to where. Hey, meet us right here at this baseline.

Shy Speaks: 00:18:40

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:18:40

And that's. And it's like, hey, it's a no Brainer. So when you're sitting around like, hey, I think about where to go, right. It's easy. I'm bless the pie.

Like, I ain't gotta pay to get in, stick my nose in there, grab a drink. I don't like it. I just go on to the next part.

Shy Speaks: 00:18:54

Exactly. So.

And see how like, even as he talks about it, it's such a creativity to how he's curating everything, but it's still such a calculated business strategy.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:19:05

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:19:06

And I'm sure there's like, even. There's a structure. There's a structure to how each day is going to go.

Oh yeah, there's a structure to the employees or the contractors that are in place that covers like this person do the graphics. This person does this. You have to have structure to things.

Talk to me a little bit more about like the back office side of a bistro that has like events inside to it.

Erik Grayson: 00:19:30

Because these are so. So with the back office, we use Toast. It's pretty much a platform that's pretty much free because we don't. We only do RSVPs on toast.

So Toast kind of houses our analytics. When you want to keep your demos on who your patrons are. It also talks about your email collection, so you can also build your database from there.

It asks you, are you celebrating the birthday? Collect more data from there.

And then also it keeps you punctual on structure as far as your daily layout, as far as what's going to go on when you bring your hostess in for that day, who's going to go where, who go what? Time slots, how do we make this thing move? So Toast is in there for that.

When you start talking about back office for events, as far as my parties, so we use. I'm still an og, so I still got the Eventbrite plugged in. So the Eventbrite is where I collect my. Yeah, I collect my fees.

That's where I get some of that money from. I get my table fees from there.

And that, that money is pretty much used to translate over to paying for the DJs or paying for the flyers or photographers that may come in bi weekly and videographers. So that money is already washing itself. It's already coming into a cycle to where there's not money that you generically spend.

It's just going pouring back into the business and nurturing the business.

Shy Speaks: 00:20:46

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:20:47

Now you mentioned Toast being a tool that you use to gather demographic information and things like that. Can you speak a little bit of how important that data is and how do you use that data for your business?

Erik Grayson: 00:21:01

Man, it's lead advertisement. Right.

So it's one of those things to where if you're running a high volume business and you getting those leads and those leads are being funneled in, I'm not thinking about just this particular aspect. That lead is going to be used for this event is going to be used for creative event, more so than something I may be doing away from the five.

And that list is going to say, hey, you know what, these are brunch goers. So if you got a brunch themed event, you might want to invite them to this.

So check out to the people that do mimosa day party, I might say, hey, I got it. You might not need me, but I got a list of people who love to brunch.

Shy Speaks: 00:21:39

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:21:40

If you want to plug me in, this is my way for my email blast.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:21:44

Right? Wait a minute. Wait, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

So what I'm hearing, what I heard you just say is that not only do you use that for your restaurant, but now you're able to now sell that information to, to somebody else, another restaurant or whatever the case may be. So now they're going to pay you for that list or partner with you to do something. Because I have clientele.

Shy Speaks: 00:22:09

Clientele or not, even if you're not paying you for the list, paying me to promote to this list, I don't give that. If I don't give this data. Sometimes you can check a box to say this event and any of its affiliates.

But sometimes for those of you who may not want to say, I don't want to sell the information, but you still have this list and I can, I can sell you a price to promote to this list, something like that. So there's two ways to do it.

Erik Grayson: 00:22:34

It's two ways to do it. But it's one of those things to where I came into this business as a promoter.

ad that influence since maybe: 2011

So just being able to rehab that whole space and bring new blood into the building with those list of leads and be able to take that same list of leads and funnel into the next project. Yeah, you need it. It's one of those things with Toes Resi Event New York posh. I don't care if I'm talking to an entrepreneur.

Get used to it, you know, get. Get hands on, try to break the system, figure out what works best for you.

Shy Speaks: 00:23:21

Yeah, that's good. Okay. So you mentioned briefly about coming in as a promoter, and then you applied that to the restaurant industry promoter. You're a marketer?

Because you said that you are. What's your title at the, at the Bistro?

Erik Grayson: 00:23:34

Creative director.

Shy Speaks: 00:23:35

Creative director. You're over in marketing. And what was the other thing you said, like marketing?

Erik Grayson: 00:23:40

I'm over like market in front of the house. That's what that would be called. So I would be called. I'm pretty much creative direct at the 5.

I'm over the marketing advertisement for the 5 and then also as far as front of the house, management. So I deal with all your people that did your front line, people that you're gonna touch. Your bartenders, your servers, your hostess.

