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Is entrepreneurship really the dream — or is it a divine assignment in disguise?
In this deeply personal and transparent episode of When All Hell Breaks Loose, host Chris King flips the script as he interviews the man usually behind the scenes — his producer, branding strategist, and friend, Rod Brinson. But this isn’t just about building a brand — it’s about the faith, fear, and fire that come with leaving corporate security for purpose-driven calling.
🔥 Rod shares how he went from corporate comfort to being laid off after 20 years — and how that unwanted moment became the push God used to reposition his entire life. From childhood side hustles to wrestling with self-worth, purpose, and provision, this conversation is for anyone who’s ever asked: “God, are You sure this is the path?”
💡 You’ll learn how success can still feel scary, why scaling before healing is dangerous, and how to know if it’s God calling you — or your pride.
Whether you’re in a 9-5 praying for clarity, or an entrepreneur doubting your path, this episode will speak straight to your soul.
🔑 What You’ll Learn:
• Why being “ready” to leave corporate is a myth
• How to navigate the mental and spiritual cost of entrepreneurship
• The role of your spouse (or circle) in your purpose journey
• What God really means when He closes one door and opens another
• Why you must work on yourself before you build your business
🎯 Follow Rod Brinson on Instagram: @rod.brinson
📍Visit his website: RodBrinson.com
🔁 Share this episode with someone who’s asking, “Is this it?”
#PurposeOverPaychecks #WAHBLPodcast #FaithInBusiness #CalledNotJustCreative #BrandingWithGod #EntrepreneurshipJourney #RodBrinson #CorporateToCalling
Creators and Guests
Host
Chris King
Chris King is the host of the “When All Hell Breaks Loose” (WAHBL) podcast, where he facilitates real, raw, and uplifting conversations about overcoming life’s toughest challenges. Through this platform, Chris aims to help listeners discover strength and hope during difficult times. His engaging discussions provide profound insights into finding light amidst adversity, guiding audiences to rise stronger.
What is When All Hell Breaks Loose?
WAHBL Podcast (When All Hell Breaks Loose) is your go-to source for real, raw, and uplifting conversations about overcoming life’s toughest challenges. Hosted by Chris King and Monique LaRue, this podcast dives deep into the personal stories of resilience, faith, and growth, providing practical advice on how to thrive when everything feels like it’s falling apart. Whether you’re navigating loss, career setbacks, or personal struggles, each episode offers inspiration, actionable steps, and a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there’s hope on the horizon. Tune in for empowering discussions, audience engagement, and thought-provoking interviews that will help you take life’s toughest blows and turn them into victories. For more information, please visit our website at https://wahblpodcast.com and follow us across social media @wahblpodcast
Many people talk about jumping to entrepreneurship, but the reality is it's not that easy. Now some of us, we've successfully moved to entrepreneurship and owning our businesses, but for a lot of us, it's been hell and a high cost to pay. I'm just sitting here with my boy, my friend, my producer, everything in between. He's been a confidant, but most of all he has helped me in the journey of entrepreneurship as I watch him navigate entrepreneurship. So I wanna welcome my friend, my producer, none other than entrepreneur Rod Brinson.
Chris King:Rod, man. Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Rod Brinson:Happy to be here, man. Thank you for having me.
Chris King:I know you don't know what I'm about to say and I'm about to get you, man. I love it. But you're always dropping gems, man. You've transitioned from corporate to being an entrepreneur. So just tell the people a little bit about yourself.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. No problem. So I'm a brand strategist. I focus on helping people elevate their brand so that they can monetize it and kinda do the thing that they're kinda put here to do. And to your point, know, transitioning to doing this full time has been a very interesting journey to say the least.
Rod Brinson:But that's pretty much what I do. It's what I've been doing for quite a while and I enjoy it thoroughly.
Chris King:Good deal. So let's just jump right in, man. I know a little bit about the story but everybody else may not. So help me understand how you transitioned because you were first in corporate. Yeah.
Chris King:Right? And not just in corporate, you really like your job. Mhmm. I used to ask you like, man, how's the job? Oh, man.
Chris King:It's good. It's good.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. Right?
Chris King:So how did you make that transition from corporate to being an entrepreneur?
Rod Brinson:Well, that's a great question. And foremost, I've always been entrepreneur. Mhmm. I've been selling candy since middle school and you know, starting up all kind of businesses, photo booth, I had a music business with my partner Keith. I can just go on and on throughout the years where I've always had like a side hustle or you know made it legit with the LLC etcetera.
Rod Brinson:But it was always just an additional means of making money. It wasn't the thing I wanted to do.
Chris King:Yeah. Was your hustle.
Rod Brinson:Right. I was good with corporate. I was good with the nine to five so long as the paycheck was good. Right. You know, the bonuses were coming in and stuff like that.
Rod Brinson:And so, know, I obviously having a wife and kids, I'm at a place in my life where it's like, alright, I just need to focus on retirement. I need to build up my stock and savings and take the kids on vacation, that type of thing. Corporate is the only way to do that in my head. But my business continued to grow and it was growing at a rate where I I basically was at capacity. I had to turn people away.
Rod Brinson:I was lying to people at one point, no I don't do websites anymore. What do you mean? You know, I mean it was that bad and and God basically was like, yeah, I got something for you over here, I need you to do this more. And I'm like, yeah, but I got this corporate thing over here, God, you know. So the short end of that story is that he was pulling me away from the corporate nine to five job because he knew I had people to bless with the things and the skills that I had.
Rod Brinson:Right? And so I basically challenged God. I'm like, well you want me to do this, I'm a need x y z in terms of dollars to be able to do it by this date. Yeah. Right?
