Monetizing Media: KG’s Journey Blending Magazines, Events, and Nonprofit Impact

KG of Cosign Media: 00:00:00

Father, entrepreneur, washed up Hooper. But I'm the founder of Cosine Enterprises, Cosign Magazine, Cosign Media, Cosine Studios, and I recently launched Cosign Foundation.

I really wanted to be a psychologist. I love studying people. Psychology teacher told me that's like eight years of college. I can't do eight years.

But she was like, think about other things that give you that same end result without having to go to school that long. Magazines, you know, evolves around, you know, journalism, marketing and advertising. That all studies people behavior in different ways.

You build a community and then just charge the community. So you got that reoccurring revenue. If I got 100 people, I'm charging 497 for it.

If you want to be able to build, sustain and enjoy all this work you've been doing, you got to figure out how the big dogs do it.

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

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Minding My Creative Business Podcast, the number one podcast for creatives to learn strategy, structure and self development. I am your co host, Ron ironically.

Shy Speaks: 00:01:00

Jr. And I am your co host, Shy Speaks. And I'm excited, as always, about the episode because of the person we're about to. Man, this is a different realm of creativity.

And you said this is the number one podcast for creatives, for creative preneurs, creative entrepreneurs to learn strategy, structure. So we want you to be creatives, but you want you to mind your creative business. So welcome, welcome you.

And then without further ado, welcome my homie kg.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:01:31

Hey, how y' all doing?

Shy Speaks: 00:01:34

Let me give him a little something about you. So KG is the. He is the founder of Cosign Magazine, Cosign Media, Cosign Studios. And so, matter of fact, this is how I would introduce him.

What we always ask, we always ask.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:01:52

How would you introduce yourself, Man, I'm a father entrepreneur, you know, washed up Hooper. You know, I still get out there, but I'm the founder of Coastline Enterprises.

So like you said, Cosine Enterprises entails Cosign Magazine, Cosign Media, La Vida, Cosign for my Latino brothers and sisters, and then Coastline Studios and our recently launched Coastline foundation, where we give back to students who are looking to get in the field of media production. So we're teaching them podcasting, photography, videography and storytelling.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:02:26

Wow, that's dope.

Shy Speaks: 00:02:28

I love it. See, I told you so.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:02:29

Trying to make Cosine a household name, like, you know, like Apple, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, even if, you know, you don't consume it. I want everybody to know the Cosign name. So that's why I named everything Co sign.

Shy Speaks: 00:02:41

Come on, Brandon. We ain't even in the episode.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:02:43

Good.

Shy Speaks: 00:02:44

And he already talking about Brandon and being a. A conglomerate.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:02:49

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:02:49

Household name type of brand I love.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:02:52

Sure.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:02:53

So we said the magazine at the magazine.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:02:56

Print, digital magazine.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:02:57

Okay. You said it's the media.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:02:59

The media. So we do content creation, marketing for small businesses and enterprises.

Cosign Studios, our: 2500

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:03:20

Wow.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:03:20

Wow.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:03:21

I love it.

And I like the foundation piece as well, because it's like, it's that giving back piece definitely to where it's like, okay, yes, I'm doing great things, but I just don't want to limit it to me doing great things.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:03:32

Exactly.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:03:33

Go in and invest in young people and show them how they can be great, utilizing, you know what I'm saying, the art of storytelling, utilizing media, podcast and photography and all those things.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:03:44

Exactly.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:03:44

That's dope.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:03:45

Yeah. I appreciate it. Appreciate it.

Shy Speaks: 00:03:47

What?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:03:47

How did you.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:03:48

Okay.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:03:48

I mean, we're gonna get into, you know, the business sides of it, but, I mean, that foundation is intriguing to me because I'm in the nonprofit space.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:03:54

Okay, sure.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:03:56

So what made you want to develop this foundational arm to the multifaceted things that you're doing, man?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:04:05

Honestly, because I was already doing the work, right. So I do a lot of business programs, cohorts, accelerators, and then speaking at school. So I'm already doing the work.

And some of my colleagues told me, like, hey, do you have a foundation we could support? And I was like, nah, I really don't. I just do the work. Right. So I'm already giving out grants and all these things.

And one of my banking partner was like, you really should be a nonprofit for these cohorts. And for me, it really wasn't about having the, you know, the name or the title for the foundation.

It was just something I was already accustomed to do. But of course, as a business and entrepreneur, it just made the most sense. Like, you know what, Let me just go ahead and legally form this.

So I am doing the work and it could save me some money. So now I can get more money back to the communities I'm trying to serve. Right. So now I could save more from these grants that I get to give grants.

I can save more of that to give more grants to entrepreneurs. And then I could put on more programs for. For the students as well.

Because when we first started, we Only do a world program a year now we've got two business programs, and we just launched our foundation and already done a Women in sports and media event and award ceremony. And now with who? Dallas Mavericks at the ac. At the ac. And then we have.

We've already partnered with three other nonprofits to do our co signer Crates Academy this summer for students who are looking to get into podcasting and already got reached out by high school to come in and teach podcasting. So, yeah, when you do the work, people are going to recognize, man.

And, you know, it's all God, but definitely, you know, it was my colleagues that kind of pushed me into, like, you know, go ahead and make it legal, since you're already doing the work.

Shy Speaks: 00:05:46

Right. Because some people will want to support, like, I mean, of course the media.

I mean, the magazine and the media side is sustaining itself because it has a business model behind it. But, like, the work could sustain itself. But then I'm like, I have to charge these students to be in these cohorts and these workshops.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:06:00

Exactly. And we haven't charged a dollar for anybody to be a part of our cohorts or programs, Anything. Wow.

Shy Speaks: 00:06:06

And other people want to look at that and be like, bro, I want to support what Cosign is doing for the youth and stuff like that. So I think it was the best move, too. I saw it. I was like, there we go.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:06:16

So let's talk about that a little bit.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:06:18

Right? And I'm sorry, I ain't trying to.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:06:19

Hijack, but it's just you, as you're saying that you don't charge the students anything, Nothing, Right. So talk a little bit about how are you able to do that, man?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:06:30

It's obviously a blessing to have such amazing partners that support the for profit. And they see me diving more into the community and like, okay, how can we support these initiatives as well?

So, for example, our Coastliner Crates Academy, we're partnering with Behind Every Door, which is a huge nonprofit in the city of Dallas. They recently bought the old Cedar Crest. I believe it was a ymca. So they bought the entire infrastructure. Remodeling.

Like, the Dallas Mavericks sponsored a basketball court. They got a football field, a baseball field, a soccer field. They have health screenings inside the facilities, of course, technology and all that.