I manage that whole department. So your first initial reaction when you walk into the restaurant is a reflection of me, my leadership, what I do with hands on. As far as in that.

Because again, you're seeing the flyer, so you walk in. Well, e gracious said, da da da da da da. This is what the flyers say.

Shy Speaks: 00:24:17

The experience.

Erik Grayson: 00:24:17

This experience. So now that whole experience is a backside of me.

Shy Speaks: 00:24:21

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:24:21

So that's what I control there.

Shy Speaks: 00:24:22

So. And I, and, and I, I know you have like a. Prior to doing.

Being a creative director for the, in the restaurant industry, I know you had just like a marketing background and then. And you said promoting events as well. So you, you've been a marketer, but also an event curator. And we want to talk about that event curation pieces.

I. I said that earlier on when I introduced you. And there's a company that you have called Art Overdose. Right. And Art Overdose is an event in and of itself that's totally separate from the Five.

But before I do that, I want to put a connection there. Talk to me about your marketing background. Is this something that you went to. To school for? Is this something. How did you get this marketing?

Ask about yourself.

Erik Grayson: 00:25:05

You know, I, I'm one of the ones who threw parties to pay the rent.

Shy Speaks: 00:25:09

Okay.

Erik Grayson: 00:25:10

So when I was in college, I pledged Kappa Alpha Psi. I moved off campus and, you know, it was one of the things to where like, all right, we still got real bills. You don't got no rebate check.

You don't get what they call a refund refund check. You don't got no refund check. When I go down there. Hey, Mr. Nah, we got no refund check for you.

So shout out to my lb, Brandon Martin, but out of Houston, but we just started throwing parties at Nico's in Tyler, Texas.

Shy Speaks: 00:25:36

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:25:37

And it just kind of found me once I had a passion for it. It never felt like work. Never feel like we're going to pass our flaws.

Getting on Facebook with the old school way, getting on Facebook, creating the event pack tab, sitting, being the administrator, sitting those things out, doing again with the fly guys say, hey, I need you to press up a thousand flyers and we go hand in hand. Yeah, Guerrilla marketing. But in these days you ain't got to do all that.

Shy Speaks: 00:26:01

Yeah. Okay, so what we got to do. So. Okay, so let's talk about.

Since we don't have to do all that, talk to us about especially for those who are creative entrepreneurs and we want to get into the event business, we want to have promote other people events or we want to have an event of our own. Like you have at the. With Overdose. Right, Our Overdose.

So first of all, like tell us a little bit about our Overdose and then tell us some of the non guerrilla marketing strategies that you use.

Erik Grayson: 00:26:30

Oh, okay. All right, so we'll go there. So our Overdose is a For Us by Us art show here in Dallas, Texas, Sunny South Dallas. I say that I'm gonna repeat that.

Sunnyside South Dallas. We're not moving from there. It's a staple to where, hey, we're a voice for the artists.

And the artists can be in a space of whether you're new, novice, amateur, professional. We're going to advertise it, we're going to exhibit, we're going to show your work and we're going to be the promoter for you.

Same thing as far as the vendors that come there, as far as the food trucks. Same thing as far as some of the emergent emerging talent that we have performing there during the time frame.

Because we haven't had anybody that's a big name or somebody just broke a record come and be a part of the show. It's pretty much shout out to Black Canvas. A Gabe. Gabe is kind of our curator as far as our emerging talent.

So yeah, it's his own grassrooted festival that's within Dallas at this point.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:27:28

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Erik Grayson: 00:28:29

Okay, as far as nuggets, as far as like what we do on the back end, I don't really like to get in there too bad like that.

Shy Speaks: 00:28:37

This is the exclusive.

Erik Grayson: 00:28:38

This is the exclusive. So what people are doing right now is just kinda like, hey, if you check out the frames, if I turn these on right here, I'm recording y'. All.

So I'm getting you in my situation where it's my point of view. Oh wow. And so I'm gonna take that, take that same clip. Probably pay 5, $10 to run the ad right there.

If you see if we did something on yourself, showing you from a point of view angle, this is what it looks like. That's why you see people with theme party, theme festivals, you're seeing five or six different cameras being angled a certain way. Right?

Because now it's all about the hype and what did it look like right here in your point of view? And so I'm gonna take that point of view shot, get on there, say, hey, here go the entrance.

this. I want this to reach a: 2000

Now your budget is your budget. Don't try to do it outside your means. But hey, it's all about your point of view. It's right here.

