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Beyond The Brand is the podcast for purpose-driven entrepreneurs, creatives, and professionals who know their brand is about more than just business—it’s personal. Hosted by Brand Strategist Rod Brinson, this show dives deep into the mindset, habits, identity, and emotional intelligence that shape the way you show up in the world. From solo episodes to powerful conversations, Beyond The Brand explores what it really takes to build something meaningful—starting with the person behind the brand. Because if you’re not growing, your brand won’t either.
Greetings. Greetings. Greetings. Greetings. Greetings.
Rod Brinson:One thing about going live is everything has to kinda be synced up. Otherwise, what you're gonna really do is get out here and your technology ain't gonna work. But that's okay though because that's part of life. That's a part of what we do. Your technology is a piece of the process and learning how to use it, dealing with the issues that come along with it, figuring it out, and continuing to go is very important.
Rod Brinson:Alright? So don't get discouraged if things aren't necessarily lining up in the way that you would have them. You just gotta push forward and keep going. So that said, I just wanna welcome everybody back. We are at it again.
Rod Brinson:I've been going live every Tuesday, probably for like a month at this point. So I'm gonna continue to do it. And we have another conversation today that I truly believe could shift the way you show up. Okay. So first off, shout out to everybody who's been tuning in the last few weeks.
Rod Brinson:March was something special. The ladies came through, each and every one of them. I have a recap of the the lives on my page. So if you haven't seen them, go check them out. They will drop in real gems, real transparency, real stories, and I know y'all will feel that because I was feeling it the entire time.
Rod Brinson:Okay? But now we're in April, and this month, I'm bringing the fellas. And not just anybody, I'm talking about people who have lived this thing out. They walked it. They breathe it, and it's gonna bless anybody that takes part in it.
Rod Brinson:Last week, we had Jonathan Hall. We're talking about image and how it matters and how you could speak in the room before you even enter the room and open your mouth. And tonight's combo, I can't tell you how many people I run into or connect with who don't like the way they look on camera, don't like the way they sound. Right? And let's be honest, a lot of us feel that way with certain things, but it's about developing a muscle.
Rod Brinson:Right? It's about developing the confidence to be able to do that. And there's no better way to do that than tonight. Right? My guest is multitalented.
Rod Brinson:I I feel like this man could do anything that he put his mind to. I've seen him in acting roles. I've seen him on stage doing poetry. I've seen him hosting shows from left to right. Right?
Rod Brinson:Not just one show. We talk about multiple shows. And I feel like if it's anybody that can help you guys to kinda gather yourselves and begin to, how can I say, feel more confident about speaking out loud, whether it's on a camera or in person on the Further ado, before technology starts giving me a headache, I'm a invite him in, and we're gonna get the conversation going? Let's see here. Here we go.
Rod Brinson:And there he is.
Andrew Tyree:What's up, Russell? Russell, what's up? What's up?
Rod Brinson:Man, living the life over here. Man, if you could see my room right now with all this technology over the place, you will literally, like, probably cry a a river of tears for all the work that I put in just for stuff not to work.
Andrew Tyree:Or or or I would or I would rob you or I would come over
Rod Brinson:and Impossible. Take Remind me to take you off of the invite for the barbecue.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Yeah. Don't yeah. You don't want me up in there with that.
Rod Brinson:No. But then it's all good. I I you know, honestly, a lot of this stuff came from some of our conversations. You know? Seeing some of your setup and thinking through.
Rod Brinson:I'm like, man, that's nice how he did that. I like I like that piece. You know? How can I, you know,
Andrew Tyree:update So you robbed me?
Rod Brinson:I wouldn't call it robbery. I would call it borrowing. You know what I mean? Borrowing your style.
Andrew Tyree:You know what mean? Yeah. As you can see, I'm definitely not set up in my space now. I got two kids under the age of four downstairs. So that's where my studio is.
Andrew Tyree:It's not an extra room at the front of the house. And when they are around, not only do they not care about when I have something to do, they tend to get louder. Oh, yeah. They tend to get more excitable. So I decided to come up to the spare bedroom.
Andrew Tyree:So my background's a little plain, but
Rod Brinson:yes. That's okay. We we we will be able to see that on the YouTube and the stuff that we're gonna drop later on in the conversation. So don't worry they'll be able to check out all your stuff. That feels like my first plan live with this a few weeks back.
Rod Brinson:I was in traffic trying to get home so I can be in my studio and do it and then it just wouldn't happen. And so I found myself pulling over going to a Starbucks and dealing with bad Wi Fi the whole life.
Andrew Tyree:There you go. There you go.
Rod Brinson:Worked out, though.
Andrew Tyree:I like that. Yeah. I like that.
Rod Brinson:So speaking of which, man, before we hop into the conversation, let's talk a little bit about some of the things that you've been involved in because I mean the track record is long and I feel like I said in the opening, you know when it comes to you having the confidence to speak on camera, on stage, to two people, to 2,000 people, I feel like it's on 10. Right? And a lot of people don't have that. Where did that come from? You feel like it's just naturally in you or what?
Andrew Tyree:That comes from probably a really hard life, unfortunately, and not thinking that I was good at anything else for a very long time. So, you know, I always wanted to be in a good position in life. I always wanted to be able to take care of my family and myself, especially, you know, after growing up and having moments where, like, that wasn't possible. And realizing that being on stage and being talented at being on stage was a path to be okay. And that's what I thought I could do.
Andrew Tyree:That's what I thought I could do that would not be boring. It would not me to sleep. It wouldn't upset my chakras. You know what I mean? And so it started really early and I wanted to make sure that I was good at it.
