S7:E4 | Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow

This week Tony and Toni sit down with two entrepreneurs, Monte Weaver and Ariel Smith. They've found unique ways to make a lucrative living doing unusual things that they absolutely love!

Monte Weaver's Community Group
Before You Launch Your Food Truck Book by Ariel Smith(For 10% off use promo code: BFTT22).

Sponsored by ABTF Travels: Arts and Cultural Experiences.   For details visit: AtlantaBTF.org/travels

Transcript

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[00:00:00] I believe that if you do what you love, the money will follow. This week, Toni and I sit down with two extraordinary entrepreneurs who have found ways to make a lucrative living, doing some unusual things that they absolutely love. Listen up.

[00:00:19] Tony: Welcome to season seven, a black family table talk. We are your host, Tony and Tony.

[00:00:25] Toni: Join us on our journey to discover ways to build a strong black family. This season is sponsored by ABTF travels. Join us as we travel each year beyond borders off the beaten path to immerse ourselves in cultures that celebrate our pan African heritage. Each journey is especially curated to provide you with what promises to be a bucket list, transformative experience.

[00:00:54] Tony: I can't wait until we go again.

[00:00:57] Toni: Me, either tone.

[00:00:58] Tony: In the meantime, we have a very special guest joining us at the kitchen table this week. Listen up.

[00:01:07] Toni: Monty Weaver. Welcome to black family table talk. How are you today?

[00:01:12] Monty: I am good. I am good. Enjoying what is it today? Friday?

[00:01:16] Toni: Yes.

[00:01:21] Monty: Yep. Friday.

[00:01:21] Tony: Welcome to black family table talk, Monty.

[00:01:22] Monty: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:01:22] Toni: Thank you for agreeing to be a part of today's segment. We are really trying to raise the awareness of how people can take their passion and monetize it. So you are an incredibly creative, and I want you to tell more about what you do, but more importantly, what was your journey like getting to where you are today?

[00:01:47] Monty: Yeah. So first of all, thank you for having me again. Yes, I am a content creator now. That's kind of how I define myself creating content for Amazon, YouTube and other social media platforms right? Wherever there's a platform, try to create content and show up on those platforms.

[00:02:02] But Amazon and YouTube are kind of those two places that I primarily show up, but the journey to get here was essentially sharing what I knew on social media and back in 20 15, 20 16 there's apps that were really starting to pop up. And one of 'em in particular was called Periscope and a buddy of mine had reached out and a buddy of mine through social media of course he had reached out and he said, you know, this live streaming thing, like how to live stream.

[00:02:30] My background is a lot of video tech. I've done all that support at many different levels, government sector, private sector. So I understood video, which is how it works. And I was already familiar with video transmission and just how video worked.

[00:02:44] And as these applications started to come out. Like live streaming and video. I was playing around with the technology on social media, had no interest of doing anything with it. I just wanted to see how it worked in the social media world and these entrepreneurs and all of this. And so my buddy reached out to me and he said, you need to teach people how to live stream.

[00:03:05] And I was like, no, I'm not doing this. Like for what? Like I had no reason to show up and do it. And he's like, man, there is a market here for it. And so since 2016, I jumped on Periscope, started showing people different live stream applications, how to do it, custom, lower thirds videos, background effects, everything that had to do with video.

[00:03:24] And so now it's more so how to show up on video, along with, you know, how to actually use the softwares and programs, but really how to show up on video and deliver a message that people resonate with and you're able to get your message out to the people that you need to get it out to.

[00:03:39] Toni: Awesome. So tell us about what that led to today. What do you do today and how do you monetize it?

[00:03:47] Monty: Yeah, so today I primarily focus on showing up as a content creator and Amazon live influencer program is the first way. And so what that allows me to do is create video content on behalf of companies. And these videos are showing up on Amazon and these are recorded videos.

[00:04:06] So people go through and we're all shopping on Amazon. And then you see little videos of people that have showing the unboxing of what's inside the box or how they're using it. So I create those videos and get paid to do that. And then I also show up on platform live so I can actually engage with an audience in real time.

[00:04:24] I primarily like to talk about tech items, but I could talk about my new baby and her crib and clothes and whatever I want to talk about. That's sold on Amazon. I could talk about it in real time. If people buy based on our conversation, based on my recommendations, did I get commissions through that? And then YouTube.

[00:04:42] A lot of people are familiar with, you know, growing a channel on YouTube. And so when I first got into YouTube, I thought, okay, jump on YouTube and grow audience. And you get paid good money for just being on YouTube, but YouTube ad sense isn't really where it's at. So I monetize a lot more for my own courses back direct links to Amazon again.

[00:05:00] So those work hand in hand, anything that I might recommend from a title sponsor that actually compensate for a time slot on the channel for me to highlight them. And then I have a membership community. So I teach people how to do brand deals and sponsorships. And that's really where I'm kind of hanging my hat here for the next few years, because it's a new thing.

[00:05:21] This content creator space is new. It's emerging with opportunities and tapping into brand deals is one of those spaces that's new and it's a space that I've actually been in it for a couple years now. So sharing my knowledge in those areas.