So they. I pitched a program to them because they already have the students. They have 100 students every summer.

So I'm like, okay, they already have the students. Would their students be interested in what we're doing? And they actually gave us a grant to put it on for an entire week.

So that way we can get more equipment. Because think about podcasting. As you can see here, it's a lot of equipment, right? And you know, this podcast right now there's three of us.

So imagine trying to do a teach podcast for, you know, 100 students. Yeah, you're going to need more section because kids also have short attention spans, right?

So you got to keep them activated, keep them moving, keep them, you know, and with activities going on.

So we have to rent more equipment, bring in more staff and all that just to make sure that every kid has, you know, a circuit they could be doing and not just standing around listening because nobody wants to do that. Right. So behind every door has been able to help us, you know, put on these programs so we don't have to charge.

And then also there's another nonprofit called Let the Beat Build. They focus on teaching kids music production, utilizing AI technology, et cetera. Right.

So they heard what we were doing in the podcasting space and, and they asked us to partner with them. They're doing a three week program for kids at the Latino Cultural center and they received a grant for this.

And then they're also going to donate some of the portions from that grant to our nonprofit so that way we can do a three week program with them as well.

So, man, it's really this community that's been able to support us, donate, share their grant funding with us so that we could be able to put on these classes. So it just takes one person to believe in what you're doing in like the nonprofit sector and to be the advocate for you.

And, and then from there you just continue the good work and then you'll be able to get more people to support so you don't have to charge, you know, but I've been, I've been, I've been blessed. And look, I know some nonprofits where they have to like put on programs to charge to raise funding.

And that's how I thought I was going to have to start off with. But it's. I just been having support from the jump because of the work we've been doing on the for profit side.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:09:03

Yeah, no, that's dope. That's dope. I love that. I love that.

Shy Speaks: 00:09:07

Yeah. Okay, so what I thought you were about to ask a minute ago was how did you decide that you want to do a multimedia company? Right?

All of this is, even the non profit, everything is all from the realm of multimedia, right? So how did you decide that you want to be in the Media industry, the world.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:09:28

The world made me do it. Honestly, when I first started. Long story short, when I first started all this, man, I really wanted to be a psychologist, right? I love this.

I love studying people. Like, I love, you know, really dissecting what make people think why they do what they do and, you know, just their, their mindset behind everything.

But my psychology teacher in high school, my AP Psychology teacher told me that's like eight years of college. Well, I can't do eight years. I can't. I can't do it.

Shy Speaks: 00:09:56

He said, like, it was some time.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:09:57

It is time. Time. It is time. You gotta be locked in for eight years. You know what I'm saying?

And I'm like, nah, I can't do, you know, I got other things I'm trying to do. So she was like, you know, instead of just like writing me off, you know, salute to her. I wish I could remember her name.

But she was like, think about other things that give you that same end result without having to go to school that long. And I'm like, what could that be? And she's like, what are you into? And, you know, I loved magazines.

And she was like, okay, magazines, you know, evolves around, you know, journalism, marketing and advertising. That all studies people's behavior in different ways. So she would like journalism. You would be able to interview people, ask them questions.

You know, marketing is, you know, the study of trends, market analysis. Advertising, you know, is getting people to, you know.

Yeah, people to consume something by putting it in front of them and learn their behaviors as well. So I'm like, man, okay, I'll dive into that. So I started looking for colleges. There was a college in Dallas called Northwood University.

They had an advertising program. I got a partner scholarship there. So when I went there, I was like, okay, I'm do this magazine thing.

There was a magazine called Ozone, which was a hip hop magazine based out of. Originally Orlando, based out of Atlanta. You know, I was relentless. I was emailing, emailing, emailing. I saw I was going to be in Dallas.

I pulled up, I was able to get in contact with somebody, was able to get an internship there, then became like a marketing rep. And at that point, I knew I wanted to be in the magazine business. Right? You know, things happen. They only want to focus on artists.

I'm like, man, there's so many dope people behind the artists, like the, you know, the producer, the manager, the photographer, et cetera, that I want to feature. They didn't want to do that. So I'm like, But I'm starting my own thing.

So to speed it up, I went to Afghanistan for two years as a civilian contractor. I saved up 50k. I came back, used that 50k to launch cosign. Right? So how we go from a magazine to a full multimedia company?

Technology, you know, even though I don't think print is dead, people, People want to be People, want to consume things fast, right? So you got to put it online fast. You got to put on social media fast. And then also, I'm a business owner, so I gotta look at it as well, too.

If somebody approaches me to advertise in their magazine, right? The magazine, a thousand people might see it, the physical magazine, but how many people are going to see it online? Email, social media, YouTube?

I could reach millions of people, right? Right. So I'm like, man, how can I really charge somebody, you know, thousand, five thousand to be seen by, you know, a small amount of people, right?

I got to couple that with something.

So I realized, okay, I could couple it with online social events to have a larger reach, you know, make me feel more comfortable charging you what I'm charging you to, you know, advertise your business. And now I have a sustainable business model, and I can keep up with the times. So that's what made me grow into, you know, a multimedia company.

And then the studio came along because I'm like, okay, I need somewhere to be consistent and to house what we're producing and also to bring clients in. So essentially the world and then the demand is what made me want to. What made us have to pivot and grow into a larger, you know, media entity. Wow.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:13:02

So that wasn't a part of your thoughts or strategy initially, because you were like, initially, I'm just doing this print. I'm out of print.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:13:09

That's all I want to do initially, man. Like, I was following Vice magazine.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:13:12

Okay.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:13:13

So Vines started off as a magazine, and then they grew into the documentaries. I love documentaries. So we first started cosign. I was probably like, six months in, we gonna do a documentary, and I did a documentary.

I mean, I ain't really have no story, but my story at the time was why I wanted to start cosign, what it's like to build a magazine from scratch and really take the city of Dallas by storm. And it was fire, you know what I'm saying? Then I'm like, okay, I'm do another documentary a couple years later. So I'm like, I'm following Vice.

And then I seen that, okay, they went heavy on a digital Content, they went, you know, TV news, documentaries. I'm like, okay, that's where the world is going, so I gotta follow suit. And then I stopped. I stopped seeing magazines from Vice completely.

You know, saying, same thing with Complex. They start off as a magazine and they went into all content. Now they got web series shows, the event activations.

And I'm like, okay, I'm just following what other media companies are doing and realizing that if I want to be able to sustain, then I got to grow with the times.

Shy Speaks: 00:14:12

Yeah, man. Okay, so you. You actually already gave us some pricing strategy. Even you explaining how you got into the textile.