Rod Brinson:What happens when you tell God that? So obviously he superseded that number and the time. Mhmm. Right? Because I gave him till December.
Rod Brinson:It was in January when I kinda did this. And when he superseded that number and and he did it a month before my my deadline, I was like, okay God, I see you. But I still want a Yeah. Comfortable life. You know what I mean?
Rod Brinson:I still wanna do what's easy for me because I'm already making this money part time, I might as well just stay over here. And fast forward a couple of months, man, he forced me out. I got laid off from my job for the first time in twenty years.
Chris King:Man. So but you had a entrepreneurship you had an entrepreneur mindset.
Rod Brinson:Oh, for sure.
Chris King:Right? But there's a little difference now and I wanna really jump into and highlight this difference from what I see because, yeah, just like you man, I sold candy, you know, I had a newspaper route. I I did all that other stuff back in the day with newspaper. Okay. I just dated myself.
Chris King:Alright. You know, back in the day there were these things called the newspapers newspapers. Right? And, you know, paper boy back then meant the real newspaper. You know what I'm saying?
Rod Brinson:Not the other paper boy.
Chris King:Yeah. So so, you know, I had a lot of that too and but my entrepreneur mindset I think came from others. Did you ever see other entrepreneurs?
Rod Brinson:Oh, for sure. My dad was on. Okay. He was the the precipice of all of that for me. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:He's a truck driver. I come from a family of generations of truck drivers. And I saw him work his tail off or shall I say I didn't see him because he was working his tail
Chris King:off.
Rod Brinson:Right. He would be gone for weeks at a time and when he would come home, was full time father, right? Provided for us all that good stuff. Well, we were poor because at that time he wasn't making a lot of money and he wanted to do something about that. So he became an owner operator and that's when everything changed.
Rod Brinson:Like, I I specifically remember my mom coming in the house one day and you know, we never had no money. My mom's from Bankhead, you know what I mean? We were really Atlanta thoroughbreds. She comes in and she's like, guess what I got? I was like, I don't know, some food for me?
Rod Brinson:What do you have? She pulled out $10,000 in cash and she was just like, look at this and I was like, woah. You know, I mean it blew my mind.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:And I said, did you get that? She said, well your dad had got a got a new contract with his business and we ended up buying another truck and da da da. She explained it to me and from that moment on I already knew. I'm like, okay. So there are ways out here to get it.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. I just, you know, didn't wanna take that route initially.
Chris King:Yeah. It's funny you said that because I'm learning of course, we've talked and I'm learning more about your story, but that's a similarity. My dad was entrepreneur. Mhmm. My dad, he from Mississippi, he went to and of course, being in a farm or being raised on a farm, right, that's basically entrepreneurship.
Chris King:Right? And so but he went to school to become a pharmacist, a legal pharmacist, not the street kind. Alright? And so by the age of, like, 27, 30, he had well, by 27, he had owned his own pharmacy. And then he had had a few more that he he established.
Chris King:So I saw entrepreneurship from that side and I saw and this is when my dad was when my family was together. I saw he would come home and he would count money till his his fingers were stained with the ink from the money. And seeing that as a kid, I'm like, woah. Right? Money.
Chris King:Right? So it's funny because you had that entrepreneur drive and but you saw it. Right? And so now you but you hit on something that I want to take you to on the mindset because you said your family bought another truck. Mhmm.
Chris King:Right? So you went from one to two. So now you're building what I call business. Right? And I think a lot of people misunderstand.
Chris King:They just say, I wanna own my own thing and just be an entrepreneur. But and I see you doing it now. You're going from what I would say solopreneur. You've gone from solopreneur to building a business. What's the difference between that mindset and now where you are?
Rod Brinson:Interesting. So going back to when I didn't have capacity to do the work Mhmm. I basically asked God like, okay, why do you have all of this money coming to me that I can't take? I definitely need the money.
Chris King:Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:And he was like, well, if you spend some time with me, I'll explain it to you. And I was like, alright. So I started spending more time. I started kinda reading my bible more, praying more, know, kinda going to him. And what he revealed to me in that time, first of all, he gave me the idea to read this book by my girl, Roshanti.
Rod Brinson:It's called The Morning The Miracle Morning. Okay. Reading that book forced me to take advantage of all the time in my day because I used to complain, don't have time. I don't have time. And so what that book kinda told me to do is kind of get up earlier and spend that time to do the things you can't do with the time you don't have.
Rod Brinson:Mhmm. So I started getting up at 05:00 in the morning every day for ninety days and from five to eight before I started my corporate job, all I did was spend time with God and strategize on how I could scale. So a lot of people want to scale. Oh, let's scale, let's scale, let's scale. Right?
Rod Brinson:Because people have businesses. Right. But you can't scale something that's broken.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:You have to have something that is working properly before you try to scale. And so I figured out how to scale what was working properly for me and I began hiring people to take on some of the task. And a lot of people don't hire people because they're afraid to lose the
Chris King:money. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:But they don't realize that you're missing out on money by not hiring people. Right. Right. You know, I talk to my wife all the time when she wants me to do certain tasks around the house and I'm like, I'm I'm just hiring somebody for And she's like, well we can save the money. Yeah, we could.
Rod Brinson:But I could make more money in the time that I would spend doing that thing
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Instead of just hiring a professional to do it.
Chris King:So let me ask you. So that's a great segue because I was just having the same conversation with I forget, think my brother.
Rod Brinson:Right? And
Chris King:we were talking about cutting the yard. And I don't know if you've ever seen people that have professional lawn services. They are so fast. Yeah. So fast and efficient.
Chris King:And have you ever tried cutting your yard? And has it ever taken you the amount of time they take them? No. It takes you all day. You gotta plan all day for it.