[00:05:33] Tony: Break it down to the simplest denominator. Amazon live. If you were to do content creation or Amazon live, you get paid a commission. What is that called when you paid?

[00:05:46] Monty: So Amazon has a couple different structures. They have an affiliate program that anyone can sign up for. Anyone can create an account, sign up and become an affiliate. Now they do want you to have some sales. Otherwise they'll get rid of your affiliate account. If you're not recommending people to come and make purchases on a platform and you can earn anywhere from like a quarter percent to three, four, 5%, depending on what the product is and what that pays.

[00:06:14] Then they have this newer program for influencers and creators, which is the associate's account, but it lets you do a little bit more. It lets you create content that's housed on Amazon. So now I can create pictures that would allow other regular shoppers on Amazon to see my picture. And then they may react based off of that.

[00:06:36] They might see my video and react based off of that. So I'm still getting paid the same commission rates as if I was just an affiliate, but because I'm an influencer, I get to be seen more visibly on the Amazon platform. So then in turn, I have more opportunities to earn those commissions. And then you also have the brand influencer deals as well, where a company will just say, Hey, could create specific content for us.

[00:07:03] So that we have more content on the platform and then I get paid for that way as well. Now, the company's paying a commission or Amazon paying a commission. Amazon pays the commission. Now the companies, what I'll do with them is they'll either pay me a flat fee for X amount of videos, X amount of pictures, or they'll pay me a commission.

[00:07:25] So we'll look at our reports at the end of the month, and then they'll pay me a commission in addition to what Amazon already pays. And that's a nice way, especially when we have days like prime day, getting ready to show up really soon here in July, that's an extra incentive to actually sell more of a specific brands, companies, products.

[00:07:43] Toni: What constitutes an influencer? Like how many followers do you need and where do you get started? Like, you're just a person sitting in the living room and you're trying to figure out how you can make some more money. Say for example, we had a person that's just sitting in the living room, really trying to make ends meet with a nine to five.

[00:08:02] And they're trying to figure out how they're gonna make more money or student in school, you know, looking to supplement income, that's gonna give them the freedom and flexibility that they need. What's step one? What's ground zero for that?

[00:08:16] Monty: Yeah. I am biased to Amazon a lot because I think it's one of the easiest ways to make money right now.

[00:08:22] If you have very small of an audience. So the based off of what Amazon has more recently said, they're looking for people that have an audience size of about 2,500 people that can be on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook business, page TikTok. And so 2,500 in the scheme of influencer is not a large number. And so once you do have that, that's when you can apply for their Amazon influencer program.

[00:08:50] And once you get accepted into the program, it is really so easy to create content on Amazon because there's not a lot of quote unquote rules right now. There's not a lot of guidelines. Like a picture has to be taken in 4k or your video has to be three and a half minutes long. You really can just take really quick pictures really quick 20-second videos of everything in your house and uploaded to Amazon.

[00:09:14] And literally we have people that are doing this, that are making full-time income from it and have not been on the platform that long 3, 4, 5 months.

[00:09:24] Toni: Wow.

[00:09:24] Monty: Because of the power of Amazon in itself. And the fact that there's just not a lot of influencers here yet.

[00:09:30] So there's just a lot of room for us to really tap into Amazon and this new influencer marketing that they. Available to us.

[00:09:38] Toni: What about people of color, people of color in the United States, black folks, particularly we've spent enough money equivalent to the gross national product of the GDP of the country of Spain. Are we on that platform? Are we showing up? Do we know about it?

[00:09:55] Monty: We're not showing up. We're not showing up the way we should. A sad story. I've been on Amazon live for two and a half years, I believe now. And last year in particular, we have small business Fridays and, you know, black business weekends. And I was really trying to tap into some of those communities and say, Hey, here's a platform where we can feature our products on and we can use my influence, cuz I have a community of now over 1700 people, I would say.

[00:10:25] Three, four of them are influencers on Amazon. Here's an opportunity to take your product that you're selling on Amazon's black seller and let influencers sell your product for you. You don't have to worry about SEO optimization, paying for ads because we're getting right in front of your audiences in real time.

[00:10:43] Toni: Wow.

[00:10:43] Monty: Can I tell you only two people even took me up on the offer and neither one of the ladies went through with it from start to finish.

[00:10:50] Toni: Oh my gosh.

[00:10:50] Monty: This wasn't even a paid service. Like this was just, "Hey, let's take your black product that you're selling on Amazon and get it in front of buyers this weekend. Because everybody's promoting black businesses."

[00:11:00] Toni: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:01] Monty: No one accepted that offer. Then we have the other side, we have the influencers, someone like myself. Here's an opportunity. Maybe like you said earlier, you're working a nine to five. Maybe you're an entrepreneur. And you're trying to find these supplemental revenue streams.