Because for somebody who says, yeah, I could reach 25,000 people online, but I want that 1,000 people. I want that group of people, and I want to reach them with this particular magazine, and they can still do that. You're saying the way you.

The way a magazine works basically, is it's sustained by the advertisement, people advertising in the mix.

So you're going to cover the content that the magazine is all about, but then other people who want to market in front of those people are going to do the ads.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:14:52

Exactly.

Shy Speaks: 00:14:53

So in order for me to. If I'm charging you, say, okay, well, I'm going to help you reach a thousand people. You just ran.

You roll by real quick because you just know the world so good. But you was like, man, I can charge you. Let's say I charge a thousand dollars to reach a thousand people, or I can charge you $5,000.

If I say you're going to be in the magazine in this month, you're also going to have this many touch points on the online medium that we have.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:15:19

Exactly.

Shy Speaks: 00:15:20

And then if there is some type of event or something else that's going on or. Or space that we can make it to where you could have an event like. Or something like that, then we can give you a package.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:15:29

Exactly.

Shy Speaks: 00:15:30

And now instead of charging you just the $1,000. And I'm just trying to keep. And it probably won't even really be $1,000 for a thousand people, maybe less, but instead of me just trying to.

500, 500, 500, 500. I can. 5,000, 5,000, 5,000. Because I'm helping people reach this niche.

People who want the magazine, and I'm reaching the other 25 that we may be touching online.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:15:51

Exactly. So, yeah. And, you know, if you watch the way content, social media is going, like, everybody's becoming.

And there's no knock to it, but everybody's becoming like, you know, coaches consulting, you know, they do it, and they teach people how to do it. Right. The reason why people do that. And this is just my own, you know, observation. Yeah.

Is because they make more money off the teaching than they do the actual doing, because there's only so many people you can reach doing a thing. But everybody wants the results. They want to make the seven figures you made. Right? So I say all that because when.

When you look at, you know, trying to price everything, you could 500 yourself to death, and it still doesn't add up to anything, right? Like, even If I get 10 people at 500, how much work does that take to make $5,000 when I could do that same work and make $5,000 off one person?

Right. But you got to have the value behind it. You just can't be robbing people 5,000, giving them 500 worth of work, right?

So you got to give them $5,000 worth of value. And then, you know, from there, I'm like, okay, once you master that, now I'm like, all right, what else can I add?

Because, okay, if I have a goal of hitting seven figures, 5,000 still is a lot of people, right?

Shy Speaks: 00:17:10

I need a whole bunch of 5,000.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:17:12

Yeah. So how can I take that 5,000 to, you know, 15, 20, 25, or 50, right? It's either you do more events, right. Or it's either you.

You learn more strategies, you learn SEO, you learn, you know, advertising, you learn more things that you could take on for that person.

Shy Speaks: 00:17:32

Right?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:17:34

You learn retainers. Okay. Like, okay. Instead of you doing this once an issue.

Shy Speaks: 00:17:38

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:17:39

How can I do this for you every month?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:17:41

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:17:41

Right. And just put them on a retainer or. Which is everybody doing too now, is you build a community and then just charge the community.

So you got that reoccurring revenue. Right. You know what I'm saying? So some type of subscription model, Right?

You know, like, okay, instead of me charging you this, I'm still trying for advertising, but I'm gonna give a discount advertising, and I'm gonna put you in this community that's charging 497amonth. Yeah, right. But in that 497, I'm also going to teach you how to do certain things. So that way you don't need me for that.

Shy Speaks: 00:18:09

Right?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:09

Now, if I got 100 people, I'm charging 497 for.

Shy Speaks: 00:18:13

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:13

You know.

Shy Speaks: 00:18:14

Yeah, yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:15

So I haven't reached that level yet. But just to show you, you know what I'm saying, how you pivot as a creative entrepreneur, because, yeah, you do it for the love and for the creative.

But if you want to be able to build, sustain, and enjoy all this work you've been doing, you got to figure out how the big dogs do it. Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:18:31

And one thing that I heard you say, even with how you went from the magazine to the, to the content space, is you didn't change what it was, you just changed the distribution.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:43

Exactly.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:18:43

Right. So it's like I'm still doing what I do.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:46

Exactly.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:18:46

But I'm just changing how I distribute it.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:48

Exactly.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:18:49

And that's what I see in the coach space as well.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:51

Okay.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:18:51

I have my framework.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:53

Right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:18:53

And I'm gonna give you my framework. Whether it's through a book, that's one way. I'm gonna give it through a master class. That's another way.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:18:59

Exactly.

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

I'll give it through maybe one on one coaching, that's another way. But it's still the same framework.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:19:03

Framework don't change, doesn't change.

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

What I'm hearing you say, it's like, no, what we do don't change. I'm just changing the distribution channel and how I give it. And by doing that, now I'm able to charge more, now I'm able to add other value to it.

But it's still the core essence of cosign.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:19:20

Exactly. And honestly, one of my clients actually put me on because what happened was somebody paid for an advertorial.

An advertorial is basically an advertising, but it's an interview. Right. So they're paying for an interview, but it's not advertised.

Because advertising is just, here's my product, this is how much it is, the website. So they're paying me to sit down, talk to them, and then just make it like a paid feature. Right.

So during this advertiser, they didn't have any photo shoots, anything. So I had to create all that for them. And then they were like, you should just do this for other people since you're already doing.

I'm like, I didn't think about that. You know what I'm saying? I'm already designing the magazines, I'm designing layouts, I'm designing their ads, I'm doing their photo shoots.

So now I can just do the full service, you know, branding. Well, not me, but you know, the team, you know, so it's like, okay, so that's another offering.

Where people go wrong is, is like they, they, they chase the new shiny thing. Like everything I do still evolves around media, marketing, advertising. Nothing has pivoted from there.

Shy Speaks: 00:20:18

Right.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:20:18

You know, the studio is still media, the magazine, the events, it all aligns Right now if I go off and be like, okay, now I got supplements.

Shy Speaks: 00:20:26

Yeah.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:20:29

Where that connected.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:20:30

Yeah. I mean, the way I could try to connect it is. Okay. This is a supplement to make creative entrepreneurs think, you know, it'll be a reach.

But, you know, it's like, nah, focus on this land until you get where you want to be. And then, of course, that's when. Then you can, you know, dive off and do other passion projects, man. But I'm still trying to chase, you know, this.

This goal of being. Being up there with the. With the Forbes, with the Vice. I was gonna say revoke, but I don't really know how right now.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:21:01

Right, right, right.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:21:01

You know, I know they not rebranded, but I know they got a new parent company that I seen they just announced, so they're doing this whole multimedia relaunch. So, you know, I'm interested to see how that goes. So. But yeah, I just, you know, I try to keep my ears. Other media companies, so see what's going.

