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Most businesses don’t fail because of bad ideas.
They fail because they run out of capital.
Unbankable is a business podcast for entrepreneurs who don’t wait for permission - especially from banks.
I’m Alex Shvarts, Founder & CEO of FundKite. For over a decade, I’ve worked directly with thousands of small and mid-sized business owners across the United States, providing working capital when traditional banks said no.
On this podcast, I sit down with CEOs, founders, operators, and leaders in alternative finance, fintech, private capital, and business growth to talk about what actually builds durable companies.
No hype. No guru talk.
Just real conversations about:
• Scaling a small business
• Working capital strategy
• Alternative financing
• Risk management
• Hiring and firing decisions
• Cash flow discipline
• Profitable growth
• Leadership under pressure
• Building partnerships that last
If you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, startup founder, operator, or executive looking to grow smarter - this show is for you.
We talk about what happens when banks say no.
We talk about execution.
We talk about capital.
And we talk about building something real.
Subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it with another entrepreneur who needs it.
When banks say no - there is FundKite.
Learn more about alternative business funding at 👉 https://fundkite.com
Build smarter.
Scale responsibly.
Stay unbankable.
– Alex Shvarts
Welcome to Unbankable, the podcast for entrepreneurs who won't take no for an answer. I'm Alex Schwarz, CEO and founder of Funkite, and we're here to give you some tools, tips, ideas, how to get past the challenges, the roadblocks, and move full speed ahead. My next guest is someone who refused to let the music industry define the terms of his success. Third World Dawn is a platinum recognized artist and producer and director, and he's doing something that most artists never figure out. He's building a business around his creativity, not just a career. From his recent releases with Kimani Marley to directing his own visuals to hosting an artist global stage, he's stacking ownership at every level. This is a conversation about what it actually means to be an independent artist in 2026 and why the music business is really just entrepreneurship with a better soundtrack. Third World Don, welcome. Yeah. Yeah, Alex, thank you for having me, man. Appreciate it. Pleasure. Pleasure. I don't really get a chance to talk to a lot of Dons these days anymore. You know, they're all gone in New York. So, I mean, maybe in Miami, I get to meet a real Don, right? I'm I'm just joking. All right. So, look, Don, you've built a Billboard recognition, platinum records, collaborations with major artists, but instead of chasing the traditional music path, you chose ownership. That's correct. Um, what made you realize you'd rather own the game than simply playing it? I think it was like a um like a coming to fruition moment uh as a kid wanting to be in the music industry, wanting to be an artist. uh you see these big boardrooms uh with all these executives and people from the record industry and the label and um you know you're sitting in a room and uh I remember my last label deal having that moment you know at Capital Records when I was sitting in the boardroom and it was like 20 30 white people uh sitting there throughout the meeting I just started realizing that um the truth about this this matter when it comes to music especially like hip-hop music reggae music, anything that's homegrown, they don't understand the culture. We move the needle on the culture. We move the pulse of the culture. So, and that's been going on for decades now. Right. So, I would say, but they don't need to understand. They don't. They're there to look at you and you're not special to them. Absolutely. and and and you should and I tell people when you're in a room with 30 people, but you've got something that you know works and that's why you're in the room with those 30 people, you're just a number to them. It's like hedge funds and banks and and everybody else. You you know, you come in with a deal, you come in with a proposition, you come in with something they want, they're just looking at you as a number. You're a dollar sign. They see no color, race, background, or anything else. It's just a simple I mean, they they look at all of us the same way. So, um yeah, that's kind of normal. And it's the the same thing for every system. It's the same system. Whether you're in a courtroom, like you said, you're just a number. So at that point, you got to realize, are you going to take control of your life or are you going to be just a number? Did you take control? That's what I did. That's exactly what I did. All right. Then when was that moment when you stopped asking for permission? During that whole uh situation with my last uh major label deal, I got the pleasure of uh sitting with a mentor of mine, a big homie uh Nipy Hustle. He was he was like a big fan of my music and he kind of really showed me the things that he was doing on the independent side. And it really blew my mind because I realized like the same format and the same formula that he was doing, I had been doing for all these years. But in my head, I felt like I needed a major label or I