Andrew Tyree:I started playing violin when I was five and, you know, brought the paper home to my mom one day. Was like, oh, they're giving out free violin lessons at school. She had to rent the violin. We didn't have no money. And she told me I remember this.
Andrew Tyree:She told me she was like, you can play the violin. I'm a get you this violin. But every time they offer you a solo, every time they offer anything, you better be the first one. Okay. Put your hand up.
Andrew Tyree:Because if you ever shrink to the back ever, I'm taking the violin away. It's too much money. Because I guess too much money to rent this violin. It's too much money for these lessons outside of school, and and she meant it. So she had me in there practicing every day when I was crying, when I didn't wanna practice, and every time there was a song, you could there's pictures of me playing with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Andrew Tyree:Little black kid, bunch of white kids. I was the only little black speck out in front because she would not let me not step out there and do it. And so that kinda was that's kinda how always how I attack things from that.
Rod Brinson:Clearly. Look. I I left off the comedian piece. I don't know what I was thinking about. This man said the only little black spic, that is hilarious That's
Andrew Tyree:it. Not white. Yeah. It I mean, think about it. It's it's it's the late eighties, early nineties.
Andrew Tyree:We're in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I'm playing with the youth symphony orchestra. Wasn't no black people. Wasn't no black kids, man. It was it was it was it was me. So So that kind of Uh-oh.
Rod Brinson:Anyway, the bottom line is that kind of forced you into it a little bit. Know, your mom to stay kind of engaged and focused. So from there, like there was the innate part where she pushed it out, but did you find it difficult? I know a lot of people, you know, when they are in the spotlight, whether they're thrust into the spotlight or whether they go after it, when it actually happens, it can almost freeze you over. Like I'll give a quick example then I'll give you your get your thoughts on it.
Rod Brinson:I know for me specifically I wanted to be an actor growing up like when I was a young kid but not because it was just because of the stardom and the fame right. It was never a real passion of mine I went to some auditions in my early 20s and leading up to the actual audition it felt great I felt good I knew my lines one of them I even threw the paper away I was like I Man, went behind the curtain, deer and headlights, frozen. And I don't know what it was, but like was that something you ever dealt with or did you like get in the moment and you were just naturally okay just like you were behind the camera?
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. I you know, I I feel like it's that's natural for anybody. Anytime you're going up in front of somebody and you're asking them because when else in our lives do we say, like, judge me to my face? We never we never ask anybody who doesn't know us, who has no, you know, attachment to us that I wanna do something. I'm a do a performance.
Andrew Tyree:I'm a do something, whatever it is. I'm a cook this bread, and I want you to judge me right now. Even the chef at the restaurant is behind a closed door, but he only comes out when you say, tell the chef to come out here. Wanna tell them how good this is. Chef you know, unless you have hibachi, like, he not cooking at your table.
Andrew Tyree:So the it's not a natural thing to do. But when you get the applause and when you when you feel good about what you've done, you've kinda learned to put the judgment to the side. And and it it's partly delusion. You know? Part of it is like, I was good no matter what, and there are a million other reasons why I might not have gotten a role.
Andrew Tyree:I just got passed up for a role a job last week. Mhmm. And still stings. Still stings. You know?
Andrew Tyree:Like, I've gotten really big jobs. I got passed over for a job last week that I felt like I did pretty well. I got the callback. Callback went well. That was on a Friday.
Andrew Tyree:Monday, my agent called me. She was like, yeah. They passed. And I had to ask her twice. You said they did what?
Rod Brinson:I don't know if I heard you right.
Andrew Tyree:Check your Wi Fi. You know what I mean? And so it still bothers me, but it's you get so used to it. And, you know, and you start to see also the people who make it. I saw this post.
Andrew Tyree:I'm sure you saw it because it's been going viral of Obama talking about the normalcy that he experiences being in big rooms. He, you know, got to He's like, I'm supposed
Rod Brinson:to be at the table.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. He got to Harvard. He got to Harvard. He realized, oh, it's some it's some stone idiots at Harvard. He got to the senate.
Andrew Tyree:He's like, oh, there's some idiots who know nothing in the senate. Talking to world leader. He had some brilliant people there too, but there's also some some idiots. So same thing with acting, same thing with being on stage. You see people on stage who are trash, who are absolutely horrible.
Andrew Tyree:And you're like, oh, you got a lot of confidence walking your ass up here. Like, know you're terrible. So how dare I, who feel like I have a moniker, a a little bit of talent, second guess what's got
Rod Brinson:what I got going on? So in other words, it's almost like you can't be afraid to fail. Right? And you have to, like push the fear aside and go forward with the thing that you want to do without thinking about the competition per se or the person that went before you that was really good in your eyes
Andrew Tyree:and it's hard or even the person that you haven't seen It's harder to do that. It's harder to do that now because back in the day I mean, it's easier to do that now. Excuse me. Back in the day, used to be really hard because you had to go to these auditions in person. Mhmm.
Andrew Tyree:And you had to see 30 people who look just like you, and you had to hear the audition happening in the room before you went in there. You're like, dang. I was gonna do that. Alright. You know what I mean?
Andrew Tyree:And you had to then you had to go in there and be like, hey. I'm Andrew. I'm here to, you know, play the role of Rod. You know what mean? They were like, alright.
Andrew Tyree:Go ahead. My friend Kareem Grimes, he's a he's an actor out in LA. He tells a story of going to an audition, and right before he went in, he heard the casting director in the room trying to book Ray J. Like, hey. We're trying to find out Ray J's availability for the for the role, blah blah blah blah blah.
