ON THE PURSUIT PODCAST (PRST)
On the Pursuit (PRST) Podcast connects with entrepreneurs, movers and shakers that are making a real impact in life & business and we share these stories to motivate and inspire you to take action in your life. Now kickback and enjoy the show whether you are chilling, working out or on-the-move.
ON THE PURSUIT PODCAST (PRST)
Building Success in Life & Music | MaZing
Meet MaZing, a dynamic musician and entrepreneur, who shares his inspiring journey through the cultural richness of the city and how it shapes his art. We explore the significance of environment in personal and professional development, highlighting the irreplaceable value of face-to-face interactions despite the rapid technological advancements that connect artists globally.
MaZing shares his vision for future success, balancing personal aspirations with financial growth. The conversation touches on the promising prospects of subscription models and the art of building community support. With valuable insights on communication and self-awareness, listeners are encouraged to harness available opportunities and remain authentic on their creative paths. Whether you're an emerging artist or a seasoned creative, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge to fuel your artistic and entrepreneurial aspirations.
Welcome to the Honor Pursuit Podcast, where we connect with entrepreneurs, movers, shakers and business owners who've built amazing things on the pursuit of their goals and dreams. And I'm your host, brendan Boyd. What's up y'all? Welcome to another episode of the Honor Pursuit Podcast. We interview six, seven, eight, even nine-figure entrepreneurs. Right, it's important that we learn from them. Right, we were able to, uh, get some information from them, things that they've been through on their journey, to make it easier for you and I and other people consuming this content so you can get to your goals even faster.
Speaker 1:And on today's episode, um, I got a friend, I got a brother, we're in miami you know what I'm saying which is a great place to be at love it and um, today's going to break down what he's been up to musically, what he's got going on as far as business entrepreneurship, and we'll just continue to drive him and stuff like that. Ma Zane, welcome to the pod, bro. What up?
Speaker 2:baby. What's good man. Thank you so much for having me. I'm grateful and incredibly blessed to be here.
Speaker 1:No, I mean, this is great, bro. This is great, I know. The last time I saw you was in LA a couple years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think you came by the spot. I think you had a lambo. I think you pulled up in a lambo. I might have been I think it was a drop top lambo. It was like you and someone else, I think y'all were shooting content for music. I believe, yeah my boy Lucas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that was.
Speaker 2:What was it? That was 2020. I was going to say Right before the pandemic.
Speaker 1:That's what I was about to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought I saw you after that though in LA, because I went to LA a couple times after I don't know man, that's that because we were working, we weren't worked out in the morning and stuff.
Speaker 2:That's the that's what I remember, the most.
Speaker 1:I don't remember that. I don't remember time after that okay, yeah, but whatever it just gets to show you that like, so we're from the same city and we've been, you know, connected since then. You moved, I moved, you grow, you've been growing, I've been growing, yeah, still still connecting, and stuff like that, and now in a whole new place to kind of make it happen. So, bro, what actually brings you to?
Speaker 2:Miami I came down. I was having a show on Tuesday night at Savage Labs Dude an unfortunate, unforeseen circumstance. I couldn't make it. But also, you know, I wanted to come down and chop it up with you and do a couple other things. See, some people that I know and I'm looking to move Well, not fully move, but I'm looking to get a spot over here in Miami too. So I just love it here. You know, for the past close to 10 years I've been coming a couple times a year at least down here. So I love the environment, I love everything about the city.
Speaker 1:I would agree with you, and we talked a little bit about environment, energy. So what do you think about this environment? That has not only attracted you like you said, you've been coming here a couple of times in a year but when you're actually here, what does the energy, what does the environment do for you to help you grow and just kind of move and shake?
Speaker 2:I think it's super relaxing being out here, even though there's this kind of influx of energy that you feel while you're moving around and meeting people, talking, whatever, because there's parties. You got the beach, you got this that. I love to swim and I love the ocean and living in Dallas, that's something that we don't really have. You know, I might get to go to a pool, but it's not the same as waking up and going to watch the sunset on the beach or watching the sunset on the beach and just going for a swim, hanging out, catching some sun. So I love the environment because of that, and then I just love the people around here. I love the Latin culture. I speak some Spanish, so it's fun to practice. I love the Latin culture. I speak some Spanish, so it's fun to practice.
Speaker 1:Do you think that environment is important in terms of growing not only professionally but just as a person?
Speaker 2:Yes, I think traveling in general is really important. You can have a reach and you can touch a lot of people online and through social media, but you have to touch the road and touch the people. They have to see you, feel what it's like to be around you, so they have to connect what they see versus what's real. You know what I'm saying Cause they can. You know, you can chat online and blah, blah blah, make videos and have a persona as an online presence, but people want to touch you. People want to talk to you. People want to see who you really are in the flesh.
Speaker 1:How important is that in music now? And the reason why I say that is because you don't technically need to test the people. You don't need to. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, you don't need to. You don't necessarily need to. Yeah, you got to create an audience and a fan base. You can put our music, but you can technically never pour and just create that demand and really just be where you're at producing music. Right, you know, you don't necessarily have to touch, but you can.
Speaker 1:It's an interesting dynamic where we are in 2024 and just moving forward with technology you know what I mean? Ai, all the stuff's coming Because you can really just be in your space as an artist. Now, because I have some opinions on it too, and I'm not an artist, I'm just, you know, I have some marketing background, but I feel like as an artist, you can really hit the nail on the head in your space, produce music that really hits, and not really have to go to different cities or you could do both to kind of make it happen. So what's your thoughts on that? Do you feel like one way or the other, or a little bit of both?
Speaker 2:I agree with what you said. I think for me, this is what's working. For me. A lot of artists blow up fast and they blow up, like you said, just doing their thing in their city and they pop and then they go and travel or go and tour or do whatever. But for me I've been more on like a slow grind. So I think it's important for me to go and travel, yeah, you know to, in combination with the online presence and the marketing and all of those things.
