Embarking on a creative journey often feels like navigating a ship through a storm; the waves of self-doubt and the winds of criticism never seem to relent. Join me as I open the logbook of my own voyage, recounting the early days of penning my first book amidst the chaos of depression and a full-time job. Hear how an encounter with a stranger and the influence of literary greats shaped my narrative, and the pivotal role of professional editing played in transforming initial setbacks into celebrated works, including a beloved children's book and an exciting collection of short stories.
From the solace of gospel music against the backdrop of childhood bullying to the unpredictable currents of Los Angeles' entertainment and tech industries, my path has been anything but ordinary. I recall the days at Woodside School of Performing Arts, the leap from singing on cruise ships to my first entrepreneurial venture gone awry, and how these experiences ignited a passion that propelled me into the tech world. The realities of LA's glamour are put under the spotlight as I dismantle the myth of overnight success and underscore the indispensable investments of time and patience.
In our most introspective moments, we find lessons and truths that shape our future. This episode peels back the curtain on the voiceover industry, detailing the trials of auditions and the competitive nature of the work, all while balancing a day job and the high costs of California living. Personal growth and resilience take center stage as we discuss my short film, "Chloe vs Yaya," a conversation starter on mental health that has both challenged and inspired me. We round off with insights into the transformative power of analytics and targeted advertising, highlighting the newfound control artists can wield over their visibility and success, exemplified by projects like the "Dating Assassi
Welcome to The CJ Moneyway Show Podcast! The Podcast Show where we Unlock Potential, One Dream at a Time. Today, we have another guest whose journey is truly worth hearing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Moneyway experience.
Don't miss out on CJ Moneyway's book, "Both Eyes Open and Both Eyes Shut." And get ready to pre-order his upcoming release, "The Issues of Life," coming soon. Moneyway aiming to inspire!
Thank you for listening to The CJ Moneyway Show! Don't forget to share this episode with your friends, leave a comment, and drop a review. Be sure to tune in every Tuesday and Friday for more inspiring journeys. Who knows, your story might be next.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, aspiring author, or just someone looking for a dose of motivation, this episode is packed with valuable insights and actionable advice.
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The CJ Moneyway Show on your favorite podcast platform. Your support helps us bring you more amazing guests and content each week!
Embarking on a creative journey often feels like navigating a ship through a storm; the waves of self-doubt and the winds of criticism never seem to relent. Join me as I open the logbook of my own voyage, recounting the early days of penning my first book amidst the chaos of depression and a full-time job. Hear how an encounter with a stranger and the influence of literary greats shaped my narrative, and the pivotal role of professional editing played in transforming initial setbacks into celebrated works, including a beloved children's book and an exciting collection of short stories.
From the solace of gospel music against the backdrop of childhood bullying to the unpredictable currents of Los Angeles' entertainment and tech industries, my path has been anything but ordinary. I recall the days at Woodside School of Performing Arts, the leap from singing on cruise ships to my first entrepreneurial venture gone awry, and how these experiences ignited a passion that propelled me into the tech world. The realities of LA's glamour are put under the spotlight as I dismantle the myth of overnight success and underscore the indispensable investments of time and patience.
In our most introspective moments, we find lessons and truths that shape our future. This episode peels back the curtain on the voiceover industry, detailing the trials of auditions and the competitive nature of the work, all while balancing a day job and the high costs of California living. Personal growth and resilience take center stage as we discuss my short film, "Chloe vs Yaya," a conversation starter on mental health that has both challenged and inspired me. We round off with insights into the transformative power of analytics and targeted advertising, highlighting the newfound control artists can wield over their visibility and success, exemplified by projects like the "Dating Assassi
Welcome to The CJ Moneyway Show Podcast! The Podcast Show where we Unlock Potential, One Dream at a Time. Today, we have another guest whose journey is truly worth hearing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Moneyway experience.
Don't miss out on CJ Moneyway's book, "Both Eyes Open and Both Eyes Shut." And get ready to pre-order his upcoming release, "The Issues of Life," coming soon. Moneyway aiming to inspire!
Thank you for listening to The CJ Moneyway Show! Don't forget to share this episode with your friends, leave a comment, and drop a review. Be sure to tune in every Tuesday and Friday for more inspiring journeys. Who knows, your story might be next.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, aspiring author, or just someone looking for a dose of motivation, this episode is packed with valuable insights and actionable advice.
