MMC SUCCESS

Photo Courtesy  of Conduit, Inc.

MMC had the pleasure of taking some time to talk to Brian Rikuda, winner of BET’s Ultimate Hustler — a competition show where the winner had the opportunity to start a business with Damon Dash of Rocafella Records fame. Brian lays down the foundation of what it takes to start a business and roadblocks he faced along the way.

MMC: Brian, How has your success with being the winner of BET’s Ultimate Hustler changed your life?
BR: The Ultimate Hustler show was definitely a life changing experience. The primary thing that the show did was create opportunities. I wouldnt go so far as to say it made anything happen, but it put me in place where I could make things happen in a much quicker fashion than before I recieved the attention from the show.

The best example of this can be seen in my record label, Conduit Entertainment. For almost 3 years before the show, I was down south in Arkansas on the independent grind. We were in a similar space as most independent labels that had little to no financing and were struggling to be scene in an industry where money and or “chance” are some of the primary determinants to success. This is where we were really putting in work. Starting in Little Rock, AR, there was not a weekend you wouldnt find me and my artists out at the club or in some club parking lot, promoting and selling our music. After we got established locally, you would be hard pressed to find a show that came through Little Rock that we didnt either open or attempt to open for the headliner. Despite these efforts, however, we seemed to hit a “glass ceiling” when it came to translating that local success into national opportunity.

After the show, it was a different story. Alot of doors opened for my label. We were able to form relationships with radio program directors, DJs, club promoters and different industry people throughout the country. We locked down a distribution deal and now really have the ball rolling for what should be a late ‘08 release for our debut group, Suga City.

MMC: Please tell me about your entrepreneurial background – did you start young or later? What, if anything, in your upbringing led you to entrepreneurship?

BR: As far as my entrepreneurial aspirations, I guess I started late in the game. Entrepreneurship is just not something that is taught in school and I didnt grow up surrounded by people running and starting their own businesses. Most of our formal educational institutions and society in general tend to connect the pursuit of education with getting a job. So from a young age we are urged to do well in school so that we can go to a good college. We are urged to go to a good college so we can become a lawyer or doctor, or just be competitive in whatever field we ultimately choose. We are not really pushed to start our own businesses.

It wasnt until I worked at an internet startup that I had the entrepreneurial seed planted. While I was still in my undergrad I got hired at an internet startup that at the time was one of the most talked about pre-IPO companies in Silicon Valley. It was founded by some pioneers of the Valley that made millions off the internet boom with previous ventures. Before even having one customer, the founders raised over $150 million to finance this new company. While at the company, I made it a priority to learn and meet with everyone in the company. I was setting up meetings with all the executives just to get a better idea of how the company functioned. The company was so small, it was nothing to be able to meet with the CEO and talk about strategy and what he did to get where he was at.

At first I was on that tip because I figured I would move up in the company real fast and get paper when we did the IPO. All the founders at the time were under 30 and millionaires. After a while I started realizing there was nothing, from an intelligence standpoint, that separated me from all these executives. Thats when the entreprenurial seed got planted.

I felt that there was only so far I could go working for someone else and helping them achieve their vision. Since I felt I had the same type of ability as anyone else out there, I thought I might as well do it myself and achieve my own vision. When I looked at it, the richest people out there werent people who had jobs. They were people who had a vision and made that vision a reality. Those who were the guys with real paper. Thats what I wanted, so entreprenurship was really the only way to go for me.

MMC: At MMC we urge young entrepreneurs to trust their intuition and gut feeling when making tough business decisions as a key component to overall business success. How important has trusting your gut feeling played a part in your business success and in your everyday business decisions ?

BR: Going with your gut makes sense if you’ve done your homework and have done all you can do me knowledgeable about a particular situation. Preparation and hard work lead to success in ever facet of life. Business is no different. If you have absolutely no idea about any of the factors surrounding a decision you have to make, going with your gut is as random as choosing something from a hat. There will be times when you have to make hard decisions with limited information. In order to make sure your gut is telling you right, its best to prepare ahead of time so when you are faced with those decisions you are working from some foundation of knowledge.

Going with my gut has helped me in the past because alot of times I’ve had to make decisions under a quick time frame and I didn’t have the time to wait for all the information to be available. Even with the Ultimate Hustler show I had to go with my gut. When I decided to sign on for the show, I didnt get a real opportunity to read the contract or do any real research on the show. When faced with the decision, however, it was either sign the contract and do the show, or pass up on the opportunity. I did a quick cost/benefit analysis in my head and figured that the positives outweighed the negatives. Ultimately, I made the right decision.

MMC: Besides Damon Dash, Who have been your, mentors, or other people that have been an inspiration for you, both in your personal life and public figures?
BR: In general, my family and friends. Specifically, my mom. They all provided a foundation helped me develop my value system and confidence. You might call it spoiled, but my Mom’s support of me, gave me the belief that I could do anything. In her eyes I was and still am the smartest most talented person in the world. When you have people believing in you like that, its hard not to believe in yourself. That confidence is what helped me excel academically and in the business world. I know at the end of the day, regardless of what someone tells me, I can get whatever I want because if I try for it, its gonna happen.

Friends are also real important in keeping me sharp. You have to surround yourself with sharp and strong individuals. It really is true that steel sharpens steel. If you got a few bums around you, that mentality will weigh you down and affect your work ethic. Success in business is more than just talent. It also takes hard work. Even though alot of my friends are not in music or really even business at all, the common denominator is that they all have a passion for doing something big and they work hard to try and get it.