Speaker 1:So what are some of the things or some of the ways that has helped you be successful in music and then have some staying power? Because you've been producing, you know, in front, in the back, being creative, putting out consistent work over the years. Yeah, what, what about it has kept you going?
Speaker 2:I think when I started recording, I was doing recording as an artist and then I was also doing some engineering and producing for other artists when I was living in Boston. So I think just learning the ins and outs of kind of how the industry works in terms of the studio and how you know studio time works and then create, creating, how to you know what connects with different people, what makes them tick, how do you push them, you know, I think continuing to try to grow and evolve the sound has been important as well, and I think traveling for me that's really helped me, like just the experiences that I have to then put it into the music, the energy that I'm receiving and going around I'm like I'm that very much that kind of person, like sitting at the house is cool or just like doing my own thing is cool, but I really like to meet new people, be around people and get in that kind of that cooperative, collaborative, um, space and mindset.
Speaker 1:So I think it's a combination of different things so what do you, what do you know to be true about being an artist now versus, let's's say, a decade ago?
Speaker 2:A decade ago was like when streaming was becoming more popular, so it's definitely changed a lot. I think the main thing obviously is as an independent artist, you can develop and you can get revenue on your own, versus needing a major label or having backing. A lot of the stuff I'm doing is I'm funding everything. So you know it comes with its own challenges. I know when the time is right I'll align with the right people or the right entity to help push my shit to the next level.
Speaker 1:So how are you getting money in music now, or how are the artists based on what you're doing now? How could they learn from you to get money that way, Like what's?
Speaker 2:working. I'm not even going to lie to you, bro. I'm not making a lot of money on music right now. I'm making some money off of streaming. I'm making some money off of shows, but it's not like I have at this moment. I shows, but it's not like I have a. At this moment I have a specific rate. Boom, you got to book me for this price. You got to go through this channel to book me, because I'm booking shit on my own. You know, I think if I had someone that was speaking on behalf of me and advocating for me, I would have a different type of leverage, and I think, as I grow my audience, I'll, you know, have more leverage to demand more Is your revenue stuck.
Speaker 1:If you're an entrepreneur and your revenue is stuck, you don't need to fix your products or services. You need new audiences to discover you more consistently. Podcast guesting is the ideal way to be discovered 24 hours a day by your ideal clients. And guess what? The more people that know you, the more people can flow. You Head over to podcastmasterypackcom and take advantage of your first or next podcast. Let's go. So what would you say your audience is right now? Where is your audience? And then, if you had to put a number on it, what size would you say your audience is?
Speaker 2:So I got a pretty solid base back home in Massachusetts. I got a solid base out in Texas and in Dallas because I've been traveling a lot in Dallas. I got a solid base out in Texas and in Dallas. I've been traveling a lot in Dallas I'm not in Dallas in Texas this year and then I got a few people that listen to me here in Toronto and Canada and then a few people in Europe, but the majority of the people here in the States I want to say at least 60 to 80% is here in the US. Got you.
Speaker 1:You know what man?
Speaker 1:I could do this too on here, like videos on nah, because, like I did this video, like I'm gonna share some things with you.
Speaker 1:Because I kind of did, I did a breakdown in my opinion, how an artist and I did in 2023, how artists in 2023 can get a digital bag, which I feel, like most artists they are, it's a mix of leaving on a table with a mix of don't know that it's available. Yeah, because I feel like and this can kind of work for creators, but I feel like this is more tailored to artists, musicians, people to actually make music. Yeah, because it's kind of like podcasting, where if you're a new podcast store or if you want to create a podcast, subconsciously no one's told you this, but you believe that you can only make money through YouTube sponsorships and brand deals, mm-hmm, so that's what they look for. So, with music and you can correct me if I'm wrong here I feel like when artists come out, they feel it's merch, it's touring, getting paid, and then obviously getting with a label. It doesn't have to be a big label, but somebody that can back them so they can have some bread, right, is that?
Speaker 2:accurate. Yeah, I agree with you For the most part.
Speaker 1:Yeah, All right. So this is how I feel. If you're an artist and you guys could I mean you're going to tell me, you know what I'm saying, what you think yeah, but this is how I feel like an artist can really get to a bag 2020, now. 2024, 2025 now, right. So the first thing that I would do if I was an artist is I would build a business around me. Number one, right, so let's say you. So whatever the name of your business is and your name, cause your name is your brand. I would make sure one that I have, let's say it's imperfect action media, which is actually named my business, but let's say it was okay, imperfect action records something, or imperfect action entertainment, better yet, boom, I want to build a business around that. I want to get the ein llc business account, uh, business address, phone number, you know like, build that actual business once I have an actual business. Uh, if my credit, if my credit profile score isn't popping as of yet, get that in order.
Speaker 1:I'm in the sevens, whatever, low sevens, even 680, whatever my profile's. Good, now I can get access to capital funding. Right, I can go to Bank of America, truist Chase, pnc Key. I can go to these banks. Now I have 50, 100, 250 to play with. I can fund my entertainment company, right. So now I have some capital, right? Right, because most of these artists like, oh, I need, I need a label, I need this, I need this. Why? Because y'all need, I need money. But now your company has the money for you, right? It's credit or loan, so you can always use that. That money's not going away, right, so that's my foundation. Then what I would do is first, what? What do you think about that?
Speaker 2:I think that's cool, all right, but yeah, I know you're going to get to this, but the next thing is you got to be. You got to get the revenue to then offset the cost of what you're spending.