needed a label situation because that's just u the infrastructure. That's just the way it is. It's like, you know, uh you can't do it without it, right? You can, but you're if you don't know better, you're thinking that that's what you need. And a lot of people have what they need to succeed or make it to the next level, but they might hold their self back mentally thinking like, "Oh, I need this or I need that." So, it sounds like the industry kind of disappointed you. I feel like the industry lets down everybody that's involved in it that's on the other side. What did betting on yourself cost you? Everything. What was the toughest thing that I mean, you know, could be money, could be relationships, it could be our uh you know, for me sometimes it's just um my will to go on, you know, it's just it brings you down. It's just it's very draining, right? It happens to a lot of entrepreneurs. we had roadblocks or the infrastructure or the way the world is and man you're like h what was that moment for you? Oh man, when you bet on yourself you going to lose it all. First and foremost it's a test because the universe is going to test you to see if this is really what you want. You're going to go through every single hardship imaginable until you make it to the other side. You're going to lose family members. You're going to [snorts] lose friends. you going to lose relationships because nobody will ever really truly understand your vision but you. So there's going to be times where it's like it just seems like it's hopeless and it seems like you know this is just a waste of time and people are going to feel like oh dealing with this per this per I'm dealing with this guy it's a waste of time you know um two things I want to say to that uh first I believe in God and I say that um God never gives you anything you can't handle. Absolutely right. And then the other thing is, you know, you lose your family, man. You're gonna lose your family when you're broke or when you're rich. Shout out to God, man. That's my That's my biggest. Shout out to God. Because, you know, when you're broke, you got nothing to offer. And when you're rich, they think you got to offer everything. So, you just lose a not good people, but you know, people that just want to take advantage. So, you know, people see music um and the success. Tell me the struggles that nobody knows about. I think the one that nobody talks about is um the highs and lows, the extreme highs and lows. And this is where mental health, you know, awareness comes into play because if you think about it, like imagine a track athlete running at the fastest pace and then immediately stopping to like no pace at all. What does that do to your brain? What that does what does that do to your body? So I feel like entrepreneurs, artists, uh people that you know have high wins also have very bad losses and very low lows. Low lows. Yeah. And over time it takes toll on you. Was there a low for you like that where you almost walked away? Many times. Many times. I see I see something too where is like a lot of people suffer from uh bipolar. Um, and I'm not a a physician or a doctor. I can't prescribe anybody. You know what I'm saying? But it sounds like you're diagnosing well [laughter] or I'm not diagnosed bipolar. No, no. I'm saying you you can diagnose well. You you can tell that what's what's off, right? You know, like this. Are you a big brother of people where you see that maybe, you know, young aspiring artists and and and you see like, okay, something is off. They're hitting a roadblock and, you know, they're having a tough time. Um, are you you do you talk to them? Do you try to, you know, be there for them? Absolutely. I do. I mean, absolutely. I think, um, like a lot of my employees have a hard time at 9:05 in the morning. Yeah. And I need to bounce them back right away. Yeah. You know, so, um, you got to, you know, you just, it's part of life. You got to try to be there for others. But, um, I think motivation is like coffee. Yeah. You know, well said. Motivation is like coffee. We're going to have to use that again. Um, but you know, a lot of um, it's not just music artists, you know, people in general have this and and especially entrepreneurs that [snorts] go through this a lot. Um, it's it's no different. You know, people listening to this are business owners, entrepreneurs. Um, and and and and so then tell me what what kept you going. Um, [snorts] there's times I lost my weight. There's times that I crashed out. There's times that I made mistakes that I can't take back. I feel like my biggest strength is the fact that um out of all the losses I've taken, I've been able to learn and grow from it. What's the biggest financial loss you took? Seeing M's to being homeless at some point M's you mean millions? Yeah. Wow. Okay. In that sense, if we look back, right, because I mean, you've seen all these different versions of life, music, business, entrepreneurship. What old beliefs did you have to unlearn? I have to tap back into who I truly was because, you know, me being from Jamaica, I was blessed to have a upbringing that showed me like all the different walks of life. So I got my dad who's from the city, Kingston, and then I got my mother's side who's from the country. So my grandfather was a farmer. So I would go from being in the city, going to school, being