What's the focus in your near up close peripherals to what you can see. And hey, those eye candy moments and then really pushing it, driving it home.

Shy Speaks: 00:29:49

Yeah, so. So showing people a POV is like more attractive to them because it's like, it's almost like I'm there. What am I experiencing, what I'm seeing.

Erik Grayson: 00:29:59

So yeah, the game is ever evolving. So I had to evolve with the game. I ain't, I got 20, 20. I ain't really wearing no glasses. But now.

But since I gotta be capture the moment and be keeping it right in front of me and then when I get it, don't hold on to it like most people. Like once I stack this content, I hold on to it. I hold on to it. You gotta put it out there. Release, release, release, release, release.

Shy Speaks: 00:30:20

Wow. Hold on. First of all, can we get a moment of admiration for him showing the juice right here in the. Come on.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:30:30

I'm over here thinking I gotta get some on them.

Shy Speaks: 00:30:33

Come on. And then also here's what I'm hearing from a strategy side. I hear two things, strategy side and structure.

And then last thing you just said is self development. The game is always changing. So I have to always be changing.

I have to always be evolving to keep up with how to continue to have that competitive edge. So shout out to you for that and I hope that you guys didn't miss that.

The structure part came in when you were talking about make sure you releasing the content because people just get all this capture. But make sure you have some type of release method. And of course one of the releases turned into an ad.

But then there's also just putting it out in other ways and we can talk about that. The strategy part though is that I'm capturing while I'm here so that I can attract you to next year's or next month's or so that's why.

So the thing is people are like, how can I get them at this one? Right. You got to be so far in advance thinking about what you're doing.

You're doing this one, but you're thinking about the next one and the next one and the next one. And I'm already figuring out ways to attract you to the next one this time.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:31:38

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:31:38

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And it's. And it's doing what you can afford to do. You can still capture those same moments out the iPhone.

But you're gonna have to make an investment some for some way, some shape in your business.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:31:50

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:31:51

And if you are a vlogger or event creator, you're going to start playing with the toys that the event creators are doing at this point. They got DJI Osmosis. You could put that thing right there in your hand and you could be right a part of the experience right there.

And those are things what people are selling right now. It's a billion dollar industry based on right now just on experiences, selling experience.

And the only way that you're gonna be in front of it is being right there, part of it And I was so against it. To where you know what? Let me, I, I don't wanna like, I don't wanna walk around with that damn headhead. Let me wear em, Let me get in the game.

Let me do something different and be willing to learn these AI tools like just some nuggets I would throw out there.

You know, download ChatGPT, hey, pay for the service to where you can ask those prompts to where it'll game plan what you need to do for marketing within your realm, whether it be culinary or it may be event planning to say, hey, what is my seven day a week plan? What should my, my reels look like?

What should my curve sale look like as far as on my Instagram just being able to take those different tools and ask AI to where like I ain't even gotta think about a chat. Write a caption for Eric that sounds like me and for Wednesday and it'll go ahead and type it up.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:33:06

Yeah, yeah. And I like what you're doing with that because it's like you're not necessarily creating, creating content. Right. You're documenting. Right.

Like for you to just flip that on. I'm just documenting, right. I'm giving you that point of view.

So I love that because a lot of times I confront, I get hung up with the whole content creation. Right. But to see that, oh, I can just document, I can just document my experience and, and share that document. Right. Is dope.

And then you say utilize the chat GPT and now yeah, you killed it.

Erik Grayson: 00:33:37

Oh yeah. It is one of the things to where in this industry we talk about event creating. It's storytelling is being able to tell somebody about Cocella.

Where did Cocella derive from? That was it. What was the show? Issa Rae. And then we got it. We just turned into a whole block party.

So it's one of them things to where we gonna take Issa Rae's event, turn it into something we gonna do right here in sunny south side of Dallas with a full blown block party art show and then storytelling from after we get our sound bites storyteller about hey, what was your point of view? What was your point of view? And then take that whole story and create a VIN out of it.

And I think the biggest thing when we start talking about event planners or what they do next is develop your own small niche. So whatever event you want to create, put it on posh. But the reason why I'm saying pos because it collect telephone numbers.

The telephone numbers is key. The analytics is right Here in your hand because it's not waiting for email. You got to go look for it.

The text message coming right there to your account. So it's one of those things that, where I had to catch up.

The way we're like, I'm like, okay, how's your old school tail gonna take eventbrite and merge over here to posh? Because now people are starting to look for these new links.

But right now if you're just getting started for the creative, that's saying, hey, you know what, I'm getting to event planner, where do I start? Start with your posh or event New York.