Speaker 1:So now we talk about how, what are some ways we can do that, right? Right. So I'm an artist, so I am making music, I am doing videos, I am perfecting my craft, I am a better writer. These are the things you have to do anyway, right? So now I'm like how can I monetize my art when I'm building up my fan base, whether it be through streams, downloads, whatever and I'm new, so no one knows about me yet whether it be through streams, downloads, whatever and I'm new, so no one knows about me yet. So the next thing I would do is, as I'm putting out the music, I would start building a community, a paid community and a free one. I would have to have a free community so I can get name, numbers, emails, I can build and cultivate, but then I would have a paid community so that paid community could start giving me, start supporting the music. Right? So if you have I don't know, let's say you got a thousand, a thousand people yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's say you got a thousand true fans and another. Those thousand true fans. You got a hundred of them that are willing to invest in the other nine hundred on your free group. You got a hundred of them that are willing to invest and the other 900 are in your free group. So now you got a thousand contacts, but you got 10% of them people that are paying you, I don't know. Let's say it's $49 a month.
Speaker 1:So that's what five grand a month. So now your music is generating 60K. And now what are you going to do with this? Well, I have a community that's supporting me, these people that are paying me. If I pull up to these cities, they're going to show up because I'm investing my free people. I can activate them whenever because it's like you're going to be in the city. Pull up. And now, in this paid community, I can pre-release music. I can give them exclusives, I can test songs before they drop. I can do virtual shows, which I feel like is very underrated. If I was an artist, I would do a virtual show every month. You know what I'm saying. Do a virtual show. That's something I haven't thought about. Really, do behind the scenes in the studio. What up y'all? What's going on?
Speaker 2:I go live a lot though, like when I'm in the studio and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:But you're go live on the gram, but then I will also record some stuff and then dump that for my paid people like yo. This is we had this fire conversation where brendan pulled up. We was talking boom, boom, boom, boom. Y'all can get that in here, right, right. So now you got a paid community boom. What else would I would do? Digital assets, you know so. So maybe Products, digital products. So maybe you're releasing you know name a song you dropped, maybe the one you recently.
Speaker 2:I dropped. Is this Love last month? I'm dropping Break Sweat tomorrow, boom.
Speaker 1:Is this Love? So, is this Love on a digital product? You can make an e-book. Uh, you can make an ebook off of the lyrics. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:If let's say you was talking about I don't know cause I haven't heard the song, but let's say the cadence of the song is about a woman or something about a relationship you're going through. You can drop an audio with that and our audio is you and a girl basically having a conversation, or maybe you're painting the story of what was the inspiration behind that. So now you got now you got the digital um lyrics, you got a little audio of like your real emotions that they can get tapped in with, and then you can add you can throw in a little video, a little three minute video. What up, guys, listen, I'm glad you tapped into this. This is where I was at the time. This is where I'm at now. I just want to encourage you guys to do whatever you need and put your raw emotion into whatever you got going. This is my raw emotions in this and they can buy that digital product.
Speaker 1:It's like a little mini bundle for that song, right, right. So if I want to experience that song, I can stream it, I can download it, I can watch the video. If there's a video, if I want more access to it, I can purchase that bundle, and then you can throw merch in there too, which you can pre-sell. So once they pay, you can then use that for a drop shit situation. Or, with the community, I can say hey, listen, if you bought this bundle or if you're in the community, we're doing a live performance of this song Friday during the release.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, because you constantly want to feed these people. And then what's great about you which a lot of artists don't do, but I feel like a little more of them that are smart and being a little bit more vocal they're investing. So you're also in the real estate space, right, you, you invest, you look for different opportunities to monetize. Yeah, you can add in some of those cues to educate your community. Because what's what? What? What's the knock on hip-hop right now? It's kind of negative, you know, not saying your music is, but right.
Speaker 2:we look at some of the larger artists we're talking about in general.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in general the labels push is definitely negative, negative.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying. So if you're like yo, listen, I'm going to give y'all value and I'm going to teach y'all. You know what I'm saying. I don't have to teach y'all in. But then, because you're my community, I'm teaching you how I started my, my entertainment company. I'm teaching you how to get your credit together. I'm teaching you how you can invest in your first real estate property with no money down. I'll teach you how you can buy your first retail real estate. You know, uh property. I'm teaching you how to get into. You know this business, that business, maybe teaching you how to get into you know this business and that business, maybe government contracting or maybe drop shipping. Like your community, not only can have music, but you can inspire people and really help people in a different way.
Speaker 1:That's really interesting, all digitally.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, and we only test on two things. But the reason why I'm saying this is because if you can control your fan base and your audience from your phone through text messages and emails and you understand, this is the fire part, bro let's say you do it. Let's say boom, you basically had a pop-up show here, right. But let's say hey, community, I'm coming to Miami, come to my show, come to the meet and greet, come to my session on how you can do your real estate situation. That's three different joints. You could do something Friday, saturday, sunday, the whole weekend. It's like I'm going to give you music, I'm going to give you some education, I'm going to give you a meet and greet Show, content photos, whatever. I'm going to sign all the joint. I'm going to give you a meet and greet. So content photos, whatever. I'm going to sign all the joint. I'm going to sell merch. It's a whole vibe.
Speaker 2:That's cool.
Speaker 1:It's a whole vibe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's how artists now and that's obviously just a little piece, but I feel like that's how artists now can really go to the next level, because think about this, bro, a lot can really go to the next level.
Speaker 2:Because think about this, bro, yeah, a lot of this stuff. I don't mean to cut you off.
Speaker 1:No, it's good, I'll just be going. Yeah, a lot of these things that you mentioned.
Speaker 2:I didn't think about a lot of them. You know what I mean, but I have been considering how to give certain people more access or create some exclusivity in giving more. You know, what I'm saying. Yeah, To be creative about that, but a lot of those things you mentioned, those are really really different Bro people are starving for more.
Speaker 1:The problem is we're so used to regular and mediocre, which is not a negative. It's just what we're used to. We're used to an artist dropping a song, maybe got a TikTok with it. It's going to go viral, not going to go viral, that's it we're used to. Okay, album rollout tour, I think one of the smartest and okay, these are, these are my top artists right now and I'll tell you why. Yeah, La Russell, rough Tory Lynch those are my top artists as an entrepreneur, Because Russ really understands the music business and I'm going to interview you Come in soon, Russ. What up, you know what it is. So Russ studied the game. Yeah, Right. So what Russ did was he was like oh, I need this piece, I need this piece and I need this piece. Okay, let me get this piece, let me get this piece and let me get this piece Right piece, let me get this piece and let me get this piece Right. And now he got the world in his hands, Exactly what LaRussell did. Larussell did the Nipsey Hussle.