Shy Speaks: 00:21:17

Stay up to pace with what we call industry standard. Sometimes people think you're looking at. Around at what other people doing because you're trying to copy what they're doing.

No, I need to know what industry exactly.

So because there's industry standard and everything, like, you know, even in clothes, tires, it's like, this stuff is not up to quality of what the industry is doing right now.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:21:38

I want to get one jam too, real quick. My bad.

Shy Speaks: 00:21:39

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:21:41

And I want to say this because this is something I recently learned and I lost so many years because I wasn't doing this. Right. So, as you know, this is, you know, a podcast for creators. Creator entrepreneurs, Right. We spend.

We spend a lot of time investing in ourselves, you know, traveling, meeting new people. Right? What I realized, we have to go. Just being outside doesn't mean that it's the right outside. Right.

And what I mean by that is, okay, I'm a. I'm a media company for entrepreneurs, creatives and executives. Right. There's, I'm sure some entrepreneurs that go to, like, BET Weekend.

Shy Speaks: 00:22:17

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:22:18

But that's not where my thing is. Right? So, like. And I'm saying this because I was torn between going to BET Weekend next month or this black. Black media conference in Detroit, right?

Yes, in Detroit. So I was like, man, I want to go to BET Experience. I'm like, you want to go to BT Experience? Spend money. You may find some. Some.

Some artists and some athletes to interview. But all these artists and athletes do they have businesses too. So aligns with you're doing.

If not, then you should be going to, you know, the conference where they're teaching you how. Not teaching you, but they're. The advertisers are there. The. The technology for media is there. You know what I'm saying?

So it's a better investment because it's a better return because you're going there specifically for your business and for your brand and for your trying to be, not just for the. Look, just to say you are outside. I know a lot of people do. They're like, I got to be at Art Basel weekend. I need to be here. I need to be there.

Yes, but what, like, what's. What's the goal? What's the return of going there? Like, do you have 10 people you want to make sure you connect with while you're there?

Or you're just going out there hoping that you connect with somebody. I just want to share that because it's been on my mind. No, that's good.

Shy Speaks: 00:23:27

Yeah, no, that's good. That's a, That's a gym. No, it really is. Because, you know, that's when we talk about investing in ourselves.

We can make ourselves feel like we're investing in ourselves, but we really just hanging out, kicking it. You just really there. Kicking it. Now it was a business trip. No, you just, you just want.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:23:44

Yeah. You just wanted to be at BC weekend.

Shy Speaks: 00:23:45

Yeah. Now if you just want to go, then go ahead and go.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:23:49

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:23:49

But don't make it. Make yourself feel like it's going to yield the same return, because every investment should yield a return on the other side of it.

And so what you're talking about is an actual return.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:24:01

Yes.

Shy Speaks: 00:24:01

So I love, I love that.

Now, one of the things that you guys were saying, I want to make it clear for people who are watching this, your creative entrepreneurs are saying you can actually move from like, okay, print to online to other multimedia outlets, events, and all that. And you're just standing the same thing. It's still the same thing. But I have to be clear, the infrastructure got to change, right? To.

To produce the magazine is one layer of operations, is one layer of admin. You got to design it, put it together, print it, package it. Whoever my, my subscribers are, we're getting it out to them.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:24:35

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:24:36

Now that. Now when I'm moving over to online, the volume of output may change. It's the same content. People saying, I'm gonna be doing the same thing.

I'm just gonna be doing it online. Yeah. But you're gonna have to make sure there's a diff. So what, Tell me the difference in between, like from the. From a structure standpoint.

And by structure, I don't mean like llc, though. I mean the infrastructure, the back end, the admin, the operations between magazine, like the print side and then like the online world.

What's the difference there that they have?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:25:05

You know, man, I ain't lie. They're both a lot of work. But with the. The online is more demanding, right?

And the reason why I say that is because people have short attention spans, right? For example, I could feature y' all on the website and social media today. All right, Y' all go.

Y' all gonna post it, y' all gonna share it, and then 24 hours, you on to the next thing. You know what I'm saying? You're on to the next thing. So it's like. So that means I have to grab attention every day, right? Online.

Now print, I'm only grabbing your attention quarterly. Now, behind the scenes, let's say I'm doing 52 pages. Cause magazines you gotta do.

And, you know, counterparts of four, so 52 pages, you know, you got your cover table of content. You already have like 8 to 12 pages. You already know what's going in there. So the rest you gotta figure out.

So let's say I gotta figure out 40 pages, right? So, okay, that could be. That could be ads. That could be maybe like four to six features. And that could be, you know, I'm saying some.

Some thought pieces, right?

Those four to six features, you can either have them submit the photo so you don't have to hire a photographer, do the work yourselves, or you can schedule a content day and do everybody at one time. And then essentially, you just got to make sure you have a team who's going to write it, edit it, and then use somebody to do layout.

So you could spend less time putting a magazine together. It's a little more work, but it's less time. Opposed to online twitts every day.

So not just posting every day, you got to source the content every day, right? And then you got to make sure it's edited every day. Then you got to follow up here every day.

Because, for example, if I'm reaching out to somebody doing online feature, I got to follow. Hey, did you make. Did you send me the photo? Oh, I still need your socials. I need your website. Some people want to look at it first.

Can you send it to me? Look at it first, right? So online is more demanding. That people's attention span is so short. And then you got to think too.

It's kind of like it's a numbers game, right?

So big advertisers, their, their, their goal is like they want like a thousand, not a thousand, a million unique monthly visitors or a million impressions, right? So you got to think if you're only averaging a couple thousand on each web post. We did this for YouTube, but let's do this for the website.

If you're only averaging a couple thousand for each, you know, post on your page, how much content you got to put out a month to make sure you get that million, you know, million views. That's a lot of concert. You got to reverse engineer it, right? And that's, that's a lot of like.

Shy Speaks: 00:27:31

Maybe like at least a hundred pieces of new media that you're putting on that. I'm saying, yeah, it's like 100.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:27:39

So think about 30 days in a month. So that's three pieces, three pieces a day right now.

Not only that, but that's three pieces a day that people want to see, like, especially if you're something like me. A company like ours where we don't feed off of negativity and, you know, drama that's going on in the world.

So we're focusing on original, positive content. You know what I'm saying? We could just go out there, go to those sites and just reshare what they shared and just change a couple words.

But that's not what we do. There's already sites for that.