[00:11:14] We're not showing up. It's an opportunity that's here. They have island Pacifica month and people show up, they have Indian heritage month. They show up like, like we just don't show up. And I think some of it, the fact that we're, we think there's something behind it. Like what's the catch. And I'm trying to tell people, like, if they see some of the results people are getting from just actually doing the work, then there's an opportunity there that they really could be taken advantage of.

[00:11:44] I mean, Amazon has reached out to me a couple times and said, "Hey, we would like to feature you on our platform." That's a big opportunity when I can like, raise my hand and say, "Hey, I have worked and collaborated with Amazon." Like I never would've thought that was a thing, you know, that's this huge, massive billion dollar company.

[00:12:01] And because there's one, not all of influencers on there, there's definitely not a lot of influencers that look and sound like us on there. And we have a voice we have an audience do. And I think that's why people that watch my streams. They gravitate to me. I'm one of the few voices that they can actually gravitate to.

[00:12:17] Toni: Wow. Wow.

[00:12:19] Tony: What's the skillset needed to do this. Maybe that's what's holding people back. They don't know if they have the skill set. They're afraid of talking in front of people or break it down to us.

[00:12:30] Monty: Yeah. I'm going give you two skill sets. One is you have to have an on camera personality. Like you have to be able to engage with people through the camera lens. So almost think QVC almost think HSN, not so much, like you're gonna sell, sell, sell a product, but I need to be able to say, "Hey, I got this computer sitting beside me. These are the specs. This is who I think it good for. This is who I don't think it's good for. Hey, let's have some fun.

[00:12:54] Let's play a game right here." What do you guys shopping for on Amazon? Let's go through and see if we can find some stuff. So you have to have like this personality that engages with people because you want them to actually watch and hang out with you the longer they hang out with you. We all on Amazon.

[00:13:08] We're not just on Amazon to be on Amazon. We're on there to look for something. So if it's some batteries, you guys need some batteries for the toys, or I think the alarm is going off here in the house, you know, "Hey, I got some battery." Like I use everything that's going on for my audience. And then you have the other extreme, like, cuz I'm the introvert person where I did not want to be on camera or just kind of one of those things that I know is very beneficial, just being on camera.

[00:13:32] But if you don't wanna be on camera, if you don't want to be on like your. All you have to do is literally take pictures of products or just take pictures or little small videos of the products. And don't even say anything. So you don't have to show up on camera. You don't have to say anything and you can still upload these videos in these pictures to Amazon, because.

[00:13:54] When shoppers scroll through Amazon and they click on a picture that they like, or they see a little unboxing video just real quick, and then they click on it and make a purchase. You still get commission the ability to do it in multiple different ways is really what I like about. This particular platform right now.

[00:14:13] Tony: Wow.

[00:14:13] Toni: This is incredible. I was blown away. I've recently met you at a conference and I was blown away by this whole concept. And I just thought about, I work a lot with artists and I just thought about how many times artists are, you know, just waiting for the next gig or not working, trying to get to the next gig and how they need this flexibility of supplemental income and how these are people that are on the stage, Monty. And so they should be comfortable. And in film, they should be comfortable with this just being on camera.

[00:14:48] Yeah. So that skillset. I can't wait to get this podcast to those artists. So they know and I'm talking about a database of over 2000 artists. I have a total database of 14,000 art lovers, but I'm sending this to all of them.

[00:15:03] Monty: What's funny is, as you're saying this, a good friend of mine, he owns a studio space in New York city.

[00:15:11] Toni: Mm-hmm .

[00:15:11] Monty: And when the pandemic happened, the talent, the, the actors actresses, they had nothing to do. Everybody was shut down. He employed them to be his OnAir talent in his studio. So they would come down, they would sit down in, in the little office chair, like we were all doing right.

[00:15:28] And they would have products and they would talk about the product. He doesn't show up on Amazon live. Like he, that's not his thing. His business model allows him to get all of these products. So the, the actors, they don't have to worry about any products and anything like that. They're so naive to what Amazon live is.

[00:15:43] They don't even know they, they're actors. They're actresses. They wanna be on camera. So he's got these different sets set up in his studio. He's got like a bedroom set, so he's got bedroom furnitures and all kinds of stuff. He's got another one, that's an office set up and another one, that's a straight studio set up and these on air talent, he comes in and he pays them to show up and Hey, go live for an hour and talk about these different products right here.

[00:16:09] And everybody's happy. So it was a way for them to make the money that they were waiting for. When is Broadway gonna open back up? We don't know. So that supplemental income that they were able to tap into. And I think a couple of 'em actually understood what they were doing. They were like, oh, I can actually do this for myself.

[00:16:24] I can actually use this as another way to earn revenue for those times of the month that are down those times of the year that are slow. So this is definitely an opportunity for them. So, as you were saying it, I was just like, man, I'm just thinking of like, yeah, that was something he tapped into very early on a couple years ago.

[00:16:42] Tony: Now, do you, um, teach this to people? You take on students? Or how does that work out and, and what's the cost to do that?

[00:16:49] Monty: Yeah, so I teach it to students, but quite frankly, it's so easy to pick up and understand a lot of people just have questions. And I think they'd have questions just to create questions with Amazon.