Speaker 2:Pay to pay.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying. Whatever you guys want to do, I'm going to build my audience and then you support me how you want to support me. So if it's 50 people pulling up and y'all all paying 50 bucks or 40 bucks or 30 bucks whatever pull up, we're going to vibe out. I'm going to give He'd been able to build like that, right. But then Tory Lanez has been able to take some of the things that I've shared, but then also, which I'm surprised, not more artists did this bro.
Speaker 2:The crypto vibe, yeah, the digital shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the NFT situation, because you got to think about it. Let's say so. The project you're dropping is it just one song or is it in a project? It's a song, all right. What's the name of it? Again, break Sweat, break Sweat. What's it about?
Speaker 2:It's about dancing, partying, having a good time. All right, boom Feeling sexy.
Speaker 1:So let's say you drop some art for Break Sweat. Limited art Right, limited art Break Sweat Like a physical piece or digital. Digital. It could be digital and physical, depends on, I might want the physical to hang in my crib, yeah, yeah, but I might want the digital, because you know what I'm saying. It could be different price points, but let's say this Break sweat. I get access to the song, I get access to the art and maybe you collaborate with somebody, I get access to a collaborative workout.
Speaker 1:What type of workout do you like? Like a run? No, do you like running? Do you like yoga? What's your thing? You like being in the gym. You like calisthenics. You like a beach workout. I like all of that. Okay, boom. So let's say we take. Let's say we take, let's say we do a calisthenic, break sweat, calisthenics, boom. But then we also got a break sweat dance. Yeah, got the dance. It could be a video how to do the break sweat dance, the vibe, right, tutorial, right. We got the workout because I want to break sweat and get right. I got the art digital, I got the physical art and I got the song yeah and I got the merch and I get some words from you.
Speaker 1:Hey, what's going on? Y'all listen. You know the vibe. It's the summertime. We all gotta break sweat. You know what I'm saying. It could be if you're feeling down, listen, breaking sweat. Know the vibe. It's the summertime. We all got to break sweat. You know what I'm saying. It could be. If you're feeling down, listen, breaking sweat is the only thing that's going to help you feel better. You know, listen, if you're feeling down, you're feeling mad, you're aggravated, you break some sweat. You go into the gym, you do your favorite workout or you do something challenging you automatically going to feel better. That's what a party vibe and just feeling good about yourself. We all bringing sweat together. Enjoy the bundle. Enjoy the music. I'll put a dance routine together. I'll collaborate with my homegirl, xyz. I did a workout. I'll collaborate with my boy, abc. You got the art. Enjoy that. It's a vibe. Yo, let's break sweat. This is the shit I need, right? You know what?
Speaker 2:I'm saying Brandon, now. Brandon, why don't we be on the phone every other day yo?
Speaker 1:Now, not only did you break sweat for real, it's a campaign Facts. But now people can tap in on like you can tap in based on where you at.
Speaker 2:There's so many different ways to connect with people through the title and just different activations.
Speaker 1:And then what you do is you can then take the next step. Find an app, a company, a gym, find different assets that actually have that. Go and do a collab with them. Hey, listen, I got a song called Break Sweat. You guys know this is a Psycho Lab. We're going to do a Break Sweat event at the cycle lab. I'm going to bring my team, I'm going to bring my people, give me the space for free. We're going to do 50-50 rev share. You guys promote it and then you film that whole thing and then dope it in your community for everyone that wasn't there. It's an exclusive, that's so. That's how I feel like artists need to move.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely need to be doing stuff like that. That's how I feel like I definitely need to be doing all of that. You know what I mean? Yeah, Because it's also about separating yourself, Like you said you don't want to do. We're used to the same shit yeah, by default. By default. Yeah, and we also. We don't know what we don't know, and we also, we don't know what we don't know. Yeah, and we also don't know what people might like.
Speaker 1:So you got to try different things and that's why I said you give them a little taste of everything. Yeah, it's kind of like a platter, right. Then you know okay, cool, after Break Sweat I got you know New friend Boom. And okay, the dance wasn't really rocking, okay, cool. And on the new friends, I'm going to teach you how to make new friends when you're in the networking situation, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. That's so crazy.
Speaker 1:I know a huge percentage of my fan base are just. If you just found me, y'all got anxiety. You want to say hello, but you're thinking about what they think you look like if you was to say hello. So I'm going to break it down. Boom, and you just really, just in a vibe From the game. Exactly, bro. You're from the game. It's easy, that's what I'm saying. Yeah Right, that's fire.
Speaker 2:That's how I feel like Artists, need to move in this era.
Speaker 1:It should really be Right. You know what I mean. And it's like Some people might be like oh bro, forty nine dollars a month, who want that? Because I hear it all the time? But I'm like, bro. First of all, people are already used to subscriptions. Everything is basically a subscription right now, everything is a subscription.
Speaker 1:So if you give somebody something of value and I know that I could tap in with you for basically $600 for the year and I could get exclusive, and you're really about your artistry, which means you're going to have releases Right, and you're really about your artistry, which means you're going to have releases Right. Just imagine if an artist like Drake decided you know, I'm going to drop subscription, you know, over your community.
Speaker 2:Bro, he'd be making probably like $5, $10 million a month. I was going to say millions of dollars a month.
Speaker 1:Easy, you know what I'm saying, and it's like over your community, y'all going to get the music first, or y'all can hear first before a drop, or y'all can get exclusives this, exclusives that, exclusives this before a drop, secret meetups Right, secret owl pendants. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, like really they do shit like that.