Shy Speaks: 00:34:53

Now when you say, excuse me, I'm sorry about that. When you say when you pick up, pick your event niche, what do you mean by that?

Erik Grayson: 00:35:00

Man? Your event niche is everybody's throwing parties, so why get into the party line? It's an event niche. It's an event niche for people who love wine.

I used to do an event, what was it? Cocktails and conversation. So we used to have it at an actual winery.

You know, take people outside the element to where man, you can have wine and you could do all these different things. You taking them to your clubhouse. But actually go to a black owned winery and do something you totally different. It doesn't have to be black owned.

Go to a different winery to where, hey, this is my speakeas. I really ain't told everybody about this. And you create a special event out of that.

Shy Speaks: 00:35:35

Exactly.

Erik Grayson: 00:35:36

And then hell, if you playing with your own money, you want to do it at your clubhouse. Yeah, do it at a dope clubhouse. Don't just do it at a regular clubhouse.

If you go do it, think big and do it somewhere dope to where it can kind of paint its own pictures.

Shy Speaks: 00:35:48

Why is it important to have a niche in the event space to you?

Erik Grayson: 00:35:54

Man, it's important because I mean aside.

Shy Speaks: 00:35:56

From everybody doing parties. But I'm saying is there a financial benefit to it or is there, what.

Erik Grayson: 00:36:01

Else are they getting it from? Is kind of how I look at it. Like, hey, you can go to a lot of different art shows, but you can't go to art overdose. It's a special needs behind.

That's a family. That's family. That's like 21. When I say family, it's like the grown folk block party. This is like what you see in Chicago.

Shy Speaks: 00:36:16

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:36:16

So if you from the Chi town and you come to Overdose, you like, man, is that DJ over there playing some house music. And you get out there doing your little house music G, you like? Okay, that's different. But I couldn't find it nowhere else, you know what I'm saying?

So there's special things about the niche and the After Dark parties. Some of these mood parties, like these are created events to where they putting together a special playlist. You can't hear it nowhere else.

These are like they at maybe intricate different little places or nostalgic places in the city to where think about something different that hasn't been done. Plug away on eventbrite spinach. Put your own sauce on it.

Shy Speaks: 00:36:51

Yeah, yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:36:52

No, that's. That's dope. Because it's like you're meeting a need. And as business owners, that's what we do.

We see a problem and we create something that's going to solve that problem or meet a need. And a lot of times we downplay it where it's like, okay, because it's not this massive need.

Erik Grayson: 00:37:09

Like, it ain't.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:37:10

We ain't curing a disease or we're not curing hunger. But no, you're curing, like you said, that nostalgia. Sometimes I just want to go somewhere and just hear something that remind me of back in the day.

Sometimes I want to go somewhere that remind me of mama and them, you know what I'm saying?

So to be able to create an event or create something that speaks volumes because people are willing to pay and it's niche because it's like you said, listen, if I can go somewhere and I can find some food that tastes like my mama food, I'm willing to spend.

Erik Grayson: 00:37:37

You know what I'm saying?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:37:38

So, yeah, so now that's dope.

Shy Speaks: 00:37:39

So we. So we said we serving right now.

At this point, we're serving people an experience that they probably crave desire they wanted or sometimes they may even need it, so. Or something that they may not even know that they want. But it's like they. They don't like it. So we know we serving them that experience now.

Talk to me about the. The business ever after. I'm serving this. I got this niche. I got this, all of that. How do I make money off the events?

Am I just making money off the ticket sale? Do I have to pry? You know what I'm saying? Like, how am I making, you know, how we making money off of this?

Erik Grayson: 00:38:15

So the biggest thing I would tell somebody when it comes to making money is the foreign partnerships and then start realizing sitting the old school way of a spreadsheet accountability of what you're spending as far as profit expenses, my loss. What is it gonna take to put this all together. So when you sit, hey, I'm just tell you how I do it. So I'm gonna zoom in on this.

If you working with a dj, I'm all about ownership, so I'm off about profit insurance. So it's kind of like, hey, instead of me eating the cost with the dj, what do I want to do? I want to put the DJ on my team.

Dj, do you want to partner with me? My, my graphic designer, do you want to partner with me? This is kind of like how I put the whole team together. Like my graphic designer already dope.

Do you want to partner with me? And now my balance is zero.

So now only thing we gotta go do is find a venue and then hopefully we can work that venue to where that venue becomes a partner. Now everything's at zero. So what's stopping us from making this thing shape?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:39:16

So don't miss that because what you're saying in essence is I'm partnering with these people so I don't have to pay them up front, Right. We're profit sharing. So we're going in together.