Chris King:So they have some type of system, some type of ability to really be proficient in what they do and they're able to teach others to come alongside. And what I'm hearing you say is that you had to create a system before you began to scale.
Rod Brinson:Of course.
Chris King:And so, it's like almost like you're saying that a lot of people try to scale before they have a system of success. Yeah. Right? To where you're really proficient at doing it. So what was some of what were some of those things that you started to do outside of strategizing that helped build that system?
Rod Brinson:Well, first and foremost, like I said, before I even got to the place of hiring somebody, I already had a system that worked Mhmm. Which is how I knew I couldn't take anybody else on. I can only give myself a % to this thing while I have these many things to do. Right? But once you add more to that, can no longer I'm splitting myself thin.
Rod Brinson:Right? So the first thing I did was hire somebody that can do some of the things that I could do at the same level. If you don't have a number two, if you don't have somebody that you can pull on to take on a task that you have at the same capacity that you're doing it or even close, what you're gonna end up doing is still doing that task. Yeah. So that's the first thing.
Rod Brinson:Whatever you're doing is working well, make sure you have systems in place so that that can sustain when you hire somebody else. Mhmm. And so you know whether it is you know the technology that you use in the software, whether it is you know email platform etcetera. There are certain things that you have to be able to navigate in your business just from a a standard point Mhmm. Where you can now hire an assistant who can come in and handle those emails or you can hire you know, I don't know somebody I would call them like a apprentice Yep.
Rod Brinson:To do the same thing that you actually do in your business. I don't care if you're a baker or if you own a barbershop, you have to have the ability to have somebody to take some of the load off of you and that's the first part of that system.
Chris King:Mhmm. That's stewardship though.
Rod Brinson:It is but in stewardship what you're basically doing is delegating. Mhmm. Especially in business. Yeah. Delegation matters and a lot of people can't do that because they want their hands on it.
Rod Brinson:They wanna make sure it's right and I understand that But there's risk involved in that and there's also a reward involved in that.
Chris King:Okay. So stay right there because now it brings to my mind one of the things that I see from people when they try to jump to entrepreneurship. I often ask people, okay, why do you want to be an entrepreneur? And you get all kinds of answers. Right?
Chris King:But you really like the cushiness of the corporate job. Yep. Right? You wanted to do that but have your extra money and build and stuff like that. One of the things that I hear after diving into people's why for being an entrepreneur is ultimately, they don't know how to take direction.
Chris King:Mhmm. Right? They they're terrible at doing something that somebody else tells them to do Mhmm. And they wanna control everything. And so you say so when you say when you look at that and you look at people always wanting to have their hands in the pot and control, now it prevents you from scaling.
Chris King:So, you know, have you seen that with the people that you work work with? Because people come to you from an entrepreneurship standpoint. Right? So have you seen people struggle in those areas?
Rod Brinson:Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And and I mean, you hit on a couple things there and I would be remiss if I didn't mention it. So number one, the the comfortableness of corporate, everybody wants that.
Rod Brinson:Everybody wants to know when they're gonna get paid and how it's gonna come in. If you wanna be an entrepreneur and you want that, you need to go ahead and turn around right now. Entrepreneurship doesn't have timeline when it comes to when you get paid.
Chris King:Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:Some people it may be, I don't know. Some people it may be once a month. Some people are just trying to figure it out day to day. It varies. Right?
Rod Brinson:But to your point, I have clients, even myself, I've I've seen it periodically where they're struggling to take their hands off the pot but they still want this growth. Yeah. And I might advise them to say, hey, in order to get here, here's what you have to do. But as you already know, you can only lead a horse to the water, can't make them drink Right. And so I will sit back and watch them struggle over and over again saying that they want one thing and they aren't doing the thing necessary to get it.
Rod Brinson:Here's the reason why and I just want to point this out. You talked about working in corporate and having that comfortability and not being able to take direction or not wanting to take direction from somebody. I would beg to differ. I think it's a lack of discipline in their life. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:It's not that they don't want to take direction or they don't take direction well, they don't want to be criticized. They don't want anybody overlooking them. They don't want anybody telling them what to do. And I always say, I think you're going to find a hard time being a leader if you're not willing to follow. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:So you talk about hiring somebody, they're not gonna stay with you long if you don't know how to lead. Right. And you can't know how to properly lead if you're not willing to submit to somebody's authority.
Chris King:Yeah. Yeah. So you lost your job, got forced into entrepreneurship. Mhmm. Right?
Chris King:So
Rod Brinson:Well, it was still a choice.
Chris King:Okay. Well, because you could have gone to look for another one.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. I mean, as soon as I saw the note come through, my mind went into warp slope speed and I like really pondered on what my next move would be even though I knew what it was supposed to be. And I could've went and got another job. Yeah. I had to make the choice to do this full time.
Chris King:Alright. So now you're down my street.
Rod Brinson:Mhmm.
Chris King:Okay? You're about to kick my butt all the way down the street. Alright. Let me take you back.
Rod Brinson:Alright.
Chris King:2020. Culture it. COVID. Alright. I had gone to a job.
Chris King:Mhmm. I went to a new company. I started with them 02/06/2020. COVID hit March 2020. Now I was in a high paying career.
Chris King:And when I lost that job, I had my son in June of twenty twenty. Now choices. Mhmm. It's like, dang. What do I do?
Chris King:Right? I know what I wanted to do. Mhmm. I wanted to I I I wanted actually, I wanted another job. I just was just having a son.
Rod Brinson:Okay.
Chris King:But it was COVID. Nobody was hiring anybody that did what I did for the money that I was making at that time. So I made the choice, well, let me do what I'm doing for everybody else and do it for myself. Jumped into entrepreneurship. Oh wee.