Speaker 2:Like really gamify it. I think they do parties and playing their new shit like with a thousand girls at the crib in LA.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no for sure, but it's definitely awesome. It ain't, it ain't. That's different. It's not structured.
Speaker 2:Right, and this what we're talking about is for the fans and for the star of an audience that wants to engage with you on the regular, that wants access to you, that will never get access to you or might never even see you live.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. What's up, y'all? I'm standing in the middle of the street and I'm willing to risk it all because I want you to grow, whether through paid or organic measures. Over the next five days, the audience growth challenge we're going to be teaching you podcast gifting strategy, video marketing strategy, social media, predictable viral creation strategies, the power of radio and digital PR and these strategies are what you need to grow your business over the next four, six, nine, even 12 months to skyrocket your success. So if you want to join the challenge, all you got to do is click the link below and join the audience growth challenge and join it as a VIP. Let's get it. So now think about it. When you started as an artist, maybe it's different now. When you started as an artist, maybe it's different now, but when you started as an artist, how much money would you feel like if the music made you monthly? In the beginning, you would be like, oh, this is straight. What number would you think that would be?
Speaker 2:The amount of money that I would be making on a month that I'd be comfortable with. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:So let's say you're starting. Just let's say I'm starting. Yeah, let's say you're starting, so we either start right now or you're thinking about where you were when you started. How much money I think per month.
Speaker 2:I think at first you got to you're saying what I would want versus what I'm willing to accept. Yeah, yeah, what you would want, I would want at least like 500 to a stack, like starting a couple hundred, okay, cool, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:So, as an artist beginning, if you can figure out how to make $1,000 a month, which is basically $12,000 in a year, you feel good about where you're going in your music. Yeah, because you can just scale it, okay, boom. And most artists are in the negative Right, right, and they stay in the negative Right and they stay in the negative Right. So if we use digital products community, let's say, some VIP offers, some affiliates we used a combination of some of these things and we were able to generate a thousand bucks a month and still release music, and that thousand plus minus was able to support paying for the studio production. You know what I mean? Your engineer, all the things you would need. It's a lot of money. You'd be comfortable. It's almost like you're really creating the art for free.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Because you're offsetting the cost of what you have to output. Yeah, yeah, that's the trick.
Speaker 1:So then when you look at, okay, if I use assets similar to these, I can really like it's not so far off, I guess, Right. It's more tangible, it's more realistic, right, right yeah, you're like oh, it's like, make this move, make this move. I get 10 of these. It's this is the number. It's not like, if I get 10 of these and it's no, did you 10 of these? This is the number, right, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:um, and then you don't have to be like if you have 50. You have a service subscription service with 50 a month. All you need is 10 people and you make it 500 exactly 10, 10 fans, bro, it seems simple.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 10 fans 10 fans that rock with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not a thousand downloads, not 25 000 streams, right you know, because the streams too, you only taking a small percentage on that, yeah, so I yeah, I don't really make a lot of money on streaming, that's what I'm saying, because. I'm not getting like thousands and millions of streams on the reg.
Speaker 1:And you still do your YouTube, you still do your streams Right, but you're just in more control and if we go back to that foundation, you can now dump money into marketing. You can dump money into travel. You can invest that back into getting your offers up to more exposure, because it's really just about the marketing exposure piece.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's about how you package and sell the product. Yeah, that's the big thing. I'm not as good at that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm not so one of the things I really admired about you, bro. I remember when we were back at home yeah, back in Boston, this is good for people to hear I remember you was like yo, I just acquired a family's crib. You're thinking about selling it, thinking about moving, acquiring other pieces of property. Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah, I remember that that was before I bought my first house. That's what I'm saying. So break that down. What got you into real estate? Why was that always attractive and viable and why is that something people should consider, especially if they're artists?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think for first things first, as a young person, especially like in your late teens or even into your early 20s, you want to be thinking about your future, or thinking about what kind of life you want to have and what that looks like, and then how are you going to get it? So I would say I started to learn about some of these opportunities and thinking about ownership and asset acquisition when I was in high school, partially because of some of the mentors that I had, so I was exposed to some of that information and the importance of it. Also, my mother would talk about it to me as well. You know the importance of being financially independent, the opportunities you might have owning property, and then you know figuring things out. So that was my intro to it as a kid.
Speaker 2:My mother passed away in like beginning of 2019. We just had the five year anniversary just passed. It's hard to hear that, bro, mine did too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I know. Yeah, you lost your mother as well, your granny too, so, but yeah, memorial Day weekend is when she passed away.
Speaker 1:So this past weekend, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:This time of year is always a little touchy, because you got Mother's Day, true, and that actually was the last day I saw my mother. I saw my mother on Mother's Day and then, unfortunately, a week later she passed and she wasn't around, so I didn't see her that week. Anyways, my mom passed away. She had put a little chunk of change aside for me and for my sister and that was basically what I used to get started. At the time I was 23, 24, living in my granny's basement. My plan moving into my grandmother's basement out of my mother's house I was teaching tennis at the time, I remember. Yeah, so my plan was I'm going to live here two years, I'm going to be saving X on a monthly on the regular and when two years come, I'm going to go buy something and I'm going to move out of your basement. So that was the plan all along.
Speaker 2:What my mother left for me was kind of like an advance. It was something that I could get started earlier and a little bit easier because it was right before. It was almost the two-year mark, it's about six months early. So I started trying to do some research on the market around. What are the good places to buy what price points I thought were viable. I thought about something between 10 and $20,000. Down would be a good starting point for me, because that's not an exuberant amount of money. You could save that in a couple years, and it's so crazy.
Speaker 1:I don't want to sidetrack but I want to. We'll talk about money in a second, but yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2:All right. So I used that to, you know, purchase my first property. I bought it down in Brockton, because Brockton is a poppin' area for about $265,000. The house was $265,000. I think $265,000. I think it was $265, 265. It's about five percent. I put down, it's about 13 000. And then I moved into the house.