Andrew Tyree:Hangs up and be like, next. You gotta go in there, and now you gotta do your audition. So It used to be a lot harder. Now you do your self tape, you can tape eight times, mess up, delete it. It's easy now.
Rod Brinson:I I wanna I wanna jump in on that part because I know we have some people that are gonna watch this who either have businesses or they're trying to strike up an online profile and they're not really the in front of the camera kind of person. I always hear, oh no no no, I'm a behind the camera kind of person, right? But they still have dreams and aspirations that are semi tied to their ability to speak on a microphone or in front of a crowd or on a camera doing a selfie you know going
Andrew Tyree:live those
Rod Brinson:type of things. Is there any I suppose advice or tips or thoughts you have for somebody that might be struggling with that whereas that's never been a thing you had to struggle with.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. No, for sure. One, I struggle with it all the time. I just just I don't care. I just don't care.
Andrew Tyree:And you know what? The beauty about social media is it's kinda lifted the veil on perfection. Like back, you you hear Denzel talk about it. He's like, you know, movie stars, they show up when it's you never see the rest of the nines on a late night talk show. You add a movie premiere.
Andrew Tyree:And you're like, man, this school always looks like it is. But now, you know, with social media being what it is, you get to see people in their raw, unfiltered, messy divorce, splitting up the kids, you know, or the and you get to see that. So so people like the authenticity. Some of your most famous, most viral, most amazing shows go that way because it's raw.
Rod Brinson:Yeah.
Andrew Tyree:I would say 80 seventy, eighty percent of the viral moments on social media are people making mistakes. So post it. That's good. Know? Put it up there, man.
Andrew Tyree:We don't really wanna see your polished, perfect Alright. Alright. I don't come on, man. You know, I don't wanna see that. I wanna see it messy.
Andrew Tyree:I wanna see you I wanna see a light fall. I wanna see you recording a light fall, you'd be like, buy my book. You know what I mean? Like, I buy that book because that's real. You know?
Andrew Tyree:You you know? You know? I wanna see you the most the the thing that I like the most on social media right now is watching people build. I love behind the scenes content. I love my name's Andrew.
Andrew Tyree:Last year, decided to become an author. This year, writing my first novel. Come with me as I write my first novel and try to get a deal.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. Yeah. It's the process. It's the journey.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. And it's messy.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew Tyree:It's messy. I wanna see you at midnight. I wanna see you spill some coffee on your manuscript and be like, I wanna see that.
Rod Brinson:Uh-huh. So Now that's of that stuff is hard to manufacture because, like, the videos where I see people laying in the bed asleep and it's like holding the phone, you know. It's like some of that stuff you have to stage in order to show it so it's not truly authentic but some of those things can be authentic if you set your camera up and you go to record something and all of a sudden it falls over you go pick it up those things you can kind of show So I think that's important, but you made a very valid point that I don't think a lot of people have yet to kind of come to grips with and that is you have to stop caring. And not caring in the sense of going on the camera any kind of way. Obviously you want to like you know do something to
Andrew Tyree:your hair or whatever but
Rod Brinson:it's okay if you're not all put together and caked up for a woman you know and like super lined up for a man. Like it's perfectly fine if you didn't get a haircut the date of the time you decided to record. Exactly. And when you don't care and you put those things out, people can resonate and connect with that because they feel like it's okay, alright, I can trust this person. They're not trying to just sell me something.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah and they know what it seems like to build something. My favorite pages on socials now are even the pages that tell origin stories of businesses, of founders, you know, like, because I'm diving into that world now, and it's like, oh, you think that all founders do it this way, or all people that have a unicorn business do it this way. But no, this was a mistake, or this was a problem they were just trying to solve, or they they were the CEO and the employee for the first six years, and then they got and you're like, oh, like, not I could do that. You know? Like so I think
Rod Brinson:that's Makes it relatable. That's a good point. Did you hear the story about the Starbucks CEO and how Starbucks didn't exist?
Andrew Tyree:I don't think so.
Rod Brinson:Man, you need to find that video. It's really inspiring. But like dude was working his butt off and doing all type of things and it wasn't working out for him and he was a little frustrated about it but he was still working his wife was pregnant. I won't do the story any justice but I will sum it up and say she was like seven, eight months pregnant and money flowing Yes.
Andrew Tyree:Keep going. Keep going.
Rod Brinson:The parents he he was living with his in laws, and the father was in his face like, what's up, man? Like, you got my daughter pregnant? Like, are you doing you need to go get a real job like you might want to let this go and he fought through it and he was getting ready to quit and he went to his wife and was just like hey like I want to support you I want to provide for you and this isn't working out like I think I'm gonna go get a job and she was like no Like, this is your thing. Go for it. Do it.
Rod Brinson:And that turned everything around for And before you know it, Starbucks became Starbucks. Yeah. But it's those stories that give a little insight and make you go, ah, he is human. Mhmm. Ah, it
Andrew Tyree:is okay. You know? Mhmm. Those stories, when they tell you the real ages of these people when they make it, I I I struggled with that for so long. I struggled with where I was in my career compared to where I wanted to be.
Andrew Tyree:Mind you, some people would hear it, see my resume and see the accolades and be like, man, you're doing great. I personally was like, I feel like I could have been boom, but I spent time doing this, spent time doing that. And then I started researching, like, the age when people actually crested and made it. I even the reality is so far away from what they show that it's important to dig deep and find out what's really going on. So you don't talk yourself out of a win.
Rod Brinson:Right. Say that again. Oh my god.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Yeah. The reality is so different. The reality of what's really happening out there is so different than what they show, what they've been showing. It's important that you find that out because you will talk yourself out of a win.