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The CJ Moneyway Show on your favorite podcast platform. Your support helps us bring you more amazing guests and content each week!
Speaker 1:
I mean, timing is everything. I was not ready to be with a label of 22. I would have been eaten alive. You know what I mean. Because I didn't believe in myself, I didn't have any confidence, so I would have been eaten alive. Might have got a bad contract, which I was smart enough to avoid. Some bad publishing deals that came to my plate Because I said something's not right.
Speaker 1:
My intuition was always there, but I didn't know what intuition was back then. I didn't know what self-awareness was like that. Yeah, I mean it wasn't the right time to do what I needed to do, and neither was it for podcasts. I do agree with that. Timing is everything.
Speaker 2:
Everything. So, out of the four books you have published, which one was the most challenging?
Speaker 1:
I would say the first one. I was so young and green and I was 20 years old and I was working at the airport. I was going through a lot, you know, because I didn't finish I think I couldn't finish my first college of arts to lana because, you know, if you look at the money grabber that took advantage of me and I was depressed. So I said I remember, um, one day I was at work and I saw this real attractive lady at the airport and I thought I bet she had the perfect life. She, you know, she got the nice look, she had a nice body, she's just perfect. And I said to myself, hmm, I just thought about a story around her.
Speaker 1:
I didn't know, it just came to me and at the time I was reading Eric Jerome Dickey, a lot Eric Jerome Dickey. I started getting into him. Rest in peace, um. And I started just following his vibe and I said I. So I started creating the story around this woman and what her life could have been like. And, mind you, I was just I don't know how to edit, I was just writing I was an editor and I didn't know you needed to have an editor.
Speaker 1:
I didn't know. I knew it, but I didn't know it and I was young and I thought that because I can understand the book yeah, yeah, you know why I laugh at that, uh, uh.
Speaker 2:
I laugh because I wrote a book in 2015, right, and I started writing it in 2000. It was just amazing I was able to keep these notes and notebooks for that long. But I laughed because there was a guy that took my manuscript the guy that actually published it and he said you're definitely not a writer, because I was writing like I taught. That's how I just thought it was. I was writing like I taught and so, not knowing all the different uh, the the different angles that you gotta have and how you that that was father's, and I put it like this. I got a couple more things that I'm working on now and I will still do it the same way and I will pay somebody, you know, because that's just how that. That's my feeling. Then that's how I feel. Yeah, you know what?
Speaker 1:
we needed to do was pay somebody. That time I wasn't making much. I was making 525 an hour. It's 20 years old, so I didn't make enough to you know.
Speaker 1:
Find a proper editor and so at the time the best thing about the book was the picture, because I was able to get two attractive models to get on the cover and that was the coolest thing about the book. I didn't think the book was gonna blow up when I put on amazon I didn't think he was gonna be able to find it. I had no money to market it I was just like I had to put out something before I in my mind. I'm like, before I die, I gotta do something.
Speaker 1:
I gotta do something yeah um, and so I put it out. And also the story was motivational and I was like dang, I already bad reviews about the, about the editing, and I said, oh, I don't know, it's like what's going on how?
Speaker 1:
did you find this book. So I'm sitting here like, okay, what's going on? So I felt really bad. I got really sad because I said, dang, I thought this was going to be a book to change someone's life. So at that point I just I took the book down for a long time and then fast forward. Now, of course, when I got the tech, I was able to pay. A big boy found a big boy editor.
Speaker 1:
He rewrote the book. The book's back out there. But if anybody knows about amazon, anytime you, your book never goes down. So anytime you put a book on amazon, even if you want to take it down, it's never going to go down so you're always everybody's always going to see that old book and if you're using the same pictures, they're never going to go down.
Speaker 1:
So you're always, everybody's always going to see that old book, and if you're using the same pictures, they're always going to subconsciously tie it back to the old comments you know, and so that's the hard part. But after that the other books went well because I didn't have an editor.
Speaker 1:
The children's book the children's book Sammy Bean had no problems all five stars because I used the same editor, which is he's a talented editor John Riddle, by the way, he's very he's a beast. He's been a full time author and editor for decades but, he fixed that. He did my children's book and he's going to be editing my new book coming out soon that is a compilation of short stories book that's going to be coming out. So he's going to be editing that. So I'm excited about that. But, yeah, that that was my, that was my challenge, was the first book.