[00:17:00] One because it's new. I understand that, but it's so simple to actually do once you start doing it. So really what I do is I teach people how to make more money out of it, through the relationships that they're building with the brands, because Amazon live is just one of many shoppable platforms that are emerging because Walmart has actually introduced live shopping already.

[00:17:23] We have target. That's looking to introduce it. We actually have eBay that came out with an article this past week that's introducing live shopping. So I'm more so teaching people how to get into the live shopping aspect, because you can build your own personal brand out of that. You can sell yourself as professional on air talent.

[00:17:43] I do a lot of video production, so we actually can produce the videos for people so that the on air talent doesn't have to click buttons and do this and do this. Like we actually do all the video work for them. So they just do what they do on camera. We hit all the buttons behind the scene.

[00:17:59] So there's a lot of other aspects that are growing in this entire live shop in space. And so that's what I do focus more on my teachings of like, I have a couple days a week that we do nothing, but Amazon live. So. Literally every Friday and it's a free community. Amazon live creators. It's a Facebook group.

[00:18:15] So every Friday we go in there and we have an hour where we just talk about what's working. What's not working things you can improve on and let people kind of navigate the road that works best for them. Because like I said, there's so many different ways that you can do it based on your schedule. Some people love the live stream.

[00:18:30] Some people hate the live stream. Some people can show up like for four hours at a time and just do everything. Other people have knew more babies like myself, where like we Haven. Created a live stream in a couple weeks. So don't tell nobody, but there's so many different ways you can do it and you don't necessarily see the slip off in revenue depending on how you want to do it.

[00:18:50] And I think that's a part of what we are all trying to do is create sustainable revenue that comes in every single month and not, you know, have good months and bad months, but you can definitely create a sustainable way of doing this. And so what I teach is more so how to look at it for you. And then we set up a game plan based on that.

[00:19:08] Toni: Is that like an hour onboarding or what does it come in the form of? How is it packaged?

[00:19:14] Monty: Yeah, so it's in a membership community group, so it allows people to brainstorm amongst themselves. And then we also meet on a regular basis as well. There's video tutorials about how to do a lot of the add ups and get started with it.

[00:19:27] But the aspect that really. A lot of people gravitate to our weekly Thursday meetings because that's our pow wow time. That's really diving into specific things that people are having issues with. And, and that's where I like to spend a lot of the time is, Hey, we're doing this, it's not working. We're, we're doing this.

[00:19:45] We're trying to create this brand deal. And we can't get the right contacts that we need because the that's a lot of where the money. Set. So Amazon live and creating a product videos. That's great. You make really good revenue right there in itself, but sometimes you don't wanna necessarily work with like ed product vendors.

[00:20:03] Like I have coming in like, literally it's an email every single day. Can you talk about this, talk about this? Where you might wanna work with like two or three companies and that like, that's it. And just build that solid relationship with them because maybe you like doing TikTok. Maybe you like doing Instagram and LinkedIn.

[00:20:18] So you can build these packages around these other things that you like to do that may even work and coincide a little bit better with your main business. If you wanna say something like that. And that's what we really help people identify because Amazon live is just a small portion of the way that you can show up on social media.

[00:20:38] And, and it is really more so a compliment for most people that I talk to. But then there are some people that definitely go all in on Amazon and, you know, Definitely something that can be done too.

[00:20:49] Toni: What's the earning potential?

[00:20:51] Monty: Yeah. So we actually talked about some of this from our last conference and some of the people that were sharing their numbers are easily clearing five figures a month.

[00:21:00] And Amazon live has not been around for that long. And I, I have one call her a client, but she's not a- technically cuz she hasn't paid any money or anything. We always just end up in these conversations. We're on the clubhouse app. So sometimes we end up in these conversations and we're just talking and one day she comes into the room and she's like, uh, cause it was only like a couple of us there.

[00:21:22] So she's like, man Monty, I'm doing really, really good. I said, that's good. That's good. And she's like, no, I'm doing really good and you would never think if you just saw her in her personality, just her on air camera looks like she is not a person that's going to just like sell everything. Like you wouldn't think that.

[00:21:41] And she started telling me her numbers and she literally said I'm saving for my house right now. And she's clearing 6,000 a month. Easy. And she had only been doing it for about six months and three of those months. She couldn't do it because she had brain surgery.

[00:21:55] Toni: Oh my gosh.

[00:21:56] Monty: So how was our personally like really tap into this?

[00:21:59] They, they just kind of get started and they just have this belief system like, okay. I can actually create videos. I can create pitches and I can upload it and they don't overthink it. That's like literally all we do. I think that's, what's more authentic, really. If she's shy, like you said, and unassuming that people can relate to that.

[00:22:17] Toni: Yeah. You know, I think that's the secret sauce honestly. And connecting and then on the other end of course, flamboyant personalities connected as well.

[00:22:26] Monty: Mm-hmm I don't, everybody can win. Everybody can win right now.

[00:22:28] Toni: Wow. Now you've been at this since 2015, right?