with the city kids, and then in the summertime I would go to the country where my grandfather got pigs and goats and chickens and that's how he lives. You know what I'm saying? He's going to the market. He's selling meat. You know, so seeing that contrast of life, then I got homeboys where, for example, if a hurricane come through and blow off half his roof, we'll be in his living room looking through the ceiling. You know what I'm saying? And some of those people were the most happiest, pleasant people because they were just appreciative for life. And I think that's that's what Jamaica does to people. It makes you realize when you're in America, you're worried about your car payment, your car, your rent, this not going good. But when you go to somewhere like Jamaica and you see somebody that lives in a zinc house that is showering out of a basin and they're just so happy and appreciative and jovial, you get to realize like the the things that you think is a issue is really not trivial. It's all about your mindset. So I had to go back to that person, that person that had nothing, that grew up with nothing and to understand like appreciation. And once I started appreciating everything, that's when everything started to build again. Interesting. Are you happy today? Yeah. Do you think that people are chasing fame more when they should be chasing ownership? Definitely. Definitely. You think it's just because they get lost and they you know it it it's very easy to get caught up in that little success and think you're right like you've made it and you know then the man upstairs just pulls it away to ground you very quickly. Right. So like you know because I see that I definitely see that in your business. I see it in finance business. You know you have a you know a one hit and you think that's it or you know we close a deal and we think that's it but that's not it. That's far from it. So you agree that you know people are sometimes not focusing on what they really and being grounded. It sounds like you're very grounded. you you you'll never forget Jamaica and you'll never forget the zinc homes and and the struggle and what people go through and that helps you push forward because you're kind of keeping it balanced and real, right? And there's nothing wrong with good days and success and winning, right? And you know, having great results, but I think um what I what I find relatable about you and me and is is that you know, we remember having no roof. Yeah. And that's so important. Um, so what do you think changed the most um in your industry right now over the years? Do you do you see a change right now? Absolutely. What what do you think changed? Is it because the um like I find that online and internet and all of this just gave a lot more and Instagram and and Tik Toks and they gave a lot of artists a lot more um exposure and a way to reach [snorts] cuz I remember a time when you know people in New York used to sell mixtapz out of a back of a car to get exposure used to give them out. I was one of those people, right? You know, because the label wouldn't even talk to you, right? And, you know, getting something played on the radio was a was a big deal, right? So, guys would, you know, when the mixtapz came around, they would do that. They go perform anywhere. And I'm sure that still goes on today. You know, young artists go to a club and, you know, let me play my track, whatever. But certainly um internet right and social media have given a lot of people just think look look at all the models we have today that we didn't know we had right everybody's a model now on Instagram right and that's great because now you don't have to be signed up by Vogue magazine for the world to see it. I think it's incredible. [snorts] It gives people so much opportunity and the best part is we can all sound better. There's a lot of technology to make us sound better. um technology to make us look better and um that's a big deal. So what what what else do you think changed? I I can go on and on. I think I think it's just like the changes took the power from the corporations and put it in the hands of the people. So I feel like in this generation if you're not able to find a way to to you know be successful in your own way cuz success to each individual is different. It varies. There's no uh standard for success. Like you could go off of what? Money or accomplishments, but everyone, you know what I'm saying, has different goals. Like there's to some people just being a present father or having a family is success to them. And to me, there's no difference, you know? Because I know people that have went from global uh music superstars to just a family person and they're more happy, you know, being a family person and the accomplishments that they have with music. So, it's it's to each his own. But, and I agree with you. I think that success should be something that you measure and you're you know you um uh you quantify. So let's talk about people. Most people don't understand the business side of being independent, right? How do you really make money? What's the biggest misconception, you know, about being an artist and being independent? The biggest misconception with music is that uh you're going to become rich from streams. Yeah. Are streams overrated? Um, artists are getting what a a fraction of a penny per