Speaker 2:I lived there for about eight months and then I decided to move to dallas because I had another coaching opportunity, but at the in the meantime I was still doing music. Yeah, I just wasn't maybe dedicating the time and the attention that I might have wanted because of the energy and the time that tennis required. So I thought moving to a different market and being in a different place, you know, would help me grow as an artist as well as a, you know, a young man trying to establish myself. So I decided to move to dallas. When I moved to dallas my pops actually helped me get the crib ready to rent out, because my dad's a trained carpenter, um, so we did a bunch of stuff at the house. He had a couple of friends, electrician come by, some of my uh, my family members on my mother's side as well, our blue collar, you know, they work in the union construction. So I had a lot of help doing maintenance, doing fix ups. You know, obviously I was hands on with it, but that help was I wouldn't have been able to do it without it.
Speaker 2:So I moved to Dallas. I started getting, you know, the bread monthly from my tenant. I had him sign an 18 month lease. Right as we were getting around the 18 month mark and we're like kind of in the thick of the pandemic, everything just started going crazy in real estate, like in just every like, just so much movement happening in 2020 into 2021. So I said I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna sell this and I'm gonna move on. So I sold it right around the time the lease was up. I made about $60,000.
Speaker 2:And then that summer I started investing in Dallas. So that's kind of how I started off. I started with one place in Dallas, then I purchased a second home in Dallas or around Dallas and then I bought my primary, my primary and I'll try to look for places that I know are going to be rising and rise relatively quickly. You don't know for sure what's going to happen, but you can make an educated guess based on the trends, based on the neighborhood, based on what they offer in that area, based on what is changing in that area. Based on what is changing in that area, how close is it to the city? Is this a family? Is this more like a suburban family area? Is this one of the most sought after zip codes in this city or this area specifically? So when I'm working with people, I try to consider all of those things to make the best move going forward.
Speaker 1:Hey, listen, if you're looking to grow your podcast business or you're looking to leverage podcasts to grow your business, you want to tap in to the Podcast to Profits Academy. We're going to teach you exactly what it takes for you to get more exposure, to grow and scale your business or leverage podcasts so you can do more revenue. What you want to do is head over to podcasttoprofitscom and apply to work with me and a member of my team. Why do you feel like? Well, first of all, I gotta give you props on that, bro you know what I'm saying bro?
Speaker 1:um, ownership, but why do you feel like more artists should invest or have ownership? Why should they have cash flowing assets or just tangible assets? Because I think that's really like. You just painted an amazing picture with the journey to you, you know, acquiring the first property and, yes, you did get a hand, because your mom was thinking about you and your sister but why is that important to have these cash flow and assets or just assets in general?
Speaker 2:I think it's important because you just have number one, you have another bag, but you just have another way to sustain yourself. You can sustain yourself and choose the lifestyle that you want to have, because you're not necessarily tied to working for somebody, up under somebody, all the time. Like, yeah, a lot of people got bosses I'm not saying there's something wrong with that, but if you want to have, you know, if you want a lifestyle and you want to have more freedom with your time, you got to figure out how you're going to do that, besides working at xyz, yeah, you know, and depending on pay stub every two weeks or whatever the case may be, which I think is crazy.
Speaker 1:That's why I'm talking about money bro.
Speaker 2:I think it's crazy bro but.
Speaker 2:I think it's important, like that part, and then thinking ahead of the future, like I said before, what is my life going to look like in five years, 10 years, 15 years? Do I want to have a family? What do I want for my siblings because I got like four siblings too. So what I want for my, for my siblings, what I want for their kids, if they choose to have kids, like, how can I, how can I get the most out of me being here on earth and give the most? When it's time for me to be gone or while I'm here, what can I do? So I think those two things are really important.
Speaker 2:And then there's a third thing I wanted to mention, one of the things that a lot of people don't know or consider. I mentioned it to my buddy the other day because him and his girlfriend I've known her for a long time. We've become friends. Over the past year, him and I she's from Philly moved to Dallas and they're looking to buy their first place together. And one of the things I mentioned to him was you know, when you get a house or you get any property, condo, whatever the hell you also get access to disability insurance and protection within you know for the assets. Say, something happens to you and you're unable to work or unable to be physically able to generate revenue, there's a set amount of money for you to receive, on a monthly either on a payout that's going to allow you to pay your mortgage and cover your overhead going forward. Rob Markman, if you have that insurance, rob Markman, if something happens for you? Yes, if you have this insurance and it only costs like $30 to $70 a month depending on how much you want.
Speaker 2:Rob.
Speaker 1:Markman. So let's go, let's hold that. Let's go back to what we talked about earlier.
Speaker 1:So imagine you shared that game with your fans and they got access to the music yeah you're like yo, listen my fans, I want y'all to enjoy this music, but I also want to help y'all get your first property. This is how I did it and these are steps, how you can get yours. Yeah, hey, fans, listen, boom, a lot of things y'all don't know. Listen if accidents may happen. So there's this thing called disability that you can get for this amount, this amount, this amount. Listen, a lot of y'all are vaping. It's all good, you're vaping. How much is your vape expense every month? Oh, 100?, 200? You can get this for 30, 35.
Speaker 2:Or your weed, exactly Whatever you'd like to get into.
Speaker 1:So it's like now you can empower and entertain your people in your joint. You know what I'm saying. That's why and like you mentioned tennis Bang, you know what I mean. Right now, it's the way right now, people want to be out playing, especially in Miami, Miami-. Tennis and golf Miami. You know what they got right now they got-.
Speaker 1:The pickleball joint, the ping pong space, outdoor tennis, they got this thing called, or they got racquetball, but they also got the thing called paddleball, which is all different variations of tennis essentially. But I just had a sidebar because that's like, those are the things that are like you, you know what I mean Like you could give all that stuff in there. But yeah, the disability sound crazy, bro, you're talking about $30, $40. And then something happened to me Like I got worried about like not paying my mortgage.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, bro, I got like I'm proud of what I've done because, yeah, I've fucked off some bread and you're supposed to fuck, I'm gonna do, I got it. You pause the fuck it off, bro, I popped off.