[00:22:32] Monty: I've been live streaming since about 20 15, 20 16 in this entrepreneurial space.

[00:22:37] Tony: Okay. So how long did it take before company started approaching you?

[00:22:43] Monty: 2020 is when that, that kind of started so up until then it was more so Monty Weaver as, as a support person, you know, I I'll help with live streaming, your technicals and all that stuff, but I showed up on Facebook and in Periscope, the reason companies started reaching out to me in 2020 is cuz I started on YouTube that like hands down a thousand percent.

[00:23:03] I know that's the reason. In July of 2019, I had did this entire video series on my Facebook channel. And then later that year in October, I was speaking at a conference and the gentleman said he loved the series, but he wasn't ready for it at the time. So he wanted to watch the series. Could I sent him the videos?

[00:23:20] You know how Facebook works. Like there's no catalogs. So like, I would have to scroll months back up to find these videos in order to send them, like, I was like, nah, that's just not even gonna work. So I was like, man, I really gotta think about my strategy for social media. So later that year I was like, okay, you know what?

[00:23:37] I'm just gonna go in on YouTube. Let me go to YouTube because at least I can catalog. Everything I do right there, and people can find it whenever they want. And so I kind of jumped out there and was like the YouTube. It seems intimidating anybody that has not done YouTube, understand why, but definitely start doing it because it is definitely worth it.

[00:23:56] And within my first six month, seventh month, I had a brand reach out to me, a microphone company and say, Hey, we saw your YouTube video. We'd like to see your microphone. And then it just kind of snowballed from there. We're literally working on a deal right now. 40,000. Hopefully I can sign that deal off and it'll be just to create video content and it's all because they saw me on YouTube, you know, create that content.

[00:24:21] And I get a lot of Amazon sellers that see me on YouTube as well, because obviously everything's promoted on YouTube in some form of fashion. So they'll reach out to me there as well. But 2020 is when I jumped into YouTube and started getting emails every single day now.

[00:24:36] Toni: Wow. Wow. Well, I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule with us today. Can you let us know how we can reach you?

[00:24:47] Monty: Yeah, so you can find me on YouTube, Monty Weaver. You can find me on Amazon and amazon.com/live/monty Weaver. And then my community group is called blueprint influencer. So you can join me over there if you want to kind of hang out with me in a more closed environment.

[00:25:04] And we talk about digital tech. We talk about strategies, brand deals, sponsorships, and really how to do it. I'm big on the execution part. So rather than just talking all these different ways to do it, I kind of push people to, okay, this is what we actually do. So you might have some homework. If you come join me over there.

[00:25:22] Toni: Sounds good. And that information will also be available in the show notes.

[00:25:28] Wow. I absolutely love, love that segment. Now we're gonna sit down with Ariel Smith. Who's a really interesting person who will share her passion and love of food truck. Yes. I said food trucks.

[00:25:49] Listen up. Welcome to black family table talk. I am with Ariel Smith of the food truck empire.

[00:26:02] Ariel: The food truck style. That was a good one.

[00:26:05] Toni: I was gonna say, no, I meant what I said. I chose my words very carefully. You are building a brand around food trucks. And we met recently at a conference and I was like, okay, I've gotta have you on because I wanna know how did you get to be the food truck scholar?

[00:26:29] Ariel: oh my gosh, Tony, you're gonna laugh. Cause whenever I like create a brand and someone talk to me about how I created it and I tell 'em they were like, you can't be serious, but I was hungry and then for the Northeast Midwest people that didn't understand my Southern accent, I said I was hungry. Uh, that's just make sure I get to all the audiences.

[00:26:51] Yeah. So I'm from Birmingham, Alabama originally. So, you know, I'm used to a lot of black people, I'm used to a certain type of food. If you will. I went, did my master's degree in Nashville at Vanderbilt sing a little different, but you know, we could rock with it. We come on up to 65 to get my PhD at Purdue, and it is less than 3% black.

[00:27:13] So the food was very different. Disappointment is an understatement, it was rough in these streets. And so it's my first year of my doctoral program.

[00:27:24] Toni: My gosh, at per Purdue? Roughin' them corridors.

[00:27:30] Ariel: You know, pray for us. You know, times have turned around just in the past three months alone, we've gotten two Popeye's or Harolds chicken.

[00:27:37] So Lafayette and west Lafayette don't know what to do right now, cuz they're just not used to this. And this is, they're just not used to it. They're just not used to it. So just say a prayer for us right now.

[00:27:49] Toni: Hilarious.

[00:27:51] Ariel: I'm just being honest, uh, get there. And I'm seeing a lot of my friends back home they're posting on mainly Facebook, but also Instagram too, about these new black on food trucks that start around 20 16, 17 conveniently around the time that I depart from Birmingham.

[00:28:07] So I'm looking at what they eating and I'm looking at what I'm eating and the math ain't mathing. So I wanted to know, like, why were all these food trucks happening now? Especially these black food trucks. Was it tied to gentrification? Was it that cause Birmingham was gentrifying and is gentrifying. So I was thinking maybe it has something to do with the property values.