stream or something like that. Um, streams are not are what's going to do it for you as an artist? What? Okay. Then what revenue streams do move the needle? Where should as an artist look what what revenue streams should you look at that are going to move the needle for you? You got to be a hustler. You got to get uh collaborations. You got to get brand sponsorships. Can we collaborate on a track? I absolutely. All right. We're going to have to figure something like, you know, [laughter] Um, if you I mean the only time I do good singing is in the shower and I have my own audience which is really the water running down and I get a very good sound. Other than that, you don't want to hear. It's like [snorts] what I see is, you know, for example, money and fame are only going to accentuate who you really are. So, if you got a deficiency within yourself as a person, which we all do, we all got demons that we're fighting with. Uh, money and success is really just gonna highlight those things because now you got more access to funds, more access to anything. You can be a bigger dick than you ever were. Absolutely. So, I'll see like a lot of artists, they gain success, but they don't understand the hustle of it. Because you might have a hot song right now, but you have to hustle because this hot song might not last till next year, right? So, because you've got a hot song and you turning down this feature and that feature and this brand sponsorships, these are the same ones that you're going to be begging in 3 years, oh man, let me get that. Oh, yo, what's up with that? So, being grounded is always going to guarantee a longer period of success. So, me coming from where I came from, I had that hustle mentality to know that it it doesn't matter all these big things I got going on over here. I'm not leaving no money on the table. Okay. So then what was what financial lesson took you the longest to learn while we're on this subject? Sacrifice and discipline. I feel like there's sometimes where you got to look at your money and just look at it and just leave it alone. I'm glad you just covered that. Um and and you just said that um the world today makes us think that we can get from point A to Z very quickly. Yes. But real businesses, real growth, real net worth takes a long time to build, right? And there are no shortcuts, right? I mean, unless you win the lottery, um there's no shortcuts. So, and a lot of people don't know that that it's going to take you time to build to grow your business. It's not going to happen overnight, and that's okay. So having realistic time frames I think it's it's critical. People people want instant gratification with business. It's takes time. With anythingakes that's another uh thing that I'm blessed to have witnessed growing up in Jamaica. I feel like America has a different lifestyle with the materialism and the flashiness. In Jamaica, you have somebody that's a supermarket owner, and he's driving a Toyota Corolla, like a 1993 Toyota Corolla to work every day, and he got millions and millions of dollars. He doesn't care about showing off his wealth. He cares about building it. So, I witnessed that growing up. So, in a sense, like, you know, when you come to America or you live in America, you go through a phase when you start touching money, you go through this materialistic phase and you feel like you got to show off your wealth to prove to others. And I feel like that was my biggest money uh lesson, learning that you know what, it doesn't matter. Like I might be driving a Honda right now, but I got M's. This guy driving a Bentley, but he's struggling to pay. Especially in Miami, man. Yeah. So many Bentleys and Ferraris, and they don't have a pot to piss in, right? It's just all fake and fluff. Um All right. So, you direct your own videos. Um own your imprint, host shows, create content. How important is ownership compared to exposure? Ownership is important because whatever you're doing, whether you're playing basketball, football, music, is going to come a time where you're going to get older and you're going to have to you're not going to be able to play in the league or be the the number one rapper in the world. And ownership guarantees that for the rest of your life, you'll be able to benefit from the work that you put in. Whether it's three years, 10 years, um just being famous or just having popularity, people are going to know who you are, but you're going to struggle. You know that ownership can be forever, not just in our lifetime. Ownership can be passed on to our kids and generation. Do you know which music artist still produces more money than probably 90% of the other music artists? Okay, let me rephrase that. What music's artist publishing rights and catalog still today produce more money than 98% of the other artists around? Easy. Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson's publishing rights and catalog today. Genius. Still produce more money. And you know, he's passed away many years ago. It's I I just read the other day the numbers. It's incredible. So, what does that tell us? that what you build today can last for many generations and you need to own it. Now certainly in the music business a lot of artists sell their publishing rights to get money today and some of them buy it back. I mean it's it's a huge business you know publishing rights right. [snorts] Uh but um yeah something we build today can last for our children for generations and people need to look at that. So putting in the hard work today can pay off for decades to come, right? And that's important and that's a good legacy to leave, right? Nobody ever talks about this, but um leaving money is one thing, but leaving a good name is like more important than money. Because if I left a good name based on who I was as a person, even if I don't leave my kids money, they'll still be able to benefit from the relationships that I have and my good name. So, for example, like my father, he's in the music industry and that's who I saw growing up that introduced me to music and uh business and uh very respectable guy in Jamaica. He's known by everyone from the prime minister to the ministers to the regular person and he was just a overall good person. I've never witnessed my dad. Yeah. I've never witnessed him do bad business. I've never witnessed him owe anybody money. I watch him throw concerts and from the proceeds of the concert, he's going to pay out every single person before he makes his profit. And if he's upside down or whatever, that's just the loss. He'll go in his pocket to make sure everybody's paid. So his name it rings bells. So if I was ever somewhere and I needed help or whatever and as a man I've never tried alive. Yeah. What's your dad's name? Uh his dad his name is Michael Barnett. Michael Barnett. He's on the radio in Jamaica and he still does concerts and stuff like that. Big shout out to Michael Barnett. Shout out to my dad. You know got to shout him out. But just his name and his legacy. If I was to go back to Jamaica and I needed something, for example, I could make a phone call and just off of the strength of what he's done, somebody's going to look out for me. It's awesome. So, let's talk about money now for a minute. Would you rather own 100% of something smaller or a percent of something huge? I like both options. Can I pick both? Absolutely. And sometimes sometimes both options work, right? Yeah. You know, I but I I always have a saying. If you're with the right people, um there's usually enough of a pizza to slice it up many ways for everybody to be full. Right now, some people think that they got to have the whole pie. And um again, whatever works, but it doesn't always work. And sometimes, you know, if you overeat, you get sick, right? So, I think balance what you can handle, balance what you can pull off, and you know, what you can have. Have you ever sacrificed uh money for control? Definitely. Definitely. In the beginning of my music career or even in the beginning of you know me as a businessman, there's a lot of times where I did business where I had to learn because as you're going through the processes is like a college. So, like with the question you asked before, sometimes you have to start out having a small piece of a bigger thing to be able to platform yourself to be able to be a owner of the next thing. So, I feel like I had to pay my dues in a lot of sense. I've had record deals and business partnerships where, you know, in all reality, I didn't have much control, but it prepared me for the next thing that I was doing. What does ownership mean to you? ownership is is everything, but it's not everything at the same time. Because to me, you know, I don't mind uh having partners. I have some amazing partners right now or I don't mind being a part of something that's bigger than me. So, I think that everybody has their own passions and their own aspirations. So, it's good to have things that you own, but it's also good to be a part of other things that's just bigger than yourself. If you're enjoying this um conversation I'm having with Adon um hit the subscribe button, whatever you're listening, watching, whatever platform you're listening to us on. You know, every week we sit down with entrepreneurs who are building something real on their own terms and you don't want to miss what's coming. Also, drop some comments on who you'd like to me uh for for me to bring on, what questions you'd like to get answers to, and some tools and trips. So, um, back to third world, Don. Do the two identities ever conflict? Does being a businessman get in the way of being an artist or, um, not just an artist anymore? Like, what happens there? So, you're a businessman, you're an artist. Artist is probably an emotional thing and I like you like being an artist, but you have to be a businessman and sometimes you're wearing two hats. So, does that ever get in the way of each other? eventually like you're gonna have to make an adjustment because the lifestyle of just being an artist sometimes it's it's detrimental to even yourself. It's detrimental to yourself, your family. Uh sometimes you're on the road uh you're not seeing your family. Sometimes you're working to the point where you know your health gets bad. I remember there's times where I've been in the studio for 7 days, no sleep to to where like some of the people from the studio got to be like, "Hey, Don, you you've been home. You got to get some sleep, man. You'll run yourself into the ground." And that just goes for any entrepreneurship because you're just running on pure energy. How do you balance creativity with discipline? Scheduling. Scheduling. You got to have that discipline to tell