Chris King:I had hell to pay in my house, right, for that. Yeah. How did your choice affect your home?
Rod Brinson:That's a great question. Number one, I don't make choices without my wife's thought process. And when I say that, don't mean like, oh, do I get American cheese or cheddar? Right. I mean major choices.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. I think it would just that makes no sense to me. Mhmm. You are one with your wife or your husband. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:Make choices with them. So I always bring things to
Chris King:her. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:Obviously, I take it to God first Right. Then I take it to her. And so I presented it from a point of view of this is what I would like to do Mhmm. And here's why I think it'll work. Do I have your support in that?
Rod Brinson:Now, a lot of people will do that and then have an expectation of what their response is gonna be. Yeah. You can't be frustrated if they're not on board. They don't see the vision. They don't have the experience that you have.
Rod Brinson:Maybe they have a opposite experience from their childhood where their parent tried entrepreneurship and it didn't work. So now they're fearful that this won't work. I mean, so so many different variables there.
Chris King:Right.
Rod Brinson:But that is the first step. Bring it to your spouse. Mhmm. If you're not married, talk to somebody that cares about you, that wants you to succeed, that you trust, etcetera. Right?
Rod Brinson:You have to go to wise counsel. Right. Right? Right. But when I brought it to her, man, I ain't gonna lie.
Rod Brinson:Like, she had my back a %. And if it weren't for her being so confident in my ability to make this happen, I would not be entrepreneur today. Wow. Wow. She immediately was like, do it.
Rod Brinson:I mean, it wasn't even a hesitation and that's because of the track record that I had already kind of set. Mhmm. You know what I mean? So like if if you're out there and you're wondering like, will my spouse support me the same way or my spouse didn't support me like, well what are you doing or what have you done that showed that you deserve that kind of support?
Chris King:Yeah. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Right? So so yeah, man. She supported me a % and there are other situations where she didn't support and I didn't make that move Mhmm. Because if we're not moving together then I'm not moving.
Chris King:Yeah. Yeah. You have a tougher time And, you know, I love the way you put that in regards to bringing it to them. Right? Because, in that moment, like, you and I, we both had choices.
Chris King:Right?
Rod Brinson:Mhmm.
Chris King:My initial choice was I wanna go get a job. Mhmm. You know, circumstances was like, you can't find one, so you better bring in some income. Right? I started practicing my magic mic moves and everything, man.
Chris King:Was like, hey, I can go strip, you know? Right. Right. But but, you know, when you say bring that to your spouse and really talk about that, it's really important because as an entrepreneur, have there been moments where you said, I don't know about this. I think I might go get a job anyway.
Chris King:You know what I'm saying?
Rod Brinson:For sure. For sure.
Chris King:And what is that like? Right?
Rod Brinson:Well, this is my first time doing full time entrepreneurship. I've always had a nine to five, so to speak. We're talking twenty plus years. And I was always doing entrepreneurship during that time as well. Was always part time.
Rod Brinson:So, I was under the impression that things would be smooth sailing because things have always been smooth sailing from my point of view with entrepreneurship because it was never
Chris King:The main thing.
Rod Brinson:The main thing. It was always, oh, that customer walked away, no big deal. You know? Now it's, oh my god. That customer walked away.
Rod Brinson:Right? And so I would say at some point in your entrepreneur journey, you're gonna run into some walls.
Chris King:Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:You're gonna face some difficulties. You're gonna, struggle to make payroll once you start hiring people. Like that is a constant thing. Like there are multi million dollar corporations out here who are struggling to make payroll, which is why some of these cuts happen. Right?
Rod Brinson:So it's no different from a mom and pop. The reality is the ones who make it pushed through that wall Yeah. The ones who succeed and are able to sustain a career in entrepreneurship, they have longevity because they have situations that have propelled them through that and they stuck with it. They didn't give up. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:You know, they always have little memes and stuff up where it's like a person digging in a tunnel trying to find a diamond and then he like gives up but the person above him keeps going and finds that, you know, so you could be that close and then you run into a little adversity and you give up. I was close Mhmm. To your point. Like, I remember when I it was probably like six months after I got laid off. I'm full time.
Rod Brinson:I'm grinding, doing this thing. One day I was just I was having a day and I was like, man, I
Chris King:need to go get a job. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Like, this ain't working out. I don't like, you're gonna have that feeling. So I applied for a job. Mhmm. As soon as I hit submit, man, I felt sick to my stomach.
Rod Brinson:Man. I mean, I was literally sick because I knew that that's not what God had for me. Yeah. It's a difference when you've you just wanna do something, it's a whole another ballgame when God has called you to do something
Chris King:Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:And you're going against that system.
Chris King:So let let let's let's stop right there. So you believe God has called you to do do what you're doing now? Yes. And you believe that he called you to do it prior to?
Rod Brinson:Correct.
Chris King:Okay. But prior to you was like, nah. Yep. I'm good, God. Yeah.
Chris King:I'll just dibble and dabble. Mhmm. Right? So, so along the way and I know the answer to this question. Right?
Chris King:Compare what you saw God calling you to then compared to what you see now.
Rod Brinson:Oh, it's silly. It's man, first of all, he was providing evidence for me. People call it a faith journey or a leap of faith. Mhmm. Yeah, you do have to have some belief in him and his ability to make things happen for you but also in yourself.
Rod Brinson:Right? So it's not just a faith journey from a religious standpoint. Mhmm. It's a faith journey in you being able to believe in you. Right?
Rod Brinson:If you don't have that, the work that you're doing is gonna be difficult. Mhmm. And you're gonna find yourself crumbling after some time because you don't truly believe in the thing that you're doing anyway.
Chris King:Yeah. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Right? So what he was showing me before was like, okay, you can do this. You have the skill set and you're helping people. Right? It's not just about what you're getting, it's about what you're giving.