Andrew Tyree:You will say, I'm too old. You say, I got too many kids. You'll say, I can't I can't pivot. Mhmm. I can't be an actor for twenty years and then decide I wanna go start a company, or I can't have a company for twenty years, sell it, and then go act because people are gonna be like, what what what are you doing?
Rod Brinson:What are you doing? Why did you do that? Yeah. Why don't you just stay over here? Man, this is so
Andrew Tyree:But read upon read upon Vera Wang. Read upon all these people who had a had a career change at 45
Rod Brinson:Yeah.
Andrew Tyree:47, 50. What did they
Rod Brinson:pop into like Morgan Freeman. I realized the other day somebody was like, man, we don't know how old he is. Yeah. It was actually it's a it's a, like, a documentary style thing that's on Apple TV with all of the actors. I think it's called
Andrew Tyree:Number one on the call sheet. Number one on the call sheet.
Rod Brinson:Really, really good. Have you watched it yet?
Andrew Tyree:Not yet, but I it's on my list.
Rod Brinson:You need to watch it tonight. I watched the first episode. But anyhow, you know, everybody always joking like Morgan Freeman was 90 when he
Andrew Tyree:was born. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:But here's why. I didn't realize it. He didn't really get his start until he was 50.
Andrew Tyree:You know? Yeah. I think I think Samuel L. Jackson was 45 or 47 before he was in, like oh, I'm blanking now. The Spike Lee joint.
Andrew Tyree:Anyway, he was Yeah. Yeah. Late mid mid to late forties.
Rod Brinson:There's so many stories like that, man. We could go on and on with these people who just, you know ended up where they are now later on in life. But it took courage. It took them actually walking into it and not being afraid. And it took them being okay with how they look, how they sound, how how can I say this?
Rod Brinson:I I feel like it's a mandatory part that you have to stop caring about what other people might be thinking because they're probably not thinking the thing that you think that they're thinking.
Andrew Tyree:Probably not thinking it. They probably don't care. I was listening to Sam Altman, huge founder, talk about people in their NDAs. And he was he was like, all you guys are here, and you guys all are very concerned about telling people your idea because somebody might steal it. He was like, nobody cares.
Andrew Tyree:Like, thinks your idea nobody's gonna hear your idea and go, that's a billion dollar idea. I'm about to go do that first. He was like, you can give, you know, Tim Cook or whoever your idea and the instructions on how to implement it. Not only are people busy, they're building their own things, and nobody has your vision. So you don't have to spend time worrying about, oh, I can't talk about my idea on social media or I can't talk about my idea because they gonna steal it.
Andrew Tyree:Nobody wants to do nobody wants do that shit.
Rod Brinson:Like, I don't wanna do that much attention to you.
Andrew Tyree:I don't wanna do it. Like like, you have you have a really good thing going, Rod. Like, you are great at what you do. You build brands, and you're excellent at it. And if you said, Andrew, I have an idea on how to build brands that's gonna be a hundred million dollar idea, I would be like, dope.
Andrew Tyree:I can't do that. You do that, and you let me know how I can help you. Right. And I'll be I'll be in the mix.
Rod Brinson:Or even if you feel like it's a great idea, it's like the energy and and the effort necessary to go and take that and try to do it. Yeah.
Andrew Tyree:Because Like you said, people are pissed. I gotta stop all my stuff that I'm building to go build your thing.
Rod Brinson:Like, I'm
Andrew Tyree:not gonna do that. So, you know, all that is to say, people don't care. You should stop caring. And then my biggest thing, the biggest thing that I and you didn't even fast. Like, don't be afraid to fail fast.
Andrew Tyree:If you get an idea that doesn't mean chase every loose idea you have in your brain. But if you get an idea and you think it's promising, try it. Test it. Test it. Just do it.
Andrew Tyree:And if it's terrible, leave it alone. If you think it doesn't have legs once you try it, leave it alone. There's nothing wrong with failing fast. People are so afraid to fail. I have a a genius friend.
Andrew Tyree:I wouldn't call him a genius friend. MBA worked for just genius. And he will spend months, years on an idea, and you'll never see the idea. Right. He'll be like, bro, just put the thing out.
Andrew Tyree:What are you waiting on? He's like, oh, it's not perfect, and it's not this. I got a I got a couple friends like that. And it's like, bro, just put it out. And if it's trash, bye.
Andrew Tyree:It's okay. Right.
Rod Brinson:But but now you know it's trash.
Andrew Tyree:I know it's trash. The opposite of
Rod Brinson:that is you put it out and it pops and it's like, okay, they accepted it even though it's not perfect in my mind.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Or you put it out and it's like it needs a little tweak. It's not completely trashed, but oh, I didn't think about how to do this. This is that's weird. I'm glad I didn't go too far Mhmm.
Andrew Tyree:Not knowing how to do that little piece right there.
Rod Brinson:I I tell my customers the same thing all the time. Like, there's there's a difference between actually walking a mile and looking at the mile saying I'm gonna walk it right. Yes it is daunting to think about some of the things that you have a fear about or that you're struggling with but you will never know what it feels like and what it could have been or what would have happened if you didn't just go ahead and put it out there. So don't get caught up in the procrastination game where you're trying to perfect it so that when you're going like even this live I put a little time into it for sure to make sure things look right. I got my my knee on lighting the back and whatever.
Rod Brinson:But if if the light didn't work, guess who would still be doing my live?
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. You know what I mean?
Rod Brinson:I'm having issues right now. I don't know if you can tell, but, like, probably every five minutes, my phone tries to connect to my computer and it messes up my audio.