Shy Speaks: 00:28:07

Right.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:28:08

You know, so we spend a couple hours finding the right, you know, content, editing it, putting it out there multiple times a day. So it's, it takes a lot.

So my piece of advice, which I wish I would have done it at the beginning, but at the beginning I was such a creative, I was just like, I'm gonna just put the stuff out. The money will come. The money will come. I wasn't thinking as a business owner.

So now the way I think of it is, right, so we're bringing back our series called Thousand Co Signs. Right back then I just put it out like I did. I reached like, I think I got like 186 out of a thousand.

Shy Speaks: 00:28:41

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:28:42

Then I stopped. Felt like Institute's too much.

Shy Speaks: 00:28:44

And what is a thousand?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:28:47

So basically our goal was we want to be able to co sign a thousand entrepreneurs, executives and creators so that way people can go on our platform and find out a thousand people, like, they should follow, learn about, etc. Now if we look at it we kind of did a thousand because our last question was list five to ten people you co signed.

So somebody, everybody gave us ten, then that's a thousand, but they give us five. But I'm like now I want to do a thousand people, right?

But now how I'm shaping things as a creative entrepreneur, like okay, if I know right now I'm in Dallas, I know if I'm in Dallas and let's say I can get a hundred interviews, Dallas alone, what brand would align with highlighting small business owners, right? So I'm like okay, that could be, could be a bank, right? That's 100 new accounts or possible loans, possible line of credits, credit cards.

Or it could be a car dealership because that's 100 possible leads or people who are ready to buy within the next six to nine months to purchase a car. So I'm like, okay, now that I know this, let me package this and pitch to a brand partner.

ure and entrepreneurship with: 1000

You know, like that makes sense because now that's, you know, it pays for me to be able to spend all this time to do this, right? And it gives them hundreds, maybe thousands of leads, thousands of views, brand affinity because now they're aligned with positivity.

It gives them, you know, aligning with, you know, a non profit if they want to do that as well and then also gives them opportunity to be embedded in like our events, et cetera because they're partnering with us in there.

So as a creative entrepreneur we gotta think with both sides, like okay, we wanna create this, but we don't always have to bootstrap everything, right?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:30:45

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KG of Cosign Media: 00:31:24

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KG of Cosign Media: 00:31:46

How you gonna fund it?

Shy Speaks: 00:31:47

How we gonna fund it? And I'm so happy you said that because some people totally believe in the bootstrapping of it all because they like, slow and steady wins the race.

But that's okay for them because based on what their creative vision is.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:31:59

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:31:59

If you're creating, creating, creating, you're coming up with a vision that involves a thousand people. You. That's just, that's just a thousand entrepreneurs, a team of shooters that's got to do it. The print got to be the writer.

If the write up got to be written, somebody got to upload the stuff, then some of them going to have. So many of them may have like to be the COVID of the issue.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:32:18

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:32:19

Just organized project manager and all. So this is involving like probably thousands of people. So how do I make this make sense?

And I think that at that point, when the vision is expanded so much, I think you do have to start thinking beyond the bootstrap.

If you do, if you bootstrap it, it may take you longer, but also, you just, you created something cool for Cadillac that they wouldn't have created for themselves. Their marketing team would have had to sit up and come up with that, but they didn't have to come up with it.

You pitch it to them, for example, and now their team is like, oh, this fits with what we were trying to do this year.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:32:53

And it would cost them a lot more to do with themselves than when it cost us to do it. You can cut, let's say you cut a $20,000 check. Your marketing person salary is 100,000. Right.

And now you're getting, you know, you're working with a local brand, you're helping entrepreneurship, and you're getting PR. Like, you can't pay $20,000 for good PR, like what you're going to get working with us. Right.

So it's better off partnering with somebody that has the track record to make this happen, you know?

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:33:21

So let me. You mentioned something you said initially, when I first started, I was thinking my creative mind.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:33:26

Yeah, man.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:33:27

And then I had to transition and.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:33:28

Think from my entrepreneur mind.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:33:31

How far in the game does that did that happen for you?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:33:34

Too late, too late, too late, man. And I know everybody, I know that everybody has their own journey, but.

And I try not to be hard on myself and think about, I know people that started three, four years ago and they're further, you know, further along than me. But it's like, man, I Also got give myself grace. I had a lot on my plate, you know what I'm saying?

Like I had a family, like I've had a family since I was young, you know what I'm saying? So I'm taking care of, I'm taking care of a lot of people, like big grown man responsibility, people don't have it.

A lot of people just single out here, just doing whatever, just figuring it out.

But anyways, to answer your question, man, it took me, damn, it took me like four to five years because I was working, I was working a full, full time job the first five years. And technology, like AI technology in media was still very much so, kind of still on print. So I just thought I had time, you know what I'm saying?

The blogger era was taking off, but I was like, I still got time. And then I realized what other people in other markets were charging for what I was doing and I'm like, ah, now I'm shortcutting myself.

And the problem with media too is that a lot of people don't understand too is because since we're getting paid on advertising, the problem is you need, you need the eyeballs, the attention, the audience to be able to validate why you charge so much, right?

So it's kind of hard because it's like I want to charge you up front for this project, the series, but if I don't have enough eyeballs on the, on my channel or my platform, I can't really charge you. So that's why people the first year are losing money because they're like, I just, I just got to create all this content to get the eyeballs.

Now that I got the eyeballs, then I could charge. But it's like, man, all this content I created, I did it and I'm not making no money, you know what I'm saying?

So I'm glad that now where I'm at, I have the attention and the eyeballs so now I don't have to worry about, you know, doing all that for free and then trying to, you know, then trying to get it paid for.

I can get it paid for up front, but it took those five years of, you know, me just doing stuff, you know, to, to realize that, man, I should have been thinking like this day one, you know, and, and you know, you approach your environment like I grew up, I went to high school in Clean, Texas. None of my friends were talking about entrepreneurship. They, they were doing their own thing.

So, you know, as a first time entrepreneur, you know, no friends, no family, entrepreneurs I'm just figuring it out, man.

Shy Speaks: 00:36:07

Yeah. And so, so, so much grace to you for that, because in figuring it out, you figured it out.

And now you sit standing or sitting here today, obviously standing here today. So. So shout out to you, because I know exactly what you're talking about.

And it's the reason why we have the mind in my creative business podcast, because some people are, like, trying to figure it out. And when you go to look for, like, entrepreneur stuff, it could be anything from, like you said, car sales, people talking about that type of stuff.

You got it just. It's just a whole different. Yeah, slide out there for creative entrepreneurship.