[00:28:29] Maybe they wanna get these restaurants, but they can, and food trucks are cheaper. So it just became my own personal justification about why people getting good food. And I'm not, it just so happened. Your girl also did not write her seminar midterm paper yet. Neither did anyone in my cohort, so I'm not by myself, but the professor at the time was like, Hey, I know you all are nervous your first years you're thinking about what your research topic could be.

[00:28:56] I don't want you to think that whatever you write in this first class of yours, that this has to be your dissertation. Just write me an eight to 10 page paper about a question that's on your mind. Well, that was the question that was on my mind.

[00:29:08] Toni: Wow.

[00:29:09] Ariel: So I wrote about the black food trucks in Birmingham. What was my hypothesis around that? And got an a, and I sat there and said, let me find out, I can eat my way to a PhD if they gonna continue giving me a on this topic. And that's what I did. I just kept writing this same.

[00:29:27] Toni: Oh my goodness. Oh gosh. Hilarious. Oh, wow. That's your story?

[00:29:35] Ariel: That's that's the genius story.

[00:29:37] Toni: Wow. I know our listeners are wondering where my co-host is. He's actually in your hometown today in Alabama.

[00:29:47] Ariel: Whoa.

[00:29:47] Toni: And he's worked. Yeah. He had to take a business trip. So he's not able to join us today, but I said, I'm gonna talk to this lady. And I was wondering why I wanted to talk to you.

[00:29:58] Like, why would you bring a food truck scholar onto a black family table talk. And there was some kinda underlying nostalgia. And I remembered that when I was a little girl, there was one person who was absolutely crazy about me. And that was my grandpa, my grandfather, Raymond. And he was working on a food truck.

[00:30:23] Now we're talking back in 1970s and he was working and building and renovating a food truck, but he got cancer. And then he died before his dream to open this food truck. Came to fruition. So my dad picked up the dream and when I was a little girl around 10, 11 years old, I worked with my dad, my sister and myself.

[00:30:52] Selling hot dogs at a food truck at high school basketball football games. So I thought I said, okay, this is why this got me all warm and fuzzy talking about food trucks, because it's in my childhood memory.

[00:31:07] Ariel: "We gotta have you on the podcast."

[00:31:10] Toni: "I would love to." And then when I met you, cuz initially in my head, I was like, okay, we need to talk about just following your passion, period.

[00:31:18] No matter how crazy it may sound. And I'm not saying you sounds crazy.

[00:31:22] Ariel: Oh no, I got some stories for you.

[00:31:25] Toni: L O L air quotes, but I can't imagine you going to your mom and saying, okay, cuz I'm mother of four, you're about my daughter's age, ma I'm going to get my PhD in food trucks. What was her response?

[00:31:42] Ariel: I mean, well- you,

[00:31:43] Toni: and you probably said mama. We all got family nicknames.

[00:31:48] Ariel: So we actually, I called her by her family nickname. So that's a whole nother story there but you know, I came to Purdue. I was not thinking that's what it's gonna be. It literally came from that story.

[00:31:58] Toni: Wow.

[00:31:59] Ariel: And so, because there's no major in food truck just doesn't exist.

[00:32:03] Toni: Exactly.

[00:32:04] Ariel: I actually came to Purdue to study something entirely different. So I, I have a master's degree in education. And so I was looking at like, how does higher ed institutions perpetuate anti-blackness. Okay. So that's what I originally came for. Then I switched it to African American entrepreneurship education. So how do African Americans learn to become entrepreneurs?

[00:32:25] Cause I have a business degree, a bachelor's degree, so I was gonna do something like that. And then my hunger led me to this. So at this point they already didn't understand what American studies is cause most people don't understand. American studies. Like when I get my degree, it's gonna say American studies, that's my major.

[00:32:42] And a lot of people ask me, well, what can you do with that? What is that? And I'm like, basically anything that's related to American culture in some way you can study it, hence food trucks that we go. So at this point, she just say, she's the food truck scholar. Like I've branded that. So when in. doubt they always gonna say, well, she be traveling to all them food trucks and she be trying their food and she'd be interviewing them.

[00:33:06] Like, that's what she do. But you know, my mom was just like, alright, I mean, I.

[00:33:13] Toni: Oh, no.

[00:33:14] Ariel: I mean, look at this point, I've done not some off the wall things, but I was the child that played things very safe. And then when I got to college, I broke all the sheltering norms. Like. I think I really did it when I went to China for like four months, I went to China for four months.

[00:33:33] I ain't never been out the country. Don't speak that language, just nothing and just went over there. And then I went away from home for my master's degree. So at this point, me telling her I'm gonna study food trucks is like.

[00:33:45] Toni: " That's Ariel".

[00:33:48] Ariel: It's like, I hear you. That's Ariel.

[00:33:51] Toni: Well, listen. How many food trucks outta curiosity, how many food trucks are in the United States?