You're going to bring your skill set and expertise, I'm going to bring my, my skill set and expertise. You're going to bring your skills and expertise and we're going to come and do this and collaborate together.

So even, even in that though you're giving your skill set and expertise, there might be a financial investment as well because we're partnering now, right. So we're going together on this. And, and then once profit is made, right, then we're able to divide it accordingly based on what was contributed.

So no, that's a dope business model because you're saying, like you said, it's like, I ain't got, I ain't coming, I ain't spending. I'm not coming out of pocket to spend now.

Shy Speaks: 00:40:01

None of us are. It's not that I'm not paying you, right? You not paying me.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:40:05

Exactly.

Shy Speaks: 00:40:06

So we haven't created an expense out of each other.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:40:08

Exactly.

Shy Speaks: 00:40:08

We've only now created profit.

Erik Grayson: 00:40:11

We've only created profit. We only created an experience from each other.

It's one of those things to where like if I could tell anybody that's getting to the event world or creation world of doing this thing is saying, hey, if you don't have a boatload of money, you're not willing to take that risk and just being different or going after the big name artists or the big name DJs or the big name graphic Designers, man, create profit sharing, create teams. Development within your focal point and reach outside your group. Don't be afraid to work with the next person.

And they tell you, hey, my budget is $200. Pay the $200. Like, if their work is great and this is dope, go ahead and get it done. But just getting started, look at ways to profit share.

Shy Speaks: 00:40:50

Yeah, I think it's fire because you start off with, we have a profit share situation, so we're going to later on profit because we've cut down the expense on each other.

But like, to the point that you were getting at when we now say, okay, even after we brought all each other to the state table, we still have some other expenses, right? Because we don't have. We don't need a venue, we don't need graphics.

We don't need the person who's going to be over the booking and the booking manager or whatever. We got you to do that. And we have me, I'm going to be doing the market and all that kind of stuff. We still have some other expenses.

Erik Grayson: 00:41:23

Oh, yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:41:24

Now, instead of you, this one person having to shoulder it may still be $5,000 worth of expenses or $10,000 worth of expenses. Let's just say, for example, even after that, you still. You still got $10,000 worth of expenses because you still got security.

You ain't gonna put all. Everybody. Everybody can be security people. Everybody on the, on the team. Everybody can't be on the ownership. But you still got it.

Like you said, you still got to pay those people. So after we finish paying all of that, I mean, put. Tallying it up, let's say we are 10,000.

myself, we're splitting that: 2500

Erik Grayson: 00:42:03

From there. Hopefully you're dealing with a team that's not penny pinching. Let's start there. You know what I'm saying?

You got to be able to have those tough conversations in the room to say, hey, here's our budget. So we're starting from. Let's just say we're working with $2,500 each. The gross is you're working your ticket sales backwards.

So you're trying to figure out, hey, If I owe $2,500 right here, how much of this ticket needs to be priced at. So we saying the goal is 10,000. How do we conquer that 10,000 I'm not using a calculator, but yeah, let's.

Shy Speaks: 00:42:31

Make it simple math. Simple Math.

Erik Grayson: 00:42:33

We need $100 tickets. We need $100 tickets. And then how do we scale from a festival time frame?

So now we're talking about scalability, saying, hey, the average ticket is 100. Those are early batteries, right? Yeah. So now I gotta get to ga. So I run an add on what gets me to my net profit of that $100.

So I got 100 tickets over here for $100. Boom. My next ticket is going to be 150. Now we got to start making some profit because now we got to pay so many artists that's going to perform.

So that's the GA. Now, GA done sold out. Now I got VIP. My VIP is 200. So now you got scalability across this, making this event totally fluid.

And that's not even talking about, hey, VIP bundle, which coming with a shirt that's coming with glasses, maybe a swag bag. We're not talking about skip the line. That's extra profit. We're not talking about any of those other things.

We just talking about pure scalability when you're doing the event. So we just use a festival format that's saying, hey, get these early birds.

I always tell anybody, when you first with any event you see start with a teaser.

Shy Speaks: 00:43:37

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:43:38

Because that teaser is probably. They break even more right? From a promoter to promoter, even incorrect or not, that early bird is like, break even. Once we sell our lows.

Oh, it's time to make some money. So now we got this next one. Now we kind of like, hey, how do you scale it to where now you're not pricing people out.

And when you're dealing with these festivals, it's kind of like the demand. You're dealing with venue constraints. Let's just say, hey, you can only put thousand people in here.