So how can we get people to have something that they can tap into and they can find other creatives that are actually blazing the trail? Six, seven, eight figures. You know what I mean? Like, and what does that look like? Let them have something.

Because I know they already got a lot of entrepreneur podcasts out here, but there's. It's so. It's so much. And then if you're creative, you don't feel like it's really applicable to you.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:37:00

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:37:00

You're trying to apply it as best as you can. But like you said, my world works different work.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:37:05

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:37:05

You out here selling a product for a thousand dollars, and all you gotta do is sell whatever to make a million. I'm over here selling something, then, yeah, maybe a thousand dollars, maybe $5,000.

But on the flip side, I have to have the attention to garner this price. And so. So it's different. And I just think that we need to have space for it. And so this is why we.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:37:27

Why we have that. You're right. Definitely space for it, man. And I salute to y' all for doing this.

You know, when I first started cosign, it was to help, like, you know, creative entrepreneurs come, like, man, like, who. Who's making content for, you know, music managers. Right. That's business, but it's really creative because you're in a music industry.

Music is an art. So you're. You know what I'm saying? You're in a business of art, right? So, like, you can't.

Watching YouTube videos on business is the same when you're in this field. Right? So it's like, you got to take what you can and figure out yourself how that applies to what you're doing.

There's not a lot of blueprints out there exactly. For, you know, you know, the creative side.

Shy Speaks: 00:38:08

So I want to. Speaking of blueprint, I want to actually talk to you about the multimedia aspect.

Of it that leans into events, because you talked about that as well.

And so if you're, if you're watching this episode, if somebody's watching this episode, they, they, they're aspiring journalists or multimedia mogul, whatever, but they have to know like, okay, I got the print, I got the online piece, but where does its events work in at and how. What's the monetization around that?

Now I've had the pleasure of going to one of several of your events and we do work together just because we both live here in Dallas and we have a lot of we on this board of a nonprofit together and all this other kind of stuff. But so I, but, but there is one event that I hadn't had a chance to go to. And you actually have co sign awards for this magazine.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:38:57

You have been yet.

Shy Speaks: 00:38:58

But.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:38:58

Okay, keep going. Yeah, I know you don't talk about that offline.

Shy Speaks: 00:39:01

No, I, no, I went this year, remember? Yeah, I went, remember? I went this year. This. But previously I hadn't went. I went, remember? I just went.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:39:08

That's right.

Shy Speaks: 00:39:09

So, so, no, I don't went good.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:39:11

Went previously.

Shy Speaks: 00:39:14

So there's a, there's a, something that goes into that and can you talk, talk about how that ties into everything and like the monetization side of events, if you know, to the best of your abilities without, you know.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:39:28

So I mean, everything from the events evolves around community. You know, if you could bring, if you could bring people together, man, that's where like magic happens.

You know, even if you remove yourself from it, there's magic happening. Like, for example, I went to an event the other day and there's this couple who went to one of my first networking events that they met at.

They became business partners in a relationship, et cetera. So they always tie back to like, you know, because of cosign, I have a business partner because of cosign, I'm engaged, et cetera.

Now there's a lot of those stories of, you know, people that came to, you know, one of our events, built community and went off and did their own thing. So now with community, how you.

I don't say monetizing the community, but I want to say when you bring people together, it's an opportunity for them to, you know, be able to see and touch what you're doing, right. To gain a better understanding. And from there they're there, they feel more willing to support whatever you have going on.

All right, so how do you monetize this? How we started was with the magazine we print out A magazine we do the magazine put online. It wasn't selling. Like, people didn't care.

It wasn't selling. Unless you were featured in there. It wasn't selling. So there was this girl that we had on the COVID and it was like a. It's a crazy story about this.

But anyways, I'm gonna tell y' all just because I'm, you know, we crazy. I'm reusing content anyway, so I don't know what I was thinking. We did. It was like a Caribbean, not even Caribbean cover, right?

We had this white girl on the COVID and we body painted her with Caribbean flags. I don't know what was y'.

Shy Speaks: 00:41:10

All. Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:41:13

I mean, the girl is. She's super dope. Like, she's of the culture.

But I just don't understand now, looking back at, like, why'd I get a white girl and I put a Panamanian flag on her. Because I'm Panamanian, Jamaican, Jamaica flag on it. I'm like, I don't. No. Anyways.

Shy Speaks: 00:41:29

Sometimes creativity just be having.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:41:31

You just be trying, see, like, ah, we gonna get a girl. We gonna body paint her. That's gonna be the COVID Why? Anyway, so we did that issue and she was like. She was like, I have a good following.

Like, you should do like a magazine release so my people can come and support. I'm like, I ain't think about that. So we didn't do it for hers because it just didn't make sense, you know?

But that next issue, there was this group named add. They were. They were huge in the underground scene of Dallas. I'm talking about some of the best artists that ever came out the city.

They sold out the Granada Theater. Like, if you're from Dallas, you know, that's difficult.

Shy Speaks: 00:42:10

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:42:10

So we had them on the curtain. I'm like, I can't miss this opportunity because, I mean, they just got off towards Red Bull. Like, they were hot.

So I'm like, we came to this opportunity. I didn't really have any money, so I'm like, hey, I can't. I can't pay y' all to perform at this magazine release.

But, like, if y' all come, I got something special for y'. All. They like, say less. So we. We rented out an art gallery. Mark out, like 300.

I'll give y' all expenses so you can think about rental art gallery is 300 super cheap on, like a Tuesday, and you get it cheap during a weekday. Somebody donated some liquor for us. I'm like, okay. And we ended up selling it Probably.

I don't know if we even could have sold it, but we sold it anyways. I gotta make some money back somewhere. And then we did merch. So what we were selling, it was free to get in.

So we weren't charging to get in because we wanted the people to get there. So we're selling magazines, we're selling merch, and we're selling alcohol. So it's free entry. And what I did was I just made the night about them.

So they ended up like bringing, like, they ended up bringing their entire audience. So it kind of. It was free, but it kind of sold out because it was packed. And then what I did was I ended up.

I blew the COVID up and I framed it and I gave it to them. And like that, like, that experience, they're like, bro, we've never had like our mag.

We never been on the COVID We never had, like our magazine, like, blown up for us. So this was super dope. So people caught winning that and it made people want to come to more of our events. Right.

So I think we made like a couple hundred dollars, but it's like, shit, we sold magazines, we sold merch, and we got people together. So now we got content of what our events looks like. So, like, okay, we might be on to something.

Shy Speaks: 00:43:43

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:43:43

So from there, that's why we got into events. And the events was just basically like a lead generator to sell more product, to sell more magazines.