Speaker 1:I popped off a buck 50 easily quick right bro.
Speaker 2:No, I saw, you've told me about this a couple times and I saw you post about it recently, so I'm very aware, because that's also fresh, yeah, but I feel very proud that I have taken what I've been given and blessed with and I have created more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like a lot more Yo. And the thing is, bro, when you have self-awareness and you're able to remove your thought process whether it's temporarily, to see what's really going on, you understand that fucking off money don't matter, because you can make it back. You know what I'm saying. And if money is so accessible, it's really like breathing.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying? A lot of it is your mindset.
Speaker 1:It's really that's what it is, bro. It's really that's what it is, because when you think about being scarce or having a scarcity mindset and a lot of us, even when we're younger, we don't know. We got scarcity. We've been trained and and, and you know, made programmed to think a certain way. Yeah, no one's ever been like yo. There's not enough air in here for all of us. You know, I'm saying get your ear, bro, I need some air, right? No one's ever said that. But money is the same way, bro. They print it and burn it every day, right, right. So if money is, if, if the idea of money is in abundance, like air, the problem is, we've been trained to get money a certain way, to make it come slow, right and to make us believe that you have to do hard things to get it right. We've been spending time together today. I ain't seen you struggle to breathe once.
Speaker 2:You should have seen me yesterday morning when I was running down the beach.
Speaker 1:I mean that's a little different. That's a little different, but you understand what I'm saying. Of course, yeah, it's like bro. And then what you said earlier, because there's two points I want to make. So the next one is you said earlier like 10K 20K was a comfortable amount for you to earlier. Like 10K 20K was a comfortable amount for you to start and get started. If you really think about it, bro, 10k 20K is like no money. But think about who you were when you had access to the 10K. I'm thinking about who I was when I was in Boston. I'm like six figures is a lot of bread. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, when I was grinding on the tennis, shit, like.
Speaker 2:Obviously it's a lot on taxes and mass, but you know, 60,000, 70,000 was a good year for me. You thinking that's?
Speaker 1:a good year you thinking that that's a good year in my young 20s like that's great.
Speaker 2:I don't got a college degree.
Speaker 1:I'm just out here grinding. You thinking that's a good year? And yo I'm not Like $5,000, $6,000 a month Like woo yeah and I'm not trying to say that for those that are making $60,000 plus minus, or you getting $100,000 stacks.
Speaker 2:No, we're not shitting about that.
Speaker 1:There's nothing wrong with that. No, talking about the thought process of oh, I'm getting this, my salary is X and I'm cool with that, but I'm getting paid once or twice a month. I'm getting taxed on it, so I'm really getting half or 60% of it. It's no money, yeah.
Speaker 2:If you're in a two income household now, you winning because you can almost double everything that you got going on, given that y'all make close to the same amount which is also a very powerful thing too. It's a very powerful thing. I think people don't consider that.
Speaker 1:I think that's all. That's why I want a girl, bro.
Speaker 2:Yeah you know what I'm saying? A good one, a good one, no, a great one. You know what I'm saying? No, for real. Because when y'all can align and y'all have the same mindset with a lot of shit, y'all can really just jump, y'all can just grow exponentially, yeah. And then when y'all come down to have a family and take care of kids, y'all not killing yourselves trying to provide for your family.
Speaker 1:It's really about just experiencing life, family. It's really about just experiencing life when you really can get the the the illusion of frustration financially out of the way, because it's really an illusion. If you solve that formula, yeah, you fine. Yeah, because what are people really stressing about, bro, money sex rock and roll, but they really but.
Speaker 1:But it ain't really a problem when you're self-awareness, bro, yeah, because who told you that we only supposed to get money twice a month, but we spending money every day? Demand how can I spend money every day on everything, yo, unless you stay?
Speaker 2:home. I spent so much bread just the past two days in Miami.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying, oh my god bro. Right, but you had to Plus minus. You had to right. But who said we can't get that every single day? Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the goal. I mean, that's the goal for me. I'm trying to see them.
Speaker 1:Bags, nah, them bags is bag-a-thon, bag-a-thon. You know what? I'm saying Bag-a-thon, bag-a-thon. You know what I'm saying? The bag-a-thon continues 26 miles. Nah, 100%, man, 100%. What's going on, y'all?
Speaker 2:It's Mazing out here in Miami living la vida loca. Go check me out on Instagram M-A-Z-I-N-G. Go follow me, share my music. Click the link in my bio Now, y'all.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about the music, man. Okay, so talk about the song Inspiration. Is there any special reason why it's dropping on tomorrow, that it's dropping the date, that it's?
Speaker 2:dropping on. There's nothing serious about when I'm choosing to drop it. I mean, the record definitely has a feel for summer and spring. That's not necessarily why, like, I would still drop it if it was the fall. Yeah, and it's ready now. You know it wasn't ready in the fall or the spring, so it just happens to align right now and I'm trying to line up drops on a consistent basis, a monthly basis. Yeah, I think that's smart.
Speaker 2:So the inspiration behind the song is just high level vibes, like just high energy. I mean my family, my dad's side, italian and Irish, but my mother's from St Vincent and the Grenadines. So I have a very heavy influence from the Caribbean. I love the culture. I love the Caribbean culture and not just our culture from the island that we're from, but all the other islands too that I've been to and just the people that I've come in contact with Growing up in Boston. It's very multicultural, so you're meeting people from all over and people from islands you didn't even know existed for real. That's sometimes when I tell people we're from St Vincent and the Grenadines, they're like what, where's that?