Speaker 2:
That was my challenge now, uh, with with books and this is something I just found out not too long ago, a couple Now. Did you know that with your podcast, the shows that you do and the interviews that you do, you can take all that and turn that into a book? I never thought about that. I'm just giving you one to grow on with that one. So because it just came to my attention. You know, I listened to a guy. He was talking. I said you know what? That's very interesting. He said say, like me and you doing an interview today, that's one or two chapters in itself. We at 37 Minutes.
Speaker 2:
Right now you can break it down into interviews and the book of a podcast interviews and sell it as an e-book, and so there's so many ways that you can make money around podcasting. But if you don't know it, then you don't know. So that's the thing, and so that's something that I put in my pocket that I'm going to look into sometime next year. I got a lot of things going on right now, but that's just one I'm going to look into sometime next year. I got a lot of things going on right now, but that's something that's just one I'm going to give you for free. That's amazing, man.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I like that because I always thought to myself I feel like I'm on a journey when I'm doing these interviews. I feel like I'm on a journey of some sort. It almost don't feel real when I'm interviewing people. It just feels like a journey. I don't know. I definitely could see this book yeah.
Speaker 2:
Well, think about it. Think about it like this. Think about it like this Say somebody didn't listen to this interview on Apple or Spotify or wherever your hosting site, pandora, whatever. They didn't hear the interview, but then now you put out this book that has that interview included. Now they may not have heard it on the podcast, but now they can read it in the book.
Speaker 1:
You know what? That's true because I was blogging my episodes using AI but I was like, well, why not, I guess blogging them? I mean I can do a book. Then, if I'm blogging, because I just put two blogs on my website, bloggerspodcastcom and. I said that would be cool if I could just copy and put in a book there. That's neat. I like that.
Speaker 2:
But even the stories are interesting, even the blogging. You know, I mean everything is an outlet because you never know. Okay, let's just say TDJ or somebody, a famous pastor, right, and they give an excellent message, and so everybody didn't hear that message. So Shay Shay come on her show and she said some of the things that may have been quoted throughout for the sermon, and so some people that didn't hear them say it, they heard you say it. That's just how life is.
Speaker 1:
That's true. That's true. That's interesting because people have different ways of finding stuff too. Some people are readers, some people are just men.
Speaker 2:
I mean, like me, I wrote a book, as we talked about. I wrote a book, do a podcast, and neither one of them am I really um, can I say avid? I'm not an avid reader, I read the bible, but but just far as what you're talking about, jerome dickie, I got three, four of his books upstairs in my bookshelf oh yeah, yeah, on my bookshelf. But I'm not just a, I'm not an avid reader like that, I'm more of a. I can listen to some things or I'm more of a visual person. So, like you say, everybody got their own lane. Okay, it's just like Facebook, right? Yeah, facebook, our Facebook people. And so we can promote a lot of stuff on Facebook as far as our material, our podcast shows and this and that, but Facebook, our Facebook people, they're not really coming on Facebook to. I realized that.
Speaker 1:
I almost wanted to get off. I wanted to get off because I really don't like Facebook. I'm going to be honest with you. I wanted to just get off of it. I was thinking about it numerous times because I said I like Google Ads anyway. So if I run it because the only reason why I stayed on Facebook is because I want to run ads- but then I said I can just do Google Ads and just move away from Facebook, because I just don't like the energy.
Speaker 1:
I'm just too deep for Facebook to me, I'm just too deep.
Speaker 2:
I do it, I, I, I we'll talk about that offline, but I don't want to alienate nobody, so um, so what inspired you to cover all the bases in the entertainment, in the entertainment industry?
Speaker 1:
um, all the bases, I don't you know.
Speaker 1:
It just kind of fell in my lap you know, like I said, the book I wrote, I somebody, I saw a lady, she is just I got inspired. I was already reading eric drum dicky, I was starting to read paulo coelho the alchemist, and, and you know, I started reading omar tyree and it was just kind of like I was just getting entranced by it like I want to get I just it just came to me. So I started writing and stuff and it was a way to it's like an outlet. And then, but music, the first time I got into music I was like 12 years old, like that started when I was super young because that was my way to feel like I could do something.
Speaker 1:
I wasn't good in school or anything like that and I thought, if I can, if I'm just good at music, then I'm somebody, I have something to say or I got something going on. And, um, music was like that outlet. And I started singing at the ymca. I went to ymca lives to sing gospel songs and I started getting into the isley brothers. I started singing kelly price and I noticed the bully stopped bothering me, because the bullies just like to hear me start singing. The bully shut up, up.