But from there, we ended up building a community because now we're mixing artists with painters, with people who have startup companies, with photographers. So now there's a space for people to come collaborate, connect, be seen, have a good time.

Nobody's fighting people having to listen to good music and are being celebrated because there's a magazine that's for them in the city.

Shy Speaks: 00:44:15

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:44:15

So that changed everything from. For us. And then of course, over time, you know, you. You mature, your brand matures, you. You grow up and you do and you develop a new sense.

Like, that was great for. At that time.

Shy Speaks: 00:44:27

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:44:27

Because a couple hundred eyes was cool.

Shy Speaks: 00:44:29

Yeah, yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:44:31

But as. But I started to realize the business side. I started doing more.

I started doing artist showcases and I'm like, I'm putting all this work in my T $4 work in every month to make a thousand dollars. I can't sustain like this. Yeah, right. So I'm like, you know what I had to go back and think about it and I would realize was I love the art of music.

Right. But I'm not built for the music business.

Shy Speaks: 00:44:54

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:44:54

You know what I'm saying? Like, I didn't feel comfortable too, charging artists to try to be in the magazine because, like, you're.

I don't call you a starving artist, but you're on the COVID you're on the come up. You're emerging. Like, I got to charge brands, and they just feature y' all for free.

So when I started charging brands, I realized that, man, there's a lot more money over there. So what do they want to see more of? And they wanted more events.

That's why we went from, you know, magazine releases to artist showcases to networking mixes, then to the gala, the cosign awards you talked about, which brings together over 500 entrepreneurs, creators together to, you know, celebrate, you know, excellence and for making it through the year in their business. Right. You know, you've been their change makers, they're change agents.

And, you know, we want to celebrate them, which happens to be like, one of our biggest, you know, revenue drivers. Now is that one event every year.

Shy Speaks: 00:45:43

Okay, so revenue driver. Okay, so give me some general numbers about how we make.

You have a magazine or you have some kind of media outlet and this media outlet, and maybe they don't do a gala, but maybe they do some other type of event and they want to monetize this thing, because we know we can do they. Are you. The revenue is coming from the ticket sales. Is the revenue coming from vendors?

Is the revenue coming from sponsors of the revenue coming from where?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:46:11

Yeah, I mean, all of the above. And what I would say is figure out your niche. Right. So like, we focus on, you know, entrepreneurs, executives, and creators. So that's our niche.

So a gala kind of makes sense because it gives them opportunity to dress up, you know, saying for a good cause. And, you know, it kind of replicates like, like a Billboard Awards or something like that, but for entrepreneurs or, you know, what's the other one?

What's the big one for actors and all that?

Shy Speaks: 00:46:33

Oh, yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:46:34

Or music. Yeah, like a Grammy or something like that. Grammar for entrepreneurs. Right. So depending on what your niche is. Give me a niche and I can.

Shy Speaks: 00:46:41

Kind of drive in, like, if you are, maybe they are in culinary or.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:46:46

Okay, okay, cool. So, I mean, first thing comes is the food festival.

Shy Speaks: 00:46:50

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:46:50

Right. So, you know, if you're in culinary, then maybe do a food festival. So you got vendors, you could charge them to come up.

You could charge food trucks to set up entertainment so you have tickets. You can sell merch from there. And then sponsorships to put all together, sponsorships that align with culinary.

So that's gonna be like different drink beverages that could be culinary products. Whoever's like the main like knife supplier or plate suppliers. So.

But one thing I would say is when you're doing events as a creative or entrepreneur etc, you want your, you want your ticket sales to pay for the events, Right. People really try to rely on like sponsorships to pay for the events, and that's kind of where you mess up.

You want a ticket sales because that means you've built an event that could sustain by itself and that you have a community and audience that want to be there. And then your, your sponsorships, that's, that's, that's your profit.

Shy Speaks: 00:47:41

Yes.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:47:42

You know what I'm saying? That's the sugar on top. So ticket sales, and I would say like vendors, that's, that pays for your event.

So if Your event is $30,000, your ticket sales and vendors should be able to cover that $30,000 ticket fee. The only way it shouldn't is if like it's a free event and then maybe get like the city involved for something free.

Like you want to do a free event at that magnitude, you want to bring somebody in a larger scale, evolve to help you cover those costs.

Shy Speaks: 00:48:06

Right. So we have a hundred dollar ticket for this event that they're having. We need about 300 people.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:48:11

Yeah.

Shy Speaks: 00:48:12

So we can cover $30,000. And $30,000 is to cover the expenses, right?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:48:16

Cover the expenses, yes.

And any sponsor you get over that, that's, that's profit for, you know, all the, all the work you guys put in and to help you invest into the next year's, next year's event.

Shy Speaks: 00:48:26

So, all right, so we have all of the ticketing, the vendor side, but then the sponsors, what it like, are we looking to package this at $1,000 in sponsorships? $5,000? 10,000? 20? What are we looking for in sponsors?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:48:41

I mean, honestly, it depends where you're at in business and with, with your event. Right? Like is your platform, is this a new event? Even if it's a new event, is your platform, how large is the audience that's coming to attend?

Are there any key people that's coming to support the event that may give that brand, you know, a lot more awareness? What else is there? What other opportunities are you providing them outside of just like, you know, coming to set up? Right.

So that's how I will kind of like package the pricing of it. And I also kind of align it with the idea that of the amount of revenue I want to make, right.

So for example, if I want to make 100,000 from one event, there's no way I could thousand dollars sponsors these things. You know, it would probably start off at like 10,000. Right. 5,000 would be more. So just like if you wanted a table or something. Right.

So you want to chart, you want to base the sponsorship prices based off of the, the revenue of the event and then also the value they're getting from it. Right. So I was literally, I was watching the video from Morgan with Blavity and she was saying like now she's trying to.

Now, now they get like million dollar sponsorships from Afro Tech because Afro Tech is one like, I think this is the second largest black gathering. Right. So a million dollars makes sense. Right? And she was saying like, oh, I remember we're doing $50,000.

Like, I'll take a $50,000 sponsorship, you know, but at $50,000, they were like, they were having like 3,500 people there. Yeah, right now they have 35,000 people there. So, man, does kind of make sense.

Shy Speaks: 00:50:19

So like you had 300 people at an event.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:50:22

Yeah, 300 people. I would, I would probably do sponsorships like at 5,000, you know, 10,000. You know, 10,000 might be like the highest or the second highest.

You know, then if I get 3,000 people, it'll probably be like 10, 15, 20, 25, maybe title at 50, you know, then once you break that 10,000 mark, you know, 100,000, $150,000.