As far as public figures, The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has had a significant impact on my life. It was through Minister Farrakhan that I was first introduced to the teachings of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. Getting money and success are all good but have no real value in and of themselves. Min. Farrakhan helped give me understanding and purpose behind those ambitions. At the end of the day, any success I have is an example of God’s power and presence in my life.

MMC: What specifically led you to start your current business?

BR: Right around the time I finished at Stanford, my partner, Epiphany, was in NY recording his demo and starting to learn the business of music. I was always interested in the music business, but never really thought it was a viable or realistic option. So when he was out in NY, we would talk back and forth. Mainly I would just be asking about how everything was going with his recording and things. As time went on, the conversations started getting more in depth on the business level and we started seeing the opportunity for starting a company. It didnt seem to make sense to just try and get signed by a major and have your entire future be dependent on people who may or may not get your artistic vision and things.

I went out to NY and we took a couple weeks just to start studying the industry and see how we could get in. Really quickly we learned that NY was way too competitive and that almost everyone under the age of 25 had their own record label or was a rapper. We decided to move to Epiphany’s home state of Arkansas and start the record label there. We figured we would go to a market that had yet to be tapped and where we could take advantage of some of the homestate allegience.

The strategy worked and over the next couple years we established Conduit Entertainment as the most recognized indie label in Arkansas.

MMC: For our young entrepreneur readers just starting out with owning their own business, what is the best advice you can give them?

BR: The best advice I would say is to not let other people effect that goals you are trying to achieve. If you are passionate about what you are trying to achieve, don’t take no for an answer. You may hear a hundred “no’s” before you get one “yes.” The race is not to the swift so you just have to endure the hard times, endure those times where it looks like you may not succeed, and keep grinding. Don’t be afraid of failure. Back in the day, one of my old bosses, a millionaire cat at age 30 told me the number one thing that keeps people from getting what they want is the fear of failure. So alot of people dont even take that first step towards trying to achieve their goals. Dont be like that. Go out and get it.

MMC: What projects do you have under the works right now that we can look forward to in the future?
BR: My main focus right now is getting our first national release ready for our group Suga City. Suga City is a two man group from Arkansas that I signed to Conduit back in the day, before the show. The album is almost complete and we are looking at a October 08 release date. Their project is really dope and is needed in the music industry right now. Definitely check out their myspace page at www.myspace.com/sugacity.

Also, I am about 75% complete with the first volume of a DVD series I created and executive produced, “the Hustler’s Handbook.” The first volume is the “Mogul Edition,” and features profiles on all the top industry moguls. Definitely look out for that.

Lastly, I partnered with one of the only two black female professors at Harvard Business School to write a book. We are putting the finishing touches on it now and will start looking for a publisher shortly.

Thanks to Brian Rikuda for taking the time out to do this interview and Baker Cake for putting it all together.

This is a basic principle developed by Italian economist Vifredo Pareto which simply states that 20% of the cause results in 80% of the effect. It is funny how simple yet common these observation can be made in our daily lives. It can be seen in all areas of life, such as:

1. Relationship: Twenty percent of the people you know (friends, colleagues, family) provide you with 80 percent of nurturing support and satisfaction.
2. Business: Twenty percent of customers will account for 80 percent of profit.
3. Productivity: Twenty percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your success.
4. Gardening: Eighty percent of garden peas are produced by 20 percent of the peapods.

In the land of entreprenuership, figure out what 20% of your efforts are yielding the 80% results that you need to become successful. With the 80% of your efforts that isn’t making a difference, reconsider changing those areas of your life to fully maximize your efforts.

You can find more info here and a wikipedia synopsis here

Commitment and intention applied to dj’ing, and commentary on how it worked!

Stumbled across this the other day…

In honor of the New Year’s and making resolutions, here is a plan to living a productive life developed by Benjamin Franklin, a system he developed when he was 20 and stuck to until he revealed these virtues at age 79.

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.

2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.

3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing.

6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.

11. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.

12. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

“Fumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen/ pour myself a cup of ambition…” - Aesop Rock from “9-5er’s Anthem”

So you wake up one day and realize that corporate 9-5′ing is not your cup of tea? But what to do about it? Do you just quit? What’s your back up plan going to be? What about bills? Student loans? The list of excuses to keep you at bay can be a long one. After some self-examination, I wanted to discuss some strategies I’ve been exploring when making the transition from corporate slave to the master of your own interests. Here are a couple tips:

1. Define the worst case scenario. Tim Ferriss discusses in “The Four Hour Work Week”the idea of defining what the worst case scenario could be when planning a big decision i.e. quitting your job.  Examine in detail the worst that could result from your actions so you can plan accordingly and prepare to not make that an option when you decide to jump ship and make a move. As a result, it will force you to face your fear and learn to conquer it before it can actually happen. Most of the time, you will realize these fears are not as big as you imagine them to be.

2. “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” I’ve found myself talking to many people about different ideas I have and possible plans of action I want to take. How much of these ever get implemented? Few enough that I can count them on my hand. If you have an idea write them out and set a deadline to make it a reality. If the deadline seems unreachable or not worth your time, examine another possible idea that you think can flourish. It’s funny how something as simple as writing an idea down can get the ball rolling.

Do you have any comments you’d like to share? Feel free to post them in the comments

“Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are.”

-Jim Rohn

MMC stands for More Money Conscious, and is a living example of the Law of Attraction recently brought to attention through the popularity of the book “The Secret.” We have created this site to document our trials and experiences as entreprenuers and help others learn from our processes so they too can realize what impact they want to make on the world and enjoy the wealth of living. More Money Conscious is a realization that it is not how much money you make that determines your wealth, but the way you live your life determines your success and the fulfillment of a wealthy life. The MMC collective is an ongoing developing project. Check back for updates to come and feel free to leave comments.