Speaker 2:They don't even know it exists. So definitely that I mean one day I was so I've recorded the record at the crib One day I think I was flying somewhere that day or the next day and I just sat down at the computer. I like to sit down at the mic a lot in the morning, and sometimes I like to do that before I eat as well, because it gives me almost a different tone in my voice. It's almost like you can hear the hunger in my voice, because I ain't eat yet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I was going to say, because you ain't eat yet.
Speaker 2:You ain't eat yet for real For. But I attack it with a different type of energy. You know that fresh, wake up energy. So I'll sit down in front of computer. I just start riffing. I got to be I start riffing and I just made the record. And you know, obviously it evolved over time. My boy moved to miami last september my main engineer and producer, robbie Rowland, shout out to you and when I came out here in February to work on a bunch of records, that was one of the main joints we did and we recorded a bunch of vocals. I love this song, man. Everybody that's heard it loves it, is getting great feedback, so I'm really excited about the release tomorrow. Yeah, that's going to be good.
Speaker 1:We'll put a link below so they can tap into it. You got visuals. I got some visuals, okay, where, and I'm going to be doing more, okay, yeah, we'll drop that below too, so they can access the visuals.
Speaker 2:For sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:And then how can people tap in with you?
Speaker 2:You can find me on Instagram. Just type in Mazing. That's M-A-Z-I-N-G. My handle is TheyCallMeMarky though, but if you type Mazing, I'm definitely going to come up. It's the same on all streaming platforms as well M-A-Z-I-N-G. Anywhere you want to find me.
Speaker 1:And then if you had to leave people with like one thing based on your experiences um, personal, professional that if they, if they tap in right now, in this moment, this thing could really turn a light bulb on for someone. Based off of your experience, yeah, what would that be?
Speaker 2:I would say leave no stone unturned. Try to exhaust every opportunity that you have, given that you. You know something that you want. Obviously, if something presents itself and you don't want that, don't go for that. Yeah, facts. But if it's something that you feel aligns with what you're trying to do or where you're trying to go, do it, take it, because you don't know where it's going to take you from there. You don't know the experience that you're going to gain from there.
Speaker 2:Communicate If you got something on your mind, you're thinking about it, share it. Talk to your friends, talk to a family member, whoever you know. I think a lot of times we're just living in our head and, yeah, we're living in this. Um, obviously, people dealt with anxiety 100 years ago, but it's a different level of anxiety now, with technology, with you know some of the stresses of life. So I think you should get out your head and you should talk to people and you should share what you're thinking and what you're feeling in a constructive way, you know, not a toxic and destructive way, yeah, but you know, if something's bothering, you talk about it. Or if you have a creative outlet, put it in there, you know. I think that's super important. Communication is super important. It's the reason a lot of relationships are great. It makes relationships great and it makes relationships destroy or, you know, fall apart because of how you communicate or lack of communication.
Speaker 1:Yeah, lack of communication, I think over communicating is way better it's a good thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a good thing, because people don't got to wonder all the time like what you thinking or what's going on. Yeah, facts, they know.
Speaker 1:Because you're telling them and I think Unless you're lying and that reminds me of what we touched on earlier, which I feel like it can be dicey or you could be so in self-love within yourself that it's almost protection that you gotta let motherfuckers know. Yeah, you know I'm saying so. So it's like I love myself enough where I do care about your feelings, but I got I I have to let you know how I feel, I care about my feelings more, and then you're just gonna take out. You can take either gonna respect me or or it's gonna create a dent in our relationship. It is what it is and that that's really important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's so important. Loving somebody else selflessly is great, but sometimes you gotta love selfishly because, just like you said, you gotta protect your boundaries. There are things within you that you should not be negotiating on facts, and there's certain topics that you gotta address, because if you don't address it, if you don't set a boundary, regardless of how that person is going to take it, what's going to happen in, in a year, when you're dealing with the same shit?
Speaker 2:that's bothering somebody else somebody else, or you with the same person? Yeah, and they don't even know that this is an issue.
Speaker 1:And now you're holding on to a whole rock and you're mad at them, you're bitter at them, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 2:And you've conditioned them to treat you a certain way or talk to you a certain way or just be a way with you and around you, that now you can't, you might not be able to change that.
Speaker 1:Bro, that's profound, bro. Nah, nah, that's facts, that, yeah, y'all got to tap into him for sure, for sure, for sure. All right, bro. So what I'm going to be expecting for you is some type of community or digital product that people can tap in. I would love to attend your first virtual show Hell yeah and then pay to attend.
Speaker 1:Maybe there's a free version but a paid version. I can get behind the scenes online or something and then come check me out next time I come perform in Miami. I mean, bro, I'm here, why would I not?
Speaker 2:Just throwing it out there let's do a meet and greet.
Speaker 1:Let's do a meet and greet. You know what I'm saying? There you go, just do a meet and greet. That would. Yeah, bro, I appreciate you. Thank you, bro. Remind them again where to follow you, to tap in with you. I want them to know right now where to go online or whatever.
Speaker 2:Go on Instagram, spotify, apple Music, find me Ma Zing. That's M-A-Z-I-N-G. Same thing on TikTok. You can find all my stuff there my music, my shows, anything I got going on, I put it there so you can touch base with me there.
Speaker 1:Listen, but another episode of the Honor Pursuit Podcast. This is Ma Zing entrepreneur, thought leader, creative artist, real estate investor. Make sure you guys get real familiar and tap into his music, bro. He's dropping songs every single month, new projects. Stay tapped in and if you're an artist or creative or someone like that, use him as an inspiration. Don't give up and maybe take some of the strategies I said earlier. At least you know what I'm saying. At least brand your name and start an entertainment business around yourself, because you can start to generate some revenue and then have some capital to invest into your art.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this game is free, right here. Yeah, it is, so you should definitely take advantage of it, because I'm going to yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll leave a link below if y'all want to tap into my community. For sure, yeah, we go crazy like this all the time. But listen y'all, it's been another episode. It's been great Tapping with my guy and we got to see you in a minute.
Speaker 2:Peace.