Rod Brinson:And so I had the evidence. Cool. But stepping into it, whenever I get close, I mean, like, oh my god, this bill coming due. I don't know how I was gonna pay it, you know, all of a sudden I mean, it will literally just be something just fall in my lap. Hey, man.
Rod Brinson:I was trying to get a website. I heard you do websites. I only got $5,000. Does that work?
Chris King:Yep. That's exactly how much it costs. Well,
Rod Brinson:I have my prices right, but I always kinda like to look at the situation before I go give them. Right? Because you never know what you're gonna get into. I've learned the hard way.
Chris King:We're gonna talk about that too.
Rod Brinson:Learned the hard way. But my point is, it's like manna from heaven. Mhmm. How are gonna eat? We are here in the wilderness.
Rod Brinson:I don't understand. Well, he's gonna provide you food. Oh, well, we're tired of eating this bread. We want some meat. What did he do?
Rod Brinson:He sent the wind and brought I don't know what quail and bird I'm about to say it was quail. Brought some birds and gave them some meat.
Chris King:Read your bibles.
Rod Brinson:And they were still complaining, you know. So we gotta be careful not to, a, forget who our source is versus the resources. Right? And b, once we get the resources, we can't deem it something that we've done ourselves. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:The clients that I've connected with, the experiences that I've had, the lives I'm able to change with the work that I'm doing, even doing this podcast, This is God's work. This is not my work. I didn't do anything to tell you to come to me to help you produce this podcast. Right. I was just minding my own business and God put me in your life for that reason.
Rod Brinson:You see what I'm saying?
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:And so it's like that with all of my clients, every single one of them. And the reality is when you when you focus on doing things that he has you doing and you're willing to let go of some what did it say? The man who's willing to lose his life shall save it and the man who's willing to save his life shall lose it. I'm paraphrasing but when you're willing to let go of some things that you love that you shouldn't be loving on anyway and grab on to some things that he wants you to do, he's gonna take care of it.
Chris King:So these are not like specific entrepreneurship lessons. These are life lessons that you apply to entrepreneurship.
Rod Brinson:Period.
Chris King:And sometimes we look for a specific, tell me a b c what to do so I can make a million dollars my first million or whatever. And it's like, get your life right, man. You know, get your focus right first
Rod Brinson:Right.
Chris King:Because then that other stuff will come. Now God can bring you the connects and the opportunities to where you won't trick it off. You know? So, it's like you dropping gems, was like, it's just regular life stuff.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. You know? But that's the thing, like I think too too often, you know, people want a new brand made, but they don't want to be made brand new.
Chris King:Yeah, man.
Rod Brinson:They don't want to do the work. Message. Everything starts with you.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:And and if you do something in a way that fixes you before you present it, and and I don't mean like perfection, right? It's just about willing to look in the mirror and say, I gotta clean up my act.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:I always tell people building a brand is not building a business alone. It's the people behind the business. Mhmm. Matter of fact, when people venture funds and stuff like that go on and people wanna get, like, certain rounds to raise millions to do this software or whatever it is, one of the main things they look at is the founder. Yep.
Rod Brinson:Who is this person? Mhmm. What kind of life do they have? Same thing with a person who's going to be a pastor at a church. Yep.
Rod Brinson:Are you married? You got kids? How are treating your wife?
Chris King:Yep.
Rod Brinson:Who are you? People want to know who you are because once they know that they can trust the integrity, the character, that type of thing, then they're willing to break bread with you. Yeah. It's not the opposite way around. Now, I will say some people will find some success with that.
Rod Brinson:They're, oh well, I followed this person's model and I built my business and I'm rich. That may be the case. That is not everybody's story. Right. And even with some of those cases, which is why we find stories of people being billionaires and being unfulfilled and being sad and depressed, if you're not doing the thing you should be doing, it don't matter how much money you got.
Rod Brinson:You're gonna be cracking inside.
Chris King:You started talking about, your character and things like that. I think I know both of us feel that that's really really really important with who we do business with. Help me understand how you view partnerships Because you've talked about your your one partner being your wife. Right? You always bring stuff to your your wife.
Chris King:But when you were talking about building a business and scaling and things like that, I think partnerships are important. Mhmm. Because I know that there are things that we do and you have the skills to do, but it's like, do you wanna invest in that or do we want to bring along somebody that specialize in that and be and build partnerships? So help me understand your view on partnerships and what you look for.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. That's good. So first and foremost, the the person that you are matters. Mhmm. No matter how much skill set you have, if if we can't get along with people, if I don't want you in my house, it's a problem.
Rod Brinson:But beyond that, your skill set is probably the second most important thing. Can you do this job and can you do it well? Whatever it might be. I don't care if we're cousins or friends or not, if you can't do this job well, hey, we can we can hang out at the barbecue.
Chris King:Right. Right.
Rod Brinson:But we got a job to perform. And then thirdly, I would say, you know, once we have those two things in place, it's really about what makes the most sense for the situation. I'm not the type of person where well, you hired me to do this, I gotta be the one to do it. No. What's going get the job done the best and can we afford to do it?
Rod Brinson:Right. Those two things matter, right? And so I consider all of that with partnership. I consider that with people that I bring in to do different jobs for other clients. I consider that with vendors.
Rod Brinson:It doesn't matter what it is. You have to consider what makes the most sense for the target, for the the deliverable, the goal, the thing that you're trying to achieve. And once you think about it from that point and you strategize around that, now you take all of that to God and go, alright, God. What'd think about this person?
Chris King:Yeah. Yeah. So let's go we started I said we were gonna talk about this, when to say no.
Rod Brinson:Mhmm.