Shy Speaks: 00:50:43

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:50:43

You know, you're looking at there because you know you're putting a lot more energy, time staff, insurance for events, operations, permits, all that goes into play and you want to roll that into, you know what I'm saying, the ROI for the sponsor. So yeah, you want to put that in there.

Shy Speaks: 00:50:58

Now you listen, you talking my lane, which people love to talk about all this stuff on the front, but like you said, insurance, security, all of that other stuff goes into events. So we got to think things, man. I would, I could. Yeah, we can keep going with you because you, there's so much.

But I think in just this time, in this conversation, you've been able to give us how to monetize and how, like what, how does that work in the, in the. For the person who's looking to be in a media company, how to get started or if they're looking to grow to the next level. And they're watching.

So I'm already a creative, I got a little online platform, but what, what's next for me? The next. Next for you? It may be the event side. You know, then what's next for you may be the actual studio side.

We didn't talk a lot about the studio, so that means we probably gonna have to have you to come back on to talk about the studio side and probably more about the foundation, because, like, I know you're just. That's a newer endeavor for you. And so we want to talk about how the foundation is driving the business and the business driving foundation and.

And the. The event space and the studio and everything. So.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:52:03

But.

Shy Speaks: 00:52:03

But still, that may be the next path for them. So get the studio space. Maybe get the. And so I feel like you've given a lot, so I just want to say thank you.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:52:11

I appreciate y' all for having me on the platform. And, you know, I just want to say this.

Until y' all bring me back, if y' all do want more content, you know, my YouTube channel, I'm trying to provide more value, more gems.

So I appreciate y' all for having me, allowing me to, you know, share everything I've learned in a short amount of time, because this is a lot, you know, that I've done that, cosign has done that. I want to make sure I can share with the people, and it comes off a lot more natural talking about it with you guys. I ain't gonna lie.

I'll be sitting for the camera myself. Yeah. I'm like, damn, that ain't coming off. I want to have to come off.

So, you know, so definitely watch this video for, you know, you know, a mini master class.

Shy Speaks: 00:52:47

Yeah.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:52:48

You know, shoot media sponsorships, and, you know, whenever y' all ready, we can dive deeper.

Shy Speaks: 00:52:53

And of course, like you said, check. Check out the page. I've checked out the page.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:52:57

And what is the page?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:52:58

So our YouTube is a cosign network, so if you go on YouTube, search cosine network, or I think the URL is YouTube.com cosignmag but it's the same thing, so just go check that out. The goal is. And I want, you know, I want your audience to keep me, you know, accountable. The goal is to, you know, drop.

I told her a video every day, but I'm gonna say three to five videos a week. Yeah. So keep me accountable. If y' all watch this and y' all don't see three to five videos a week, put on the comments. Man, that dude was lying.

Keep me accountable.

Shy Speaks: 00:53:31

I want to ask you something before we get out of here, aside from them staying up with you as far as, like, for more, you know, for more information because you're just sharing it with entrepreneurs and you're always around different entrepreneurs, from sporting events to sporting teams to banks and all that kind of stuff.

But like, if they're, if somebody's looking to like, hey, I like what he was talking about with the foundation side, like, how can they really support cosign right now?

KG of Cosign Media: 00:54:00

Man, that's a great question. Thank you for asking that. If you already in media and you know, you want to support, we definitely need volunteers, right?

Because we're building out these curriculum for these student, for these students. And like I was saying, with media and podcast production, you want to be able to have enough hands and equipment for the students.

And if you don't have enough staff, then the kids can kind of lose, you know, the energy and their attention and it doesn't become as engaging for them. So I want to keep them engaged.

So if you have any experience in podcasting, you don't have to actually do podcast production, but if you're a podcast host, a YouTube creator, you have any insights on one storytelling, how to articulate a good concept, or if you know, think about video, audio, the equipment, technology side, please reach out to us to volunteer. We'd love for you guys to kind of either help assist on some of these workshops that we're doing, or we could talk about you guys leading some.

We already have opportunities for that. Outside of that, if you're an entrepreneur, then, you know, take advantage of our entrepreneurship summer school this June through August.

It's a six week, a six week cohort.

We're teaching entrepreneurs with CoAmerica bank everything from AI and technology, sponsorships, brand partnerships, social media, mergers and acquisitions. Let's say you just want to create, but you want to have something that generates money so you can focus on creating and you have a good credit score.

We're talking about how you could buy a business. You know, buy a business, have somebody else running, have that passive income so you can focus on creating, right?

So that's like buying boring businesses. Whether it's, you know, laundromats, you know, car washes, accounting firms. Like, we have people who talk about mergers and acquisitions.

So that's always good to learn as well. So, you know, you can support by attending those or you can support by volunteering, you know, for the Cosign Crates Academy. We'd love to have you.

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

Listen, I normally ask if there's one thing you want to, you want to leave everybody with, but I think you left a lot.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:56:01

Yeah. Follow us on YouTube, man. Follow us on YouTube, man, those views, those views eventually gonna turn into something.

So, yeah, follow us on YouTube @cosign. Cosignnetwork. But YouTube.com cod us on that.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:56:13

Well, no, listen, thank you. This has been a phenomenal interview. So as we wind down, we want to thank you all as well for watching the episode.

It's a couple things we want you to do, right? We want you to definitely, like, right. Comment, right? He said already.

He said go to his page and if he ain't doing, he's supposed to do, leave a comment. Say he lies or leave a comment. Then we also want you to subscribe, right?

As we grow this channel, we definitely want this to be a platform for you and share with other creative entrepreneurs or people that are aspiring creative entrepreneurs so that they can get this information and grow as well.

So do those things and then also join our creators corner community, where it's community for creators like you who wants to develop that strategy, structure and self development.

We have a phenomenal newsletter that does that as well as a community of other creators, creative entrepreneurs like yourself that you can network with and fellowship with, motivate one another so that you can grow on your journey. And that can be done@mmcb.com I'm sorry, mmcbpodcast.com MMcb podcast.com All right, so do that today.

Shy Speaks: 00:57:29

And as always, when we end an episode, I want to make sure we have an opportunity for you to speak. Not commenting literally to speak.

Because we've been talking, you've been listening, but we want you to speak over yourself because that's the thing that actually helps revisit, reimagine how you see yourself and what it takes to actually succeed. So we have a mantra that we do at the end of every episode, and I want everybody here to say it out loud. I want you to repeat after me.

Let's say all it takes. All it takes is intention, consistency, consistency and laser focus. Laser focus to mind my creative business.

KG of Cosign Media: 00:58:07

Mind my creative business.

Shy Speaks: 00:58:08

Peace.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: 00:58:09

Peace.