yourself, "No, that's what had to work for me." Interesting. So, a lot of entrepreneurs don't don't have the time to schedule their what they're doing, right? Give me two of the most important scheduling tips you live by. For example, I know me, I like to be in the studio for 2 days. So, I give myself time to where, okay, I know this is my a lot of time where I could just be an artist. And then these four days, I know I got to focus on business or I got to focus on promotion or I got to focus on something that's outside of artistry and just scheduling things, giving myself time to still be me, but also understanding my responsibilities. How do you avoid being burnt out? What keeps you productive? So no, you know, avoid the burnout and like what habits keep you productive? I think it's impossible to avoid the burnout. Really? I'm still I'm still I agree with you. I think you just get there and yeah, I don't know how to avoid the burnout. I mean, I think exercise and taking some time off, but sometimes, man, you just get caught up in what you're doing and and you just can't rest your your brains. I mean, my kids, my family, my wife, those are people that like charge me up. That's cool. So, that, you know, being at home. Yeah. My wife, when I get home and I said like, "Oh, man." She's like, "What? Stop whining. Back to work. I don't want to hear this. There's no reason to whine. That's it. You can do it." Boom, boom, boom. I'm like, "Yeah, who am I going to cry to that?" That's another thing too, like you know, the artist lifestyle. Um, dealing with different individuals, different girls, different people, it drains your energy and it it contributes to that burnout. But when you have people that's there for you, that's rocking with you, that's giving you that energy, it's a different feel. Let's get back to money. So, you know, social media made a lot of people famous, but not everyone profitable. What do creators misunderstand about attention? Followers don't equal dollars. Period. You got to monetize your situation. So, it's a lot of people, you know, I've met them, they have millions of followers, viral moment, hits, whatever you name, but they don't understand business and they don't understand and how to monetize it at the right time. You only have a window open to do that. You need to jump. Right. Right. Then I've met people that you don't even know who they are. They're famous in Turkey, Russia, whatever. And they're rich. Got to monetize or Jamaica. Or Jamaica. Yeah. Is going viral overrated? No. I think it helps, but going viral for the wrong reasons and not monetizing or having a plan. What's more important, fans or customers? Both. Why? Fans. Fans turn into customers. And do customers turn into fans? Yeah, they're one and the same essentially. Could be. If you're selling me a water right now and it's like the best tasting water, I'm going to go and tell him about it and tell him about it. So, will you though? Do you always do we still do that? Yeah. Like, do we say, "I just tried this. It was so great." Yeah. I I you know it's hard like I I find that it's getting harder and harder because it's just hard to to tell people you like something because everybody's so opinionated and it just gets into the little things sometimes get into long conversations. I I just don't have the bandwidth. But um would you um All right. So, but I get it. You're right. Fans and customers could be and they're both equally important. [snorts] Here's your fans are also your family, too. Oh, they're your biggest fans, right? and your big and your biggest critics, right? At the same time, cuz they're honest with you. That's why I don't believe in being egotistical. You know what I'm saying? I'm signing every autograph. I'm taking every picture. I'm having conversations with everybody because I'm just like you. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be able to be doing what I'm doing right now. So, if you had to start all of this over with all of the experience you have, like, how would you do it? What would you do different today? Because at the end of the day, and I'm talking about from an entrepreneur, for making money, making this a success, you know, just being realistic, I'm glad that I I was in, you know, I came at the time I came. I feel like it's way harder for this younger generation. They have so much pressure because they have all the ones that did it before them. They got to live up to these high expectations even from a young age. And a lot of people like they're not able to get visibility for their products or their music or anything without negative attention. What makes what do you think makes someone truly successful? Is it ownership? Is it resilience? Is it refusing to quit? What do you think it is? Peace. Interesting. Peace. Tell me. Explain that. You have to buy a You You sound a little burnt out to me, my man. I'm I'm listening to you. You You're a little tired because you're probably dealing with a lot of BS every day. Yeah, I do, too. Uh and [snorts] sometimes they say, "Man, I just want some peace. You got to buy your peace. You know, if you take a a 6-mon vacation, it's going to cost you." So, do you think that having peace as a result of being successful? No. Not by standard terms because there's people that have never seen more than $5,000 or $10,000 that live in peace, but it's like they don't have the pressure that others might have have. What's the biggest mistake creative entrepreneurs make? Well, you know what? Let me answer that last question differently. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. I felt like it wasn't complete. Yeah, it wasn't complete because in all reality for me, success is also being able to leave something behind to where your kids, your family can benefit from the work that you've done. That's success. Well, I think that's the most important, you know. Um, somebody wants a legacy that, you know, the whole world will talk a good way or a bad way. There's a lot of lunatics that do bad things that the world talks about. And, um, my uh my my my thing is just my my inner world, my family. I just, you know, I care about them. You know, what what somebody else is going to say about me 30 years after I'm gone, I don't care. I just want my family to be well and people I care about. That's that's why I do what I do. Uh I'm not here to to win medals or awards, you know what I mean? Except for my family, you know? So, I I agree with that. So, again, like what is the And thank you for for clarifying that. So, look, I see a lot of creator creative entrepreneurs make mistakes, right? And like so what do you think because look the creative world whether it's gig world and AI and and technology now I mean the creative world represents many different industries right so I mean plumbers are not a creative world it's a necessity electricians right um but you know the podcast economy it's a creative world it's a major economy social media and all that so um let's talk about the creative entrepreneurs I don't even know how big if you take everything together and it's music and all that creative minds, right? So, what do you think the biggest mistakes that people in the creative world make? Um, and and I'm going to lead you a few things. So, do you think it's like a lot of times people aren't sure and they're waiting for permission? Um, do you think that they're chasing popularity more than building assets? This is where I'm going in the creative world, right? What do you think? Social media created this world where comparison is everything. So now you're constantly in comparison with the next creator or the next person that's doing what you do. And it creates a delusion in a sense. So the biggest mistake that they make is not realizing that everything that you need to have, you have. Use the tools that you have and get to the next level. So, a lot of people aren't able to get to the next level because they fail to realize that, you know what, I have what it takes to make it to this level. They're comparing theirel to somebody else and oh, I don't have this, so I can't do this. And that was a mistake I've made in the past. But I had to just lock in and and understand that everything that I have for this moment is what's going to take me to the next level. And I focus on what I can control and I do my best at that. for the entrepreneur out there listening, right? How do you you're you sound very realistic about what's going on every day. Um you know, when people hit a wall, when you hit a wall, like what advice would you tell them? What would you say to someone right now that man, you know what, business is really slow the last few weeks. I don't know how I'm going to go forward. What would you say to them to help them push forward? You need to change your mentality. So a lot of times when I've hit that wall, one thing that really did wonders for me was surrounding myself with other individuals that were successful at what I was doing. And just that time and that energy share was able to give me the energy to push forward or sometimes it changed my life too. You know, there was there was one time where I was experiencing an extreme low and I just say, "Let me call a good friend of mine and he was doing a lot of big incredible stuff. He was a good positive person." And just that 24 hours of me being around him, so many things changed. I got introduced to so many different people that helped to move what I was doing forward. How much is a lot of money today? A lot of money today, it's crazy. Growing up, you were a millionaire. That was like, "Oh, you're set for life." Now, a million dollars can't really do much. Um, a lot of money in these days and times, you know, I would say you a lot a lot of money or a lot a lot of money. I just said a lot of money. I a lot a lot. There's a lot a lot a lot of going on. I mean, the new the new the new thing to get to is being a billionaire. Okay. You know, being a billionaire. A lot of money. But, you know, that's a lot a lot a lot of money, right? I mean, let's be realistic. What about you? No. No. Don't don't divert. I need to hear from you. Is it is a billion dollars a lot of money? That's what you're saying in this in this day and age, that's the thing to aim for. Being a billionaire. Okay. I got a long way to go then. [snorts] Um I think if you want me to answer that, I think that Yeah, I don't think I mean a million dollars is still a lot of money. It is. And and uh so nobody should think it's not. Um shout out to my millionaires. I see y'all. I know it wasn't easy. Yeah, it's not easy. Um I think that you can um you should you should be comfortable and just live your life around what you make. Mhm. Um