Speaker 1:
I love Kelly, I'm just gonna keep singing and I memorize rap songs. Memorize rap music, that was my thing. I did poetry. I went to performing arts high school, so I went to Woodside School of Performing Arts. I, you know kind of. I spent my teenage years in Virginia. So I went there and it just came to me.
Speaker 1:
And then music came to me and then the entrepreneurship bug didn't come until I was like 23, like 23, 24. And at that point it was just, it was just, you know, just random sales. I was just selling stuff at different events. I wasn't really a business owner like LLC type until I got older to like 28. That's when I started getting into the whole LLC thing and started really taking it seriously and getting things done.
Speaker 1:
But yeah, my first real business was a coffee. I owned a coffee line but then that didn't, that subsided because some things didn't work out with the coffee line. But that was my first real business that I was going to make an loc and everything, because I love coffee. You know, I love coffee and I said this will be great. I can, I can sell coffee and it was going to be my brand because I was working with a farmer from africa that lived in the us and it was going to be. It was called sequoias coffee, but it didn't work out because his, his wife, thought that I was trying to talk to him, or exactly why I thought I wanted him and I didn't. So I don't know, but he was like 75.
Speaker 1:
I was like what because at the time I had just got off the boat, I was singing on carnival cruise lines. So I was 24 at that time and I was singing for carnival cruise lines and I was doing their game show nights too. And so when I realized the boat, life wasn't for me, I can't be on this boat because it was claustrophobic. I was, the entertainers were at the bottom of the boat and I was just feeling like I was just felt tight and I felt doing my shyness. But I was getting over it. You know, because I wanted to, I wanted to feel like I was doing entertainment full time but, that wasn't the right.
Speaker 1:
that wasn't the right way to do it. And then they didn't want me to wear my hair the way I wanted. I was only black, um, entertainer there on that side, uh, and they didn't want me to wear braids or nothing, and at the time I didn't have locks back then, but I had braids that they didn't. They told me I wasn't allowed to do that, and then also, I just felt it, just just. I just felt like the boat. Life wasn't for me, so I got off the boat, and then that's when I met the, the coffee shop owner, um, that owned the coffee, and I said, oh, what's, what is a better time to start a coffee brand? I just put out my album limitless.
Speaker 1:
I just got off the boat, um, and that's when I got to that and people was buying the coffee. I would go to gas station say, hey, can I, can I sign up, can I stand here and talk about my coffee? And they let me stand there and talk about my coffee. I would make sales, but it just wasn't the right time, and that's when we go back to timing. It was not the right time and I was with the wrong people. And the coffee was amazing, though, and it was a big business. There was not a lot of black female coffee owners at the time.
Speaker 1:
There was probably not any. Now there is, but back then there was none, when I was 25.
Speaker 1:
And so it was like that thing. And then that's when I got the bug. I said I can do this. And that's when, you know, fast forward to when I got in tech, that's when I was able to start really digging my feet into that and getting to the entrepreneur side and selling things. And it was just one of those things where it just came to me and I just it just came to me. I just came to me and, um, I just it just came to me. I'm not explaining it, but that's how it was. The music, the podcast, all of it just came to me. And when this podcast came with the second time during pandemic or before, right before the pandemic in la I was just trying to talk about my experience in la, because people make it seem like you go to la, you just it's gonna be all.
Speaker 1:
You're gonna be famous yeah that's not how it works you need money and you need time. You can't have money in no time and you can't have time and no money you need both, especially if you're black. You can't go out there and say I'm just gonna just do whatever. No, you gotta have your pictures updated. I'm talking about all the time. There's times they want different type pictures. These pictures ain't cheap and you got la rent.
Speaker 1:
That's seventeen hundred dollars a month if you stand in the studio. So you have all these things going on and I had to go there and learn things. And then I had to learn you don't need an agent. I had to learn a whole bunch of crap and that's you know. I'm going on tangent, my bad, but no, no, no, I'm trying to help somebody.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and so that's when I started the podcast. I started telling people hey, this is what's going on, this is what I'm seeing, and you know you started learning the game. You started learning Because I was supposed to be there with my ex but we didn't work out because I didn't ask him the right questions. So you know, we had to go our separate ways and I ended up being there by myself and I just didn't want to go back home because I wanted to experience how it is to be on my own, far away from the fam, for a bit. How is it to be? Can I do this? And I proved people. I was there for four or five years.