Chris King:Like, every customer ain't your customer. Yeah. Every person that's talking about partnership ain't your partner.
Rod Brinson:Yeah.
Chris King:Right? So when do you say no? I'm so thankful you said yeah to me, man. I'm oh, man. Bless your heart.
Chris King:Not at all.
Rod Brinson:Hey. It worked. It was what it was supposed to be. That's a great point. I say no in varying ways.
Rod Brinson:I think it depends. And money is never an issue with that. Money is the last thing I think about. I know millionaires who wanna hire me to do certain things Mhmm. But it just doesn't work.
Rod Brinson:Yeah. I'm not going to sell myself short by taking this thing that I think is gonna bless me. Alright? So that's the first thing. I would say if it doesn't align with your purpose
Chris King:Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:Then you need to reconsider it. Like, I wanted to get certain, like, I guess, fractional marketing jobs since I've been a full time entrepreneur. Mhmm. And every time I look at one, I go, does this take away from my business or does this add to my business? Well, this is my purpose.
Rod Brinson:So if it doesn't add to this, then I can't take it. I don't care what the money looks like. Yeah. Right? But then beyond that, I think it's just it's a feeling.
Rod Brinson:If I feel like I can help this person get further along, then I'll work with them in some capacity one way or another, period. As long as it's not again taken away from what I'm building over here.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:So that was a big factor with you and I, it was like when you brought it up, I'm like, okay, this makes sense. I know I can help him. Have I ever produced a podcast before? No. But I know how to do it Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:And I know I can make it happen. And then in the process of making it happen, we ran into our our our second partner in this process. And look, Gerald has been amazing. You already know. Like, his stuff is top notch, he's professional, he comes through, and guess what?
Rod Brinson:He's a person we can kick it with and he can come to the house and barbecue as well. So like I said, all of those things are in place. And instead of just saying, you know what? He hired me to do this. I'm a do this.
Rod Brinson:I said, this will be a good addition to what we have. Chris, what do you think about it?
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Right?
Chris King:And one of the things I've learned, and you guys have really helped me in this position, is true leadership. Right? I've learned more about leadership doing doing this podcast because, one, I might come up with an idea and most of my ideas suck. Right? Y'all be like, what you mean?
Chris King:Go sit over there, man. But but but no, I recognize that you guys have your specific things that you do and and I listen intently and you tell me to do something, I'm like, okay. You tell me to jump. Okay. Because you are better at jumping.
Chris King:Right?
Rod Brinson:Right.
Chris King:And I I I say this to say that I've learned to submit to the authority that I've established. And that's what a lot of people I want to I want them to understand is like, take your hands off of it. You know, leverage partnership. People that are of like mind and and value and submit to the authority that you establish. Even if there's exchange in dollars and cents.
Chris King:Right? You are hiring somebody to do a job and let them do what God has put them here to do. And I think we have a much better experience because I'm just like, alright, what you what you want me to do? How you want me to sit? How you want me what you want me to say?
Chris King:Mhmm. Alright. Well, y'all know I'm a say something just off the top of my head. It's gonna be crazy. Okay.
Chris King:Y'all let me do that. Right? Yeah. And we just let everybody just be who themselves but be be in their strengths and encourage that. Yeah.
Chris King:That's So I I that's one lesson that I've learned is submit to the authority that you established.
Rod Brinson:I'm a flip that on its head though because the other side of that is the person in my position who might be afraid to lose the contract if they say something or if they said no to the you know? Right. No man, we should do it this way. I gotta laugh at all his jokes. You know?
Chris King:You'll never laugh at my jokes, man.
Rod Brinson:I've been laughing this whole time.
Chris King:We over here, me and Gerald be crying. You be
Rod Brinson:like I'm focused.
Chris King:Okay? Look, I
Rod Brinson:don't I don't don't cry that often. You're gonna have to do some more work
Chris King:to get me to cry.
Rod Brinson:But, no, we have to be willing to do the job we were hired to do Yeah. Regardless of what we feel might be the repercussions from telling the truth.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Right? I've been in rooms where potential clients, they're not even signed with me yet. We talking and I'm just sitting there like, no, we shouldn't do that. And everybody in the room looks at me like, I can't believe he just said that to her. And I'm like, well, that's why she hired me or is going to hire me or whatever the case may be.
Rod Brinson:My job is not to be here and agree with you. My job is to be here to get the job done at the best possible rate
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Or in the best possible way. And so I was never afraid to tell you no or to tell you, no, man, man, we should pivot this way. Mhmm. And thankfully, you've been open to that direction and allowing me to be who you hired me to be.
Chris King:Yeah, man. Yeah. That that's some good stuff. So alright. So now we're this entrepreneur journey, entrepreneurship journey.
Chris King:And I feel like I'm taking the journey with you as I'm sort of becoming one myself in in this. And but you talked about purpose. And a lot of times, we talk about purpose and your business, and this is your purpose, this is your call. Help me understand how you bring what you do to be about purpose? Because a lot of people, they just name their business something like holy hands or, you know, you know, God's Weave, you know, or whatever.
Chris King:Something like that. Right? You know, how do you really focus and say, this is my purpose and this how are you doing purpose in what you do?
Rod Brinson:Yeah. Great question. I think that the first thing you have to do is in finding out what your purpose is is look at it from a point of view of is this blessing me or is this blessing other people? Like building people's brands is great, it's fun, I I don't mind doing it. It's not my number one choice.
Rod Brinson:Mhmm. My number one choice is to be a film director. I want to work in Hollywood and write movies and I could do that without getting paid. Mhmm. Does that mean building people's brands is not benefiting me?