Andrew Tyree:I got
Rod Brinson:disconnected and it freezes. Mhmm. But I'm not I'm not going, oh, Andrew, we can't do the live anymore. I I'm happy. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Oh, you just push the ball forward because guess what? If you say you want something Mhmm. Then go after it.
Andrew Tyree:Go after it. You can. And and something is going to go wrong. You might as well bank on it. You might as well bank on it.
Andrew Tyree:I have never heard a story from anybody of them saying, like, yeah. I did it, and everything just Everything was just everything was perfect. Never had no issues. So, you you know, you might as well not even trip on that. That's that's gonna happen.
Andrew Tyree:And if it hasn't happened yet, it's coming.
Rod Brinson:What do you say to the people who feel like, well, you know, I I don't have to be the face of my business. I you know, my business is successful thus far. I've made money. My logo is my profile pic. I don't post reels or do any of that stuff.
Rod Brinson:Like, why do I need to pull a phone out and be on camera in order to be successful? What do you say to that person?
Andrew Tyree:Know, Depending on your business, I would say you don't have to be. Mhmm. But I will say that I love founder led businesses. I love businesses where, like, I can tap into the founder. I know what they're about.
Andrew Tyree:This new thing that I'm going after. We're building this building that website, and I was trying to find out what calendar app I was gonna use. And, you know, Squarespace has their own calendar app. Everybody has a calendar app. Now Calendly is obviously a calendar app too.
Andrew Tyree:Mhmm. And I just was doing some research, and I found a video of the CEO of Calendly, a brother, talking about what he believes in, how he managed to start Calendly. And I was like, oh, it's a no brainer. Like, I'm gonna go with Calendly because I like you. Yeah.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. And the one thing I don't wanna ever do is end up using some stuff and find out that the CEO or the founder is somebody I don't relate to. I hate. Right. I gave my Tesla back quick.
Andrew Tyree:Like like, I love my Tesla. I gave that joker back so fast, man. I'm driving a a a Hyundai Sonata or a a Right. Santa Fe.
Rod Brinson:Right.
Andrew Tyree:I You don't wanna you
Rod Brinson:don't wanna associate yourself.
Andrew Tyree:It don't matter what I what they had on the lot. I'm like, what can it fit two kids in the back? Let me get that because you you you can have you can have this junk in the back.
Rod Brinson:That's hilarious. You know? So so I own a Tesla and and, you know, ever since stuff started going crazy. Yeah here's why so everything started going crazy and I felt like this little drip of water in the the Lake Of Elon will probably not really affect him but I don't wanna try to find the car right now. I'm too busy with Charles, and I'm just gonna hold on to it until I just get so pissed off that I ain't got no choice.
Andrew Tyree:You're not you're not you're not that pissed off yet?
Rod Brinson:See, so you know why? You know why? Because I don't watch the news. My news comes from people like you who watch the news and say, man, Rod, did you hear this? And I go, no.
Rod Brinson:I didn't. Why don't you tell me? I want my sentence.
Andrew Tyree:Fair enough. Fair enough. Now I do
Rod Brinson:do pay attention to some things for sure because I think it's it's important to be aware. But I don't get so caught up into it because I'm trying to build something.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. No.
Rod Brinson:I could. So going going back to what you said.
Andrew Tyree:I'm gonna I but I'll tell you this. Mhmm. Tesla take it back quick. It didn't take me no time. Really?
Andrew Tyree:I brought that joker back. I could've went to Rivian. I could've went to somebody said Polestar in there. They got a couple new joints coming out. It's a quick Google search, my guy.
Andrew Tyree:Okay. You can take that you can take that joker back quick.
Rod Brinson:Now when you say take it back, is it, like, take it back and you lose $5,000, or it's like
Andrew Tyree:It depends on it depends on your setup. I don't know. You know? It depends on it depends on your setup. But
Rod Brinson:I might consider
Andrew Tyree:I I didn't I didn't didn't lose nothing, and I'm I'm looking for my next electric because I like I like to stay electric. But I got some hot stuff coming out now. You know, we can have a car conversation. But I it wasn't even about me trying to hurt his pocket. It was about, like, how I feel when I turn the joint on in the morning.
Rod Brinson:You know,
Andrew Tyree:I'm not trying to like, he's a he's a richest man in the world. You're right. Like, my Tesla ain't trying to hurt his pocket, but that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to get in the car and feel good. I'm here to use you know, I wanna if I found out the calendar app I was using on my website was run by, you know, a terrible person who, you know, did did terrible things, I couldn't I don't even wanna use it.
Andrew Tyree:I don't even wanna use it. You make
Rod Brinson:some great points, though. Let's let's think about that from that perspective too. Right? Here's Elon who has obviously been the face of his brand and the face of his thing his company whatever it is and I think that that has added to some of his early success because people were looking at him going oh man he's cool he's smart he's whatever right But on the flip side of that coin now that he's doing some things people don't really agree to like now it's hurting his brand. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:You know so just in the same way that your face and your likeness and the way you talk and how your personality and all of that as the founder can influence people to want to be a part of a company it could also do the opposite. Yeah. And if you're not put together, if your brand is not sharp, if you don't have integrity and character and you're not making smart decisions, of that stuff will literally affect the way people see you. It's less about how you sound and more about what you're saying and it's less about how you look and more about how you're making people feel. Right?
Andrew Tyree:Yes. Yes. And maybe because I I I also think that, you know, we're thinking about ourselves as black men, and we love support anybody. But we love to support black people, black men and women, brown people. Like, because black people, it doesn't really move us.
Andrew Tyree:But there are people out there who will find out that there's a brother who little dreadlocks or whatever the hell these things are doing in my hair, like, is running a company and be like, oh, no. I'm not Yep. I'm I'm not dealing with it. Mhmm. So you have to think about that too.