Speaker 1:
Oh, yeah, yeah, I did for a hot minute and I shocked myself because I never, you know, I didn't know how far tech is going to take me. At a time I just graduated from a tech uh program. I didn't know how far it was going to take me, but it took me. It held me, held me down and I was able to do what I had to do. But you had to choose between your tech job or going to audition.
Speaker 1:
A lot of times, all these auditions especially you're, you're not, you're not making enough money. You know you gotta think about california taxes. They're taking half of your check and you've seen Taraji P Henson talk about it. I mean, she's big, I'm a little fry, but if you make $1,000 for one day, you're not getting $1,000 back, buddy. And if you have an agent, you got to pay her too. If you got to get your hair done, you know you got to pay that person. All these things you have to pay for. So you're not getting that money back. So you have to keep your day job. I didn't want to suffer. Some people want to suffer and get there. I wanted to thrive and get there. I wanted to be able to eat a nice piece of steak. I wanted to be able to eat some shrimp. I didn't want to struggle to get there. That's one thing I just didn't want to do.
Speaker 2:
I'm glad you didn't have to struggle because I'm just listening to you and all the different things and the different avenues that you took to get to where you are. God had you covered the whole time. Yeah, that's just what I'm hearing. I was shocked.
Speaker 1:
I mean it's just synchronicity, Because God, when you ask God stuff, you know, I don't think God answers everything. But God has some tough stuff for me, and when I ask for some stuff, you know God don't. I don't think God answers everything, but God has to stop. Some tough stuff for me, and when I ask for some stuff, I got the answer. When you ask for something, I swear everything works to conspire to help. You see it?
Speaker 2:
it say knock and the door shall open. Ask and you shall receive, you know. So I mean close mouth, don't get fed. But you had a purpose in life, and so he's always going to protect that purpose, especially when you move it forward. Now there's a lot of times when we stay stationary in life, we don't have to afford progress, and so therefore, we're thinking things not being done, well the thing is. Well, god's not doing that. Well, the thing is, you're not doing that there we go?
Speaker 1:
You can't. You know, faithful fellow works his day. Just sit there and be like Lord. You know, go get me a job, but I'm not going to apply.
Speaker 2:
Like you know, as the old saying goes, money just don't fall on trees, you know? No, it don't, it don't. I wish it did, because I would be under one man, I'd be sipping tea somewhere, ain't it? So, being a voiceover artist, what is that process like?
Speaker 1:
So for that it's. You know it's a lot of auditions, of course. It's just like acting and you can do different voices. So, for instance, you know you might do, somebody might want their book recorded, so you might just record for their book. You know, do some characters and stuff like that. You got cartoon, which is what I really want to do. I'm trying to get into it more heavy. But cartoons, commercials, stuff like that, that's voiceover and that's what I'm into and I just audition. All the time I audition and I just hope to get something and it's competitive. But you just don't give up, you just keep going and I still do my own like I'll do my own skits so I can have stuff ready. I didn't put on my website yet, but I am going to put on the website, um, so people can see my skits and stuff. But yeah, I can change my voice. I like doing cartoons the most it's the most fun.
Speaker 2:
So have you been in any animated cartoon movies or films or anything?
Speaker 1:
not yet just Just my film, chloe vs Yaya, but it wasn't voiceover, it was me, I wrote and directed it. I mean wrote it and produced it and I had someone help me direct it which is on my YouTube Chloe vs Yaya, my short film I did in LA, so I did that one and voiceover. I haven't gotten a role in that yet, but I'm working on it and I'm trying to do, of course, my cartoons.
Speaker 2:
That's what.
Speaker 1:
I prefer to do.
Speaker 2:
Cartoon Stuff is cool, but cartoons are more fun, okay, so, okay, like the animation, cartoon, things of that nature, yeah, so, just a sidebar question is just for me. So, as far as your voiceover, like you say you do for books, so your voiceover, what are your prices, depending?
Speaker 1:
Well, my prices it depends on what I got to do, like, if it's something, if it's a big book and I'm in the whole book, then yeah, it could be like 500 bucks, because I'm just trying to be fair. I don't have an agent, no more. I had an agent but I fair, I don't have an agent, no more I have. I had an agent but I realized I don't need an agent because I I'm able to get my own auditions.