[00:33:56] Ariel: So, you know, they report roughly 24,000 active food trucks, 24,000, they estimate 24,000 active food trucks. And the reason why that is an estimation at best is that there's some food trucks that don't always post their social media. They're also looking at how many people may have renewed their licenses around this point.

[00:34:15] And how many of them are African Americans? How many black folks own. That is to be determined.

[00:34:21] Toni: Mm-hmm.

[00:34:22] Ariel: So part of my work was looking into that, cuz there's never been someone that sat down to say this many are black owned. I later realized how hard that is for one person to do as more and more black people are entering the industry, like never before between 2013 and now we're experiencing.

[00:34:42] A decade of what it's been for more and more black people to enter into it in record numbers. And like you said, your family did in the seventies. We've always had it, but it's been this uptick. People now are starting to focus on black food trucks, like apps like E- okra. That was my sponsor last year, or now Roman hunger is starting to do some things where it's starting to categorize if you're a black owned food truck or not, but for decades, people have not even the federal government. When the us chamber of commerce privileged the first food truck nation report in 2018, it grouped minorities saying that food trucks were 80% minority.

[00:35:20] However, They never went as far as to tell you, what did they mean by identity? Did they mean white? Latinx? Did they mean Mexican American? Did they mean Asian American, middle Eastern Iran? Nobody said nothing about those numbers. So it's a lot harder to find that number than you would think.

[00:35:39] Toni: I see now this is really truly a lesson in follow. And building a brand on whatever it is you're passionate about. And that's probably the main reason why I wanted to have you on the show today because I want parents to encourage their children to follow what their passions are. No matter how crazy. They may sound or off the beaten path they may sound.

[00:36:07] And as an artist, I was encouraged to do that. So even though I took a detour and tried this and tried that eventually I did find my passion. So you found your passion and you are really, you have a YouTube channel. Talk to me. What kind of brands or what kind of products have you developed under the brand food truck scholar?

[00:36:29] Ariel: Well, we first started out with the YouTube channel and then we took a pause from YouTube. We went to Instagram live and then from Instagram live, we went into the podcast. Podcast is now in its third year, fourth season, we have over 108 episodes currently. I've interviewed everybody from Instagram celebrities, from food network to your everyday around the way person, anything in between, I've done it.

[00:36:56] I've interviewed food, truck builders, food, truck consultants, food truck, app developers, people who. All types of stuff for food, truck owners and food trucks in general, I've talked to. And so the podcast has been really well. It's gone all over the world. We're in 96 countries now worldwide, which has been absolutely incredible.

[00:37:16] I've also published my first book. Thank you. I published my first book last year, before you launch a food truck, eight questions, every expiring food trucker should ask. And I kind of created it like a workbook because I don't want this to be a book that you just sit down. Read and be like, oh, that was cute.

[00:37:34] One of the biggest compliments I gotten was a food truck owner that I actually have never met, but follows me on Twitter and just said, Hey, I hire a staff. And most of my staff with people who have been incarcerated. So I bought a copy of your book because for every copy that's I donate a copy to non-profits.

[00:37:54] Uh, particularly for those who've been incarcirated. They was able to read that book. And then he gave it to his staff and his staff each got a chance to read the book. And when he got his book back, it was full of notes and they had added their own little coms because it helped them understand some of the processes that he's went through to start his truck.

[00:38:15] And they had a deeper respect for what went into it. And for me, like, that's the biggest compliment. It's not just they read it, but they engaged with it. That's exactly what I meant for it to do.

[00:38:25] Toni: That's awesome. Now food truck king. It's a community. It really is. It's like a cult community. I don't wanna say cult cause we interview last podcast about Cole. In, in a, in a negative sense, but its truly a community.

[00:38:42] Ariel: Yes.

[00:38:42] Toni: And I was really surprised to learn that in my research and preparation for interviewing you that it's a closeknit community and you guys have conferences, conventions. I mean contests. What's crazy. Well, it's not crazy, but it's, it's awesome that you've found this community and being a food taster to a food truck, kind of. So what do you see next in your future?

[00:39:10] Ariel: Oh, well there's a lot, couple of things that's on the way, honestly. So I think I'll still always be somewhere in the food space. Ideally, my thing is the show. That's the next thing I wanna do is, you know, I've done podcasts. I've gone with people. I've moderated food truck tours.

[00:39:27] I've been on a panel for a food truck conference. So a lot of things you've mentioned I've done. So the next thing for me is to have a television show. Around that or YouTube show either one, but then there's also other projects that I have that I'm building as well. So for me, at the end of the day, it's always about creating community.

[00:39:46] I love the fact that you said communities because that's what, uh, I'm grateful I've been able to do in the food truck. Community is, to create a community specifically for black food truck owners. The show has interviewed people from all over. As far as Switzerland, even, but I've always been unapologetic. I wanted to center black voices because those were the voices that weren't being heard.

[00:40:09] So you're absolutely right. It is a community and just like any community has its ups and it's downs. It's frustrating moments and it's great moments, but at the end it needs to have a community. So that's kind of where I see myself as continuing to create that in different spaces.

[00:40:24] Toni: Again, I love the fact that you've taken something that you're passionate about.