Rod Brinson:Of course it is. But it's more for them than it is for me. I'm fulfilling other people's dreams. I'm blessing other people through the work that I'm doing. That's how I know it's on purpose because I didn't choose this.
Chris King:Right.
Rod Brinson:God chose this. Mhmm. I just happened to listen and follow it. Right? The second thing I would say is some people might be stuck in a job that's not the thing that they really wanna do.
Rod Brinson:Right? But they gotta pay the bills. They got responsibilities. Whatever the case may be. I know a lot of people in this position.
Rod Brinson:That might be the fuel for you to do the thing that is your purpose. And just because you don't have all the fuzzy feelings about something doesn't mean it's not your purpose. Yeah. Sometimes it's a thing that you don't necessarily have a lot of fuzzy feelings about, but it's something you're good at and it's something that's gonna really do a lot for other people. Alright?
Rod Brinson:So I was told something at my last corporate job. I went on a trip to Chicago for an executive sponsorship meeting. We were it was like 15 of us. We were in a room talking to our executive sponsor in that particular department and I knew what we had to talk about going into this room. It was our career trajectory and what we wanted to do.
Rod Brinson:And, you know, I'm wrestling in my hotel room. I'm like, I don't want to tell this man the truth. Yeah. You know how we gotta do, man. I was born to work here.
Chris King:Right. Right.
Rod Brinson:Didn't want to do that. I didn't want to sell myself short. But I also didn't want to completely just lie, whatever the case may be. So I balanced back and forth and I finally landed on, I'm a tell him a partial truth. Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:Like and so what I told him was I wanted to work in the marketing department for that particular job. That was my career trajectory. That was a part of it, but like I said, I really wanna do film. Right. And so when I told him that, what he said to me still resonates to this day.
Rod Brinson:He said, why would you wait to get the role? Why don't you start doing some of those things now in your current role? And I mean I mean, it was just mesmerizing because I'm like, okay. I can do my presentations with my marketing genius. I can add video.
Rod Brinson:I can you know, I started working through all of the skill sets that I have. I built my own little website. You know, I was able to do things for that role
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:In my current role that had nothing to do with one or the other.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:And what happened was people began to see me in that light and so I ended up on the creative director's radar. Mhmm. We started connecting and then I got laid off. Six months later, same creative director says, I see the stuff you're doing. We wanna hire your company to do some stuff.
Chris King:So now as an entrepreneur, you're now a vendor to the company that laid you off Right. But now under different terms.
Rod Brinson:Right. But that only happened because of that conversation and me beginning to plant those seeds and be who I naturally was in the environment that I didn't wanna be in.
Chris King:Let's package that up. Alright? Let's put a bow on it.
Rod Brinson:Okay.
Chris King:And when we package it up, we're say, okay, let's take the little lessons out of that. Right? Mhmm. So, as you said, I've heard that story and I'm so glad you talked about this story. Yeah.
Chris King:I was gonna ask you about it anyway. But you were okay with being you. You said, I'm not gonna sell myself short, first So I'm gonna be open about, you know, what I wanna do. Right. One.
Chris King:Then what I hear you say is you even though you were in a position, you like that company. Mhmm. Right? But some people may not like the company, may not like the manager or whatever, but you found areas in your current role where you can start perfecting the skills of what you where you want it to
Rod Brinson:be. Right.
Chris King:So you do it now. Start now. Right? So alright. Be yourself.
Chris King:Start now. Right? So then, when you got laid off, right, you already had that momentum. So I was like, keep the momentum. What else would you say would you how how would
Rod Brinson:you I would phrase that as be patient because Right. Even with the momentum, like I said, it took six months.
Chris King:Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:I was reaching out to her day one. Ah. Hey, I know I got I know we you gotta silence. Yeah. And then when she finally did respond, it was like, okay, I'm busy doing some stuff.
Rod Brinson:Mhmm. I took it personally initially.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Don't take it personal. Be be patient because these deals and things take time and people are busy. Mhmm. Your problems don't automatically become their priority.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Right? She I think we laid off like 600 people at that time. She was probably getting hit up by other people too.
Chris King:Right.
Rod Brinson:And she got her own journey. So anyway, in being patient, because initially the flesh in me wanted to write her off, oh man, that ain't fair. Why don't you know, you know, you go into your humanness. Right. But I pulled back and I say, you know what?
Rod Brinson:This is a great connection. Regardless if she does something for me Mhmm. I would be a fool to look at her sideways because it didn't work out when I want it, how I want it. Yeah. So I kept the relationship open and then I was rewarded for it later.
Rod Brinson:So I would say be patient in that momentum build.
Chris King:Man, and in between there, don't burn bridges.
Rod Brinson:Don't burn bridges. You never know when you need to cross them again. Yeah. You could say, oh, I'll never cross that bridge. You never know.
Chris King:Yeah,
Rod Brinson:man. I got some managers in my previous corporate life that did me so wrong, but I still kept that bridge. Mhmm. Because you never know. I might cross that bridge.
Rod Brinson:I might apply for a job ten years from now. God willing, I won't. And one of those managers might
Chris King:be the right?
Rod Brinson:One of those hire one of those managers might be the hiring manager.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Now I've burnt that relationship. Now what's gonna happen? Mhmm. That's a no.
Chris King:Let's rephrase that.
Rod Brinson:Mhmm.
Chris King:They may be looking for a job later on and they come to you and they dirty. You know what I'm saying? Let's let's rephrase that one. Alright. I receive it.
Chris King:Alright. I'm a
Rod Brinson:I'm a hold on to that for sure. That is exactly how it's gonna go. Because I ain't applying for no job ten years.
Chris King:Oh, man. It's you know, but but that story in of itself is a powerful story. And I remember when you when you you were sort of low key when it happened. Right? I was like, no, man.