Speaker 1:
Yeah but it's I think people need an agent if they do not know how to find something okay, they don't know how to find stuff, but I know how to find stuff, so, um, so yeah, it could. Just 500 bucks would be fine, and if it's a really big book, then yeah, it could be a thousand dollars okay, and if it's some, yeah, major film and I'm doing like a animation or something like that, then yeah, it needs to be like way more, like five grand or something.
Speaker 2:
Oh, let's see.
Speaker 1:
Well, yeah, I mean, especially if I got a big role.
Speaker 2:
Now if it's just a small role, then you know, hey, you are the money, you are the money, and so vegas been good to you. So, um, so, what inspired, since you're talking about the film, so what inspired you to do this short film about mental health?
Speaker 1:
Well, Chloe vs Yaya. I was inspired because I was watching this movie. I was watching this movie called what was it called Split? So the movie Split, the guy that played it wanted. He was like called no Split. So the movie Split, the guy that played in Wanted. He was like the main character and I admired his work. I said this guy's talented man, Just the way he just transitioned from different personalities and you know he had mental health issues but he was able to. He had some schizophrenia to the core but he was like eight different people. And I said this guy changed his whole mannerisms, his old vibe.
Speaker 1:
This is interesting and I feel like to me. I'm a I'm a black artist that wants to type into sci-fi, thriller, horror. I don't really want to do typical stuff. So I got so inspired so I gotta do quiver's yaya. And so it was expensive just trying to do that little film. Um, you know it was so expensive and I said, oh man, but I did it anyway. It was very short but I was able to tap into. Um, just this character of you know, yaya, like chloe, is a successful lawyer. You know she feels like she has it all but she doesn't even know she skits, so she doesn't know she has issues. She doesn't know what she changes into yaya and when she changes into yaya.
Speaker 1:
She's a totally different person. The swagger, the energy changes. She doesn't know what she's doing wrong, she's sassy, she's not as nice, she's not as you know. Everything changes about her, and so I just thought that was cool, because some people like to make it seem like everything's made, they got the perfect life, and everything's not always perfect, and I think that this is trying to.
Speaker 1:
What I'm trying to do is show people that there's stuff going on out here with people that you don't even know about, and also that maybe you might have the issue and you don't know. So it's just bringing that awareness and I've had people reach out to me and saying thanks for doing this. My daughter has this, this and that I mean I show her this, this helps. So I really felt like I, it was like I was called to do that. So I really felt like I was called to do that. But that's the type of movies I want to do is sci-fi, thriller. You know, horror cause, I mean, and Chloe vs Yaya is not done. It's just that it takes time to do films. You know you got the major actors trying to get hit with films. You know I don't want some rinky dink film. I want it to be quality so I asked you that question.
Speaker 2:
That was a good question, with something that I saw, because I will talk to you later about it or at another time, because I'm dealing with my wife's cousin right now and our, and last year they did a pro, they did event, a mental health event, and so this year they're doing another event, uh, for Juneteenth, but it's still surrounded around mental health and they have, you know, artists coming on. Uh, some some girl that did, she was on the, on the voice and things. As a matter of fact, I supposed to be interviewing them May 5th, uh, sunday, so I have more information, and so I just thought about that to the point where the things that we do, like me meeting you and me, like we can do things together, or you know people that have the same interests or the same that's on the same thing, like mental health. That's not my lane, you know. That's not something that I do, but I am dealing with people. That is their lane and that's things that they're big on and something that they make their mission, and so we'll see where they come up with that, because they do the same thing they do filming and they do films and try to make movies out of certain things and this and that, but we're talking about that at a later date.
Speaker 2:
I think that'd be good for something for you guys. Um, yeah, it's interesting. So my last question how did you overcome?
Speaker 1:
just like you were saying you know earlier, just about you know, uh, you know people not seeing your vision and maybe you know that's just god's vision that was given to you. I, I didn't know that until later on and I, it took me years and, um, it took me until I was like 28, 29 to realize that this is just my lane, this is my vision, with these things I'm doing, and if somebody doesn't agree with it or like it, it doesn't mean that it's over. It means that person doesn't like it. You know, and I can still do this, and I had to it became. It was like self-awareness, it was like looking into myself and finding out who the heck I was and what I wanted and what meant, what life meant to me. And I was able to say you know what? I'm gonna die alone and I don't have nothing. I'm paying my own bills. They alone and I don't have nothing. I'm paying my own bills. They don't have nothing to do with me. And at the end of the day, if you don't like it, turn it off. And that's what I, that's what I feel like. And if, even if it's your friends or family, they're not supposed to understand everything you're doing. They don't want to like your stuff, or look at your stuff and click on it and share it. I don't care, because I'm going to do.