Andrew Tyree:You gotta think about what business am I going into and do you want?
Rod Brinson:Do you though? Let's talk about that. That's kind of the point though. Like, so first, in the show we were just talking about the first on the call list or whatever, number one on the call list. You know obviously that came up and you think about the Whoopi Goldbergs and how you know Steven Spielberg cast her in Color Purple and you know obviously it's a black film so it makes sense but she tried for so many roles before that and didn't get the spot.
Rod Brinson:Or Viola Davis who's freaking phenomenal but she hadn't really been getting lead actress roles. Know what I mean? Tom Cruise is not gonna save her from a bomb and kiss her and you know what I mean? But why is that? It's because of all these stereotypes and different things that we're talking about where you have to think about it but you shouldn't have to think about it from a place of if I do this then I won't get success or I won't get customers because they won't like me because of x y z and here's why I said it I pause for your thoughts.
Rod Brinson:Your customers are your customers. So if somebody's gonna walk away from you because of the way you look or the way your hair is, then they're not your customer anyway. Right? I don't think a person should have to change who they are from an outward appearance point of view in order to attract customers because now you're not being yourself anyway. Now you're just faking a fault in order to try to achieve some things that you want.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I think that goes back to not caring. Right? It goes back to, like, you have to be able to not care and be okay with whoever comes and whoever doesn't come.
Andrew Tyree:But I definitely know that there are, I mean, we all know that there are black and brown biz like, in acting, you really don't have a choice. You gotta audition. Like, you gotta show your face to audition. But in in a, you know, a fintech company or in a SaaS company, like, yo. You can build the some amazing fintech products and be like, every single one of my clients is 60 plus and white.
Andrew Tyree:And you can just choose, I'm not gonna be the face of my brand because I'm I want I wanna land x, y, and z. I don't I wouldn't fault that person for that. No. I I don't know that I would do it. I I don't know that I would do it.
Andrew Tyree:I I'm pretty, you know And
Rod Brinson:I'm sure some people have done that and reached certain levels of success.
Andrew Tyree:And then you pop out on them like, bye. That's it.
Rod Brinson:Or or they call an in person meeting and you're trying to negotiate the network and they're like, hey, where's where's Bob? And it's like, I am Bob.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. That's me, brother.
Rod Brinson:Bob, I didn't know you had locks.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Well, welcome. You know? No. Facts.
Andrew Tyree:Facts. I mean, it's it's a double it's a double edged sword. You know? You you just you just choose who you wanna be. Like you said, you choose what's most important to you.
Andrew Tyree:You choose who you wanna be. Content is very different than corporate or, you know stand up, things like that. But there were authors who wrote under pen names because they were women, and they didn't they wanted to make sure that people read their books without without bias. And then they popped out on them later like, gotcha, bitch. You know?
Andrew Tyree:So, like, people have people have been people have been doing this for a long time just kinda understanding what the landscape is. And, you know, we're in we're in a we're in a day and age where there are black and brown brands that are doing just great, and there's enough there's enough support for a brand to do wonderfully no matter what the founder looks like. But there are some some accounts you're probably gonna lose still, you know, because it's just the way the world is. You know?
Rod Brinson:Exactly. And and that's I guess that's the the prefaces like, the the precipice of my point. I don't know the word at this point.
Andrew Tyree:You got it, you know. You
Rod Brinson:know when you go into business there are gonna be people who like you and people who dislike you. People who want your product and people who don't. And there are gonna be people who get turned off just because of whatever it is whether it's your hair, the color of your skin, the way you sound, it could be a number of things. There are going to be other people who support you just because of those things.
Andrew Tyree:Because of that.
Rod Brinson:Right? So it's like instead of focusing your energy and attention on trying to circumvent that situation is in my opinion much more pertinent and necessary to focus on your customer because your customer if and when I say that here's what I mean Amazon got to where it is because it focused on the customer. Obviously they did some old shady stuff to get that big but their whole premise was we want to get it to you faster. We want to get it to you cheaper and people bought into it because it was serving them. Now what they had to do on the front end of that is you know go into negative with their profits for about ten years and investors were like bro what's going on?
Rod Brinson:But they continued to hit their number in every other category And why am I bringing that up? If you focus on the customer and your product or your service is sharp, it doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter what you sound like. They're not going to be able to stop it from going where it goes. Right.
Rod Brinson:Right? Think about Biggie Smalls. Was he the most attractive rapper in a female's eye? Probably not.
Andrew Tyree:Some women will say so. Some women will lie to you. Yeah. Uh-oh. There you go.
Rod Brinson:He still found himself on the top echelon of Yeah. You know I ain't gonna say sex symbols because I don't know. I mean, ladies have to tell me. Look. Cab said absolutely not.
Rod Brinson:But here's my point. There were some women No.
Andrew Tyree:There's a stature. Ten. A hundred. Yeah. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:What did he say in that? He said, look. Plus I talk about how I dress I mean, he got the lyrics that proved, you know, hopefully proved. I don't really know if it's true.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. But No. For sure.
Rod Brinson:Bottom line is, man, I think that people are afraid to show themselves because of what they have in their mind.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:And that's all I'm trying to dispel. Like what you have in your mind about how you look and how you sound is a fallacy. Yeah. And the only way to figure out how to swim is to dive in the pool. Yeah.
Andrew Tyree:You know? Yeah. %. Hundred %.
Rod Brinson:Percent. Where are people gonna be able to see you around here, man? I know you said you're working on a couple of different things. What you got going around?