So you got to start adding value to each ticket price. And that ticket price is going to say, you know what you limited by? You're already at 80%. Now the ticket has to go up another 20, $30.

You almost got to get it to where you price themselves as kind of like a Beyonce. Like you, if they want to pay $3,000 for a ticket metal, you know what I'm saying? Like, this is how you gonna profit.

This is how you're gonna create events to where it dispels the time.

So this is one of those things to where when you start looking at Matrix, you start understanding, where's our fluff, where's my Margin, starting here saying, hey, my baseline margin, I'm gonna make that all pre sales. I'm not never gonna put that for as a ga. Yeah, I'm making all that pre sale. That's the golden rule.

I'm gonna make all this our pre sales and everything else is profitable.

Shy Speaks: 00:44:41

Yeah, right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:44:42

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:44:42

Okay.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:44:43

And GA is general admission just for, you know. I'm gonna assume that y' all know, but yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:44:48

Okay, so then after this. Is this the only place that we can make. Make money off of with an event business company is this.

Erik Grayson: 00:44:57

Oh, no, no, no, no.

Shy Speaks: 00:44:58

Okay, what else?

Erik Grayson: 00:45:01

Oh, no. So you're gonna get paid for. I want to say collaborations. You're gonna get paid to say, hey, you know what I mean? You did such a start.

You just did such a. Yeah, such a great event over here. You got flat rate pricing to where somebody says, hey, you know what? Eric wants to be a part of this party. I don't want to commission you.

What's your flat rate? And your flat rate may be your budget. Is your budget what you. You know what it cost for somebody to book me right now?

Might be: 1500

Shy Speaks: 00:45:33

Yeah, no, I'm talking about at this. At your event. Is that how else can we make money at the event?

Erik Grayson: 00:45:38

So just. Oh, just at this particular event.

Shy Speaks: 00:45:40

Yeah, just.

Erik Grayson: 00:45:40

Oh, we're gonna talk about, man. Look, we gonna set up a vendor table. So you're gonna have your merch on there just like you was a rock and roll.

You're gonna have your merch table, you're gonna have your concession. Because now everybody can do something. Whether you make candles, you could do mason jars, you could do your own teas, you could do cologne.

You gonna find your own aspect into the whole aspect of what's going on with this particular favor. To have you another table or. Or another seat at the table or if you have a food truck. I talk again, I talk about profit sharing.

You might call up somebody that you are great friend with saying, hey, I know something that know something, and we sold out. Yeah, you like what that mean? You know something? Know something. All right, look, we over 2,000 people sold. The entry level is.

The entry point to get into this event is $300. I'mma split that with you. You do a 60, 40 split with me about what we make as far as on the profit.

Now, you may earn other money or putting your money in other buckets to where you're still earning money at the Steel Festival. So it's simple math. It's like, hey, I already know I sold that over here. So what you want to do, you got this food truck just sitting there.

Let's go make some more money.

Shy Speaks: 00:46:50

Yeah, right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:46:51

And that's that, that's that msi, Right. Multiple streams of income.

Erik Grayson: 00:46:54

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:46:54

Whereas, like, and we talked about this the other day where it's like, it's not different.

A lot of times when we think about multiple strains, we thinking it got to be these different things, but it's like, no, like, no, we're going to do the same event, but we're just going to bring other elements in the event that makes the event better.

But now we're able to generate more revenue and now we're able to increase that profit for that event because we provided these other aspects and factors meeting the need. Because if you're at event, you're going to get hungry.

Erik Grayson: 00:47:20

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:47:21

So why not partner with a food truck, Right? We know that you're going to want to have some kind of keepsake, so why not have merch, right? So all these different elements and whatnot.

Yeah, that's just.

Erik Grayson: 00:47:31

And then, I mean, for us, just speaking of myself in general, we know y' all want hookahs at the event. So when I have your own hookah team.

Shy Speaks: 00:47:37

Yeah. So you're saying your own branded like merch for that event. Your did you then have its own branded merch.

Even can have its own branded candle if that's the feng shui or.

Erik Grayson: 00:47:47

Man, you a walking. When you, when you're a business owner, you'll walk a billboard at the whole company.

Shy Speaks: 00:47:52

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:47:52

So you gotta have that, that clothing line. You gotta have, you know, if you in something to where you can influence some. Like, you should have your own wine.

If you have, if you're in the kitchen industry, have your own seasonings. Like, it's another stream of your business being sold in every pocket of what you do. If you influencing it, if you influence.