Speaker 1:
And when I got to that, when I got to that state, it came fruitful. Everything became much more fun, like I don't have to worry about who's liking this. What's going on. I mean, you're just like man, I'm just putting it out there. It is what it is, you know, and if it blows up, cool. And if it, if it doesn't, I mean I'm saying you shouldn't promote certain things because, yes, you do need to invest, but if there's people that's close to you that don't understand, it's okay, because there's strangers that will, there's strangers that will, and that's how I overcame it.
Speaker 2:
And that's so true because, man, I feel you. It's like we brothers and sisters from another planet. Because I feel you? Because I just talked to this young lady. She owns a publishing company right here in Gary and I was talking to her and it was the last day of the Women's Month in March the Women's I forgot what it. It was talking about Women's Month or whatever. So she had an event and she was talking to the Queen of Ghana. She was on a conference call with the Queen of Ghana, oh, wow. And so one thing that she was telling me she said that if people don't invest, she said three things people can do. She said they can invest their time, their energy or their money with you. She said if they don't invest either one of these three, then they're not supporting you. You know what I'm saying? So they're not really supporting you if they can't give you time, because everybody got time oh yeah they can't.
Speaker 2:
They your energy, like like, if you're talking to somebody and you're talking about uh, your your movie, your your film, your short film, but they really like that. But every time you try to say something about that, they want to talk about some nonsense or some things that don't really matter, about nothing. So they're not giving you their energy and they're definitely not gonna give you their money.
Speaker 1:
So no, my folks be like do you got a job?
Speaker 2:
you know that's not my thing and you know, and it's, and it's crazy, because the people whom you think will support you the most be the ones that be standing on the sidelines the most. And so I say that to say this is what the lady told me and something that you said. She said that a lot of times, people that surround you, people that you know family, friends, whoever it is she say what God may have for you may not be local, it may be global. Yeah, so I have more people. I'm from, like I said, the Midwest. I have more followers listening to me in new york and california and florida than I do in my own city and, yep, it is what it is, you know the same way.
Speaker 1:
You know people listening from all over the place I'm like, oh well, you know, this is.
Speaker 2:
This was who's resonated with and that's fine with me because, at the end of the day, because I did something not too long ago, at the end of the day, because I had the same mentality that you have to build your, because I'm not that type of person.
Speaker 2:
I do want people to care, you know, because I want to care about what other people doing, because it don't cost anything to support. Right, it don't, and so sometimes I can't understand why some of the people that I, that I know, I hang out with, whatever this and that that you know you can't fully support. So I had to get over that and, like you said, it made me feel better about myself. When you get over that, like you know what, I don't care if my mama don't like it, I don't care if my wife don't like I don't care if my wife don't like it, I don't care, I'm going to do me. Because a lot of times, I think people feel this, though because they're not supporting you and they're not rocking with you, or that things that you're doing don't make sense to them, then it ain't doing nothing. But, as you and I know, through analytics and through the dashboards and the things that we see, I see numbers. I see numbers.
Speaker 1:
When I saw the numbers, I said I better keep talking. There's people looking and watching. Yeah, every time I run ads and I took an ad class, I think it was 2022 I saw even more numbers. I was like, oh, the people just need to find me Because that's what you know labels did. That's what labels do for artists. They have the money for what ads? If you have your own money for ads and you know how to do it.
Speaker 1:
You can do the same thing for anything you're trying to do, podcasting music, just anything you can do it, and that's what I had to figure that out.
Speaker 2:
Alright, I'm going to end it on this, so is there anything else you would like to say for the people I just want to say thanks for having me on here, and I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:
Sorry if I went off on a tangent, but I had a good time on here.
Speaker 2:
It's all good. It's all good, somebody got something from me. So my people out there go out there. If you haven't heard anything else today, go out there and get the dating game. Dating assassins, I'm going to go, grab mine, you go, grab yours, grab mine, you go, go. Hey, you go grab yours. You have been listening to the CJ Moneyway Show with your boys, cj and Shay Shay Blue. Hey, hold on one second.