Andrew Tyree:I've been I've been I've been in hiding, man. Sometimes at the risk of sounding churchy because I'm not churchy, but at the risk of sounding churchy, sometimes you gotta, like, just kinda go into hiding. And that's what I think I've been doing. So, you know, I left NBC or NBC left me at the end of last year. And so this year has been kinda trying to figure out what I wanna do.
Andrew Tyree:I've built a community called futureproof, we future proof Com. It'll be back up in a day or two. But that's just a community for people who are interested in a conversation like this, who wanna figure out how to show up as their authentic self on camera, whether it be on TV, on stage, in real life, on social media. And it's a conversation for people to have around how that industry and others are changing and making sure you're equipped with the skills and the connections to future proof your your career and your goals. So that's future proof and we futureproof.com.
Andrew Tyree:And then what I'm building with Pork Force is a b to b business, but it's essentially on demand field reps for any sort of specialty consumer goods. So we're focused on spirit brands, but we also do meal prep. And, you know, if you make if you make delicious Louisiana crunch cakes in your kitchen, and now you're trying to you're trying to expand your, you know, your your brand and your reach, That's what we focus on, making sure that you who live in Atlanta can expand your brand to Detroit without you having to go and build a sale. So we do that. Ten ninety nine employee is good training, good onboarding.
Andrew Tyree:And, yeah, it's been launched it three months ago, and it's been pretty good. Pretty successful.
Rod Brinson:Nice. Okay. No. I love that, man. And and I think that's part of what we're saying here like you got to get out here, got to try stuff out, you got to see what works and half of the time you might think you want to do one thing one way and once you start doing it you realize I kind of want to pivot and go over here and do this over here But you'll never know that until you get your feet wet and figure it out.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. Know? Yeah. I am a champion for that. I do believe that a lot of people would be further along in life if they were open to trying things and deciding to let go of the fear associated with the thing that's holding them back.
Rod Brinson:So I I applaud you, man, for stepping into that and and then, you know, not being afraid to just say, you know what? I'm gonna do this. I'm try this. I'm a give this
Andrew Tyree:thing. Yeah. Yeah. I've always been very interested in, like you know, I've always wanted to build a business, but I've always I've never been able to find a simple enough problem that I felt like I could solve. And running in these circles with these brand makers, I touched different spaces in the spirits industry where I partnered on a couple of spirits.
Andrew Tyree:I'm a partner in vodka and in a brandy. And having these business meetings, everybody had the same issue. We don't know how to scale, how to expand because we don't have boots on the ground in these different places. And I was like, that's a problem I think I can solve. So I got real quiet.
Andrew Tyree:If you look at my social media, I haven't posted anything on social media besides our posts in, the past couple months. I got real quiet and I just figured out how to build it and I did it. So, yeah, super excited about that.
Rod Brinson:Real quiet and figured out how to do it. That's a a vital part of that too. A lot of people are loud.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. A lot
Rod Brinson:of people. I see people post all the time and talk about what they're gonna do and what what's about to come and it's like that's cool but to a certain degree. If it doesn't have a call to action right, on the other end of it, if it doesn't have an email sign up list, you know, like, why are you putting this out here? People need to have the ability to tap into something if you're announcing it.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Because because otherwise, what I mean, you might as well get $1,500,000 and and do a Super Bowl commercial
Andrew Tyree:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Without a way for people to buy something. Like, what's the point of
Andrew Tyree:What because what if it what if it goes viral? Like, what if it does do what you want it to do? Then what?
Rod Brinson:If it it at minimum it's going to have eyeballs on it and anytime somebody can see something that you're doing, you want them to be able to action anything that they would want to do if it came up in their mind. I'll give you a quick example. If you I'm just making something up. Starting a cupcake business and you put online, Hey, I'm starting a cupcake business. You're gonna get, Congratulations!
Rod Brinson:Yay! All the support, right, in the likes and comments. But how is any of that tied to you making revenue at any point it's not all they're doing is letting people know about it in that moment and then they're gonna go back to their lives and forget about it
Andrew Tyree:yeah
Rod Brinson:right now add this flavor on top of that If you don't start this cupcake business for the next three months, they're gonna go, yeah. I knew she wasn't about, and I knew he wasn't gonna do it. He just talked. You know, you're basically advertising mediocrity.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. And it don't matter and it doesn't matter why. You could have a death in the family. You could have moved. You could have lost your job.
Andrew Tyree:It doesn't matter why you didn't end up starting a cookie business. Just the fact that you told him it was coming and it didn't come Yep. Is enough to make people go, he don't really mean what he said.
Rod Brinson:Right. Right. Don't really
Andrew Tyree:mean what he say. And so, like, I've always kind of been, like, I like the the ability to be quiet on social media too. Like, I like having a piece of business or a piece of life that is not I have, in my opinion, a very cute, very beautiful family. I got great daughters. We have funny moments.
Andrew Tyree:My phone is filled with, like, my daughter's doing cute things. And people are always like, yo. You should start, like, one of these family pages where, like, you do the the chicks and you guys do pranks and you guys do challenges and you put the kids on it. And I was like, I would hate life Yeah. If every time my kid did something cute, I was like, hold on.
Andrew Tyree:Camera. I gotta post it. And I was like, girl, baby, do that do that thing again. It's not for everybody. I'm totally okay.
Andrew Tyree:And once I got quiet and I wasn't posting every day, I liked it. Yeah. Like, I like, I enjoyed it. I was like, I haven't thought about it. I haven't missed it.
Andrew Tyree:Now once this thing is up and going, I'm gonna go ahead and and put that out there. But like, I was like, this is alright. Yeah. Yeah. This is alright
Rod Brinson:right here. It's not just alright. It's it's necessary. There's a sanity level that's involved in breaking away and unplugging. That's why people talk about that and people forget that even if you have a business people always ask me well how frequent should I post?