Shy Speaks: 00:48:11

It in the right way, man, listen. Okay, so I love it. I, I think that if I'm, if I'm watching this episode, I'm kind of like, I like this, this is, this is sounding good.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:48:25

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:48:25

You have such a, A, a creative way of looking at, looking at things. I know you probably feel it's normal to you and it seems like, oh, yeah, this is just easy.

But the way you talk about it seamlessly, I can tell you're seasoned in it, you steeped in it, but you actually just have A it's just a creative way. And I think that oftentimes we think about marketing, we forget, like, it's just like a job. Like I'm a marketer.

No, there's like, that's like a whole level of creativity. And then of course, like, then there's the event side. How do I create the vibe and experience?

And you think about that so well and don't feel like you have to do everything yourself.

Erik Grayson: 00:49:01

Oh, yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:49:01

Here's the thing that I want to talk about to creative entrepreneurs. When we're talking about being in the event space, right. Having an event company and these types of event, you cannot do it by yourself.

This is not a oneman thing. This is a. This is a team effort.

And you know, I love things that are team effort is because it moves creative entrepreneurs out of the freelancer mode and move them into owning a system. Now we have this system that's operating and it's making money without one. My single hand handling it. Same thing with the.

In the culinary arts, right. If you're going to affect business in that area, you're going to create profit. You're making me do it.

You're doing it at a bistro, which is like the smaller restaurant style. But maybe somebody wants to do this for food trucks or food truck parking. It's the same thing.

You still have to think creat about the business and you do that so well. So I just want to say thank you for dropping so many.

Erik Grayson: 00:49:55

Appreciate it. Appreciate it.

Shy Speaks: 00:49:57

Yeah. You feel like I ain't really saying that.

Erik Grayson: 00:50:00

Yeah. What's next?

Shy Speaks: 00:50:02

What are we doing? All right, so before we go. Okay, I said before we get out of here, I want you to drop. Drop us a secret. Drop us a nugget.

Like it can either be from the culinary art, like the restaurant side, or it could be from the event side. This is something, this is a sweet spot that people are missing out on that they can be applying in business.

Erik Grayson: 00:50:20

Oh, that's gonna be tough. I guess I'm missing a. I'll tell you from a speed season of where I'm at, it's pouring to your people, but don't let your people drain you.

And understand that sometimes I'm in a space to where this is coming straight for me that you can't take everybody with you, but you continue to. When you're building your teams, you're pouring into them. You're giving them all the resources, but don't let it drain you.

Don't ever put it to a point to where that Basket is like, hey man, let's come running over and I'm still having to do your job. Once you get them to the level to where they might be, it's okay.

Shy Speaks: 00:50:54

Right.

Erik Grayson: 00:50:55

You don't brought them to a level at which they, you, they didn't reach their capacity so you had to go on going up.

Shy Speaks: 00:50:59

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:51:00

So just continue to point to your people because your relationships are always key in, in business, period.

Shy Speaks: 00:51:06

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:51:07

And I got context to where if they see me calling, they know I'm probably calling about some money that we don't make. And that's always gonna be key. So yeah, always develop your people. That's around you.

Shy Speaks: 00:51:16

Develop your people.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:51:17

I love that, I love that concept of pouring in, but don't let it drain.

Erik Grayson: 00:51:22

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:51:23

And I'm hearing part of that, that's that whole self development where it's like there's some self care that has to take place because the poor pouring out, that is draining. But understanding your limitations, understanding I need to put boundaries around this. Right.

So there's certain ways that I will pour out, certain ways that I'm not gonna pour out because if I pour out this way, that's going to be draining. So having that level of understanding is key. So I appreciate you sharing that. I appreciate that.

Shy Speaks: 00:51:52

Even your approach that you talked about ownership in a different way than anybody else has talked about on the podcast.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:51:58

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:51:58

Because even that's a way of making sure you're pouring out and it's not draining.

Erik Grayson: 00:52:03

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:52:03

Because you say I can keep doing a thing for you. From what we know, you was a marketer before you specifically marketer, only helping other people market their businesses.

But now you're an owner, you own a couple of companies. So now I'm saying doing that same poor. Huh. But it ain't gonna drain me because it's coming back to me. Right. Because I own part of it.

I'm profit sharing in that. And so that, that right there is a way of doing it too.

But I know that probably wasn't what you was talking about, but I'm just saying it's just wrapped around everything you're talking about. And I want to make sure that creative entrepreneurs understand that. Like that's a, that's a way. Like if you.