[00:40:28] You just absolutely love and build something around it. And I was thinking television too, because I was thinking about dive theories, dives drive-ins and that's a great show where he just goes around the country. You know, eating at the off the beaten path spots.

[00:40:44] Ariel: Mm-hmm.

[00:40:44] Toni: So I definitely see that for you. I wish you that I'm gonna pray that for you.

[00:40:49] Yeah. Because I can see that happening to you. I've heard you speak your dynamic speaker dynamic personality. So I, I definitely see that down the road, but in the meantime, I'm I'm gonna ask you to pick your favorite child. What's your favorite food truck and where can we find them at? Or if top three?

[00:41:08] Ariel: Okay. The beignet bar in Nashville, Tennessee. I always say them. They have these peach field beignets that I absolutely love.

[00:41:17] Toni: Okay.

[00:41:17] Ariel: Okay. So top one, number two. Ooh. All shucks, Birmingham, Alabama gourmet roasted corn.

[00:41:26] Toni: Delish, I'm sure.

[00:41:30] Ariel: And I'm gonna be biased to Alabama once again, but this time I'm going to mobile 2 51, and I'm gonna go to tray, pays rolling cafe. That is a sister that truly was a stranger has become more like family. She can cook just about anything you can imagine. And she's named that food truck after her son's tray and pay.

[00:41:50] Toni: So definitely awesome. How much does it cost to start? If you have a passion about whatever it is, and I can see you can do everything from corn to beignets.

[00:42:01] All of whatever it is, you enjoy fixing what does it cost to start a food truck?

[00:42:07] Ariel: So we're in inflation right now. So if someone said 40,000, that would've been cool prior to inflation. Now these numbers we're shifting, I would. Conservatively say 80,000, but, and that's because of metals, you know, we we've had shortages on different types of metals and pro and all of that has been an issue.

[00:42:28] You also wanna talk about whether or not you're getting a truck or a trailer. if you're getting it new or used. And like, those are some of the things that I bring up in the book for that reason is like, these are the things they're not thinking about. If you're getting a custom builded food truck and you walk to someone right now and say 40 grand, they may laugh in your face because of where we are.

[00:42:50] Like yesterday's price is not today's price. Even before the pandemic, it was not uncommon to hear of $125,000 food truck.

[00:43:00] Toni: Wow.

[00:43:01] Ariel: It was not uncommon then. Yeah, I know of some places where they'll charge. For example, if you're a chain like a McDonald's, you know, McDonald's and waffle house, and Chick-fil-A, if you go to certain places, they have food trucks.

[00:43:12] Now, those who are gonna start at 200,000, not because the trucker trailer is any different. Just the fact that they're a franchise mm-hmm . So it's not surprising to see a six figure food truck out.

[00:43:24] Toni: But you know what, comparatively speaking, if you're talking about that versus opening a restaurant, that's a huge difference.

[00:43:32] And, and I know it's a different business. I know food truck business is not a restaurant business. But if you're talking about like barriers to entry, when it comes to business, right, that's very accessible. And then I guess you can always buy an existing food truck or rent. You can buy a food truck. Okay.

[00:43:50] Ariel: So with buying it, of course, it's gonna spend more money up front. However, I'm not really seeing a whole lot of people renting food trucks. Some of that does happen. Like some people are starting to kind of treat the food trucks, like a rental car service or a popup service. So I'm not saying that it doesn't happen.

[00:44:10] I'm just saying that's usually not the norm. What will typically happen is people will buy. Someone's used food truck. And the thing is, is that while there were a lot of food trucks that boomed during COVID, there was a lot of food trucks that went out of business during. So a lot of people are looking for food trucks that are used, that are up for grabs right now.

[00:44:33] Toni: Gotcha. So now is a good time to get in there. If you have a little bit of cash and invest in it.

[00:44:39] Ariel: Yeah. Of course know what your menu is.

[00:44:42] Toni: But then you get your book, cause I'm sure your book is less than $40,000 and they can save a lot of money and a lot of steps. So tell us the name of your book again.

[00:44:52] Ariel: Correct. So that's correct. So before you launch a food truck, Eight questions. Every aspiring food trucker should ask it is available at the food truck scholar.com as well as amazon.com.

[00:45:04] Toni: Well that's black family table talk and following your passion around the things that you love. Ariel, thank you so much for being a part of our show today.

[00:45:15] I really appreciate you that I wish you all the blessings and love. I'll be waiting for that food truck tour that I see you starting in the next few years. So.

[00:45:26] Ariel: I received that and come along with me so you can have tried these benets.

[00:45:31] Toni: Oh, for sure. For sure. Thank you.

[00:45:34] Ariel: Thank you.

[00:45:42] Tony: That concludes this week's talk. We hope you found some tools to add to your strong black family toolbox and be sure to sign up for a free subscription at black family table. talk.com. But special discounts and product offers reserved exclusively for you. Don't forget to tell a friend about our weekly podcast and blog available on apple podcasts, Google, Pandora, Spotify, and everywhere.

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