Rod Brinson:I'm you know trying to grow my brand. Post as frequently as you want to. That's what it boils down to because guess what if you're not posting you're still doing something that adds to your brand. You're building character. You're building integrity.
Rod Brinson:You're building a story on the outside. That time you're spending with your family and doing those things and just, like, thinking through stuff versus having to, oh, I gotta post today. It's 12:00. Let me make sure I act like a robot. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:That that time frame that you're using to do that is building you up so that when you come back to post, you have something to post.
Andrew Tyree:Talk about.
Rod Brinson:You know what I mean?
Andrew Tyree:So if you're listening to this
Rod Brinson:and you're wondering like, oh man, like I want to really get more customers and I hear I have to post a lot more to do that. Yes, it's true. You do need to post in order to be visible but not at the expense of your sanity and your livelihood. Don't go so crazy that the phone is attached to you. You can't even just enjoy a moment.
Andrew Tyree:You even pick up your kid because you got a phone in here. You're like, baby, I can't pick you up right now because I'm recording you.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. Daddy's busy. Go sit somewhere. Like
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. No. No. No. No.
Andrew Tyree:And my girls are, you know, about to be four, about to be two, so they're three in one. And it's like, I wanna record it for my own, you know, posterity so I can look back on things, but I do not want them to be, you know, the catalyst for my social media status or yeah, I just don't I just don't want it.
Rod Brinson:And and look. I just don't want that. That's not to knock anybody that post their kids. I post my kids. You you post your kids.
Andrew Tyree:We do. Do. Because they're there.
Rod Brinson:It's not the reason that you're recording.
Andrew Tyree:Right.
Rod Brinson:Know what I mean?
Andrew Tyree:Right. I can't open my phone now, but I'm like, oh, I might put that up there, but it's not like I have to. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Yeah. That's
Rod Brinson:good stuff.
Andrew Tyree:When once they start once they start making you money, you like, yo, you ain't done nothing cute in, like, two days. I'm gonna need you to get cute.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. Yeah. Put that toy down. Okay. Let's get back to planting these flowers like we were doing.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:That's hilarious. But no man, I just think it's important for people to let go of fear and to be out there more. I definitely am a person who can attest to the benefit in doing that because I was not on camera nearly as much the years before becoming full time in this as I am now. Primarily because I realized technology just doesn't want me to be on camera.
Andrew Tyree:Just That would be great.
Rod Brinson:But that's okay though, you know, because I'm gonna push through. I realized that my level of success that I want to reach requires me to be more visible. That's the thing, you have to understand where you want to go and if you say, hey I want to go to the moon, Okay, well that requires a rocket. You know what I mean? Like but if you don't want to go to the moon, that's okay.
Rod Brinson:Like I tell people in my analogy, do you want a skyscraper business or do you want a wrench home? Either one is perfectly fine, but if you want a skyscraper, the first thing you got to do is clear the land and dig deep so that you have a deep enough foundation with the steel and the concrete removing the bedrock and the sand and all the things that it cannot properly stand on before you begin erecting it. Now the taller the skyscraper, the deeper you gotta dig. And so while you're digging, you can't be expecting people to go, oh, man. I saw your stuff.
Rod Brinson:It looked amazing. No. Mhmm. The deepness is going to be bro, I thought this was gonna be it. I posted it.
Rod Brinson:I got a hundred views. Yeah. It didn't happen. You know what I mean? That's the deep.
Rod Brinson:That's the digging. But again, I decided to be more on camera even though I hate the way I sound and don't like the way I look sometimes and all of that stuff because it's attached to my goal. Now if yours is not attached to your goal, that's perfectly fine. You wanna ranch home. You don't care about having a whole bunch of followers and getting business on social media.
Rod Brinson:Don't worry about posting.
Andrew Tyree:Right.
Rod Brinson:But don't tell me you wanna be a movie star and you're not making movies.
Andrew Tyree:That's it. Don't
Rod Brinson:tell me you wanna We're not gonna do that. What we're gonna do is go ahead and wrap this up because
Andrew Tyree:this is an
Rod Brinson:amazing conversation. Tell the people how they can get in touch with you, man.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Right here. So this is hosted by Andrew Tyree. It's my social media handle here. And this is Instagram.
Andrew Tyree:Yeah. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Because it's it's going a couple of different places. That's why I
Andrew Tyree:see it. Yep. Insta, TikTok, YouTube is also hosted by Angie Tyree. Yeah. DM me.
Andrew Tyree:I'm not hard to find.
Rod Brinson:Your TikTok, man, it it went viral a couple of times, man.
Andrew Tyree:I mean, You got some things.
Rod Brinson:You got some views to be envious of over there on I
Andrew Tyree:do some things every once in a while.
Rod Brinson:For sure. Well, look. I appreciate your time. This has been an amazing conversation, man. I'm looking forward to And, y'all tune in next Tuesday.
Rod Brinson:We're gonna have a super amazing guest again like this month has been crazy it's gonna continue to be crazy I'll be making that announcement coming up soon but Andrew thank you for your time man looking forward to connecting with you offline
Andrew Tyree:of course man
Rod Brinson:maybe maybe we could bring our kids around but you know, I'm I'm I'll have to think it through you telling me you're gonna rob me at the beginning
Andrew Tyree:of this call. I gotta I gotta It'll be a friend a friendly a friendly rob. A friendly rob. Right. Alright, brother.
Andrew Tyree:Peace.
Rod Brinson:Enjoy your day, man. Peace.