I think that um as long as you're moving forward and and and and you're an entrepreneur and you're building and you're growing, whatever comes in is great. As long as you're not in the negative and you're making the decisions to make the changes to get out of the negative and make the right plans, you're on track. I don't know what a lot of money is today. It's, you know, you can be, even if we take a million dollars, you know, you can move somewhere out of these big places like Miami and New York, you know, where a soda cost $32, where a green juice is $21 and go with live somewhere where it's only going to cost you a dollar and be very happy, right? So, or you can have $100 million in Miami and not be happy because there's houses that cost $80 million. It's it's so I think it's uh it's all relative. Um but I think that even $100,000 is a lot of money to a lot of people. So, um but uh yeah, so look, I mean, today people throw out throw around, you know, billions. They talk in billions anymore, right? They they don't you know Elon Musk I think the greatest mind of all time since you know he's our time Einstein you know I mean he's a genius and I [snorts] think he's entitled to 10 trillion dollars with what he does with his money in life so not entitled I think he just deserves it he works so hard in the things he creates but you know now we're talking about trillionaires right like you know so which is great at how the world is evolving money's evolving the opportunities we all have just go out and get them. Don't whine. Don't cry. Don't sit there. Look at others and they cry and they complain and why not me? It's why not me because you're thinking why not me. Stop thinking of why not me and just go do things. Right. Exactly. And and so yeah, I don't know what a lot of money is. I think a lot of money is a lot of money to a lot of different people. And so I I just can't give you an answer. Um I'm just happy with whatever I do make and what I get. And I'm um I thank God for it every every single day because you know there's good days and bad days. Me personally, I I don't give myself a number. Yeah. I don't know what that is. I can't How do you like I don't have a number. Oh, if I made this, I don't I don't give myself a number to get to. I just leave it open. Yeah. Like it's like it's it's a joke. Like, oh, I need to make like Okay. I need to be 6'2. I need to be like I need to be 6'4 like you, you know? It's like it's you know. So, uh, all I can do is work hard, do the right thing to, you know, somehow get to wherever I'm going. So, let me ask you this. If all the platforms disappear tomorrow, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and you had to rebuild everything from scratch, how confident would you be? I'm blessed to um have really started doing music in the era right before social media was the thing that drove everything. So, I understand that grind. I understand having a hundred real fans come out to your show. I understand. So, what would you do first? Go do uh small concerts, like local stuff. You got to you got to be outside. You got to tap in with as many people as you could reach. You got to do email list, text list, you know, you got to be hands-on with the fans. What would you never do again? Never put all your eggs in one basket cuz like you said, but yeah, a lot of people base their careers off social media. So if social media was to shut down tomorrow, their whole life is over, right? Yeah. So I I understand that grind. I understand touching the people. I understand being outside, you know. So for me, that wouldn't really be such a a hit. And I would start over just by touching the people and just building from that. What would you never do again? Um, I would never bet on a social media platform or just one avenue because once that rug get pulled, it's over with. What is the most valuable thing you actually own? My experiences cuz that shapes my reality. when 20 years from now when people talk about third world don um what do you hope they remember? Um not the records, not the streams, and not the followers, right? Yeah. What do you think they What would What would it be? What do you hope they remember about the man? just a kid from Jamaica, you know, a third world country that had big dreams that no matter what uh went out there and figured out a way to make it happen to show other people that where I'm from that this is possible. There are artists and entrepreneurs watching right now who are waiting for the right deal, the right manager, the right opportunity. What's the price of waiting? And what would thirdw world dawn tell someone who's still waiting for permission? Stop waiting. Stop waiting for permission. Take matters into your own hands and just move. Make a move. It don't matter if you take 10 steps. You're getting from point A to point B. You're 10 steps ahead of where you were before. Don, this was a powerful um and what I take away from this conversation is simple. Being entrepreneur isn't about being famous. It's about becoming free to create to to own free to decide your future. Because when you own your work, your audience, and your brand, nobody can take that away from you. Thank you for joining me today. Absolutely, man. Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure. I'm Alex Schwarz, and this is Unbankable. See you next time.