Chris King:We're celebrate, man. Let's you know? No. That's great. You know, tell it.
Chris King:You know? But but that's powerful, man, the patience. Right? So in your entrepreneur journey, what has been the toughest challenge that you've had to overcome?
Rod Brinson:Myself. Mhmm. Think too often people, they think about the revenue Mhmm. You know, the offer that they have, the service they're gonna provide, the product, the website, I can go on and on and on and on and on and all of those things are absolutely challenging. They're even more challenging if you're not tackling yourself.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Having to let go of pride, having to keep patience a priority when I talk with my family. Mhmm. Right? Because they're affected too. My kids want to go on vacation.
Rod Brinson:I ain't gonna be able to do that today. Mhmm. Right? Does it make sense for me to be frustrated with work to go upstairs into that environment and then take that out on them? Absolutely not.
Rod Brinson:So I've had to work on me to be able to stay grounded in the process so that when those waves come in, I can still stand strong.
Chris King:Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:That is the utmost I know it sounds simple and basic, but if you're in an entrepreneur journey, work on yourself. That doesn't just mean like go to the gym and workout which you should Yeah. But you've been on me about I've been working out.
Chris King:I've been on you. I've been on Let's go for a walk, man.
Rod Brinson:I've been working out. I'm on it. Right? Yeah. Your your health matters.
Rod Brinson:You know, understanding your accounting Mhmm. Knowing your profit and loss statements, your cash flow, all of that stuff matters for business. Right? If you don't know those terms, you need to look them
Chris King:up Mhmm.
Rod Brinson:Because they matter. But more importantly is your mental health, your spiritual life, you know, what you're doing with yourself because yourself is gonna wanna rise up and do things that are not lined up with what you're supposed to be doing. Yeah. And if you can keep that piece intact, everything else will begin to make sense around you.
Chris King:Man, that's that's big. I've often said in the heat of battle or competition, when I played basketball, my toughest competitor I've ever played against was myself. I remember a coach asking me, who who who's the toughest person you ever played against? It was like, me. You know, and I played against some guys that definitely they're hall of fame and the NBA now.
Chris King:Okay. Right? But even still, me. Yeah. Because at that moment I had to get over all the other noise Mhmm.
Chris King:And and had to really let myself know that, alright, I can do this. Right? I can play my role, I can do what I need to do, I can steal this ball, I can do whatever. And I can get this client, you know, I can navigate this relationship. I can, you know, I can create this plan.
Chris King:I, you know, I can do this. Right? So the toughest person I've ever gone against has been me. Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Yep. That's that's twofold because on the one half of that, you're gonna self sabotage Yeah. Tell yourself all type of lies. Yeah. Right?
Rod Brinson:That's why you have to figure out how to make sure make sure your belief system is intact Yeah. Because you will believe stuff that ain't even true about yourself. Mhmm. And then the other flip side of that is the pridefulness, the the arrogance, the the high and mighty. You can get so high in your your confidence or the things that you do that you forget where you came from.
Chris King:Yeah.
Rod Brinson:Or you forget that you wouldn't have all of this if it wasn't for God anyway, you know what I mean? There's so many different layers to that. So it's both sides. So the even killer there is keeping self under control. That's why they call it self control.
Chris King:Right.
Rod Brinson:Right? And so by doing that, what you end up doing is putting yourself in a better position no matter what room you walk in. So that's why that's why I say it's important to build your brand beginning with you because you are your brand.
Chris King:Man. Man, we're drop the mic on that one. We're gonna drop the mic on that one. Say that now say that again.
Rod Brinson:Said it's important to build your brand beginning with you because you are your brand.
Chris King:Perfect, man. Now look in the camera, dude.
Rod Brinson:Look man, y'all go check me out. Rob brinkson dot com. I ain't even gotta wait on him to doodle drop. I know what's gonna happen. Everything is there.
Rod Brinson:I'll see y'all later.
Chris King:Alright. Last question. Okay. Alright. My last one.
Chris King:Last one. Shoot. Alright. How does it feel to be a light skinned dude when light skinned brothers are out of style?
Rod Brinson:First of all, number one, we've always been in style. Alright. That's why y'all say that because we always been there. Nah man, look, we we cutting out the division. We all one, we all together, I love every tone in the hue of black.
Chris King:Man, you my man, man. I love you man, for real. I know man, you have been such an inspiration to me in like the toughest moments, Man, you've tried to teach me poker, you've tried to do teach me all kinds of stuff, man. I'm trying to teach you golf. Yeah.
Chris King:You know?
Rod Brinson:Just do it.
Chris King:You know? So but no, man. I appreciate you, man. You've dropped some gems, man. I love it.
Chris King:You are constantly helping me with my brand and just helping me be okay with just who I am and every aspect of that, all the different layers. And so, I appreciate that. Yeah. I know that you can bless so many people and I'm so excited to be along for the ride. So for y'all that's checking us out, continue to check us out on the When All Hell Breaks Loose podcast.
Chris King:I am Chris King. I've been here with my buddy, my friend, producer, partner, Rod Brinson. And so he has also dropped some gems on entrepreneurship on how to make that transition from corporate to an entrepreneur, but also to really building business and building yourself and blessing others in the process. So I'm just so thankful for our time today. Go out, check us out, like, subscribe.
Chris King:Don't forget to share. Share it with others. Tell it to your friends, your neighbors, even your enemies, but share it with love because we are here just helping everybody succeed during life's toughest challenges here on the When All Hell Breaks Noose podcast. Now, I wanna tell you, go out, partner with us, go out to our website whenallhellbreaksloosepodcast.com. Check us out for sponsorships, partner with us.
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Chris King:I'm your boy Chris King. I love you. Y'all be blessed.