I heard somebody, I interviewed a guy the other day, his name is Pink Beard. Interview Pink Beard and Pink Beer said we need to embrace this team mentality.

Like we need to embrace this profit sharing mentality, ownership mentality. So we can instead of like stop letting, letting everybody make you make an expense out of you.

And even if you can pay them the experience, you would have done them a disservice, because why not let them do a thing and they share in the profits. Why not? You know, I mean, so ultimately, I can't drain you because you just poured into me.

But after we reap on the other side, it's gonna come back to you. And so, yeah, so I. I think that's.

Erik Grayson: 00:53:17

I'm wholehearted into filling these different buckets up because I don't need to be the master of everything. It's kind of like I'm fine with my 5% over here, but just let me work together with you.

Shy Speaks: 00:53:25

Yeah.

Erik Grayson: 00:53:25

And then, hey, we can come to some side agreements to where, hey, I'm not. We not stepping on no toes. I'm a firm believer of if you own a department, you own it. I'm not crossing over to your name.

You tell me you the accountant, and I'm the marketer account gonna be accountant. I ain't gonna never say, hey, what that dollar was like. I'm gonna trust you enough.

So I'm gonna trust you enough in that business to where I can point in, you're gonna say, hey, we're gonna open this accounting firm. Sure. What you need? Yeah, go do it. Go run through a brick wall. And vice versa, man.

I just feel like we just as a culture, when we speak about us, we just behind then on that porn.

Shy Speaks: 00:53:58

Yeah, that's what's up. And we usually ask, like, what's something else that you would give people? But you kind of wrap that up. You kind of.

We would always ask, like, hey, before we get out of here, anything one. One you want to say, you want to leave people with. But I feel like that, like, that's solid. That's super solid. Unless it's something else you got.

Erik Grayson: 00:54:17

Hey, this don't never feel like worse. I told you you asked was already. I'm like, she. Let's go.

Shy Speaks: 00:54:23

Yeah, we can talk about that on the podcast. We talk about that on the pod. So I love it. Now, I thank you for. For being here, but I thank you so much again. I really appreciate that. Run.

You got something?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:54:33

Yeah, no, listen, thank you, but we also want to thank you for tuning in and listening to this podcast. Hopefully you all got some jams and some nuggets. Please follow this gentleman. Let us know where.

Erik Grayson: 00:54:46

Where can they follow you at? Crown holders 11. And if you follow the business page for the art show, it's our overdose DT. And then at the 5 is 5 Bistro.

Yeah, I think it's at 5 Bistro. Yeah, at 5 Bistro Bar. That's what it is.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:55:00

Awesome. So make sure you follow. Also make sure that you are liking this podcast, whatever platform you're listening to.

Like comment, let us know your thoughts and share. Share it with another creative entrepreneur that can gain from the information that's being shared on this podcast.

So on that note, so I have something to tell you.

Shy Speaks: 00:55:21

Yes. Okay, so this is the part that's important.

Not only do we not want you to like and comment and subscribe and all that kind of stuff, we want you to join the creative scoring community. The creative scoring community. It's a community that we've created for creative entrepreneurs.

You can go get into these entrepreneur communities out here and they may not fit you specifically, but this is so that you can actually lock up and link up with like minded individuals who are trying to scale to 6, 7 and 8 figures. Just like you and y' all can network together. Maybe y' all can get some profit sharing going together. Who knows?

I'm just saying it can't happen until you join the creative Square community. It's actually a community and it's a newsletter where you'll gain tips on strategy, structure and self development all at the same time.

How do you get a part of this group? Go to mmcbpodcast.com Again, that's mmcb podcast.com Calm. Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:56:12

All right, so now we always wrap up the show doing our mantra. So we want to engage everybody here because we've been talking. Now it's your turn to talk. So shy.

Shy Speaks: 00:56:24

So I don't want you to comment right here. I want you to use your vocal cords. I want you to talk right. So we want to hear from you. We think it's so important to do this mantra.

So when I say this, I want you to repeat after me. Here we go. Everybody in here gonna say it.

Erik Grayson: 00:56:36

Oh, everybody. Okay. Ain't nobody. Right, right, right.

Shy Speaks: 00:56:40

Okay. Okay. So all it takes. All it takes is intention, consistency.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:56:47

Consistency.

Shy Speaks: 00:56:47

And laser focus.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:56:49

Laser focus.

Shy Speaks: 00:56:50

To mind my creative business.

Erik Grayson: 00:56:52

To mind my creative business.

Shy Speaks: 00:56:53

And on that note. Peace.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:56:55

Peace.